Quick Cryptic No 359 by Teazel

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I managed this among the holiday chaos, in ten minutes or so. It’s a prime example of the setters art, with plenty of concise clues, not as exceptional or witty as Wednesday’s No L special but a good workout for aspiring cryptic-ers. It also contains among the answers Mrs K’s name and her favourite TV programme.

Across
1 SECOND – double definition; silver medals for second places, and to second someone is to back them.
4 CHAT UP – Insert HAT, of which Derby is an example, into CUP = competition; def. to try to impress. I am out of practice but it’s just as well.
9 MORNING PRAYER – Cryptic definition, where AM = a.m. means morning.
10 MOA – MOA(N) = complain, no tail; def. one can’t fly, New Zealand flightless bird.
11 HOT BUTTON – Heated = HOT, BUT = though, NOT about = TON, def. controversial issue. I’d have thought HOT POTATO was a more usual expression, I’ve never used the phrase Hot Button, but like I said, I’m out of practice at 4a.
12 SALLOW – SOW = pig, insert ALL = everything; def. unhealthily pale.
13 MEDUSA – MED = sea, next to USA = America; def. jellyfish. Broad range of jelly fish with name originating from the Greek Medusa.
16 ESPERANTO – (NEAT PROSE)*, def. language, indicator translated.
18 SUE – Double definition.
19 GUNPOWDER PLOT – (TO PULP WRONGED)*,indicated by ‘beaten’, def. &lit.
21 RESIDE – RE = on, SIDE = periphery; def. live.
22 STINGY – Double definition, different pronunciations.

Down
1 SUM – Sounds like SOME, def. total.
2 CURTAIL – TAIL attaches to CUR = dog; def. dock.
3 NEIGHBOURHOOD – NEIGHBOUR is someone you ought to love, HOOD = gangster; def. local area.
5 HERCULE POIROT – (OUR HELICOPTER)*, indicator ‘crashed’, def. sleuth.
6 TRYST – TRY = have a go at; ST – extreme letters of ShorT; def. assignation.
7 PARENTAGE – ARENT = are not, inside PAGE = part of book; def. forebears.
8 AGATE – A, GATE = crowd at match; def. stone, a semi-precious one.
10 MESSENGER – Def. bringer of news, hidden word in fro(M ESSEN GER)many.
14 UPSILON – Anagram of L IN SOUP, indicator ‘struggling’, def. Greek character, 20th letter of the Greek alphabet, and symbol for 400 in Greek numerals.
15 SNIDE – SN = Sn, chemical symbol for tin, IDE = fish, often in crosswords, def. sneeringly dismissing.
17 PINES – PIES are baked dishes, insert N = new, def. longs.
20 TOY – Double definition.

7 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 359 by Teazel”

  1. I don’t know where HOT BUTTON came from, and I wouldn’t mind if it went back there. I was under the impression, though, that it was an Americanism, probably because the only times I’ve ever seen it the writer was American. Its meaning, though–and again this is an impression–is different from that of ‘hot potato’; something like an issue everyone’s talking about. Maybe I should look it up. Or not. Stalled at 19ac even though I was thinking of Guy Fawkes, simply because the name of the plot wouldn’t come to mind. I hadn’t thought that CHAT UP meant ‘try to impress’; I thought it was trying to initiate a conversation, in the hopes that it will lead to, ah, sex. 6′.
  2. Lost time finishing off and so required 13 minutes in all. Count me as another unfamiliar with HOT BUTTON and puzzled that POTATO wouldn’t fit with all the checkers. Collins says it’s an Americanism.

    I never attempted to learn the Greek alphabet but have picked up most of it from crosswords over the years, however I always manage to forget UPSILON as opposed to ‘epsilon’.

  3. I found this one just a little too difficult for me, but I’m not complaining as it’s all part of learning cryptics.
    I have a few reservations about two of the clues – shouldn’t SNIDE be sneeringly dismissive rather than dismissing? Also, I’m not sure about including part of the indicator in the hidden word in 10D, although it was a real goodie!
    Many thanks to the bloggers, I would be nowhere without you.
    Brian
  4. 7′. I thought it quite straightforward today, but there are some fun clues. It’s not often you find a hidden word (10d) as long as 9 letters, and I liked the anagram at 19a too. As for 11a, I’ve always thought of a HOT BUTTON as something you can use to tease or wind someone up… like telling my son he is just like his sister, which is guaranteed to provoke a heated reaction!

    Edited at 2015-07-24 09:54 am (UTC)

  5. Did not finish today -just couldn’t see 1a. Will know better next time.
    Also had Snide for 15d but couldn’t fit it to the clue -a different tense in the clue might have helped a bit.
    Otherwise another good QC. Still amazed at Noel’s QC earlier this week.
    David
  6. A typically tricky Teazel puzzle. I missed the anagram (a theme this week) in 14d so stuck Epsilon in and therefore stuffed myself for 13a, which I would probably have been able to guess with the correct checkers. The rest all went in ok.
  7. Surely this is no good: AM (possibly) or am or a.m. but certainly not Am? If you used am at the start of a sentence you’d say am, not Am.

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