Quick Cryptic No 108 by Joker – plenty to drink here.

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I hope I’m not upsetting anyone by saying I found this easier than most of the recent quickie puzzles, it was a write-in and took me 7 minutes including printing off (I prefer to solve on a piece of paper) and then entering online to check all was correct.

Across
1 RAPPORT – RAP = severely criticise, PORT = left, def. ‘understanding’.
5 AMISS – A MISS, something is amiss, something is wrong.
8 TEA-STRAINER – TEAS(E) TRAINER, TEASE = rib, TRAINER = coach, def. ‘filter on entry to cup’. Best clue in the puzzle, IMO.
10 AREA – Hidden word, F(AR EA)ST, def. ‘region’.
11 CLASHING – C = conservative initial, LASHING = whipping, def. ‘arguing’.
12 LATTER – LATTE = milky espresso, R = sugar ultimately, def. ‘recent’.
14 DOCKER – (OR DECK)*, indicator ‘when working’, def. ‘who deals with ship’s hold’.
16 ROTATION – (TRAIN TOO)*, anagram indicator ‘awkward’, def. ‘turning round’.
18 PALE – P = beginning to produce, ALE = beer, def. ‘with little colour’. Pale ale, for example.
20 OLIVER TWIST – OLIVE = fruit, R = right, TWIST = new treatment as in ‘a new twist on an old plot’. The boy in the eponymous novel who asked for more.
22 DYING – DYEING with E (energy) removed, def. ‘failing’.
23 INVERSE – IN VERSE = as poetry, def. ‘upside down’.

Down
2 ALTER – To FALTER means to flag, not the first letter makes ALTER, def. ‘change’.
3 PEASANT – PHEASANT = game bird, loses the H = head of horrible, def. ‘farm worker’. Not a PC definition nowadays I suspect, although its original meaning had no derogatory implication.
4 RAT – Hidden word, T(RAT)TORIA, someone has said you’re never more than 10 metres from a rat; but you certainly don’t want to discover one. Reminds me of that Fawlty Towers episode…
6 MUNCH – Remove the I from MUNICH, Edvard Munch, the Norwegian chap famous for painting ‘The Scream’.
7 STRANGE – ST = stone, RANGE = series of hills, def. ‘unusual’.
9 ABANDON – A BAND ON = A group on, def. ‘leave’.
11 CORNICE – COR ! = wow !, NICE = lovely, def. ‘ornamental moulding’.
13 APOLOGY – A, POLO (game) GY = generally hollow, i.e. G(ENERALL)Y, def. ‘defence’.
15 CAPRICE – CAP = limit, RICE = staple food, def. ‘fancy’.
17 ALIEN – Double definition. Remember Sigourney Weaver? Wow indeed.
19 LOTUS – (LOUTS)* indicated by ‘destroyed’, def. ‘sacred water lily’.
21 TON – TON = 100 mph, NOT = never, then reversed.

17 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 108 by Joker – plenty to drink here.”

  1. 7:35, slowed down, inter alia, by trying to make 6d yield either Manet or Monet, until I finally paid sufficient attention to the German city part. I’d agree with you on TEA-STRAINER; also liked CORNICE. OLIVER TWIST was the solution in the clue-writing competition for December 2008; the winner was
    Diner left unsatisfied by old meat roll
  2. At just under 11 minutes (excluding an interruption by my wife) I agree that it was certainly easier than the last few Quickies.
    No real arguments or difficulties, just pretty straightforward clueing, so well done Joker.
    2d reminded me of the note at the beginning of “1066 and all that”: “For ‘pheasant’ read ‘peasant’ throughout”. I think the youngsters would write “LOL” at this point.
  3. Some good fun . I got stuck on CLASHING until I had moved on from Monet to Munch which I solved in Grrman Munchen without the “en”

    Edited at 2014-08-06 08:02 am (UTC)

  4. I’d agree this was at the easier end of the scale and I hope the newbies who had problems with yesterday’s toughie were not put off, returned to try this one and were encouraged by success today. I completed this in 8 minutes.
    1. I think you’re right about this. As one of the novices who struggled and gave up on yesterday’s, this one was a pleasure by contrast … and there were only 50 minutes difference in your solving time and mine. Never mind; anything less than an hour is a triumph for me ..!
  5. 5’10” so definitely a less tricky one. My only mild gripe would be the high number of charade clues (A+B), eg RAP-PORT, A+MISS and P+ALE, since thisallows the solver to get into a comfort zone which doesn’t prepare him/her sufficiently for the real thing, IMO. But, as a confidence-booster, no bad thing.
  6. 4 mins, and definitely one that was a lot more like the early QCs. I agree that the clue for TEA-STRAINER was a good one. ROTATION was my LOI after APOLOGY, and I can understand why the latter would give less experienced solvers a problem because defence=apology is more like the sort of definition I would expect to see in the main puzzle.
  7. Definitely more like a beginners cryptic. I did not finish it but at least got 75% done. I am beginning to accept I will never finish the puzzle as even when I see the answers they make no sense. 13 d and 14 a as examples. The blog helps
    1. I too managed about three quarters and couldn’t work out 16a or 13d. Took me much longer but as a newbie I’m quite pleased.
    2. I’ve not been around for a few days because my empty nest is less empty and it’s hard for this beginner to find the necessary couple of hours to make any kind of decent attempt on a Quick Cryptic. The last few days have been a nightmare crossword-wise as if I did find any time I couldn’t seem to make a start. I’d begun to think my ability to do crosswords was somehow related inversely to England’s ability to win Test Matches :-/

      Nevertheless, I sat down with yesterdays and *finished* it in less than two hours. I can even explain why all the answers are right and that in itself is a marvel

      Keep trying Anonymous Person and Anonymous Person (2) it does get better.

  8. 47 minutes with last one in being Rapport. Started quickly thinking this would be sub 30 but got bogged down with 1ac, 2dn and 4dn. I had seen Rat hidden but took a while to convince myself it was correct.
    COD for me was 8ac.

    Very pleasant solve after yesterdays which took me way over the hour.

    Eurc.

    1. Latter meaning recent (pretty ugly I agree) is in ODO, while Plato’s Apology records Socrates’ defence of his life and approach to the education of the youth of Athens.
  10. New here, with interest piqued by the Quickie’s introduction in The Times. Anyway, didn’t finish as entered ‘rotating’ from checkers for 16D, which led to obvious difficulties for 9D. Relative lack of experience meant I didn’t bother parsing (correct terminology?) 16, as in my head it was correct. Thanks to all for the unwitting tips and advice your comments have provided over the past few months.
    1. I wish I had pound for every time I have entered an incorrect answer, being absolutely convinced it was right. Stick in and you will improve with practice – and your enjoyment of crosswords will increase too.
      For me, the trickiest clue was 2d, which doesn’t seem to have bothered anyone else.
  11. I agree that this was a very straightforward puzzle and was surprised to see that it had taken me a little over the 10 minutes that I aim for. My favourites were the clues for CORNICE and CAPRICE. Thank you Joker.
  12. All but 3 today so pretty happy. Less happy with apology for defence but at least I feel better about not solving it!

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