Quick Cryptic 997 by Mara

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A lovely well-pitched puzzle from Mara today – thanks! Despite having to quickly rectify biffing CAN at 18ac, nothing had me pulling my hair out or reaching for the dictionary. Particular applause for 20dn: the combination of anatomy, slang and surface reading was incongruous, and I like that sort of thing in a clue.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Part of Cardiff lower in essential decorative quality (11)
FLOWERINESS – hidden in (part of) cardiF LOWER IN ESSential.
8 Very good levels of pay for buccaneers (7)
PIRATES – PI (pious, very good) and RATES (levels of pay).
9 Tea after second coffee (5)
MOCHA – CHA (tea) after MO (moment, second).
10 Plastic layers in, as metal out (9)
LAMINATES – anagram of (out) IN AS METAL.
12 Cardinal studied, we hear? (3)
RED – homophone of (we hear) “read” (studied).
13 Last Shakespearean character (6)
BOTTOM – double definition.
15 Huge load placed on modern physicist (6)
NEWTON – TON (huge load) on NEW (modern).
17 Granny just the same, looking back? (3)
NAN – palindromic (just the same looking back) granny.
18 Kitchen device, metal key? (3-6)
TIN-OPENER – TIN (metal) and OPENER (key).
20 Bit of a looker, hot European (5)
IRISH – IRIS (a coloured bit of an eye, or ‘looker’) plus H (hot).
22 Conductor refining some art (7)
MAESTRO – anagram of (refining) SOME ART.
23 Good line erased, dreadfully vague (11)
GENERALISED – G (good), and an anagram of (dreadfully) LINE ERASED.
Down
1 University involved in class meeting (5)
FORUM – U (university) inside FORM (class).
2 Total suggesting two wickets down? (3-3-3)
OUT-AND-OUT – if batsmen were declared out and out, they’d be two wickets down.
3 Fake tears bewilderingly over the end of showbiz (6)
ERSATZ – anagram of (bewilderingly) TEARS, then last letter (end) of showbiZ.
4 Ideology is mesmerising at first (3)
ISM – IS then initial letter of (at first) Mesmerising.
5 Reading, but covering writing or arithmetic? (7)
EXCERPT – EXCEPT (but) surrounding (covering) R (one of the ironic three Rs, such as writing or arithmetic).
6 Deputy required for jilted bride? There’s space for late arrivals (8-4)
STANDING-ROOM – STAND-IN GROOM (deputy for jilted bride).
7 Fascinating period putting books together? (12)
SPELLBINDING – SPELL (period) and BINDING (putting books together).
11 Power left in the grip of lessees, terribly disturbed? (9)
SLEEPLESS – P (power) and L (left) inside (in the grip of) an anagram of (terribly) LESSEES.
14 Suspense is rising in joint (7)
TENSION – IS reversed (rising) inside TENON (joint).
16 A little man, I’m a lowly beast (6)
ANIMAL – hidden in (a little) mAN I’M A Lowly.
19 Well-known, like a musical score? (5)
NOTED – a musical score has notes/is noted.
21 Daddy sheds fat for that woman (3)
HER – fatHER (daddy) without (sheds) fat.

26 comments on “Quick Cryptic 997 by Mara”

  1. Not knowing anything about cricket, including what a wicket is, I wasn’t pleased to see 2d, but fortunately it turned out to be easily biffable. Liked 6d. 5:57.
    1. You probably don’t want to know, Kevin, but just in case, ‘wicket’ can have several meanings in cricket:

      (a) A framework of three stumps, fixed upright in the ground and surmounted by two bails forming the structure at which the bowler aims the ball and which the batsman defends.

      (b) An individual batsman’s turn at batting. When a batsman is ‘out’ a wicket has been taken.

      (c) The ground between the wickets, esp. in respect of its condition (e.g. fast wicket, slow wicket, sticky wicket).

      It’s meaning (b) that applies in today’s clue.

      1. Thanks, Jack, but when it comes to cricket, anyway, I tend to side with Lady Bracknell: “I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.”
  2. 9 minutes, so within my target 10, but it was a skin-of-the-teeth job as I had completed all but one answer in 7 minutes and then needed another 2 for an alphabet trawl to complete the grid. The troublesome clue was 5dn, eventually solved from wordplay as the definition was loose, and a definition by example (DBE) to boot; an excerpt can be many things other than a reading and readings aren’t necessarily excerpts.

