Quick Cryptic No 217 by Rongo

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
An 11ac, well balanced puzzle with some amusing anagram indicators I’d not seen used before; “fidget” and “pants”. 9 minutes with the parsing understood, except for 18ac in part, see below. The first across clue being on the second line may make it a trifle harder for beginners.

Across
8 OPERATE – OPE(N) = almost unrestricted; RATE = speed; def. run.
9 EXTRA – EX = former partner; TRA = ART (craft) recalled; def. background actor.
10 ADAPT – AD = publicity; APT = likely (to); def. change.
11 ELEGANT – (NEAT)*, around LEG (upright support), indicator ‘dancing’; def. graceful.
12 ALTIMETER – TIME = duration, inside ALTER = change; def. indicator of height.
14 HAM – Double def; pork, and one of Noah’s sons. Apparently Noah lived to be 950, and was already 600 when he left the ark. Hope he had bought an annuity.
16 SIP – SP = abbr. for species, ‘eating’ I; def. mouthful.
18 RED PEPPER – RED = ginger, PEPPER = spice; def. a vegetable often stuffed and roasted; I don’t see why the word ‘each’ is there. EXPLAINED below thank you.
21 STRAUSS – S = second, TRUSS = support, insert A; def. composer. Choose one between three Johanns, Christoph, Franz, Edouard or Richard.
22 SHOVE – V = against, ‘wearing’ SHOE; def. strongly push.
23 BRASS – BR = British, ASS = donkey; def. high-ranking officials.
24 GRANITE – G (guitarist initially), RAN IT (managed it), E (café’s closing letter); def. hard rock.

Down
1 NOWADAYS – (YAWN AS DO)*, indicated by ‘fidgets’; def. in these times.
2 TENANT – TENT = camper’s accommodation, houses A N(ew); TEN(AN)T; def. occupier.
3 WALT – WALT(Z) = shortened dance, def. Disney, possibly.
4 DEFECT – Double definition, two different pronunciations.
5 REHEARSE – RE = on, HEARSE = car for final drive (!) ; def. practise.
6 ATTACH – Def. join; hidden word in REG(ATTA CH)AOS.
7 DAFT – D = daughter, AFT = at rear of plane; def. silly.
13 MARQUESS – MARQUE = another word for brand, used for cars; SS = ship; def. nobleman.
15 MERCEDES – MER = French for sea; CEDES = gives up; def. an expensive car? And I thought brand names were pas permis in The Times puzzles.
17 PORTAL – PORT = left, AL(L) = completely, unfinished; def. gate.
19 DOSAGE – DO SAGE = use herb; def. the proper medicinal amount.
20 PROFIT – PRO = paid sportsman, FIT = match-ready; def. financial gain.
21 SUBS – Double definition.
22 SEAM – (SAME)*, indicated by ‘pants’; def. join in fabric.

20 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 217 by Rongo”

  1. Enjoyable crossword which was at the easier end of the spectrum for me. 18a was my LOI and initially unparsed but looking at it again think it is RED ginger PEP spice PER for each.

    Favourite GRANITE.

    1. Thanks, I see what you mean; it explains the PER = each part, but I thought PEP meant energy not really = spice.
  2. 13 minutes, held up by 8ac and 4dn, but with one careless error at 13. I originally went to write in MARQUISE then realised it wouldn’t have fitted with ‘nobleman’ or ‘ship’ so I changed it to MARQUISS which is neither fish nor foul, so to speak.
  3. Is the foul/fowl misspelling deliberate Jack?

    Quite straightforward, though not sure I would call a sip a “mouthful.” Don’t you sip rather than sup specifically to avoid that?

    Brand names turn up fairly regularly these days.. we had “Sky” not so long ago and of course papers, like the FT and Mail

    1. Well if it was an error I couldn’t change it now you’ve replied, so of course it was intentional!
  4. It’s a funny old game, as Greavesie used to say… I thought yesterday’s was quite easy, but others found it hard: today the reverse is true!

