Quick Cryptic 2597 by Pedro

Author   BletchleyRejectPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

It was probably just me but I didn’t find this particularly easy with several less common words and some tricky parsing. Lots of deletions but no cryptic defs (phew) or double defs. There’s also a little theme here; click below if you haven’t already seen it.

The theme is related to ‘genetic material’, DNA, before being “reflected” in 19a. The DNA molecule has the conformation of a DOUBLE HELIX (10d) which was discovered by James WATSON (13a) and Francis CRICK (18d), on the foundation of pioneering work by Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin; this is the short version of the story and there will be people here who know much more about this than I do. There could be more thematic references which I’ve missed.

 

Finished off in 10:38 with 23a my last in; exactly how I felt today for much of the time doing this.

Definitions underlined in bold, deletions indicated by strikethrough.

Across
1 Mr. O’Casey chopped up tree (8)
SYCAMORE – Anagram (‘chopped up’) of MR O CASEY
5 Get away after outing Republican swindle (4)
SCAM – SCRAM (‘Get away’) with R deleted (‘after outing Republican’)
8 Artist backed retaining passion and support for clothes (5)
AIRER – AR (‘Artist backed’=reversal of RA) containing (‘retaining’) IRE (‘passion’)

I was looking for something like a belt or stay until I worked out the wordplay.
9 News — it recalled activities, omitting nothing (7)
TIDINGS – TI (‘It recalled’=reversal of IT) DOINGS (‘activities’) with O deleted (‘omitting nothing’)
11 Flier cut back support for wing? (3)
RIB – BIRD (‘Flier cut’=last letter D deleted) reversed (‘back’)
12 Copper pursuing woman’s slender and very strong (9)
HERCULEAN – CU (‘Copper’) following (‘pursuing’) HER (‘woman’s’) LEAN (‘slender’)
13 Detective’s assistant initially has to miss coming events? (6)
WATSON – WHAT’S ON (‘coming events?’) with H deleted (‘initially has to miss’=first letter of ‘Has’ deleted)
15 Look, engaging in a lot of tricks in skiing event (6)
SLALOM – LO (‘Look’) contained in (‘engaging in’) SLAM (‘a lot of tricks’)

‘Tricks’ here in the card-playing sense.
18 I will leave city chapel, upset, pedalling away here? (9)
CYCLEPATH – Anagram (‘upset’) of CITY CHAPEL with I deleted (‘I will leave’)

I would have expected this to `be two words, or at least hyphenated, but it’s in 2/3 of the usual sources as a single word.
19 Accompanied by genetic material, on reflection (3)
AND – Reversal (‘on reflection’) of DNA (‘genetic material’)
20 Mishandled American editor after one pair of lines (3-4)
ILL-USED – US (‘American’) ED (‘editor’) following (‘after’) I (‘one’) LL (‘pair of lines’)
21 Cricket side almost completely following the rules (5)
LEGAL – LEG (‘Cricket side’) ALL (‘completely’) with last letter L deleted (‘almost’)

Nice piece of misdirection with ‘side’ not meaning a “team” as the surface would lead us to believe.
22 Gentle contact is accepted by King and son (4)
KISS – IS (‘is’) contained in (‘accepted by’) K (‘King’) S (‘son’)
23 One subsequently coming round for each amateur? (8)
INEXPERT – I (‘One’) NEXT (‘subsequently’) containing (‘coming round’) PER (‘for each’)
Down
1 Bird in fight, then another fight (7)
SPARROW – SPAR (‘fight’) followed by (‘then another’) ROW (‘fight’)
2 Dieter’s concern, perhaps, consuming zero chocolate substitute (5)
CAROB – CARB (‘Dieter’s concern, perhaps’) containing (‘consuming’) O (‘zero’)

CARB short for “carbohydrate”. I was looking for something that might worry a German male, but the ‘Dieter’ turned out not to be as sex and nationality specific.
3 His romances, rewritten for noblewoman (11)
MARCHIONESS – Anagram (‘rewritten’) of HIS ROMANCES

Pedro channeling his inner Barbara Cartland.
4 Charitable club go off on a railway (6)
ROTARY – ROT (‘go off’) A (‘a’) RY (‘railway’)
6 No good energy in fossil fuel, clot (7)
CONGEAL – NG (‘No good’) E (‘energy’) contained in (‘in’) COAL (‘fossil fuel’)

A “wordplay as environmental statement” cryptic clue.

