Quick Cryptic 845 by Mara

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A crossword of average difficulty from Mara today, with perhaps more double definitions than we’re used to seeing. Double definitions can either fill you with delight at the prospect of getting two bites at the definition cherry, or fill you with foreboding at the thought of no route to the answer involving wordplay. I remember being confounded a few years ago by a double definition in the Guardian where the answer was MOLLY and neither definition was a girl’s name, but fortunately none of the examples in this puzzle are likely to cause similar vexation.


The puzzle can be found here if the usual channels are unavailable: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/puzzles/crossword/20170605/24046/

Definitions are underlined, {} = omission

Across
1 Judge fools smugly, initially (6)
ASSESS – ASSES (fools) + S (smugly, initially, i.e. the first letter of the word “smugly”)
4 Get better van (4-2)
PICK-UP – if things PICK UP then they get better. I do not consider this a double definition because the enumeration of the answer indicates that it is hyphenated, whereas the “Get better” meaning is not.
9 Where hands go continuously (5,3,5)
ROUND THE CLOCK – literal interpretation
10 Manage race (3)
RUN – double definition
11 Magnificent quality of plunder, so fantastic! (9)
SPLENDOUR – anagram of (fantastic) PLUNDER SO
12 Group of friends in line on the Underground? (6)
CIRCLE – double definition, the second referring to the London Tube line that is drawn in yellow on the standard Tube map. In my experience, beaten only by the Northern line in any “worst Tube line” contests.
13 Range is rare, however (6)
SIERRA – anagram of (however) IS RARE
16 Cut the wrong way, worthless stuff for suit material (9)
PINSTRIPE – reversal (the wrong way) of SNIP (Cut), + TRIPE (worthless stuff). I’d always thought this was just the name of the pattern but it’s also the name of the cloth.
18 Understand letter that’s dictated (3)
SEE – homophone (that’s dictated) of the letter C. Chambers actually has “see” as the full spelling of the letter C, so arguably the “that’s dictated” isn’t even needed.
19 Sit back after begging chap to find insect (7,6)
PRAYING MANTIS – PRAYING (begging) + MAN (chap) + reversal (back) of SIT
21 Breaking rule, son gets to step down (6)
RESIGN – S (son) in (Breaking) REIGN (rule)
22 Bank on me only (6)
MERELY – ME + RELY (Bank)
Down
1 Show tune (3)
AIR – double definition
2 Amazing punch? A beauty! (7)
STUNNER – double definition
3 Team breaking up? Very funny! (4-9)
SIDE-SPLITTING – SIDE (Team) + SPLITTING (breaking up)
5 Unfortunate incident arose, not thinking (13)
INCONSIDERATE – anagram of (Unfortunate) INCIDENT AROSE
6 Regeneration of Tokyo, Japanese city (5)
KYOTO – anagram (Regeneration) of TOKYO. A city chock-full of temples and shrines, and the capital of Japan before Tokyo.
7 Possible straight countenance? (5,4)
POKER FACE – cryptic definition, making use of the fact that a straight is a hand in poker, as well as that both a straight face and a poker face give nothing away
8 Cold, cold mount (5)
CHILL – C (cold) + HILL (mount)
10 Somehow I prepare starter of consommé that’s fine and edible (4,5)
RICE PAPER – anagram of (Somehow) I PREPARE C (starter of consommé, i.e. the first letter of the word “consommé”). As found, say, on the back of a macaroon.
14 Award with ribbons accepted by zero setters (7)
ROSETTE – hidden in (accepted by) zeRO SETTErs
15 Rubbish container to leave house (5)
BINGO – BIN (Rubbish container) + GO (to leave)
17 Conclusions of Austen are anathema: another actress comes close (5)
NEARS – last letters (Conclusions) of AusteN arE anathemA anotheR actresS
20 State, for example (3)
SAY – double definition

31 comments on “Quick Cryptic 845 by Mara”

