Quick Cryptic No 264 by Mara – one thing leads to another

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
At first read, quite a few of these clues’ answers are not obvious, but once the easier and longer ones are in place, the checking letters help a lot; it took me ten or eleven minutes but not in a top-to-bottom write-in way, I had to duck and dive a bit. No weird words though and a fine range of clue types.

Across
1 FORECAST – FOR = favouring, E = English, CAST = players; def. prediction.
5 SMUG – S = stupid, initially; MUG = fool; def. self-satisfied.
9 ROBIN – ROB = take, + IN; def. bird. Easy peasy.
10 LOUNGER – LONGER = extended, around U = back of bureau; def. comfortable seat.
11 LIFE SENTENCE – Cryptic definition, ‘time’ = prison term.
13 ASSESS – If an ASS is a fool, a female fool could be an ASS-ESS; def. judge.
15 SAFARI – AFAR = many miles away, inside S I = borders of Somali; def. wild trip.
17 TRESTLE TABLE – (LETTERS)*, then TABLE = list; def. supporting structure.
20 SUPPOSE – SUP = drink, POSE = artificial stance; def. assume.
21 INTER – (W)INTER = season not kicking off; def. bury.
22 NERD – Hidden in LEAR(NER D)RIVER; def. geek.
23 ORANGERY – O = old, RANGER = park warden, Y = ending of steamy; def. greenhouse for fruit.

Down
1 FIRM – Double definition.
2 RABBI – RABBIT = animal, dock tail (-T); def. Jewish official.
3 CONVERSATION – CONVERSION = change, around AT, def. talk.
4 SALVER – L inside SAVER = hoarder; def. plate.
6 MAGENTA – AGENT = representative, inside MA = mother; def. shade, the purple-red colour of one of the standard printing ink colours.
7 GARDENIA – (DRAINAGE)*, anagrind = in a storm; def. plant.
8 AUSTRALASIAN – AUSTRIAN = European, insert ALAS = unfortunately; def. from New Zealand perhaps.
12 PARTISAN – P = power, ARTISAN = skilled worker; def. prejudiced.
14 SWEEPER – Cryptic definition, a sweeper is the last footballer defending before the goalie; a broom sweeps.
16 METEOR – (REMOTE)* breaking up; def. shooting star.
18 LITHE – LIT = clearly visible; HE = man; def. agile.
19 ARMY – BARMY = crazy, make ‘AWOL’ the B = ‘leader’ of the word; def. soldiers.

25 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 264 by Mara – one thing leads to another”

  1. Tricky little number this, especially when one is convinced that 17a starts with ‘theatre’. My penultimate was the other long across (11) so this was definitely a win for the setter. 13 minutes.

    Pip, a punter elsewhere has alerted us to the fact that last week’s puzzle is numbered 251 in your heading rather than 259…

    Edited at 2015-03-13 07:08 am (UTC)

    2. hey thanks now sorted (nyala, larboard , indian queen stumped me and great to have answers now. thanks.
  2. Thought I was going to struggle with this one as I was initially only able to get one of the long answers, CONVERSATION. However, after getting 11a across things fell into place. Last in LITHE and favourite ASSESS.
  3. Probably the easiest of the week for me. Very straightforward. Although it was a toss up whether I spelled sentence correctly or not.
  4. I agree with previous comments. At first glance thought it a bit tricky but after first two went in the other answers really flowed. Really enjoyed it as my best time ever of 20 mins. I feel a real sense of achievement as some days I find them too difficult for beginners.
  5. I agree with previous comments. First sweep thought it was going to be another soul destroying one but after first couple of clues were in the rest flowed quite easily . Best time ever of 20 mins. I feel a sense of achievement as some days I think they are way too hard for beginners.
    1. I think I’ve read this before somewhere!

      At the risk of repeating MYself I’d like to point out that these puzzles are not ALL for beginners. There needs to be a variety of difficulty so that less experienced solvers can progress.

      Edited at 2015-03-13 09:37 am (UTC)

  6. 8 minutes. I thought this was only marginally more difficult than yesterday’s which most contributors seem to have found at the easier end of the spectrum.

    My only query was 17 where I’m not sure that a list is the same as a table or that a TRESTLE TABLE is a supporting structure as it’s the trestle that does the supporting.

    Edited at 2015-03-13 09:14 am (UTC)

    1. Table of contents seems close enough to me as a list of the parts of a book. I see what you’re getting at re the trestle table, but the table itself does its fair of supporting!
      1. Hm, but a table isn’t a structure surely, whereas a trestle most certainly is.
        1. I think we are verging on the pedantic here, jackkt, but would propose that a ‘trestle table’ is a structure often used for supporting things or people, notably me decorating my walls… it’s hard to stand on a trestle alone.
          1. I’m sure you’re right about that, pip! And maybe our terminology is at cross purposes as what I think of as a trestle table would be very dangerous to stand on whilst wallpapering though I might use it to roll out the paper for cutting and pasting.
  7. Must have been on the wavelength here, as I found this one of the easier quickie offerings.

    Some great surfaces and wit – particularly liked INTER and ARMY.

    Thanks to Pip and Mara: all most enjoyable, particularly after the rigours of today’s 15×15 which I thought was a snorter (in the best possible way!)

    Edited at 2015-03-13 09:44 am (UTC)

  9. Just a couple of write-ins initially, and then a long pause before they all started to go in – the opposite to my usual solving pattern. Having said that, I’m at a loss to understand how anyone could find this easier than yesterday’s. Invariant
  10. Having read the blog at 2dn I neglected to ask if anyone remembered the glove puppet “Rabbi Rabbit”? This was on KYTV many moons ago. No? I thought not. It still makes me laugh though.

    Edited at 2015-03-13 02:03 pm (UTC)

  11. A bit tougher than yesterday but still on the easier side, I thought – about 30 minutes for me today. I was held up for a while by 8d, where I assumed initially that ‘unfortunately’ was indicating an anagram.

    I think that the term ‘sweeper’ is used in sports other than football (although that is where it’s best known) – I’m pretty sure it’s common in Rugby 7s for example.

  12. In the end it turned out to be a fairly straightforward solve, but after the first run through there were quite a few unfilled clues. Then, getting a couple of the long clues seemed to kick start things again and I finished quite rapidly. Wasn’t helped by convincing myself that 11ac must include infinite and not seeing the cryptic for 8dn quickly enough.

    On a somewhat pedantic level, a LIFE SENTENCE in judicial terms can mean so many things these days as life does not necessarily mean life….

    But, on the whole, a very enjoyable solve so thanks to Mara and to Pip for the blog.

  13. I flew through this thinking it was the easiest of the week. However my LOI was 8d which took me forever to see. I think I would have given up but I’d completed all the others this week and had never got five in a row before. It finally clicked that sandwiches indicated that a word was to go in the middle of a European and I finally saw the light.

    Feeling pretty chuffed right now.
    As always thanks for the blog.

  14. I wondered if the capitalisation of Bury was a bit naughty or is that fair in the war between setter and solver?
    1. Here’s Peter Biddlecombe’s interpretation of the “rule”

      Capital letters
      Words that require capital letters in the cryptic reading must have them. However, ‘deceptive capitalisation’ is permitted. In other words, a word with a capital letter in the clue doesn’t necessarily have a wordplay meaning requiring a capital letter – so Joanna Strong’s instrument (10) could be PIANO,FORTE.

      Edited at 2015-03-14 01:36 am (UTC)

      1. Thanks for flagging that jack. By the way, that example is a cracker of a clue!
          1. Yes excellent many thanks . It’s a clear example and another thing to watch out for.

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