Quick Cryptic No 2922 by Mara

Author   DoofenschmirtzPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

 

Some nice cluing from Mara in this one with very few superfluous words in any of the clues.

I’ll confess that I looked up the spelling of the Irish premier. I finished in 11:30, which is faster than my average, so would indicate that this one is towards the easier end of the range.

Definitions underlined, synonyms in round brackets, wordplay in square brackets and deletions in strikethrough. Anagram indicators italicised in the clue, anagram fodder indicated like (this)*.

Across
1 Parmesan exemplifies  bad luck (4,6)
HARD CHEESE – A double definition.

I’ve not heard the “bad luck” usage in the US, so this may be a bit tricky for non-UK solvers.
7 Island animal tapir traps (5)
MALTA – the phrase “aniMAL TApir” hides [traps] the answer.
8 Words of wisdom from person wandering into lead (7)
PROVERB – ROVER (person wandering) in PB (chemical symbol for lead).

By coincidence, the same answer clued in the same way occurred the last time I was on blog duty.
10 A Scot, he and I upset about a premier in Ireland (9)
TAOISEACH – (A SCOT HE I A)*

I knew the word, I knew the letters. Could I put them in the right order? Reader, I could not. It looks like the result of an explosion in a Scrabble factory.
12 Call of ostrich, primarily avian sound (3)
COO – First letters [primarily] of Call Of Ostrich.

Thank heavens I didn’t spend too long worrying what an ostrich sounds like.
13 Usher adjusted corset (6)
ESCORT – (CORSET)*

I think the verb sense works best here: to usher/escort someone out, for example.
15 Firm retaining trainee initially showing little interest (6)
STOLID – SOLID (firm) containing Trainee [initially].
16 Head lost in European tavern (3)
INN – FINN (European) without its first letter [head lost].

“Inn” was the third three-letter word for tavern that I tried to make work here, after “pub” and “bar”.
17 Hurry past monster insect (9)
DRAGONFLY – FLY (hurry) after [past] DRAGON (monster).
20 Go, grab bananas around wide planting area (4,3)
GROW BAG – (GO GRAB)* around W (wide, cricket abbreviation).
22 Article, pretty serious (5)
ACUTE – A (an article) + CUTE (pretty).
23 Fed up changing cover on four sofa beds (7,3)
BRASSED OFF – a tricky one: you have to first take the “cover” of FOUR to get FR, and then make an anagram of that with SOFA BEDS. (FR SOFA BEDS)*
Down
1 Agony, duck for opener? (5)
HELLO – HELL (agony), O (duck, another cricket reference).
2 US readers relaxed and at ease (9)
REASSURED – (US READERS)*
3 Out of bed, father after cold drink (5)
CUPPA – UP (out of bed) and PA (father) after C for cold.
4 Personal pride, say, with love (3)
EGO – E.G. (exempli gratia, – say), O (love).

This time the sport is tennis.
5 Clients amended template (7)
STENCIL – (CLIENTS)*
6 Substance in serenade, small amount (10)
SMATTERING – MATTER (substance) in SING (serenade).
9 Old boy’s pet mixed up A and B, perhaps (5,5)
BLOOD TYPES – (OLD BOYS PET)*
11 Stolen plant is a delicate matter (3,6)
HOT POTATO – HOT (stolen) POTATO (a plant).
14 Curved line, arc ultimately going round the country? (7)
CONTOUR – arC [ultimately] + ON TOUR (going round the country, as a band).
18 Bitter possibly about vacuous nauseating viewpoint (5)
ANGLE – ALE (bitter possibly) around the first and last letters [vacuous] of NauseatinG.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen “vacuous” used like this. I like it a lot, since it means empty, devoid of content.
19 Mess up  soft bits (5)
FLUFF – A double definition
21 Briefly crowded, public transport vehicle (3)
BUS – BUSy (crowded) without its last letter [briefly].

98 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 2922 by Mara”

  1. DNF I thought I had solved everything in 12:30 but on finishing discovered I had brainlessly entered TOMATO instead of POTATO.

    2. Great minds think alike – at least momentarily as something told me tomato wasn’t right

  2. TAOISEACH, like the blogger, I knew the word from previous crosswords but can never remember the sequence, and great expression for ‘explosion in a Scrabble factory’ D. I bothered to look up the pronunciation and it’s something like ‘Teasheckh’, but do your own investigation as it’s as hard to pronounce as it is to spell.
    Everything else pretty straightforward and COD to BRASSED OFF, and it’s a pleasant movie too.
    Thanks D and setter.

