Quick Cryptic 576 by Mara

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This is a very clever, good fun crossword – thank you Mara for clever clueing – lovely surfaces and cunning anagram indicators. I should have spent more time enjoying it but quick, quick very, very slow was the order of my solve today. So many clues flew in – which ended up being the problem – 12dn flew in rather too quickly leaving me staring at 13ac for ages. Memo to self – don’t get overexcited with a quick time – take time to fully parse the answers.

ACROSS

1. Fahrenheit – scale of temperature. Hot (H) in an anagram (unusual) of A FIRE THEN.
8. Unarmed – lacking weapons. Not injured (unharmed) in a Cockney accent.
9. Poole – port. Some water (POOL) with E.
10. Fate – lot. (F)or (A)uction (T)erribly (E)xpensive.
11. Uncouple – release. UNCLE holding (O)ffences and UP. Clever clue – suggesting the first letters of ‘offences’ and ‘up’ – but ‘up’ was just ‘up’.
13. Snail – slow creature. (S)nake, catch (NAIL). Much easier when you don’t think the final letter is an ‘N’.
14. Easel – support for an artist. Comfort (EASE), (L)ove.
16. Damocles – toady of myth. Anagram (corrupt) of SAME COLD.
17. Opus – work. Drink (SUP) backwards after O.
20. Congo – African river. Argument against (CON), GO.
21. Ukraine – country. British (UK – anyone care to debate the differences between UK and Britain?), RAIN, wo(E).
22. Straighten – put right. Anagram (mould) of SHATTERING. Excellent anagrist.

DOWN

1. Fluff – double definition.
2. Heartwarming – cheering. Anagram (resolved) of NIGHTMARE WAR.
3. Emmy – TV award. Este(EM MY)thical.
4. Hiding – double definition.
5. Improved – picked up (often a Homophone indicator). Devil (IMP), wandered off (ROVED).
6. Compass point – north perhaps. Anagram (off) of I POP SCOTSMAN.
7. Reveal – show. Make merry (REVEL) taking in A. Great surface reading.
12. Blackout – loss of power. Loss (LACK) in a fight (BOUT). ‘Knockout’ was my far too quick biff.
13. Seduce – corrupt. Anagram (convert) of USED with church (CE). Mara keeping up the entertainment with two potential anagram indicators.
15. Nebula – cloud of gas and dust. Anagram (to disperse) of UNABLE. Lovely surface.
18. Stern – double definition.
19. Frog – amphibian. (R)ed in FOG.

26 comments on “Quick Cryptic 576 by Mara”

    1. From Google search
      a flatterer who, having extolled the happiness of Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, was seated at a banquet with a sword suspended over his head by a single hair to show him the perilous nature of that happiness. No I didn’t know that either.

      Edited at 2016-05-24 09:45 am (UTC)

    2. In Sword of Damocles – Damocles was an obsequious courtier in the court of Dionysius II of Syracuse, a 4th-century BC tyrant of Syracuse, Sicily.
  2. 22a three anagrists in 4 words must be a record, typical Mara tricky but fair with some great surfaces but being picky I do agree with L anonymous above re UK/GB, although to be really picky I believe that Britain is mainland England Scotland and Wales whilst Great Britain is Britain and all the islands (not Ireland that’s the British Isles), I stand to be corrected, and probably will if wrong.
    1. “British” whether referring to Great Britain, Britain or the UK is in every day use and is in all the dictionaries.
        1. Sorry, Tim, I hadn’t intended to appear to reply specifically to your point,I’d meant just to tack onto the thread and respond to the general discussion.
  3. The UK is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
    (Great) Britain is only England , Scotland and Wales
    L.
    1. I raised an eyebrow at the clue – thinking of our friends in Northern Ireland but all is well – British can equal UK (as it is a subset) but UK doesn’t necessarily equal British (as you can be UK without being British).

