This took me eleven minutes with a fuzzy head from last evening’s festivities. It seems to me that the Quickies are approaching the easier main puzzles in degree of difficulty, with fewer really obvious clues than when I started this malarkey. But maybe that’s just because I’m half asleep.
Across |
1 |
ABYSMAL – Hidden word, B(ABY SMAL)L, def. ‘very poor’. |
5 |
SLICK – S=second, LICK=blow, def. ‘adroit’. I’m still trying to satisfy myself that lick and blow can be syonymous; presumably to do with landing punches? |
8 |
ROLLER_SKATE – (ROLE STALKER)*, indicated by ‘criminal’, def. ‘move swiftly’. A loose definition, but a straightforward anagram. |
10 |
SHOO – SHOO(T) cut short. Shoo! = go away. |
11 |
SERGEANT – SET (firm), with (ANGER)* inserted, SE(RGEAN)T, def. ‘army guy’. |
12 |
GOLDEN – Out of date = OLD, circulated by GEN (information), G(OLD)EN, presumably for the 50th anniversary of WW1, 1914, or celebrating in 2014 a wedding anniversary if you married in 1964? |
14 |
LAPSES – Remove H from hapless, (APLESS)*, def. ‘failings’. |
16 |
MATTRESS – MA (mum) T (time) TRESS (lock), for what you relax on at night. |
18 |
TAPE – TAP (exploit) E (European), def. ‘measure’. I spent a minute looking for a word meaning exploit, beginning with E. |
20 |
OLIVER TWIST – (WORST EVIL ITS)*, indicator ‘reformable, answer the Dickens novel. |
22 |
CYCLE – First letters of C(hapters) Y(ou) C(orrelated), followed by LE (the French), def. ‘series’. As in song cycle. |
23 |
LEOTARD – LEO (stars) TARD(Y) (almost late), def. ‘tight costume’. |
Down |
2 |
BERTH – BERTHA is lacking A, def. ‘bed on board’. |
3 |
SALFORD – SAL (girl) FOR (supporting) D (Democrat), Salford is a city adjoining Manchester, up north. |
4 |
ACE – AC (bill, account), E, (end of ‘the’), def. ‘expert’. |
6 |
LEAVE – Double def., you give someone leave to do something; to leave, for example. |
7 |
CLEANSE – LEANS (lists, in the sense of leans over), held by CE (church), def. ‘purge’. |
9 |
SURPLUS – SUR(E) (nearly certain) PL (place) US (American), def. ‘more than adequate’. |
11 |
SINCERE – SINCE = during period after, RE = Religious Education, def. ‘Open’. Not quite a synonym, IMO. |
13 |
ORATORY – O (old) RA (artist) TORY, def. ‘prayer room’. |
15 |
PATRIOT – PT = training, A TRIO = threesome, P(A TRIO)T, def. ‘country lover’. |
17 |
TRIAL – L (learner), AIR (attitude), T (truculent at first), all reversed (rising), def. ‘test’. |
19 |
PETER – PET = favourite, ER = royal (Her Majesty), for the name of a Saint. Not the best clue around, as there are over 10,000 to choose from. |
21 |
TIE – Odd letters of twice, T(W)I(C)E, def. ‘draw’. |
“Talk to Phil – he’ll give you all the gen” is often heard in my work environment. In terms of demographics, I am by a long chalk the oldest (at a youthful 58) but many of the gen utterers are in late 20’s / early 30’s. Maybe it’s an Australian thing?
That, of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing – unless the intent of the Quickie is to deliver a “training ground” for newcomers who aspire to reach the giddy heights of the main one day.
Interventions on this site from the Editor in the past seem to have indicated that is not necessarily the objective, and that there will be times when the Quickie is of comparable degree of difficulty with the main offering. So be it, then.
This was a fair offering (no arcane GK – unlike yesterday) as far as I was concerned, but just seemed hard: that said, not on best form tonight (in Sydney – 9 hours ahead of UK) as been a bitch of a day at work!
Re the blog, can one speak of Golden Anniversaries with regard to an outbreak of war or some other unhappy event? I really only associate the terminology with pleasant things like weddings celebrations and jubilees etc. I’m not saying it’s wrong, just wondering.
Edited at 2014-06-25 01:31 pm (UTC)
I did have half an eye on Wimbledon which probably didn’t help my focus, but having read the blog I can safely say there wasn’t much chance of me fully parsing most of the others. Bad show by me. Tomorrow’s a new day.
Not sure anyone would write that but…