    1. as an Irish person, I also had to play around with the letters for TAOISEACH – but a good way to get the pronunciation right is T-shock, with emphasis on the shock

  3. 4:25. Think this is the first time I’ve entered TAOISEACH without checking the spelling, but the checkers helped a bit in that regard. I’ve always pronounced it “tee-shock” without being severely castigated, so that must be near enough.

    Nice lively puzzle. DRAGONFLY brought back memories of that hilarious charade between Basil Fawlty and Polly.

    Thanks Mara and Doof.

  4. Absolutely flew through the acrosses getting eight in a row until DRAGONFLY resisted but then couldn’t do ACUTE or BRASSED OFF either but nine on the first pass must be a record. Sadly all those checkers didn’t help as much as I’d expected and I had to work hard for DRAGONFLY, ANGLE and even FLUFF. Ended up all green in a still pleasing 11.47 – once the 99% complete warning alerted me to the empty middle square of BUS.

  5. 11 minutes. I lost time on the Irish PM because in trying to remember how to spell it I wrote down the anagrist incorrectly. On one of its previous appearances someone gave me a foolproof way of remembering the spelling, but of course I’ve since forgotten what that was!

    It was useful to be reminded what STOLID means as I’d somehow lapsed into thinking it meant much the same as ‘solid’.

    1. I remember it easily by breaking it into TAO IS EACH. Not a particularly memorable phrase in itself but works for me

      3. That’s exactly how I remember it, except that I can never remember it until I have some crossers!

  6. 18.36 not bad for us – and held up for some minutes by the entirely gettable but only belatedly ‘got’ ACUTE and BRASSED OFF. Many thanks to Jackkt and others (yesterday) for encouraging the ‘build on what you have approach’, we feel sure it helped us travel at a faster plod.
    We also, confident of what was wanted, looked up the spelling of TAOISEACH.
    Like others, chuckled at the Scrabble analogy.
    Much enjoyed. Thanks to Mara and to blogger.

  7. Got myself into a tangle in the SE and ended up with a DNF. BRASSED OFF was one of them, appropriately.

  8. 7:40

    Things went a little bit awry halfway through. Top half seemed somewhat easier than the bottom half, GROW BAG staying stubbornly unsolved for a long while. However, FLUFF was my LOI – I didn’t twig the ‘mess up’ definition at first, but the checkers made the answer plain enough.

    Thanks Doofenschmirtz and Mara

  9. Fairly sped through this enjoyable puzzle for an 8:15 finish, though my LOI BRASSED OFF was left unparsed. TAOISEACH on the other hand a write-in; not sure why I should know how to spell it, as I have no Irish connections, but the brain squirrels away the oddest and most unexpected things.

    Many thanks Doofers for the blog

      1. My trouble is the brain squirrels hide things and then, squirrel-like, forget where they put them.

  10. Faster in the north than the south, and finally struggled to parse BRASSED OFF although I could see it was some form of anagram. Had the right letters for the 10A Scrabble factory explosion, can say it, but couldnt quite spell it. Double points to any non UK solver! Liked BLOOD TYPES.

  11. After a bright start, with 1a and plenty of the related down clues going straight in, my brain decided to go to sleep and this turned into a bit of a slog (nothing wrong with the puzzle).

    I took one look at the Irish Premier clue and decided to leave it until all the checkers were in place and even then I wasn’t confident – I could do with one of those handy mnemonics as it feels like one of those words which I’ll never get to grips with.

    Finished with ACUTE in 9.11.
    Thanks to Doofers

  12. 8:07 for the solve! Flying again today until I reached the last four of DRAGONFLY, ANGLE, FLUFF, ACUTE and was were crickets for two mins until I unpicked ANGLE and they went in in 25secs.

    Nice puzzle from Mara. Dare I say, the QC is beginning to feel like it has a Q for Quick. If that is due to our new Editor beginning to pull sway with the setters then I’d like to give credit where it’s due.

    2. I think it’s time to update your pic! Forget about tearing up the L-plates, dare I suggest it’s time to apply to the IAM?

    3. I’m in awe at the times you now record. Fantastic.

      I won’t get into my recent performances, save to say that I remain woefully behind the competition.

