Quick Cryptic Number 407 by Joker

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A nice variety of clues including more than the usual number of homophones and many classic devices. I though this was going to go in a flash, but I definitely slowed down in the bottom half. Part of 24ac was unknown to me but obvious with wordplay and checkers. COD to 8ac for making me look at the other end of the clue first for the definition, but there are many little surface gems to choose from.

Definitions underlined.

1 Given a job indicated by heads of army personnel (9)
APPOINTED – POINTED (indicated) next to first letters (heads) of Army Personnel.
6 Regularly stand down (3)
SAD – every other letter of (regularly) StAnD.
8 Obscure snippets of film in middle of reel (7)
ECLIPSE – CLIPS (snippets of film) inside middle letters of rEEl.
9 Small tablet for upset (5)
SPILL – S (small) and PILL (tablet).
10 What might put one off course of hybrid fruit, we hear (5-7)
CROSS-CURRENT – CROSS (hybrid) with homophone (we hear) of “currant” (fruit).
12 Additional customs finally must be cut (4)
MORE – MOREs (customs) missing final letter (cut).
13 Idiot to engage in strenuous exercises? (4)
DOPE – DO (to engage in) and PE (physical education, strenuous exercise).
17 Competition has lion eating one smaller feline in difficulty (12)
COMPLICATION – COMP (competition) and then LION containing (eating) I (one) and CAT (smaller feline).
20 Operatic heroine — a round figure in cast, unfortunately (5)
TOSCA – O (a round figure) inside an anagram of (unfortunately) CAST.
21 Large bird, superlatively full of flavour with first piece cut (7)
OSTRICH – mOST (superlative) and RICH (full of flavour), the first word missing its initial letter (first piece cut).
23 Editor’s introduced new goal (3)
END – ED (editor) with N (new) inside.
24 Ruin notes written out for cheating (9)
DISHONEST – DISH (ruin) with an anagram of (written out) NOTES.
1 A mostly existing neighbourhood (4)
AREA – A plus most of the letters of REAl (existing).
2 Not so colourful second city of Italy (7)
PALERMO – PALER (not so colourful) and MO (moment, second).
3 I am beginning to pity mischievous child (3)
IMP – I’M (I am) with first letter of Pity.
4 Fish found on both sides of river channel (6)
TRENCH – double definition TENCH (fish) surrounding R (river).
5 Refuse to believe in record warning sign on IT (9)
DISCREDIT – DISC (record), RED (warning sign), and IT.
6 Political slant seen with European part of book (5)
SPINE – SPIN (political slant) with E (European).
7 Expand detail all over the place (6)
DILATE – anagram of (all over the place) DETAIL.
11 Pronounced pirate prohibited in West Indies group (5,4)
STEEL BAND – homophone of (pronounced) “steal” (pirate) and “banned” (prohibited).
14 Undertaking concert that is including Nielsen’s Fifth (7)
PROMISE – PROM (concert) with I.E. (that is) including fifth letter from NielSen.
15 Chesty upset which may lay one low (6)
SCYTHE – anagram of (upset) CHESTY.
16 Repeats second half of speech and does without the first (6)
ECHOES – second half of speECH and all but the first letter of dOES.
18 Was absorbed by thoughts of millions getting exploited (5)
MUSED – M (millions) with USED (getting exploited).
19 Close second house that’s far from grand (4)
SHUT – S (second) and HUT (house that’s far from grand).
22 Calling out a number in addition (3)
TOO – homophone of (calling out) “two”.

17 comments on “Quick Cryptic Number 407 by Joker”

  1. Struggled a bit with this early in the morning, and was the wrong side of 15 mins. Isn’t 4d t(r)ench rather than a dd?
  2. Yes a very pleasing puzzle possibly at the easier end of the spectrum, but not overly so as for instance I needed all the checkers in place before I could crack the anagram at 15dn. 8 minutes.
  3. About 20 mins for me, which given my three year old decided to dance around the house between 1 and 4am feels fine.

    I too did not know dish=ruin, but bished it from the checkers. Was slow on the uptake on the cross bit of 10a and on 19d, where my mind became fixated on a different word for “less than grand”

  4. Average time for me with this nice teaser from Joker. I was not helped by initially putting in JERK for 13a and SUM for 22d, both of which seemed reasonable answers at the time. 8a, 2d, 11d and 16d all very pleasing. 7 1/2 minutes.
  5. Having completed Monday and Tuesdays puzzles I found today’s very difficult. Even after reading the blog I fail to see some of the connections between the answer and clue. Obviously not on the wavelength of the setter. Personally I did not find this a good puzzle, and not just because I did not finish. I don’t finish most of them but find others much more enjoyable and logical. Probably only me. Blogs as usual very helpful and I am grateful to those that give their time to writing them.
    1. Thanks for your contribution, anon. Perhaps you could give an example or two of clues you still don’t understand so that we can help?

      If you don’t want to sign up to a free LJ account it would be nice if you added a name or pseudonym to your anon postings so we can at least recognise you as a regular.

      1. Will do. Had too much trouble signing up. Dobree is my handle and I will try to remember to include it.
      2. Will do. Had too much trouble signing up. Dobree is my handle and I will try to remember to include it.
  6. I got off to a good start, but gave up around half way through, as I never reached the ‘critical mass’ of checkers.
    I struggle with homonyms and ‘headless’ type clues anyway and there were lots of them, and I missed some indicators like ‘calling out’.
    I think one thing beginners like myself struggle with are ‘old chestnuts’ – ‘mores’ for ‘customs’ and ‘mo’ for second come to mind, and could someone explain ‘dish = ruin’.
    I don’t want to be over-critical, as I like being stretched and don’t mind not finishing, but there were just a few too many difficult (for me) clues.

    Brian

    1. Brian, sorry to hear you found this one even harder than me – Joker has been a bit variable of late. Ruin is (apparently) one of the non-food meanings of dish, but don’t ask me for a sentence with it in. Hence my comment above.
      I might still have guessed 24, if I hadn’t been trying to include L for lines. . . Invariant
      1. The nearest I have heard is “dish the dirt” on someone.

        I got stuck with 5 clues to go (8a 10a 24a 1d and 7d) but put the puzzle down for 20 minutes and when I came back they went in quickly.

        Favourite ECHOES.

      2. DISH 4 verb trans. Defeat or swindle completely; ruin, spoil the chances of. slang. L17.
        e.g. Politicians love to dream of allying themselves with erstwhile enemies to dish their friends.

        Edited at 2015-09-30 02:45 pm (UTC)

  7. I would not describe this as an easy QC. Most of it was fine, but there was certainly enough there to test me. Enjoyed 8, 14 and 15, but loi 24 eluded me without aids. Dish = ruin is too obscure for a QC imho. Invariant
  8. This was a continuation of a frustrating week for me – having failed to get one answer on each of Mon and Tues and thereby failing to finish relatively simple puzzles I thought I’d managed to complete this one.
    Unfortunately I put ‘dupe’ in for 13a, which I guess makes me a dope for not double checking it.
    Some nice clues today with a particular mention for 16d
  9. Not quick today but got there eventually finishing with 8a. Enjoyed the challenge.
    I tried to persuade myself that ellipse fitted the clue and after far too long thought of Eclipse ( in a week of blood moons etc).
    I did not think that Dishonest equated to Cheating (dishonesty in my book)but it couldn’t have been anything else.David
  10. Isn’t DISH derived from street argot, DISS from Disrespect?
    TY for the explanations,
    Ian Donaldson

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