Times Quick Cryptic 1121 by Orpheus

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Apart from the monster(s) in the blog (refer to 3dn and the bit-of-fun challenge at the end of the blog) there was nothing too scary here (except, perhaps, my ignorance of 13dn) and I registered a fast time of 7:12 – can I have cracked sub 2 on the Kevinometer?
A quick side-step to the game on Sunday – I was at a 50th birthday party and the TV showing 5-0 at half time went down very well.

ACROSS

8. UPTIGHT – tense. Out of bed (UP), the worse for wear (tight). Well that’s what happens when you screen a football game at 1pm on a sunny day at a birthday party.
9. OLIVE – one of the many options for female which the setter could have changed to green. Quartet (IV) welcomed by approving cry in Madrid (OLE!).
10. BOOZE – alcoholic drink (I refer my honourable friends to 8ac). Homophone (audibly) of expresses disapproval (boos).
11. LIBRARY – books may be found here. On balance (LIBRA). Railway (RY).
12. TOLERANCE – broad-mindedness. Anagram (unexpectedly) of LATE CRONE.
14. AMP – device for increasing volume of sound. A (A), politician (MP).
16. ELK – large deer. The in Spanish (EL), king (K).
18. GONDOLIER – boatman. A double part clue – there’s an anagram (strange) of IDOL with ‘one who’s died’ (GONER) outside.
21. SLENDER – slim. Girl(S), employed by bank perhaps – a bank may employ someone to go to great lengths to lend money (LENDER).
22. JADED – exhausted. Judge (J), anagram (jiggered – great anagram indicator) of DEAD.
23. CREDO – beliefs. Communist (RED) shown (revealed) in company (CO).
24. AIRLESS – close in the sense of hot/warm/muggy. A melody is an air so lacking melody is air-less.

DOWN.

1. SUNBATHE – bask on beach (or anywhere else in this weather). He (HE) joins (at the end of) newspaper (SUN) and club (BAT).
2. STROLL – walk unhurriedly. Way (ST – street), rotate (ROLL).
3. OGRE – monster. Discovered in bl(OG RE)cently.
4. STOLEN – hot (not as in the weather). Nutty bread with left (L) missing (out) (STOLlEN). Stollen is the bready cake available at Christmas – more to my taste than a Yule log, really.
5. SOMBRERO – wide-brimmed hat. Gloomy (SOMBRE), republican (R) with old (O). Great example of a wide-brimmed hat.
6. CICADA – bug. These fascinating creatures have various life cycles the longest of which I discovered in America (near to Great Lakes) where they were hatching and I was told it only happened every 17 years. Scoundrel (CAD) in US intelligence (CIA).
7. RELY – bank. Run (R), Cambridgeshire city (ELY).
13. RIGADOON – dance. For my benefit (and possibly others) the rigaudon (also spelled rigadon, rigadoon) is a French baroque dance with a lively duple metre whereas Brigadoon is the story of two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every 100 years (so, rather along the lines of the Cicada then). My only slightly relevant knowledge for this was that Brigadoon is mentioned in reference to highland dancing in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral. Function (DO) and taking place (ON) are underneath (south of) Latvian capital (RIGA).
15. PARADISE – ideal location. Father (PA) to come up (RISE) holding poster (AD).
17. KEEPER – double definition. The keeper of animals at a zoo and the person (often dressed in lurid colours – one in frog-red comes to mind) leaping about in goal.
19. NORMAL – standard. New (N). Exam (ORAL) with (M)aths inserted (plugged by).
20. INDEED – absolutely. Trendy (IN), exploit (DEED).
21. SACK – old white wine – (archaic or trademark) any dry white wine formerly imported into Britain from SW Europe. So I suppose you hit the sack after you’ve hit the sack? The clue is a pun based on the notion of holding wine in a piece of sack cloth.
22. JERK – yank. A wally is a stupid person – an American may employ the term ‘jerk’.

So – how many monsters (apart from the two in 3dn) can you find in the blog vs the preamble?

