Quick Cryptic 927 by Howzat

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Not as difficult as yesterday’s, but I think this is just on the trickier side of things. I can’t blame any unusual vocabulary or general knowledge required (of which there is little), so I’m left suspecting the setter of some good misdirection. Happy to hear if you all fared well, and I’m just being slow!

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 In which all but one in party stand to lose their seats (7,6)
MUSICAL CHAIRS – cryptic definition.
8 Rough seas do for Black Sea port (6)
ODESSA – anagram of (rough) SEAS DO.
9 Come across game (6)
BRIDGE – double definition.
10 Part of patriotic composition (4)
TRIO – hidden in (part of ) paTRIOtic.
11 Cheer up English football club broadcast (8)
BRIGHTEN – homophone of (broadcast) “Brighton” (English football club).
12 Excellent stock includes wine, initially (5)
SWELL – SELL (stock) surrounding (includes) first letter of (initially) Wine.
13 Winds reel back (5)
LOOPS – SPOOL (reel) backwards.
15 Use roughly half of normal free entertainment (8)
MALTREAT – second half of norMAL and TREAT (free entertainment).
17 Treat ache for every one (4)
EACH – anagram of (treat) ACHE.
19 Some aroma: it aids cocktail (3,3)
MAI TAI – hidden in (some) aroMA IT AIds.
20 Spread in book, say (6)
BUTTER – B (book) and UTTER (say).
21 Top officer with small vehicle in which nobody works (7,6)
GENERAL STRIKE – GENERAL (top officer), S (small) and TRIKE (vehicle).
Down
2 Milk supplier’s shake: not the first (5)
UDDER – jUDDER (shake) without the first letter.
3 Already stocked or coming at a future date? (2-5)
IN-STORE – double definition.
4 Girl beginning to annoy Virginia (3)
AVA – first letter of (beginning to) Annoy, and VA (abbreviation for Virginia State).
5 Vehicle allowed to follow taxi by the river (9)
CABRIOLET – LET (allowed) after (to follow) CAB (taxi) and RIO (river).
6 English novelist with hard, strict sect (5)
AMISH – AMIS (English novelist) with H (hard).
7 Go back coming from right way out (7)
REGRESS – R (right) and EGRESS (way out).
11 Bare all in dancing? I wouldn’t do that! (9)
BALLERINA – anagram of (dancing) BARE ALL IN.
12 Shipping channel view engaging Alan (3,4)
SEA LANE – SEE (view) surrounding (engaging) ALAN.
14 A single celebrity, not highly rated (3-4)
ONE-STAR – ONE (a single) and STAR (celebrity).
16 Forgotten tax? It’s covered by article (5)
TITHE – IT surrounded by (covered by) THE (article).
18 Small inlet you don’t want to be up! (5)
CREEK – cryptic definition.
20 Both bishops and rabbis show this — twice (3)
BIS – hidden in (both show this) BIShop and rabBIS.

24 comments on “Quick Cryptic 927 by Howzat”

  1. 15:19. Much better after two DNFs. A slow start but once 1a went in, clues dropped in regularly.

    Did not parse BUTTER after biffing from ‘spread’, was looking for a “sounds like” for book. Book=b?? Can someone give an example?

    Was held up at 21a as was sure first word was ADMIRAL which nicely fitted my checkers at the time.

    COD the tidy 3+3+3 at 5d.

    SWELL appeared again today, add that to slang from the 60s, surely as dated as ‘groovy’

    1. b is simply an abbreviation for book – see Chambers!

      (The Merlin 55 sounds like an American automobile that like the Ford Edsel never really caught on!)

      mrkgrnao (Meccano!?) Why not go the other way – have a drink – knock in the 15×15 in, in under five minutes and go off carousing with Lord Verlaine – a whole new experience. If it doesn’t suit, return to your admirable (not ADMIRAL merlin 55!) ways and we won’t say a word!

      I hammered this one home in 6.38 after yesterday’s veritable ‘car-crash’ at 15.29!).

      COD 1ac MUSICAL CHAIRS – what fun!

      WOD 19ac MAI-TAI – what fun!

      Travel tip – 8ac ODESSA – not so much fun these days!

  2. 7 minutes to complete the grid but I forgot to go back and parse 2dn before stopping the clock so would probably have needed another minute if I’d done that. I could only think of {sh}UDDER for ‘shake’ but knew that had to be wrong as only the first letter was indicated for deletion.

