Quick Cryptic No 373 by Orpheus – quick blog too, rivers everywhere.

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Standing in at short notice for Macavity, so please excuse any brevity or indeed the tedium of seeing me again tomorrow. I’d normally be on the fifteenth by now but thunder and torrential rain are blighting even SW France.

Across
8 FREESIA – FREE = costing nothing, I in SA, def. flowering plant.
9 ODOUR – Def. smell, sounds like the river ODER.
10 RHINE – Last letters of cruiseR newisH, IN, E, def. river.
11 SALAMIS – Double def; island near Athens, and spicy sausages.
12 BUFFALO – Double def.
14 THROB – Anagram of BROTH
15 ASCOT – A OT (set of books) around SC, def. racecourse.
17 FRETSAW – FRET = agonise, SAW = observed, def. woodworking tool.
19 SOPRANO – Anagram of O PARSON
20 TRACK – TACK = follow zigzag course, around R, def. path.
22 CAUSE – Def. give rise to, sounds like CAWS = sound of rooks.
23 EYESORE – Double def.

Down
1 AFAR – Def. at a distance, hidden in loAF ARound.
2 BELIEF – BELIE = give false impression, F = father’s initial, def. faith.
3 ISLE – IS L(ikabl)E, def. Iona, for one.
4 PASSION-FLOWER – PA = father, SS = sons, I = originally instituted, ON, FLOWER = river; def. plant.
5 ROULETTE – Game, sounds like RUE LET.
6 FORMER – FORM = class, E – English, R = ready at first; def. earlier.
7 CROSSBOW – CROSS BOW = traverse E London district; def. weapon.
12 BRASSICA – BRASS = money, I, C A = first letters of could advance; def. cabbage, perhaps.
13 ANTEATER – A NEATER = a tidier, insert T = time, def. toothless mammal.
16 COP OUT – COP, OUT (to) = determined (to), def. evade responsibility.
18 SEASON – Double def.
20 TEEN – T = taste at first, E’EN = poetic version of ‘even’, def. youngster.
21 KEEP – Double def.

9 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 373 by Orpheus – quick blog too, rivers everywhere.”

  1. Thanks for the blog Pip.

    Steady, enjoyable solve but took ages over my last in ROULETTE which was my favourite when the penny dropped after a couple of run throughs of the alphabet.

  2. I was too slow in trying to do a blog for the first time, but since I have done it, I may as well post it. I don’t think there are any anomalies between my attempt and Pip’s above.

    Across
    8. FREESIA: free (costing nothing) SA (South Africa) with a one in it – Flowering Plant
    9 ODOUR: sounds like Oder, a river in Central Europe – Smell
    10 RHINE: last letters of cruiseR newisH (ultimately) with IN E(ast) – River
    11 SALAMIS: double cryptic, Salamis is the name of a Greek Island and the sausages are highly spiced
    12 BUFFALO: double definition, large ox and a place
    14 THROB: anagram (ruining) broth – What a pulse may do
    15 ASCOT: A plus OT (set of books) containing (about) SC (South Carolina) – Racecourse
    17 FRETSAW: fret (agonise) saw (observed) – Woodworking tool
    18 SOPRANO: Anagram of (new) parson with O for old – Singer
    20 TRACK: tack (zigzag course) around (across) R for right – Follow
    22 CAUSE: sounds like CAWS, the sounds that birds like rooks and crows make – Give rise to
    23 EYESORE: a stye is an example of a sore on the eye – Something nasty to look at

    Down
    1 AFAR: hidden in loaf Around – At a distance
    2 BELIEF: belie (give false impression) plus f (father’s initial) – Faith
    3 ISLE: IS plus L(ikabl)E (extremely) – Iona is an example of an isle
    4 PASSION FLOWER: PA (father) SS (sons) I (first letter, originally of Instituted) ON FLOWER is what you might call a river – Plant
    5 ROULETTE: sounds (reportedly) like rue plus let (a call for obstruction, usually by the net, in tennis) – Game
    6 FORMER: form (class) plus r (Ready at first) around (to take in) e (English) – Earlier
    7 CROSSBOW: cross (traverse) plus Bow (of the bells fame) – Weapon
    12 BRASSICA: brass (money) plus ICA (first letters of I Could Advance) – Cabbage is an example
    13 ANTEATER: a neater (a tidier) around t for time – Toothless mammal, the anteater is one of four mammal species of the suborder Vermilingua (meaning worm tongue)
    16 COP OUT: cop (police officer) out (determined as in out to) – Evade responsibility
    18 SEASON: double definition
    20 TEEN: t (from Taste at first) plus e’en (how a poet might say even) – Youngster
    21 KEEP: double definition

    1. well done Mr Rotter, if you’re likely to do more I can send you an HTML template text file – copy and paste into LJ then edit for a specific crossword. Message me if so.
  3. Well done, Pip. I have no time for this as I nodded off whilst solving it yesterday – and incidentally once we know the url to Monday’s puzzle the remainder of the week’s Quickies are normally accessible immediately so there’s an option to solve and even blog them in advance.

    I didn’t know SALAMIS as an island, or PASSION-FLOWER really, but quite apart from that I felt there was some quite tricky stuff here. To be utterly pedantic and tiresome (no change there then!) we have an enclosure indicator [introducing] at 19ac for the O from ‘old’ and the anagram fodder is PARSON.

    Edited at 2015-08-13 11:12 am (UTC)

    1. Thanks Pip for covering. Stuck at Calderdale hospital twiddling thumbs for test results. Managed to find a wifi spot in one of the restaurants.

      Wasn’t aware of the url to track things down. I can sometimes pull strings with RR but he’s been away.

      Must try harder.

  4. The SE corner beat me. I biffed Trail in for 20a which didn’t help matters and had a complete blank over 18, even with all the checkers in place.
    However I was quite chuffed to successfully solve 2 clues about plants which I’d never heard of at 4 and 12d even if my parsing of 4 was a bit iffy.
    An enjoyable puzzle despite my DNF
  5. Did not know the Greek island and so did not finish.Was looking for a possessive which complicated things.
    A bit too much GK today for my liking although I guessed other unknowns correctly -passion flower and brassica.
    David
  6. I thought this was definitely on the hard side for a QC. Had to use electronic aids for 11 and 22ac, so a DNF for me today. Invariant
  7. Good day everyone

    Do you need a loan? Are you in debt? Do you want to start a business
    and need capital? Do
    you need loans or funding for any reason? Your help is finally here,
    as we give out loans to
    everybody at a cheap and affordable interest rate of just 2%,if
    interested kindly contact us today at
    reachgibsonloan@outlook.com

Comments are closed.