Quick Cryptic 975 by Grumpy

Author   mohn2Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This appears to be Grumpy’s first puzzle for over a year and perhaps that lack of recent familiarity contributed to me finding it a bit harder than average. There’s little that could be described as obscure – I just got the wrong end of the stick on several parsings. A nice crossword, with some pleasingly concise double definitions, though I think I’ll give my COD to the lettuce-eating bird at 4D.

This will be my last Quick Cryptic blog as it has become increasingly apparent to me that I just don’t have the time to do it justice any more. Thanks to all for your comments over the last ~3.5 years – I’m glad to have been a part of your crosswording adventure. With the name John having had a stranglehold over the Monday Quicky blogging duties since the very beginning, management have decided that my successor should be someone with a completely different name. So, two weeks from now, please give a warm welcome to … Don. All the best to Don as well as to your good selves.


Definitions are underlined, {} = omission

Across
1 Black Prince is more intelligent (8)
BRAINIER – B (Black) + RAINIER (Prince, i.e. any one of the three Prince Rainiers who ruled Monaco at various times). This was my LOI – if you’d asked me to name some princes, I doubt Rainier would have made my top 10, even assuming he’d come to mind at all. However the definition, checkers, and likelihood that the answer’s going to start with B should be enough to solve the clue without any knowledge of Monegasque royalty.
6 Unpleasant place for ditch (4)
DUMP – double definition, the second a verb
8 Work with a large stone (4)
OPAL – OP (Work) + A + L (large)
9 Brief conversation in telecom facility (8)
EXCHANGE – double definition
10 Mixture of ink and water in Jersey and Guernsey, say (8)
KNITWEAR – anagram (MIxture) of INK WATER, with the definition referring to two types of knitted sweater
11 Noble Shakespearean king, left from start to finish (4)
EARL – LEAR (Shakespearean king), with the L (left) moved from the beginning to the end
13 Enjoy yourself, playing a hot video game (4,1,4,4)
HAVE A GOOD TIME – anagram of (playing) A HOT VIDEO GAME
16 Second best stall (4)
STOP – S (Second) + TOP (best)
17 Dull players must have finished in front (8)
OVERCAST – OVER (finished) in front of CAST (players)
19 Tea-time’s special for judge (8)
ESTIMATE – anagram of (special) TEA-TIME’S
21 Collar stud (4)
NAIL – double definition, the first meaning to seize
22 I’d heard and observed (4)
EYED – homophone of (heard) I’D
23 Sound made when stealing cattle? (8)
RUSTLING – double definition
Down
2 Extremely rare swan with brown cygnet finally remorseful (9)
REPENTANT – R{ar}E (Extremely rare, i.e. the outer letters of the word “rare”) + PEN (swan) + TAN (brown) + {cygne}T (cygnet finally, i.e. the last letter of the word “cygnet”). Rather an ungainly clue that seemed quite jarring compared with the compactness of most of the rest.
3 Opening some chain letters (5)
INLET – hidden in (some) chaIN LETters
4 I caught bird that’s pulled up lettuce (7)
ICEBERG – I + C (caught) + reversal of (that’s pulled up) GREBE (bird)
5 Come back about worthless dog (5)
RECUR – RE (about) + CUR (worthless dog)
6 Most expensive honey (7)
DEAREST – double definition, the second a term of endearment
7 The face of a fool (3)
MUG – double definition
12 Negligent one working for reduction of sentence (9)
REMISSION – REMISS (negligent) + I (one) + ON (working)
14 Eastern politician bound to be exhausted (7)
EMPTIED – E (Eastern) + MP (politician) + TIED (bound)
15 Unity might make no sense (7)
ONENESS – anagram of (might make) NO SENSE
17 Revolutionary extract from Wagnerian opera being broadcast (2,3)
ON AIR – reversed (Revolutionary) hidden in (extract from) WagneRIAN Opera
18 Where vessels may be made of tin and aluminium (5)
CANAL – CAN (tin) + AL (aluminium)
20 Timid throw (3)
SHY – double definition

29 comments on “Quick Cryptic 975 by Grumpy”

  1. Yes, indeed this is the first Grumpy offering since September 2016 and only his 26th in total, which isn’t very many considering his first was QC3 in March 2014.

