Quick Cryptic No 371 by Rongo

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
No time due to interruptions but this seemed a little harder than yesterday’s, particularly in the NW. A mixture of easy and challenging clues and generally very entertaining.

Definitions underlined, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition, deletions CROSSED OUT

Across
4 Very smooth website’s back-end covered in broken links (6)
&nbsp &nbspSILKEN – Websit(E) inside an anagram (broken) of LINKS.
7 Deliberately wreck platform protecting characters inside Gabon (8)
&nbsp &nbspSABOTAGE – Platform (STAGE) around g(ABO)n.
8 Church to copy front of Lord’s religious building (6)
&nbsp &nbspCHAPEL – Church (CH), to copy (APE), (L)ord’s.
9 I want the best for others, nearly everyone I kept in confidence (8)
&nbsp &nbspALTRUIST – Nearly everyone (AL)l, I inside confidence (TRUST).
10 Peak of mountain’s first crossed by expert (4)
&nbsp &nbspACME – (M)ountain inside expert (ACE).
12 Rigid vessel suffering (8)
&nbsp &nbspHARDSHIP – HARD, SHIP.
15 Sign of ageing at temples, say, where things aren’t black and white (4,4)
&nbsp &nbspGREY AREA – dd.
18 Bone fragment in dreadful naan (4)
&nbsp &nbspULNA – Dreadf(UL NA)an.
20 Express contempt for Greek island in separate parts (8)
&nbsp &nbspDISCRETE – Express contempt for (DIS), CRETE.
22 Endless fogginess, a road danger (6)
&nbsp &nbspHAZARD – (HAZ)e, a (A), road (RD).
23 Publican left along with peer (8)
&nbsp &nbspLANDLORD – Left (L), along with (AND), peer (LORD).
24 Change of name that is for an ungenerous person (6)
&nbsp &nbspMEANIE – Anagram (change of) NAME, that is (IE).

Down
1 Joint, as in lock-up, primarily? (4)
&nbsp &nbspJAIL – This is an &lit clue where the word play and definition are one and the same – notified by the ?. A disreputable establishment which is a lock-up is a jail made up from (J)oint (A)s (I)n (L)ock-up. COD.
2 After trial location, simple overlooking a polite act (8)
&nbsp &nbspCOURTESY – Trial location (COURT), simple (EaSY).
3 Large vehicle is hot — scarper! (6)
&nbsp &nbspVANISH – Large vehicle (VAN), is (IS), hot (H).
4 Distinct part of second feature in Glastonbury? (6)
&nbsp &nbspSECTOR – Second (SEC), Glastonbury TOR.
5 Don’t work some bread (4)
&nbsp &nbspLOAF – dd.
6 Oxen tire, desperately making effort (8)
&nbsp &nbspEXERTION – Anagram (desperately) of OXEN TIRE.
11 Part of train caught, wedding top is taken off (8)
&nbsp &nbspCARRIAGE – Caught (C), m(ARRIAGE).
13 Chop times in A&E (3)
&nbsp &nbspAXE – Times (X) inside AE.
14 Y equals R, adjusted in a direct way (8)
&nbsp &nbspSQUARELY – Anagram (adjusted) of Y EQUALS R.
16 Tricky question of passenger’s journey round start of District Line (6)
&nbsp &nbspRIDDLE – Passenger’s journey (RIDE) around (D)istrict (L)ine.
17 Agreement, an uphill struggle in talks? (6)
&nbsp &nbspASSENT – Homophone (in talks?) of ascent.
19 Enthusiast carrying weight is to be obsequious (4)
&nbsp &nbspFAWN – Enthusiast (FAN) holding weight (W).
21 Band on the road, turning up regularly in Peer Gynt (4)
&nbsp &nbspTYRE – P(E)e(R) g(Y)n(T) backwards (turning up).

19 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 371 by Rongo”

  1. I found this rather on the meh side, and with some awkward surfaces (e.g., 4ac, 1d, 19d) to boot. I got distracted at 23ac, trying to remember which apostle was the publican, which did me no good; and at 22ac, taking too long to get past ‘mis(t)’ for ‘fogginess’. 5:45.
  2. After 18 minutes solving with at least the last 5 spent staring at 1dn and 9ac I resorted to looking up ‘confidence’ in a thesaurus which gave me ‘trust’ and I immediately saw ALTRUIST. 1dn then had to be JAIL though I wasn’t convinced the clue worked until I looked up ‘joint’ and found it is US slang for jail. I think of it as a dive or disreputable drinking establishment and I don’t think I knew this other meaning. Hard work for a Quickie but I’m not complaining.

