Quick Cryptic No 2742 by Rongo

Author   DoofenschmirtzPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I found this one easier than many have been recently, and enjoyed it.

I was swifter than normal today, starting with 1 across and finishing with 4 down in 12:10. I was helped by the four longest answers coming to me on my first pass through the grid, so then it was mostly a case of mopping up the remainder.

My COD goes to SUSIE, with an honorable mention to SORCERESS.

Definitions underlined, synonyms in round brackets, wordplay in square brackets and deletions in squiggly brackets.

Across
1 Purple heads in magenta and emerald, absorbing ultraviolet (5)
MAUVE – First letters [heads] of Magenta And Emerald, including UV (ultraviolet).
4 Imitator of police officer and unknown jazz fan? (7)
COPYCAT – COP (police officer) + Y (unknown) + CAT (jazz fan).

Follow the assembly instructions.
8 Small fish that’s preserved for captain (7)
SKIPPER – S (small) + KIPPER (fish that’s preserved).
9 Misery envelops empty rooms in less good condition (5)
WORSE – WOE (misery) surrounds [envelops] R{oom}S [empty].
10 Understanding  feeling of dread (12)
APPREHENSION – A double definition.
12 Big noise about unrefined allure (4,2)
DRAW IN – DIN (big noise) around RAW (unrefined).

I had a bit of an eyebrow twitch at this one, but “allure” can indeed be a verb, although I think it’s more common as a noun these days.
13 Beam in for every petition (6)
PRAYER – RAY (beam of light) in PER (for every).
16 Production of long-playing record? (3,9)
THE MOUSETRAP – cryptic definition.

The Mousetrap has famously been playing in London’s West End for approximately 176 years.
18 Monastery head’s answer books: Old Testament (5)
ABBOT – A (answer) + BB (B for book, doubled for books) + OT (Old Testament).

The old “doubling of an abbreviation by making it plural” trick.
20 Conductor’s ear, most refined (7)
MAESTRO – Anagram [refined] of EAR MOST.

I didn’t distinguish myself by reading “Conductor” but thinking “Composer”. So I was running through composer’s names for a while.
21 I have visions, mostly dull, about myself (7)
DREAMER – DREAR{y} [mostly dull] around ME (myself).
22 Girl’s name that is introduced by South America (5)
SUSIE – IE (that is), after [introduced by] S (South) US (America).

Classic lift & separate needed on “South America”. Who else was trying to make a name out of N, IE and SA?
Down
1 Dressing lead actor in wet earth (7)
MUSTARD – STAR (lead actor) in MUD (wet earth).
2 Trustworthy university shifted blame for pinching fruit (13)
UNIMPEACHABLE – UNI (university) + an anagram [shifted] of BLAME containing [pinching] PEACH (fruit).
3 Ruin of Memphis underlying European Union’s inoffensive wording (9)
EUPHEMISM – Anagram of [ruin of] MEMPHIS below [underlying] EU.
4 Restriction on moving vicious dog: not a lot (6)
CURFEW – CUR (vicious dog), FEW (not a lot).
5 Father with beastly foot (3)
PAW – PA (father), W (with).
6 Starchy bread modified to contain zero sugars etc (13)
CARBOHYDRATES – anagram [modified] of STARCHY BREAD, containing O (zero).
7 Arduous journey started regularly with kilometre (4)
TREK – every other letter [regularly] of s T a R t E d, + K for kilometre.
11 Witch captured by Venus or Ceres somehow (9)
SORCERESS – Hidden in [captured by] venuS OR CERES Somehow.

Kudos to Rongo for getting a hidden to span four words.
14 Criticise  show again (7)
REPROVE – A double definition, the second being to prove in the mathematical sense.
15 One making a total  season (6)
SUMMER – Another double definition. If you are summing things, that makes you a summer.
17 Enclosed area of a few feet (4)
YARD – The third double definition in a row.
19 Not quite the place for the dead cat (3)
TOM – TOM{b} (place for the dead), without it’s last letter [not quite].

