Quick cryptic No 923 by Joker

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I know that we bloggers say this a lot, but there really are some elegant surfaces here if you look for them.  In the across clues, 8, 16, 17 and 23, and in the down clues, 3, 5, 7, 15 and 21 all stand out for me.  I took about 11 minutes for this, and enjoyed every one of them.

My WoD (Word of the Day) is PRIGGISHNESS, and my CoD (Clue of the Day) is 21 down, for its lovely compact surface.  Thanks Joker, the job’s a good’un!

I am blogging this from Florida where I am enjoying a combined Disney- and Golf-fix with my wife and some friends, so I may find it difficult to respond to comments during the day.  Hopefully, any questions can be resolved by the other regulars, who I thank in advance.

Across
1  Lacking courage, I’m one hiding in study regularly (5)
TIMID – Study regularly (alternate letters) gives {s}T{u}D{y}, into which is inserted (hiding) I’M and I (one)
8  Former partner, thoughtful and dear (9)
EXPENSIVE – Former partner gives EX and thoughtful is PENSIVE
9  Wall painting left on a strange backing (5)
MURAL – A RUM (a strange) reversed (backing) and L{eft}.  Who can forget Hilda Ogden’s ‘muriel’?
10  Make changes to turn ale pale in colour (7)
NEUTRAL – Anagram (make changes to) [TURN ALE]
11  Old costume, a male one in Japanese art (7)
ORIGAMI – O{ld} RIG (costume) A (a) M{ale} I (one).  Origami is arguably Japan’s best known ‘art’, that of folding paper to make figures shaped like animals, birds, etc.
12  Get thicker senator holding argument(7)
STIFFEN – SEN (senator) holding TIFF (argument).  I understand that jam stiffens or gets thicker as it boils when made.
16  Chanted song over a drink in Spain (7)
SANGRIA – Chanted gives SANG whilst song is an AIR which is reversed (over).  I once got well drunk drinking the Spanish punch known as SANGRIA.  Oh! Alright, more than once.
17 Detail which should decide a contested election (7)
RECOUNT – Double definition, the first to RECOUNT, as in to narrate or tell the details, and the second to RECOUNT the votes
20  A lord, me?  What might that become for me? (7)
EARLDOM – A combination of anagram [A LORD ME] and what being a Lord might mean for me (were I one).
22  Catwalk artist is large on style (5)
MODEL – MODE (style) and L{arge}
23  Carry top of the range ammunition (9)
CARTRIDGE – Carry is CART and a RIDGE could well exist at the top of a range (of mountains)
24  River running across road makes one late (5)
TARDY – The river that is running is the TAY which crosses (surrounds) RD (road).  I worried at first about equating TARDY (an adjective) with one who is late (a noun), but my Chambers allows it.  Apparently, in the USA it is common to use TARDY as a noun to describe someone who arrives late, especially to school.

Down
1 Beat section of totem pole (5)
TEMPO – Hidden in {to}TEM PO{le}
2  Damage article with fly getting an almond paste (8)
MARZIPAN– Damage article gives MAR, fly is ZIP (take your pick from the fly of one’s trousers, or to fly / ZIP around to the shops), and AN (an).  MARZIPAN used to be called marchpane up to the 19th century.
3  Character of the lower Nile (5)
DELTA – A kind of cryptic double definition, the first the Greek letter (or character) and the second referring to the alluvial deposit at the mouth of a river.  In the case of the Nile, the area is specifically referred to as the Nile Delta due to the shape made where the flow splits into several channels (shaped like the Greek letter)
4  Sampan raid has destroyed invasion fleet (7,6)
SPANISH ARMADA – Anagram (destroyed) of [SAMPAN RAID HAS]
5  Hormone abuse is not ending at home (7)
INSULIN – The abuse not ending is INSUL{t} and at home gives IN
6  Seaside attraction ripe for development (4)
PIER – Anagram (for development) of [RIPE]
7  Refuse to come down (7)
DECLINE – Double definition.  To refuse to do something is to DECLINE, and prices (rarely!) come down or DECLINE
13  Be unsuccessful gripping line for flatfish (8)
FLOUNDER – To be unsuccessful is to FOUNDER, which grips (holds) L{ine}.  Strangely, to FLOUNDER also can mean to be unsuccessful, so this clue could have been a double definition if the words ‘gripping line for’ were omitted.
15  Be nosy about indecent priggishness (7)
PRUDERY – To be nosey is to PRY which surrounds (about) RUDE (indecent)
18 Celestial visitor has to arrive on time (5)
COMET – To arrive is to COME which sits on T{ime}
19  Current score is high before end of play (5)
TALLY – TALL is high, and end of play is {pla}Y
21  Runs are not easy to come by (4)
RARE – R{uns} and ARE

