Quick Cryptic No 152 by Izetti

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Another enjoyable workout (in 10 minutes). The maze-maker and retreat may be unfamiliar to some but one joy of cryptic crosswords is working out an answer you may not have heard of and learning something new.

So, hoping no one thinks ‘bah 1ac’, here we go…

Definitions are underlined.

1 Sound of bee, insect seen as sweet (6)
&nbsp &nbspHUMBUG – Sound of bee (HUM), insect (BUG). The sweet can be the same colour as 22ac.
5 Most vile street east of HQ (6)
&nbsp &nbspBASEST – Street (ST) east of (to the right of i.e. after) HQ (BASE).
8 A device to stop someone having hard drink? (5,8)
&nbsp &nbspWATER SOFTENER – This is, I think, a crytpic definition where the whole clue is the definition. Hard water is softened by such a device. Us folk who get their water from the peaty Peak District, as opposed to chalky aquifers, don’t need to employ them. If anyone is further interested I’m told that, in the days when car batteries required topping up, the tap water here was so pure that it was used instead of distilled water.
9 Feeble few days by the sound of it (4)
&nbsp &nbspWEAK – Homophone (by the sound of it) of week (a few days).
10 People in tents imbibing hot alcoholic drink (8)
&nbsp &nbspCHAMPERS – People in tents (CAMPERS) imbibing hot (H).
11 A quiet animal in retreat (6)
&nbsp &nbspASHRAM – A (A) quiet (SH) animal (RAM) – traditionally, an ashram (Sanskrit/Hindi: आश्रम) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery.
13 Happens to be officer commanding despicable people (6)
&nbsp &nbspOCCURS – Officer commanding (OC), despicable people (CURS).
15 Labyrinth constructor lauded as innovatory (8)
&nbsp &nbspDAEDALUS – Anagram (innovatory – what a pleasant and unusual anagrind) of LAUDED AS. With the checkers this should be OK if you hadn’t heard of him.
17 Blade — one associated with blood, we hear (4)
&nbsp &nbspVANE – Homophone (we hear) of one associated with blood (VEIN). A vane is a broad blade attached to a rotating axis as in a weather vane.
19 London landlord? One may be starting a sentence (7,6)
&nbsp &nbspCAPITAL LETTER – London (CAPITAL) landlord (LETTER).
21 Notice opening period leading up to Christmas (6)
&nbsp &nbspADVENT – Notice (AD), opening (VENT).
22 Does it spread bovine TB? Bother! (6)
&nbsp &nbspBADGER – A double definition, I think – the humbug coloured animal and to bother as in hassle (rather than bother! as in an expression of dismay – thankyou commentators).

Down
2 Habitual practice of superior person adjudged wise (5)
&nbsp &nbspUSAGE – Superior (U), person adjudged wise (SAGE).
3 One smashing glass — first of robbers to enter (7)
&nbsp &nbspBREAKER – Glass (BEAKER) with the first letter of Robbers inside.
4 Georgia’s idle talk (3)
&nbsp &nbspGAS – Georgia’s – the US state’s (GA’S).
5 Expert on plants and animals (9)
&nbsp &nbspBUFFALOES – Expert (BUFF) on top of plants (ALOES).
6 Man getting covered in black makes son cry (5)
&nbsp &nbspSWEEP – Male (or female) getting covered in black soot tends to be a SWEEP made up from son (S), cry (WEEP).
7 Worker dealing with sheep — hers are awkward (7)
&nbsp &nbspSHEARER – Anagram (awkward) of HERS ARE.
10 Amenable, making calm point after negotiation (9)
&nbsp &nbspCOMPLIANT – Anagram (after negotiation – another good anagrind) of CALM POINT.
12 Home Counties prize coming to coastal area? (7)
&nbsp &nbspSEAWARD – Home Counties are in the South East (SE), prize (AWARD). If inland and travelling towards a coastal area one would be heading for the sea. I think I’d have preferred ‘going’ to coastal area.
14 Wanted mixed school to have internal check (7)
&nbsp &nbspCOVETED – Mixed school (COED) to have check (VET) inside (internal).
16 Doctor, I have a road up to the house (5)
&nbsp &nbspDRIVE – Doctor (DR), I have (I’VE).
18 Relation of a German set up English church (5)
&nbsp &nbspNIECE – A German (EIN) backwards (set up) English church = Church of England (CE).
20 Past fifty, old boy to send up (3)
&nbsp &nbspLOB – Past (after) fifty (roman numeral L), old boy (OB).

