Quick Cryptic 712 by Flamande

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Maybe it was my jet lag kicking in as I tackled this one shortly after flying in from Sydney to London, but I found this quite tricky in parts and it took me an unfeasible amount of time for a quickie.

The main area of trouble for me was in the western half with 1d, 13ac and 14d all putting up stout resistance. The breakthrough finally came once I saw 1d, with the final letter then giving the game away for 13a which in turn gave the opener for 14d which clinched the grid – eventually…

Thanks to Flamande for a good work out.

Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–): omitted letters indicated by {-}.

Across
1 Sleeping quarters of Everest climbers maybe greatly
affected? (4,4)
HIGH CAMP – A pleasantly whimsical DD to kick off with
5 Dog exercises round eastern parts of Hyde Park (4)
PEKE – PE (exercises) goes ’round’ the last letters (eastern parts – in the context of an across clue) of hydE parK
8 European vessel going round Western Isles (5)
SWISS – SS (vessel) goes ’round’ W (Western) + IS (Isles)
9 Reacted after agent provided misinformation? (7)
REPLIED – REP (agent) + LIED (provided misinformation)
11 Unusual old doctor of religion (3)
ODD – O (old) + DD (Doctor of Divinity)
12 Cheap cheese initially appetising: puts more out (9)
MOUSETRAP – *(PUTS MORE) – with A (first letter of Appetising) also in the mix – with “out” as the anagrind
13 Before school, Christopher shows lack of good taste (6)
KITSCH – KIT (alternative rendition of Christopher) goes before SCH (abbrev. school).
15 More secure business with monarch (6)
FIRMER – FIRM (business) + ER (monarch)
18 Happy to tour one northern land-mass (9)
CONTINENT – CONTENT (happy) goes round (tours) I N (one northern)
19 Chop some of the wood (3)
HEW – Hidden in (some of) tHE Wood
20 Distinguished English conservation group protecting
underground tunnel (7)
EMINENT – E (English) NT (conservation group – the National Rust) going around (protecting) MINE (underground tunnel)
21 Fire beginning to burn at front of lounge (5)
BLAZE – B (beginning of Burn) goes in front of LAZE (lounge)
22 Cause harm to small planet (4)
MARS – MAR (cause harm to) + S (small)
23 Relation dispatched from the east (8)
ORIENTAL – *(RELATION) with “dispatched” as the anagrind
Down
1 Suffers heavy blow? Cushion needed (7)
HASSOCK – HAS (suffers) + SOCK (heavy blow). Slightly unusual clue construction with the definition neither at the beginning nor the end, but the surface requires this. This one threw me for quite a while, not least because “hassock” is one of those words that is somehow just not front of mind for me.
2 Smile: daughter is to prepare the coffee? (5)
GRIND – GRIN (smile) + D (daughter)
3 Mechanic has repaired ATM (4,7)
CASH MACHINE – *(MECHANIC HAS) with “repaired” as the anagrind
4 Fellow injured in a scrum (6)
MARCUS – *(A SCRUM) with “injured” as the anagrind
6 Record one lightweight remark that’s witty (7)
EPIGRAM – EP (record) + I (one) + GRAM (lightweight)
7 Finish piece of satire, ignoring introduction (3,2)
END UP – {S}END UP – piece of satire without its first letter
10 Start to pour alcoholic drink over dining room furniture, as
expected? (11)
PREDICTABLE – P (start to Pour) + CIDER reversed (alcoholic drink over) + TABLE (dining room furniture)
14 More tart and port (7)
TANGIER – DD
16 Read law about unfair treatment (3,4)
RAW DEAL – *(READ LAW) with “about” as the anagrind
17 Guide people over hill (6)
MENTOR – MEN (people) goes ‘over’ TOR (hill)
18 What‘s topping cake — really extravagant and mouth-watering?
(5)
CREAM – Topping doing double duty here as part of the definition and also pointing us to the first letters (tops) of Cake Really Extravagant And Mouth
19 Run in preliminary contest, showing courage (5)
HEART – R (run) goes in HEAT (preliminary contest)

17 comments on “Quick Cryptic 712 by Flamande”