32 comments on “Quick cryptic No 923 by Joker”

  2. Sorry merlin, missed it in the blog. The German town is Essen, and CE is an empty C{entr}E. The definition is CHARACTER. and the answer ESSENCE. Thanks for pointing out – from Florida, it is easier to provide the missing answer here than to update the blog. Rotter
  3. I just went to look at my solution, and of course the boys at Snafu Central set things up so that one can’t, at least on a different computer than the one one used to solve. Why, you might ask; for all the good it would do. Anyway, I don’t recall anything problematic, although if I had noticed the ‘one tardy’, I might have raised an eyebrow. The thought of getting drunk on sangria makes one shudder [shudder]. The last time I got drunk (1980) was on sake; oddly enough, it was the last time I drank sake. No great loss. ORIGAMI is certainly the best-known, perhaps the only, Japanese art in crosswordland. 4:06.
      1. IKEBANA flower arrangement too!

        And what of HAIKU, SHODO, UKIYO-E, KODO, MANGA, GEISHA, NOH, BUNRAKU etc?

        Sayonara!

          1. I know you did NB my title. MANGA had defiitely been in Crosswordland and GEISHA – why the denial!?
  4. 7 minutes. I hadn’t considered TARDY as a noun, though to be honest I didn’t think too much about it. I just assumed it was one of those clues where other words are understood, so in this case, “River running across the road makes one – a word meaning – late”. It’s odd that the noun doesn’t appear in any of the usual sources other than the printed Chambers and it’s not in their on-line version.
  5. with only LOI 7dn DECLINE giving any hesitation.

    COD None

    WOD 2dn MARZIPAN

    Mr. Rotter – Disneyland!? Heaven forfend! I simply cannnot think of anything worse – unless there is a Trumpland!

    Edited at 2017-09-21 07:01 am (UTC)

  6. Zipped through this in 6:34, more or less in a top to bottom solve, starting with TIMID and finishing with FLOUNDER, which I certainly managed not to do. Before submitting I revisited my biffed 5d to check the parsing, which popped straight into view and also noticed that it had somehow become INSULEN when I apparently entered STEFFEN. Weird! The E is nowhere near the I on the keyboard. I have to admit to not checking the anagrist carefully on 4d. An enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Joker and Rotter. I hope you’re enjoying the golf, and that the weather is being kind!
    1. For touch typists, E and I require the same finger (but different hands), so in that sense they can be prone to being confused.
  7. 9:58, though it could have been longer if I hadn’t spotted my mistyped PRRUDER earlier. That made the SW trickier. I suppose that’s one of the dangers of online solving, especially with a grid which may or may not move to the first letter of the next answer when you hit Return… FOI 9 MURAL, I think, LOI 21 RARE, WOD MARZIPAN.
  8. A typically enjoyable puzzle by Joker. My struggles today were based around my last 2 in – 7d and 5d – which accounted for the final five minutes of the 21 it took me to complete. Too many good clues to pick one out.
  9. What a difference when 1ac and 1d are write-ins. 19 mins in total, so easily my best time for months, with only 7d (LOI) and the parsing of 15ac – where I tried to get aria in – causing problems. Invariant
  10. A fairly light outing today which didn’t strain the grey matter too much. Finished in a time of 8:37 – or would’ve had a typo not robbed me of victory.

    It reminds me of an acronym an ex-colleague of mine used to use… PICNIC – Problem in chair, not in computer.

  11. I had finished all but three within 10 minutes, so thought was going for a PB. However, struggled with ESSENCE, PRUDERY and INSULIN. So finished at 18.53. Still good for me, though. I didn’t know of ESSEN as a city, and I basically guessed PRUDERY from the crossers. I would have got INSULIN much earlier, if I hadn’t have been to quick and rammed NATURAL instead of NEUTRAL in 10A. I should have counted the letters.
  12. It appears that not many of you buy a newspaper these days. I’ve tried doing it on-line when abroad and ended up getting pencil and ruler to copy onto a piece of paper!! Anyway, enjoyed today’s offering and finished in 40 minutes. COD 2 down LOI 13 down. Thanks Joker and Rotter.
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