59 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 2742 by Rongo”

  1. 8.46, so not too many dramas. CARBOHYDRATES took a while because one of the checkers was wrong, and I couldn’t figure out what was required at LOI CURFEW for ages. At 22ac I avoided the N problem but thought the name somehow involved IE being contained by SA, and got nowhere. A nice clue in the end. Thanks to Rongo and Doof.

  2. I just put CARBOHYDRATES in from the checkers and “starchy bread” which seemed to point to it, despite the definition actually being at the other end of the clue. Held up at the end by CURFEW for some reason. My father’s best friend saw THE MOUSETRAP within a few weeks of its opening, and remarked “well, that won’t last long”.

  3. 10:48. I had SADIE for a long time even though the provenance of the D was a mystery. Then fortunately CARBOHYDRATES finally appeared and allowed me to see South American was S US, not SA.

    1. Ditto SADIE…..and the provenance of the D! My excuse is that my Cocker Spaniel puppy is called SADIE.

  4. Exactly as others with CURFEW holding out until last. Good misdirection with SUSIE. My COD must go to THE MOUSETRAP, obviously trying to fit LP into something to no avail. Very enjoyable.
    Thanks setter and blogger.

  5. 13 minutes slowed by the long answers which I was too impatient to spend time working out and decided to wait for checkers. But then some of the answers providing the checkers were slow in coming too, so I might have benefited from concentrating on the long answers in the first place and opening up the whole grid.

    I carelessly wrote SUSAN at 22ac which gave me a problem with REPROOF.

    I saw THE MOUSETRAP at the Ambassadors in 1960 when even as a 12 year old I thought it was creaky and feeble.

  6. 7:33

    How good was SORCERESS.

    I spent a bit of time on SUSIE, because like Doof, did not separate South and America

    I did biff some and didn’t bother checking – notably CARBOHYDRATES and TREK

  7. Staring at my keyboard in wonderment. How have I typed THE pOUSETRAP? Mucked up EUPHEMISM in the process. I was talking about wanting to see it just the other day – bit stranded between significant birthdays so perhaps I just need to get on with it. Not all green in 10.53.

  8. Some tricky clues pushed me out to 12 minutes: Curfew took longer than it should have, I was not aware that jazz fans are known as cats, and I never parsed DRAW IN as I didn’t think of Allure as a verb – I confess I still don’t! On the other hand by the time I got to SUSIE both S checkers were there so it was a simple write-in – almost the archetypal lift-and-separate clue.

    Many thanks Doofers for the blog
    Cedric

  9. 11:35. Nice one, that felt faster than it was. SORCERESS was a brilliant hidden.
    FOI: MAUVE
    LOI: SUSIE
    TRICKIEST: CURFEW

  10. 6:03

    Smooth solve, no major pauses, though did initially bung in BEATNIK at 4a, quickly seeing the correct answer once a few checkers had overridden that. Seen The Mousetrap twice – once in Glasgow when the production was on tour, and more recently (five years ago) for my Dad’s 90th birthday – he’d never seen it.

    Thanks Rongo and Doofenschmirtz

  11. A well pitched QC.
    I started off briskly apart from a careless ‘pay’ at 5d which might have worked had it not required foot to do double duty but WORSE soon put me straight.
    Held up at the end by missing the anagram for EUPHEMISM and needing all the checkers for THE MOUSETRAP.
    Finished in 7.04 with COD to the excellent SORCERESS.
    Thanks to Doofers

  12. I was far more comfortable with this, although I still biffed my LOI and parsed it afterwards. Thanks Rongo and Doofers.

    FOI MAUVE
    LOI CARBOHYDRATES
    COD THE MOUSETRAP
    TIME 4:00

  13. Clickety-click all the way to 05:31, which is very fast for me and makes this an Excellent Day.

    So nearly a “true” clean sweep – I got all the acrosses in order, and then all of the downs in order except one … curse you CURFEW! I got stuck on the idea that it had to begin “curb”, couldn’t make it work, had to move on, sobbing gently.

    COD to ABBOT, very neat. Many thanks Rongo and Doofers.

  14. 9:36
    My first sub 10 for some time.

    REPROOF is one of those words I kind of know but am pushed to really define it. Hence spent a bit of time looking for other options.

