Quick Cryptic 602 by Mara

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A pleasant puzzle at the easier end of the spectrum, I thought, although for some reason I took a bit of time to spot what was going on in 2dn and 12 dn.

Not much else to say really – other than thanks to Mara.

Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–)

Across
1 Golf tournament, its possible venue producing a snack (4,8)
OPEN SANDWICH – OPEN (golf tournament – as in the US Open etc.) + SANDWICH (famous golf course in Kent)
8 Day ends in anger for Dominican, perhaps (5)
FRIAR – FRI (day – abbrev. Friday) + AR (ends in AngeR – i.e. first and last letters)
9 Call of the hunt brutally honest? Not entirely (5-2)
TALLY HO – Hidden (indicated by ‘not entirely’) in bruTALLY HOnest
10 One likely to leave the ship, knocking back sailor (3)
RAT – Reverse of TAR (knocking back sailor)
11 Length kept in check, not bad for a cravat (9)
NECKCLOTH – *(CHECK NOT) – with “bad” as the anagrind – and L (abbrev. length) also thrown into the mix (kept in)
13 Opener for county going after century, one that’s refreshing (5)
TONIC – C (opener for County) goes after TON (century) + I (one)
14 Nincompoop grabbing second dance (5)
TWIST – TWIT (nincompoop) ‘grabs’ S (abbrev. second)
16 US leader in power, living (9)
PRESIDENT – P (abbrev. power) + RESIDENT (living)
17 Theory exists with maths, at first (3)
ISM – IS (exists) + M (Maths at first). Initially doubted the obvious wordplay here as I’d always thought of -ISM as a suffix rather than a word in its own right. But then I recalled hearing people talking (usually in disparaging terms) about “the latest ‘ISM’: we’ve had sexism and ageism – what next – beardism?” (or some such…)
19 Three-fifths of linen is OK for swimming, as waterproof (7)
OILSKIN – *(LIN IS OK) with “swimming” as the anagrind. (The LIN part of the anagrist comes from ‘three fifths of LINen’)
21 Unsuitable to sleep in it (5)
INAPT – NAP (to sleep) inside IT (in it)
22 Cuckoo the other side of turn? (5,3,4)
ROUND THE BEND – Fairly straightforward DD. Cue one of my favourite “simultaneous translations at international conferences that went horribly wrong…” moments – supposedly a true tale. An Italian finance minister was speaking (in Italian) at a European conference, and said “the Italian economy has turned the corner”: delegates listening through headphones to the English simultaneous translation heard “the Italian economy has gone round the bend”.
Down
1 On holiday, queen is volunteer (5)
OFFER – OFF (on holiday) + ER (queen)
2 Being out of EEC isn’t unusual (9)
EXISTENCE – EX (out of – as in “ex libris”) + *(EEC ISNT) with “unusual” as the anagrind
3 Leap over coward as youngster (6,7)
SPRING CHICKEN – SPRING (leap) + CHICKEN (coward). Today’s “gimme”
4 See it once, moving (6)
NOTICE – *(IT ONCE) with “moving” as the anagrind
5 Unauthorised action, an attack by a cougar, perhaps? (7,6)
WILDCAT STRIKE – Another fairly straightforward DD
6 Bark in chestnut rather yellow, initially (3)
CRY – First letters (initially) of Chestnut Rather Yellow
7 Work required to line that item of formal wear (3,3)
TOP HAT – OP (work) goes inside (to line) THAT
12 Start to speak about Italian leader with spirit (9)
ORIGINATE – ORATE (to speak) goes around (about) I (Italian leader) + GIN (spirit)
13 Jumper put on setter, perhaps, the best one (3,3)
TOP DOG – TOP (jumper) + DOG (setter, perhaps – e.g. red setter)
15 Eat up bananas scoffing raisin finally: a bit of a snack (6)
PEANUT – *(EATUP) – with “bananas” as the anagrind – and N (raisiN finally) also in the mix
18 After uprising, some cadet amicably joined up (5)
MATED – caDET AMicably. Reverse (indicated by ‘after uprising’) hidden (indicated by ‘some’)
20 Look round bottom of lane for a sign (3)
LEO – LO (look) goes ’round’ E (bottom of lanE) giving us the star sign for those born between July 23 and August 22

