Quick Cryptic 809 by Tracy

Author   galsprayPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Good Friday, good puzzle.  Nothing too obscure in the answers, a nice spattering of anagrams, and most of the definitions were right there at the start of the clue (actually, ALL the across clues had the definition at the start).

Also noticed during the parsing that most of the clue surfaces were plausible sentences or expressions.  The clues for CONVERSE, ALLOWED and IN SEASON, to name just three, were constructed with a simple elegance, although my COD was the slightly subversive-looking RELAYED.

Nice work Tracy, not a bad way to start the long weekend.  Took me just over 5 minutes.

Here’s how I parsed it.  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
1 Get by policeman, last in line (4)
COPE – COP (policeman) + E (last in line)
3 Speak in clubs about poetry (8)
CONVERSE – C (clubs) + ON (about) + VERSE (poetry)
8 Granted, everyone had debts (7)
ALLOWED – ALL (everyone) + OWED (had debts)
10 Body part discovered in Pimlico, London (5)
COLON – Hidden (discovered in) in (pimliCO LONdon)
11 Popular music centre of plainly neat construction (3,3,5)
TIN PAN ALLEY – (PLAINLY NEAT)*
Refers to the New York-based popular music scene of a century ago.
13 Burning land (6)
ALIGHT – Double definition
You don’t really “land” when you get off a bus or dismount a horse, but “alight” is also what a bird does when it descends from the air and settles.
15 Such a plot may bring danger (6)
GARDEN – (DANGER)*
Not convinced by “may bring” as an anagram indicator.
17 Make inquiries about it, seeing a TV broadcast (11)
INVESTIGATE – (IT SEEING A TV)*
Much more satisfying anagram.
20 Opposing troops some cavalrymen eventually pushed back (5)
ENEMY – Reverse (pushed back) hidden (some) in (cavalrYMEN Eventually)
21 Several books in one vehicle (7)
OMNIBUS – Double definition
A book containing multiple works, or….a bus.
22 Fly with squadron leader, stop coming in low (8)
MOSQUITO – S (squadron leader) + QUIT (stop) in MOO (low)
Only crossword setters call mosquitos flies, but to be fair, they do have the dictionaries on their side.
23 Shock caused by unusual feat? No end (4)
STUN – STUN{T} (unusual feat), without the last letter (no end)
Stunt always makes me think of Kenny Everett, for some reason.
Down
1 Tripe — cold piece friend served up (8)
CLAPTRAP – C (cold) + [PART (piece) + PAL (friend)] reversed (served up)
2 Steel structure only demolished under pressure (5)
PYLON – (ONLY)* under P (pressure)
4 Severe test of French in examination (6)
ORDEAL – DE (“of” in French) in ORAL (examination)
5 Misfortune during holiday leads to indecision (11)
VACILLATION – ILL (misfortune) in VACATION (holiday)
I used to think I was indecisive.  Not so sure now.
6 Revolutionary American university in revolutionary broadcast (7)
RELAYED – ELAY [YALE (American university) reversed (revolutionary)] in RED (revolutionary)
Slightly mind-bending clue, needing to decide which revolutionaries are revolving and which are revolting!
7 Greek character describing northern volcano (4)
ETNA – ETA (Greek character) “describing” N (northern)
9 How heavy, tau, when broken down — and similar things (4,4,3)
WHAT HAVE YOU – (HOW HEAVY TAU)*
12 Popular flavour available (2,6)
IN SEASON – IN (popular) + SEASON (flavour)
14 In charge, one head showing hostility (7)
ICINESS – IC (in charge) + I (one) + NESS (head)
IC most commonly seen in 2IC.
A ness is a promontory or a headland, or in crosswordland a head.
16 Guide English class absorbing chapter (6)
ESCORT – E (English) + SORT (class) “absorbing” C (chapter)
18 Superior, British in flying boat (5)
ABBOT – B (British) in (BOAT)*
A Superior is a religious position, an Abbot being an example of such.
19 Word: also sentence (4)
TERM – Double definition

17 comments on “Quick Cryptic 809 by Tracy”

  1. Oddly enough, I saw ‘may bring’ as an anagram indicator right off, although I didn’t then see the solution right off. But I tend to agree with Galspray. 9d struck me as less than ept; what does the clue mean? 5:24.
  3. 21:36 for me today so just over target time. I thought the top half went in very easily but the bottom less so. Took me a while to get mosquito as LOI. I always forget the Moo=Low connection.
  4. I finished alright, by I had no idea how 22ac and 13ac worked. Thanks to this blog, I now do. I didn’t know Tin Pan Alley, so that was a bit of a punt. I think this was slightly at the higher end of QC land, but I’d be interested to see how others feel.This took me about 25 minutes in two sittings. Gribb.
  5. This felt tougher than the 16 minutes it took me to complete. For several of the clues I needed to do a bit of thinking about how to correctly parse the answers e.g. 22a, 3a, 15a’s anagram indicator and 1d. 18d was new to me but I assumed it related in some way to a mother superior.
    LOI 13a, COD 6d.
  6. I sailed through this one in 7:31, so definitely the easiest for me this week. FOI, COPE, LOI, TERM. Saw the Low/Moo trick quickly. Thanks Tracy and Galspray.
  7. hardest of the week for me, 40 minutes-ish. Thought 9ac a very odd surface, although the cluing is clear enough.
    PlayupPompey
  9. This felt like a trip on the M25 -going along nicely then held up in the SE.
    I started very quickly solving top to bottom; some nice clues although 9d a bit clunky.
    12d,18d 23a and 21a were left and I stayed in first gear until I got 23a. I thought Omnibus was my LOI but then realised I had left 1d for later, which became my LOI after 19 minutes. COD to Mosquito. David
    1. Indeed, hence “landing stage”. Completed within 30 seconds of 10 minutes. No problems.
  11. A bright enough start, but then slowed to a crawl and gave up after an hour with 19 and 22 unfinished. Both obvious once explained. Invariant
  12. Just over 10 minutes for this excellent puzzle. As with the main puzzle it’s sometimes good to have a slightly harder Friday offering. The bottom half was trickier and I only parsed Mosquito post-solve. COD Relayed which had me in knots. Thanks all and a very Happy Easter to everyone.
  13. I found this harder than the ones earlier in the week and definitely found the parsing more tricky. DNF as I couldn’t get 14dn for the life of me, and wasn’t sure whether 11ac was TIN PAN or TIN CAN.

    I got 9dn as I have used the “and what have you” expression many times.

    Not convinced about “land” in 13ac, although I can see why it fits.

    As well as 15ac not being an obvious anagrind, I struggled for ages to realise “broadcast” on 17ac was one also, even though I’d biffed the answer quite early.

    COD was also 6dn as I loved the different uses of revolutionary.

    DR31

  14. 50 minutes, and happy to finish, as it was a bit of a struggle.

    I found 13a, 15a, 22a, 1d and 14d tough.

    COD 22a mosquito.

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