Quick Cryptic No 421 by Tracy

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
If you’ve heard a thing or two about Wagner, Spike Milligan’s WW2 experiences and Drones Club greetings then this will be up your street – as it was mine – 8 minutes of good fun – thank you Tracy.

ACROSS

1. DOUBLE-CROSS – betray. Twin (DOUBLE), trial (CROSS – as in a cross to bear).
8. RICOTTA – cheese. Bed (COT) in girl (RITA).
9. RODEO – exhibition of riding skills. Cycled (RODE), round (O).
10. SCREECHER – one making shrill cry. Small (S), Homophone of creature.
12. EBB – decline. Two books (BB) with English (E) on them.
13. CO-STAR – to share top billing. Anagram (foreign – meaning translated) of ACTORS.
15. ADONIS – handsome young man. Article (A), put on (DON), is (IS).
17. AWL – what could be boring. Homophone (it’s said) of everything.
18. LOHENGRIN – opera – by Wagner much loved by our favourite Times cryptic crossword sleuth. Anagram (cast) of HER IN LONG.
20. GIRTH – circumference. Anagram (wrong) of RIGHT.
22. TWINGES – emotional pangs. Victory (WIN) inside an anagram (out) of GETS.
23. SHORT-CHANGE – cheat. Cheat’s meaning the answer is brief (SHORT), transformation (CHANGE).

DOWN

1. DECOR – scenery. The answer is hidden in the clue (in) Bu(DE COR)nwall.
2. UP THE WALL – having a screw loose. This is where you would find a waiting room clock.
3. LOATHE – hate. Put nothing (O) inside machine (LATHE).
4. CUR – aggressive mongrel. Restrain (CUR)b – mostly (without the final letter).
5. OLD BEAN – affectionate form of address. Elderly (OLD), head used (BEAN – as in use your head). PG Wodehouse, Bertie, Drones Club.
6. SHOW BUSINESS – the entertainment industry. Express (SHOW), concern (BUSINESS).
7. PRESS CHARGES – to bring a prosecution. Urge (PRESS), wards (CHARGES).
11. RED ENSIGN – flag. Plan afresh (REDESIGN) holding new (N).
14. SALERNO – Italian port as mentioned in Mussolini – his part in my downfall. Anagram (uneasy) of A LONER’S.
15. THATCH – roofing material. Which (THAT) church (CH).
19. ROGUE – wrong ‘un. Parachute d(ROGUE) not opening.
21. HIT. Double definition,

17 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 421 by Tracy”

  1. This went very fast, although I had to wait for the checkers before I could come up with ROGUE, ‘drogue’ being in one of those corners of my memory where I never go. 7d was nice. 2:45.
  2. 8 minutes for me too. Very enjoyable with reservations about 2dn where the ‘waiting room’ element is vague and loose, and anyway I would say a clock was ‘on the wall, not “up” it. I’m also a bit concerned about 19dn for our newbies as ‘drogue’ came up recently in the main puzzle and proved unknown to several experienced solvers so maybe it’s stretching the boundaries a bit for a Quickie – not that that shouldn’t happen from time to time, but I’m just saying…
  3. Quickest solve for some time. Last in SCREECHER. I did know about drogue. Several good clues with favourite GIRTH.
  4. Strange one this, I found few write ins as I went down the across list but then all of a sudden they fell like dominoes so done while visiting the docs for my flu jab. Answers seemed easier than the parsing in many cases.
  5. No problems with this for me either. 3 clues I liked – 20a, 11d and 16d, my COD. The difficulty seems to be quite consistent recently… or maybe it’s just me getting used to them – my times for the last six puzzles are all within a spread of 40s.
  6. A gentle run out I thought. Enjoyed 2dn, although up the waiting room wall was pushing it a bit. As for 5dn, can’t remember when I last heard ‘Old bean” used. Finally remembered that a drogue is the parachute that pulls out the main chute.
  7. Easiest one for quite a while. I finished in just over half hour which is very good for me! I stumbled on 2d – started with up the pole! COD 19d. Terry
  8. Wasn’t looking forward to a tricky Tracy offering after yesterday’s marathon from Hurley, but didn’t need to worry. All fairly straightforward, with 11 and 19d my favourites today. Invariant
  9. Fascinated that everyone should have found it so easy today. Having been at it for just over a year, I thought this was the easiest quickie of all time. At last I can understand the mystery of how some bright sparks can complete in under ten minutes. I guess I did just that, which leaves one feeling short-changed, especially as I have no doubt the main puzzle would still be way beyond me!
    1. ‘Bean’ is one of many slang words for ‘head’ in its anatomical sense. According to the dictionary I have to hand it’s of U.S. origin and dates from the early 20th century. ‘Used’ is just an indicator that words meaning ‘elderly’ and ‘head’ are used in the construction of the answer to the clue.
  12. I whizzed through most of this and then got held up by my last two (19d and 18a). I finally figured out Rogue and then, not being a opera buff, it was just a case of working out the most likely order of the letters for the opera – which I managed to guess correctly
  13. 7 mins all in. Didn’t like 2dn at all; thought definition was woolly, and biffed it in last, under protest!

    Now, if I can only get my back page solves down to these sort of times!

  14. I finished this fairly quickly; a couple of unforced errors didn’t help; I put in Old Dear at 5d before quickly realising my mistake and I wanted 10a to be Shrieking at first.My LOI was in fact 10a and on reflection my favourite today.A quick finish left me time to try today’s big crossword, spurred on by tales from The Championship. David
  15. 9’30” for me which is I suspect a record for me. Not sure I could do sub 3 minutes with all the answers written down in advance! Very impressed.

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