Quick Cryptic 732 by Oran

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A pleasant, gentle offering today from Oran which will provide regulars with fast times and newcomers with a welcome confidence boost, I suspect. For me, it was plain sailing up until the last couple (15ac and 16d) which took a wee while to work out.

Thanks to Oran, and may I wish a very happy New Year to all our setters and to everyone at this forum.

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

Across
1 Point to suggest without complication (6)
SIMPLY – S (point – i.e. South) + IMPLY (suggest)
5 Temperature scale range includes 56 (6)
KELVIN – LVI (56 in Roman numerals) included within KEN (range – as in “beyond my ken” meaning outside the range of my knowledge)
8 Matching Polly’s disappointment? (4,2,1,6)
SICK AS A PARROT – Droll cryptic clue
9 Carriage for very young artist received by Prime Minister
(4)
PRAM – RA (artist) inside (received by) PM (Prime Minister)
10 Adore ace composition: first part of number? (4,4)
AREA CODE – *(ADORE ACE) with “composition” as the anagrind
11 Middle of tube finishes pipe sections (1-5)
U BENDS – UB (middle of tUBe) + ENDS (finishes)
13 Thirst for change that’s casually put on? (1-5)
T SHIRT – *(THIRST) with “for change’ as the anagrind
15 Military aircraft’s path after twist (8)
WARPLANE – LANE (path) goes ‘after’ WARP (twist)
17 Something seen on canal or strand (4)
LOCK – DD (with the second based on strand of hair / lock of hair)
19 Carefully select and check on iPad so intricately (4,3,6)
PICK AND CHOOSE – *(CHECK ON IPAD SO) with “intricately” as the anagrind
21 Make mistake with mission (6)
ERRAND – ERR (make mistake) + AND (with)
22 Most modern article used in French cricket match? (6)
LATEST – LA (article used in French) + TEST (cricket match)
Down
2 Even less friendly company once meeting Queen (5)
ICIER – ICI (company once) + ER (Queen). Imperial Chemical Industries, for many years one of the ultimate British blue chip outfits, was acquired and dismembered by Dutch industrialists in 2008.
3 Old soldier landing fish on island (7)
PIKEMAN – PIKE (fish) goes on top of MAN (Island)
4 My verse regularly lacking, I agree (3)
YES – Every other letter (regularly lacking) of mY vErSe
5 Garish clothing of one asleep on moor (6,3)
KIPPER TIE – KIPPER (one asleep) ‘on’ TIE (moor – as in moor up). The surface (combined with answer) conjures up a fascinating image.
6 Short poem, uncommonly rich in part (5)
LYRIC – Hidden inside (in part) uncommonLY RICh
7 Where to find monks with purpose(2,5)
IN ORDER – DD, the first being a bit jokey and the second being a tad cryptic (I’m doing this in order to / I’m doing this with the purpose of…)
10 Sailor after getting drunk instead did the opposite? (9)
ABSTAINED – AB (sailor) + *(INSTEAD) – with “drunk” as the anagrind – did the opposite of getting plastered
12 Charcoal burner‘s bizarre working (7)
BRAZIER – *(BIZARRE) with “working” as the anagrind
14 Last offer (4,3)
HOLD OUT – DD, with the first being fairly obvious but the second a little less so (think “I’ll hold out the chance for this applicant to earn a bonus as an incentive…”)
16 Contract’s sound, done perfectly (5)
PUKKA – Sounds like “pucker” (contract – as in pucker one’s lips)
18 Expenses of companies on the way up (5)
COSTS – COS (companies – plural) on top of ST reversed (the way – street – up)
20 Army officer’s depression (3)
COL – DD (abbrev. Colonel and a geological feature)

22 comments on “Quick Cryptic 732 by Oran”

  1. A little trickier than average. A lot of good clueing here, I thought – several raised a smile.

    FOI SIMPLY LOI WARPLANE

  2. Slow and steadyish, with 5d my LOI: never heard of it, so I needed all the checkers. I liked ERRAND. 6:11.
  3. 9 minutes, so back within target for the first time since before the festivities.WARPLANE put up the most resistance and was my LOI.