    But actually I found it on the easy side and completed it in 7 minutes, my fastest solve since 7th November and I was within my 10-minute target only once last week. I hope today’s result signals something of a return to form for me.

    It occurred to me that 1ac may be hard for some and I hadn’t realised there had been more than one Prince Rainier. The only one to become known to households around the world was because he married the film star Grace Kelly who subsequently retired from showbiz to attend to her Royal duties. I suppose it’s too much to hope that this example will be followed next year in the UK. Considering Princess Grace’s eventual fate it wouldn’t be in good taste to pursue the comparison further.

    Farewell to mohn2 and thanks for all the blogs and help and advice on scripts etc over the years. BTW, I’ve never seen the name John on a Monday QC blog!

    Edited at 2017-12-04 05:20 am (UTC)

  2. A very big thank you to mohn and all the other bloggers. Your efforts on behalf of the, largely silent and anonymous, amateur cruciverbalists are much appreciated.
    As Burke said: “Grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field.”
  3. A rare foray into Quickie land for me, and it proved a good test, with ‘brighter’ popped in at 1a and ‘rate’ at 19a for a while until I saw the light. If Quickie regulars in turn fancy a foray into Regular land today, the puzzle is pretty accessible, especially, perhaps, for Brits of a certain age.

    Well done to John for his sterling stint. And I’m glad to hear someone is taking over Club Monthly duties. J, please mention in your notes/ heading if a puzzle is easier than an average Monthly, as on the few occasion Jerry did this I had a go and felt rather pleased with myself for filling half the grid before turning to the OED!

    1. Hopefully my estimates of Club Monthly difficulty will be closer to the consensus than my wildly inconsistent Quicky ratings …
  4. 33 mins, with dump, knitwear and oneness taking about half the time.

    I was pleased when knitwear popped out from the anagram as I was stuck on _N_T_E_R and guessed it started with the I or A. Also didn’t know Guernsey as a type of sweater.

    COD oneness.

    Many thanks for the blogs Mohn2.

  5. Though having an anagram (KNITWEAR) as my LOI always makes me feel a bit Dopey.

    I enjoyed that very much, even managing to spot the reverse hidden word for once. COD to EMPTIED, very neat.

    Wasn’t at all sure that “collar” = nail, looking forward to getting off the train and having a look at a dictionary.

    Thanks to mohn for blogging, much appreciated.

    Templar

  6. Thanks to Mohn for the blog and to all those who help. I cannot say how much the blog has helped me get to grips with the QC crossword.
  7. A nice Mondayish start to the week with no holdups. Completed in 12 minutes with LOI 19a.
    Thanks mohn2 for all your blogs and assistance, it’s made a huge difference to my ability to solve these things. And also for setting up the QC archive which I enjoy dipping into at the weekends
    1. Glad that the archive has been of use. I stopped adding to it once the new Crossword Club came into existence, as in theory all the Quick Cryptics since number 1 should now be available there, however I can’t see any obvious way to search by setter in the new system, which is a shame.
  8. Many thanks John for all your sterling work. I found this puzzle on the easier side. Most enjoyable though. I started with OPAL and finished with ON AIR. Liked ICEBERG and KNITWEAR. 8:29. Thanks Grumpy and John.
  9. Took a little time to tune into Grumpy, but thereafter there were only a few hold ups (1ac and 2d): that is if you don’t count a carelessly biffd Oaf for 7d. 24mins in total, so a rare excursion for me these days into sub 25 territory.
    Can I add my thanks to Mohn for his excellent blogs over the years – and of course his intriguing avatar. Invariant
    1. My avatar is from a neon lamp that I bought when I was living in New York in the early 2000s. Unfortunately I was a bit short on luggage space when I eventually moved back to the UK so he ended up in a goodwill store.
  10. I had a few hold ups with this. I put Brighter for 1a faintly, but once in it’s hard to correct. Canal took me a while as did Overcast. But after 18 minutes I had all bar 10a. I had suspected an anagram but then failed to see it could start with K and started to think about tax havens. Another couple of minutes put me right.
    A nice puzzle. I liked 22a -a good variation on a word which crops up quite often. 4d too.
    Many thanks to mohn2 for all his contributions. David
  11. All finished in 19:55 and it is very telling that I now find that a disappointing time. When I started doing these about three years ago I was ecstatic to actually finish a puzzle and that would take a good two hours. It has largely been down to this site that I have learned the tricks, conventions etc and I would like to add my voice to the votes of thanks to Mohn for his invaluable help over that time.
  12. Many thanks, John, for the blogs and the javascript. A respectable sub-average time for me today of 5:58. 1a my FOI. I forgot to go back and work out why HAVE A GOOD TIME was right, having done it from all the checkers without spotting the anagram. I too liked ICEBERG.

