Quick Cryptic 887 by Joker

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A satisfying and entertaining solve! I was immediately stumped by 1dn, having never heard of the (dictionary says “dated”) synonym for boycott, and was helped at 5dn by the very generous definition and wordplay. Final hold-up was in trying to figure out how ‘elope’ fits into the wordplay at 13dn (spoiler alert: it doesn’t).

‘Flower’ = ‘something that flows’ was one of the little tricks that piqued my interest in cryptics 3 or 4 years ago, so very glad to see an appearance here. CoD to 12ac for funniness.

Definitions underlined.

Across
8 Arranged truce after the French talk (7)
LECTURE – anagram of (arranged) TRUCE after LE (‘the’ in french).
9 Join university — first year initially (5)
UNIFY – UNI (university) with the first letters of (initially) First and Year.
10 Hire vehicle needs old time navigator (5)
CABOT – CAB (hire vehicle) with O (old) and T (time).
11 Supply identification when entering show (7)
PROVIDE – ID (identification) inside (entering) PROVE (show).
12 Eat dry mix prepared for stuffing (9)
TAXIDERMY – anagram of (prepared) EAT DRY MIX.
14 Cool joint (3)
HIP – double definition.
16 Period of history covered by several (3)
ERA – hidden in (covered by) sevERAl.
18 Vehicle insurance needed around centre of rough Canadian port (9)
VANCOUVER – VAN (vehicle) then COVER (insurance) around central letter of roUgh.
21 Let fall and let tear (7)
DROPLET – DROP (let fall) and LET.
22 Flower of Scotland — that runs close to Glasgow’s heart (5)
CLYDE – cryptic definition.
23 Vagrant putting pressure on public transport (5)
TRAMP – P (pressure) on TRAM (public transport).
24 Just piano, honest (7)
UPRIGHT – triple definition.
Down
1 Boycott obligation for formal dress (5,3)
BLACK TIE – BLACK (boycott) and TIE (obligation).
2 Part of fridge that is keeping cold in case? (6)
ICEBOX – I.E. (that is) surrounding (keeping in) C (cold) and BOX (case).
3 Broken — though broken by son (4)
BUST – BUT (though) containing (broken by) S (son).
4 Travelling salesman encountered getting up in a bad mood (6)
TEMPER – REP (travelling salesman) and MET (encountered), all written upwards (getting up).
5 Rotary-winged plane gets your goat unfortunately (8)
AUTOGYRO – anagram of (unfortunately) YOUR GOAT.
6 End of a northern race is reported (6)
FINISH – homophone of (reported) “Finnish” (northern race).
7 Ditch colouring material containing potassium (4)
DYKE – DYE (colouring material) containing K (potassium).
13 Brings out diamonds the day before and takes off (8)
DEVELOPS – D (diamonds), EVE (the day before), and LOPS (takes off).
15 See me in repeat broadcast that’s diffuse (8)
PERMEATE – ME inside an anagram of (broadcast) REPEAT.
17 A male in speech is unconcerned with right or wrong (6)
AMORAL – A, M (male) and ORAL (in speech).
19 Still receiving deliveries with no attempt to sell (3,3)
NOT OUT – NO and TOUT (attempt to sell).
20 Some are gay overtly, rising to go cruising (6)
VOYAGE – reverse (rising) hidden in (some) arE GAY OVertly.
21 Had a meal after daughter’s engagement (4)
DATE – ATE (had a meal) after D (daughter).
22 Joker perhaps was concerned with English being banned (4)
CARD – CAReD (was concerned) with the E (english) removed (being banned).

20 comments on “Quick Cryptic 887 by Joker”

  1. BLACK was new to me, too, but seemed inevitable. I do wish setters would not use ‘race’ to mean ‘nationality’. Liked 20d. I’m pretty sure we’ve had ‘flower’ in a Quicky before now; there’s also ‘banker’ to keep in mind, although it’s provoked adverse comment in the forum. 4:16.
  2. 45 minutes but got 5d wrong, as I presumed I was looking for an obscure tree and plumped for aurotygo!

    Also held up by 5d looking for a homophone of male.

    dnk cabot but have been in airline car company called cabot.

    COD taxidermy.

  4. 13 minutes. Unify had to be pieced together before the same process could start on loi autogyro. Cod to 19dn for the definition.
  6. 11 minutes for me this morning. I think black as a synonym for boycott stems from the old ‘blackball’, where in secret ballots for membership or office, voters would drop a coloured ball into a container. White balls signified acceptance and admission, but a single blackball would serve to block the candidate. No-one would ever know who had blocked the candidacy, so effective as a secret balloting system.

    I too laughed at 12 for some reason.

  7. 7:42 for me with LECTURE FOI and AUTOGYRO LOI. A fairly straight forward run through, with only 5d needing a revisit. Blackballing was known to me as a method of secret ballot in club membership elections, so no trouble with 1d. Thanks Joker and William.

    Edited at 2017-08-02 09:56 am (UTC)

  8. What fun this was. 12A made me laugh, and so did 20D – a clever, funny clue. CLYDE and CARD were my last in; for “joker” I was thinking me/I (as in the setter) so until I got the C I was a bit stuck. Very enjoyable! Thanks William and Joker.
  9. Enjoyed this. The AUTOGYRO reminds of the the “Flying Bedstead” which was around in the fifties I think. Flower of Scotland is a lovely mis-direction that held me up for some time. Enjoyed TAXIDERMY. All in all a fun challenge.
    PlayUpPompey
  10. Struggled a bit at the end, with 22ac/d (hidden in plain sight if ever there was a case) and 17d combining to push me out to 45mins. Apart from those three, this was a pleasant solve, with the hidden anagrams in 8ac and 15d making them my co-favourites. Invariant
  11. I actually enjoyed this one for a change. I could visualise the rotary winged aircraft but couldn’t remeber its name, unfortunately. Missed the fact that it was an anagram, unfortunately! Also strugled with 15d and had to use an aid to work out what the word could be from the checkers. Didn’t help that i was looking for an anagram of ‘in repeat’. My wife would have seen it in a flash, just from the checkers.

    Most of them biffed then managed to work out why it was right. Still needed the blog to explain 22ac and a couple of others.

    My method is to work from the paper but confirm I have the right answer on the electronic version. Might be considered shady practice by some but I am still very much a novice at these. Took me a power assisted 30 mins or so. Best for many days 🙂

    Thanks to William and Joker

  12. Many forms of transport in today’s gird: Cab, taxi, Tram, Bus, Autogyro. Any more? Rob
  13. I thought there were a couple of tricky clues today (5d, 22d and 15d spring to mind). I also had a brain fade when I spent some time trying to fit a ‘p’ into 7d for some reason.
    COD 12a, LOI 15d and completed in 19 minutes.
  14. Could Philbert 42 explain the parsing of 22a for me? I am still in the dark…

    2. Flow-er: that which flows. The Clyde is a river and thus flows; right through the centre of Glasgow.
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