Quick Cryptic No 262 by Flamande

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
An enjoyable Quick Cryptic puzzle which I thought passed the Goldilocks test with flying colours – not too hard, not too easy, just about right. Thanks very much to Flamande for this offering.

Several common Crosswordland conventions on display which will be useful for those coming fresh to this dark art – e.g. Ian (Scotsman), dope (information).

Definitions underlined, dd = double definition, anagrams indicated by *(–)

Across
1 Russian fellow, one taking leading position (4)
IVAN – I (one) + VAN (leading position). If a Russian chap crops up in a clue, it usually seems to lead to IVAN (similarly with your generic Scotsman Ian below). In the VAN is (amongst other usages) a military term – the troops at the front (short for vanguard) – which I learned from having a minor role in Henry V in a school play. Odd how these nuggets of information stay with you and resurface to assist in solving crosswords many decades later!
3 Sailor – he isn’t mad for alcoholic drink (8)
ABSINTHE – AB (sailor) + *(HE ISNT) with mad being the anagrind
8 Artillerymen transported by beast of burden? That’s sweet (7)
CARAMEL – CA[RA]MEL. The Royal Artillery jump aboard the ship of the desert (or should that be dessert? – groan…)
10 Talent shown by learner, just about (5)
FLAIR – F[L]AIR. Just (FAIR) surrounding (about) L for learner
11 Sensible astronauts will want to come back here (4-2-5)
DOWN-TO-EARTH – dd, the second one being very slightly cryptic
13 Observing husband isn’t in love (6)
NOTING – NOTHING. Love = nothing (think tennis) and the H for husband isn’t there
15 Children I found in farm buildings (6)
BAIRNS – BA[I]RNS. Straightforward but neat clue
17 Organise rep production featuring noted performer (5,6)
OPERA SINGER – *(ORGANISE REP) with production as the anagrind. As a point of detail, I think the “noted” is also giving us a nudge towards a musical type of performer (as opposed to, say, a sword swallower who does not deal in notes)
20 Newspaper editor was angry (5)
RAGED – RAG (slightly derogatory slang for newspaper) with ED (editor)
21 Plant provided by fellow Scotsman (7)
GENTIAN – GENT (fellow) + (IAN ) Scotsman – see under 1 across re. setters’ preferred generic national names. This is a good example of a potentially obscure word being gettable from the surrounding wordplay (one of the great advantages of cryptics over “standard” crosswords). I’d personally never heard of this plant (I know my birds and fish reasonably well but not my flora) but I was confidently able to guess the correct answer based on the rest of the clue. For those new to the game and looking to graduate to the 15×15 Times cryptic, this is a very useful point to note as the big sibling often has answers outside the vocabulary of a lot of solvers (particularly me!) but you can still arrive at the answer from the wordplay
22 Innkeeper resettled in the Loire (8)
HOTELIER – *(THE LOIRE) with resettled being the anagrind. Not sure the manager of the Ritz would be overly chuffed to be referred to as an innkeeper, but it works for me!
23 Feature of crossword that’s oddly cultured (4)
CLUE – Every other (odd) letter of CULTURED
Down
1 Occurrence in part of hospital involving police (8)
INCIDENT – IN + CID + ENT. The ENT unit (aka ENF – ear, nose and froat in the East End as I’m reliably informed by nursing friends who work there) will be involved in the answer in the vast majority of clues referring to parts of hospitals
2 Public school head’s banned pointed weapon (5)
ARROW – HARROW. The school on the Hill loses its first letter (head banned). Neat clue, I thought
4 Better half wanting everyone to join in dancing (6)
BALLET – B[ALL]ET. Everyone (ALL) goes into (joins in) BET (half of better)
5 How planes might fly at air show, dope (11)
INFORMATION – Dope meaning information often crops up in cryptics, but not generally in day to day chit chat on the Clapham omnibus. I was going to put this down as a dd, but on reflection thought that the IN FORMATION coming from the planes flying at the air show was more of a (slightly) cryptic wordplay than a definition.
6 Suffer during most of term? I might (7)
TEACHER – TE[ACHE]R. Suffer (ACHE) during most of TERM. The clue requires you to assume the perspective of the dejected schoolmaster / mistress – not that hard if (like me) you had a disaffected teacher as a father!
7 Listeners initially expecting another radio series (4)
EARS – Answer derived from the first letters (initially) of expecting another radio series. Quite relieved when I spotted the answer, as I feared my prolonged exile in Sydney had left me out of touch with contemporary UK radio series (last episode of the Archers I heard was in 2002…)
9 Email, I noted, confused old film star (7,4)
MATINEE IDOL – *(Email I noted) with confused as the anagrind
12 Alienate sergeant somehow (8)
ESTRANGE – *(sergeant) with somehow as the anagrind
14 Thinking process however needs time (7)
THOUGHT – THOUGH (however) + T (abbreviation of Time)
16 Flock of geese flying along ultimately in strong wind (6)
GAGGLE – GA[G][G]LE. Last letters (ultimately) of flyinG alonG in GALE (strong wind)
18 Sort of restaurant making Greek unwell (5)
GRILL – GR (abbreviation of Greek) + ILL (unwell)
19 Clever researcher? Not entirely (4)
ARCH – RESEARCHER . Hidden inside kind of clue (signalled by not entirely)

