Quick Cryptic No 243 by Flamande

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I agreed to stand in for macavity123 on 26th Feb and 6th March but there’s every chance I’ve messed the dates up. So with apologies for being late – and that you have only the ‘B’ team effort for today here we go…

PB of 7 minutes for me today as I rattled through the grid only pausing (or should that be parsing?) a little in the SW.

After several tough ones this was a bracing change. Had to get brace in the preamble somewhere just to keep up with the setters who seem unable to produce a crossword recently without it (see 13ac for evidence).

Definitions are underlined.

Across
7 Girl needing three different articles (6)
&nbsp &nbspANTHEA – Three different articles (AN THE A).
8 Refill gun with bullets or lead, possibly? (6)
&nbsp &nbspRELOAD – Anagram (possibly) of OR LEAD.
9 Sketched rotating components of power drill (4)
&nbsp &nbspDREW – The answer is in the clue (components of) poWER Drill, backwards (rotating).
10 Muscular men complain, given something sweet to eat (8)
&nbsp &nbspBEEFCAKE – Complain (BEEF), something sweet to eat (CAKE).
11 Love rhymes, when abroad (8)
&nbsp &nbspOVERSEAS – Love (O), rhymes (VERSE), when (AS).
13 Pair initially ignoring British people (4)
&nbsp &nbspRACE – Pair (bRACE) ignoring British (without the ‘B’).
15 In favour of daughter initially getting nudge (4)
&nbsp &nbspPROD – In favour (PRO), daughter initially (D).
16 Protest: Conservative traitor is US politician (8)
&nbsp &nbspDEMOCRAT – Protest (DEMO), Conservative (C), traitor (RAT).
18 Shorten written agreement (8)
&nbsp &nbspCONTRACT – Double definition.
20 Story — end section read aloud (4)
&nbsp &nbspTALE – Homopohone (read aloud) of end section (TAIL).
21 Is unable to scan notes in part (6)
&nbsp &nbspCANNOT – the answer is in the clue (in part) – sCAN NOTes.
22 Turbulent R. Niger not following expected course? (6)
&nbsp &nbspERRING – Anagram (turbulent) of R NIGER.

Down
1 English party goer who’ll make his mark? (8)
&nbsp &nbspENGRAVER – English (ENG), patty goer (RAVER).
2 News broadcast proclaiming international peace? (3,5,2,3)
&nbsp &nbspTHE WORLD AT ONE – A humorous take on an old title – something along the lines of the old Coke advert – I’d like to teach the World to sing in perfect harmony whilst drinking fizzy drinks.
3 Risk gentle walk after end of spring (6)
&nbsp &nbspGAMBLE – Gentle walk (AMBLE) after last letter of sprinG.
4 Lawyers for boxers, perhaps (6)
&nbsp &nbspBRIEFS – Boxers are one subset of the human race who may wear briefs.
5 Shocking weather (8,5)
&nbsp &nbspELECTRIC STORM – Cryptic definition.
6 Try to sell bird of prey (4)
&nbsp &nbspHAWK – Double definition.
12 A church service (3)
&nbsp &nbspACE – A (A), church (CE) making an unreturnable service in tennis.
14 Telephone service out of order in chalet (8)
&nbsp &nbspCHATLINE – Anagram (out of order) of IN CHALET.
16 Lack thread for spinning (6)
&nbsp &nbspDEARTH – Anagram (for spinning) of THREAD.
17 Vehicle test taken by girl’s relative (6)
&nbsp &nbspMOTHER – Vehicle test (MOT – annual requirement for cars over 3 years old in UK), girl’s (HER).
19 Took lady out every now and then? Right (4)
&nbsp &nbspOKAY – Every other letter of tOoK lAdY.

24 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 243 by Flamande”

    1. Congratulations for being so quick off the mark! I spotted this on a quick read through immediately after publishing and thought I’d get it corrected before anyone noticed. Anyway – thankyou very much and well done too on your PB. You may have forgotten to log on?
  2. Yes, an easy one but still elegant. 8.5 minutes, of which the last 90 seconds were spent on OKAY, so either I was very obtuse or it’s a nicely hidden literal. Right?
  3. Clocked in at 50mins, which is good for me. Missed out on a PB because I thought to begin with that 2d was an anagram of news broadcast, and then that ‘BBC’ was involved because of their motto (Nation shall. . etc) before finally getting the right answer.
    A small quibble with 10ac is that the clue suggests a plural answer, albeit there isn’t enough room. Gripe aside, a very enjoyable QC. Invariant
    1. Beefcake operates, like cake, as both a countable noun and a non-countable (mass) noun, so the setter’s okay here. Two examples from Merriam-Webster exemplify this:

      He’s not a great actor but he gets roles anyway because of all the moviegoers interested in beefcake.