  1. Like Vinyl, I had trouble getting started, and had doubts about PICK-UP & RICE PAPER. I learned only fairly recently that BINGO is called ‘house’ in the UK; had I not known that, it would have taken me rather a while to get it. 5:14.
    1. Sorry – I should have expanded on that in the blog. There are so many amusement arcades and bingo halls on the stretch of coast where I live that the associated lingo is second nature. Would be interesting to see how British bingo calls (“Doctor’s Orders – number 9”, etc) compare with American ones.
  2. Started off with ASSESS and worked along and down with no real holdups, finishing with MERELY. I had no trouble with PICK UP, but if I was told to watch out for a white van, I wouldn’t really be looking for a flat bed truck. 8:06. Thanks Mara and mohn2.
    1. I too would be sure to distinguish a van from a pick-up in normal conversation but the dictionaries don’t see an enormous distinction, e.g. ODO says that a pick-up is “A small van or truck with low sides”. I can only assume that means that that is the majority usage across the English-speaking world (at least based on the very little I know about how dictionaries are compiled). But then again all kinds of weird stuff goes on outside the borders of Yorkshire …
  3. was my first stab at 9ac and it proved costly – the Upper East Side just wasn’t working out – so in went ROUND THE CLOCK instead.

    My time was an inglorious 11.15 – LOI 22ac MERELY which I thought was poor.

    COD 9dn RICE PAPER WOD 19ac PRAYING MANTIS

    Commercial BINGO today is generally called BINGO in UK – it was referred to as ‘HOUSEY-HOUSEY’ for domestic games back in the day. Bingo was considered a vulgar term worthy only of the patrons of Skeggie, Blackpool, Cleethorpes, Scarborough, Margate and Great Yarmouth.

    Edited at 2017-06-05 02:03 am (UTC)

  4. Another candidate for ROUND AND ROUND here and also BILGE at 15dn until wiser thoughts prevailed.

    “However” (at 13ac) is an interesting anagrind, and not one that occurred to the compilers of the extensive list in Chamber’s 12th edition.

    1. I must admit that I didn’t question it at the time but if I Google for “anagram indicators” then, of the various lists that crop up on the first page of results, only one contains “However”. I suppose the meaning “in whatever way” comes the closest to indicating an anagram, but it does also seem to require an implicit stretch to “in whatever way you write it”.
  5. Very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Mara and mohn2.
    Done in 20 minutes.

    Last few were sierra, merely, chill, rosette and bingo.
    Rosette was well hidden, and I was glad to remember sierra clued as a range recently.

    COD 18a see.

  6. Fastest time for a while with no hold ups. Liked pinstripe and praying mantis. FOD (fact of the day) Japan’s old capital is an anagram of the current one.
  7. … contains some unusual vocab and at least one trap for the unwary. I would guess that Quicky solvers will find it on the hard side but it’s well worth a go for the experience. Not my kind of puzzle, I must admit.
  8. Mostly went straight in, finished before Orpington.

    Quite liked SIDE-SPLITTING and RICE PAPER.

    Nothing to get too excited about.

    Templar

  9. Me too! Off to a flying start so only brought up short later. Luckily, the TOKYO/KYOTO anagram has lodged itself in my brain so I knew it was wrong.

    Apropos ‘being wrong’ I wish I could stop making my beginner’s mistake of convincing myself I know the answer instead of reading each word carefully first. In this instance 22a bank on- SURETY which, fortunately, I’d only written down underneath.
    One day I will learn and be a bit more humble!

    1. There is an activity called “biffing” (derived from the acronym BIFD – Bunged In From Definition) that describes filling in an answer based on the definition (and possibly checkers and/or enumeration) and without parsing the wordplay. I would like to be able to tell you that you will do this less and less as you gain more experience but … that would be a lie 🙂 I’ve been solving cryptics on and off for over 20 years and the siren song of a good biff is as alluring as ever.
      1. In defense of biffing: There’s something to be said for it, provided you don’t make the mistake of thinking you’ve solved the clue. At least if you’re doing the puzzle online, you can easily erase what you’ve typed, but what you’ve typed might–if your biff is correct–lead you to solve other clues.
        1. I am always impressed by the people who have the confidence to fill in crosswords with ink. I doubt I shall ever reach that august level, Diana.
          1. You will, Diana, you will. Presumably you’re using pencil and paper at the moment? If you’re using the eraser on less than 50% of your entries, then I would suggest it’s time to dive head-first into the inkwell 🙂
      2. Thank you for that explanation.

        Likewise, thank you for the explanation of ‘straight’ in your blog- DNK it was connected with the game and suppose I was guilty of another ‘biffing’ as I’d already got the face part and bunged in POKER vaguely thinking of it as something that was straight!

        My thanks to Mara too, an enjoyable xword.

