Quick Cryptic 585 by Mara

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A gentle start to the week, I think, with no recondite vocabulary or complex constructions. No doubt solvers will be grateful to have an all-correct under their belts as a confidence booster for the stiffer challenges ahead …

The puzzle can be found here if the usual channels are unavailable: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/puzzles/crossword/20160606/16233/

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Mexican hat grey with skin of rhino! (8)
SOMBRERO – SOMBRE (grey) + R{hin}O (skin of rhino, i.e. the first and last letters of the word “rhino”). Aficionados of headgear and/or Mexico may be spoiled for choice here, but I could not name you another Mexican hat so the answer immediately came to mind after reading the first two words of the clue.
5 Couple’s time out (4)
ITEM – anagram (out) of TIME
8 A hole, something wrong with America (5)
SINUS – SIN (something wrong) + US (America). Thank goodness there wasn’t a hyphen in there.
9 A few among meerkats, ever alert (7)
SEVERAL – hidden in (among) meerkatS EVER ALert
11 Traitorous act ultimately fair (11)
TREASONABLE – T (act ultimately, i.e. the last letter of the word “act”) + REASONABLE (fair). This was clued similarly in a Jumbo last year as “Criminal act in the end OK”
13 Have dinner in attempt to find agreement (6)
TREATY – EAT (Have dinner) in TRY (attempt)
14 Fish found on the sea bed? (6)
KIPPER – extended definition making use of the fact that the slang word kipper means someone sleeping, which they could well be doing on a bed. Though I knew kipper as a smoked herring, Chambers tells me that it can also be a salmon.
17 Bridge, I fear, damaged — emergency service required (4,7)
FIRE BRIGADE – anagram of (damaged) BRIDGE I FEAR
20 One voting system in chaos, make one’s mark (7)
IMPRESS – I (One), + PR (voting system, i.e. proportional representation) in MESS (chaos)
21 Passive passage from Sartre nicely recalled (5)
INERT – hidden reversed (passage from … recalled) in SarTRE NIcely
22 Girl attending a festival (4)
GALA – GAL (Girl) + A
23 Heavy weight on board, whale food (8)
PLANKTON – PLANK (board) + TON (Heavy weight)
Down
1 Very very average! (2-2)
SO-SO – SO (Very) + SO (Very)
2 Fellow consumed eastern sea creature (7)
MANATEE – MAN (Fellow) + ATE (consumed) + E (eastern). Also known as the sea cow.
3 Create plebs, unusually decent (11)
RESPECTABLE – anagram of (unusually) CREATE PLEBS
4 Fight is dividing the others (6)
RESIST – IS inside (dividing) REST (the others)
6 Beat broth that needs a stir (5)
THROB – anagram of (that needs a stir) BROTH
7 Happy about bulb — not the first — becoming tree (8)
MULBERRY – MERRY (Happy) about {b}ULB (bulb – not the first, i.e. the word “bulb” without its first letter), for the tree whose leaves are favoured by silkworms
10 Victory sign, justification (11)
VINDICATION – V (Victory) + INDICATION (sign)
12 Heavy defeat to be had in Turkey? (8)
STUFFING – double definition, the second mildly cryptic in that the capitalised Turkey is intended to make you think of the country rather than the unfortunate bird that is often cooked with Paxo on the inside
15 One’s donated here (7)
PRESENT – double definition
16 Listen afresh, it’s glittering stuff (6)
TINSEL – anagram of (afresh) LISTEN. What with STUFFING, PRESENT, and now TINSEL as consecutive answers, something of a Christmas theme going on in this section of the clues.
18 Disgust, as outcast knocked over (5)
REPEL – reversal of (knocked over) LEPER (outcast)
19 School memo written up (4)
ETON – reversal of (written up) NOTE (memo)

24 comments on “Quick Cryptic 585 by Mara”

  1. Yes, definitely at the easier end of the spectrum but I wasn’t convinced enough by KIPPER to write it in until the checkers confirmed it had to be the answer. I’ve never heard of kipper as anything other than a smoked fish so was surprised by the reference to live salmon in Chambers and even more that it is given as the first definition. One lives and learns! 8 minutes.

    Edited at 2016-06-06 04:27 am (UTC)

  2. A DNF after 33 mins, with ITEM and MULBERRY missing. Was looking for a synonym for ‘bulb’ before removing the first letter, did not think to just go with ‘ulb’.
    Also, ‘out’ as an anagrind in ‘time out’ threw me, add that to the endless list of anagrinds.
    Agree that 1a is a gimme, but always appreciated on a Monday morning.
    I used a pen and paper for the first time today (usually use the iPad version). It’s a bit faster, I found.

    Edited at 2016-06-06 06:14 am (UTC)

  3. Today’s main cryptic is worth a go – a few words that may not be familiar, but the wordplay for those is generally helpful.
  4. I’ve been caught out any number of times in the past by looking for synonyms when the word required was actually included in the clue.

    As a touch typist using a desktop computer, I find that my solving times are considerably slower when I use pen and paper, though on the plus side I’m less likely to make typos and it’s nice to be able to write down the letters in an anagram rather than having to solve them in my head. I’ve not tried solving on a tablet but I would imagine that portability is the main advantage?