    I thought THE PRODUCERS might fit, but decided against it with “produce” already in the clue.

    SORCERESS was great across multiple words. It appeared in the big puzzle this week. Is it one of those -ess suffices that are frowned upon like sculptress, authoress or poetess?

    FOI MAUVE LOI YARD

  15. Slow start – FOI ABBOT – but then got both long ones which helped. LOI (PDM!) THE MOUSETRAP.

  16. I thought Rongo’s humour was a tad quirky in places, but it certainly helped in producing a very enjoyable QC, with a handful of potential CoDs. Like others, Curfew was my loi around the 20min mark – I tend to think of curs as mangy rather than aggressive dogs. The Mousetrap was probably a tough one for non-UK solvers, but it helps to make up for things like US State abbreviations. CoD to 19d, Tom, for the surface. Invariant

  18. 8:40
    Was surprised that SORCERESS could be neatly confined to a hidden so it took me a moment to spot, also had similar problems as Paul for CARBOHYDRATES. “Uni” for university, as opposed to just “U” made UNIMPEACHABLE a tenuous biff as well, but gladly no drama despite not parsing my LOI PRAYER.

  19. 09:50
    Only held up by draw in, prayer, app, and LOI curfew.
    COD The Mousetrap.

  20. Pleased to see I was in good company with the misdirection of 22A. I also tried to make SADIE fit. COD SORCERESS but many other neat clues. Thanks Doofers and Rongo.

  21. A steady solve with just a hesitation over DRAW IN, although clueing made it clear.

  22. Another attempt at SADIE, being unable to parse the D, so left it until CARBOHYDRATES went in. Otherwise a nicely balanced puzzle, requiring some lateral thinking. I spent a few seconds trying to work out why a jazz fan might be an IST before the penny dropped. Thanks to Rongo and Doofers.

  23. In a rush this morning so bunged in CORSET at 4d just to finish.
    I can now repent at leisure.
    10 minutes. A nice QC.
    David

  24. Seemed more gentle today. Liked MUSTARD. DRAW IN took a while, as did SUSIE. LOI REPROVE. Nice QC. Thanks as usual.

  25. Actually The Mousetrap is nearly as old as me (72ish) – not sure if I missed a joke in 176 years. I have to admit that some of the euphemisms I enjoy are not necessarily inoffensive 🙂 . Very enjoyable puzzle today thanks!

  26. 7:39

    Top to bottom, only returning to LOI PRAYER.

    Fun puzzle, thanks all.

  27. Not too many problems with this finishing in a fairly speedy 7.14. No trouble solving The Mousetrap having been to see it in London back in the 70s. I even managed to correctly name the murderer at the time, although in the tradition of the show you are asked not to reveal to anyone who it was. I recall that it was a fairly ordinary production, and I’m mystified why it has continued to be staged without interruption for over 70 years. The culprit? Well all I would say is that I chose the most unlikely candidate, and I was proved to be right.

  29. Enjoyed this. Like many curfew was LOI.
    Liked Mousetrap. Nice to have a 1a that went in early for a change.

  30. Good stuff this, though I did a while ago before getting caught up with work.

    Pretty straightforward. SUSIE LOI and took me over the 4 minute mark as I worked out why it was right. SORCERESS was a super hidden – well done Rongo.

    4:01

  31. Finished correctly in 40 minutes. Two in a row. Hooray !
    I may be getting better at this.
    Just hope that tomorrow’s puzzle in not a monster.

  32. 11 minutes, all parsed, which is a good time for me. I also considered Sadie at 22ac but couldn’t parse it so left it for later. Some nice clues and some scarcely cryptic (eg 17dn).

    FOI – 1ac MAUVE
    LOI – 13ac PRAYER
    COD – 16ac THE MOUSETRAP

    Thanks to Rongo & Doofers

  33. 11 minutes. Yes, good to be able to have the NW corner in without too much trouble for a change. SORCERESS was a clever hidden with an equally good surface and I liked THE MOUSETRAP which I think is pretty well known even to non-UK solvers.