      He’s one of Hollywood’s most celebrated beefcakes.

  4. I’d always thought that boxers and briefs were different subgenres in the underwear world, and certainly the M&S underpant spectrum doesn’t suggest that one is an example of the other.

    Re dates, anyone can update the blogging calendar (in the Links section in the right hand column, just below the archive calendar), which can mean that any misunderstandings over blogging slots are spotted sooner. Actually, maybe not “anyone” – you might need a Google account.

    As Jack pointed out on the forum, there is an identical clue in both this puzzle and the main cryptic today.

    Edited at 2015-02-12 03:08 pm (UTC)

    1. I was surprised by the clue, and wondered if ‘for’ was intended as ‘in place of’ / ‘substituting for’.

      Edited at 2015-02-12 03:19 pm (UTC)

      1. I’m not sure if its a double definition or if ‘for boxers’ indicates that boxers (the people who box) may wear such items.
  5. I agree with mohn’s comment about underwear. Briefs are not boxers and boxers wear shorts that give their name to the boxer style which are nothing like briefs. Other than that a welcome easy one which I finished in 8 minutes.

    As for updating the blogging calendar, the last time I did it I wiped out one blogger’s entries for the remainder of the year and gave Andy some unforeseen duties sorting it all out, so I’d not recommend going there unless you know exactly what you are doing.

    Edited at 2015-02-12 03:48 pm (UTC)

    1. Now that you mention it, I do remember that updating the blogging calendar wasn’t exactly intuitive the one time I did it – it was easy to get confused as to whether an action was going to affect a single entry or a recurring series of them.
      1. I’ve just found out that my dates were correct so am happy not to have to step into the technological complexities of the calendar. I’ve just heard that macavity was beset by the good ol’ British worker who removed not just tree roots but the entire neighbourhood’s power supply – for most of the day.
  6. Two days running frustrated by one answer! Today by 13a although now so so obvious! Also thought 3d might by Ramble although I suppose I should look more deeply at the potential contribution of each word in the clue. Thanks for the insights this blog gives us amateurs! … System not letting me log on from Costa …. andrew-turner
  7. At the very easiest end of the quick cryptic scale and the only hold up was misspelling ENGRAVER and being absolutely stumped by 11ac for a short while. From bitter experience I checked through my spelling for the crossing clues to realise the english raver had become ENGRRAVR. Grrr…😡

    Agree with Mohn2 and Jackkt re. briefs and while putting in BEEFCAKE very quickly, did wonder if beefcake should mean an individual musclebound man. Checking definitions afterwards it seems that it does mean muscular men.

  9. Pretty straightforward for me too. I also raised an eyebrow at beefcake being singular, so thanks for the explanation. 13 ac was my LOI and it held me up for an eternity until I figured out that the definition was people rather than pair.
  10. 13 mins for me. Can’t remember what my PB is but if this isnt it then it must be close. Nice to feel in control for once!
  11. Never formally time these things, but I can say with some confidence this was my fastest solve ever by a country mile (pretty much completed by the time I’d eaten my sandwich at lunchtime!).

    Beefcake (singular / plural issue) caused me to pause for a moment’s reflection, but concluded it must be like SHEEP.

    1. Not quite like sheep, Nick, as sheep has the same singular and plural form, while beefcake can have a plural if you want to specify individual hunks, or a singular if you are talking about hunkdom in general.

      As I said before, just like cake…

      1. Ah, yes, thanks Ulaca. “More rigour needed” as my Latin report used to say…

        Hunkdom is a delightful word (albeit a disturbing image)

  12. Hi all

    Thanks to Chris for covering. I had a power cut on Thursday morning when the workmen outside the block i live in sliced a cable while removign tree roots.

    Took 8 hours to resolve, but all OK now. See you on Thursday!

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