Times Quick Cryptic 2051 by Tracy

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

In stark contrast to last Tuesday’s blog, today’s is full of sweeetness and light. Answers flew in right across the grid. Although LOI 23ac threatened to spoil the party (for no apparent reason), it then meekly yielded up the answer and all was all done and dusted in 6:19.

I expect a correspondingly low value of K and would like to hear from anyone escaping the clutches of the SCC. Have fun!

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Recommend Scottish barrister (8)
ADVOCATE – double definition.
5 Continuous pain in stomach eased (4)
ACHE – inside stom(ACH E)ased.
8 Crime of member of the clergy, beheaded (5)
ARSON – member of clergy p(ARSON) beheaded.
9 Novel about bishop miles away from place of pilgrimage (7)
REBECCA – about (RE), bishop (B), miles (M) away from place of pilgrimage m(ECCA). If I was aware of this novel it was only slightly. No need for gk, though, with the cluing so straightforward.
11 Have a meal of pulse after missing starter (3)
EAT – pulse – not as in bean but as in throb – b(EAT) missing starter.
12 Fine clue, cryptic, about northern power (9)
INFLUENCE – anagram (cryptic) of FINE CLUE about northern (N). A fine clue, indeed.
13 Greek character in rear returning sword (6)
RAPIER – Greek character (PI) inside rear reversed (RAER).
15 Newspaper chief tried desperately to bag duck (6)
EDITOR – anagram (desperately) of TRIED with duck (O) inside.
18 Unusual sort‘s reputation (9)
CHARACTER – double definition.
19 Tree over in arboretum, leafy (3)
ELM – over (backwards) inside arboretu(M LE)afy.
20 Saw wanderer in empty pub (7)
PROVERB – wanderer (ROVER) inside empty pub (P)u(B).
21 Entire golf club without parking (5)
UTTER – golf club p(UTTER) without parking (P).
22 Accomplished university teacher close to home (4)
DONE – university teacher (DON), hom(E).
23 Sons flee having pinched a work of art (8)
SEASCAPE – sons (S) and flee (ESCAPE) inside which is a (A).
Down
1 Not professional, a struggling RU team (7)
AMATEUR – a (A), anagram (struggling) of RU TEAM.
2 Call on model after six (5)
VISIT – model (SIT) after six (VI).
3 Kind of desecration involved (11)
CONSIDERATE – anagram (involved) of DESECRATION.
4 List of charges sailor provided fisherman initially (6)
TARIFF – sailor (TAR), provided (IF), (F)isherman.
6 Clown, eccentric person, target at fair? (7)
COCONUT – clown (COCO), eccentric person (NUT).
7 Efface ages first of epitaphs gives (5)
ERASE – ages (ERAS) and (E)pitaphs gives us the answer.
10 Tactless remarks about black American’s old musket (11)
BLUNDERBUSS – tackles remarks (BLUNDERS) about black (B) and American (US).
14 Squad also enthralled by scheme (7)
PLATOON – also (TOO) inside scheme (PLAN).
16 Deep regret about code creator (7)
REMORSE – about (RE), code creator (MORSE). Samuel F.B Morse invented it in the 1830s and it was improved upon by Alfred Lewis Vaile – his assistant and partner.
17 Place where horses are trained, firmly established (6)
STABLE – double definition.
18 Caught up with papers showing Roman god (5)
CUPID – caught (C), up (UP) with papers (ID).
19 Tear off about ten more (5)
EXTRA – anagram (off) of TEAR about ten (X).

58 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2051 by Tracy”

  1. Ah! I do appear to exist again.

    Ran counter to most contributors above, as I found this decidedly tricky. I crossed the line in 39 minutes, but only after a lengthy pontification about 7d (ERASE). I didn’t see ERAS for ‘ages’ for ages, so I nearly concluded that I would have to choose between those two well known words: EGASE and ESAGE. My uncertainty was compounded by not confidently knowing the meaning of ‘efface’.