  13. 30:07 very hard to make a start, and had to do lower half first. Completely missed the anagram at the long 13a.

    ICEBERG very nice, and BRAINIER made me laugh out loud in the train, I had kept looking for a Prince Righter (Monty Python and the holy grail?)

  14. Completed in just over 10 minutes with Dump / Mug pair taking a while (not sure why). Some good short words here that are useful for improvers to remember. With some recent comments about the QC being too hard, hopefully this was a good one – not over easy, but achievable with effort. Today’s 15×15 is worth a go. Many thanks blogger for all your help.
  15. relatively simple for this learner! probably quickest I’ve solved to date!
    I’d erroneously used Prince the singer and the song rain for brainier to slip in. I’m not sure where ier would have come from, but from there I knew brainier was correct!
    thanks to the setter and blogger (like many comments, this blog has helped me aplenty!).
  16. Thanks to all for the kind comments. As vinyl1 mentions, I’ll still be around the place blogging one in five Jumbos and, from next year, the Monthly Club Special (gulp).
  17. every one was a fill in – nothing of the slightest difficulty- time 5.00 but wold be pushed to get 5 on the main 15×15
  18. your contributions have been fantastic – why don’t you do them less frequently rather than none at all, for the ones that count?
    1. Thanks for the “fantastic” (an Internet fiver is on its way!) but unfortunately circumstances in my non-crosswording life are making it nigh on impossible for me to rustle up a Quicky blog and deal with comments in a timely fashion. I will still be doing some blogging however it will be for the Jumbo and Club Monthly, both of which have a much longer lead time for producing the blog and which tend to require less interaction. I am confident that you will be in more than good hands with my successor and the existing Quicky bloggers.
  19. Probably my quickest yet – under 20 mins. Seemed to be on the right wavelength, no grumpiness here!

    Mighty

  20. Completed in a very pleasing 14 minutes.
    LOI Knitwear as with some others didn’t know the Guernsey meaning and was thinking more of cattle and islands etc.
    For some reason I always thought that it was Prince Rainer but it had to be BRainier after checkers excluded Brighter.
    Very enjoyable
    Thanks all
    John George
    1. There are several posts in the Memories section of the site that map the puzzles in various of the compilation books to the blogs on TftT – unfortunately there aren’t any for any of the QC books. I presume you’re finding the blogs by Googling for the clues or unusual answers? If the QC books are anything like the other compilations then the puzzles generally appear in chronological order, which can be a help if you’re having difficulty finding things on Google.
      1. Ha! Thanks so much for your reply! Yes I Google one of the shorter clues and add “crossword” and the setters name and usually get to the blog. It is sometimes fun to look back on people’s comments as of a few years ago. (And occasionally to get a full understanding as to the answer!)
        I think that all of the blogs and comments have resulted in a fantastic compendium of work that will entertain many for years to come!
        Presumably someone has picked out the “best” of the QCs but I think that they could have just released them as 1 — 100; 101 — 200 etc…
        I would have bought them all!
        Kind regards
        John

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