Quick Cryptic 826 by Flamande

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
As a complete contrast to yesterday’s puzzle – answer after answer went straight in and I thought I may have been in PB territory. However, the lower half proved a little more challenging and I ended up a fraction under 8 minutes with LOI 15dn.
COD to 7dn as that’s what I’m doing this week – having paused briefly to get wifi access. So – anchors away…

ACROSS

1. Northeast – Northumbrian area. Anagram (transported) of EARTH TONS.
6. Baa – sound of sheep. aBrAhAm.
8. Simpson – surname of (animated) TV family. Small (S), devil (IMP), child (SON – Bart?).
9. Yokel – country bumpkin. Left (L) going after a pair of oxen or other draught animals joined together by a yoke (YOKE).
10. In the long run – eventually. Even if they stop after 100yds a marathon participant is in the long run.
12. Meal – double definition.
13. Once – formerly. In coronati(ON CE)remony.
17. Recollection – memory. Soldiers (RE), money from church goers (COLLECTION).
20. Bring – carry. (B)ride, symbol of matrimony (RING).
21. Picture – imagine. Old Scot (PICT) next to northern river (URE).
23. Doe – bunny (a female one). Make (DO), (E)aster.
24. Exhaustion – tiredness. Anagram (affected) of RESIDENTS.

DOWN

1. Nest – robin’s home. In run-dow(N EST)ate.
2. Romance – story. Italian (ROMAN), ‘this’ in French (CE).
3. His – the man’s. Greetings Hi (plural).
4. Arnold – chap. King (R) inside (sheltered by) A and knight (N), aged (OLD).
5. Trying out – sampling. (T)hese, anagram (nuts) of IN YOGURT.
6. Biker – rider. Us president once (IKE) protected by British (BR).
7. Ailing – being unwell. In boat s(AILING) with hat (first letter) blown off. None of this applies this week on the west coast of Scotland where it’s beautiful – blue skies and calm seas.
11. Half-light – dawn is at the time of (now) half-light. Henry (HAL), journey by plane (FLIGHT).
14. Closure – an end. Anagram (could be) of SO CRUEL.
15. Probed – searched hard. For (PRO), somewhere to sleep (BED).
16. Helper – assistant. Left (L) and very little money (P – 1p) in an anagram (surprisingly) of HERE.
18. Chile – country. Homophone (we hear) of chilly.
19. Spies – sees. Up and down the same.
20. Cod – fish. Caught (C), with r(OD) – rod without the ‘R’.

26 comments on “Quick Cryptic 826 by Flamande”

  1. This took me longer than it felt. I slowed down toward the end, taking an undue amount of time with LOI ARNOLD. 7:12.
  2. A second and consecutive 6 minute finish marks, I hope, my return to form on the QCs. Plain sailing for me, and hopefully for you too, Chris, in the coming week. Relieved to find on reading further that you are not planning to be 7dn as stated in your intro!
  3. 29 mins.
    Very enjoyable. Had to go back at the end to parse his for greetings.

    COD simpson or ailing.

    In the blog 18d should be chile.

    Edited at 2017-05-09 06:07 am (UTC)

  4. Very straightforward today, finishing comfortable in about 20 minutes. For some reason I struggled with 5dn, failing to see the anagram indicator. For 23ac, I always assumed a doe was a female deer. Never knew it referred to rabbits as well. Good to see one of the greatest shows of all time (roughly seasons 1-9, but there’s much debate) cropping up in 8ac. Gribb.
  5. Nice to have one of these every now and then. Under 30 mins which for me is pleasing. Everything seemed to flow from the top to bottom.
  6. Some lovely anagrams in there, nice work by Flamande

    LOI was BIKER, which I eventually got after going on to Wiki to see if there had ever been a President Baker! Doh, as Homer would say.

    Templar

  7. 11 min, so very close to PB. Encouraging! Had to guess Arnold. Can’t think why!!
  8. Bang on average time today. Glad to have a much easier start to the week. I thought 8a was definitely COD. Very clever clue construction.
  9. A really satisfying puzzle, thank you Flamande. But I find answers using names almost impossible – there are thousands to choose from, and I don’t know anyone called Arnold so it didn’t spring to mind!

    Diana

  10. After struggling so much with Monday’s puzzle, this one just fell into place.
  11. A nice puzzle where I solved from top to bottom with no real holdups. FOI was HIS and LOI was PROBED. ARNOLD took a bit of thought. 8:00. Thanks Flamande and Chris.
  12. Is chilly a homophone for Chile? Since the BBC these days seem intent on pronouncing it Chill-eh.
    1. Yes – I think the homophobe works – whatever the BBC has to say. Interesting how language can evolve though.
  13. Just under 23 minutes for me. Most went in very nicely, just a few hang ups near the end. Like many others, LOI was PROBED. I was left going through the alphabet with *R*BED until finaly hit on PRO meaning for. Nice crossword.
  14. Today’s puzzle took me about 20 minutes. LOI was Biker. I was toying with Baker but it did not parse; thought the answer was the name of a former president at first. Prior to that needed time to parse 4d; Arnold was clear from the clue so no problem in my opinion.
    For years I listened to Sounds of the Sixties with the (until recently) immortal Brian Matthew. The show has now been taken over by Tony Blackburn who has re-introduced his fictitious old dog Arnold; not an improvement in my opinion but the name now crops up every week.
    Liked 14d and a good puzzle overall. David
  15. My only real hold up today was my LOI, 4d, where i thought the definition was ‘aged chap’, which I couldn’t make head or tail of. Got there in the end though and completed in 12 minutes. COD 15d
  16. Well, at least I got somewhere near finishing this one after a week or more of puzzles where I couldn’t get more than three or four answers. I had been tempted to give up and look for an easier paper!

    4d – Can’t see why knight should be ‘N’. I had R or K for king and K or SIR for knight. Nowhere near getting this one.

    Also missed some of the anagram indicators so had to rely on the blog to explain how the answer was parsed (14d for example – I just thought cruel referred to people out of work after the event).

    I struggle where I have to (1) work out it’s an anagram and (2) work out where the relevant letters come from. It’s OK if there are clearly a word or words with the right number of letters (1a, for example) but where I have to collect random first letters to add in, I have a problem… In fact I have a problem with the whole process of using random first letters of words!!!

      1. Oh well, thanks for clarifying. So we might get R for ‘castle’ then???
  17. All fairly straightforward, with just slight hold-ups on 4, 15 and 16 to push me out to 25 minutes. Once solved, 16d became my CoD. Invariant
    Filbert, N for knight isn’t random – it’s from chess notation, and avoids confusion with K for king.
    1. Sorry, jumped in with my reply to Filbert before reading your post..
  18. Top half went very easily, so disappointed I struggled with parts of the South. Confused my Celts and my Picts until suddenly they flashed into my mind. That converted lots of pencil into ink! On hols this week in 18d Whitby (where I can blend in with any visiting Goths) so done in fits and starts and no idea of time but suitably lengthy. FOI 1a LOI 16d COD 4d.
  19. Really enjoyed this today although didn’t get chance to do it until tonight.

    FOI 6ac, LOI 4dn, COD 2dn for me for the use of the French “ce” for this.

    Living near the River Ure also helped with 21ac.

    Is it only me that laughed at Baa Simpson? Probably not intentional, but amusing all the same.

    DR31

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