Quick Cryptic No 242 by Joker

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Thanks to Joker for a very enjoyable puzzle – not too tricky but plenty to keep you on your toes, I thought.

Bit of a Celtic fringe here today with clues based around Wales, Cornwall and the ancient Britons. Plenty of wit, no obscurities, a good and varied bag of tricks on display – what more could one want from a Quick Cryptic?

Last ones in were the BRIEFCASE / FIRM cross pair – neither of which was hard but both of which had me scratching my head for far too long! COD to the elegant 4d, with 10a, 3d, 6d and 8d also well worthy of a mention in despatches.

Across
1 SARAH – Girl is the definition. Answer is HARASSING backwards (“in return”), with the SING being removed through “never turn informer” (as in ’70s cop shows “he’ll sing like a canary…”)
7 ALABASTER – Something white is the definition. Answer is also an anagram (signalled by “carved from”) of ARAB SLATE
9 VOCAL – Definition is very outspoken (or arguably the whole clue up to and including “loud”). Answer also from the first letters (“primarily”) of Very outspoken confident and loud. Probably worth noting for newcomers to this dark art that this is an example of part of the clue (Very outspoken – or indeed all of the clue up to “primarily” depending on what you prefer as the definition) doing double duty as both the definition and part of the wordplay construction: this is something that does happen from time to time and it used to throw me a bit when I was starting out
10 LOSE HEART – Become dispirited is the definition. Answer is also a homophone (and a very enjoyable gruesome pun) of Looe’s heart (centre of Looe, a delightful “Cornish” fishing “port”)
11 NET – Catch is our definition. Answer also from every other letter (“regularly”) of INSECTS
12 WASHBASIN – bathroom fitting is the definition. Answer also constructed from WAS H (“hard”) B (“black”) A SIN (“serious error”). The abbreviations H and B (for hard and black respectively) crop up frequently in Crosswordland – worth remembering
14 SNOWDONIA – High area is the definition. Answer is also an anagram (signalled by “rolling”) of DOWNS ON together with I and A being the “borders of India”
16 TWO – Number is the definition. Answer also constructed from W (cricket abbreviation for “wickets”) inside (“taken by”) first letters (“openers”) of “the Oval”
18 BRIEFCASE – Double definition, the second slightly cryptic. For some reason took me an age to spot this – in retrospect can’t see why! I was looking for a definition plus construction kind of solution (rather than a double definition) trying to find words for “police” (bill etc. etc.) and “investigation” that could be run together to make a word meaning a newsstand or some such… Ah well, got there in the end
20 LINER – kind of ship is the definition. Answer is also an anagram (signalled by “travelling”) of NILE with R (“right”)
21 INTERFERE – Poke one’s nose in is the definition. Answer is also an anagram (signalled by “improperly”) of RENT FREE together with I (“one”)
22 TALLY – the points so far is the definition. Answer also built from T (“time”) with ALLY (“join together”)

Down
1 SEVERN – River is the definition. Answer also from SEVER (“cut”) with N (“new”)
2 RECEPTIONIST – one answering the call is the definition. Answer is also an anagram (signalled by “upset”) of NOTICE PRIEST. I recently heard a tale (apocryphal or otherwise – but bears repeating) of a receptionist who, in an attempt to satirise the tendency of the company in which (s)he worked to call just about everyone a “director” of this or that, started signing emails as “Director of First Impressions”
3 HALLOWED – to be consecrated is the definition. Answer also built from HALL (“large building”) with OWED (“due”). Elegant clue, I thought
4 KANSAS – Definition is This US state (but in a sense the whole clue is the definition, possibly making it an “& lit” but I am wary of pronouncing on such things!) Anyway, if you stick AR (“a Republican”) in front of the state of KANSAS you get ARKANSAS, a “different one” (state, that is). Very droll, great surface, my COD (albeit one of the easier ones)
5 DASH – A triple definition – all of which are hopefully self explanatory
6 BRITON – native is the definition (this does, I guess, have a somewhat British leaning: a born and bred Swede, for example, might not readily think of a Briton as a native – but hey, this is the Times of London so fair enough!) Answer also from the literal “the centre of Brighton’s gone”
8 TRANSITIONAL – in a process of change is the definition. Answer also built from TRANSIT (“cross”) IONA (“Saint Columba’s isle”) and L (“left”). Very nice clue
13 BRACELET – item of jewellery is the definition. Answer also built from BRACE (“pair”) with LET (“allowed”)
14 SUBMIT – Refer is the definition. Answer also built from SUIT (“legal case”) around (“about”) BM (abbreviation of British Museum). Not actually come across this abbreviation of British Museum before – one to stash away… I guess it’s on a level with V & A, which is in widespread usage in my experience
15 NEATEN – Tidy is the definition. Answer also from N (“number”) with EATEN (“consumed”). Neaten is not an everyday kind of word, but quite gettable I thought
17 OSPREY – Large bird is the definition – superb bird (unless you happen to be a passing fish, I suppose) which thankfully seems to be making a comeback after being close to extinction. Answer also built from OS (“outsize”) and PREY (“kill”)
19 FIRM – Double definition. Blindingly obvious, but my LOI! Had I seen it earlier, I would not have struggled with BRIEFCASE so much, I’m convinced…

