Quick Cryptic Number 497 by Grumpy

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Nice and straightforward again this morning, with a number of addition or charade type clues. Only hold ups for me were failing to spot the indicator at 5dn (very easy to read over it), and originally trying ILL at 21dn (the lovely 22ac put me back on the right lines). I hope to see many of the regulars come in at their target times over the course of the day!

Definitions underlined.

1 Legislation is effective (4)
ACTS – double definition.
4 Put up with rotten deadlock (5-3)
STAND-OFF – STAND (put up with) and OFF (rotten).
8 Promptly noted, hot rocks (2,3,3)
ON THE DOT – anagram of (rocks) NOTED HOT.
9 Endless disgrace is not real (4)
SHAM – SHAMe (disgrace) without the last letter (endless).
10 Cat seen by bishop in burial place (4)
TOMB – TOM (cat) next to B (bishop).
11 Go round fish in road (8)
TURNPIKE – TURN (go round) and PIKE (fish).
12 Not moving right in a cricket match (2,4)
AT REST – R (right) inside A TEST (a cricket match).
14 A loose woman in the family (6)
AUNTIE – A and UNTIE (loose).
16 Draw near leading characters in Peter Pan swallowed by a fish (8)
APPROACH – first letters (leading characters) of Peter Pan inside (swallowed by) A ROACH (a fish).
18 Small, and frequently yielding (4)
SOFT – S (small) and OFT (frequently).
19 Black gear for two-masted vessel (4)
BRIG – B (black) and RIG (gear).
20 Rude and disrespectful, like sailors from Cowes? (8)
INSOLENT – sailors setting off from Cowes could be in the Solent.
22 Fellow in Indian dress, cold and cynical (8)
SARDONIC – DON (fellow) in SARI (Indian dress), plus C (cold).
23 Creamy dressing somewhere in Ireland (4)
MAYO – double definition.
2 Jailbird with kind companion (7)
CONSORT – CON (jailbird) with SORT (kind).
3 Indian gentleman has openings for Sikhs and Hindus in Bangalore (5)
SAHIB – first letters (openings) of Sikhs And Hindus In Bangalore.
4 Blue pills a doctor conceals (3)
SAD – hidden in (indicated by conceals) pillS A Doctor.
5 Consequences of working at the farm (9)
AFTERMATH – anagram of (working) AT THE FARM.
6 Rough sand put in receptacle (7)
DUSTPAN – anagram of (rough) SAND PUT.
7 Candid leader in front line (5)
FRANK – first letter (leader) of Front, with RANK (line).
11 Lab process in which small bird takes part (9)
TITRATION – TIT (small bird) and RATION (part).
13 Terribly angered! (7)
ENRAGED – anagram of (terribly) ANGERED. An example of an &lit clue, where the whole thing is both wordplay and definition.
15 Childhood in the imagination? (7)
INFANCY – IN and FANCY (the imagination).
17 Parents crossing river in Italian city (5)
PARMA – PA and MA (parents) crossing R (river).
18 Meals cooked in a Massachusetts seaport (5)
SALEM – anagram of (cooked) MEALS.
21 Ailing king departs thus (3)
SIC – SICk (ailing) without the k (king departs).

16 comments on “Quick Cryptic Number 497 by Grumpy”

  1. Oddly enough, I flung in ILL at 21d too; I don’t know what prompted me to, probably nothing more than it being a 3-letter word. I started 11ac by misparsing, thinking that some 6-letter fish was included in R D; bad idea. ‘small bird’ triggers TIT for me, and here it worked. As William says, nice and straightforward. I especially liked 14ac. A bit over 5′, if you don’t count the time wasted in losing the grid and waiting for it to come back (I think accidentally hitting the Return bar did it).

  3. An enjoyable puzzle after the horrors of last week!  I finished in 5 minutes under my target of 30, but I spent an age tryimg to fit ‘sarcastic’ into the wordplay for 22 A  before I realised there was one letter too many. LOI was 1A due to a mind block going through the alphabet.
    Brian

  5. As a newby I have struggled at times with the concept of an “&lit” clue; this one is one of the most obvious I have seen so far. Thanks for the blog – you have no idea how much help all the bloggers are to us newbies.
  6. Some very nice surfaces. I liked the rude sailors, the Peter Pan characters and INFANCY. 4 minutes.
  7. I thought this was an excellent QC from Grumpy, with a number of very entertaining surfaces. I wonder if I was the only one who tried to make an anagram out of deadlock for 4ac ? Favourites today were 12 and 14ac. Invariant
  8. Slow start but then all fell into place and very quick for me at 14 minutes.

    Last in CONSORT and favourite AUNTIE.

  9. All went swimmingly (by my standards) until I completely missed the anagram in 5D. Didn’t spot it until after I had figured the answer. Still, for me a win is a win.

    Playuppompey

  10. Fun today. Easy-ish start then a few chewier ones. Loved the insolent sailors. For another &lit I would offer 5 down – with aftermath meaning a second harvest I believe, as well as the more common usage. PB

  11. No problems today and solved in under 30 minutes. An enjoyable puzzle. I liked 5d (COD), 15d and 13d,but lots of pleasing surfaces.David
  12. A nice change of pace after recent tough solves. 14a sent me down a very different route for a while and I particularly enjoyed 20 and 22a. LOI 1a where I had a complete blank for a while
  13. Can you help translate, please? I get what it means, but what is &lit short for? Acronyms, and computerese, and crosswordics, the mind reels …
    Thanks as always.
    1. Some explanations can be found on the “about this blog” tab at the top, as well as some info about past and present bloggers.

      I found this:
      &lit. (new name suggested by Tim Moorey: “all-in-one”) is short for something like “and literally so”. It indicates a clue where the whole clue forms both wordplay and definition, rather than wordplay and def standing side by side. Old example: “I’m one involved with cost (9)” = ECONOMIST – which might be explained thus: “(I’m one cost)* &lit – ‘involved’ = anag. indicator

      Bob

      1. Thank you, very complete and helpful, I even learn that &lit = and literally so is in Wikietc, will that mean &nlit = ain’t necessarily so??
  14. Great to complete one again! About 75mins at one sitting so good for me! I can’t read all the clues in some of the times posted. I guess I am still needing to chew too many of them over. Loved several of the surfaces in this one. I would probably go for 17d as my COD but it would be a difficult choice.

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