Quick Cryptic 811 by Mara

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Just crept under 10 minutes – which was something of a surprise as it seemed more challenging than that. Take some time to appreciate the art of some of the cluing. There’s some excellent stuff in here which needed working through. Several contenders for COD – 12dn was my pick until I realised how good 2dn is! Thanks Mara.

ACROSS

1. Non-fiction – you couldn’t make it up. Cryptic definition.
8. Lawless – without principles. Perfect f(LAWLESS) ousting leader.
9. Drawl – lazy speech. Sketch (DRAW) with the minimum of – first letter only – (L)aughs. Unusual way to get hold of the first letter but as the ‘L’ was cross checked it couldn’t have been anything else.
10. Need – want. Homophone (did you say) of work dough – knead.
11. Bullring – arena. Avoiding charges from bulls is to be advised here.
13. Pater – father. Artist (PAinTER) dropping ‘in’.
14. Meant – deliberate. Insert a compass point (North – N) into flesh (MEAT).
16. Womanish – feminine. Desire (WISH) to embrace sultanate (OMAN).
17. Bust. Amusing double definition.
20. Ennui – boredom. The answer is lying in the clue but backwards (around) – bikin(I UNNE)cessary.
21. Harrier – double definition. I’ve heard of Marsh Harriers – so that’s the ‘bird’ bit. I was thinking that to harry is to bother someone – so possibly ‘dog one’s steps’ – but it turns out there’s a harrier which is a smallish breed of hound used originally for hare-hunting.
22. Charleston – dance. Anagram (moves) of SCHOLAR TEN.

DOWN

1. Nylon – material. (N)atural, anagram (modified) of ONLY.
2. New Testament – good book. I thought at first that the cluing was a bit weak – ‘that may produce statement’ – as I just thought statement = Testament and it could have been Old or New. Then I realised that this is one of those brilliant clues as ‘testament’ is an anagram of STATEMENT. The clue is the other way around. An anagram (NEW) of Testament is something ‘that may produce’ statement. The anagram indicator (NEW) is therefore not in the clue but in the answer. I think this makes it an &lit.
3. Idea – notion. (I)nspiring (D)elegates (E)xecutives (A)nd.
4. Tissue – flimsy paper. Little time (T), to publish (ISSUE).
5. Old flame – ex (lover). Extinguished is a very neat way to describe a fire/flame which once was.
6. Caricaturist – one who’s work is to exaggerate their subjects. This anagram (might emerge?) was a bit of a struggle – A CIRCUS ART IT.
7. Slight – double definition.
12. Brandish – wield (as in an axe). A plate of roughage could be a dish of bran!
13. Powder – that’s fine. Daughter (D) in control (POWER). This works as the unaccountable noun – one has control/power over something.
15. Esther – Bible book. Anagram (changes) of THESE, right (R).
18. Turin – Italian city. Take a spin (TURN) around one (I).
19. Plane – tree. The answer is in fligh(T REE)xamined.

21 comments on “Quick Cryptic 811 by Mara”

  1. Brilliant – one of the best of the year so far. Lots of contenders for COD. It’s a shame I can’t easily share it among my friends – I guess I’ll just have to buy them QC books 🙂 Can the editor do me a special deal for buying in bulk??

    Thanks for explaining 2dn! FOI NYLON LOI CARICATURIST COD IDEA/BULLRING/CHARLESTON

  2. This took me quite a while, mainly because of one or two recalcitrant clues. I think I knew of the dog HARRIER, but not the bird, but it took me a while to come up with it. And that finally gave me TURIN, which should have been easier. LOI was 6d; just couldn’t figure out the anagram in my head, and I make it a point (not sure why) to avoid pencil and paper with the Quickies. Anyway, as Chris says, some really nice cluing. 9:31.
  3. Wow great crossword.

    40 minutes with an evil hangover but really enjoyable.

    Shot myself early on by sticking in not kidding for 1a. Also for Turin, I was working initially on I + anagram (spin) of take.

    Once I corrected 1a, everything went in slowly but steadily. LOI 6d once I realized it was an anagram and not a circus act.

