Quick Cryptic 784 by Pedro

Author   galsprayPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Morning / evening all.  Commencing this blog at Perth airport, will complete it at Sydney airport, with the dreaded red-eye flight in between.  Consequently it might be a bit befuddled, but at least I’ll be back in my favourite city.

The puzzle took me 6:51, placing it slightly on the tougher side of average.  Could be because I prefer a few anagrams, and there are no full anagrams in this puzzle (there are three partial ones).  Will be interested to see how others rate the level of difficulty.

Not too many obscurities today as far as I can see.  I don’t think I knew the cocktail, and the physicist didn’t come to mind immediately, but I’m sure for many solvers they’ll be write-ins.  We all have our own obscurities.

Here’s how I parsed it all.  Clues are reproduced in blue, with the definition underlined.  Anagram indicators are bolded and italicised.  Then there’s the answer IN BOLD, followed by the parsing of the wordplay.  (ABC)* means ‘anagram of ABC’.


Across
7 Bargain haberdashery items taken back (4)
SNIP – PINS (haberdashery items) reversed (taken back)
“Snip” for bargain might be UK-centric, but not unknown to some of us foreigners.  The word is commonly used for a vasectomy these days.  I’d think twice about trying to combine a vasectomy with a bargain.
8 Sound of pleasure subsequently covering sound of disgust (8)
LAUGHTER – LATER (subsequently) “covering” UGH (sound of disgust)
Neat clue.
9 Help string player who’s missed intro (6)
ASSIST – {B}ASSIST (string player) without the first letter (missed intro)
Didn’t we have this recently?  Or was that in the 15 x 15?
10 For altering, place that’s messy and cold (6)
FROSTY – (FOR)* + STY (place that’s messy)
11 Doctor Silver is a bore (4)
DRAG – DR (doctor) + AG (silver)
Helps to know your chemical symbols in Crosswordland.  I would think AG is one of the better-known ones.
12 See about translation of bitter words in opera (8)
LIBRETTO – LO (see) about (BITTER)*
15 Go overseas? Good to enter Arab state (8)
EMIGRATE – G (good) inside EMIRATE (Arab state)
17 Choose a mountaineering accessory (4)
PICK – Double definition
If there was an “Even Quicker” version of the Quicky, this clue would be in it.
18 Suggest appearing on time (6)
PROMPT – Double definition
21 Academic took in offer (6)
DONATE – DON (academic) + ATE (took in)
22 Joker with trick taking in broadcasters etc. (8)
COMEDIAN – CON (trick) “taking in” MEDIA (broadcasters etc.)
23 I’m taken aback about swamp (4)
MIRE – MI (I’m reversed) + RE (about)

Down
1 Swedish physicist showing uneasiness over computer memory (8)
ANGSTROM – ANGST (uneasiness) over ROM (computer memory)
An easy one if you know the guy.  Not so easy otherwise.
2 Letting go, suppressing a sudden pounce (6)
SPRING – SP{A}RING (letting go), “suppressing” A
3 Ships — a good many brought in to replenish Armada, ultimately (8)
FLOTILLA – LOT (a good many) “brought in to” FILL (replenish) + A (Armada, ultimately)
4 Some of fugitives turned up? Nonsense! (4)
GUFF – Reverse hidden (some, turned up) in oF FUGitives
5 Most of crowd coming to English symbol of monarchy (6)
THRONE – THRON{G} (most of crowd) “coming to” E (English)
6 OK to avoid some witticisms — time for another? (4)
JEST – OK removed from J{OK}ES (some witticisms) + T (time)
“Another”, as in another witticism.
13 Bringing forth refined behaviour (8)
BREEDING – Double definition
14 Quiet, considerate attitude about one funerary ornament (8)
TACITURN – TACT (considerate attitude) about I (one) + URN (funerary ornament)
COD, just because taciturn is such a good word.  I must try to use it more often.
16 Cocktail? I get agitated about small amount of liquid (6)
GIMLET – (I GET)* about ML (small amount of liquid)
Gin and lime juice apparently.  ML as in millilitre, which by most standards is a small amount.
17 Father upset a bloke in region around canal (6)
PANAMA – PA (father) NAMA [A MAN (bloke)] upset
19 Satisfactory after turning up gold chesspiece (4)
ROOK – OK (satisfactory) after RO [OR (gold), turning up]
20 Suggestion about river jaunt (4)
TRIP – TIP (suggestion) about R (river)

25 comments on “Quick Cryptic 784 by Pedro”

  1. I’d definitely rate this on the hard side. I lost time by not knowing the scientist at 1dn immediately so I wrote in ROM and waited for the checkers to remind me of the rest of his name. I forgot to go back and parse 2dn because, having filled the grid correctly in 12 minutes I needed another 7 to deduce how 6dn worked, and by that time my unfinished business with SPRING had slipped my mind. I got GIMLET from wordplay and vaguely recognised it as some sort of drink.
  2. I found this fairly tricky too. There was nothing I didn’t know, but most of the answers made me think for a while instead of slamming them in. FOI was DRAG and LOI PROMPT. 11:07. Didn’t see the parsing for JEST or SPRING, just biffed them. Got the ROM for the scientist straight away, the ANGST came later. Knew his unit:-) Thanks Pedro and Galspray.

