Times Quick Cryptic 1406 by Pedro

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Just on 11 minutes – having made a very fast start with the biffometer up into the red zone, things slowed down a lot in the NW. LOI 8dn after I eventually worked out 12ac. Great fun – how did everyone else get on?

ACROSS

1. GB due, amazingly, to do software fix (5)
DEBUG – anagram (amazingly) of GB DUE.
4. Very good to interrupt boss — or foolish (6)
STUPID – very good (PI – pious) inside boss (STUD).
9. Carry on endlessly with dog to get bird (7)
WAGTAIL – carry on endlessly (WAG)e, dog (TAIL/follow). Carry on took some time – it is to engage in but in the sense of carrying on for some time – Collins has to engage in or carry on.
10. Husband leaving local church area for capital city (5)
PARIS – husband (H) leaving local church area (PARIS)h.
11. Share of proceeds is not entirely attractive (3)
CUT – not entirely attractive (CUT)e.
12. Clearing out records, as it might be, is corrupting (8)
DEFILING – filing is to put records into files so DE-FILING might be to clear them out.
15. Tell everything about the accident in the coffee-house? (5,3,5)
SPILL THE BEANS – accidental spilling of coffee beans.
17. Last tramline is buckled (8)
TERMINAL (of, being, or situated at an end, terminus, or boundary) – anagram (buckled) of TRAMLINE.
18. Dessert that is served after last of soup (3)
PIE (e.g. apple) – that is (IE) after sou(P).
20. Expect article will be penned by a comedian (5)
AWAIT – article (A) penned inside a (A) and comedian (WIT).
22. English literature is initially terribly highbrow? (7)
ELITIST – English (E), literature (LIT), is (IS), (T)erribly.
23. Dozy agent surrounding sheltered area (6)
SLEEPY – agent (SPY) surrounding sheltered area (LEE).
24. Hotel residents having no time for estimate (5)
GUESS – hotel residents having no time (GUES)t(S).

DOWN

1. Blue feathers getting tossed (8)
DOWNCAST (not an anagram, as I thought at first, of feathers) – feathers (DOWN), tossed (CAST).
2. River coming away from sunny bay (5)
BIGHT – river (R) coming away from sunny (B)r(IGHT). E.g German Bight which comes between Fisher and Humber in the shipping forecast.
3. Piano’s not entirely inadequate, winning all the trophies (5,4)
GRAND SLAM – piano’s (GRANDS), not entirely inadequate (LAM)e.
5. Hint that’s a lot of rubbish? (3)
TIP – rubbish tip.
6. Dangerous fish? Greek character fled, with cry of surprise (7)
PIRANHA – Greek character (PI), fled (RAN), cry if surprise (HA!).
7. Course in Oxford is hard (4)
DISH (not Isis but a course of a meal) – answer in the clue – Oxfor(D IS H)ard.
8. Dicey moment if heads of finance house are discovered in error (11)
CLIFFHANGER – if (I needed the F from defiling to see this) and the heads of (F)inane and (H)ouse inside error (CLANGER).
13. Science centre heading off effective classifying (9)
LABELLING – science centre (LAB), heading off effective t(ELLING).
14. Dangerous material? Most suitable to engage in a plea for help (8)
ASBESTOS – most suitable (BEST) inside a (A) and plea for help (SOS).
16. Repeat it before scoundrel appears in middle of week (7)
ITERATE – it (IT) before scoundrel (RAT) inside middle of w(EE)k.
18. Eg two or three runs I’m to get in physical exercise (5)
PRIME (numbers) – runs (R) and I’m (IM) inside physical exercise (PE).
19. Girl showing style, not the first (4)
LASS – style, not the first c(LASS).
21. Best spinner (3)
TOP – double definition – highest quality/spinning top.

29 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1406 by Pedro”

  1. Nothing too difficult, although WAG (wage, as in war) took some time. 4:54.
  2. 9 minutes with a slight delay over LABELLING and PRIME as my last two in.

    I’ve known of German BIGHT by name for most of my life as the Shipping Forecast used to be unavoidable on radio at one time, but until looking it up just now I had no idea exactly where it was. For me the BIGHT that immediately sprang to mind and I could place without hesitation on a map was the Great Australian one.

  3. I started quickly and thought this might be an easy Pedro; but there were plenty of problems in the end. I too struggled to spell PIRANHA and my last two were CLIFFHANGER and DEFILING. My time was about 20 minutes; the software on the laptop stopped working which made typing in answers very difficult. I may have to look at JavaScript or, more likely, I’ll revert to paper tomorrow.
    Good puzzle which I agree will challenge beginners.
    David
  4. At my 20 minute target I still had (like David) CLIFFHANGER and DEFILING to go. It took me another six to semi-biff the first and the second followed quickly. Both were excellent clues in an enjoyable puzzle, but there seemed to be more letters dropping off words than usual.