    So many contenders for COD (1a, 8a, 11a, 2d, 5d, 12d)
    but will give it 20a for the surface.

  5. An excellent puzzle today which felt harder than my solving time of 15 minutes would indicate. I couldn’t figure out where the ‘new’ in 2d came from, so thanks for clearing that up Chris. I think we’ve had this device before and it baffled me then as well.
    COD was a tough choice but for me 11a just about edges it. LOI 14a.
    1. I’m afraid it didn’t clear it up for me. I had quickly spotted ‘testament’ from ‘statement’ and was thinking that the ‘could produce’ was an anagram indicator but had no idea why it was ‘new’. I got it from 1ac but still no idea where it comes from, despite the explanation!
        1. I still don’t see why ‘new’. Am I supposed to get ‘new testament’ from ‘good book’ and work from there? It could be ‘old testament’. I guess I’m just paddling in the shallows of all this!
          1. “New” is what we term the “anagrind”, i.e. the word(s) that indicates that there is an anagram somewhere around. So if the clue had been “New Testament” then what this is saying is that you have to anagrammatise “Testament” into “Statement”. But as has been said, this is a sort of clue in reverse, so the clue “Statement” is a new form of “Testament”, i.e. “New Testament”. Pretty clever.
            Does this make any more sense?
  6. I thought I was heading for well over 30 mins so was very pleased to find 25:06 on the screen at the end. 2d was particularly clever -thanks for th explanation of how it worked. I plumped for new rather than old as I knew 1a couldn’t be Neo ——.
  7. About 7 minutes for a very good puzzle that was tricky in parts. Had to dodge about the grid a bit and mop up later with the caricature/harrier pair the last to fall.
  8. I found this trickier than recent puzzles coming in at 12:04. The right hand side held me up most. Had heard of the bird but not the dog for HARRIER, with CARICATURIST going in last but then having to go back and correct a couple of typos at the ENNUI/TESTAMENT crossing due to unspotted finger trouble earlier. Some excellent clues that made me think. Thanks Mara and Chris.
  9. Another enjoyable and testing puzzle from Mara, but happily not a marathon today- 22 minutes, including parsing Pater (not immediately obvious).
    My LOI was 6d. Did not know the dog-and I spend most days walking one. David
  10. I chugged along on this at a steady rate, finishing just under my 30 minute target at 29:12.
  11. I blogged a Mara puzzle 10 days ago, and thoroughly enjoyed that, as I did this morning with this one. A little faster today, and just inside my target of 15 minutes.

    Like Chris, I really enjoyed 2d. This type of reverse anagram is appearing more often than I remember, and they can be quite difficult to spot, but with a rewarding penny-drop moment when they are solved.

  12. Got there in the end with a fair bit of help from technology (I struggle with anagrams, even when I do write them down @kevingregg!).

    Didn’t know harrier the dog – thought it was something to do with harrying as in hounding (I hesitate to say dogging as that seems to mean something else these days) but clearly the wrong part of speech.

    1. There’s nothing wrong with using old technology of pencil and paper for anagrams – I do it all the time!
      Some people write all the letters round in a circle, but I separate out the consonants from vowels, writing each in a random order, crossing out any that I’ve already used in the grid. Hope this helps.
  13. Was slightly intimidated by not getting an entry until 10a but perseverance paid off over two sittings. Still, probably 75 minutes in all. Lots of lovely clues and misdirections. LOI 13d. COD 5d.
  14. I found this quite a challenge and kept dipping in and out for most of the day, every now and then having a flash of inspiration that moved me forward.

    I struggled with the New Testament explanation also, but now I see it…very clever…although most people would have got it from the definition.

    For a while I thought 17ac was Rust, but it didn’t feel right and it finally came towards the end.

    FOI 5d, LOI 22ac

    My COD has to be 12dn which made me cry out loud when I finally got it…

    Good crossword – if not that quick!

    DR31

  15. Came to this very late in the day, and that’s my excuse for a time just short of the hour mark. Some excellent clues, with 13d pencilled in as my favourite until Chris explained 2d. Nice clue. Invariant

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