Very Teazy from Teazel today with plenty of trickery. I got a bit stuck in the SE corner until I saw the Q, taking 7:30 – well over par for me. Some great clues, though, including a lesser-spotted quadruple definition. Thank-you Teazel! How did you all get on?
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Sawbill’s turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword here. If you are interested in trying our previous offerings you can find an index to all 153 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Support letters after appointment (4) |
| POST – A four word quadruple definition. Nice one! | |
| 4 | Birds wrangle with noisy arguments (8) |
| SPARROWS – SPAR (wrangle) + ROWS (noisy arguments). I spotted the ROWS first and then the birds, then “spar” =”wrangle”… well I suppose so, but I needed the answer to the clue to see that. | |
| 8 | More enthusiastic man painting? That is right (8) |
| HEARTIER – HE (man) + ART (painting) + I.E. (id est; that is) + R. You need to see you have to split “man painting”, which I didn’t at first. | |
| 9 | Creep along in church (4) |
| INCH – IN + CH (Church). Phew! An easy one. | |
| 10 | In two brief months, boil (6) |
| DECOCT – DEC (December) + OCT (October) – two brief months. I knew of decoct meaning “extract”, but not that it also meant “boil”. | |
| 11 | Preserved vegetables for cheeky child (6) |
| PICKLE – Double definition. The second definition was a new one on me, but what else could the answer be? | |
| 12 | Terrible war starts — a GP’s to seek desperate salvation (5,2,6) |
| GRASP AT STRAWS – [Terrible] (war starts a GP’s)*. | |
| 16 | Charlie no winner, but not so far behind (6) |
| CLOSER – C (Charlie in the phonetic alphabet) + LOSER (no winner). | |
| 17 | Friend beginning to recover after earth tremor (6) |
| QUAKER – QUAKE (earth tremor) + first letter of , [beginning to], Recover. Ah. That sort of friend… “Quakers, or members of the Religious Society of Friends, are a faith group founded in 17th-century England by George Fox. They believe in a direct, personal connection to the Divine, often called the “Inner Light” or “that of God in everyone”. Known for their commitment to equality, peace, truth, and simplicity, they worship in silence without clergy.“ | |
| 19 | Pheasant, for example, unable to walk properly (4) |
| GAME – Double definition. The dictionary says of the second definition “origin obscure”. It’s a synonym of “lame”. | |
| 20 | Beloved park in holy surroundings (8) |
| PRECIOUS – REC (park) in PIOUS (holy). Did anyone else get hung up on trying to get a P for “Parking” in the middle? Wrong trees and barking spring to mind. | |
| 21 | Methodist’s awful news about destruction of Yale (8) |
| WESLEYAN – [awful] (news)* about [destruction of] (Yale)*. A double anagram and inclusion – wordplay that’s perhaps a little tricky for a QC, but the definition and crossers should lead you to the answer. | |
| 22 | Crazy star taking time to make a comeback (4) |
| NUTS – Not any old star but our own… SUN (star) including T (time) all reversed. | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | Some robes evidently far too heavy (5) |
| OBESE – Hidden in , [some], rOBES Evidently. | |
| 3 | Reptiles, huge nuisance for cat (13) |
| TORTOISESHELL – TORTOISES (reptiles) + HELL (huge nuisance). | |
| 4 | Splashed front of parka in river mud (5) |
| SPILT – First letter, [front of], Parka in SILT (river mud). No it doesn’t begin with R for river with 3 letters meaning “mud”. | |
| 5 | A rugby player’s eating nothing suitable (7) |
| APROPOS – A + PROP’S (rugby player’s) including, [eating] O (letter that looks like 0; nothing). | |
| 6 | New form of an incinerator following refurbishment (13) |
| REINCARNATION – (an incinerator)* [following refurbishment]. | |
| 7 | Why candle almost out in Irish town? (7) |
| WICKLOW – WICK LOW (why candle is almost out). | |
| 10 | Ultimately unsuited to cycling, one walked (3) |
| DOG – Last letters, [ultimately], of unsuiteD tO cyclinG. Lovely definition! | |
| 13 | Free to take another contract (7) |
| RELEASE – RE-LEASE (take another contract). | |
| 14 | Degenerate American going to pot (7) |
| ATROPHY – A (American) + TROPHY (pot). “going to” here is a juxtaposition indicator I’ve not seen before. It took me a while to see this one. | |
| 15 | Aristocrat turning up conceals title (3) |
| SIR – Reverse hidden in [turning uop conceals], aRIStocrat. | |
| 17 | Almost strange name for band (5) |
| QUEEN – QUEE{r} (strange) without the last letter, [almost], + N (name). No, not a belt or a stripe, but a differnt sort of band. It took me a while to see QUEER, which then helped me complete the SE corner quite quickly. | |
| 18 | Perfect climbing over base of Everest, go up? (5) |
| ERUPT – PURE (perfect) [climbing] -> ERUP + last letter, [base], of EveresT. Another tricky one, I think, to finish. | |
I enjoyed the quadruple definition of POST. Thanks to setter and John as always.
I hope that the regulars on here will enjoy the Weekend QC. Do let me know how you get on.
The quad was my FOI, and I proceeded with alacrity from there. Wicklow we have seen before, although maybe not in a Quickie. Atrophy was my LOI, and I did not parse it.
Time: 9:57