Quick Cryptic No 2766 by Pipsqueak

Author   DoofenschmirtzPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I don’t think I’ve covered a Pipsqueak puzzle before and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I found it at the easier end of the scale and I thought I was on for a fast time (for me), but then the last three took me as much time as all the rest combined, and I finished in 14:07. Inside my target, but when I think of what could have been…

The ones that held me up were the two intersecting anagrams at 9 across and down, where I was convinced that the scientist would be a GEOLOGIST until I counted the anagrist carefully. Anagrams are my kryptonite, but I’ve no excuse for my last one in, where SAMOA just wouldn’t come to mind, despite knowing exactly how the clue worked.

COD to the FAT ALLY, with a close second to the inebriated woman, but only because that’s my mother’s name. Hi Mum!

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

Across
1 Fruit on bus heading west very nice indeed (7)
SUBLIME – LIME (fruit) on BUS reversed [heading west].
5 Restrain two females going after copper (4)
CUFF – F for female, twice, after CU (chemical symbol for copper).
7 Alien found in Irish parliament? It’s a fact! (6)
DETAIL – ET (alien) in DAIL (Irish parliament).
8 Old man’s attempt to make a cake? (6)
PASTRY – PA’S TRY.
9 Desperate Merton needs support (11)
ENDORSEMENT – Anagram [desperate] of MERTON NEEDS.
10 Gangster loves to be a bringer of misfortune (6)
HOODOO – HOOD (gangster) + OO (loves, as in tennis).
12 Son visiting island state for a bite to eat (6)
SAMOSA – S (son) in SAMOA (island state).

My LOI: just couldn’t see the state, even with the checkers in place.
14 Cheating, as bluegrass musician might be? (2,3,6)
ON THE FIDDLE – double definition, the second being a reference to the instrument, of course. No moral judgements of bluegrass musicians here.
17 Nick quietly angry (6)
PIRATE – P (quietly, from musical notation) + IRATE (angry).

I think this works as a verb: to pirate (music, films etc) = steal = nick. Nice placement of the definition to make it look like a name.
18 So cult indecently produces stripper? (6)
LOCUST – Anagram [indecently] of SO CULT.

Oh, that sort of stripper. A reference to what locusts do to vegetation.
20 School taken in, by the sound of it (4)
ETON – Homophone [by the sound of it] of EATEN (taken in).

Other schools are available.
21 Disastrously obese friend (7)
FATALLY – FAT ALLY.

So neat. The recipient of a smiley face on my printed copy.
Down
1 Woman regularly soused (3)
SUE – Every other letter [regularly] of SoUsEd.
2 Governing body and editor got on (7)
BOARDED – BOARD (governing body) + ED (standard abbreviation for editor).
3 Increasingly sick murderer losing head (5)
ILLER – kILLER (murderer) [losing head]
4 Very quick  to communicate (7)
EXPRESS – double definition.
5 Actors initially enjoy class (5)
CASTE – CAST (actors) + first letter of [initially] Enjoy.
6 Drunken street oaf getting warning (9)
FORETASTE – anagram [drunken] of STREET OAF.
9 Scientist terribly close to GI (9)
ECOLOGIST – anagram [terribly] of CLOSE TO GI.
11 By whom an autobiography is written? (7)
ONESELF – A barely-cryptic definition.
13 LA detectives turning up to support me in examination (7)
MEDICAL – LA (from the clue) + CID (detectives), reversed [turning up], below [supporting] ME.

Did anyone else toy with words ending in DPAL and then realise that there wouldn’t be enough letters?
15 Spitting Image entertaining a US novelist (5)
TWAIN – TWIN (spitting image) containing [entertaining] A.

Not a hidden, then. I don’t need to feel bad about not knowing the works of Tingi.
16 Opening succession of Latin letters (5)
INLET – hidden in ([a] succession of) latIN LETters.
19 Sneaky agent having change of heart (3)
SLY – SPY (agent), with the middle letter [heart] changed.

80 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 2766 by Pipsqueak”

  2. Same for GEOLOGIST, bunged in without really noticing it had two Gs. ENDORSEMENT took a while with the above making me think it began with a G.
    I liked LOCUST for stripper.
    Thanks setter, D and Mum!