  13. 30 mins for this fun puzzle. Sped through 90% and was then held up by GROW BAG, ACUTE, and BRASSED OFF. The latter only fell once I got to grips with the word play, even though I got OFF early on. I amazingly spelt Taoiseach correctly (though I did then look it up to check).
    Lots to appreciate. All were excellent clues, but for the big smile it gave me, my COD: FLUFF.
    Many thanks to Mara and Doofers.

    Hope we get more QC of this calibre. I learn so much more from being able to parse clues than just biffing them or picking “the best guess”. Thanks again Mara.

  14. I enjoyed this, and even managed to get TAOISEACH correct on my first go. HELLO held me up for some inexplicable reason.

    Pi ❤️

  15. [As I type, only half the previous posters have thanked the blogger. My own view is that this is poor form. Blogs do not appear magically out of thin air; someone makes the effort to write them. I’m not just saying this because I’m blogging tomorrow!]

    Lovely puzzle, on the gentle side and none the worse for it. COD to SMATTERING. I learned as a child that if you say “tea shop” that’s good enough, but getting the vowel soup in the right order took fierce concentration at the end.

    All done in 06:18 for a Very Good Day. Many thanks Doofers and Mara.

      1. Third day running with all done and parsed in sub 25 mins. As others I checked the alphabet soup spelling of TAOISEACH. COD CONTOUR.
        I finished my journey with Radiotherapy on Monday, not without some potholes on the way, but I would like to shout out in support of recent publicity to urge all men over 50 to insist that GP checks PSA annually. The NHS instruction to GPs that PSA only needs testing in the presence of Prostate symptoms is wrong (IMO) and improved lives and much less invasive treatment are linked to earlier diagnosis. I was fobbed off 2 years ago to my detriment and should have known better.
        Apologies if my use of this platform to raise awareness causes offence.
        Thanks Mara and Doofers

          1. Yes, bravo, ditto for the bowel cancer checks. It grows slowly, if you get it in time you’ll live.

        2. And hear, hear from us – particularly from himself – both as a medico and as a receiver of surgical/chemo and more treatment– all timely — and all thanks to regular PSA checks…otherwise awareness of his cancer would have been delayed.

        3. No need to apologise for reiterating a very important message. Sending you all the very best for your continuing recovery 😊

    3. You are of course correct, Templar, in pointing out that blogs and puzzles don’t just appear and that a thank you is merited, but don’t you think it would devalue the praise that particularly good blogs/puzzles almost universally receive if everyone said ‘thanks to X and Y’ every time ?

      1. Obviously you are right that it can seem mechanical, but my own view (and of course I accept that this is a matter of taste) is that mechanical thanks are better than no thanks.

    4. Thank you for guidance on etiquette, Templar. So what is the recommended form where the setter is concerned; same obligation to thank him/her, or is s/he just doing his/her job? (Ach – English – but “their” sounds no less gauche.) Personally I tend to thank the setter when the puzzle has been a friendly one and I’ve enjoyed it, but maybe I’m being selfish?

    5. And as I often note, you wonderful UK-based bloggers do it in the middle of the night when the rest of us are all tucked up. A big shout out to all of you, wherever you are and whatever the time of day ❤️❤️❤️

  16. I tried to edit my comment and the site froze. I will try again.

    I just typed my comment and pressed ‘POST COMMENT’ and it vanished into the ether. Apparently an ‘internal server error -code 500’. Told to ‘try again later’. Is this late enough, I wonder? Is it just me?
    I enjoyed this puzzle from Mara who included some quite imaginative and testing clues amongst the well-judged QC fare. I slowed towards the end in the SE with STOLID, ACUTE, and then my LOI BLOOD TYPES. Finished in 17.20 which is fair for me, these days.
    Thanks to both for an enjoyable start to the day.

    1. I got the same error code yesterday and today when trying to access the blog. Succeeded on third attempt. Odd.

      1. Thanks, both. Johninterred has posted above:

        ‘Apologies for the current intermittent performance issues with the site. This is being investigated with our hosting company.’

        So it is being investigated.

        1. Tip to all in the meantime, highlight and copy your comment to the clipboard before clicking ‘Post comment’, then if the system errors you will not have lost your work.

  17. Many thanks to Doofenschmirtz I always enjoy a lucid explanation of why my guesses are correct. Asked Siri (my go to spell checker) how to spell Taoiseach. First reply was ‘sorry I didn’t get that’ next effort was ‘tea check’ so gave up and guessed (rightly). I’ve seen it written often enough so why don’t I remember

  18. 10:02, including looking up the spelling of TAOISEACH.
    COD to CONTOUR.