    Mrs R has yet to tackle this puzzle, so I will sign off now with thanks to Tracy and Chris.

  3. I think I’ll measure this in Templars today! One T and a tiny bit — sounds good to me 😉 This was pleasant enough but as others have said, a couple of the clues were a bit odd — yes, 23a and 7d, I’m talking about you.
    Whenever I see ELM in an answer, I feel really sad. A while ago, we went to an exhibition of 18thC landscape paintings and my husband was musing on the huge trees in one of the works . He thought they were very exaggerated until I pointed out that they were elms. He barely remembered them 😢
    FOI Amateur
    LOI Rebecca
    COD Seascape
    AOD Considerate
    Thanks Tracy and Chris

    1. Yes, sadness abounds.
      I was brouggt up just around the corner from an Elm Avenue, which had a few elm trees at the time, and I currently live just around the corner from an Elm Grove Lane. Sadly, no elms though.

      1. We lived for years at Elm Tree House, happy memories but sadly our lovely elm has long gone.
  4. For the most part this was relatively easy but there were a few trickier clues. Considerate to a long time to come despite the fact that I had most of the crossers. Also Rebecca, although I had heard of the novel. 17 mins in total with everything parsed. Thanks Tracy and Chris.

    FOI – 5ac ACHE
    LOI – 20ac PROVERB
    COD – 16dn REMORSE

  6. Nice puzzle which we finished in 30m, but felt we should have done better. We had elms when living in Reading, which we tried to save to no avail.
  7. Failed on Seascape — sons for s threw me….. and Rebecca and Erase beyond me. I know the book well but didn’t think of Mecca and, like Rotter, could only see Rubicon and then Eonse… which didn’t work.
    Much of this tricky for me — PW gets home in 20 minutes and I was DNF after 30.
    Thanks all — I needed the blog for this one..
    John George
  8. We too experienced last clue hold up and eventually finished in 18 minutes. Nice puzzle.

    FOI: ACHE
    LOI: SEASCAPE
    COD: CONSIDERATE (clever anagram)

    Thanks Chris and Tracy.

  9. It seems a bit of a cheat to have “S” meaning both singular and plural son(s). Clearly it’s not commonly used as such, as evidenced by the number of LOI SEASCAPEs reported.
  10. I tried hard to turn 18A into an anagram of something. I expect I’m the unusual sort! Got there in the end after Cupid and Seascape were Done. Needed Extra time today but no Remorse at 32 min a GN6.
  11. Raced through most of this in just under 10 minutes, but my LTI, SEASCAPE and CONSIDERATE took another 7 minutes to leave me with 16:58. I did consider CONSIDERATE earlier, but dismissed it as it didn’t fit the anagrist. After I’d got SEASCAPE, I saw how CONSIDERATE could mean “kind” and bunged it in anyway. Then I discovered that I had misspelled “desicration” (sic being the operative word) and it was the lack of a second E that had thrown me off the scent. Still, at least I didn’t end up with a big fat DNF like I did yesterday with Oink, who seems to be following Joker’s lead and getting ever more difficult. Given how quick I did most of this, I am surprised at how much I didn’t know. I didn’t know the Scottish barrister, nor that a tariff was a list of charges (I thought it just meant price), nor the meaning of EFFACE, and I had forgotten that a BLUNDERBUSS had an extra S and was a musket. So thanks Tracy, and Chris.
  13. It seems I struggle to slip under 7, let alone my target 6 these days. Some handicap revision may be required!

    Still, a very enjoyable puzzle.

    7:34

  14. Bit of a struggle today. I’m getting so used to newspaper chief meaning ED that I almost missed the whole word. Struggled with SEASCAPE and LOI ERASE.
  15. Nothing makes me happier than to find that the one clue I failed to get in under five minutes was the stinker that caused my betters the problem, i.e seascape!

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