Quick Cryptic No 219 by Flamande

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Another fine puzzle, perhaps a touch easier than two days ago (it took me ten minutes); nothing too obscure except maybe the name of a ‘correctional facility’ and a chap who wrote ‘Living Doll’ as well as numerous musicals. I particularly liked 18d which could be a respectable clue in the main puzzle.

Across
1 DEFIANCE – DE = French ‘of’, FIANCÉ = boyfriend; def. challenging attitude.
5 EWER – EWE = sheep, R = run; def. what might hold water.
8 SING SING – Be a grass = sing, repeat it; SING SING is the name of a prison in New York State. The expression ‘up the river’ meaning in prison, derives from its location up the Hudson River 30 miles from the city.
9 GALA – GALAHAD was a Round Table member, remove the HAD, def. festive occasion.
11 BREAKING UP – Double definition.
14 AT-HOME – (MATE)* around HO (house); def. party.
15 ANGELA – Name, hidden in STR(ANGE LA)DY.
17 SPRING ROLL – SPRING = bound, ROLL = go round; def. Chinese snack.
20 VICE – V = very, reduced; ICE = reserve; def. something bad.
21 MORALISE – (SAILOR ME)*; def. preach.
22 RITE – Def. religious ceremony; first letters of Really Is Too Evangelical.
23 RESTATED – STATE = country inside RED; def. again said.

Down
1 DOSE – Def. amount of medicine; alternate letters of DrOwSiEr.
2 FINN – F = female, INN = hotel; def. European.
3 ASSORTMENT – SORT = kind, MEN, inside A ST (street); def. variety.
4 CONFAB – CON = Tory, FAB = brilliant; def. discussion. Short for confabulation.
6 WRANGLES – W (with) R (Republican) ANGLES (points of view); def. argues.
7 REAPPEAR – REAP = harvest, PEAR = fruit; def. turn up once more.
10 LIONEL BART – (OR IN BALLET)*; famous writer of songs and musicals, notably Oliver.
12 PASSOVER – PASS OVER = ignore; a Jewish feast.
13 SHORTCUT – SHORT = electricity supply problem; CUT = deleted; def. quick way to access web site perhaps.
16 BROOKE – BROKE = penniless, collects O, def. poet, Rupert Brooke.
18 LINT – Def. dressing, as in bandage type; hidden in (‘clothes’) mode(L IN T)rendy. Nice misdirection for the definition.
19 MEAD – (DAME)*, def. drink.

14 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 219 by Flamande”

  1. Easiest of the week for me – I broke the 10 minute barrier for the first time! COD Lionel Bart because I do like a show tune.
  2. I found this easier than the past 3 Quickies and I broke the 10 minute barrier for the first time since Monday. All very sound stuff and enjoyable to boot.

    Edited at 2015-01-09 08:45 am (UTC)

  3. Thought this was a very good QC, with a nice range of clue types: a few gimmes, and a few more stretching.

    Particularly liked GALA and REAPPEAR.

    Thanks to Pip for very neat blog, and Flamande for an excellent puzzle.

  4. I didn’t share in the quick times today as my lack of GK in the areas of musicals and poets found me out. I had to laboriously piece together the anagram at 10dn and then stare at _R_O_E until broke came to mind. I don’t mind this at all though – having to chew away for a while makes the solving all the sweeter.
  5. Good puzzle and pleasantly informative blog. Still struggling with ‘ice’ for ‘reserve’. Does it refer to the traditional reserve we English are supposed to demonstrate when meeting strangers? But that would be some way from ‘icy’ or coldly hostile. Or is there an expression ‘putting on ice’ meaning to defer something? Or have I missed something even more obvious?
    1. Yes, it is our sang froid. Chambers gives, under ‘ice’, def. 6: coldness of manner; reserve. As a noun.
  6. Thought this had a distinctly tricky feel, with an excellent variety of clues. It seems to be a feature of my solving for some of the quick cryptics that I don’t fill in too many of the across clues on first pass, but the down clues go in far more readily. With checkers then in place, the across clues go in readily.

    So it was my experience today, but ended up with a pretty quick solve. My heart sank when I first saw the musical and Jewish feast clues, as my knowledge of such things is pretty non-existent. But luckily, things clicked almost immediately, phew! CODs were MORALISE and WRANGLES.

    Thanks to our blogger and to Flamande for a very enjoyable puzzle.

  7. A DNF today after the last few days were 20mins or less to complete.

    Let down by lack of vocab today: Ewer. At least I didn;t go with my first choice and enter EPRU as 5ac :S

    Also, stumbled on WRANGLES as didn’t have the W from EWER, and all my checkers appear in ARGUES so was convinced it was an anagram involving ARGUES

    Wrote LINT to start with for 18d, and then convinced myself the dressing was MINT.

    Can anyone enlighten me how “At home” = Party? EDIT: I at least wrote that one in (but couldn’t parse it).

    This blog is awesome – I finally registered and commented to contribute to the community, as it’s proved to be crucial to my progress with these 🙂 Keep up the good work!

    Edited at 2015-01-09 04:15 pm (UTC)

    1. I understood ‘At Home’ to be a rather old fashioned expression which was put on party invitations indicating that the person was invited to come to the person’s home for a social gathering (party). I do remember my parents receiving such invitations.
      1. Admittedly I am an old f~rt, but I have to admit to both receiving and sending ‘At Home’ invitations over the years, it means you get plenty of drink and nibbles but no dinner.
        1. I’m even older and probably fartier, but I only knew the term from 19th century novels. Ladies would leave calling cards which would give their name and address, and an ‘at home’ day and time; which would inform the recipient of the card that said lady would be sitting around in the drawing room and could be visited (one didn’t phone ahead, especially when there weren’t phones yet).
  8. Hardest of the week for me, not even close to a finish. I missed a couple of anagrams which is unusual, but generally just not on the right wavelength – I kept kicking myself when i saw the answers in the blog.

  9. DNF here too. LIONEL BART was never going to happen for me, and LINT lead me up the proverbial path and back down it again. Fine clue. Thanks, as ever, Pip.

  10. Missed a day but my third completion of the week! It took some time to get on the wavelength and then it became easier. I seldom get a chance to look at this until the late afternoon or evening so there’s always plenty of comments to help me put things into context. So, so useful to check here. Thanks to all as the discussion is a great educator.

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