Quick Cryptic 882 by Oran

Blog done in a hurry as off on trip across Europe so apologies for any errors.

Sorry will not be able to field any queries / comments today whilst en route, but I’m sure the mainstays of this site will.

Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–): omitted letters indicated by {_}

Across
1 Support hawk, we hear — then issue retraction (4-5)
BACK-PEDAL – BACK (support) + PEDAL (sounds like “peddle” – hawk, we hear)
6 Country featuring in main diagram (5)
INDIA – Hidden in (featuring in) maIN DIAgram
8 Reward for not standing still? (9)
PROMOTION – PRO (for) MOTION (not standing still). Lovely cryptic definition.
9 Call on small girl to pose (5)
VISIT – VI (small girl – short form of Victoria, Virginia, take your pick) + SIT (to pose)
10 Noticing nothing strange in disguise (9)
INCOGNITO – *(NOTICING + O (nothing)) with “strange” as the anagram indicator
12 Streetcar crossing close to you: a shock (6)
TRAUMA – TRAM (streetcar) with U included (crossing close to yoU) + A
13 Braved winds courageously, for example (6)
ADVERB – *(BRAVED) with “winds” signalling the anagram
16 Relative in awful rage with Barb (5-4)
GREAT-AUNT – *(RAGE) – with “awful” as the anagram indicator – with TAUNT (barb)
18 Correct edition is about people (5)
EMEND – ED (abbrev. edition) goes around (about) MEN (people)
19 Isaac’s son hugged by short bird in book (9)
THESAURUS – ESAU (Isaac’s son) included in THRUS{H} (short bird)
21 One being taught French you support on course (5)
TUTEE – TU (French ‘you’) + TEE (support on course – i.e. what golfers rest their balls on). Never heard a tutor refer to their “tutees”, but there you go – this is crosswordland… makes sense
22 Heartless sports official, with endless zest, imposes
suspensions again
? (9)
REFREEZES – REF{E}REE (heartless sports official) + ZE{st} (endless zest). Definition requires us to think cryogenics
Down
1 Initiation ceremony unsettled MPs a bit (7)
BAPTISM – *(MPS A BIT) with “unsettled” signposting the anagram
2 Vulgar option (6)
CHOICE – DD. The first definition had me puzzled for a while until I thought of “choice language”. At, least, I think that’s how it works.
3 In bad odour, leader finally makes point (5)
PRONG – R (leadeR finally) in PONG (bad odour)
4 One following lawyer is a Welshman? (3)
DAI – I (one) ‘following’ DA (lawyer – District Attorney)
5 Bond girl done for vandalising Thames landmark (6,6)
LONDON BRIDGE – *(BOND GIRL DONE) with “for vandalising” signalling the anagram. Super anagram.
6 Explorer, perhaps, wearing singlet — one meeting reptile (12)
INVESTIGATOR – In VEST (wearing singlet) + I (one) + GATOR (reptile)
7 Move mountains: I’d upset church (8)
DISPLACE – ALPS ID reversed (mountains I’d upset) + CE (church)
11 Trendy old flame: saucy — and clumsy (8)
INEXPERT – IN (trendy) + EX (old flame) + PERT (saucy)
14 Is unable to stand outside for 7 exams (7)
DETESTS – Outside letters of 7 down DisplacE + TESTS (exams) (
15 Mineral: at least four pints spoken of? (6)
QUARTZ – Sounds like “quarts” – ‘at least four pints’ – being at least two quarts (each quart being two pints)
17 Suspicion to follow (5)
TRACE – DD
20 Mischievous child ’s identity, the first to be concealed (3)
ELF – {S}ELF

31 comments on “Quick Cryptic 882 by Oran”

  1. Rather sluggish progress, with CHOICE my LOI; it puzzled me, too, and still does. A number of nice clues, though: 10ac, 12ac, 5d inter alia. 6:45.
    1. Collins has the adjective as
      8. carefully chosen, appropriate, e.g.a few choice words will do the trick
      and
      9. vulgar or rude e.g. choice language

      I think 9. was probably originally intended as a sarcastic or humorous version of 8.

  2. Enjoyable, got bogged down by 9a, 18a, 22a, 6d, 7d, 11d, 17d so best part of an hour including work interruptions.

    Didn’t really like 14d detests.

    COD London Bridge

    1. I find it difficult when one’s supposed already to have solved one clue in order to solve another – especially when I haven’t! Diana.
  3. 11 minutes with time lost over 2dn where I originally had a wrong answer and thought I had it parsed, but when the checkers this provided for 8ac and 10ac proved incorrect I had to rethink it and realised I had made a schoolboy error. My answer was ‘coarse’ which defines ‘vulgar’ nicely (perhaps better than the actual answer), but when it came to the second meaning (option) I had overlooked that it would be spelt with a U, not an A.

    Just to clear up a point raised yesterday about including parsing in my QC solving times. I don’t necessarily, as someone suggested, hold back on writing in an answer until I’ve understood a clue fully. I might well choose to biff it, but I’ll put a query in the margin and return to parse it later in the solve, or at the end before finally stopping the clock. Obviously I solve on paper, as solving on-line whilst using the automatic timer doesn’t give room for manouevre.

