Times Quick Cryptic 1230 by Mara

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 9 minutes. Much of this is straightforward and hopefully the easier answers will provide enough checkers to help newercomers with the more difficult clues. There are 9 anagrams or partial anagrams.

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

Across
1 Attractive blonde (4)
FAIR – Two meanings
3 Strange score, tie baffling (8)
ESOTERIC – Anagram [baffling] of SCORE TIE
9 Florida city, territory in middle of autoroute (7)
ORLANDO – LAND (territory), contained by [in] {aut}ORO{ute} [middle]
10 Family think negatively (5)
BROOD – Two meanings
11 Planet needing change of heart (5)
EARTH – Anagram [change] of HEART
12 Shortage beginning to rankle in the end (6)
DEARTH – R{ankle} [beginning] contained by [in] DEATH (the end). One letter added to the previous answer!
14 A seasonal put-up job? (9,4)
CHRISTMAS TREE – Cryptic definition
17 Instal new, Communist leader (6)
STALIN – Anagram [new] of INSTAL
19 Good little pig producing “oink” (5)
GRUNT – G (good), RUNT (little pig – of the litter) and a name-check for our newest QC setter!
22 Chief English state (5)
MAINE – MAIN (chief), E (English)
23 Scramble near the lift (7)
HEARTEN – Anagram [scramble] of NEAR THE. Also an anagram of EARTHEN (see 11ac &12ac)
24 Something in a church, part sent to be repaired (8)
TRANSEPT – Anagram [repaired] of PART SENT. The various parts of a church or cathedral are worth learning for budding crossword solvers. The main ones in the body of the building are Aisle, Altar, Apse, Chancel, Nave and Transept. The Transept intersects the Nave at right-angles to make the shape of a cross. Also worth remembering are Reredos and Rood (screen).
25 Genuine regret by Tory leader (4)
TRUE – T{ory}, RUE (regret). Don’t say anything about the surface reading!
Down
1 Enforce changes around Latvian capital, European city (8)
FLORENCE – Anagram [changes] of ENFORCE containing [around] L{atvian} [capital]
2 Lazy type, terribly riled (5)
IDLER – Anagram [terribly] of RILED
4 Awful Spanish row about medal for fencing, say? (13)
SWORDSMANSHIP – Anagram [awful] of SPANISH ROW containing [about] DSM (medal)
5 Bone slightly raised, covering one (5)
TIBIA – A BIT (slightly) reversed [raised], containing [covering] I (one)
6 List including old bird (7)
ROOSTER – ROSTER (list) containing [including] O (old)
7 Swimmer last in race, might one be broken? (4)
CODE – COD (swimmer), {rac}E [last]
8 Nicks cut at the top — not very far (6)
INCHES – {p}INCHES (nicks – steals) [cut at the top]
13 Prison term that should make sense? (8)
SENTENCE – A straight definition with a cryptic hint
15 Bit of a looker grabbing small drink in Greece (7)
RETSINA – RETINA (bit of a looker – eye), containing [grabbing] S (small). A vile resinated wine that tastes like disinfectant.
16 Indication good in snail after treatment (6)
SIGNAL – G (good) contained by [in] anagram [after treatment] of SNAIL
18 English city has the advantage, we hear (5)
LEEDS – Sounds like [we hear] “leads” (has the advantage)
20 Lid removed from dairy product, say (5)
UTTER – {b}UTTER (dairy product) [lid removed – top letter in a Down clue]
21 Skip — nothing massive initially to put on it (4)
OMIT – O (nothing), M{assive} [initially], IT

31 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1230 by Mara”

  1. 3:44 – very much a PB for me and pretty much a clean sweep, as I recall. Most unusual…

    Today’s main puzzle is none too challenging either, so Quickists might wish to give it a go.

    1. A PB for me on this one too (3:20), and I agree with Ulaca that the 15×15 is pretty accessible today.

      I thought both 14A and 25A were nicely topical !

  2. For a long time I could only see EARTHEN as the anagram for ‘near the’, and that was clearly a non-starter. Another example of Gresham’s Law in cryptics: a bad solution drives out a good one. ORLANDO biffed from the initial O. Mazel tov to Ulaca for his impressive time. Mine was a rather less impressive 5:24.
  3. After the 15×15, I solved this one about as fast as I could write, while finishing my Irish coffee.
  4. This seemed relatively straightforward after attempting the weekend puzzles; I was home in 09:04. LOI was Inches. My only hold-ups were in the NE.
    Thanks to Jackkt for the very helpful list of parts of a church. I think the other topic I need to learn is bones of the body. Today’s was one I knew.
    David
  6. A whisker over two Kevins and thus a Good Day. Like SoJ my hang-ups were in the NE corner which remained stubbornly blank after the first pass, largely because ESOTERIC was the one anagram which refused to fall immediately into place.