    Thanks Doofers and Mara

  19. Never really on Mara’s wavelength. Diagonal line from SW to NE corners: managed everything above the line, nothing below it.
    Doofers: that’s very funny. Same here but Mrs M knew it ended SEACH so the rest could be deduced. Thank you for your instructive and entertaining blog.
    My “LOI” was actually STOLID (to right of the line) but still can’t quite equate that with “showing little interest”.
    Now see that was only six to the bad, not as disastrous as I’d thought.

  20. 10:00 but pink squares for TAOISEACH, where I managed to get all the unchecked vowels wrong. Will try and remember TAO IS EACH.

    Why can’t we use as English word as we do for the Bundeskanzler (Chancellor) or Pope (Pontifex in local language of Latin).

    1. Interesting question on the use this side of the Irish Sea of Taoiseach. According to the Irish constitution, that is his official title in English too. Ireland is a bilingual country and very clear on which words should be used in each language in official documents, and the English version of the Constitution of Ireland says that “The head of the Government, or Prime Minister, shall be called, and is in this Constitution referred to as, the Taoiseach”. (The word literally means “Chieftain” or “Leader”).

  21. 6:49 for me which puts it in my top ten solves pushing out either yesterday or Mondays. Decent effort nursing a foggy head on the back of carousing at Selhurst Park last night. A third good QC this week so thanks Mara. (or cheers Marra as they would say in west Cumbria).

    Enjoyed Doofers’ “explosion in a scrabble factory”.

    LOI and COD BLOODTYPES

    Cheers

    Horners

  22. Enjoyable puzzle. Hesitated about LOsI BLOOD TYPES and STOLID. Also CNP BRASSED OFF but it had to be. Put Angry at first then pulled myself together, getting ANGLE right.
    Yes, had to check spelling of what I vaguely call the Teashop (no offence intended).
    Liked many, inc CUPPA, PROVERB, HELLO, DRAGONFLY, HOT POTATO.
    Thanks vm, Doofers.

  23. A one cup of coffee finish today, and several UK readers now know the spelling of TAOISEACH. As others I’m not convinced by the clueing of STOLID.

  24. A slowish 14 minutes. A pleasant puzzle with nothing very difficult but overall a pretty STOLID performance from me.

    As a non-gardener, just off to Google GROW BAG to see what one looks like.

    Thanks to Doofers and Mara

  25. Not the easiest puzzle and my finishing time of 11.15 reflected that. I had my doubts about whether I had spelt TAOISEACH correctly, relying only on lessons learnt from my previous unsuccessful effort to spell it. I was delighted to find that the memory banks had managed to do their job, and all was well. My stumbling block was putting in FUDGE for 19dn, but solving BRASSED OFF put me back on track.
    A good puzzle from Mara and of course expertly blogged by Doofers.

  26. 8:18

    Very enjoyable with some original clueing. COD BRASSED OFF.

    Thanks Doofers and Mara.

  27. Managed to finish this in 40 minutes today. Lots of enjoyable clues today, favourites include HARD CHEESE, BLOOD TYPES and HOT POTATO, always seem to like the ones that give me a chuckle. Did have to look up the spelling for TAOISEACH, but as stated before will have to remember it as TAO IS EACH. Thank you for explaining the clues 🙂

  28. Breezeblocked by loi Stolid, where I was convinced for too long that the ‘l’ took care of the trainee part of the clue. Sanity eventually prevailed, but 25mins feels sluggish for what seemed a friendly enough puzzle. Like others, I looked up the spelling of Taoiseach (got it just though). Tip of the hat for the quip, Doofers, – it’s certainly an odd looking word in English. Invariant

  29. From CUPPA to TAOISEACH in 10:19. I always file it away as New Driver does, TAO IS EACH, but I can never remember it the next time until I have most of the crossers. Frustrating, but at least I know it’s correct when I get it. Made hard work of this one. Thanks Mara and Doofers.

  30. I started very well but then slowed down and in the end I was disappointed with my time of 21 minutes. Most problems were in the bottom half. I have to confess to looking up the spelling of Taoiseach, not trusting myself to get it right even with most of the crossers in place. I required several biffs to finish (proverb, brasses off and angle) so thanks to Doofers for providing the partings.

