Quick Cryptic No 231 by Tracy

21 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 231 by Tracy”

1. I had a remarkably similar experience, but my final furlong was on the other side of the course at 9dn and 14. In fact this rider became unseated and fell at the final fence, 14dn (enough already of all this horsey stuff!). I don’t know why, but I simply couldn’t see the answer so eventually I resorted to aids. This is my second technical DNF in the last three Quickies and it’s giving me cause for concern.

   Edited at 2015-01-27 06:17 am (UTC)

2. Found this very tricky. Last 3 in were BRACELET, OFFBEAT & TO SCALE in that order. TO SCALE was my favourite.

   Must remember to think of brace as 2 more quickly in future.

3. It’s a funny old game… Exact opposite to Chris – all went in quite easily until the SE corner, which took me an age to decipher! Finally got OFFBEAT, then the rest started falling into place.

   Um, I hesitate to open a can of worms here, but I’m thinking State as a definition of Australia is a bit iffy. Is a state synonymous with a nation / country? Is France a state? Japan? Canada? Australia comprises several states (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria etc. etc.) and a couple of “territories” (kind of semi states), but these are to Australia what Kansas, Texas etc. are to the USA. Is the USA a “state”?

   Appreciate any enlightenment from those who know more than I do on such matters.

   1. Does this help?
      In international law, a sovereign state is a nonphysical juridical entity that is represented by one centralised government that has sovereignty over a geographic area. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, one government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states.[1] It is also normally understood that a state is neither dependent on nor subject to any other power or state.[2]
   2. Nick, not having your very impressive result from Cambridge and therefore unable to recognise a linguistic prototype theory if you brought it to me on a plate with watercress round it, I have, however, come up with a more satisfactory explanation. I think we can now agree that when I woke up in Norwich, UK on Sunday morning and thought I was in a bit of a state – I was right!
4. Nick raises an interesting point. I would say the only reason people would call India and Australia ‘states’ – when they comprise states – and not the USA, is that ‘states’ is in the name of the last named country, and therefore the potential for confusion is more obvious. After all, many people probably think Oz and India have provinces! So, perhaps between Chris’s technical response and my response according to linguistic prototype theory (sorry!) we have some sort of answer.

   About 8 minutes for this, with Jack’s baneful BRACELET last in. For me, that clue epitomised the puzzle: elegant, and an excellent introduction to the Main Thing.

   1. At the end of most such discussions jackkt usually comes in with a quote from a dictionary and, correctly, says that if it is so defined then it’s fair game for the setter. This is from Collins: State – 6. a sovereign political power or community. This seems to apply to India and USA as well as Australia.
      1. Thanks for posting that, but to be honest I wouldn’t even have reached for a dictionary on this occasion. One talks about ‘sovereign states’ as defined above and the UN has ‘member states’ (including Australia) so I don’t really see there’s a case to be answered here. No reason not to raise it of course if one’s in doubt.
         1. Many thanks to my learned friends for putting me right here – now I understand.

            So NSW is a state within a state, as is Kansas (except we don’t say that about Kansas as it could cause too much confusion on account of it being part of the United States). Got it!

5. A bit like chrisw91, in that the first few of the acrosses went in rapidly, but then the answers started drying up so that at the end of the first pass I’d only about a half completed. Answers came quite regularly after that, but slowly. Worked out 9dn as …../TESTING quite early, but could think of too many authors ending in ING, until FIELDING popped up from somewhere in the deep recesses of my brain.

   LOI was BRACELET (certainly agree with Ulaca’s sentiments about the clue) and did wonder about the definition of a state. But isn’t it fairly common usage in the 15×15 to mean both a sovereign state as well as a state within a country?

   Edited at 2015-01-27 04:41 pm (UTC)

   1. Yes, I’ve seen state in both a few times – but until Nick asked I’d never really questioned it. Any excuse to have a good prod around in the innards of the language!
      1. 😀
6. Like yesterday this one left me a bit baffled, with several blanks before finally turning to the blog for enlightenment, which as usual it delivered.

   Just as I was thinking I was getting to grips with these I’ve been firmly put back in place. On a brighter note I was pleased that I got 22ac as my knowledge of Opera is severely limited.

7. Getting back to the puzzle itself. . I found this one to be almost as hard as yesterday’s. I normally think of Tracy and Joker as belonging to the more straightforward (I won’t say easier out of respect for my fellow newbies) end of the spectrum, but it would seem that the Christmas bonhomie has well and truly worn off amongst our setter friends. 9, 16 and 22 were my favourites today – but only once they were solved! Invariant

8. Struggled with the SE corner, with FACT and CLEAN my LOIs. Both perfectly obvious once I read the blog, as usual – thanks Chris.

   Why does F = fine, by the way? Fabric, brandy, music?

   1. What a great question! I looked at the usual sources but didn’t find anything. I have found this:
      Coin grading has evolved over the years to a system of finer and finer grade distinctions. Originally, there were only two grades, new and used.

      This evolved for a time to the letter grading system beginning with the lowest grade – Basal State (also Poor (PO)), then continuing Fair (Fr), About or Almost Good (AG), Good (G), Very Good (VG), Fine (F), Very Fine (VF), Extremely Fine (EF), Almost or About Uncirculated (AU), Uncirculated (Unc) and up to Brilliant Uncirculated (BU). Gem Uncirculated was roughly equivalent in usage to BU at that time.

      Can anyone do better?

      1. Pencil gradings include an F for fine.
9. In the pursuance of a good prod around the innards of the language 😇, I think it might be a little more universal than just coins. Stamps and comics (believe it or not) also use a similar grading system.
   1. And brandy perhaps?
10. A fine brandy would clearly be acceptable.
11. I thought the across clues fairlly straightforward, but really struggled with the verticals! A hard one for us novices today, i think.

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