Quick Cryptic 817 by Orpheus

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Apologies for the sparse blog. I find myself without a computer this week, posting on an iPad and in plain text.

Plenty of easy starters in all corners make the longer answers solvable; a great beginner’s workout, if you ask me. Only 7dn had me reaching for the dictionary!

Across
1. TERRACE (row of similar houses) – TRACE (locate) around (without) ER (hesitation).
5. ABLE (talented) – L (liberal) inside (received by) ABE (President Lincoln).
8. BUGBEAR (pet hate) – BUG (insect) and BEAR (omnivorous mammal).
9. TRIPE (stomach lining of ox / rubbish) – double definition.
11. DISCRIMINATE (prejudice) – anagram of (strangely) INDIRECT AIMS.
12. PSYCHO (film) – hidden in (using part of) gyPSY CHOrus.
14. RAT-TAT (knocking sound) – RAT (rodent) and TAT (rubbish).
15. CUPBOARD LOVE (tendentious) – cryptically, a show of affection for cabinet (13dn).
17. STINK (nasty smell) – ST (street, way) and INK (writing fluid).
18. ANOTHER (an additional) – A (article) next to (by) NOT HER (him, presumably).
20. DUTY (responsibility / tax) – double definition.
21. TEACAKE (toasted bun) – TAKE (consume) around (about) first three letters (three-quarters of) EACh.

Down
2. EMU (flightless bird) – hidden in (exhibited in) aussiE MUseum.
3. REBUS (puzzle) – RE (relating to) and BUS (public transport).
4. CHAIRWOMAN (female president) – I (one) inside (let in by) CHARWOMAN (daily help).
6. BARONET (titled gentleman) – O (circle) in BARNET (Gt London borough).
7. EXPATIATE (elaborate) – take away (withdrawing) R (right) from EXPATrIATE (person living abroad).
10. IMPRUDENCE (indiscreetness) – IMPUDENCE (cheek) surrounding (concealing) R (republican).
11. DISGUSTED (appalled) – anagram of (disturbed) GUEST IS, inside (taken in by) D and D (daughters).
13. CABINET (piece of furniture) – cryptically, group chosen by the PM.
16. OPTIC (relating to the eye) – OP (opus, work) and TIC (involuntary movement).
19. ELK (largest deer) – EL (the in Spanish) and K (King).

17 comments on “Quick Cryptic 817 by Orpheus”

  1. 31 minutes, at least 15 spent on 10d imprudence and LOI 18a another.

    dnk expatiate.

    COD Another.

  2. I can’t remember what slowed me down at the end; I even got the hiddens right off. But something did, and I wound up with 6:10 when I was hoping for rather better.
  4. At one point I thought a PB might be on the cards as there seemed to be quite a few write-ins, but I ended in 15:49 which is good for me but way off a best. Expatiate was a DNK for me. Imprudence is what George Osbourne always used to try to avoid.
  5. I could see that that must be the answer but just could not work out why … so a DNF for me. Thanks to the blog for explaining NOT-HER … a bit stiff for the QC in my humble!

    Funnily the clue I liked most was DUTY, which had an elegant simplicity.

    Didn’t know a rebus was a puzzle, everydays a school day

    Tom

  6. Raced through this until I came to a halting stop at 15ac, 10dn and 18ac. Never heard of cupboard love or imprudence, but managed to get them. After almost giving in, I finally put in “another” without understanding why. I thought it was “an” + “other” (additional article), but that doesn’t make sense, so thanks, blogger, for clearing this up. All in all, took about 35 mins to finish. Gribb.
  7. My quickest yet, I think, at about 15 minutes. TERRACE and ANOTHER had me stumped for a bit – thanks for the explanations (I got them but couldn’t quite see how!).
  8. I think that was a PB for me at 5:05. Straight top to bottom solve, with FOI TERRACE and LOI TEACAKE. EXPATIATE made me think and I wrote CHARWOMAN in for 4d and took it out again until the penny dropped. Nice puzzle. Thanks Orpheus and William.
  9. Was completely stymied by 15ac. Had never heard of CUPBOARD LOVE. Up until then had finished in just under 15 Thanks to Orpheus for the puzzle and William for the explanations
  10. Well, I enjoyed this one (thanks, Orpheus). Did it in an hour over coffee in The Snugg in Bromyard. I had to use my helpers for some bits but, at least, I got all the answers – unlike the last few days where I could only manage about half, even with technological backup. Maybe I won’t give up just yet!

    I wasn’t sure about the wordplay for some of the answers, even though they were clearly right, so thanks to William for explaining them. Not knowing how to spell the full version of ‘expat’ didn’t help either.

    I did like 3dn, so that’s my COD

  11. I had this done bar one clue in 10 minutes. For some reason 4d held me up; I was looking for a female name like Charlotte and did not stop to parse properly. The last clue took me about 7 minutes!
    A nice easy-ish puzzle; only 7d a bit obscure. David
  12. Started quickly but then came to a full stop with the 10/15 combination. Should have at least thought of impudent for cheeky, but in the end needed electronic aids to finish. I hope this is a bit above a beginners level, or I am going backwards ! Invariant
  13. 28 minutes dead for me. Not helped by the fact that I read 6d as “tilted gentleman…”, which made no sense. Guessed at expatriate and cupboard love, as not heard of them before.
  14. How have I spent a life believing the word was spelt Expatriot! They may not be after Brexit.

    There was a bizarre coincidence in my last two unfinished in (8a and 15a): each had the unusual sequence:

    – U – B – A –

    which nearly defeated me.

    Philip

  15. Most of this was relatively straightforward but my last two in held me up. 18a took me a while to figure out what was going on and needed all the checkers before the penny dropped. Then I had a complete mindfreeze for 8a – I couldn’t identify either part of the clue for what seemed like an eternity.
    Eventually completed in 15 minutes, COD 20a
  16. I found this a strange puzzle. Some of the clues were incredibly straightforward e.g. 1ac, 8ac, 12ac and then I hit a brick wall with 4dn, 7dn, 15ac, 18ac and 10dn.

    I thought it was a bit above average for a QC overall, but maybe that’s just me.

    I always think of RAT A TAT rather than RAT TAT for 14ac and whilst I got 21ac for TEACAKE I parsed it completely different and then couldn’t understand why I was missing a “k”.

    DNF – but a learning experience all the same

    DR31

  17. I see the explanation, but still feel that it doesn’t work — Sorry!!

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