Times Quick Cryptic 1817 by Felix

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I was pleased to end up with a pretty quick time in the end, worrying as I solved that I might need a lot more general knowledge than I have. Luckily, though, most of it is not required in order to get the answers. Lots of anagrams to get some letters in the grid, which also usually helps. I enjoyed all of the short and pithy clues, but can’t choose between 12dn and 14dn for COD. Hope you enjoyed the challenge too.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Again starts Religious Education, arithmetic, taking in English (7)
RESUMES – R.E. (religious education) then SUMS (arithmetic) containing (taking in) E (English).
5 Strike part of sleeve (4)
CUFF – double definition.
7 Cross after the French becoming sloppy (3)
LAX – X (cross) after LA (the, in French).
8 One again inert, due to move (8)
REUNITED – anagram of (to move) INERT DUE.
10 Actress Jessica appearing in Shaft and Yentl (5)
TANDY – hidden in (appearing in) shafT AND Yenti. The first unknown person that I did not really need to know.
11 Constituent of tar: part primarily used by people (7)
BITUMEN – BIT (part), first letter of (primarily) Used, then MEN (people).
13 Empty tin in tank (6)
VACANT – CAN (tin) inside VAT (tank).
15 Ale not surprisingly found in shed (4-2)
LEAN-TO – anagram of (surprisingly) ALE NOT.
17 Storm as NY photo is doctored (7)
TYPHOON – anagram of (… is doctored) NY PHOTO.
18 An American taking in golf in Scottish region (5)
ANGUS – AN and US (American) containing (taking in) G (golf, phonetic alphabet).
20 German composer’s pal chasing small girl (8)
SCHUMANN – CHUM (pal) after (chasing) S (small), then ANN (girl).
22 Stefan, every so often, waves (3)
SEA – every other letter from (every so often) StEfAn.
23 Shock as spectacular feat is left unfinished (4)
STUN – STUNt (spectacular feat) missing its final letter (unfinished).
24 At the back, Charlie Lunnon held firm, tho’ was caught finally (7)
ENDMOST – last letters from (finally) charliE lunnoN helD firM thO waS caughT.  I suppose the definition could be at either end of this clue! The second unknown person for me – I assume not an actual person, as a cursory Google search reveals no-one of note?

Down
1 Subject of certain theories, complicated yet trivial (10)
RELATIVITY – anagram of (complicated) YET TRIVIAL.
2 Boy carrying short axe for German once (5)
SAXON – SON (boy) containing (carrying) all-but-the-last letter of (short) AXe.
3 After wedding, join Roy Martin dancing (5,4)
MARRY INTO – anagram of (dancing) ROY MARTIN. Another unkown person! Again, my ignorance did not stop me solving the clue, but I maybe missed the intended mental image of the prolific musician dancing at a party.
4 Painter picked up cigarette ends (6)
STUBBS – sounds like (picked up) “stubs” (cigarette ends). Finally, a person it would have been helpful to know, or at least what they did for a living; George Stubbs painted lots of horses.
5 Charlie greeting character from abroad (3)
CHI – C (charlie, phonetic alphabet) and HI (greeting). The 22nd letter (character) of the Greek alphabet.
6 Privileged citizen mean ref sent off (7)
FREEMAN – anagram of (sent off) MEAN REF.
9 Conservative coming in second, being far from reliable (10)
INCONSTANT – CON (conservative) inside (coming in) INSTANT (second).
12 Pretend an eccentric was boring (9)
TREPANNED – anagram of (eccentric) PRETEND AN. I will never forget this meaning after listening to a BBC R4 documentary with some crazies from the 60s who performed the procedure on themselves in order to get high.
14 Ape, Siamese perhaps, or parrot? (7)
COPYCAT – COPY (ape) and CAT (Siamese perhaps).
16 Dangerous guns: a few scaled back (6)
UNSAFE – hidden in (…scaled back) gUNS A FEw. I thought we were looking for a reverse hidden here, but I suppose we are to take ‘scaled back’ to mean ‘limited’ or ‘contained’.
19 Enthusiasm to blow over at the outset (5)
GUSTO – GUST (to blow) and the first letter of (at the outset) Over.
21 Rook stuck in a French vase (3)
URN – R (rook, chess) inside (stuck in) UN (a, in French).

60 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1817 by Felix”

  1. ….but transcribed “freemen” on line (so not an easily identified typo) and nullified my entry.