22 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1121 by Orpheus”

  1. I was a bit slow on the uptake with a couple of the clues, like connecting TIGHT with ‘worse for the wear’, or parsing GONDOLIER–and by the way isn’t a goner one who’s dying or going to die, not one who’s dead? DNK RIGADOON. 4:57.
  2. 16 mins, last two were stolen and jerk.

    Dnk rigadoon. Toyed with cirata before seeing the light.

    COD jaded or slender.

  3. 9 minutes with the last two taken up by 4dn where I needed all the checkers and the beginnings of a letter trawl to come up with the answer. I thought RIGADOON was a bit tricky for a QC but fortunately not for me as I spent many a year studying and in some cases attempting to play baroque suites which often included a variety of old dance forms.

    Like Kevin I wondered about GONER, but Collins definitions include: a person or thing beyond help or recovery, esp a person who is dead or about to die.

  4. As vinyl says, plenty of chestnuts for those of us that have been doing these for a while.

    Post-solve, agree with Kevin re: GONER, at the time though it was thrown in from definition and checkers so didn’t check till coming here.

    Pretty straightforward at 4.05

  5. 15 minutes for me today with nothing holding me up greatly. Good to finally be back on the wavelength but it helps not to be interrupted.
  6. “He’s a goner I’m afraid old man” was a classic line in British war films, usually uttered in the mess of an RAF base by one clipped young man to another; cue stiff upper lips all round. I remember reading that it originated as a shortening of the longer RAF slang “he’s gone for a Burton” but have no idea if this is right.

    Anyway. I too found this easy, at 2.5 Kevins. Delighted to see Brigadoon get a blog mention, one of the all time great rubbish films. FOI UPTIGHT, LOI AIRLESS. Only delay was in SE where JADED didn’t come to mind till JERK gave the J.

    Thanks Orpheus and

  7. 6.47, and (probably – I didn’t start the clock) much longer scouring the blog for monsters. Apart from OLIVE (I knew a particularly unpleasant one) and the ELK (which must be monstrous to some) I’ve failed miserably. I hope there will be an answer, but for now let it be.
    2. Given that the 15×15 and the QC were reasonably easy today, you may be interested in a little something extra on a warm afternoon.
      I should have been clearer – the only monsters in hiding are those referenced at 3dn.
      The final tally – blog vs the preamble – should (unless I got mixed up) refer to the final sentence of the preamble.
  8. I had to assemble RIGADOON from the wordplay, but otherwise a nice easy puzzle. 5:44. Thanks Orpheus and Chris.
  9. Well! It must be an easy one (or a brief holiday and the wonders of views over Morecambe Bay have regenerated a few brain cells).
    7.10 which is my best ever. Less than 2 Kevins (like Chrisw) which is satisfying. Thanks Orpheus for a puzzle on my wavelength.
    John
  10. My usual 30 mins or so. Never heard of RIGADOON, but the cluing was straightforward and I had heard of BRIGADOON. No problem with GONER. Enjoyed JADED and JERK.
    PlayUpPompey
  11. Inside 15 minutes (or pre-Surbiton), but no exact time today. Nothing too difficult.
  12. Yes, this one didn’t present too many problems, though in my haste to finish (16mins) I wrote in 4d thinking I was answering a clue about bread, and only realised what was going on a bit later. A toss between that and 24ac as CoD. A nice puzzle all round. Invariant
  14. Some excellent surfaces and good jokes in today’s QC. 11a and 17d amused me.
    Otherwise I too was pretty quick finishing in about 10 minutes. LOI was Rigadoon.
    I was in Scotland last week and was given A £5 note with Brig O Doon on it. No help to me today but it was the first thing I thought of. David
  15. Never heard of RIGADOON and as I also didn’t know the capital of Latvia was RIGA this was my LOI adding a good two minutes to an otherwise steady solve. The only other hold up was 21dn SACK which I think I’ve only seen before in crossword land. 12:48
  16. I didn’t know the dance but it was clued kindly and my only other hold up was trying (and failing) to parse 4d, as the bread was also unknown to me. Completed in 11.03.
    Off to try the supposedly simple 15×15.

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