15 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 262 by Flamande”

  1. For me the Quickies seem to be alternating between tricky and straightforward at the moment and this one fell into the latter category as I completed it in 10 minutes. Nothing more to say other than I’m told that Etonians refer to the school on the Hill as “the dump on the lump”. My school shared the same hill with them along with a number of facilities so naturally I think that’s rather unkind.
  2. 6 minutes, so definitely on the straightforward side. My last in – as so often was the hidden ARCH. I always find hiddens harder when they are clued by something a little less congruous than ‘some’ or ‘part of’.

    Regarding the tricky topic of clue type classification, Nick, I think the enumeration at 5d suffices to prevent a double definition interpretation.

    Meanwhile, the big question is whether Sri Lanka will tonk Scotland for 400 in Hobart.

    Edited at 2015-03-11 03:33 am (UTC)

    1. Thanks for the enumeration point – got it.

      BTW, congrats on your superb Monday blog – absolute tour de force. Missed it on the day but had a look yesterday.

  3. Nice and easy today although 1a unparsed. I will file away van being short for vanguard for future reference. Thank you Nick.
  4. As with others found this straightforward. However some nice clues, my favourite was TEACHER which was also last in as it took me a while to parse.
    1. My favourite as well – tried for ages to make an anagram out of t + I might, before the penny dropped. Invariant
  5. 9 minutes of pleasant entertainment – thanks Flamande, a further 5 or so enjoying the blog – thanks Nick.
  6. People may have heard of the plant in the context of the antiseptic gentian violet, though said compound was named purely after the colour of the plant – its composition has nothing to do with gentians (or violets).
  7. Nothing too tough today. NE corner proved the most troublesome but once 4d went in it all became clearer. LOI 21a which was a bit of a guess as I’d never heard of it before.

  8. Probably my quickest so far, just over coffee. Some neat surfaces, thanks setter.
  9. A pleasant if straightforward solve. I agree with Nick! It seemed just right for the Goldilocks test. Last one in was the unknown GENTIAN, but the cryptic seemed clear enough, and I spent a little time wondering why INFORMATION wasn’t clued (2,9) until I realised I was being a bit of the other type of definition of dope….

    I don’t suspect we’ll hear any “I agree with Nick” this election, but looking forward (if it happens) to 7 leaders debating on TV. I reckon that will be both excruciating and yet strangely fascinating to watch.

  10. still hoping for help with quick cryptic 259 answers

    Anyone??

    beginner xworder

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