Quick cryptic No 993 by Tracy

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
An interesting offering from Tracy, which was right on my target time, so if my yardstick is any good, the rest of you should find this about medium difficulty.  Coincidentally, this is the same grid as for my last blog, but obviously with a different setter and answers.

There is quite a high proportion of anagrams and partial anagrams, but a good mix of other clue types – hiddens, double-definitions, containers, charades, deletions, homophones and clues pretending to be homophones, reversals and cryptics, so plenty for the newbie to practice on.

Thanks Tracy, and Happy New Year to all of you.  I shall be in Edinburgh for Hogmanay, so see you all in 2018 if I survive that.

Across
1  Somehow got bag on sledge (8)
TOBOGGAN – Anagram (somehow) of [GOT BAG ON].  The origin of TOBOGGAN is Micmac (the Algonguian language of a Native Canadian people of eastern Canada).
5  Notice small vessel (4)
SPOT – S{mall} POT (vessel)
8  I turn to follow a male friend (5)
AMIGO – I (I) and GO (turn) follow A (a) M{ale}.  AMIGO is Spanish for ‘friend’
9  Couple in book holding pig back (7)
TWOSOME – The rather predictable book is a TOME which contains SOW (pig) reversed (back)
11  Visit kennels in decline (2,2,3,4)
GO TO THE DOGS – Double definition, the first literal, but whimsical
13  Pass by one rig at sea (6)
IGNORE – Anagram (at sea) of [ONE RIG].  The definition reminds me of a trip to Delphi many years ago, where the oracle’s historic revelations were famously ambiguous.  An American lady on the same tour as I had seen an expensive piece of jewellery in Athens, and decided, whilst at Delphi, to ask her husband whether she could / should purchase it when they returned to the capital.  His brilliant response was ‘go buy’ or ‘go by’ – we never did find out which he intended.
14 Rush job (6)
CAREER – Double definition, following my rule that two word clues are nearly always DDs
16  Curt treatment of Republican wearing mini dress (5,6)
SHORT SHRIFT – A mini dress could be described as a SHORT SHIFT – add the R{epublican} somewhere in the middle (wearing).  A SHRIFT was originally a prescribed penance or confession, and SHORT SHRIFT a short time for confession before execution, but now means more generally the summary treatment of a person or thing.
18  Free lager distributed after a time (2,5)
AT LARGE – Anagram (distributed) of [LAGER] after A (a) T{ime}
19  Approaches some within earshot (5)
NEARS – Clever hidden (some) pretending to be a homophone.  Hidden in {withi}N EARS{hot}
20  Some time in confused state, reportedly (4)
DAYS – This one IS a homophone, sounds like DAZE
21  Hero-worshipping adroitly revised (8)
IDOLATRY – Anagram (revised) of [ADROITLY]

Down
1 Bunker perhaps where some turned up (4)
TRAP – Some is PART, which is reversed (turned up).  A bunker is just one of a number of potential TRAPs that might exist on a golf course, hence the qualification ‘perhaps’.  Other types of TRAP are available (as I am aware from my own experience).
2  Introduce British group and popular first song (5,4,4)
BRING INTO PLAY – A ‘flat-pack’ clue assembled by me as follows; B{ritish} RING (group, as in to ring or group a number of options) IN (popular) TOP (first) LAY (song)
3  Author, autobiographical at heart, penning worthiest novel (11)
GHOSTWRITER – Anagram (novel) of [WORTHIEST] inside the heart (middle letters ) of {autobio}GR[aphical}
4  Wily like ancient king, leader in Egypt (6)
ASTUTE – AS (like) TUT (ancient king, as in TUT{ankhamun}) and E{gypt} (leading letter of)
6  What father of the bride may do, slamming poor OAP’s taste (7,1,5)
PROPOSE A TOAST – Anagram (slamming – an unusual anagram indicator, but I guess it works, just!) of [POOR OAP’S TASTE]
7 Prize certain to be given after short walk (8)
TREASURE – TREA{d} (short walk, dropping last letter) and SURE (certain)
10  Working out initially sensible following PE (11)
OPERATIONAL – O{ut} (initially), PE (PE) and RATIONAL (sensible) following
12  Settled under tree to get medical attention (5,3)
FIRST AID  – STAID (settled) beneath (under) FIR (tree)
15  Canny, mean-spirited woman and daughter (6)
SHREWD – SHREW (mean-spirited woman) and D{aughter}
17  Game is extremely pricey (1-3)
I-SPY – IS (is) and extremely P{rice}Y