    Only biffed ENDMOST and parsed it (with a groan) afterwards. My COD is entirely in recognition of “scaled down” which was a new definition of a hidden for me !

    FOI CUFF
    LOI SAXON
    COD UNSAFE
    TIME 4:17

    1. I do sometimes finish the QC more quickly than Mrs R, but not very often. Her time today was very similar to mine, but I can’t quite remember who was faster.

      I observe that Mrs R’s strategy with these QCs is to correctly guess the answers at random. Quite a skill of hers (along with being able to see around corners, etc.)!

      My strategy – trying to work out the solutions from the cryptic elements of the clues – is more laborious and generally slower. Maybe I should switch to guessing at random – correctly of course.

  3. I am sure that I am missing something about this crossword. Felix is an excellent setter but this one doesn’t match up. Taking 24a as an example, why Lunnon? Why tho’ to provide the ‘o’?
    1. Just to throw us, I imagine. Chaff to confuse the radar. John.

      Edited at 2021-02-24 03:44 pm (UTC)

  4. Another tricky one in a tricky week but easier than yesterday, at least as far as I was concerned. Clueing was unusual and I’m not sure I’m really a fan of names, either as answers or made up as part of the clue. There seemed to be a lot of anagrams which I can usually solve fairly quickly but I needed to write some of them out today. Completed in 24 minutes.

    FOI – 5ac CUFF
    LOI – 24ac ENDMOST
    COD – 23ac STUN

  5. An unusually early post from me. I started off printing but decided to have a gentle poke around while it was on the screen – and with a couple of mugs of tea finished in 30.54. Generally answers appeared in order but I stumbled a bit in the South. FOI 1a. LOI 24a COD Trepanned – not exactly an everyday word but well known to me, chosen mainly for the misdirecting clue. Nothing really tricky today but was not so impressed with 24a or 3d. There was a stunning Stubbs exhibition locally at the MK Gallery fairly recently and although not a favourite genre, I have to say was definitely worth the visit. I conclude that Felix was in a generous mood when working on this one. Thx too to William for a concise blog.
  6. But completed in 19 minutes.
    Most of my thoughts already well documented by others. Trepanned just rang a bell but needed all checkers.
    COD 14d
    LOI 16d
    Thanks all
    John George
  7. We raced through this until getting stuck for a few minutes on the hidden in 16d, possibly hypnotised by the number of anagrams we forgot to look for anything else.
  8. I didn’t find this as easy as most seem to have, but struggled through and got there in the end when then penny finally dropped with UNSAFE. A surfeit of anagrams!

  9. Hard going for me, none of the anagrams fell into place easily and I just didn’t feel like I was on the right wavelength. I did finish but no idea of time my time as printed it out this morning and was looking at it between meetings – maybe why it was so uneven.
    FOI LAX
    LOI UNSAFE
    COD TREPANNED

    I know someone who’s uncle trepanned himself and his wife with a home drill in the 70s. Luckily his sister interrupted them before they got to experiment on the children!

  10. Nho Tandy — those ancient performers will only get more obscure as time goes on. All setters seem to be locked in approx 1952.
    Tense error in 12d borING = trepannING, trepannED = borED, and clue would have worked just as well with bored. Couldn’t see 9d or 24a for ages for no apparent reason. Nice puzzle with plenty to chew on.
    1. But the definition is not ‘boring’, it’s ‘was boring’ as indicated by William in his blog.
  11. In 20 ac the pal ‘chum’ chasing small girl seems to say that the s should be before the girl and after the mate.
    Full two courses but a good QC
    1. You need to lift and separate ‘small’ from ‘girl’. It’s CHUM (pal) chasing S (small), then ANN (girl), again as indicated by William in his blog.
        1. In the cryptic reading of the clue ‘pal’ is chasing ‘small’. The girl then follows on as a separate item.

          The surface reading which leads you to think ‘pal’ is chasing ‘small girl’ is designed to mislead, and that’s part of the setter’s art. Part of the art of cryptic solving is to be prepared to separate the different elements of a clue and deal with them individually. For simplicity we sometimes refer to this as ‘lift and separate’, a slogan designed elsewhere for use in an advertising campaign.

  13. In fact, it’s another erroneous message from the Russians …

    So I’m back
    There is a Nina in this puzzle but rather an obscure one.

    I have never really understood why one or two people get so worked up about “random” names in clues. I do sympathise with objections to things like “girl” for ANN, etc, but as far as I can see a name used as eg anagram fodder is no more or less random than anything else …

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