Quick Cryptic Number 592 by Tracy

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I’m standing in for Nick today, with this relatively easy puzzle, especially compared to yesterday. I was slow on the uptake at 1ac (clunky definition?), and the excellent 10ac was my LOI, which meant that the top half went in last.

Several bits of GK to learn for me too, including a new play, and a species of fish!

Definitions underlined.

1 String attached to puppet one is expected to laugh at (9)
PUNCHLINE – LINE (string) attached to PUNCH (puppet of Punch and Judy fame).
6 Spring in Regent’s Park (3)
SPA – hidden in Regent’S PArk.
8 Simple painting, smaller (7)
ARTLESS – ART (painting) and LESS (smaller).
9 Greek character’s volunteer army (5)
THETA – THE TA (Territorial Army, volunteer army).
10 Some upper-class types touched down, coming in around midnight? (6,6)
LANDED GENTRY – LANDED (touched down) and ENTRY (coming in), around G (middle letter of niGht, mid-night).
12 Settlement firm only mismanaged (6)
COLONY – CO (company, firm) and an anagram of (mismanaged) ONLY.
13 Worthless metal trophy (6)
TINPOT – TIN (metal) and POT (trophy).
16 Play there, playing with nuns (5,7)
THREE SISTERS – anagram of (playing) THERE, plus SISTERS (nuns). Play by Chekov.
19 Girl trapping black snake (5)
COBRA – CORA (girl) surrounding (trapping) B (black).
20 Bandy words in Thames town (7)
WINDSOR – anagram of (bandy) WORDS IN.
22 Destroy the last section (3)
END – double definition.
23 Entertaining depressed Cambridge rower, perhaps (5,4)
LIGHT BLUE – LIGHT (entertaining) and BLUE (depressed).
1 Ring friend conserving energy (4)
PEAL – PAL (friend) surrounding (conserving) E (energy).
2 In this game girl holds bat incorrectly (7)
NETBALL – NELL (girl) holding an anagram of (incorrectly) BAT.
3 The man holding old gardening implement (3)
HOE – HE (the man) holding O (old).
4 Content behind bars? (6)
INSIDE – double definition.
5 Be adopting strange term for fanatic (9)
EXTREMIST – EXIST (be) around (adopting) an anagram of (strange) TERM.
6 Got a sniff of fish (5)
SMELT – double definition.
7 Psychiatrist may provide article on a composer, reportedly (7)
ANALYST – AN (article) on A, plus a homophone of (reportedly) “Liszt” (composer).
11 A clan held races where one may have a fling? (5,4)
DANCE HALL – anagram of (races) A CLAN HELD.
12 Dead skin pared, left in frozen water (7)
CUTICLE – CUT (pared), and L (left) in ICE (frozen water).
14 Alas, pro misplaced umbrella (7)
PARASOL – anagram of (misplaced) ALAS PRO.
15 Large item used to disguise VIP (6)
BIGWIG – BIG (large) and WIG (item used to disguise).
17 Raging bull’s first to attack outside (5)
RABID – first letter of Bull, with RAID (attack) outside of it.
18 Deliver without charge (4)
FREE – double definition
21 Some madman, utter fanatic (3)
NUT – hidden in (some) madmaN UTter.

15 comments on “Quick Cryptic Number 592 by Tracy”

  1. This felt faster than yesterday’s, but I think I took a bit longer. Bunging in ‘mamba’ at 19ac didn’t help, although I debunged pretty quickly. Two ‘girls’–Cora and Nell–is one too many in a single puzzle for me. 6:07.
  3. Dear Blogga,

    The Three Sisters – Olga, Maria, Irinya – written 1900 and performed 1903 – maybe new to you but it’s a bit long in the tooth hereabouts! I suppose JK Rawlings is preferable to Anton Chekov these days.

    Smelt was the fish of choice given to domestic felines – according to Mrs. Slocombe.

    You need to get out to the theatre, BBC2 and the fishmongers a bit more!

    11.28

    horryd Shanghai

  4. A bit easier than yesterday but still on the trickier side, got 2/3 through quickly then had to winkle the rest out. COD 16a. Thanks Tracey and blogger.
  5. Quicker than yesterday, but nearly came to grief by banging in both ‘pantomime’ (1ac) and mamba, as above. The play, as noted, is THE three sisters. COD 7d. Thanks Tracy and blogger. 7’13” today.
  6. For some reason I find Tracy MUCH harder than anyone else. Nowhere near finishing this.
    1. I finished yestetdays apart from “screw’ but really struggled to get halfway through this one. I’m not sure why, except that I always struggle with part-anagram answers.
      Brian
  7. Usually struggle to finish off Tracy’s puzzles but today was not too bad, but was delayed by SMELT
  8. I am another who had Mamba at 19a. I was struggling with 12d anyway. Also I decided that 16a could be an anagram of There Playing as it fitted the letters I had in at the time. Eventually I managed to sort the SW corner and was left with my last two 1d and 8a. 1d today is somewhat similar to 1d yesterday -Ring and Round (I was looking for the wrong meaning at first today).
    Anyway I got it all done in 26 minutes; not an easy offering but a breeze compared with yesterday. David
  9. Found this tougher than yesterday and ended up with a DNF due to carelessly chucking scent in for 6d, which will teach me to read the clue properly and not just rely on checkers. In total it took me around 35 minutes over two sittings. COD 10a, LOI 8a.
  10. A finish, albeit a slow one at 57 minutes. Another to go with mamba initially. Not heard of ‘Three Sisters’ and artless was an unknown term, but was comfortable they were the right answers from the clues. Couldn’t for the life of me parse the ‘G’ in landed gentry, so brought a smile to my face when I saw the reasoning. Can imagine it’s quite a common contributor to clues having now seen it. LOI was artless, COD was punchline
  11. This was a difficult puzzle – took 42:58 over two sessions. I am less impressed than the blogger at using the word “midnight” to signify the letter G – “middle of night” would be fair, but not this. Good puzzle overall though.
  12. Much easier than yesterday, with an average 41 mins. LOI was THREE SISTERS, not heard of that play. I liked the elegance of 9A. Did not parse END, as thought ‘the last’ was the letter E, and ND was some obscure abbreviation for ‘section’ (probably military/Oxbridge). Also tempted by OPAL, at 1a for ‘ring friend’.

    Edited at 2016-06-15 08:14 pm (UTC)

  13. I too had opal in for 1d, although I had no idea how it worked as an answer for conserving energy. Therefore 1a was a blank for me. Also 5d had gone in without parsing. Is it just me or is that a particularly hard clue? I also, like others, didn’t see where the ‘g’ came from in 10a. Once again, thanks to our bloggers whose assistance is invaluable.
    1. I agree 5d was worthy of the 15×15, the only easy bit was the word “for” at least meant you were probably looking for a word for fanantic. Be = exist, adopting = taking in and an anagram in the middle makes for a three part clue which is a bit unusual in the QC. Good clue though.

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