Times Quick Cryptic – 191 by Mara

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
10 minutes for this fairly straightforward offering though I had a few problems in the NE quarter with 5dn as my last one in. 9ac took some parsing.

Definitions
{Deletions}

Across
8 Writer returns with melody for god (7)
NEPTUNE – PEN (writer) reversed [returns], TUNE (melody)
9 Most acidic call? (5)
PHONE – PH,ONE – in chemistry, pH is a measure of acidity and solutions with a pH value less than 7 are said to be acidic. pH1 is the “most acidic” as defined in the clue.
10 Touch of red in black fuel, a shade of pink! (5)
CORAL – R{ed} in COAL (black fuel)
11 Colonist gets letters redirected (7)
SETTLER – Anagram [redirected] of LETTERS
12 Erectable building to praise (9)
CELEBRATE – Anagram [building] of ERECTABLE
14 Stick rubber on desk for starters (3)
ROD – First letters [starters] of R{ubber}, O{n}, D{esk}
16 Head removed, touch fish (3)
EEL – {f}EEL (touch) with its first letter [head] removed
18 Cheese – feline gobbling one of a set (9)
CAMEMBERT – CAT (feline) encloses [gobbling] MEMBER (one of a set)
21 Thus walkers gone to get drunk? (7)
LEGLESS – Effectively two definitions though the first is cryptic
22 African carrier arrived, then left! (5)
CAMEL – CAME (arrived), L (late)
23 Dance beat has to pass away (5)
TANGO – TAN (beat), GO (pass away)
24 Nation Trotsky is about to stop (7)
LEBANON – LEON (Trotsky) encloses [is about] BAN (stop)

Down
1 Relative keeping aloof, it’s difficult to get on? (8)
UNICYCLE – UNCLE (relative) encloses [keeping] ICY (aloof)
2 Paris devastated, end of mortal coil (6)
SPIRAL – Anagram [devastated] of PARIS, {morta}L
3 One charges   fifty points for this (4)
BULL – Double definition re cattle and darts
4 Fluid erased, a large body of water (3,3)
RED SEA – Anagram [fluid] of ERASED
5 Against the current trend? (8)
UPSTREAM – I’m not entirely sure how to classify this clue but I’ll say &lit because it’s hardly cryptic.
6 Hat for a cricketer? (6)
BOWLER – Double definition
7 Carry a large animal (4)
BEAR – Double definition
13 Composer has part written up for male alone (8)
BACHELOR – BACH (composer), ROLE (part) reversed [written up]
15 Design entailed an indication of time (8)
DATELINE – Anagram [design] of ENTAILED
17 Story say written in advance (6)
LEGEND – EG (say) in LEND (advance – money)
19 Brawn – or seafood, did you say? (6)
MUSCLE – Sounds like “mussel” (seafood)
20 Coat: I’m not sure it belongs to me? (6)
ERMINE – ER (I’m not sure), MINE (belongs to me)
21 One instrument that’s topped another! (4)
LUTE – {f}LUTE (one instrument that’s topped). The definition is the reference back to ‘instrument’
22 Baby animal on a Caribbean island (4)
CUBA – CUB (baby animal), A

14 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic – 191 by Mara”

  1. Some chewy stuff here, I thought, and with no hiddens and not many anagrams a pretty stiff test. I thought three of the downs especially worthy of mentions in despatches (1, 17 and 21). 12 minutes.
  2. Gosh hats off to you chaps, I limped through this one, took 25 mins, and even then had to come on here to understand why it was PHONE (many thanks to jackkt for the explanation – so obvious once you are told, so impenetrable (to me) until then!) and LEGEND. Dear oh dear. Well it is Monday and I hadn’t had a coffee …

    I loved CAMEL, I bet it’s a hoary old Crossword Chestnut but I hadn’t come across it before and it made me smile.

  3. A nice little number to start the week – mainly straightforward but with some trickier merchandise also thrown in.

    I was lucky enough to get PH1 straightaway – must have been one of the few chemistry lessons I ever paid attention in. (Sorry to end a sentence with a preposition – been a long day…). Thought this was a great QC clue, as it requires the kind of lateral thinking that is essential in the main cryptic. LUTE and BULL were of a similar ilk.

    LOI ERMINE. Lots to enjoy, so thanks very much to our setter and to Jack for the blog.

  4. No time recorded today. I was 2 mins in when I got interrupted and didn’t come back to it again for an hour or so. A good test though, I thought. I rattled through most of it quickly enough, but came a little unstuck in the SW corner with 17/21/21/23. Once one fell, the rest quickly followed. No problem with 9, it was a write-in from ‘most acidic’ for me. The benefits of a science background, recently refreshed by helping my kids with their high school homework!
  5. I also thought it was a good test and enjoyed working through it. Finished in good time, but with one wrong, DUEL for BULL. Was never happy with the answer, but saw DUE as a charge and L for fifty. Completely wrong in all aspects :(. Thanks for putting me right jackkt.

  7. No problems with this except BULL. Just couldn’t see it. I had entered UPSTREAM unhappy, so glad to find that it wasn’t only me.

    Liked PHONE and UNICYCLE!

    Thanks jackkt; goes to show that you can’t judge a blog (or puzzle) by the number of comments!

  8. I had a tiny variation to the bloggers parsing of 18a. Member (rather than a member ) inside cat. LOI 24a – i didnt know Trotskys first name.
  10. A couple of mini-problems: I don’t really understand LEGLESS. How does ‘Thus walkers gone’ define this? And I thought that the word ‘large’ in 7dn was unnecessary and probably wrong, since so far as I know not all bears are large. In any case, what does the word add to the clue?
    2. Bear: 1 Any of several large heavily built mammals constituting the family Ursidae (order Carnivora), with thick fur and a plantigrade gait – SOED, and the first definitions in OED and COED both begin “A large heavy mammal…”

      As for LEGLESS, legs might be cryptically referred to as “walkers” which if “gone” leave their former owner legless.

      And following on from “anon” whose contribution came in whilst I was writing the above, I don’t agree that it’s a poor clue, just one straight definition using slang, and one cryptic, slightly tongue-in-cheek, using a play on words.

      Edited at 2014-12-01 11:05 pm (UTC)

  11. Just to let you know rhat your efforts are really appreciated Jack.
    I didn’t encounter any particular problems, although, like others, I enjoyed the clue for ‘phone’.

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