Times Quick Crossword No 333 by Teazel – The Wordsum of all the Parts

Author   macavity123Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Solving time: relatively straightforward

Sorry for the delay, but still trekking back and forth for treatment on my pesky leg.

I did wonder if we would get a special puzzle to celebrate the number today, but it wasn’t to be the case. However we did get a lovely elegant puzzle from Teazel that I suspect most people will have found accessible and fairly straightforward. Lots of clues that I term wordsums in evidence today, that is to say A + B = C (the definition).

Thanks to Teazel for an enjoyable solve, and I shall now go and wrestle with the puzzle’s bigger, slightly bolshier brother.

See you next week.

Across
7 WISP – We start with a wordsum clue. The definition is lock of hair. W (wife) + IS + P (beginning, i.e. first letter of Put)
8 LISTENER – A double definition. The name of the fiendish crossword that appears in the paper every Saturday and also one who hears.
9 FAXING – A means of communication is the definition. F (first letter of firm) + AXING (dispensing with).
10 SO LONG – Double definition. A phrase that means goodbye or farewell can also express a quantity of length.
11 FRET – Another double definition clue. A type of handiwork saw and something that means to worry.
12 ALMIGHTY – Extremely powerful is the definition. An anagram (indicated by ‘if broken’) of LIGHT MAY.
15 DECANTER – Bottle is the definition. CAN (tin) inside DETER (discourage).
17 ACHY – Painful is the definition. A/C (bill, account) + HY (the ends, extremes of HEAVY)
18 OFFEND – To commit crime is the definition. OFF (away) + END (aim).
21 DEMOTE – The definition here is put down. D (daughter) + EMOTE (express feelings).
22 BOTSWANA – Here in Africa, i.e. a place, is the definition. SWAN (elegant bird) inside an anagram (fancy) of BOAT.
23 DRAB – Colourless is the definition. A word for a poet – BARD reversed (rejected).

Down
1 DISAGREE – Object is the definition. An anagram (slippery) of I GREASED.
2 SPRINT – Race is the definition. S (second) + PRINT (photograph).
3 FLAGRANT – Outrageous is your definition. FLAG (draw attention to) + RANT (tirade).
4 ISIS – The name of the Egyptian goddess of magic and life is the definition. CRISIS (emergency) MINUS (losing) CR (credit).
5 JET-LAG – Feeling after being transported is your definition. JET (black) + LAG (slang for convict).
6 FERN – The definition is plant. R (right) inside FEN (bog).
13 MERIDIAN – Nice clue. The name of a line running through Greenwich is the definition. Note the use of ‘for one’ to precisely define the clue, saying that it is an example of this, as there are others. An anagram (travelling) of RIDE MAIN.
14 TAHITIAN – South Sea Islander is your definition. H (horse) inside TITIAN (shade of red, named after the artist, who I think had that colour hair).
16 AT EASE – A sort of double definition clue. A command given by an army officer is the definition. A + TEASE (joke).
17 ARMADA – Invasion force is your definition here. Hidden inside WAR MAD ADMIRAL’S.
18 FLOW – A wordsum. Run is the definition. F (fine) + LOW (base).
20 DEAL – We finish with a triple definition. A word that is the name of a port in Kent (and where my Auntie Mildred and Uncle Cecil had a boarding-house!) is also something that is a type of timber and a word meaning to trade.

10 comments on “Times Quick Crossword No 333 by Teazel – The Wordsum of all the Parts”

  1. Must admit I thought this was decidedly on the tricky side, but maybe I was just having an off day… Interested to see what others thought.

    Went relatively smoothly except for the NW corner, which took me an age to unravel. Looking back on it, no particular justification – just found it hard for some reason.

    1. Whereas I thought it was so much easier than yesterday. I took your advice and tried the 15×15 yesterday night, and completed it (took ages but I got there and I found it much more simpatico than yesterday’s quickie).
  2. Also took a long time and one wrong, put in a careless ACHE at 17a. FAXING last in by some way as I could not get waving out of my head even though I knew it was wrong. Favourite SPRINT.
  3. I also found this hard and gave up on 9ac, my last unsolved, eventually and looked it up. I was completely fooled into thinking that an ‘A’ needed to be removed from something.

    Edited at 2015-06-18 01:10 pm (UTC)

  4. Too difficult for me today. Didn’t get 11a, 19d or 20d. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who struggled. Looking back having read the blog 11a is the only one that should have been too tough for me, having not heard of the saw and thinking of fret as a verb.
  5. Yup, a difficult one for me too – not far off my time for the 15×15.
    Indeed approaching the 20 minute mark I was seriously fearing a DNF with 4 largely disconnected answers still to get (3d, 9a, 18a & 18d). However with one last heave they fell into place. 9a was my LOI too.
    CARSICK yesterday, JETLAG today, what sort of travel-related ailment will we get tomorrow?
  6. At the end of my first sitting I had 5 or 6 clues left all in the left half.
    Returning for a second go and expecting not to finish, I thought of Swan which led me to Botswana (I wasn’t sure what the clue meant -a fancy boat like a gondola perhaps).This enabled me to correct Flee to Flow and finally I got Sprint having tried to fit Pic into the answer.
    A Teazer today.
    David
  7. Just over 8 1/2 minutes, so a steady solve. Interesting to see JETLAG after yesterday’s CARSICK. What ailment will we get next, I wonder? I too liked the triple definition to finish with. I noticed there were 6 ‘F’s in the grid, which seems more than our Fair share, but it could have been 7 if 23a or 20d was DEAF.
  8. I found this the hardest one for weeks. I can normally get about 2/3- only managed 3 today…
    Hannah (although tempted to stay anon!)

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