17 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 242 by Joker”

  1. 10 minutes for this nice and varied offering – a fine introduction to the setter’s art. I would argue, Nick – excellent blog, by the way – that both 9a and 4d are &lits (clues where the definition and the wordplay are the same).

    Though I’ve never been to Looe, it has a name that schoolboys salivate over, even if ‘Sandy, Beds’ caught my imagination in a way that no other place has yet managed to emulate.

    1. Thanks Ulaca – yes, 9a also seems to fit the &lit bill.

      Sandy Beds is indeed a gem, which first came onto my radar as a young teenage twitcher receiving envelopes postmarked there from the RSPB.

      When Dwight Yorke was in his pomp, the Queensland seaside town Yorkeys Knob was something of an eyebrow raiser when mentioned to Villa (and subsequently Man U) supporters. Peas Pottage in Sussex continues to fascinate in a low key kind of way.

  2. At the moment I seem to be adding an extra minute to my solving time each day and I have reached 13 minutes with this one. I’m nearly always slow to spot long one-word answers until I have most of the checkers and that was partially my problem in this puzzle. Wasn’t completely sure of “so far” in the definition at 22ac but that does seem to be a possible nuance in one of the dictionary meanings.
    1. I think so Jack, hence the commonness of the expression “Keen to add to his tally” in sport.
  3. Hello, does anyone have the link, please? I cannot access the Quick Cryptic through my subscription for some reason…
  4. Easiest of all the QC puzzles I have tackled and finished even before morning coffee. This is a record for me. The only delay was a rather silly contemplation of Port Isaac for 10a but then realised port wouldn’t occur in both clue and answer and then realised lose must the there. Thanks joker but sure what I do for the rest of the day now….;-)
  5. 15 minutes as I didn’t get 8dn for ages (kicked myself as I’ve actually seen said island from Mull) which slowed up the SE. COD to the amusing and also, I think, very intriguing 10ac. Absolutely correct description of the answer, Nick – centre of Looe is Looe’s heart = lose heart. I’m wondering if there’s something more going on here. The centre of Looe is ‘O’ – the symbol used as a heart in Crosswordland. To remove this = become dispirited = to lose heart. I think that if the clue didn’t include ‘we hear’ we’d have a third &lit of the day. Just a thought – views appreciated.

    Edited at 2015-02-11 10:42 am (UTC)

    1. Hmm, interesting – a level of complexity beyond me I’m afraid!

      If I understand the analysis correctly (always a dodgy assumption on my part!) there doesn’t appear to be anything in the clue to point to removal of something – and the fact that the “heart” of Looe has been removed only becomes apparent once the answer has been derived from the clue itself – all of which seems a bit too dastardly. But I may well be wrong…

  6. A touch over the hour for me, which is about par. A pleasure, after yesterday’s, to have a QC where the answers were everyday words! 4d was my LOI, as I had neglected the ‘a’ in a Republican. Must remember everything in a clue is there for a reason. Thankyou Nick for the full explanation of 1ac, which had eluded me. Invariant
  7. At first read through I thought I was going to struggle with this one but ended up completing it. Hadn’t heard of the Cornish port, but got there on the definition and I had trouble with 8dn as I mistakenly thought the isle in question was Skye, which made the clue a little trickier than it should have been!
    Thanks for the informative blog
  8. Like Ulaca, I also thought this was a varied and enjoyable puzzle. LOSE HEART was the LOI. Thought of the right answer early on, but couldn’t think of Looe and wanted to wait until all the checkers were in place. Many thanks for the explanation Nick and now that you’ve made it clear, it also becomes my COD!
  11. Regardless of what happens in the “real” world, if the dictionary says that firm = company (my iPod Chambers certainly does) then it’s OK to use that association in a crossword.

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