Quick Cryptic No 118 by Flamande

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A pleasant puzzle, two of the definitions are rather vague or loose (3d, 5d) and an unspecified woman makes 20a a rather random exercise. Not much else to add.
UPDATE: it appears (see below comments) that the in-paper version has a different / easier clue for 2 dn – all very odd.

Across
1 SECURE – CUR = dog is kept inside SEE = understand, def. safe.
4 STEPPE – STEP = walk, PE = exercise, def. extensive area of grassland.
8 SCARLET RUNNER – Double def., a kind of climbing (runner) bean, and an overheated athlete.
10 ENTRY – Double def., not sure why there’s a ?
11 ATTACHE – Another double def. The Embassy employee, and the kind of case originally used by same.
12 BROADSHEETS – (THE BOSS READS)*, indicated by ‘various’, def. newspapers.
16 VILLAGE – V(ery) ILL = bad, AGE = time, def. small community.
17 UNITE – UNI (abbr. for university), TE(achers), def. marry.
18 NO GREAT SHAKES – Amusing cryptic definition.
19 ENTIRE – NT = set of biblical books, inside EIRE = Ireland, def. complete.
20 CRANNY – ANN gets stuck in CRY = shout, def. crevice. No obvious reason to think of Ann as an example for woman, but the checkers give you little choice.

Down
1 SISTER – Hidden word, WARD(S IS TER)RIFYING, def. nurse.
2 CHARTER FLIGHT – CHAR = daily, then FRET (worry) reversed = TREF, then LIGHT = land, def. specially-organised air trip.
3 RALLY – REALLY = definitely, lacking E = energy, def. long-distance race. Not what I think a rally, is, but I suppose it involves long distances and time trials.
5 TRUSTEE – RUST = decline (does it?) inside TEE = support (for golf ball), def. administrator.
6 PANIC-STRICKEN – (NICKS IN CARPET)*, def. alarmed.
7 EARNER – LEARNER = pupil loses its L = head, def. someone who’ll make money.
9 TRANSIENT – TENT = shelter for camper, around (RAINS)*, indicated by ‘unexceptedly’, def. temporary.
13 AMATEUR – MATE = colleague, stuck inside A UR (city of old, a chestnut as I mentioned 2 weeks ago), def. unprofessional.
14 AVENUE – A VENUE = place to meet, def. boulevard.
15 JERSEY – Double def., ‘top’ and the island; and GUERNSEY has too many letters.
17 USHER – US = American, HER = female, def. court official.

19 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 118 by Flamande”

  1. re rust, Collins says: “to deteriorate or cause to deteriorate through some debilitating influence or lack of use ⇒ “he allowed his talent to rust over the years” .. which seems adequate.
    1. The chemist me hates it when English usage (as established in a dictionary) takes a word with a very exact meaning: rust = iron oxide forming on iron: and gives it an unnecessary use as a synonym for e.g. deteriorate. Talent rusting? Ugh. But I’m a mere scientist not a poet. Thanks for the timing tip BTW.
      1. English usage is not established by dictionaries. It is established by speakers and writers, and then this is reflected in dictionaries. A dictionary is a record, not an authority. Your distaste for ‘rust’ being used in this sense is not going to stop people using it I’m afraid!
  2. 17 minutes with at least the last 7 spent on 4ac/5d. I’d never have thought of rust = decline but SOED has rust as ‘moral decline – long rare or obsolete”
  3. Using this blog to check the print version, and the clues appear to be different. My paper has no “a” in 10ac, and 2d is clued “specially organised air trip: mapmaker fine to land”, which doesn’t fit with the above at all! As a newbie, is this common?
    1. Very odd, but not a surprise given the Times IT track record; the online one I see from feeds.TheTimes (it’s not on the Club site) has a different clue for 2 dn:
      “Specially-organised air trip gives daily worry, going over land”.
      I can’t buy the print version paper here so have to print-screen to get my hard copy to solve then enter online to check for correct.

      There is no ‘a’ in 10ac, it was the query mark I was querying.

      1. The tablet version had the ‘daily’ version of the clue. I would have found the mapmaker (charter) version much easier and would have finished rather more quickly had I seen that one! I found the south east corner the easiest, I hated 5D because in my world, trustees are not administrators. Still, I completed it (albeit slowly). Which I suppose represents if not progress then at least no decline…
  4. Enjoyed this one as a newbie and wished there was a 21across as in the introduction to the blog but perhaps it was a typo
  5. Not overly exciting – found this a bit lacking in wit or spark.

    I too join the chorus of those who dislike TRUSTEE. All perfectly legit I’m sure, but odd usage of RUST and also agree with faceofboe that the definition is significantly out of whack with the trustees I’ve worked with in various roles.

    1. Absolutely agree, Nick. Horribly turgid compared to yesterday’s delight. Made me grumpy.
  6. Pretty standard fare I thought with only 18 across raising a smile. Agree with everyone else about TRUSTEE and RUST. 12 minutes – would have been a lot quicker had I spotted the hidden SISTER.
  7. 5 mins. I didn’t have a problem with the definition of “rust” in 5dn, and there are plenty of dictionaries that include a definition of the word as something like “a state of deterioration or disrepair resulting from neglect or lack of use”. I solve on treeware so I had the easier 2dn, and my last ones in were the JERSEY/CRANNY crossers.
  8. Why do you say: CHARTER FLIGHT – CHAR = daily, then FRET (worry) reversed = TREF, then LIGHT = land, def. specially-organised air trip? This doesn’t seem to have much to do with the clue.

    I thought it is that a mapmaker is a charter and f=abbrev for fine and then land=light as in alight from something.

  9. A little over 4 minutes, with no real quibbles with either “rust” or “rally”; LOI “jersey”. Absolutely bemused, indeed a little angry, that we can end up with a completely different clue in the on-line as opposed to the paper version. The words organise and brewery seem to come to mind.
  10. Meh. Did it in 26 with a fair deal of Z8ery. I expect I was tired.

    Found it hard going with not much wit or sparkle – but relieved by a lovely blog from Pip.

    COD ATTACHE, LOI BROADSHEETS just couldn’t see it…

    Sorry, Flamande, you did not set my world on fire..

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