Quick Cryptic No 147 by Tracy

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A very fine crossword, in my opinion. Clever clues where the word play has relevance to the definition and the occasional mental gymnastics needed for some word play.
Some went in really quickly and some – particularly 1dn and 20ac took some time.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Poor celeb getting stuck into Chablis: terrible! (1-6)
&nbsp &nbspB-LISTER – Lovely surface at no.1 – the answer is in the clue chaBLIS TERrible. Blister without the hyphen also speaks of poor/bad person.
5 Famous Venetian game (4)
&nbsp &nbspPOLO – Double definition – ol’ Marco and a game involving horses.
7 Elegance shown by good people (5)
&nbsp &nbspGRACE – Good (G) people (RACE).
8 Fine, away from the sea, in European republic (7)
&nbsp &nbspFINLAND – Fine (F), away from sea (INLAND).
10 ‘Dandy‘ and ‘Beano’ finally brought in by former pupil (3)
&nbsp &nbspFOP – Last letter (finally) of beanO inside former pupil (FP). I haven’t seen FP for former pupil before but it must be – I’m more used to OB for old boy.
11 Force prisoners to exercise (9)
&nbsp &nbspCONSTRAIN – Once you’ve got prisoners (CONS) the excercise (TRAIN) isn’t a big step.
13 With leader of clan ousted, curtail crazy custom (6)
&nbsp &nbspRITUAL – This is a bit of a tester – leader of clan (C) is ousted from curtail leaving URTAIL which is an agaram (crazy).
14 Come into view from the East, then combine (6)
&nbsp &nbspEMERGE – East (E) combine (MERGE).
17 Do something with little time to spare — fettucini, possibly (3,2,4)
&nbsp &nbspCUT IT FINE – I liked this one – anagram (possibly) of FETTUCINI – which is actually a thick cut of pasta but flat so could be considered finely cut in that respect.
19 Son, notice, is unhappy (3)
&nbsp &nbspSAD – Son (S) notice (AD).
20 One rowing, small kitchen being unfinished (7)
&nbsp &nbspSCULLER – Spent a while trying to fit s for small and oar or stroke into this but, no it’s small kitchen (SCULLERy) without the last letter (unfinished).
22 Run to avoid large snake (5)
&nbsp &nbspADDER – Run as in ladder in stockings (or tights – whichever you prefer) without (avoid) the L for large.
23 Animal in forest, a grizzly (4)
&nbsp &nbspSTAG – Another in-the-clue answer foreST A Grizzly.
24 View display of emotion approaching railway (7)
&nbsp &nbspSCENERY – Display of emotion (SCENE) railway (RY).

Down
1 Go back first to change the whole outfit (3,2,6)
&nbsp &nbspBAG OF TRICKS – Anagram (to change) GO BACK FIRST. Whole outfit and bag of tricks not immediately (or even slowly) coming together for me.
2 Up against it travelling to Spain (2,1,4)
&nbsp &nbspIN A SPOT – Anagram (travelling) of TO SPAIN.
3 Forthright, worker, perhaps, following cut (9)
&nbsp &nbspTRENCHANT – Worker perhaps (ANT) following cut (TRENCH).
4 Pay back communist with pleasure, inside (6)
&nbsp &nbspREFUND – Communist (RED) with pleasure (FUN) inside.
5 Writer in dock (3)
&nbsp &nbspPEN – Well the answer was pretty obvious as a double definition but the Dock one took some thinking about but, of course, it is as in a U boat pen (thanks OED).
6 Pounds carried by monk’s pack animal (5)
&nbsp &nbspLLAMA – Pounds is L – just one, singular – because the LAMA is the monk.
9 Put on important match between local teams, event at rural fête? (6,5)
&nbsp &nbspDONKEY DERBY – Put on (DON) important (KEY) match between local teams (DERBY) – a rather pleasant clue.
12 Moderate consumed with rage to begin with (9)
&nbsp &nbspTEMPERATE – Consumed (ATE) with rage (TEMPER) beforehand.
15 Poor rise expected for the rest (7)
&nbsp &nbspRESIDUE – Anagram (poor) of RISE with expected (DUE).
16 Type of fruit, squash, mostly covering it (6)
&nbsp &nbspCITRUS – Squash mostly is CRUSh around (covering) it (IT).
18 Mock relative after end of set (5)
&nbsp &nbspTAUNT – End of seT with relative (AUNT).
21 On stage (3)
&nbsp &nbspLEG – A cricketing reference – double definition – the on side is the leg side and a stage is a leg.

8 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 147 by Tracy”

  1. I managed to misinterpret a number of these clues, leading to a 9:20 time. I read 11ac, for instance, as an anagram of (prisoners) with ‘force’ as the definition; I thought ‘run’=R in 22ac, did NOT see the anagram in 1d, I thought 14ac involved a reversal (‘from the east’) and actually thought of ‘m-o-o-l’ (loom backwards), etc. DNK DONKEY DERBY. But it was fun nonetheless.
  2. Greatly enjoyed this puzzle although not a quick solve. I also struggled with the definition in 1d but the anagram was clear. Last one in RITUAL and favourite DONKEY DERBY.
  3. I was pleased to finish within 10 minutes (but only just) for the first time in a while, not that the puzzle struck me as particularly easy whilst solving it.

    I didn’t understand PEN/dock and forgot to look it up, so thanks for the example in the blog. I’ve never met FP before but it’s in all the usual sources so it appears to have been underused or overlooked by setters to date. If OB is Old Boy, why is there no OG for Old Girl, I wonder?

  4. I must admit it took me a while to get going with this and eventually came in at 12:07. Mind you it didn’t help putting “in a spin” and “citric” unthinkingly.
    Like everyone else, I’d never heard of “FP”, but then once you’d determined “Dandy” was the straight clue, what else could it have been?
    Well blogged Tracy, nicely clear and succinct.
  5. I had I lot of fun this morning trying to untangle some of these!

    B-LISTER my favourite, closely followed by DONKEY DERBY and TRENCHANT.

    PEN and FP new to me too – thanks setter for an entertaining and informative challenge.

  6. 5 mins. I finished back in the NW quadrant with IN A SPOT, FOP and BAG OF TRICKS in that order. My first thought was OB rather than FP for the former pupil at 10ac, and although I knew the answer couldn’t have been “oob” I waited until I had a checker before I entered the obvious (from the definition) FOP.
  7. My guess is that the term is used more in Scotland than in England. If you follow rugby union you may come across teams in Scotland such as William Herriot’s FP.

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