Times Quick Cryptic 2046 by Teazel

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I found this a very testing tease from our setter today. I hope I was just having a bad day, because, unlike many from this setter, I found today’s puzzle rather dry and prickly (like the flowers and leaves of the Teazel or teasel plant). While there were the odd easy-to-get-clues, I kept coming up against clue after clue which needed dismantling. In the end I came to a DNF due to 14ac – so maybe my comments above are more to do with being dry and prickly (grumpy!) myself.

I hope you fare better.

Here’s how I worked the answers out.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Through barrier, behold king in city (8)
FLORENCE – through (inside) barrier (FENCE) is behold (LO) and king (R).
5 Wife following the trend producing creamy sweet (4)
WHIP – wife (W), following the trend (HIP). Good cluing – I was trying to put W after ‘the trend’.
8 In spot, one very disturbed piece of turf (5)
DIVOT – inside spot (DOT) are one (I) and very (V).
9 Novice has shower in shirt (7)
TRAINEE – shower (RAIN) inside shirt (TEE).
11 Ordinary people that are controlled by castle (4,3,4)
RANK AND FILE – I think this is a double definition. The ordinary (common) people as opposed to leaders/the body of soldiers (from a castle, say) as opposed to the officers. I suppose the whole thing could be a cryptic definition. With thanks to posters below – Kevin being first – a rook (sometimes known as a castle) controls the columns and rows of a chessboard which are, apparently, known as rank and file –  so this is the second definition.
13 Summary is not entirely accurate (6)
PRECIS – not entrirley accurate (PRECIS)e.
14 Little child is to clean dog perhaps (6)
MOPPET – clean (MOP), dog (PET). Well, maybe I should have carried on wondering but I plumped for Poppet even though I knew pop=clean didn’t make sense. Never heard of Moppet. Obvious when you know.
17 Lotion spilled in cabinet room (11)
EMBROCATION – anagram (spilled) of CABINET ROOM.
20 Soap for a succession of rulers (7)
DYNASTY – double definition.
21 Marriage of our Jack? (5)
UNION – reference to the Union Jack.
22 Emotional state rejected: that’s fate (4)
DOOM – emotional state – mood  – rejected (DOOM).
23 Old Briton OK back in island (8)
ANGLESEY – old Briton (ANGLE), OK – yes – back (SEY). The answer was there pretty quickly but I held off to get the correct spelling.
Down
1 Passing fashion due finally to lose appeal (4)
FADE – passing fashion (FAD), du(E).
2 Which side is the monarch on? (7)
OBVERSE – a cryptic reference to the side of a coin with the monarch’s head on. Our friends at Wikipedia have this to say: In a Western monarchy, it has been customary, following the tradition of the Hellenistic monarchs and then the Roman emperors, for the currency to bear the head of the monarch on one side, which is almost always regarded as the obverse.
3 Ignore stain that’s ruined cutlery (6,5)
EATING IRONS – anagram (that’s ruined) of IGNORE STAIN.
4 Pa can’t somehow snooze for a while (6)
CATNAP – anagram (somehow) of PA CANT.
6 Tongue needs iodine applied to back (5)
HINDI – iodine (I) applied (to the back of) back (HIND). Tongue as in language.
7 Offers, being there, to speak (8)
PRESENTS – homophone of being there – presence. I took a while to convince myself that presence and presents sound the same. I even tried the Collins ‘play the word’ button which does seem to back that up. The two pronunciations are listed as prezəns and ˈprɛzənts.
10 Sort of teaching aid maybe as usual I avoid messing up (5-6)
AUDIO-VISUAL – anagram (messing up) of USUAL I AVOID.
12 Organ of body, lacking energy, managed? Excellent (8)
SPLENDID – organ of body (SPLE)e(N) without energy (E), managed (DID).
15 One note lost in the hills; small coins remain (7)
PENNIES – one note (I – not sure we needed the ‘note‘ N) lost (misplaced missing) in hills (PENNI)n(ES).
16 Prohibit going round any fig tree (6)
BANYAN – prohibit (BAN), anagram (going round) of ANY. The banyan grows in India and the East Indies and has aerial roots which stretch down to form new trunks.
18 Simple game: scrap a more difficult one (5)
BINGO – scrap (BIN), a more difficult (game) (GO).
19 It’s very dark in Kentucky (4)
INKY – in (IN), Kentucky (KY).

