Quick Crytpic No 381 by Flamande

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
It seems a long time since I had one at the easier end of the spectrum to blog. Most of this went in on first pass and all was finished off just within 10 minutes. Explanations are minimised below (with the exception of 23ac). If you do want any further explanation then let me know and I’ll be happy to help.

Definitions underlined, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition, deletions CROSSED OUT

Across
1 Records attempt to produce wall hanging (8)
&nbsp &nbspTAPESTRY – TAPES, TRY.
5 Evidence of damage in front of snazzy vehicle (4)
&nbsp &nbspSCAR – (S)nazzy, CAR.
8 Lazy person surprisingly riled (5)
&nbsp &nbspIDLER – Anagram of RILED.
9 Pit worker needs a large fizzy drink (7)
&nbsp &nbspMINERAL – MINER, A, L.
11 Criticising what race from summit to base demands? (7,4)
&nbsp &nbspRUNNING DOWN – cd.
13 I’ll leave Calais, whizzing to eastern French region (6)
&nbsp &nbspALSACE – Anagram of CALAiS plus E.
14 Harsh-sounding writer (6)
&nbsp &nbspSTERNE – Homophone of stern.
17 Be extremely keen to examine cheese selection? (2,9)
&nbsp &nbspGO OVERBOARD – cd.
20 Gym teacher taking public transport with hesitation (7)
&nbsp &nbspTRAINER – TRAIN, ER.
21 Letter from Greece, nothing great (5)
&nbsp &nbspOMEGA – O, MEGA
22 Part of film about the Spanish (4)
&nbsp &nbspREEL – RE, EL.
23 Vocal sound set to be drowned by female singer (8)
&nbsp &nbspFALSETTO – Set (SET) inside female (F), singer (ALTO). A female singer can achieve falsetto (despite Collins’ definition of male singers) which can make the parsing rather tricky.

Down
1 Two mills regularly providing work (4)
&nbsp &nbspTOIL – (T)w(O) m(I)l(L)s.
2 Star in old musical at last, in European capital (7)
&nbsp &nbspPOLARIS – O, musica(L) in PARIS.
3 Jump about, and be inclined to spruce up the home (6-5)
&nbsp &nbspSPRING-CLEAN – SPRING, C, LEAN.
4 Stay behind, keeping mother in check (6)
&nbsp &nbspREMAIN – MA in REIN.
6 Dog I love is something unusual (5)
&nbsp &nbspCURIO – CUR, I, O.
7 Advanced through grass and eased up (8)
&nbsp &nbspRELENTED – LENT inside REED.
10 Gathered to organise beginning of truce? They might be (11)
&nbsp &nbspNEGOTIATORS – Anagram of TO ORGANISE plus (T)ruce.
12 The guard worried a family member (8)
&nbsp &nbspDAUGHTER – Anagram of THE GUARD.
15 Engineers having managing director over to consume beef? (3,4)
&nbsp &nbspRED MEAT – RE, MD (backwards), EAT.
16 Voltaire bickered partly about land in Europe (6)
&nbsp &nbspIBERIA – Volt(AIRE BI)ckered backwards.
18 Speak out initially before judge (5)
&nbsp &nbspORATE – (O)ut, RATE.
19 Thanks officer for Mexican dish (4)
&nbsp &nbspTACO – TA, CO.

20 comments on “Quick Crytpic No 381 by Flamande”

  1. Enjoyable puzzle with all clues parsed but it was not a fast solve for me. Part of the reason was misreading my writing a couple of times. Last in was FALSETTO with its complicated construction.

    Joint favourites, SPRING CLEAN and GO OVERBOARD.

  2. Yippee- the first one I’ve finished in under an hour, and all parsed – my only recourse to help was to check that Sterne was a writer as I’d never heard of him.
    My LOI was 15D, I inexplicably read the clue as ‘consume beer’ instead of ‘beef’ (probably Freudian!).

    Brian

  4. Straightforward, but enjoyable and with smoothe surfaces. I particularly enjoyed 17a and 12d. 14a my last one one as I needed the checker from 10d to see it. As for female FALSETTO – Interesting… and I’m just back from 4 days of intense singing. I’d never heard of that or heard it asked for by conductors. It may or may not be the same as ‘head voice’.
    1. Wikipedia has falsetto as: produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal cords, in whole or in part. Commonly cited in the context of singing, falsetto, a characteristic of phonation by both men and women, is also one of four main spoken vocal registers recognized by speech pathology.
      It is therefore not necessarily something required in choirs.
      This only came up as I thought the definition may have been female singer before realising F and Alto were parts of the wordplay.
      1. Not required in choirs… for female singers, perhaps not. But as an aging tenor I often need falsetto for the highest notes and it is the vocal register used almost exclusively by male altos.
  6. Quite a straightforward solve today. Favourite clue go over board for making me crave cheese before midday!

    I read the falsetto clue as vocal sound being the definition of falsetto. Female is part of the parsing giving you the “F” so it doesn’t matter to me that a falsetto can or can’t be achieved by a female.

    1. Yes – vocal sound is the definition. See my comment above which I posted pretty much at the same time.
  7. Was heading for sub 10 minutes which is most unusual, but got held up by having scab for 5a, took a few minutes to work out it must be wrong as I couldn’t get 7d. Finished in 12 mins which is still very fast for me.
  8. I made heavy weather of this and eventually gave up on 14a (never heard of him). Didn’t help myself by chucking Palermo in for 2dn, until 13a made it obvious it was wrong. Think I was on the wrong wavelength today.
  9. Interestingly, I eventually put in Starke for 14a as stark is a synonym for harsh. And managed to parse it when I found a writer called Mariana Starke. Could we have two answers for the same clue? Has this happened before?
    1. Generally there should be one obvious answer. As there are a lot of authors, I suppose homophones for them is asking for trouble. Greater literary minds than mine may judge which would be ‘the obvious’/’better known’ author. I’ll pass this on to greater crossword experience than my own in the hope they might comment.
    2. What Chris has said already. I don’t know about “greater literary minds” but old cryptic crossword hands – setters, solvers and editors – would be in no doubt about the intended answer here. I had thought about adding a comment earlier about STERNE when somebody wrote they’d never heard of him, that they ought to make a mental note for the future because he crops up a lot.

      But at the end of the day the question of whether to allow an alternative answer only arises under competition conditions and then it’s a matter of judgement on the part of whoever has the final say and their decision is, er, final. My view – for what it’s worth – on this example is that STARKE is a non-starter.

      Edited at 2015-08-25 08:24 pm (UTC)

  10. First time I’ve completed one in under 30 mins and first time for a while I’ve completed one. Recently seem to have been consistently two answers short, which is very frustrating. Still, when I started these in May I had no clue. Literally😉 Janey L
    Ps Anyone know how many of the setters are female and how many male?
    1. Great news on your PB! As for setters – no – sorry I don’t. There do seem to be both male and female names but which variety ‘Rongo’ is is anyone’s guess!
    1. Tony,

      Good to hear from you – even if it is about one of my many failings! You’re quite correct, as usual, it should have been ‘a damn Elf’ rather than ‘Madam Elf’. Correction being made.
      I’m busy around that time but will try to make the Dec 5th do with the hope of being able to stand you a pint. 🍺😊

      Cheers,

      Chris.

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