  5. Agree it was a nice gentle start to the week…….might flex our muscles on the “biggie” as suggested. Find some of these extremely hard in comparison but have made reasonable attempts in the past when suggested by the bloggers. Maybe today’s the day for a finish!
  6. Fish found on the sea bed? answer “kipper”
    Would this clue not have been better expressed without the “sea”? ie Fish found on the bed?
    L.
    1. Though bed on its own could certainly mean the sea bed, I think the surface reading minus the sea would have seemed a bit unnatural. The question mark at the end of the clue tells us that we may need to use some latitude in how we interpret the wording, which in this case means sacrificing a bit of precision for the sake of the surface.
  7. Yes – a gentle start to the week and I got there in 33 minutes although 20a and 23a were unparsed.
    I am finding that the QC is the perfect level for me and it is no good even attempting the 15×15 unless I am in a very focused frame of mind and have a lot of time available. Is there any historical reason why we do not get puzzles at the weekend? I took up the QCs when I retired as that was the first time I really had time to do it, but I am sure there are people out there who might have a go on a Saturday but the prize puzzle is rather too daunting. I also personally find that I have to wait two days before getting another puzzle and the crossword club site does not have archive QCs.
    1. Sorry -above comment was from me and not mean to be anon. For some reason I keep being signed out of Live Journal recently.
      1. Ant, I have posted your comment about the lack of Saturday QCs in the Times forum in the hope of getting a response from one of the editors.

        QCs are on a different platform from the Crossword Club (which unfortunately may disappear in time), and this accounts for the QC not being archived there.

        1. Thanks Jack,
          It would seem from subsequent posts that I am not the only one who would like weekend QCs.
    2. I agree entirely. It would be excellent to have a QC on weekend days. I make do with the “Easy Cryptic” daily puzzles online.
  8. Easy start to the week after missing a few days. YES PLEASE to a weekend quick cryptic!
    1. I also would enjoy a QC on Saturday (and Sunday) – but not at the expense of the Latin Crossword please, which is the highlight of Saturday breakfast time for me!
  9. Thought this was very straightforward and finished in 11 minutes, probably my quickest ever. Was held up a little by 7d (like Merlin, above, I started by looking for a bulb synonym), 14d and my LOI 15d.
    I’ll add my voice to calls for a QC at the weekend or at least a QC archive online.
  10. KIPPER new definition to me, LOI. Gentle Monday QC to day, as is the 15×15. Thanks setter and blogger. 4’53”.
  11. I finished dead on my 30 minute target after getting 1A and 1D straight off. I was held up on the eastern edge until I thought of Kipper, after which the rest fell in turn with 5A my LOI.
    I miss the QC at the weekend as well, I do the Guardian’s Quiptic on Saturday and Everyman on Sunday – I can just about manahe them.
    Brian
    1. The last phrase should read “manage them”. I got logged out and couldn”t edit the post.
      Brian
  12. I struggled to even get started on the Saturday puzzle, so this was a welcome relief. Like others I found many of the clues very straightforward but at the end I was held up by 5a (LOI) and 7d; I had the ULB bit of 7d from early on but it took me a while to get the other bit. 18 minutes in all. David
    PS I have had a look at the big crossword and it does not look easy to me!
    1. I think Saturday’s puzzle was a problem for everyone – the fastest genuine time on the Crossword Club is just under 8.5 minutes, which for that standard of solver is slow.

      Today’s puzzle seems to be a “wavelength” one, which I only realised after I’d blithely announced that it was worth a go (sorry!) I found it easier than average, as apparently did robrolfe above, but clearly others didn’t. I would probably suggest starting the puzzle anywhere other than the NW corner.

  13. I don’t know why the Quicky only exists Monday-Friday – perhaps there isn’t room in the Saturday paper or something mundane like that? Hopefully an answer will be forthcoming from Jack’s question on the Crossword Club.

    The Quicky is a bit of an odd one out in that it’s the only puzzle (plus the Latin one, I suppose?) that doesn’t exist on the Crossword Club. At the moment, an archive exists on the Crossword Club for all the other Times puzzles so one would hope that something similar will be done for the Quicky when (presumably) the Crossword Club is put onto a new infrastructure that will encompass all puzzles.

    But if you’re suffering from puzzle hunger at the weekend, you could always try the free online offerings from the Independent (both days), Guardian (Saturday only), and Financial Times (Saturday only). Though these are “full-strength” cryptics, they are by named setters and you will soon learn who are the easier setters and who are the harder ones. For example, Roger Squires is usually regarded as a beginner-friendly setter – he sets as Rufus in the Guardian and Dante in the FT. On the other hand, John Henderson sets some of the hardest puzzles you’re ever likely to find in a daily cryptic – he is Enigmatist in the Guardian, Nimrod in the Indy, and Io in the FT. They have both in the past (if not currently) set puzzles for the Times.

  14. another vote here for the Quick Cryptic on the weekend please !

    Edited at 2016-06-06 06:04 pm (UTC)

  15. Thanks for the tip on the big cryptic. Have made progress on the eastern front.
    Enjoying it. David

Comments are closed.