    Edited at 2017-07-26 05:14 am (UTC)

    1. I did the same thing with coarse/course, and thought for a bit about how to reconcile either with the clue itself. Went for CHOICE, of course, based on ‘option’, but could think of nothing until Nick came along. I’m sure now Nick’s right, as are you. But I don’t much care for ‘definitions’ that are in effect based on one phrase–I can’t imagine ‘choice’ being used except in a fixed phrase or two (choice words/language; cf. a choice gesture? choice behavior? his choice way of speaking? …). But of course Collins lets the setter off.
  4. Count me as another that plumped for COARSE / COURSE initially. Like jackkt, it was the impossibility of the 8 and 10 crossers that made me look again, having justified my answer as some kind of homophone thing, even though there was no such indicator.

    I thought this was pretty tough for a QC and took more than 20 minutes to solve for the second day running.

  5. i finished in just over 20 minutes so a very average difficulty for me, or I was on the right wavelength. I was another ‘course’ person. Given that we have a Q, X and Z it’s a surprise that it’s not a pangram!
  6. I think my brain was in go slow mode when I started this one before going to bed, as it took me 13:49. I started with INDIA and finished with CHOICE, for which I rapidly discounted COURSE and COARSE early in the solve. It took me a while to see DISPLACE, but looking back there’s nothing too obscure apart from the CHOICE language meaning. Thanks Oran and Nick.
  7. Good to see Oran again. I don’t think he’s appeared since the Irish Cup Final.
    I held myself up by putting in Back Track for 1a and then trying to find a Bond girl starting with K. Anyway I soon realised I had made a mistake.
    There were lots of good clues. COD to 13a. Also I liked 2d -clever and original. Could not parse 14d -thanks Nick.
    I had the RHS done quickly but had to work through the LHS. Finished with 19a in 18 minutes. David
  8. Either I’m still in holiday mode, or this was a lot harder than average. I took two sittings, and even then couldn’t fully parse 6d and 14d, before reading Nick’s blog. Invariant
  9. Tough; more of a small cryptic than a quick one. FOI INDIA, LOI DISPLACE, COD PROMOTION. 13ac spoiled by the tautology.
  10. A fairly humdrum affair which lasted all of 8.28 mins.

    LOI 14dn DETESTS

    COD 5dn LONDON BRIDGE

    WOD 10ac INCOGNITO

  11. Didn’t puzzle but then my parents both habitually described something as choice meaning awful. I think it’s gone out of fashion now
  12. Never did parse 1ac (missed the alternative meaning of hawk). Am still not really sure that a trace (and therefore detectible) is the same as a suspicion, although I can see they may be used in a similar context.
    Good challenge
    PlayUpPompey
  13. As per comment above I found this to be a small rather than quick crytic but very enjoyable – 20 minutes. Cod to 6dn – the image of someone in a vest and meeting an alligator whiist hacking through the jungle was amusing. Loi 7dn – I convinced myself that the definition was ‘move mountains’ so had ‘I’d’ reversed and sat frowning at why splace could ever mean church. Enjoy your travels Nick – prost, sante!
  14. No major problems for me today, although I’d not heard of elf in that context before. Completed in 16 minutes, finishing with 20d. Particularly enjoyed the word play at 16a and 6d.
  15. These are getting to be consistently harder. Depressingly so. Cannot understand even when reading the blogs. For example trauma with close to you. I might as well throw the alphabet in the air and hope it comes down with the answer. I really don’t mind a few challenging puzzles, but 90 % are unsolvable to newbies I can see little point in bothering. I have been at this for 4 months and whilst I have made some progress it is not enough to ever finish a puzzle, and not even come close in the last couple of weeks. Maybe it is just me. Anyway I am going to call it a day as it ceases to be enjoyable if the setters are setting the puzzles for experienced solvers. These are clearly not aimed at a new audience.
    1. Keep at it, it gets easier

      Wordplay: Streetcar crossing close to you: a
      Definition: shock (6)

      Definition shock = TRAUMA

      wordplay
      TRAM (streetcar)
      has inside (crossing) U (close to you = last letter of you = U)
      + A

    2. It is almost certainly just you. Have you tried knitting or yoga? Much more relaxing. These puzzles are not aimed at experienced solvers, I assure you.
    3. I have been attempting the qc since the beginning it is the only cryptic i have found where i can now complete at least 3/4 and 2 weeks ago i finished 4 in a row (although never anywhere near the times posted here, takes at least 8 to 24 hours but hey I am getting better) and that is all thanks to this blog which has opened my eyes to the way clues are constructed. This in turn means that most days I can do a least a 1/4 in the main cryptic. Don’t be despondent it does get better.
  16. Despite being a novice, I didn’t find most of this too bad. It was, however, a DNF as I couldn’t get 11d – I didn’t connect pert with saucy.

    Nor do I link suspicion with trace…

  17. No major problems for me today, although I’d not heard of elf in that context before. Completed in 16 minutes, finishing with 20d. Particularly enjoyed the word play at 16a and 6d.
    1. Yes, it took me by surprise too as “mischievous child” in crosswords is nearly always “imp”. Collins and Chambers both have today’s required meaning though.
  18. I did finish this one – 50:02 – and I’m happy about that because I found it really tough to get going, with only India and tutee going in straight away from the across clues. Many of the clues were great, and I particularly liked 7d (I did wonder for a moment how splace meant church), 10ac and 19ac, but there were also quite a few, mostly mentioned by others, that weren’t quite so satisfying. Does ‘pert’ really mean saucy? Whoever calls a mischievous child an elf? And given ‘displace’ was quite a tough one to get, is it fair to use it as part of the clue to 14d? I’m also not sure I’ve come across the word emend, but that’s probably just my ignorance and it’s always nice to learn something.

    Crispian

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