19 comments on “Quick Cryptic 602 by Mara”

  1. 26:58, somewhat on the slow side for me with no beer excuse this time.
  2. I agree with Nick that this was on the easier side, although I did what I could to make my time slower, e.g. by flinging in ‘bow tie’ at 7d simply from definition and O, and by once again forgetting that ROUND=my ‘around’. No problem with ISM. 5:44.
  3. I wonder if I’d have found this as easy as our blogger if I hadn’t tackled it immediately after struggling for an hour with the main puzzle where the final two answers eluded me and I had to look them up. I came to this for light relief and found myself unable to get things to flow and required 13 minutes to complete the grid. The second parts of 1ac and 11ac in particular took ages to come to mind.

    Edited at 2016-06-29 05:42 am (UTC)

  4. 36:03, with a good 10 mins blown on the LOI of ROUND THE BEND: was put off by at least three anagrinds in that clue: ‘cuckoo’, ‘other’ and ‘turn’. I liked ISM, simple wordplay for a guessable word. Did not parse ‘FRIAR’ as I found ‘ends in’ an obscure way to indicate the first and last letters of a word, ‘ends of’ seems fairer, but then the surface doesn’t work. I liked the great surface and simplicity of TOP HAT, for COD. Was there ever a more biffable clue than ‘Call of the hunt…(5,2)’?
    At 2d, soon the EEC is going to sound as old as the League of Nations.

    Edited at 2016-06-29 07:31 am (UTC)

    1. I also liked ISM. When checking it is an actual word I also looked up “ology” and found that is too, defined as “a subject of study, a branch of knowledge”. I thought it had been coined for the BT ads featuring Maureen Lipman but SOED has its origin as 19th century.
  5. Yes at the easier end but with one or two that needed winkling out, and some nice surfaces e.g. 2d, 7d and 12d, which is my LOI and COD. For non golfers, 1a, once you get OPEN doesn’t really require any further golfing knowledge. Thanks MARA and blogger.
  6. Easier? So how come it took me over twice as long as the previous two days then?
    Actually it just goes to show that it’s “horses for courses”, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison” or any other similar epigram you may care to cite.
    1. I like the ancient history version: One man’s Mead is another man’s Persian.
  8. Unlike Jack I found the 15×15 helpful with a write-in for a long answer. The surface for ISM is weak if you are a mathematician, since maths has theorems (proved); other disciplines have theories (not proved, just weighing up evidence). I realise this is a pedantic point, the puzzle itself is excellent. 6′ today. Thanks Nick and Mara.
  9. I got held up with 19a as I wanted to include the word ‘for’ before the ‘swimming’ indicator as part of the anagram. Should it be there? I have to admit it wasn’t the only thing which held me up to eventually post 41mins. I thought it was quite a challenge today in places, but mainly as I couldn’t get the two long down clues until the end.
  10. I made very heavy weather of this, mainly due to my own ineptitude. In the end it must have taken me the best part of an hour over a couple of sittings to complete. Like Invariant I confidently chucked club sandwich in for 1a. Unfortunately it took me a while to spot my mistake, thereby making 1 & 2d completely mystifying. I then missed the anagrinds in 11a and my LOI 15d (although I spotted this one post solve).
    Hopefully my brain will be more awake tomorrow.
  11. Putting (😊) club in front of sandwich for 1ac didn’t help matters, but spotted the mistake soon enough. I really don’t like ism for theory, but with the I and M already in place there wasn’t much choice. Invariant
  12. First off, thanks to Nick for his excellent blogs and the time it must take.

    I found this reasonably easy apart from 11a which took me an age to see.

    I could not disagree more with the tone of the post from horryd Shanghai.

  13. Took ages to deduce 8a friar; threw in 17a iSm as a desperate last gasp to complete, and 15d peanut was all I could think of rather than deduce. So not a satisfactory solve, but complete! Not sure whether to be pleased or not! Where would I be without the blog! Thanks all.

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