21 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 152 by Izetti”

  1. Good puzzle, quite tough with DAEDALUS and ASHRAM going in on word play, I think ashram has appeared before. Particularly liked 19a which initially had me thinking about prisons. Last one in VANE after COVETED.
  2. At 22ac, I think to badger someone is to bother them.

    At 8ac, as the blogger says the whole clue is the definition and we call this an &lit clue, a shorthand way of saying the whole clue is to be read literally.. they are difficult clues to set and are highly regarded.

  3. A nice one. I knew Daedalus was the putative architect of the Labyrinth of Minos, but it definitely helped to have some checkers anyway. Ditto for 22ac (LOI) and 17ac (2d to LOI). Do badgers indeed spread bovine TB? I do know that you can get leprosy from an armadillo (I am NOT making this up), a fun fact to throw into your next cocktail party conversation. 6:50.
    1. No, they don’t. Hence the ? – it’s a very Hot Topic in some parts of the country (including here) what with the experimental cull…
  4. Not at all easy for me, this one. Most of the clues weren’t write-ins unless I already had checkers in place and some of them, notably 17, 14 and 22, put up a lot of resistance. 20 minutes.

    Edited at 2014-10-07 07:43 am (UTC)

  5. Don does excellent tough ‘graduation-style’ Quickies, and this was another of that ilk. VANE and BUFFALOES are both worthy of the main cryptic, as is SWEEP with its inventive literal. I finished with BADGER, which seems to have gone from the UK’s answer to the panda to public enemy number one in the time I’ve been absent from those shores.
    1. Some very interesting and clever clues. One of the best crosswords so far. And for those with short memories, as well as a person, Daedalus is a particular sort of maze and it’s also a computer program to help solve them. Constructor seems to be not needed.
      1. I think the constructor aspect appeals to the classic and ecclesiastic in Don Manley.
  6. Took me about 30 mins today, but completed it. LOI Buffaloes / Water Softener which delayed me a fair bit. Knew Daedalus fortunately and got ashram from the checkers.
  7. 6 mins. Another good QC from the Don IMHO. I knew DAEDALUS and ASHRAM so no problems there, although ASHRAM was definitely the more straightforward from the wordplay for newer solvers. BADGER was my LOI and I probably spent a minute on it before the penny dropped.
  8. Medium to tough I thought. 30 minutes up to Water Softener/Buffaloes and then about 5-10 minutes puzzling over those two (not helped by being convinced the expert was a boff, short for boffin). Daedalus constructed the maze to contain the minotaur, which is where subsequent usages derives from, so perfectly valid to use constructor I would think. As someone else has said, to badger means to bother. It’s not, as far as I know, an expression of dismay.
  9. Tough but enjoyable. Last in was ASHRAM, as a compete guess. Great to learn something from crosswords – I often have to explain to non-solving friends that “I’ve no idea how I know that, probably from the crossword”, and the think I’m joking.

    Knew Daedalus from the Icarus myth, but did have it as ea to start with. Loved SHEARER and BADGER.

    Edited at 2014-10-07 05:32 pm (UTC)

  10. Another tough one for a Quickie. Again, not quite on the setters wavelength and needed to come back to it a couple of times to complete. Didn’t enjoy 9ac as a few has always meant two or three to me, not seven. But the WEAK answer was a bit of a shoe-in. Didn’t know DAEDALUS constructed labyrinths, but with the checkers it worked out OK.

    I’m beginning to wonder what the purpose of the Quick Cryptic is. While not an expert by any stretch, I’m enjoying them. But for a new solver, the last few would be really tough. Without a blog such as this, it must be very hard to work out how to move forward.

      1. Many thanks for that Jackkt. Unfortunately I don’t subscribe to the online version so can only see the first two paragraphs. But if the purpose is “..introduce a new audience to cryptic crosswords and offer a step to solving the main puzzle” then I’m not sure it will succeed with too many such puzzles coming along on the trot. If the aim is as stated, then I think a better balance needs to be found.

        Edited at 2014-10-08 06:51 am (UTC)

          1. Many thanks for that! It’s certainly an interesting read and maybe it would be good to somehow have it available as a permanent link for new solvers.
            1. Unfortunately my LJ page is not the ideal place for general access but I will ask Andy (Linxit) who hosts TftT if there’s some means of reproducing the article there and having it on link. There may be copyright issues but perhaps with our contacts at Times Crosswords these can be overcome.
    1. Ah, but then you may not be familiar with the Sheffield dialect – we do not ‘do lunch’ we ‘go for us dinners’. 🙂

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