Quick Cryptic 756 by Pedro

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A wholly enjoyable 15 minutes – this period of fun and frivolity extended by the long clues round the edges. I was also easily led into misdirection – particularly at 8ac and 14dn. Unusually we didn’t get a double definition but, to balance the books, cricket references are back. Thanks Pedro.

ACROSS

1. Painstaking – meticulous. Father (PA), in (IN), making bet (STAKING).
8. Trainee – student. Golfing accessory (TEE) letting in water (RAIN). Am I the only one to have been convinced this started with L?
9. Stair – flight. Leading actor (STAR) carrying one (I).
10. Numerical – regarding figures. Anagram (unfortunately) of IM UNCLEAR.
12. Eye – one looks. Whichever way it’s read – backwards or forwards – it’s the same.
13. In time – not too late. I’m (IM) appearing in the middle of w(INTE)r.
15. In sync – matching. At home (IN), homophone (we hear) of item in kitchen – sink.
17. Gap – opening. (G)r(A)s(P).
18. Sectarian – bigoted. Anagram (changes) of ASCERTAIN.
20. Overt – clear. Deliveries (OVER) ahead of time (T).
22. October – month. Company (CO) returning (backwards), to (TO), beer half heartedly – only one middle letter (BEeR).
23. Misconstrue – fail to understand. Anagram (moves) of CONSUMERIST.

DOWN

1. Psalm – religious song. Son (S) in tree (PALM).
2. Ignoramus – fool. Anagram (strangely) of (AMUSING) around old king (OR).
3. Stench – what’s smelt. Southern (S), fish (TENCH).
4. Ass – donkey. In llam(AS S)urprisingly. 2 days, 2 llama references – is this a record?
5. Imagery – pictures. I’m a (IMA), European country without ‘man’ (GERmanY).
6. Garden centre – a growing concern. Cryptic definition.
7. Standing room – space beyond the pews. Substitute (STAND IN), wedding attendee (G ROOM). COD.
11. Lancaster – northern town. Actors (CAST) in Road (LANE), (R)ich.
14. Topless – missing cap. LOI – tipples got in the way down here in the SW. Drinks (TOPES) about litre (L), bottle(S).
16. Across – not like this (down) clue. A (A), mark signifying error (CROSS).
19. Imbue – suffuse. One (I), bea(M), blue without (L)ights (BlUE).
21. Too – as well. End removed from utensil (TOO)l.

16 comments on “Quick Cryptic 756 by Pedro”

  1. Cheers. An enjoyable workout. FOI TRAINEE, LOI OVERT, COD STENCH

    Slowed up by the long anagrams and by biffing “tipples” at 14dn. 7dn clever though the clue’s a bit clunky.

    I take it one of Pedro’s offspring got married in LANCASTER in OCTOBER, a RC/CE affair (18ac), well attended (10ac, 7dn), PAINSTAKING TRAINEE vicar performed well (ceremony IN TIME, PSALM IN SYNC). Far be it from me to MISCONSTRUE the OVERT TOPLESS IMAGERY that was to IMBUE later proceedings with a certain STENCH…

    Or maybe I’m reading TOO much into what was a simple visit to the GARDEN CENTRE?

    Edited at 2017-01-31 01:53 am (UTC)

  2. at 1ac was my COD. 1dn STANDING GROOM was not that clunky IMO.

    9.58 so middling.

    WOD LANCASTER – Ian Fleming’s middle name.

  3. 45 mins. Lots of tough clues but good fun.

    I almost biffed Doncaster but restrained myself.
    Couldn’t parse 14d as I dnk tope, although I do it a lot.

    LOI was a stench, COD 16d across.

    Very funny Adrian 🙂 but where does 4d squeeze in?

  4. I also almost biffed ‘Doncaster’, but cooler heads prevailed. And I did biff ‘tipples’, and generally made heavy weather of 14d as well as doing some poor typing. And I had trouble with 18ac as well; so all in all a slow performance. 8:37.
  5. One or two clues easy to misconstrue, and spent ages on SECTARIAN and thus the second part of GARDEN CENTRE. Eight and a half minutes, so above average. Thanks chris and Pedro.
  6. Got everything bar 6dn. I knew it had to be “garden” for the first part but just couldn’t get the second part. I’m not 100% why it is garden centre. Can anyone explain. I get the “growing” part. But “concern”? Thanks. Gribb.
  7. No real problems today. I was held up a bit by the parsing of 14d and making the assumption that 18a would end in ‘ist’. But I was helped by getting the four long clues quite quickly. LOI 3d. Solving time 17 minutes.
  8. This one had me cogitating for longer than usual, taking 14 minutes to completion. Stand in groom made me smile. 14d, 18a and 6d took a while to become 20a. An enjoyable offering. Thanks Pedro and Chris.
  9. I’d estimate this at about 45 minutes so a nice plod through for me. Took some time resolve 1 a after starting out with particular but it neither fitted or parsed so had to get a few more checkers for the answer to become clear. For 9a LOI 6d COD 14d or 20a. Shame I did this at lunchtime rather than waiting for my evening Costa as I will now have to resort to my book.
    1. “City” is defined in every one of the usual sources primarily as “a large town”. The clue is 11dn, btw.
  11. Liked IMAGERY and smiled again at the golden oldie STANDING ROOM. A pleasingly brisk 6.10.

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