Quick Cryptic 606 by Orpheus

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A crossword of two halves – the right hand side being considerably swifter than the left. 13 minutes in total which puts this in my ‘medium difficulty’ bracket.
Being from Norfolk, the resort wasn’t a problem – neither were the couple of less usual bits of vocabulary as the clues were clear. 5d caused a chuckle and some admiration at the clever word play.

ACROSS

8. Cadaver – body. Man (Dave) found in estate (car).
9. Lathi – bamboo stick (a long heavy wooden stick used as a weapon in India, esp by the police). In Bhopa(l a thi)ck.
10. Deter – prevent. Browsers (deer) consuming (t)ree.
11. Amperes – current measures. A (a), political (MP), before (ere), (s)peech.
12. Thrifty – economical. Break (rift) inside your old (thy).
14. Addle – go off – which can also be applied to ‘overcome by drink’ – which makes this a clever word play. Theologian (DD) overcome by (around which is) drink (ale).
15. Offal – refuse. (F)ound inside old (O) and Cornish river (Fal).
17. Retract – withdraw. Pamphlet (tract) by military engineers (RE).
19. Limpopo – African river. Flabby (limp), old (O), petty officer (PO).
20. Dress – double definition.
22. Pulse – double definition.
23. Tuesday – 24 hours. Anagram (new) of DUET SAY.

DOWN

1. Scad – fish – any of various carangid fishes of the genus Trachurus, esp the horse mackerel. Unhappy (sad) around cold (c).
2. Editor – newspaper boss. We see ‘ed’ used so often in word play – good to see it as a definition. European (e), girl (Di), rubbish (rot) upwards.
3. Over – a spell of cricket. Duke (d) leaves d(over).
4. Great Yarmouth – Norfolk resort. Anagram (odd) of TO MARRY AT HUGE.
5. Elephant – jumbo. Anagram (flying) of THE PLANE. COD.
6. Stared – gawped. Way (St – street), a (a), left winger (red).
7. Misspent – squandered. Girl (miss), writer (pen), time (t).
12. Trollope – novelist. Bap possibly (roll) inside (eaten by) leading (top), English (E).
13. Follower – attendant. Understand (follow), King Edward (ER).
16. Family – kinsfolk. (F)rost(y) around an anagram (junk) of MAIL.
18. Agenda – meeting schedule. Woman (Ada) around information (gen).
20. Deep – extending far down. Scottish river (Dee), quiet (p).
21. Stye – eyesore. Filthy place (sty), promenad(e).

21 comments on “Quick Cryptic 606 by Orpheus”

  1. Lots of what used to be called general knowledge today, which I welcome: LATHI (familar from the film GANDHI), LIMPOPO (school geography) and GREAT YARMOUTH, which is not really on the way to anywhere. Have never read Trollope! – a gap in my education. Got SCAD from wordplay, have learned something. Thanks Chris and Orpheus. 4’27” today.
  2. Most of this went in reasonably quickly, but then I was held up by the ac/d combinations at 12 and 20 (hope that makes sense), so 45mins overall. My favourite, once I twigged, was 22ac. Invariant
  3. 8 minutes, but it’s time to send for the people in white coats, I’m afraid.

    29 Sep 2015: SCAD completely unknown to me after years of solving

    30 Apr 2016: SCAD unknown

    I came here today to say exactly the same thing!

    Edited at 2016-07-05 01:01 pm (UTC)

  4. Definitely a crossword of two halves, Chris, but for me left hand side went in easily. DD new to me, but obvs Doctor of Divinity. How I missed 7d I don’t know so DNF today
  5. I did like this one, I am with the blogger, 5d a treat. Like Invariant held up by 12a, use of the word environment very nice, my LOI.
    Being a Norfolk dumpling who cycles a bit, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire are very flat, Norfolk is a bit lumpier. If you drive down the A17 from Heckington to Lynn, it’s as flat as a fluke, then once on the A47, starts going up and down. Coward has a lot to answer for.
    Thanks Orpheus and blogger I hadn’t seen quite how clever 14a was.

  6. SCAD was my FOI and I’m no fisherman. Terribly easy offering as I was home and dry in 5.30mins.

    COD ELEPHANT uncanny anagram – sas per Jack.

    WOD LIMPOPO ‘The,grey-green, greasy Limpopo.’- as per Mr. Kipling – not the cake maker – t’other one.
    Chris my regards to Norfolk – ‘awfully flat!’ or ‘very flat!’? Can’t remember which – lovely county – apart GREAT YAMOUTH!

    horryd Shanghai

    2. I’ve always considered that Norfolk ‘rolls’ whereas the fens are flat.
      1. You may well be right, Chris. The “very flat” thing refers to a line in “Private Lives” by Noel Coward. Sorry for pointing this out if you knew it already but others may not.
  7. Once again, found that Orpheus took a long time to get into the groove, but once I was there was very much on the same wavelength! Probably 20 mins all told, so very happy with that.

    Would be interested to get opinions on how 12a works in its entirety. What relevance does “environment” have? The blog is very helpful, but has missed the word in its explanation so I’m still uncertain…

    Appreciatively, N

    1. From the OED “the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates” The word surroundings is the key one here. I had biffed THRIFTY before I saw how it worked.
  8. All fair enough today but a bit short in memorable COD candidates. ELEPHANT was nice and I had a bit of headscratching before PULSE went in last.
  10. I was born in Wyberton, married in Heckington remarried in King’s Lynn – flat as a witch’s watsit!.Metheringham Fen! But have you been to Lincoln, up by the cathedral!? Mountainous!

    horryd – very flat and wet Shanghai

    1. Quite right,Lincoln, proper nose bleed country. Been there once, luckily Mrs Tim (also a dumpling, but not to her face) had brought the Kendal Mint cake and I had the Oxygen so I was OK, but it was a close run thing. I often wonder what happened to her.
  11. Around the 20 minute mark today, with my LOI (15a) unparsed. I didn’t think I knew any Cornish rivers, but with hindsight Falmouth would indicate that there must be a River Fal in the region! Not heard of 9a before but the word play was clear. Fortunately I managed to avoid the temptation of bifing Retreat for 17a.
    I notice Trollope seems to be a bit of a regular.
  12. Lots of pencilled entries today but all turned out well apart from 1d scad where I plumped for acid. So a failure today. Thank goodness for the blog to explain how my pencil should have been pen. But a good puzzle nonetheless.
  13. I had fish for lunch today; not a scad which I have never seen except in a crossword. It was easy to guess I thought. Perhaps the fish helped as I finished this in 15 minutes. LOI was Addle. Some excellent clues I thought and I too liked 5d. David
  14. Found this straightforward but still don’t get why 20a is ‘dress’. Sorry if I am being thick, but how is it a DD?
  15. Ah – just found the dictionary definition. Lining up troops. A new one for me!
  16. 29:41, due to the lateness of the hour. Needed an Atlas for some Cornish rivers, but knew LIMPOPO. COD was also LOI: PULSE.

    Edited at 2016-07-05 11:18 pm (UTC)

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