Quick Cryptic No 239 by Pedro

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
There’s not a lot to say about this; a pleasant puzzle, easier than my Wednesday duty, a couple of ‘chestnut’ clues.

Across
1 RUMPLE – RULE (government) around MP; def. disturb.
4 TRAGIC – T = time, then CIGAR reversed; def. very sad.
9 NEMESIS – Anagram (I SEEM)*, between poles N and S; def. fate. A clue I’ve seen a few times before.
10 LEAKY – LEA = meadow, K Y = ends in darK gullY; def. dripping water.
11 WINE – WIN = secure, E = last of crate; def. champagne.
12 MALTREAT – (MATTER)* with AL (almost everything, ALL) inserted; def. damage.
14 POLICEWOMAN – (MALE COP I NOW)*; def. female cop. Nice surface, easy anagram.
18 HERITAGE – HER AGE = what you shouldn’t ask a woman about, insert IT, def. historical material.
20 PAIL – Def. bucket, sounds like PALE = in a wan shade.
22 STICK – Double definition.
23 NOMADIC – (ICON)* around MAD = crazy; def. of a traveller.
24 SPOONS – Def. items of cutlery; SNOOPS (spies) reversed.
25 BOUNTY – Ship where a mutiny took place, and the possible profit.

Down
1 RENOWN – Hidden in a(RE NOW N)eglecting; def. reputation.
2 MEMENTO – MET O (encountered love) around MEN (blokes); def. this helps you remember.
3 LASH – L, ASH = tree; def. naval punishment.
5 RELATION – Double definition; what one tells, and uncle, say.
6 GRAVE – G (head of governing), RAVE (party); def. serious.
7 COYOTE – COY = shy, (TOE)*; def. prairie wolf.
8 ESTATE AGENT – ESTATE = contents of will, A GENT = a man; def. one working in the property business. Some say, the second oldest profession, and not much better regarded than the oldest, but I couldn’t possibly comment. I even know one who doesn’t cheat at golf. (or maybe he’s so good at it we don’t know).
13 MISTAKEN – M = male, IS, TAKEN = abducted; def. wrong.
15 ABANDON – A BAND (pop group) ON (playing); def. leave. I wish I had ten euros for every time I’ve seen this clue or a close variant.
16 THESIS – THIS with E S (energy source primarily) inserted; def. dissertation.
17 PLUCKY – P = pressure, LUCKY = fortunate; def. brave.
19 RHINO – (HORN)* around I; def. huge animal.
21 AMMO – AM = morning, MO – second; def. lot of bullets.

16 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 239 by Pedro”

  1. 9 minutes and a welcome return to form for me after a run of bad solves on both quickies and big’uns.
  2. 5:15, a bit more time than yesterday’s. As Pip says, not a lot to say about this, so I won’t. I liked the surfaces in 1ac and 6d.
  4. I found this even easier than yesterday’s, and managed to finish in 45mins, a new PB. 18ac was my favourite. Now we just need an England win tonight to round off the week nicely. . . Invariant
  5. 25 minutes, equalling my personal best. I wasted a minute or so on my LOI, 15 down, wondering if it could possibly be A-LAD-DIN as an obtuse reference to a pop group playing, but decided that Aladdin couldn’t possibly mean to leave and then found ABANDON quite quickly.

    ‘Lurid’ (23ac) was new to me as an anagram indicator.

  6. Two finishes in two days, which I think is a first, but unlike yesterday felt a bit flat after this one.

    This could be my lack of knowledge but a couple of answers didn’t seem to fit the clues very well, e.g. 25ac, 23ac and 5dn. I can see the connection between the definitions and the answers but they just felt a bit off/clunky. To try to clarify a bit I know a traveller is nomadic but I read the clue as trying to find a word that directly means traveller, which would be nomad. Is there some sort of crossword convention/rule I’m unaware of?
    No idea if that makes any sense or if it’s just me …

    1. Hi,

      I read 23ac just as pipkirby blogged, with the definition being “of a traveller” rather than just traveller. Hope that helps.

      1. Thanks Nigel – on rereading it does make more sense to me with ‘of a’ in front of it
  7. I am fairly happy about these three
    Travellers or gypsies are nomads or nomadic people, relation can mean the act of telling a story or the story itself. Bounty is not the profitable location but it does sound like it.
    1. I think profitable is bounty-location for mutiny is perhaps the ship that Captain Bligh had a few problems on
  8. Two very straightforward puzzles on the trot. Started this as I poured the water for tea and finished it before my first sip, so pretty quick. A few too many seemed very obvious e.g. ESTATE AGENT, BOUNTY, RHINO, POLICEWOMAN… So tend to agree with plett11 that it felt a little clunky. But then again, after the run of tough puzzles it’s probably no bad thing to have a couple of simpler offerings ☺️.
    1. I even felt encouraged enough to have a go at today’s 15×15. Soon brought back to earth! Invariant

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