I seem to be meeting Grumpy more often than not on Fridays now. This one seems to be continuing the trend of increasing difficulty for the Quickies, I hope the debutantes are keeping up!
It’s a fair, balanced puzzle, with no obscure words, a couple of rather vague double definitions (d.d.), and more anagrams than usual.
It’s a fair, balanced puzzle, with no obscure words, a couple of rather vague double definitions (d.d.), and more anagrams than usual.
Across | |
1 | CARPENTER – Complain to = carp, key = enter (in keyboard sense), def. craftsman. |
6 | REF – Right = R, E and F are musical notes, the ref blows the whistle. surprising, in these high tech days, that nobody has invented something more audible over the crowd, and less reliable. |
8 | OBSCENE – Old boy = OB (also often clued by ‘alumnus’ in crossword-land) SCENE = part of a play, def. is disgusting. |
9 | CHAIR – start for combination = C, locks = HAIR, making CHAIR. You needed to think a bit laterally to get to this meaning of ‘moderate’ as in ‘moderate a discussion between politicians’. |
10 | GREENFINCHES – Inexperienced = GREEN, female = F, cautiously moves = INCHES, put it all together for the pretty garden birds. |
12 | AMENDS – Clever little clue; at noon, morning = A.M. ends, and amends means reparation. |
13 | FEEBLE – A hidden answer COF(FEE BLE)ND. def. somewhat lacking in strength. As was I, mentally, this morning. |
16 | FROMAGE FRAIS – A much trickier anagram, indicated by ‘all over the place’, (GIRAFFES ROAM)*, to sort out a food which is not exactly obvious, took me a while to see it and I’m in France. |
19 | BASSO – Another less than easy clue, qualified people = BAS (those having BA degrees) and LIKE THIS = SO, def. is the singer, I suppose BASSO is akin to alto or contralto, more than BASS would be. |
20 | CAPITAL – d.d., capital, as in ‘first class, Jeeves’, and upper case letters. |
22 | EAT – def. ‘scoff’, knock the first letter from (H)EAT being a preliminary round. |
23 | RESIDENCE – (RICE NEEDS)* ‘new’ is the anagram indicator and the def. is ‘home’. |
Down | |
1 | CLOT – Place for baby is COT, insert L = left, to get the def., ‘dummy’. Neat. |
2 | RESERVE – An easy d.d. which crops up often in crosswords, reserve or book a table, a reserve is a spare part. |
3 | EYE – Another d.d., to ‘clock’ someone is to see or eye them, and the eye is found in the centre of a hurricane (if not every storm). |
4 | THE OFF – A TOFF is mild slang for an upper class chap, bring in / insert ‘HE’ to get the def. ‘start of race’. |
5 | RACONTEUR – This one I thought vaguely amusing but a far from obvious definition; a raconteur relates entertaining stories. If someone sees I am missing something more specific please comment. |
6 | REACH – d.d. My online dictionary says a reach is ‘A continuous extent of water, especially a stretch of river between two bends, or the part of a canal between locks’ and reach also means ‘get to’. |
7 | FORESEE – Def. ‘anticipate’, it’s easier to guess the answer and then work out that deposits = ORES are ‘taken in’ to FEE = payment. F(ORES)EE. |
11 | ENDEAVOUR – A nice anagram with a nice surface, (OVER A DUNE)* indicated by ‘scrambling, def. ‘try’. Nothing to do with Morse. |
12 | AFFABLE – Def. ‘easy to talk to’, A + F (=fine) + FABLE (=story). |
14 | BRITTEN – Homophone clue, the celebrated British composer sounds like BRITAIN = country, and music was certainly his forte, although not to my taste. |
15 | FENCES – Another d.d. Fences are criminals (abetting other criminals) and fences are Grand National features. |
17 | ONSET – Def. ‘start’ as a noun, ON = working and SET = gel. |
18 | FLEE – Def. ‘run’, a lot of ships = FLEE(T) is cut removing the T. |
21 | PAD – Initially (P)lain (A)s (D)ay, gives PAD, verb meaning stuff. |
Fully agree this was at the trickier end of the spectrum. Some great surfaces (liked 8ac particularly) and some very neat clues – particularly enjoyed 10ac and 12 ac.
On a pedantic note, is Britain a “country”? Made me do a double take anyway…
*Wasn’t it de Gaulle who said something like “how can you govern a country that has 246 different types of cheese?”?
Edited at 2014-05-02 11:18 am (UTC)
Here’s how to make your own ricotta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0reTTKCnIwc
Nigel from Surrey
Made a few wild & very wrong guesses like Othello for 8ac & locksmith for 1ac .d’oh!
COD was 12ac – brilliant clueing 🙂
14dn was fun too, I’ve sung in the War Requiem – awesome.
Thanks, Pip, for a lovely clear blog.