Quick Cryptic No 441 by Orpheus

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A very good QC IMHO with a good level of clues. Nothing at the extreme ends of easy or hard but a good work through. The French city, rascal and carthorse may not be familiar to all but I think the clues are fair and get-able. Learning a new word is one of the joys of ‘crosswording’. I learned my lesson of yesterday and rushed less coming out in 11 minutes. A quick thanks to the splendid Soul and Zest cafe in Angastan, Barossa for use of the wifi. Having just come from McLaren Vale via the Adelaide Hills, the wine drinkers amongst you will appreciate that I’m having a very good time.

ACROSS
1. Pacific Ocean – main. Anagram (represented) of CAPE OF A C IN C I.
8. Immense – huge. Blokes (MEN) inside an anagram (reconstructed) of SEMI.
9. Terse – brief. Introduction to (T)his, Gaelic tongue (ERSE).
10. Avail – benefit from. A (A), Homophone of veil (VAIL).
11. Limoges – French city. Cat (MOG) inside stories (LIES).
12. Extra – run. In the clue – n(EXT RA)ce.
14. Puritan – moralist. RITA inside PUN.
15. Percheron – carthorse. One resting like bird (PERCHER), ON.
17. Sic – thus. One (I) inside SC.
19. In point of fact – in reality. Anagram (organised) of ACTION PONTIFF.
21. Gratis – without charge. Deserter (RAT) inside GIS.
22. Ranch – stock farm. RAN, companion (CH).

DOWN

1. Philadelphia – us city. Homophone of fill (PHIL), theatre (ADELPHI), A.
2. Compact – double definition.
3. Final – last. A confusing clue but one of the simplest. Bit of bee(F IN A L)obscouse.
4. CREEL – something to place it (a river fish) in. Caught (C), river (R), fish (EEL). COD.
5. Catamaran – boat. Take a container (CAN) across A TAMAR.
6. As right as rain – perfectly sound. A reference to raining cats and dogs. The ‘right’ may be up for discussion.
7. Lessen – curtail. Homophone of lesson.
13. Atheist – non-believer. Articles (A THE), one’s (IS), (T)reasured.
14. Pirates – sea robbers. Talks too much (PRATES) about I.
16. Riper – more mature. Rascal (RIP – a dissolute character/reprobate), (E)xpress (R)emorse.
18. Catch – double definition.
19. Fir – tree. (FIR)m.

10 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 441 by Orpheus”

  1. Pretty straightforward; I even spotted the hidden fairly quickly, when I’m usually pretty dim. It took me a moment to see RIP after biffing RIPER.4:50.
  2. Same for me as Kevin re RIPER. Knew the horse, just. CREEL is one of those crossword words that comes up over and again and I doubt I would know it otherwise. 8 minutes.
  3. Did not know PERCHERON but got it from the wordplay and checkers. Last in an unparsed RIPER. Favourite EXTRA.

    Agreed that it was a good puzzle.

  4. A good puzzle overall although I did not get them all. Question I knew 1 AC was an anagram and spent a good time trying to find a word for main. How that links to Pacific Ocean beats me. I cannot see any link, other than the Pacific is a main ocean. I finally got it from parsing it, but in my mind not a great clue. Perhaps someone can explain the link

    Tks Tim

    1. ‘Main’ is a word meaning sea or ocean and is the definition of ‘PACIFIC OCEAN’ in this clue.

      The Shorter Oxford has Main: 5 The high seas, the open ocean.

      Edited at 2015-11-17 09:54 am (UTC)

  5. A lot easier than last Tuesday’s. Breezed through this one, aided by getting the long clues straightaway. Just over 4′.
  6. Like others I did not know the horse, but worked out the word; and I did not know RIP (in Riper) but again could see no other solution. Always pleased to get one right including unknowns. David
  7. I’m clearly on a different wavelength today as I found this the most difficult for a while. I almost gave up on a few occasions but getting 5d led to 1a and I finally started making progress. Eventually I was just defeated by the carthorse – seems obvious now from the wordplay. 16d was unparsed. Despite my struggles I actually enjoyed this more than some of the easier ones.
    Quick question could someone please explain the link between companion and ‘ch’? Many thanks.

Comments are closed.