Quick Cryptic 565 by Teazel

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I thought this was a straightforward puzzle that neither hit the heights nor plumbed the depths of either difficulty or enjoyment. This was no doubt because Teazel didn’t want to steal Middlesbrough’s thunder, what with the Boro gaining automatic promotion to the Premier League on Saturday.

The puzzle can be found here if the usual channels are unavailable: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/puzzles/crossword/20160509/15702/

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Miss sleep after end of exams (4)
SKIP – KIP (sleep) after S (end of exams, i.e. the last letter of the word “exams”)
4 One fibber pursuing endless stardom, so common (8)
FAMILIAR – I (One) + LIAR (fibber), after (pursuing) FAM{e} (endless stardom, i.e. the word “fame” without its last letter)
8 Forged note of indebtedness accepted by football club (8)
SPURIOUS – IOU (note of indebtedness) inside (accepted by) SPURS (football club, i.e. Tottenham Hotspur)
9 Gallon I have to contribute (4)
GIVE – G (Gallon) + I‘VE (I have)
10 Military servant, disheartened cricketer (6)
BATMAN – BAT{s}MAN (disheartened cricketer, i.e. the word “batsman” without its middle letter)
11 On stage, in temporary role? (6)
ACTING – double definition
12 Senior politicians kept in the dark? (6,7)
SHADOW CABINET – kind of a cryptic definition, I suppose, where you need to connect “in the dark” with “shadow”
16 Crockery that may be flying? (6)
SAUCER – double definition, the second a reference to a UFO
17 Great sweatshirt, perhaps, for tent (3,3)
BIG TOP – BIG (Great) + TOP (sweatshirt, perhaps)
19 Used to be a sort of wolf? (4)
WERE – a reference to a werewolf
20 Star skier sat out (8)
ASTERISK – anagram (out) of SKIER SAT
21 Some witches go in the city (8)
COVENTRY – COVEN (Some witches) + TRY (go, as in “I’ll have a go at that”)
22 Finishes one letter, joining these to get the picture? (4)
DOTS – double definition, the first referring to putting the final dot on an i or j, the second referring to a join-the-dots puzzle where drawing a line between the dots creates a picture (I also thought there was a figurative interpretation meaning connecting disparate bits of information to achieve some kind of insight, but none of the usual dictionaries support that)
Down
2 Finally hack program with a character from abroad (5)
KAPPA – K (Finally hack, i.e. the last letter of the word “hack”) + APP (program) + A, to give the tenth letter of the Greek alphabet
3 Pharaoh’s funeral plan a con? (7,6)
PYRAMID SCHEME – double definition, the first a literal interpretation of the phrase
4 Pour scorn at last, having escaped (5)
FLOWN – FLOW (Pour) + N (scorn at last, i.e. the last letter of the word “scorn”)
5 ACAS arm organised a way of making up (7)
MASCARA – anagram (organised) of ACAS arm. Not sure how well known this acronym is overseas, but ACAS stands for Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service and is a UK body tasked with resolving industrial disputes, giving the surface some extra depth.
6 So thief not heavy-handed? (5-8)
LIGHT-FINGERED – another sort of cryptic definition
7 Notice vehicle in front of church move forward (7)
ADVANCE – AD (Notice) + VAN (vehicle) + CE (church). Another possible interpretation would be AD (Notice) + VAN (vehicle in front, e.g. the vanguard of a military column) + CE (of church, i.e. Church of England when used adjectivally).
10 Conveyance on land: one at sea capsized (3)
BUS – reversal (capsized) of SUB (one at sea, with the “one” referring back to “Conveyance”, i.e. a submarine)
13 Pull hard to stop boat (5,2)
HEAVE TO – HEAVE (Pull hard) + TO
14 Tirade against fighting that may get you arrested (7)
WARRANT – RANT (Tirade) next to (against) WAR (fighting)
15 Make use of water supply (3)
TAP – double definition
17 Sandwich, though extremely tiny (5)
BUTTY – BUT (though) + TY (extremely tiny, i.e. the first and last letters (extremes) of the word “tiny”). When I lived in London, my commute invariably involved popping into a Benjy’s to pick up a bacon butty or two.
18 Notes rewritten in early stage (5)
ONSET – anagram (rewritten) of NOTES

21 comments on “Quick Cryptic 565 by Teazel”

  1. I found today’s main cryptic to be a bit of an odd one – maybe on the easier side of average for experienced solvers, but I suspect it may prove trickier for budding Quicky graduates. Still worth a go though.