I saw G for ‘good’ and COAL for ‘fossil fuel’ straight away and thought of “coagulate” but of course it didn’t fit. Not the sort of ‘clot’ the surface was pointing us to.
7 Particle very much accepted by blokes (5)
MESON – SO (‘very much’) contained in (‘accepted by’) MEN (‘blokes’)

I’ve heard of pi-MESONs but there are probably more. As for the relationship between a MESON, a quark and a xi-baryon, don’t ask…
10 Twice the helium and lithium unknown in molecule (6,5)
DOUBLE HELIX – DOUBLE (‘Twice’) HE (‘helium’) LI (‘lithium’) X (‘unknown’)

Atomic physics and organic chemistry this time. The double helix is the conformation of the molecule, but it is now so well known that it is often used as the name for DNA. My COD.
14 Biting insect not half minor in producing irritations (7)
TICKLES – TICK (‘Biting insect’) LESSER (‘not half minor’=last half of the word deleted)
16 Slander linked to apartment, riverside feature (7)
MUDFLAT – MUD (‘Slander’) FLAT (‘apartment’)
17 Academic supporting standard act of clemency (6)
PARDON – DON (‘Academic’) below in a down clue (‘supporting’) PAR (‘standard’)
18 Pain in the neck caught atop haystack? (5)
CRICK – C (‘caught’) above in a down clue (‘atop’) RICK (‘haystack?’)

The question mark here because a ‘haystack’ is only one example of a RICK, defined by Collins as: “a large stack of hay, corn, peas etc, built in the open in a regular-shaped pile, esp one with a thatched top”. It is interesting that ‘Pain in the neck’ can just be a RICK as well, but the ‘caught’ is needed for a reason that goes deeper than the surface.
19 Reason gendarmes initially seen in a street in Paris (5)
ARGUE – G (‘gendarmes initially’=first letter of ‘Gendarmes‘) contained in (‘see in’) A (‘a’) RUE (‘street in Paris’)

98 comments on “Quick Cryptic 2597 by Pedro”

  1. Wow, I found this tough today – almost 12 minutes, just two mins less than the 15×15.

    Any of the QC club fancy trying the 15×15 it might be worth a shot today.

    Thx BR and Pedro

  2. Hard slog for us, blame the dog for not coming back from her walk, she did eventually. However we got there in the end and the dog!

  3. Not quite as straightforward as some recent offerings but got there eventually. Thanks to all who have suggested 15x might be worth a shot. Will give it a go after refreshing mind with pancakes, sugar and lemon.

  4. As a Geneticist (before I became an accountant) I think I have the relevant GK. Having said that I didn’t find Pedro’s offering particularly easy. I’m also a cyclist but CYCLEPATH threw me as did the parsing of SLALOM for a while. Home in 7:46 and I am now tempted to dig out a published scientific paper on foldback DNA, which as a student in the 80s I co authored, and see if I understand any of it!

  5. Pleased to see a more science bias for a change but still missed the Nina – seldom bother to look but should have spotted it. BTW I am not a scientist but everything was at the GK-level anyway. I though this was tricky in parts but overall great fun and worth chewing through.
    FOI 1a Sycamore
    LOI 1d Sparrow – resisted Swallow until the checkers got me off that perch
    COD 20a Ill Used

  6. A sad DNF as found it pretty straightforward forward except the, easy with hindsight, Airer and Watson.

    Sure I saw cycleway recently, so be ready for cyclelane soon 😀

  8. 22:10

    Bit of a struggle today and well over 20minute target. I only twigged what was going on with LOI 2dn post submission as NHO CAROB and was fooled into thinking Dieter was a German chap. A toss up between Carob and Corab.

  10. I bumbled cluelessly through this one, putting in and taking out various things that I couldn’t parse that turned out to be right in the end, coping with various distractions, and amazed to find it all done in 27:19, a respectable though not particularly good time for me. A lot of answers went in simply because I vaguely thought they might do. And they did! Weird.

    Many thanks to the blogger for elucidating the various things I was too dull to parse today, and for pointing out the theme, which I inexcusably missed.

    Thanks also to Pedro. COD PARDON, simply for provoking a laugh at myself for wondering if DONPAR was a word.

  11. V late posting again, and I haven’t read the posts yet, so sorry if I’m just repeating what others have said – I promise to read everything after supper.
    I didn’t particularly enjoy this one I’m afraid – it was a bit of a struggle and took 15:07.
    There is one big but – I really liked 1a!
    FOI and COD Sycamore LOI Double helix
    Thanks Pedro and BR

  12. I can’t stand much more of this torture.

    32 minutes of hell and the added agony of putting ROB instead of RIB (I was thinking of a robin shortened). Please feel free to laugh at my stupidity in recording another DNF.

    2nd day in a row I have DNF’d after thinking I had finished. You can’t imagine how that makes me feel.

    Even had I finished, today was further evidence of my incompetence. Took ages over AIRER, INEXPERT, WATSON and TICKLES.

    I am so desperate to do well on the QC, but all I ever feel at the end is frustration and disappointment.

    I do try to be positive each day, but how can I be anything other than downcast after my experiences this week – 44 mins and two failures!

    I honestly don’t know how to get any sense of enjoyment or satisfaction from this. I will persevere but the optimism tank is well and truly empty.

    Thanks for the blog.

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