    Edited at 2018-01-03 05:48 am (UTC)

  3. What a relief it was to realize I didn’t have to guess some place in freaking Cardiff for this Quickie! I think my LOI was STANDING-ROOM, as it was one of the few here that gave me pause for more than two seconds.
  4. Clue 7 down. (Fascinating period putting books together? (12)).

    Isn’t book binding the putting together of pages?
    Putting books together is making a library.

    KPC

    1. I think one can say that of a single book that it has come apart. It can then be re-bound to put it together again. This procedure went on all the time at my school in the 1950s. Having said this, I confess that my mind initially went to libraries. DM

  5. One short again today. 5d seems pretty tough to me. ‘R’ for ‘writing or arithmetic’ was tough.

    PI=Very good? Try using it in an Email today and see what happens.

    But some great clues, as always with Izetti, COD 6dn.

    And a PI New Year to all.

  6. That’s me completed all 3 QC’s in 2018 ! Think I might be getting the hang of it at last!
    My heart sinks too when I see a cricket clue-but managed this one ok
    Thanks blogger and Mara, HNY to all
    Cheers
  7. Slightly over average time for me today due to being held up at the end by 5d despite having the checkers. A very tricky clue I thought in an otherwise relatively straightforward and enjoyable puzzle.
  9. I really struggled with this one though I really don’t know why. 5d was my undoing and after 20 minutes I had to resort to Mrs Deezzaa who took one look at the letters and announced the answer without a moment’s hesitation and without looking at the clue. I fear I’m not going to hear the last of that.
    Lovely hidden word in 1a.
    1. Mrs Invariant is the same, and what’s more worrying is that she can do it with the 15×15 as well. I stick to the ‘it doesn’t count unless you can parse it’ line. Invariant
  10. 5dn defeated me, and I must say that reading seems a very loose definition of an excerpt even if it does make for a clever surface. I enjoyed 6dn (very droll) and the hidden in 1ac (that took some spotting). All good fun though.
    PlayUpPompey
  11. Very good puzzle again – thanks! Was struggling to justify excerpt but was amused by the explanation. I’m with Merlin however about pi. Just don’t like answers that only ever crop up in crosswords. This word wasn’t even common in the 20C let alone 2018
  12. Scraped in under 10 again, so having a good run. 1d and 1a FOsI and BOTTOM was bottom. Nice puzzle. Thanks Mara and William. 9:33.
  13. About 30mins today, which seemed ok but then I had no trouble with 5d, so perhaps a bit slower than it should have been. I was impressed by Mara’s 11 letter hidden word in 1ac, and by 7d, but my CoD has to be 6d for the added humour. We did Henry V at school, but MND certainly seems to be the play of choice in crossword land. Invariant
  14. Just under 10 minutes for this very enjoyable outing. Some lovely hidden clues. All very accessible apart from 5d which makes you wonder how a word could be spelt in such a way. Always useful to remember Shakespeare’s rude mechanicals as they often crop up. Starveling and Quince were in a recent 15×15. I tried today’s 15×15 which was from their recent Times championship and realised how hard these things can be! Thanks all
  15. My first golf game of the year today. Very windy and wet underfoot but good to get out.
    As a result I was rather sleepy when I first looked at this. It required a large mug of tea and full concentration.
    My last two were 5d (like others it took me a while) and finally 13a. My Shakespeare knowledge is very thin but this just crept in. COD to 20a. About 20 minutes in all. David
  16. I found this quite tricky, but unlike others I got 5d relatively quickly. My struggles were with 2d, 7d, 10a and LOI 13a which accounted for the final 9 minutes of the 28 it took to complete. I’ll put it down to general doziness as the they were all quite obvious once the pennies finally dropped!! Particularly enjoyed the two hiddens at 1a and 16d.
  17. Having finished Pedro yesterday I can’t believe how difficult I found this one, especially once I had read the blog and most of the answers seemed pretty straightforward. Oh well….on to tomorrow.
  18. PI for very good: read it as P1 as in first place. “Lewis Hamilton is in P1 ahead of Vettel”.

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