    The other clue that gave me pause for thought was 19dn where the cocktail remained unfamiliar despite having met it at least 5 times in 15 x 15 puzzles over my TftT years. The most recent occasion was in February this year, and before that in January when I blogged it myself as an “unknown” word and gave the recipe – rum, Curaçao liqueur, orgeat syrup and lime juice, if you’re interested.

    1. I think the cocktail turned up in a recent Metro Cryptic (am I allowed to mention them here?), clued as an anagram. My main problem was the daily struggle to enter the answers on my mini iPad, a device I would have finally parted company with this morning if the train window had been open.I often think being teetotal puts one at a distinct disadvantage when completing Times crosswords. So I’ve never been tempted to try it.
    2. A few weeks ago I read the clues to a quick cryptic crossword one by one slowly. Having the following days Times quick cryptic to hand I filled in all the answers.
      That process took 5 minutes and 36 seconds. Try it sometime.
  3. Another toughie.

    Last four:
    Brighten – the dreaded ‘broadcast’. .
    Maltreat – toyed with part rent but couldn’t make it fit.
    Regress – need to remember egress.

    Ballerina – I don’t like the definition. I prefer
    Bear all in exotic dancer.

    General Strike and Brighten were good but COD Butter.

  4. Found today much easier than yesterday. 12 mins 3 seconds for me. LOI 15a. Took a good while to get 1a and 21a but liked them both very much afterwards
  5. Definitely easier than yesterday’s, I thought. I guess MAI TAI has been in the NY Times crossword so often I assumed it was also a regular here, but evidently not. It sounds vile, but then most cocktails sound vile to me. CABRIOLET struck me as somehow odd, in that the word ‘cab’ as in ‘taxi’ is derived from it. 6:16.
  6. I took longer than I should because I thought cocktail was the anagram indicator and was trying to find a 3-3 from it aids. LOI was Maltreat. 19:23
  7. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, which took me 8:51. Not my best time, but I’m always happy to get in under 10 for the QC. LOI was MALTREAT which took me longer than I care to mention.
  8. Came in just under ten minutes at 9:53, starting with UDDER and finishing with CREEK. I also tried to make an aroma from a cocktail of it aids, but twigged it eventually. Liked GENRAL STRIKE. Thanks Howzat and William.
  9. 1ac and 21ac were write-ins and that made things a lot easier, but eventually came to a complete halt with just 15ac left. Had to go away and come back to it latter, and of course it was then obvious. Funny things, minds. Invariant
  10. I thoroughly enjoyed this, fitting it in between keeping up with the goings on in the County Championship. I agree it was easier than yesterday, but certainly not easy. Loved the misdirection in 1ac, took me a long time to realise it had nothing to do with elections. Never heard of MAI TAI, but then my knowledge of cocktails ends at dry martinis.
    Good challenge.
    PlayUpPompey
  11. After a disaster in the 15×15 today, at least I can take some solace in a p. b. of 5:27 here.

    FOI 1 MUSICAL CHAIRS—always handy if you can get a long answer right off the bat!—LOI 9 BRIDGE, though it was the football-related 11 that was worrying me when I came back to that corner to finish off. Luckily it didn’t need much in the way of actual footballing knowledge.

    COD 11d BALLERINA for its fun surface, WOD CABRIOLET, which was a write-in as I’d taken this photo less than half an hour before.

    Thanks setter and William.

  12. Relatively straightforward today. I’d not heard of 20d before but with only one letter to guess it wasn’t overly taxing. Completed in 14 minutes
    1. It’s worth remembering that BIS—I learned it because it’s come up in the 15×15 more than once in the last couple of years.
  13. Your comments are spot on. Without your blog we wouldn’t be buying The Times, which we do for the xwd.
    Older people trying to keep their brains working
  14. Have been out so coming to this late.
    No problems with the puzzle . About 20 minutes finishing with 15a.
    I liked 1a inter alia. David
  15. Although the answer was obvious from the anagram, I just cannot understand how the definition is “I wouldn’t do that!”. I hope I am not too late for somebody to explain this to me.

    Apart from that I very much enjoyed today’s offering after a real struggle yesterday. MM

    1. “That” in the definition refers back to the first part of the clue which is “Bare all in dancing?” something that would be unlikely if the dancer were a ballerina.

      Edited at 2017-09-27 10:13 pm (UTC)

      1. Thank you for the explanation and for picking up my query so late. I just couldn’t see it! I don’t know what I would do without you and the other bloggers. I struggled with cryptics before I found this site!! I really do appreciate all your help. MM

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