    Edited at 2016-05-08 11:37 pm (UTC)

  2. Slowed myself down some by failing to recall what the K is in Greek, then thinking of ‘nap’ for 1ac (‘kip’ not being in my dialect, it didn’t pop to mind). Soon enough sorted out for a 6:03 finish.
  3. A disappointing DNF owing to a blind spot over the word SAUCER. No excuses: is there a crossword expression for a temporary inability to see a simple clue?
    Leader in the main paper on Sat was on cryptics, and a complaint recently aired in this blog, on old-fashioned clues. Example was one mentioned here too, SA (sex appeal) for ‘it’.
    Pleased to see ‘app’ for ‘program’ today, that’s more like it.
      1. Thanks for the link, Jack; although it did make me wonder at first whether you were actually a woman named Rose Wild!
      2. On the same theme, now that the Territorial Army has been renamed the Reserve Army will the ‘TA’ fall out of use in the future to mean volunteers?

        Dennis G

        1. I think it’s called Army Reserve now, but strictly speaking I believe it ceased to be TA in 1967 when it became TAVR but that didn’t affect setters’ established habits. TA is useful to them so I’d guess the practice will continue (I’ve seen it at least twice in the past week or so). If they feel the need to be up-to-date they can always add “former” or “old” to qualify it, but personally I don’t see the need to do so.

          Edited at 2016-05-09 08:08 pm (UTC)

  4. 8 minutes for this very pleasant puzzle. KAPPA is a Greek letter that doesn’t turn up as often as others so may not be 4ac to all.

    I’m with our blogger on the possible figurative meaning of “join the dots” which is in common usage in my experience, but it’s not even in the “Dots” entry in Brewers.

    Edited at 2016-05-09 05:10 am (UTC)

  5. I found this the easiest for a few days, straight through top to bottom. Some nice surfaces, 17d for example but a few weak ones, not too sure about SO in 6d it just doesn’t feel right would SUCH A of TYPE OF not be better.
    I too read the article in Saturday’s paper, but as I am old enough to have seen Billy Wright play at the Victoria Ground, SA, IT and the like hold no problems for me, however I do feel they are now a bit old hat, especially for the QC.
    Nice clear blog, thanks blogger and Teazel.
  7. After spending quite a bit of time on Saturday’s puzzle (still got about six clues to go), this seemed straightforward and I solved steadily and finished in 11 minutes (probably my best time). I enjoyed this puzzle and agree that joining the dots is a way of saying getting the picture.
    The Saturday puzzle is a good test for the aspiring QCer. I can normally solve at least half of it these days but occasionally a very hard one comes along. David
  8. No problems here. Although I struggles to see the first definition of DOTS even if the second made it obvious.

    Chris

    1. Yes , agree re the first ‘definition’ of DOTS, because although it’s the verb ‘he finishes one letter’, ‘he dots’, it can refer to two letters. Am I missing something here? And, talking of that, if you SKIP something don’t you miss it out, rather than just miss it?
      1. I think the “one letter” means there is one instance of either i or j that needs to be dotted, rather than that there only exists one letter that can be dotted, however the “one” could have been omitted without any ill effects on the clue.

        Re skip, I would say that “I think I’ll skip the meeting” means the same as “I think I’ll miss the meeting”.

  9. 19:05 Not the easiest, but nothing overly tricky… Particularly enjoyed PYRAMID SCHEME, so that’s my COD.
  10. Straightforward today with no obscurities but enjoyable anyway. Always thought COVENTRY would make a good crossword answer as it contains no less than 6 words inside it – COVE, COVEN, OVEN, VENT, ENTRY and TRY. Don’t know of any place name, or any English word, that can compete with that!
    1. Forgive my pedantry, but one can squeeze 8 out of Leicester if one allows common abbreviations; LEI, ICE, ICES, EST, ESTER, STER, TER, ER.

      I can’t think why Leicester might be on my mind just now.

  11. A bit like Merlin, I had a temporary blindness and failed to see the anagram which would lead to asterisk, and thus was a DNF as I needed the T to get to Butty and then the y to get to Coventry. Grrrr.
  13. A good start to the week with a satisfying puzzle. My COD 8a spurious. LOI 2d kappa was a deduction as new to me. This was pitched just right for me today. Thx setter a blogger!

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