61 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2046 by Teazel”

  1. In common with others just not on Teazel’s wavelength today. A slightly interrupted 27 mins from start to finish. No vocabulary that I didn’t know, just brain fade and some rather chewy clues. Thanks to Teazel for setting rather a puzzler and to Chris for the blog.

    FOI – 8ac DIVOT
    LOI – 23ac ANGLESEY
    COD – 15dn PENNIES

  2. Oh dear! This is one of just a few QCs that I have really needed the blog to shed light on my guesses. I had a couple of corrections. CHEW became WHIP and MOOD became DOOM but both rather belatedly. EMBROCATION needed a careful sort of the letters but at least sounded familiar. Then came the guesses…EATING IRONS (NHO), RANK AND FILE (first definition only) and OBVERSE (guessed it was something to do with a coin and my LOI). 18:31 for a poor day. Thanks Chris for your blog.
  3. MOPPET and OBVERSE eluded me today and I learned a new word in EMBROCATION which I successfully biffed. Very slow to even get going with TRAINEE FOI and PENNIES LOI. Always find Teazel tricky! Thanks for the blog Chris — I won’t forget obverse in a hurry 😄
  4. Thanks for the suggestions to try the 15×15. I enjoyed it and although several unsolved it was a good challenge.
    I approached this with a great ‘can-do’ attitude and to begin with thought that all would be well….
    Gosh, I threw in the towel with 10 to go. I just got frustrated…..
    Even Rank and File didn’t quite seem right.
    No, one to forget.
    Thanks for the blog Chris….one small correction required for 22a if perfection is sought. (I definitely wasn’t in the right mood!)
    Thanks all
    John George
    1. Perfection – or precision – is my aim but proofreading is not my forte. I’m therefore grateful for any and all help. Blog updated – thank you.
  5. Hurrah !
    Finished this correctly – the first one for a while. Took nearly an hour though.

    I had not heard of BANYAN before (an Indian tree with aerial roots) – very strange.

    I liked the ‘PENNINES’ minus ‘IN’ = ‘PENNIES’. There is a saying in these parts – if you can see the Pennines then it is going to rain; if you cannot see them then it is raining already.

    EATING IRONS – I thought that I was the only person to call cutlery ‘Eating Irons’ so
    I was surprised to get this so easily.

  6. I wasn’t too familiar with Embrocation my LOI or Eating Irons. COD 11ac Rank and File. WOD 14ac Moppet.

  7. Can’t post a time here as I completed it together with Mrs Prof in 16 mins. Very enjoyable and didn’t get stuck but that’s the result of two brains rather than one. Mrs Prof was straight on EMBROCATION which is our COD while I would have struggled with that one. Very much enjoyed BINGO too. Clever.

    Thanks for blog and clever puzzle today. Prof

  8. It was OBVERSE and RANK AND FILE that did for me, after just about coming up with the word EMBROCATION (would have had no idea what it meant but I must have seen it somewhere before) which gave me the unparsed BINGO. Other than those it was tricky but doable. Never heard of EATING IRONS, but once I’d taken out the letters for EATING, what else could it be? Anyway, a DNF after 41 for me, but thanks Teazel for the workout and to Chris.
  10. Just happened to be on right wavelength today
    There is nothing wrong with educated guesses IMHO as they are based on what we know
  11. How old do you need to be to recognise some of these words? Dynasty as a soap? Moppet? Embrocation? Eating irons? Whip as a creamy sweet? Struggled today. Dave and Sal
  13. NHO EMBROCATION and had to guess, getting the T and C the wrong way round. Also put POPPET so not a good day.
  14. After celebrating completing the 15×15 yesterday (noting the complaints in that blog about how easy it was), today I find myself outside of my usual haunts in the SCC and mere seconds behind Horryd, so a memorable day.
    Although some took a little working out I knew all the vocabulary, and if FLORENCE had been less evasive I could have gone somewhat faster.
  15. 7d. I don’t think this is a homophone between presents and presence. I think it’s presents, as in gifts, vs presents, as in making yourself present or indeed asking how a disease presents itself.
    Richard
  16. Nice puzzle and managed in about an hour and a half.
    Parsed all the clues — can play Go so had bango then bingo
    Moppet is American but knew that one.
    Liked Pennines (-n) and I too had the w last in for whip. A double bluff to stop us taking every word as an instruction.

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