    I’m old enough to remember when kipper ties were quite fashionable, although they may have been on a comeback by then. The OED’s earliest reference is from 1966 and another entry taken from The Guardian in 1969 states that they were named after one Michael Fish – no not the “hurricane” man, but a fashion designer who is supposed to have popularised them. However I remember my father using the term long before that and he had several examples in his wardrobe that dated from a previous era.

    Edited at 2016-12-28 04:35 am (UTC)

    1. The kipper was very popular when I was in the sixth form in the early seventies, primarily as a device for satisfying “ties will be worn” regulations whilst still managing to annoy teachers, parents and – well, anyone over the age of 40.

      Must say I always thought the term derived from the extreme breadth of the tie, giving it the appearance of a cartoon-style fish hanging from the neck.

      1. I agree entirely with your presumed derivation, Nick. I was quoting what the OED quoted from The Guardian and I should have made my disbelief clear.
  4. with an 8.55 for this non too difficult offering from Nora.

    LOI WARPLANE COD 5ac KELVIN

    WOD PERAMBULATOR

    Never worn a KIPPER-TIE – ghastly.

  5. 32:01, so didn’t seem so easy to me, either. Liked the bizarre/brazier pair, I’m still new enough to have not met these chestnuts before (also, PUKKA) I thought 8a was weak. Liked the symmetry of two (1,5) clues adjacent to each other. 5A was a nice clue, but KEN=range is pretty obscure. LOI 15a, COD was 2dn, first time I’ve seen ICI in Crosswords, a nice change from tired old AB and RA, both of which put in yet another appearance today.
    1. Ken in this context means range of knowledge e.g. beyond my ken, and the pun “Beyond Our Ken” in the title of the famous radio series starring Kenneth Horne. I’d have thought it was common enough, but what do I know?
  6. Seems I’m in something of a minority with my assessment as to the relative degree of difficulty of this puzzle! At the same time, the last-but-one QC I blogged was widely regarded as straightforward whilst I’d ventured the view that it was at the hard end of the spectrum. I guess these things are highly subjective – or maybe I’m just one of nature’s contrarians…
    2. If only you gave us your time we could make up our own minds if you are a contrarian!
      It is ‘Times for the Times’ after all!
  7. 35 mins here, so I’m with the slightly harder than average group today, with 15 and 10ac holding out to the end. Nice to see errand make an appearance, bringing back childhood memories. Do children still run errands, or is it another word on the way out ? Invariant
  8. Above average time today. KIPPER TIE was whanged in, but brainfade on PUKKA and WARPLANE LOsI. There exist pictures of me in my pram, which is short for PERAMBULATOR, with its roots in walking. Thanks nick and Oran.
  9. Just within my new lower target of 20 minutes with a finish of 19:46. I’d parsed 10d thinking that STAINED could be another word for getting drunk (as in “I was well stained last night!”), rather than being an anagram of instead. Biffed in PUKKA – didn’t consider contract in that sense, and probably still wouldn’t have thought of pucker. Sadly, I remember my dad’s kipper ties all too well…
    1. Stained seems a great new word for getting drunk, in fact, Michael Macintyre has a routine where he says that any word can be a synonym for getting drunk, his example: “totally gazebo-ed”
  10. As a newbie, well 5 months practice, this was hard. So other beginners don’t be disheartened as this was not as easy as the blogger implied.
  11. Having struggled yesterday, I found this very straightforward with nothing giving any real difficulty. KIPPER TIE is a real blast from the past. I associate them with winklepickers and drainpipes. ICI was original. Not seen that before. although I think I remember seeing ICL (or was it ICT) once. KEN = range was also a new one on me. Not at all convinced by the parsing of HOLDOUT.
    PlayupPompey
  12. I liked the humour in this QC. It was not easy but I seemed to be on the right wavelength. I remember Kipper Ties and thanked Jamie Oliver for Pukka.
    I could not remember a puzzle from Oran before. Is he new?
    Finished in about 21 minutes.. FOI Pram and LOI was 6d -I missed the hidden again! David
  13. I found this to be of average(ish) difficulty having completed it in 15 minutes. My biggest hold up was trying to parse 15a (LOI). Thought there were some entertaining clues today including 5d, 10a and 10d.
  14. Last offer = hold out? Really?

    Col?

    Contract’s sound, done perfectly – I had iDEAL.

    Thought I’d cracked these after completing my first cryptic a while ago. Back to the drawing board.

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