  3. Oh, it’s Samoa. I came here to find out where the island of Amosa was. All done in 7.11, no particular problems though SUBLIME, EXPRESS and BOARDED all took longer than they should have. LOI ETON, I was taken in by ‘taken in’. Thanks to both, have one for me Mrs D!

  5. Finished this in abt 15 minutes which is quite fast for me (don’t know the exact time as there appears to be a bug in the mobile app which says I complete the puzzle in 0:00 – if only). I expect the Quick Snitch will report this as on the easier side. Nevertheless there were some tricks. For example, I don’t get why succession is a hidden indicator. Also the clue to ONESELF was hardly cryptic which delayed me a minute or so trying to think of something deeper. LOI was HOODOO.

    1. Succession is not a hidden indicator. It’s saying that the letters of INLET appear inside latIN LETters in succession.

    1. That is how it works. Unless you mean you thought it was the other way around, with SPY being the answer. In which case, all I can do is point you to the [rule|guideline|convention|thing that happens more often than not] that the definition is at one end of the clue.

      1. As I keep saying, there is no rule or guideline or convention about where to put the definition; and it happens virtually always, not just more often than not. (Try to put ‘sneaky’ somewhere else.) And in this clue there’s no ambiguity: ‘agent having change of heart’ can’t mean that sly becomes spy.

  7. I came to get an explanation for ONESELF. Is that not just a straight up concise clue?

    1. I think it is, Tina. If there’s something more going on with that clue, it went straight over my head.

  8. I too had a smiley face against FATALLY and PA’S TRY.
    FOI SUE my sister.
    LOI ECOLOGIST as I needed all the checkers.
    I liked ‘Nick’ for PIRATE and ‘stripper’ for LOCUST.
    ONESELF had me a little puzzled.

  9. 7 minutes with SAMOSA as my LOI. My run of consecutive sub-10 minute solves continues and has now reached 7. I’ve not achieved that since December 2022 when I got to 10.

  10. The answers flew in here for a 6½ minute finish, one of my fastest for a while. I also toyed with Geologist but noticed there were too many Gs, and like Woodspiral I could not see the hidden indicator for INLET. “A succession of Latin letters” is pretty vague – every word in the language is a succession of letters! Even “Opening some Latin letters” would have at least hinted that one was looking for a hidden.

    Many thanks Doofers for the blog
    Cedric

  12. 4:04

    A very accessible grid for which answers offered themselves up in quick fashion and were gratefully entered. ECOLOGIST was the first scientist to come to mind having noted the C in the anagrist, and SAMOSA went straight in once all of the checkers were in place. I liked PIRATE as a definition of ‘Nick’.

    Thanks Pipsqueak and Doofenschmirtz

  13. Fairly easy going today with my main issues came when trying to unravel the anagrams for FORETASTE and ENDORSEMENT.
    Started with CUFF and finished with HOODOO in 6.36. I particularly enjoyed FATALLY but my COD goes to ETON as I chuckled when I imagined the reaction it might cause amongst certain posters!😊
    Thanks to Doofers for the blog and Pipsqueak for the enjoyable puzzle.

    1. I will not make my usual comments about the underrepresentation of state schools….

  14. 9:16. Straightforward and enjoyable one today. SAMOSA took longer than it should have. I liked LOCUST and the FAT ALLY

  15. We thought this a lovely puzzle with much to enjoy along the way. This slows our time but it’s why we do it! All done in a respectable for us 21.16 with LOI inlet, yet again finishing with a hidden – surely this happens often enough and is so frustrating that there should be a TLA (Three Letter Acroymn) for it? Suggestions please!

    I tend to write out anagrams for longer than about 6 letters so havining done that and crossed out the obvious ogist it could only be ecol.

    COD to pirate.

    Thanks vm Pipsqueak and Mr (and ma) D for the blog. Yes, I too looked at Mrs RH expecting her to confirm to works of Tingi.

    1. “Iceberged” – you were sunk by something hidden.
      Goes with “Breezeblocked”

  16. 16.19 is possibly my best time ever, and all one sitting.
    Wrongly parsed SAMOSA assuming AMOSA was an unknown island state.
    Bunged in SPY for 19d and then thought better of it.
    All in all a jolly good puzzle
    Thanks Pipsqueak and Doofers

  17. “Call up my little baby,
    Long distance on the telephone.
    But the voice on the other end
    Is a low down mellow tone.
    ’cause that little HOODOO woman
    Is fixin’ to HOODOO the HOODOO man.”

