Quick Cryptic No 272 by Mara

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I think this one will prove reasonably straightforward, but you never know…

Quite a few anagrams today, which give you a good way into the puzzle if you are struggling to make headway. Some neat misdirections that cunningly steer you away from the answer.

Thanks to Mara for an enjoyable puzzle.

Definitions underlined, anagrams indicated by *(–)

Across
1 Drunk has darn tipsy cake! (6,6)
DANISH PASTRY – *(has darn tipsy) with Drunk as the anagrind
8 Watch to send back (5)
TIMER – The timepiece also arrived at from REMIT (to send) reversed (back)
9 Small nose for gunman (7)
SHOOTER – S (small) + HOOTER (nose)
10 Weed with no muscle, by all conclusions (3)
HOE – Hoe is used here as in the verb “to weed”, with the answer also coming from the last letters (by all conclusions) of with no muscle. Easy once you got the H and E cross checkers, but I was struggling to see what was going on here before they arrived
11 Awfully clean – is it rigid? (9)
INELASTIC – *(clean it is) with Awfully as the anagrind
13 Hidden problem in contract? (5)
CATCH – Contract being used here in the sense of catching an illness (he contracted leprosy). Not quite sure if this is a double definition or not: it seems to me like it is, but then again the “in” is steering it more towards a cryptic. Any advice from the senior pros here much appreciated. In any event, neat clue, I thought, with the legal connotations steering you away from other meanings of contract
14 Naughty, like pesto? (5)
SAUCY – Double definition, with the seaside postcard meeting the pasta sauce
16 Distant state in which fleas soon spread (9)
ALOOFNESS – *(fleas soon) with spread as the anagrind
17 Smash success? (9)
HIT – Straightforward double definition
19 Close to Armageddon, record song for the planet (7)
NEPTUNE – N (Close to Armageddon) + EP (record) + TUNE (song)
21 A flower appeared (5)
AROSE – A ROSE. Occasionally, a flower does mean a flower rather than a river!
22 Redhead I sent off, sad (12)
DISHEARTENED – *(redhead I sent) with off as the anagrind
Down
1 Daughter with desire for the gutter (5)
DITCH – D (daughter) + ITCH (desire)
2 Tower crumbling under unfeeling deputy (6,3)
NUMBER TWO – NUMB (unfeeling) + *(tower) with crumbling being the anagrind
3 Hand aligned and level (6,5)
STRAIGHT FLUSH -A pretty decent poker hand, also composed from STRAIGHT (aligned) and FLUSH (level)
4 Sign one must wear new specs (6)
PISCES – I (one) cloaked in (to wear) *(specs) gives us the sign of the fish. Neat clue with a surface that deftly steers you away from the answer, getting my vote for COTD
5 Retail worker has to pass, and isn’t failing (4,9)
SHOP ASSISTANT – *(has to pass isn’t ) with failing as the anagrind
6 Sewer animal with something sticky to bring up (3)
RAT – The much maligned rodent is also TAR (something sticky) backwards (to bring up)
7 Cold stuff blocking nose, dear? (6)
PRICEY – PR(ICE)Y. ICE (cold stuff) inside (blocking) PRY (nose – as in nose around / pry into). Went down a few (largely unpleasant) byways before spotting this
12 Tad depressed seeing score in American football (9)
TOUCHDOWN – TOUCH (tad) + DOWN (depressed). Thank goodness only the most elementary knowledge of the American game was required!
13 Careful securing top of rather narrow opening (6)
CRANNY – C(R)ANNY. CANNY (Careful) with (securing) R (top of rather)
15 European city, Copenhagen evacuated in part (6)
GENEVA – Hidden (indicated by in part) in Copenhagen evacuated
18 Given little time to study, put one’s foot down (5)
TREAD – T (little time – i.e. abbreviation thereof) + READ (study)
20 Harpsichord piece for Greek character (3)
PSI – “Piece” of HARPSICHORD gives us the sort of trident looking 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet

11 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 272 by Mara”

  1. I really struggled with this one, especially the SW, not helped by failing to spot the hidden city – my last in. At 13d I was working around ‘cave’ (‘careful!’ – beloved in prep school days), at 13a I was thinking ‘hitch’, and at 16a I was looking for a faraway nation with the anagramatised letters! So, 13.5 minutes in all.

    Not only do we have identical answers today in both Main and Quickie, they are in the same place in the grid! (Incidentally, the Main is not too tricky today, if folks negotiated this one without too much bother.)

    Nick, I think ‘in’ at 13a is functioning as a link word to join the two parts of the clue, so it’s a bona fide double definition. The question mark is not strictly necessary but does give the solver pause – all part of the solver’s armoury.

    1. Thanks for the insights into 13a Ulaca. What threw me is that whilst the “in” is functioning as a link word, it is also (to some degree) functioning as part of the deception in the overall reading of the clue. And the question mark had the desired effect of causing yet more uncertainty!
    2. I made the same point about the repeated answer in the main blog before I saw it here – apologies to Ulaca who got in there first.
      I thought this was trickier than normal as well though there’s nothing that seems difficult in retrospect, so maybe it was just me.
  2. 14 minutes, so at the trickier end of the spectrum for me after an easy 15×15 solve. I was in the mood to race through this but I got caught up on a few things, most notably the CATCH and CRANNY intersection where I made an error thinking HITCH at 13ac.
  3. Easiest one for ages, for me – and it took me 15 minutes which just shows the gulf in class between me and proper solvers! 🙂 but I did think this was pretty straightforward. I too went down the blind alley of hitch for a while. Would have been quicker otherwise. I will give the 15×15 a try in the train home this afternoon.
  4. Interesting (if numerically limited) diverse feedback to date re. degree of difficulty. Just goes to show, these things are very subjective.

    By the same token, I’ve just had a first quick pass through the 15×15 and it seems relatively tricky to me…

  5. Well, I thought this one was of average difficulty, and certainly easier than yesterday’s stinker. I actually managed to spot the anagrams, and not invent any, but they still took a long time to crack, so progress of sorts. My favourites today were 2 and 12 down. Invariant
  6. I’m in the camp that found this one tricky and had a DNF, 7 and 15d eluding me. For 15 I thought that evacuated meant I had to remove some letters from Copenhagen to find the city and having seen the answer am not surprised I went round in circles for so long.
    1a also took a while as I thought tipsy was the anagram indicator so was using the wrong words to solve an anagram, which isn’t easy! Fortunately I saw the light in the end.
  7. I finished the 15×15! Took me ages. But I completed it. I feel ridiculously proud (and I know it was right despite the lack of blog because I use the iPad app). I couldn’t parse everything mind – but I completed it. This is a red letter day!

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