Quick Cryptic Number 517 by Felix

Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Continuing the run of not-too-tricky quickies today, my only real hold up was 1ac (causing a bit of a groan when the penny dropped). Plenty of clearly signposted anagrams, nice surface readings, etc. Thanks setter.

Definitions underlined.

1 Transubstantiationalist, for example, is one that’s persistent! (4-4)
LONG-TERM – cryptic/double definition; transubstantiationalist is an example of a long term!
5 Has a cry of pain, and nauseous, extremely (4)
OWNS – OW (a cry of pain) and extreme letters of NauseouS.
8 Easy shot only some playing immediately (5)
GIMME -hidden in (only some) playinG IMMEdiately.
9 Turned to God, and yet unchanged on reflection (7)
DEIFIED – a palindrome (unchanged on reflection).
11 Capital city, so I see: urban sprawls (6,5)
BUENOS AIRES – anagram of (sprawls) SO I SEE URBAN.
13 Yon church’s roof (6)
THATCH – THAT (yon) and CH (church).
14 First date of the year, with north eastern girl (6)
JANINE – JAN I (January 1st, first date of the year) with NE (north eastern).
17 Bird successfully dealt with by golfer getting labelled (11)
PIGEONHOLED – PIGEON (bird) and HOLED (successfully dealt with by golfer).
20 Girl has a tan after rambling (7)
NATASHA – anagram of (after rambling) HAS A TAN.
21 Right to get into dress that’s got bigger (5)
GROWN – R (right) inside GOWN (dress).
22 A man’s son making disapproving sound (4)
HISS – HIS (a man’s) and S (son).
23 With ease, shifting very cold water (5,3)
WHITE SEA – anagram of (shifting) WITH EASE.
1 Trademark is piece of wood with circle (4)
LOGO – LOG (piece of wood) with O (circle).
2 A bin I am moving around the country (7)
NAMIBIA – anagram of (moving around) A BIN I AM.
3 International medics of present day: a mixed breed (3,3,5)
THE RED CROSS – THERE (present), D (day), and CROSS (a mixed breed).
4 Odd characters from Rwanda, and not old Welsh county (6)
RADNOR – odd letters of RwAnDa with NOR (and not).
6 Sound of fan, maybe, with his instantly recognisable rattle initially (5)
WHIRR – first letters of (initially) With His Instantly Recognisable and Rattle.
7 Skilfully avoid team on stage (4-4)
SIDE-STEP – SIDE (team) on STEP (stage).
10 How unfavourably (if also unclearly) to view things? (2,1,3,5)
IN A BAD LIGHT – cryptic definition.
12 A volunteer army steal, if needs must (2,1,5)
AT A PINCH – A, TA (volunteer army), and PINCH (steal).
15 Barbecue would not be held here — nor is do, strangely (7)
INDOORS – anagram of (strangely) NOR IS DO.
16 Thor loses nothing with wood hammer (6)
THRASH – THoR missing the ‘o’ (loses nothing) with ASH (wood).
18 Germans long ago acquired High School (5)
GOTHS – GOT (acquired) and HS (high school).
19 Ancient language incorporated indefinite article (4)
INCA – INC (incorporated) and A (indefinite article).

19 comments on “Quick Cryptic Number 517 by Felix”

  1. I had a similar experience to William with 1ac, and only twigged toward the end; a lovely clue. I also wasted time at 23ac by taking the anagrist to be ‘ease’ with ‘very’. 11ac from enumeration (plus a glance at the letters, which didn’t look likely to spell Kuala Lumpur). Some nice surfaces, e.g. 7d and 16id. 4:51.
  2. Fairly straightforward stuff, but with a first word in a first clue designed to strike horror in the minds of the faint-hearted, but as so often in cryptics the most daunting clue can turn out to be very easy to solve if one doesn’t panic at first sight. One suggestion here re the blog is I think that the straight definition is simply ‘persistent’ and ‘is one’ is part of the cryptic definition.

    I’m not overkeen on having two random girl’s names in the same puzzle JANINE and NATASHA.

    10 minutes.

    Edited at 2016-03-02 07:09 am (UTC)

  3. Took me 13 mins on the dot which is an ok time for me. 1a fell swiftly once I had the initial for the second word. Got held up on 14a where I wasted time on names beginning “ijan” And then on 4d because I did not know Radnor
  4. After a good time yesterday, back to 40 mins. Had IN A PINCH rather than AT, for 12d, which blocked 13a, my LOI. Loved 1a, always good to see a 24 letter word that is not the old favourite antidisestablishmentarianism (wow, in the Apple Dictionary). Another palindrome today (9a), always like those.
  5. Very enjoyable, I finished in my target of 30 mins. It would have been quicker except I put in ‘long word” for 1a which fitted everything except 3d which was my LOI and held everything else up.
    Brian
  6. I’m not too strong on my Welsh counties and was tempted by Rhondda (help me!), having skipped 1a as far from obvious at first glance. And it took me embarrassingly long to see the palindrome. 7.53
    1. I too was delayed by the initial thought of Rhondda, or some variant spelling, but couldn’t quite convince myself. I think something the experienced hands manage to do without a second thought is be highly sceptical and hold multiple possible solutions in mind simultaneously. Still training myself, of course, but this is an example where doubt helped in the end.
  7. Quick for me at around 15 mins, but there were some really great clues in this one, not least 9a. 1a made me smile!
  8. Thought 1ac was a delicious and quite wicked clue, when the penny eventually dropped!! Took a while to get into this one, otherwise I agree with much of the above. Once I got going it proved to be a most enjoyable run out.
    Playuppompey
  9. OK -it wasn’t that easy but Gimme appears again (second or third time?).
    And I’m playing golf tomorrow so hoping for at least three.
    Did this in under 30 minutes, held up by carelessly putting Side Show at 7d as temporary measure..
    Some nice clues. David
    1. “carelessy putting” lol. very good. I enjoyed the puzzle too. 5:23
  10. Second day in succession that my loi (14ac) took nearly as long as the rest of the puzzle. My excuse this time was that I had ‘ in a dim light’ for 10d to start with, yielding Oioine for the (Irish ?) girls name. Strangely, Google didn’t back me up. . .
    Thank you William for parsing 1ac and 3d. Invariant
  11. OK -it wasn’t that easy but Gimme appears again (second or third time?).
    And I’m playing golf tomorrow so hoping for at least three.
    Did this in under 30 minutes, held up by carelessly putting Side Show at 7d as temporary measure..
    Some nice clues. David
  12. My knowledge of welsh counties is what held me up on this one and like Olivia, above, I couldn’t get the Rhonda out of my head. Eventually decided to have a break and when I came back I concentrated on the word play and lo and behold I saw the answer. I’m sure there’s a lesson for me in there somewhere
  13. I finished this in 50 minutes *glows with pride* and it’s the first time ever that I’ve recorded my starting time and completed a puzzle in just one sitting. It seemed quite straightforward to me. I spent a long time looking at 1ac before I twigged and didn’t really understand Gimme but then I’m not a golfer. I finished yesterday’s too but didn’t make a note of the time.
  14. Second one of week in less than half an hour for me. I know it won’t continue but for now I am similarly pleased with myself. Some fun clues today.

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