    Edited at 2015-08-11 07:57 am (UTC)

    1. The ‘prison’ (I wouldn’t have said ‘jail’) meaning of this didn’t occur to me until I read your comment; for me, too, (not that I use the word) ‘joint’=’dive’.
  3. Just over an hour for this one, so I’m getting closer to my target, AND I got all the parsing (for once).
    The pangram helped – my last one was 1D and I only had J left to find.

    Brian

  4. Another pangram!

    Seems like it’s becoming common place!

    30 mins for second day running which although not at the dizzying heights of most here is a marked improvement for me. Maybe I will even finish a 15×15 one day!!

    Thanks as always for making my morning commute enjoyable!

    Dan

  5. I thought this was a good challenge, with some tough clues but enough straightforward ones to provide the necessary checkers. For some reason I was held up for a good few minutes on my last two in (15a and 17d) but got there in the end and all were parsed today as well.
    As usual thanks for the blog.
    1. A Pangram puzzle contains all the letters of the alphabet at least once – if you see an x, z or q look out for the rest. The only one I couldn’t find was J with one clue left, so one of the missing letters had to be J. I’d been thinking of a joint of meat, or part of the body, so it could have taken a long time without the J!

      Brian

    2. A pangram is typically a sentence that uses all the letters of the alphabet like “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”. In this instance it’s used to describe a crossword where there is at least one instance of all the letters in the alphabet in the grid of answers. There was a really good example recently where it was a partial pangram but the letter “L” did not appear. The setter’s name was listed as Noel. On further inspection (and with a little extra pointer from the setter) it was apparent that there was also no letter “L” in any of the clues. Quite a feat of crossword setting!

      My first ones in had Q and X (Axe and Squarely) which is always a heads up to the fact it might be a Pangram since they are uncommon letters. Once you suspect it might be a pangram then it can help you as you are looking out for J, K etc. which are again less common letters. It definitely helped me with 1 down for example today. It can of course lead you up the garden path sometimes!

      Dan

        1. Unspammed. Nestor, if you want to post urls in LJ it’s a good idea to break them up whilst indicating what they are intended to be, otherwise they will automatically go to spam.
        2. Nestor – I’ve followed your lead and now have the 22599 puzzle completed in front of me.
          Noel’s puzzle was a near double pangram, lipogram (no L’s in clues or answers) and a Nina of IPOGRAM.
          I’m looking for something similar and all I can see is a pangram – on edit – I should say it has no E’s. Is this the gimmick involved it being tough to avoid use of a vowel? Ah – the clues have no E’s either so it’s a lipogram without the vowel E which is harder than missing an L I guess.

          Edited at 2015-08-11 04:22 pm (UTC)

  7. I enjoyed spotting the pangram too. I was held up by putting in GREY HAIR for 15a and I knew IDEALIST was wrong for 9a as soon as I put it in, so slower than average. 10:06.
  8. For me, this was a bit easier than yesterday’s QC, even though I was held up looking for an eight letter word meaning express contempt in 20ac. The wordplay in 17d makes it my CoD. Invariant
  9. Can anybody tell me if it is possible to delete letters from the grid when you complete the crossword online? I can’t seem to be able to do this. Thanks very much and thanks for all your blogging.
    1. This depends, I think, on the device you’re using. I use an iPad which is a stretch for the site. Recently I’ve also had the problem of not being able to delete using the backspace. Maybe putting in a full stop would help?
      1. Thank you. Yes I’m using an iPad and the backspace doesn’t delete. Will try your good suggestion.
  10. I didn’t like DIS for 20d ‘Express contempt for…’ as I have only ever read this as slang and spelt DISS. Although I guessed it, based on the rest of the clue, I felt that the definition and part-solution did not match.
    1. Whilst certain words may not be everyday speech, it’s accepted on these pages that if it’s in the dictionary then it’s fair game for the setter. Dis is described by Collins online as ‘a variant form of diss which means (slang, mainly US) to treat (someone) with contempt’.
      As for discrete, Collins has ‘consisting of distinct or separate parts’.
      Technically therefore the clue holds together – which doesn’t mean we have to always like it!

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