    FOI – 1ac HARD CHEESE
    LOI – 18dn ANGLE
    COD – 14dn CONTOUR

  31. TAOISEACH has come up before but I could not remember the TAO IS EACH method; anyway I spent a couple of minutes on TAOISEACH and managed to piece it together correctly.
    Time 13 minutes.
    Otherwise a nice QC level test.
    David

  32. 17 mins…

    Pleased to have finished this in a good time (for me at least). Like many, struggled with the spelling of 10ac “Taoiseach” – needed all the checkers and then had to literally write out the two combinations I thought it could be to see which looked right – thankfully I picked the right one.

    Wasn’t sure about 23ac “Brassed Off” – felt it was very open to interpretation the way it was written. Never heard of “Stolid”, but couldn’t see what else it could be.

    A good puzzle from Mara.

    FOI – 1ac “Hard Cheese”
    LOI – 15ac “Stolid”
    COD – 10ac “Taoiseach” – I can imagine the setter chuckling to themselves when they put this in.

    Thanks as usual!

  33. 26 minutes for me which is a personal best, though there were 4 or 5 I hadn’t quite fully parsed.

  34. 11m
    Eyesight didn’t help where I again saw film for firm.
    Got stuck on smattering, acute, blood type, and LOI stolid.
    COD hard cheese.

  35. A well-judged QC from Mara, IMHO. I reached the line in around 27 minutes (about average for me last summer, but quite fast for me nowadays), but then spent a minute or two wrestling with the spelling of TAOISEACH. I couldn’t decide between two or three plausible options and realised that I didn’t really care enough to persevere. That clue aside, I enjoyed Mara’s offering.

    Many thanks to Doofers and Mara.

  36. Good to be reminded what STOLID actually means, especially now that I have broadened out the meaning by looking it up 🙄 Remembered spelling of TAOISEACH from having got it wrong in a crossword before. Liked the surfaces for CUPPA and ANGLE, but COD to BRASSED OFF. LOI FLUFF/ACUTE. Thanks Mara and D.

  37. Completed in 25 minutes – very enjoyable and satisfying solve. Never heard of TAOISEACH but knew it was an anagram and know of Tao Geoghan-Hart (professional cyclist) so guessed it could be TAO to start with! (It worked for me 😵‍💫)
    FOI HARDCHEESE. LOI BLOODTYPES
    COD SMATTERING
    Thank you Mara and Doofers

  38. 40 mins having looked up spelling of Irish Premier!

    Didn’t parse BRASSED OFF but it fits.

    Fun puzzle thanks Mara

  39. Once again, the more the MARA for me. Enjoyed it.

    Having a Daddy born in Dublin helps with stuff like TAOISEACH. Slainte!

  40. 10.21 An entertaining solve. TAOISEACH was remembered from previous appearances here. I thought of DRAGONFLY from “monster insect” and spent too long wondering why it meant “hurry past”. Thanks Doofers and Mara.

  43. A better day today, even got the spelling of Taioseach right the first time. 9:39. Thanks all.

  44. 20:10 and I confess I looked up the spelling of TAOISEACH which I’ve promised myself to remember. Started quickly, pluming my feathers a bit over instantly getting HARD CHEESE, which is not a thing around here, other than as something to eat. But drew blanks for a while so worked my way back up a bit laboriously. CUPPA was cute but failed to come quickly to mind. UPCPA anyone? Must remember “bitter” for ale, sheesh. Never really stuck, but not a well-oiled mechanism here today.

    Thanks Mara and Doof.

  45. 06:45. weirdly I thought I had taken way longer. some good cluing but it did feel like there a slight surplus of the ‘take this away from that’ formula. thank you both!

  47. Enjoyable and perfectly pitched QC taking 26:40. I tried the grid solving method today and it seemed quicker. Experiment to continue.
    COD to BLOOD TYPES for the PDM.
    Thanks Mara and Doofers.

  48. No complaints from me today despite struggling to spell TAOISEACH (initially I had the O and the I mixed up but that was easily corrected with HELLO). From HARD CHEESE to ANGLE in 6:58. COD to BRASSED OFF.

  49. 18:15, a year with no historical events of note. Not sure why it took me as long as it did – it was all very straightforward until suddenly it wasn’t.

    Thank you for the blog!

      1. A minor local skirmish, quickly forgotten and popularised only by Abba’s 1974 Eurovision triumph.

  50. Threw the towel in @ 21 mins. The south defeating me: Contour, Angle and Brasssd Off (despite having Off from checkers). Great puzzle, thank you Mara and Doof for parsing the complex Contour and Brassed Off

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