  10. 25 mins & I’m a beginner. Faster than Les Ferdinand’s 149 Premier goals on Sky Sports anyway…
    Enough gimmies to get me going, FOI ROUND THE CLOCK. I like double definitions too & there were a few of them.
    LOI BINGO, easy enough with checkers but quite a nice clue I thought.
    Decent completion rate these days but still find the 15 x 15 v difficult!!
    Anyway, off to work.
    Thanks
  11. I got off to a really good start on the RHS of the puzzle and thought I might be on for a PB at one point but the LHS was a bit slower to yield. Still, 17:56 is a good time for me. Enjoyable puzzle.
  12. It’s been I refuse to admit how many decades since I ever played bingo, but my memory is that the caller simply calls out a letter and number.
  13. Not too difficult by Mara’s standard. I was heading for a comfortable sub-30 finish, but then got held up by loi 22ac, and eventually needed an alphabet trawl to see what then became obvious. 9ac was my favourite clue today, by a short head from several others. Invariant
  14. Started with Round the Clock and proceeded quickly after that. A slight pause over Pick Up. I had two left when I stopped to get my hair cut. I did need some time to get Rice Paper and finally Pinstripe ( I needed the first letter). Possibly COD to 16a but I also liked Bingo.
    I recall that at the end of the game, if you had a complete card, you shouted House! or Bingo! I imagine that’s where the meanings coincide. David
  15. An enjoyable puzzle today. I enjoyed the double definitions and some nice wordplay.

    “Pick up” might equal van in crosswordland but there is no way on earth it is the same type of vehicle, so that did confuse me for a while. Also didn’t realise Pinstripe was a type of cloth either. Was convinced it was something “Poly”… with lop being the backward cut, but nothing seemed to fit.

    As a final point – and probably mentioned many times before, the circle line is no longer technically a circle…

    FOI 6dn, LOI and COD 15dn

    Thanks as usual

    DR31

  16. Not only are the two motor vehicles different, but the use of van for an enclosed unit pre-dates motor transport, hence caravan, enclosed good vehicles in rail transport are called vans, and more recently an ordinary shipping container is called a dry van. (dry to differentiate it from a tanker). A pick-up cannot possibly be a van as, by definition, it is not enclosed.

    Still don’t quite get 7d even though it went in quite easily.

    About 12mins I think but not sure because of interruptions

    1. As I mentioned in my reply to john_dun above, the dictionaries don’t see this as being nearly as clear a distinction as we might, and the setter can only use the dictionary definitions as a guide. Of course, arguing against the dictionaries is a daily activity on every blog post on every crosswording forum in existence (!), and there is always the chance that the dictionaries actually ARE wrong in some cases, but I am wary of putting more weight on my (and your and John’s) experiences of how the words are used, i.e. a very small sample size, versus a set of books whose express purpose is to document the use of the English language across the millions of speakers throughout the world. The three of us may not consider pick-up and van to have much if any overlap, but there presumably are enough others who do to warrant the dictionaries defining those words in the way they have done.

      I wasn’t sure how to describe 7D as it is not really cryptic at all – it’s more like a plain definition where either reading of the word “straight” will lead you to the correct answer. As you say, it was one of those clues where the answer seems clear but explaining exactly why it fits the clue is rather harder – I would not claim to have nailed it 100%!

      1. Actually I was citing OED which has several definitions, all requiring the vehicle in question to be covered. It doesn’t have any derivation though which might be interesting
        1. I don’t have access to OED, however I think Times setters use Collins, ODO, and Chambers. Presumably in the same vein as OED, ODO specifies that a van is covered, however it also says that a pick-up is: “A small van or truck with low sides”, so it seems like it’s the pick-up definition that doesn’t tally with our experiences rather than the van definition.
    2. Not allowing any visual clues about the strength of your cards to your opponents when playing poker requires keeping a straight face (straight might be ‘as a poker’?). A Straight is one of the useful hands you might hold when playing a game of poker – there are a couple of types: any ‘straight’ run of numbers e.g. a 2 + a 3 + a 4 + a 5 + a 6, or a ‘straight flush’ where the run of consecutive cards are of the same suit e.g. 2 clubs + 3 clubs…. A misspent youth…but I stopped when I saw grown men losing their entire wage packet on a Friday night – a salutary experience.
  17. Another DNF, they seem to becoming more regular having almost eliminated them until recently. Defeated by Bingo – the word play is so obvious now but I had no idea house was a synonym of it. After a long time staring at it I chucked in ‘bilge’ for rubbish out of desperation.
    Hopefully the week can only get better from here.
    Thanks for the blog

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