    Edited at 2017-03-10 01:18 am (UTC)

  3. Harder than yesterday’s anyway, by about 3 minutes, but there were several biffable clues; I saw ANGSTROM from checkers, ditto COMEDIAN & LOI JEST, solved post hoc. DNK SNIP, but it had to be. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that ‘frozen’ wouldn’t work and come up with STY. 6:28.
    1. Welcome to the John-fest Kevin (from the blogger and the first three commenters).
  4. So you’re a John, are you? I don’t think I knew that. Is Jack? And is Jonathan? I would have thought not.
    1. He’s right about me (don’t ask where jackkt came from!). Not sure if Jonathan answers to Jon though.
          1. John – does that make you uncontinent or incontinent – too many mushy peas methink!
            horryd – Shanghai
  5. Who he!? I’m somewhat spectroscopically-lite, not part of my world – until today.

    10.20 for what was indeed quite a tough cookie.

    9ac ASSIST has been in twice recently QC and 15×14 – if memory serves.

    WOD GUFF COD GIMLET

  6. LOI GIMLET.

    Most were okay. Some I couldn’t see the wood for the trees again.

    But it was fun.

    LIBRETTO is not a word I use everyday 🙂 As soon as I see the word opera I tremble.

    Enjoy the big smoke Galspray. At least it will be cooler.

  7. Yeah, this was hard and a DNF for me due to my lack of knowledge of 1dn and being unable to see 6dn at all. Other hard clues were 7ac, 18ac, 16dn and 2dn. After yesterday’s PB, a crash back down to earth. Gribb.
  9. Back to a typical time of 22 minutes today. I knew Angstrom but had to biff Gimlet. Some clever clues today I thought, particularly 8a and 6d. Thanks Pedro.
  10. They are not getting any easier. Even so, I made heavy going of this to the point of needing an alphabet trawl to get 1d – and I’m a physicist. About 40 mins in all. Invariant
  11. This took me ages. The cluing in 6dn (JEST) seems somehow the wrong way round. “Witticisms to avoid OK” would make more sense, although it wouldn’t make sense – iyswim.
  12. If the QC were a road then some days it’s a blast along an empty motorway, some days a pleasant, more leisurely trip down a meandering country lane and occasionally, and thankfully rarely, it turns out to be a No Through Road. I’d say today’s QC was a bit of a farm track – some smooth bits, some bumpy parts and some juddering potholes almost bringing the journey to a standstill, but eventually the destination was reached safely.
  13. Not so hard as I first thought. Luckily I anticipated Angstrom in 1d to get off to a good start after FOI 7a. COD 12a, but came to a halt with 6D where I biffed jest but just couldn’t see why it worked. Thx for the explanation!
    I just love the highways and byways analogy! Very good.
    I still have a couple of puzzles unfinished from earlier in the week, so my Costa’s this weekend looks covered!
  14. I thought this was really difficult. And it’s not as if I’m having an off-day as I managed to do nearly all the 15×15 in about an hour; I rarely attempt Friday’s puzzle.
    Back to today’s QC: I immediately had RAM for the second part of 1d; then I trawled my list of Swedish physicists… I got a few easily and really liked 15a but I was left with about six and thought this might be my first DNF for a long time. But a long second session bore fruit and I somehow got Angst (the language of Heine) for uneasiness and ROM then Libretto and Taciturn. LOI was Spring. A long time, but I got it done. Gimlet unknown. David
  15. 3rd DNF of the week, but I feel a bit miffed by this one as I had Ram for the last 3 letters of the unknown 1d, which I believe is also a unit of computer memory.
    Other than that I found this a curious mixture of the straightforward and difficult e.g. the unparsed 6d and I dragged 16d from the depths of my memory bank. Lots of fine clues today including; 14d, 15a and 18a
  16. Another tough cookie, taking just over an hour, completed on a Sunday to match my working week.

    Spent 40 of those on the last few (22a, 1d, 6d, 13d, 16d).

    Had to think hard to get some of the parsing:
    suggest = prompt
    sparing = letting go.

    dnk gimlet but with g_ml_t and EI to spare I guessed correctly.

    As others have said I couldn’t parse 6d, jest, and the clue could have been worded more kindly.
    eg witticisms? Not ok! time for another.

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