    The late, great Rory Gallagher.

    I needed to chase two clues after the second pass at this curate’s egg of a puzzle, but overall it was enjoyable.

    FOI CUFF
    LOI TWAIN
    COD LOCUST
    TIME 3:52

  18. I was quite lucky in that my last pair, the Pirate Twain, delayed me so long that I checked the crossers and spotted that my (ancient) 2G Geologist biff was wrong, though it didn’t make much difference. Eventually Pirate/Nick came to mind, and at that point T*a*n for US author didn’t leave much to chance, even for me. 21 minutes including the delay, with CoD to the Fat Ally, just ahead of Medical. Pipsqueak is certainly growing on me. Invariant

  19. Finished it, but NHO gangster = HOOD – or HOODOO, for that matter – so guessed VOODOO (VOOD an unlikely word, admittedly), my LOI. Also cannot quite equate fact with DETAIL (but it had to be); can’t see the relevance of bluegrass (any musician would do here, surely); and thanks, Doofers, for your explanation of nick = PIRATE. I also wondered about the works of Tingi or Gimag.

  20. Just missed my 10 min target. No complaints. Nice puzzle.

    I also wondered about Tingi …

    Thanks all.

  21. Was on for a rapid solve, bunged in SAMOSA without seeing Samoa, but totally blocked by the ONESELF/HOODOO pair.

    I saw the -SELF but all of the likely prefixes didn’t fit, or weren’t cryptic. Since this is cryptic crossword I focused on Thereof, Whereof. I discount HOOD because I thought the gangster was a Hoodlum, who lived in the ‘Hood. Saw OO but tried it at the start (OODLES?), and of course tried AL for the gangster.

    Didn’t last the full 20 minutes, so I passed by the SCC with a DNF.

    COD PASTRY

  22. I finished in 8.10 for another quickish time this week, although I felt I should have been faster. For some reason I got a bit bogged down in the sw corner, in particular the long anagrams at 9ac and 9dn. I’ve no idea why, they should have been fairly straightforward.

  23. Enjoyed this. The 15×15 was far too tough, but this was a steady solve, mainly from top to bottom. HOODOO and the scientist took a while.
    For some reason the clock on the App wasn’t operating (maybe I’ve inactivated it, or do you have to go via then crossword club portal?).

  24. Quickest for a while, and indeed QUITCH says third quickest ever.

    I found it straightforward enough, though still fun to do. I even had to write out the anagrist for my LOI ENDORSEMENT, but saw it as I was doing so, so no hold ups really.

    Strange to see a straight concise definition in a cryptic though!

    3:35

  25. 9:0o
    I took some convincing that nick=pirate, so delayed entering it till near the end.
    LOI was SAMOSA, having previously exhausted all ways of pulling an S in Malta.

    Thanks Doofers and Pipsqueak

  26. Not too many problems, although PIRATE (LOI) and HOODOO held me up for a while. A well pitched puzzle, I thought.

  27. In a rush, but 13:04 today. Nearly put VOODOO in and couldn’t see why ONESELF was cryptic. Glad I’d recently read something about the Irish Dial so that one went in straight away. LOI SAMOSA, COD FATALLY. Thanks Jack and Pipsqueak.

  28. From SUBLIME to PIRATE in 5:34. Initially put VOODOO then re-read the clue and changed it to HOODOO. Thanks Pipsqueak and Doofers.

  30. A rare sub 15 for me thanks to there being nothing that I hadn’t heard of and all the clues being very well constructed albeit with some misdirection thrown in such as PIRATE and LOCUST. FOI SUBLIME LOI SAMOSA.
    Thanks for an enjoyable puzzle Pipsqueak and Doofers for clarification.

  31. I can’t remember Pipsqueak before and I enjoyed a quick romp through this. I was also held up at the end but by the crossing TWAIN and ETON – just thinking the wrong way. 8 minutes.

  32. Most enjoyable puzzle, notwithstanding the appearance of Englands only school. If the word “school”appears in the clue it’s going to be that, 99/100 so I think it should now be banned on the basis that it is no longer cryptic in any meaningful sense. As for ONESELF…
    But I did really enjoy the rest of this, PIRATE, LOCUST, FATALLY et al. SAMOSA was a bit chewy, the longer ones took long enough to be engaging without becoming frustrating. Nice one.