      Edited at 2016-05-24 09:47 am (UTC)

  4. Biffed three that turned out to be wrong, so couldn’t agree with blogger’s comment more – take time to parse (and learn). I have learned about DAMOCLES. FAHRENHEIT a write-in. UNCOUPLE an unusual word except in railways, but now more familiar with celebrity break-ups. 8’32” today. Thanks Mara and Chris.
  5. Way to difficult for me. 2 days in a row where I found them very difficult. Still learning I guess.
  6. Nearly 2 hours of struggling for me, and a disappointing DNF as had Knockout for 12d preventing me from solving 13a. Was a good mental workout nonetheless as nothing was obscure or unfair, just very clever clues! That said, I don’t care what dictionaries say, UK is not OK for British – didn’t hold me up as answer was obvious but made me harrumph!
    1. Agree – but British is OK for UK – he had a british passport – he had a UK passport.
    2. Agree – but British is OK for UK – he had a british passport – he had a UK passport.
  7. 10 minutes with 16ac from anagrist and checkers and DAMOCLES being the only recognisable answer that would fit. Rather a literary reference for a Quickie, I’d have thought, but one has to face the occasional challenge in order to progress. I imagine many more people would have heard of D’s sword than his toadying nature so perhaps it would have been a bit kinder to include a reference to that instead.

    Edited at 2016-05-24 09:43 am (UTC)

  8. Well that was tough, but at least I completed it today, although it must have taken me over an hour and 3 sittings. The anagram indicators took me a while to work out and I was convinced 21a would start with a B for ages. Count me as another who didn’t know about the toadying nature of Damocles but the penny dropped when all the checkers were in place.
    A very clever and enjoyable challenge. LOI 18d
  9. Took two goes to crack this, but that’s better than yesterday’s DNF. I’m recovering from man-flu, but even so I think this has been a hard start to the week. Invariant
  10. found this on the easier end of the scale. Maybe 20 mins-ish. Some nice clues. UNARMED was simple but satisfying. I try to leave the last clue to my wife from HK. Today she duly obliged by filling the gaps on HIDING.
  11. A tough start to this week for me. Two DNFs. Today I eventually managed all except 9a poole, which was really easy (after the blog!). Damocles was the only option, but the toady reference was new for me. A good workout for the little grey cells today.
  12. Pretty average for me these days, at 37:41. Never heard of Damocles’ toadying nature, but with 4 checkers and the anagram, it had to be. Always pleased to see a 10 letter anagram I hadn’t come across before (SHATTERING/STRAIGHTEN). Was convinced my old friend RA would be somewhere in 14 ac, so that became LOI.
  13. I did not find this easy and needed two sittings. But I did manage to complete it correctly.
    I thought 4d was Hidden but could not parse it and so did not write it in. A sign of maturity I hope. I found 11a very hard to decipher but Uncle never seems to be a bad guess in crosswords and so it was today.
    A lot to like here; the anagrams at 16a and 22a for example. David
    1. Yes, I initially went for hidden as well, but hit a brick wall with 11ac and had a re-think. Invariant
  14. As for this I remember one night at Oxford many years ago. We had a foreign students club that met as a sort of party to help them feel at home. Seems a quaint idea now. One night I got into a real mess trying to explain Britain, U.K. England, British Isles, Great Britain etc etc. It wasn’t made easier by an Irish student who even in those days was wanting to redefine the British Isles to somehow exclude the republic. My student looked even more puzzled than when we began. The idea that only some inhabitants of the British Isles were actually British proved an argument too far!
  15. As for this I remember one night at Oxford many years ago. We had a foreign students club that met as a sort of party to help them feel at home. Seems a quaint idea now. One night I got into a real mess trying to explain Britain, U.K. England, British Isles, Great Britain etc etc. It wasn’t made easier by an Irish student who even in those days was wanting to redefine the British Isles to somehow exclude the republic. My student looked even more puzzled than when we began. The idea that only some inhabitants of the British Isles were actually British proved an argument too far!

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