    Brian

  5. I was quite pleased with 15:10 on this because it never felt easy, but it’s over 3K and so goes down as a Slightly Disappointing Day. I was another person whose final two were the 12ac/8dn intersection; two excellent clues. I dud all the anagrams in my head except for DEBUG, which I had to write down! I think it was because BUDGE had lodged in my head and I couldn’t get it out.

    In the blog I see that for Chris “heading off effective” was “{t}ELLING”; for me it was “{g}ELLING“ (which makes not a jot of difference but I’d be interested to see how others parsed it).

    FOI PARIS, LOI CLIFFHANGER, COD DEFILING

    Super puzzle, thanks Pedro, and thanks Chris.

    Templar

    1. I see this as a telling contribution but if that doesn’t get for you then feel free!
    3. I see this as a telling contribution but if that doesn’t get for you then feel free!
  6. Just under 18 mins, very enjoyable, even though a fast start didn’t last.

    FOI debug
    Dnk or forgot bight.
    Last 3: downcast, asbestos, and piranha.

    Liked spill the beans and cliffhanger and there were lots of nice surfaces from pedro (stupid, paris, cut), but my cod is piranha.

    Edited at 2019-07-30 07:39 am (UTC)

  7. FOI, DEBUG and last 2 CLIFFHANGER and DEFILING. I also had to go back to the wordplay to spell PIRANHA correctly. As to Templar’s comment re 13d, I saw it the same as Chris, LAB, (t)ELLING. 8:49. Thanks Pedro and Chris.
  8. Neat puzzle. FOI DEBUG, LOI CLIFFHANGER. I was a bit slow to get started, but speeded up when I got a few checkers. I liked “Carry on endlessly” for WAG. 4:53
  9. 7.32 here. Stuck at end with 12ac / 8d but got CLIFFHANGER first once I realised FH was a valid pair of letters in a word having first dismissed it!

    NeilC

  10. Like others, I was delayed over CLIFFHANGER and DEFILING and, like others, I didn’t help myself by mis-spelling piranha as pirhana. Middling time (just over 3K) but I enjoyed the puzzle. I biffed WAGTAIL. My CsOD are BIGHT and CLIFFHANGER. Thanks to both. John M.
  11. Excellent puzzle. A challenge as ever but I got there, which is why I really enjoy these a lot. I got STUPID but simply because I had the other letters and it fitted with foolish. The blogs are great too and they help me out a lot with understand the solution to a clue I am uncertain about but unfortunately after reading today’s I am still somewhat in the dark with 4 across
    1. ‘Boss’ is the name of a STUD on a shield. ‘PI’ as Chris has indicated is short for ‘pious’ / ‘holier-than-thou’ so by extension ‘very good’. Insert one into the other.
  12. Back to normal, with a self-inflicted slowish 26 mins. I had the 3rd letter B in 13d, so as soon as I saw Science Centre I biffed laboratory.. only to run out of spaces. I solve with a pen and paper, so just left the wrong letters in place and then promptly forgot when trying to find an anagram ending in R for 17ac. Also struggled a bit with 2d/9ac, and the final 8d/12ac pair. CoD to 18d, Prime. Invariant
  13. Found this one fairly hard (49:57), but it was a steady solve, which I prefer to one where you get left with one or two clues that take the same time as the rest put together. Had very few write-ins for the across clues and one of the ones I did have was FOI Budge. Well, I’m not the most computer literate person out there, so I figured that could be the name of a software fix and how else could you arrange those letters to form a word? Thankfully getting 2d made me look again. COD Cliffhanger, LOI Await.
  14. ….for fear of a PIRANHA BIGHT. Or hundreds of them !

    An excellent offering from Pedro, which I much enjoyed.

    FOI DEBUG
    LOI LASS
    COD STUPID
    TIME 4:18

  15. Some very simple clues and some chewier ones today, which resulted in me finishing in 12.16. I seemed to have similar issues with to others with the 8d/12a intersection and an initial spelling of PIRANAH. My biggest hold up however was 1d where I was looking at the wrong end of the clue for the definition. Eventually I resorted to an alphabet trawl and another doh moment, which seems to be a theme for the week. LOI was CUT
    Thanks for the blog
  16. Enjoyed this one a lot – good challenge. My first answer for 11a was share of proceeds (profit) is not entirely…. attractive = FIT. Perfectly happy with CUT but could fit be a possible answer?
    Many thanks as ever to setter and blogger.
    L&I
    1. Well, yes I think it could in modern parlance – however the crossing letters point elsewhere.
    2. Well, yes I think it could in modern parlance – however the crossing letters point elsewhere.
  17. I forgot to enter my effort of 13 minutes so for the record

    FOI 1ac DEBUG

    LOI 13dn LABELLING

    COD 9ac WAGTAIL

    WOD 8dn CLIFFHANGER

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