  33. 14:17

    After weeks where these seemed to be getting harder and harder that’s 3 sub-15s in a row this week. Another gentle offering held up slightly by not knowing the Irish parliament but the rest of the clue was fairly obvious for LOI DETAIL.

  34. 4:10. Quite genrle, I thought. LOI INLET where I failed to see the hidden for too long. I liked PASTRY best, but FATALLY was good too. Thanks Pipsqueak and Doofers.

  36. From SUBLIME to ENDORSEMENT in 7:09. I liked PIRATE for nick and LOCUST for stripper but I wasn’t keen on the cluing for ONESELF unless of course we are all missing something clever.

  38. 20 minutes for me, so I was shown to a prime seat in the SCC.

    FORETASTE was my FOI and I proceeded somewhat hesitantly to start with. Fortunately, I picked up speed after a while and wasn’t even too held up by my last few. I enjoyed PASTRY, HOODOO, and FATALLY and my LOI was ON THE FIDDLE.

    Thanks to Pipsqueak and Doofers.

  39. 8.37 I slowed down in the SW with ECOLOGIST, HOODOO, ETON, PIRATE and TWAIN the last few in. It’s always Eton! I should know this by now. Thanks Doofers and Pipsqueak.

  40. I enjoyed this one and paused only to write out the anagrist (grind?) for ENDORSEMENT, to try and fit LAPD somewhere in MEDICAL, and to consider voodoo for the unknown HOODOO before realising it didn’t parse. Suspect it’s a chestnut but quite liked PASTRY 😃 Thanks as usual.

    1. As I understand it the anagrist is the collection of letters you have to play with, and the anagrind is the word instructing you to, um, anagram them…

  41. I don’t know why I put Voodoo instead of HOODOO when I’d been thinking of Hood=gangster for ages. Oh well. Hesitated about ONESELF=not cryptic.
    Quite slow today, especially with all the long anagrams. Good puzzle though. Could not parse TWAIN. Duh!
    FOI SUE, then SUBLIME. Also liked FATALLY, ON THE FIDDLE (an early biff), LOCUST, PASTRY.
    Thanks vm, Doofers.

  42. Despite slow start a PB of 6.50 for me. Made even more enjoyable that despite completing on my impossibly small iPhone SE there were no sausage finger induced pink squares

  43. One of my fastest solves to date, just under 10 minutes. Groaned at ETON but loved the obese friend. Like others I hesitated over SPY/SLY but helped by many contributors to this forum, decided it had to be a word for sneaky. A detail is I guess a fact unless it’s merely corroborative detail as in the G&S oeuvre! Thoroughly enjoyable – thanks to Pipsqueak and to Dooferz.

  44. 13 mins
    Same hold up as our blogger. Last 2 took about 5 mins to get. Thinking of geologist didn’t help.
    COD inlet.

  45. Thinking “oh, fairly easy” I BIFFed “Intro” for 16d Opening… having missed (as is common) the hidden. That caused a bit of a delay, but the Bunteresque 21a Fat Ally fixed that.
    I was unsure that I knew what 10a Hoodoo means, and I was right there. It had to be, but I had to look it up to make sure. That is cheating of course, but I’m not being measured here so I don’t care.

  47. 13:13. no idea why i found that so hard! Some quite tricky (but very enjoyable) cluing I thought, more appropriate for the main crossword…

    nearly went with SHY, but dodged that bullet at the last gasp! Thanks Dooferz and Pipsqueak

  48. NHO hoodoo and didn’t think of Twain. I was trying to fit ‘a’ into ..ting im .. Maybe Inagi or Tiang. I was frustrated with a DNF on a QC as yesterday evening I tried Mondays 15×15. I tend to think I’m a bit tired for cryptics in the evening but I managed a steady solve, completing it in a very reasonable time. Thank you for recommending it.

  49. Simply couldn’t get Hoodoo – couldn’t see the gangster, and not wildly impressed with “loves” being a cryptic indication of “stick a couple of Os on the end”.
    ONESELF also a rather weak clue which is a shame because the rest of it was a very good puzzle.

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