Quick Cryptic No 376 by Tracy

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
All was going swimmingly until the sea creature came along but the real sting in its tail for me was the NE where I ‘struggled to survive’ with little ‘improvement’. I expect times/completions to vary on your proximity to the wavelength of these ones.

To the anonymous poster of last week who is struggling with the iPad on screen keyboard – I apologise. The backspace key has stopped working for some reason and I suggested putting in a full stop instead of the letter – only to realise this week that there are only letters available on the keyboard. So, until The Times technical department start removing digits I’m afraid we’re stuck with it.

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

Across
1 Fish in deep sound (4)
&nbsp &nbspBASS – dd.
4 Improvement on Commanding Officer? Quite (8)
&nbsp &nbspRECOVERY – On (RE), Commanding Officer (CO), quite (VERY).
8 Capable of making mistakes in tale about bad back (8)
&nbsp &nbspFALLIBLE – FABLE around bad (ILL) backwards.
9 Solemn ceremony held in Maori temple (4)
&nbsp &nbspRITE – Mao(RI TE)mple.
10 Like going round to theologian in conflict (2,4)
&nbsp &nbspAT ODDS – Like (AS) going round TO, theologian (DD).
11 Bishop brought into court case concerning clan (6)
&nbsp &nbspTRIBAL – Bishop (B) inside court case (TRIAL).
12 Good judges will listen to all the old album tracks? (4,4,5)
&nbsp &nbspHEAR BOTH SIDES – dd. For our younger readers – shortly after words were etched into tablets of stone, music used to be made by bouncing a needle about in grooves in hard plastic. To save materials, each side of the plastic was used – hence a side A and B.
16 Dog wager — fool collected! (6)
&nbsp &nbspBASSET – Wager (BET) around fool (ASS).
17 Bad-tempered call about a couple of books (6)
&nbsp &nbspCRABBY – Call (CRY) around A book (B)x2.
19 Charge one for a cab (4)
&nbsp &nbspTAXI – Charge (TAX) one (I).
20 Short witty remark about English ship (3-5)
&nbsp &nbspONE LINER – About (ON), E, LINER.
21 Colour to get on inside enclosure (3-5)
&nbsp &nbspPEA GREEN – To get on (AGREE) inside PEN.
22 Son filling bag in secluded retreat (4)
&nbsp &nbspNEST – Son (S) inside bag (NET).

Down
2 A component in pieces (5)
&nbsp &nbspAPART – A component (PART).
3 Sarah labelling mayonnaise (5,8)
&nbsp &nbspSALAD DRESSING – Sarah (SAL), labelling (ADDRESSING).
4 Remarkably sober habits (5)
&nbsp &nbspROBES – Anagram (remarkably) of SOBER.
5 Teach wrongly about male cat (7)
&nbsp &nbspCHEETAH – Angram (wrongly) of TEACH around male (HE).
6 Check about Shakespeare’s first in the form of a poem (13)
&nbsp &nbspVERSIFICATION – Check (VERIFICATION) around (S)hakespeare.
7 Struggle to survive in desert heat? (3,4)
&nbsp &nbspRAT RACE – Desert (RAT), heat (RACE).
10 A quiet wood (3)
&nbsp &nbspASH – A, SH.
13 European sea creature shedding tail in spring (7)
&nbsp &nbspEMANATE – European (E), sea creature (MANATEE). Firstly, I rather thought that emanate was issue from rather than spring out from but that’s a fine detail. Secondly, and more importantly, I didn’t know the MANATEE but I’m happy to make its acquaintance – it’s any sirenian mammal of the genus Trichechus, occurring in tropical coastal waters of America, the Caribbean, and Africa: family Trichechidae. They resemble whales and have a prehensile upper lip and a broad flattened tail.
14 Result published, approach (7)
&nbsp &nbspOUTCOME – Published (OUT), approach (COME).
15 Tell, for example (3)
&nbsp &nbspSAY – dd.
17 The Parisian in prison is innocent (5)
&nbsp &nbspCLEAN – The Parisian (LE) inside CAN.
18 Praise British to a smaller extent (5)
&nbsp &nbspBLESS – B, LESS.

7 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 376 by Tracy”

  1. There seems to be a run of slightly easier puzzles at the moment though it’s doubtful whether I’d have finished in 9 minutes if “manatee” had not come up in another puzzle only a week or so ago. It’s not found by searching Live Journal so perhaps it was in an Everyman, the only other cryptic I solve regularly.
    1. I remember “manatee” coming up recently too… or rather “EMANATE” with a very similar clue, in the 15×15 on August 5th. 6d was the one to hold me up. Until I’d got 12a, I was wondering if there was a word with WILLIAM in the middle. But on the whole I found this quite straightforward too – just over 6 minutes. 3d is my favourite of the day.
  2. I found the majority of this ok but there were a couple of tricky ones. I’m not sure where I plucked 6 and 13d from but was chuffed to get them. Couldn’t parse 10a, another one of those academic abbreviations I’m going to have to learn at some point!
  3. Just occasionally this new format for the blog allows me to see and post comments and today is one. Normally those buttons simple fail to work on the ipad. Bring back the old system! Ok today but like others struggled with rat race and although I got emanate I didn’t think of the manatee…stupid of me.
    1. Press and HOLD the icon until a drop-down menu appears. Select Open or Open in New Tab.

      Took me two weeks to discover this

      P

  4. Lom
    Long live the log, your help is essential in my daily quest to complete.I dream of completing in the times you all quoteTo complete is an chievement for me, but one day ….

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