15 comments on “Quick cryptic No 993 by Tracy”

  1. I was fairly blazing through this (though I don’t, as you know, wear a watch) but was hung up for a ridiculous number of seconds by TRAP, my LOI. (Oh, right, a golf thing.)
  2. 11 minutes, so my run of missed targets continues. I think the lost minute was accounted for by expecting the name of an actual author at 3dn, and having given up trying to biff him or her I wrote out the anagrist and worked through it methodically.
  3. … the grid was looking reasonably healthy after the first read through. Needed the explanation for 2d and then the internet to know why lay meant song. 2d and 3d last ones in despite having all the checkers. COD was 17d, simple but pleasing.
  4. Completed in 15 minutes (a little quicker than average) without any major hold ups. Like jackkt I thought I was looking for the name of an author at 3d so skipped it until all the checkers were in place and the answer became clear.
    LOI 15d, COD 3d
  5. I was on course to hit my 10 minute target time until at 8:40 I got to my last one in 3d. I wasn’t helped by having managed to type AMIGI at 8a, and it was only when I wrote out the crossers on a scribble sheet that I noticed the error. GHOSTWRITER then came quickly and I submitted ay 10:29. FOI was TOBOGGAN. 12d held me up for a while as I thought settled was going to be PAID, so didn’t enter the obvious FIRST until SHORT SHRIFT went in. I didn’t see TRAP until I had both crossers and then had a Doh! moment as I’ve spent quite some time hacking my way out of said sand pits. Nice puzzle. Thanks Tracy and Rotter.
  6. I got 1a immediately followed by a couple of long clues and had everything bar 14a in 11 minutes. It took me three more minutes to find Career.
    I had to leave 3d till near the end as I was looking for a writer’s name or a novel.
    COD to 1d, which held me up despite being a regular visitor to such features. David
  8. Started well, and made good progress before coming to a complete halt at loi 14ac. I then convinced myself that no job ends in eer, so spent ages trying to think of words ending eur or something similar. Gave up eventually and used aids, at which point the answer was blindingly obvious. Invariant
    1. This type of dilemma is a regular stumbling block for me. Is the definition referring to a specific (as Invariant fell foul of), or is it a generic such as the required solution? A question mark in the clue often helps but, of course, is not always present.
      I found this one quite tricky, needing all the checkers for LOI and COD 3d.
      7’15”
  9. Is it just me or did anyone else think that 3d was a clue which was very much too hard for a quickie? I know I wasn’t on the right wavelength today so my time was off the scale but that didn’t help as my LOI.
    1. I’d agree 3d is at the trickier end of the scale but the penny dropped quite quickly once I had a few checkers.

      Overall 11 and a bit minutes, so my fastest for some time.

    2. Too hard for a QC is a moot point – they can’t all be easy clues. However I don’t think 3d would have been at all out of place in a 15×15. I have a degree of sympathy for the setters, many of whom also compile at 15×15 level and higher. It can’t be easy getting the level of difficulty right every time.
  10. Not sure of my time but say 45-50 minutes so, again, good for me. FOI 11a. LOI 1d. COD 3d which went in easily once Galsworthy was discarded. I generally find Tracy sets a tricky puzzle so pleased to complete and parse in a single (large) Costa.
  11. Under par for me, only yesterday’s taking less time in the last month, but I did biff 2d and neglect to work out the parsing. A bit of deja vu with TWOSOME and GO TO THE DOGS, both of which have come up recently, I think. Neat puzzle. Thanks Tracy and Rotter.

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