Times Quick Cryptic 1050 by Joker

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

12 minutes for this, so now a week has passed since I last achieved my 10-minute target and I think I have entered a sort of vicious circle so that I am apprehensive as I start to solve and make difficulties for myself where none exist. I don’t think there was anything here to delay an experienced solver but nevertheless I had a slight problem getting started leading me to overrun. I shall be interested to read what others made of it. Most of the surfaces are particularly good today.

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]

Across
1 Times keeping us hard at work (4)
BUSY – BY (times – multiplied by) containing [keeping] US
3 Symbol kept shut up, left in the care of wizard (8)
PENTACLE – PENT (kept shut up), L (left) contained by [in the care of] ACE (wizard). Aka ‘pentagram’  often with reference to a magic symbol in witchcraft etc. It’s rather interesting that although its root is obviously ‘pent/penta’ relating to five, according to more than one of the usual sources a ‘pentacle’ can also be a six-sided figure or of almost any other shape.
8 Policeman has hours in helicopter (7)
CHOPPER – H (hours) in COPPER (policeman)
10 Swell certainly to consume gallons (5)
SURGE – SURE (certainly) contains [to consume] G (gallons)
11 Brilliant writer put at the top (11)
SUPERSCRIBE – SUPER (brilliant), SCRIBE (writer). Not a word I have used much, if ever, but its meaning is clear, as is the wordplay here.
13 Woodwind player, old boy is surrounded by books (6)
OBOIST – OB (old boy), then IS contained  [surrounded] by OT (books – Old Testament)
15 Beer for hospital employee (6)
PORTER – Two meanings
17 Think Dennis gets upset, being this, perhaps (4-7)
THIN-SKINNED – Anagram [gets upset] of THINK DENNIS. Semi-&lit.
20 A grain seed (5)
ACORN – A, CORN (grain)
21 Obscure energy cuts end in catastrophe (7)
ECLIPSE – E (energy), CLIPS (cuts), {catastroph}E [end]
22 Mess tart about in bed (8)
MATTRESS – Anagram [about] of MESS TART. A simple bed can consist of nothing more than a mattress. Rather a saucy surface!
23 Large, obese all round: the result of a blow-out? (4)
FLAT – FAT (obese) contains [all round] L (large)
Down
1 Last resort to put up the money for station (8)
BACKSTOP – BACK (put up the money for), STOP (station)
2 Small company with work that’s exclusive (5)
SCOOP – S (small), CO (company), OP (work). An exclusive in the world of journalism and also the title of a rather amusing novel by Evelyn Waugh. Does anyone rememeber the boardgame SCOOP ‘from Waddington’s, the makers of Monopoly’? Its telephone prop was a rather fine piece of engineering using little more than cardboard.
4 Queen Richelieu has to make wealthy (6)
ENRICH – {que}EN RICH {elieu} hides [has] the answer
5 Reference arranged at St Emilion (11)
TESTIMONIAL – Anagram [arranged] of AT ST EMILION
6 Tear after mongrel that’s in fashion (7)
CURRENT – CUR (mongrel), RENT (tear)
7 Still a number going topless (4)
EVEN – {s}EVEN (number) [going topless]
9 Churchgoer in French capital dealt heroin (11)
PARISHIONER – PARIS (French capital), anagram [dealt] of HEROIN. Strictly speaking parishioners are not necessarily churchgoers but the assumption in the clue seems fair enough.
12 Rise in endowment interrupted by decease (8)
GRADIENT – GRANT (endowment) contains [interrupted by] DIE (decease)
14 Small military camp is not in position (7)
OUTPOST – OUT (not in),  POST (position)
16 Valuable property like stations or plants (6)
ASSETS – AS (like), SETS (stations / plants)
18 New European friend’s country (5)
NEPAL – N (new), E (European), PAL (friend)
19 Rural establishment a long way off motorway (4)
FARM – FAR (a long way off), M (motorway)

18 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1050 by Joker”

  1. Slowed down by PORTER and LOI SUPERSCRIBE. I don’t think US hospitals have porters, at least by that name. I had SUPER early on, but just couldn’t come up with SCRIBE; in fact I think I thought of SUPERSCRIBE before I had SCRIBE, as it were. 5:53.
  2. Anyone know what “sets” has to do with stations or plants? Feeling denser than usual toady
    1. Take it as a verb: to set/station/plant something. “He set/stationed/planted spies outside the building”, maybe?
    2. SOED has this:

      plant

      ▸a. set, insert, or place firmly in, on, up, or down; put or fix in position; situate, locate; post, station. ▸ b. Put or place (artillery) in position. M16. ▸ c refl. Place or station oneself, take up a position, esp. heavily or obstructively.

  3. 15 mins today so another quick Monday. Pentacle and Eclipse held me up, the former because I had never heard of it and I used to teach Maths!
  4. 22 minutes. Struggled with the anagram for testimonial. Also stop for station. Must be Monday.

    COD mattress.

  5. I struggled with parts of this. I couldn’t see what was going on with the 1s for a long time, forgot how to spell parishioner (which made parsing it tricky) and was looking for a reversal in LOI 12d. Finally completed in 18 minutes.
    Thanks for the blog
  6. I found this quite a chewy offering for a Monday and none the worse for it. I particularly liked the taughtly clued SUPERSCRIPT and the long anagram TESTIMONIAL which needed most of the checkers before it broke. COD to PENTACLE, both for its rarity value and supersmooth surface.

    Jack, I do remember the Scoop board game but not how it was played. My grandmother would wheel it out every Boxing Day during the late 60s to try to compensate us kids for her not having a television!

    Many thanks as always to setter and blogger.
    6’20”

  7. …. which doesn’t happen very often with me. I am so grateful to all you bloggers, I just wish I could bring only-just-forgotten words back to the forefront of my memory a bit more often. Diana
  8. I had to look at most of the clues from a different perspective to my first impression, before they made any sense. BUSY went in first after dismissing XUSX, and so it went on. A biffed SUPERLATIVE was soon knocked out by ENRICH, and eventually was replaced by SUPERSCRIBE as my LOI. Nice puzzle. 8:18. Thanks Joker and Jack.
  9. Not a good start to the week. Quite a few went in without too much trouble, but then I came to a halt with about six left. Picked off a few of these, but needed a second sitting to get 3 and 11ac. On reflection, nothing seems that difficult, but then they never do once you have the answer. Invariant
  10. Found this a tough solve. I do not like “by” for “times”. 4 by 4 can be a piece of wood or a car but not 16. Studied maths for 5 years and don’t think I ever described multiplication as “by” without the word “multiply”. Never heard SUPERSCRIBE although the cluing was clear and the general concept clear enough. Don’t think I have ever “set” a plant, although again I got the general idea. And yes, I do remember the game SCOOP, although as a kid I never did understand what “in abeyance” meant.
    PlayUpPompey
  11. Still a family favourite with our grandchildren using my wife’s set from the 1950s. The telephone continues to work, and ‘in abeyance’ needed explaining to the children.
  12. Thought this was a fair but not easy puzzle apart from 1a and 1d which don’t really work.
  13. Quite a tough QC this, with two obscure words at 3a and 11a. However the clueing was fair and I was able to work everything out eventually and hope for the best.
    SUPERSCRIBE went in with a question mark and LOI was PENTACLE.
    No exact time but over 20 minutes. Agree with blogger: good surfaces. David

  14. DNF today, many clues absent. But I do remember the game of Scoop, with the cardboard telephone which might say “Scrap it”.

  15. Still a family favourite with our grandchildren using my wife’s set from the 1950s. The telephone continues to work, and ‘in abeyance’ needed explaining to the children.

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