  2. 16:28, completed by 4 am. LOI PREDICTABLE due to a typing error in one of the checkers. I still don’t see HIGH CAMP, not heard the term, and don’t see the second definition.
    MOUSETRAP for cheap cheddar is a term my Dad used, but I guess it is pretty obscure; guessable anagram, though. Also, never knew that Kit was short for Christopher. COD 18A with the misdirection of hunting through Northern land masses (Eurasia? Greenland? Scandinavia? Svalbard?… Oh, wait…)

    Edited at 2016-11-30 04:12 am (UTC)

    2. …for cheap cheese is still commonly used in Australia. In homes where there is both up market cheese and “plastic” cheese in the fridge, an offer of a cheese sandwich will often be met with a reply of “yeah, just the mousetrap stuff will be fine thanks…”
  3. At 8 minutes this was one of my better QC solves for a while but it’s no pushover by any means so perhaps I was a bit lucky that enough og the answers sprang to mind on first reading, unlike other days when I have to hop around the grid to gain a foothold.

    1ac was an excellent clue, I thought, 3d is an absolute cracker.

    Incidentally, “camp / affected” crops up quite a lot.

    Edited at 2016-11-30 06:46 am (UTC)

  4. I followed Merlin’s garden path at 18ac until I got some checkers. I’ll second Jack’s praise of 1ac and 3d (beautifully smooth surface). Kit=Christopher, by the way, goes back at least to Shakespeare’s day, as in Kit Marlowe. 7:57.
  5. Very tough, earache not helping. Around 2 hours.

    1a – wouldn’t that be highly camp?
    12a – haven’t heard cheap cheese for mousetrap.
    13a – dnk kit for Chris.
    1d – a bit of a stretch that suffers heavy blow = has sock, should be keeping foot warm!
    4d – “In” is not needed for the anagram.

  6. HIGH CAMP is a style, of dress, comedy, speech etc. We had PEKE very recently and ODD yesterday, or so it seems. I remember MOUSETRAPs, nowadays all you get are those cardboard tubes in offices. Use HASSOCKs regularly, so few big holdups, meaty clues leading to an above average time. Thanks nick and Flamande.
  7. Second day running where I have had to come back to the puzzle. The 1d/1ac pairing was the problem this time, not helped by initially biffing Base Camp. . .
    Incidentally, I had 10d parsed as P(our) RED (wine) IC (in charge, over), TABLE, and was quite pleased with myself for working it all out ! Either way, it still gets my CoD vote. Invariant
    1. I went down the same route, Invariant, but failed to think of IC = ‘over’, so I gnawed away at other possibilities before spotting CIDER reversed. On reflection I think IC = ‘over’ via ‘in charge’ is too indirect a route, but if it gets solvers to the answer and they’re not on blogging duty, so be it!
      1. Yes, I’m sure Flamande intended Nick’s parsing, but I still quite like my version as well 😊 Invariant
  8. All went very smoothly until I ground to a halt at 1dn/13ac. Eventually HASSOCK dropped into my mind – from where I do not know, and even then took a long time to remember what it was. Not helped by the definition being in the middle of the clue leading me to spend a long time trying to find an anagram of CUSHION!!
    So in the end a slow solve, but as always with such puzzles very satisfying to have finished at all.
    PlayupPompey
  9. I would’ve been quicker if I hadn’t stalled early on in the NW corner. Once I headed off anti-clockwise round the grid it all fell into place like slow-motion dominoes 🙂 FOI SWISS LOI HASSOCK COD REPLIED
  10. We also wasted time trying to use cushion as an anagram for 1d, otherwise a steady solve about 40 minutes. Elin and Ian.
  11. I made very heavy weather of this, with the NW causing me all sorts of problems. Fortunately 12a was a relatively simple anagram as I’d never heard of that brand of cheese before. Eventually completed in 28 minutes (way over target time) using the same parsing of 10d as Invariant. LOI 1d.
  12. Solved today’s puzzle after a round of golf on mainly frozen ground but in bright sunshine. Great fun.
    18 minutes to complete all bar 1d and 13a. I had thought of Hassock and eventually saw the parsing. LOI 13a went in unparsed; as did 10d.
    Quite a tricky puzzle, about 23 minutes in all. David
  13. I’m on better form than yesterday, it seems. 11:47 for me, with LOI 1a. I did actually recognise HIGH CAMP once I’d finally worked it out, too. MOUSETRAP cheese I only found out about in another puzzle earlier this year, so that was lucky.

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