    Thanks for the useful church list, Jack. I sat in the transept of Durham cathedral for evensong on Saturday so that one did not delay me long!

    An enjoyable start to the week; thank you Mara.

    Templar

  7. Decided not to start commenting until I went sub-10 minutes. Managed 9.25 today, about 5 to 10 mins better than usual. LOI dearth. FOI fair. Thanks to all bloggers and commenters whose contributions I’ve been enjoying and learning from as I’ve been silently logging on to this site for the last two months in an effort to improve.
    1. Welcome albrecht and congrats on delurking! Hope you will contribute regularly now that you’ve broken your duck.
  8. A quick start to the week with 7:09 which included a pause at loi 10ac where I managed to stay a biff – ‘blood’ was my initial thought until the parsing clunked unto place. Cod to 11ac for its green credentials.
  9. Nothing too tricky in this gentle start to the week. GRUNT and UTTER my last 2 in. TRUE my COD. 5:11.
  10. A day our today. No time but done by Denham so completed at a fair pace. But Stalin was foi so I was slow out the blocks. Downs seemed more accessible than acosses on first readings.
    Mendesest (my home machine is the only one that knows my password).
  11. My only hold up was in the NE where ESOTERIC and the parsing of TIBIA required some thought. The rest went in quickly and I completed in 8.52 with LOI 7d.
    Thanks for the blog
  12. As others have said, a gentle start to the week both on this and the 15×15.

    And being Monday means I’m not iPad solving on the train so the risk of typos is greatly reduced!

    2.47 for this, which I think is close to – if not actually – a record time for me.

  13. 12 minutes for me, but I felt it should have been quicker! I was held up slightly by my last two in; TIBIA and DEARTH, and then spent a minute looking for NINAs before submitting. DEARTH wasn’t helped initially by bunging in SPORTSMANSHIP from the letter pattern of checkers before spotting that it didn’t fit the clue or anagrist. It was the presence of CHRISTMAS TREE in the centre row that triggered a NINA hunt, thinking there may be a seasonal theme somewhere, and obviously there isn’t, although RECRISE should be a word, but similarly isn’t. Message to myself: stick to solving first!
  15. Like the rotter, my last in were Tibia and Dearth (but dearth only after I corrected 4d which I stupidly biffed as sportsmanship without checking (because it fitted! Doh). I managed a minute under 3 Kevins so not too bad. Thanks to Mara and Jack. John M.
    P.s. Welcome Albrecht. A pity we can’t also welcome you to the SCC – much too good a time!

    Edited at 2018-11-26 11:27 am (UTC)

  16. 2.47 Mikeosborne? I spend longer than that correcting my one-finger mis-typings!! Agree with all the above. Very quick. Very straightforward. FOI FAIR. LOI ESOTERIC (easy once I had the checkers).
    Gentle run out, so thanks setter. QCs need one of these occasionally.
    PlayUpPompey
    1. So do I normally – I aim for a 4 minute par on the QC as warmup to the 15×15, generally I fall in the 4-5 minute bracket.
  17. Agreed this was a gentle start to the week. 7:42 for me. Kudos to Ulaca, Mike and Philip! Also welcome and congrats to Albrecht1959. I started with IDLER and finished with SENTENCE, than spent 45 seconds looking for typos. For a change, there weren’t any! Thanks Mara and Jack.
  18. I was able to complete this QC without too much thinking time but I still came in at just under 8 mins (7:57) with currently 56 solvers ahead of me on the leaderboard. I have yet to break 7 mins but this was one of my speedier solves. My LOI was the TREE part of 14a CHRISTMAS TREE only because my first thought of lights did not fit. Thank you Mara and Jack.
  19. Not a particularly fast solve for me but my first ever clean sweep. Brood and inches held me up and would have moved on in other circumstances. COD to the slightly early 14 across.
  20. A full member of the SCC, completed in 26 minutes. Pleased to complete after getting worried not seeing Rooster for a long time, nor Brood and finally Dearth.

    Transept has come up before and I surprised myself by that answer being a write-in. (Thanks to Jackkt for further hints in that direction) Also pleased to drag out Esoteric.

    Retsina brought a big smile.

    Thanks, as always, all
    John George

  21. Strangely, I didn’t have any problems with the NE corner, but my troublesome last pair were 1ac/1d in the NW. I’m still not entirely convinced that fair is quite as good as attractive, but I guess it’s close enough, so no real excuse for a slow 26min solve. I had initily thought 1d was an anagram, but then convinced myself that Mara was being devious and started trying to think of a slightly longer word for Order… Of the rest, I enjoyed 15d, but my favourite today was 12ac, Dearth. Invariant
    2. Chambers has: esoteric adj

      1) understood only by those few people who have the necessary special knowledge.
      2) secret or mysterious.

      I think the last word of the second definition covers ‘strange’.

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