    Thanks to Rongo and Doofers

  34. All done and dusted in 23 minutes so, despite being ushered into the SCC, I’m very pleased.

    I was out of the blocks straight away with MAUVE, but didn’t get into my stride properly until my second pass through the grid. Fortunately by then, I had just enough checkers upon which to build and my progress thereafter was smooth until the end. The long clues didn’t pose too many problems and my LOI was DRAW IN.

    Many thanks to Rongo and Doofers.

  35. In contrast to yesterday this wasn’t as fast as it felt it was going to be after the first few went straight in. Nevertheless our 10:17 is still definitely on the faster side for us. It had to be SUSIE though it took quite a lot of staring to work out why. Neat clue. LOI DRAW IN.

  36. From MAUVE to SORCERESS in 5:58. Didn’t notice the hidden as I had all the checkers, saw witch and popped in the answer. Managed to lift and separate South and America for a speedy SUSIE. Also helped by the long downs dropping in quickly. Thanks Rongo and Doofers.

  37. 7.20 The only hold-up was CURFEW where I meandered between CORSET and CURBED, neither of which made much sense. SORCERESS was nice. MUSTARD is a spice, a condiment and a leaf but I’ve never considered it to be a dressing. I would go as far as to say it’s not a sauce either, but that’s probably completely irrational. Thanks Doofers and Rongo.

  38. I spent two minutes figuring out that SUSAN was wrong. At first I thought it was SUSIE, but then though I was so clever parsing “name that is introduced by South America” was N preceded by S USA. Of course this made REPROVE very difficult to find.

  40. Good QC for this resident of the SCC. At least to me there were several “lift and separate” including “empty rooms”. Good practice.

  41. Whizzing through a Rongo s a rare experience for me. Saw plenty of answers before needing to fully parse. But held up at the end by 4d Curfew (carpet also partly worked) and 4a Copycat (not sure jazz fan = cat these days – sounds very 1950’s to me).
    §FOI 1a Mauve
    LOI 4d Curfew
    COD 11d the wonderful hidden of Sorceress

  42. Bit distracted today with rellies to lunch. Made a few minor errors biffing the endings of long words which had to be corrected before I could finish.
    Eventually solved SORCERESS, but missed hidden. Doh. Struggled with LOI SUSIE, which, I confess, is my name. Double doh!

  43. 20 minutes.

    A poor performance after two decent days. Knew it wouldn’t last. I’m not that good!

    Thanks for the blog.

  44. I got a little stuck after a smooth start, and needed 18:40 to finish. Lots of entertainment! The answers that came fast came so fast I only had time to vaguely parse them, went through the entire thing to verify at the end. EUPHEMISM, TOM, SORCERESS all so good. I’m another who tried COPYist and had to give it more thought. Didn’t know about THE MOUSETRAP, and threw it in from the crossers with my fingers crossed. I had a slight eyebrow raise over “mostly dull” at 21A, as DREAR means the same as DREARY. But as it’s “mostly literary” it’s probably fair. I love that “starchy bread” almost makes CARBOHYDRATES!

    Thank you Rongo and Doof!

  45. I put Pay for 5D, thinking “foot of beastly” would be y, and then foot the bill for pay the bill. This made it hard to solve 9A until I realised. Greatly admired Carbohydrates and Sorceress. Unlike some of the other commenters, it was a slow start for me, but I successfully completed it in an average time.

  46. 09:40 – nice puzzle. REPROVE took an age and was probably 4 or 5 minutes in itself with all the checkers… sometimes the mind draws a blank. thanks Doofers and Rongo!

  48. 2 hours spent on the big crossword. Oh dear, this is taking over my life. Barely seen any of the Olympics. All this effort needs to pay off at some stage.

  49. Thanks for the blog.
    One minor point: In 18A, “bb” really is an abbreviation for “books” (like “pp” = pages). It’s not a “doubling of an abbreviation by making it plural” trick, like “goods” = GG or “times” = TT, which I’d never use.

    1. Clarification: “bb” = “books” is in Chambers Dictionary but not Collins or the Oxford Dictionary of English. However, the same is true of “b” = “book”, which is a staple of Times crosswords.

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