    Have to confess I could not get OPERATE in the time I allowed myself: obvious when you see it – except I didn’t. Quite a few of the others were tricky, but all very fair I thought.

    Enjoyed the dark humour of 5dn – probably my favourite today.

    Thanks to Pip and our setter Rongo (who I now learn is the Maori god of cultivated food – expect a sweet potato to crop up at some time in one of his offerings!)

  5. 12 minutes — the last 2 on 8ac and 5dn. Rubeculaw’s parsing of 18ac is on the money for me – better than my Ginger (redhead), spice (pepper) instead of (for) each (head – as in how much a head?).

    Edited at 2015-01-07 08:55 am (UTC)

  6. Misdirected by final drive – thinking gears etc. What a delightful definition – must remember that in the instructions in my will.

    Delayed over Marquess, badly remembered as a noblewoman. Damned English idiom . . .

    Philip

  7. After a couple of near misses I actually finished this one, the only trouble I had was with 8ac but I got there in the end. Although I got 17dn I didn’t understand why until reading the explanation on here, so thanks for the clarification.

    Quick question to the old hands. In crossword etiquette/tradition does it count as a completed crossword if you’ve filled in all the correct answers without understanding why some of them are correct?

    1. It’s up to individuals to set their own rules if they wish. For competition purposes (e.g. the Times Championship), having the correct answers within the given time constraints may well be sufficient to progress though the rounds and win on the day, and this is also reflected in the way the Crossword Club leader boards operate, though we don’t have these for the Quickies to date.

      As a regular blogger here I always include time taken to understand wordplay when I give solving times for Quick Cryptics but I am not so meticulous when it comes to the main puzzle. On those, if the wordplay isn’t immediately apparent, I’ll put a query in the margins and move on to the next clue and I’ll take my solving time from the moment the last answer goes in the grid. After that I’ll go back and revisit any clues I’ve not fully understood.

      Edited at 2015-01-07 06:23 pm (UTC)

    2. Not an old hand, so you may want to wait for a more informed comment (like the one above – crossed wires) , but I certainly count them as finished.

      If the cryptic explanation is very chewy, the definitions tend to be milder anyway, and vice versa. In fact the much harder puzzles expect a solver to enter solutions on the strength of the cryptic alone, I believe, where the definition is so obsure you’ve very little chance of knowing it. The opposite must surely be a risk the setter anticipates?

      Edited at 2015-01-07 06:44 pm (UTC)

      1. Thanks jackkt and william for your thoughts – makes me feel more comfortable claiming my fairly rare finishes as completed puzzles
  8. Distracted by dreadful events in Paris, so quite a long solve today even by my poor standards. Re 7d, surely aft applies to ships/boats but not planes ? Invariant
    1. I had the same thought, but on checking both Chambers and the Oxfords confirm it also applies to aircraft.
  9. Easier end of the spectrum – 11 minutes for me, but I too was perplexed by the “each” in 18 ac. Thanks for the explanation!
  10. My thoughts on difficulty were much the same as nick_the_novice, especially when very few of the acrosses went in first time. But then, with the down clues going in far more readily, the rest of the grid filled at a steady rate with last one in REHEARSE, which, when it clicked, became my COD.

    See that the RED PEPPER parsing has been discussed. I initially parsed it as pipkirby’s initial blog, with the “why each” thought as well. Then, while wondering if I had got wrong so couldn’t get 5dn, saw PEP and PER.

  11. I thought this was moderately difficult, but I absolutely loved the anagram indicators, especially pants!

    I am definitely of the ilk the gets nervous when the first across and down clus don’t intersect at the initial, but as noted above, the first few downs were quite accessible.

    Thanks for the blog, Pip.

  12. Finished today for the first time for a few days. However for me it takes a little longer than others report! Thanks for the blog, it has helped me so much over the last few months, I am getting there – slowly!

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