Times Quick Cryptic 2057 by Orpheus

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A good tester, involving a couple of educated guesses, but which I managed to finish in average time. I suspect there will be many NHOs today with the fabric, yarn, and amphibian (as well as possibly the singer and artist) all rather obscure bits of GK for a QC.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Headless rodent by barrier in European capital (9)
AMSTERDAM – remove the first letter of (headless) hAMSTER (rodent), then DAM (barrier).
6 Expert identifying species of flatfish (3)
DAB – double definition.
8 Flexible individual initially visiting ruined castle (7)
ELASTIC – first letter of (initially) Individual, contained by (visiting) an anagram of (ruined) CASTLE.
9 Row about granny’s first big cat (5)
TIGER – TIER (row) containing (about) the first letter of (…’s first) Granny.
10 Back firm briefly employing family member (6,6)
SECOND COUSIN – SECOND (back), CO (company, firm), then all-but-the-last letter of (briefly) USINg (employing).
12 Torment omnivorous nocturnal mammal (6)
BADGER – double definition.
13 Fellow doctor at fight (6)
COMBAT – CO-MB (fellow doctor), then AT.
16 Singer in bar given banknote, we hear (12)
COUNTERTENOR – COUNTER (bar) with a homophone of (we hear) “tenner” (banknote). A rare singing voice.
19 Governor that needs to be straight (5)
RULER – definition and cryptic hint.
20 Article going into northern river’s meteorological conditions (7)
WEATHER – TEH (article) contined by (going into) WEAR (northern river).
22 Dull piece of floor-covering (3)
MAT – double definition.
23 Old sailor damages hot saline boggy area (4,5)
SALT MARSH – SALT (old sailor), MARS (damages), and H (hot).

Down
1 President Lincoln’s tip for second son? (4)
ABEL – ABE (President) and the first letter of (…’s tip) Lincoln.
2 Marine algae filling children with wonder (7)
SEAWEED – AWE (wonder) contained by (filling) SEED (children).
3 Amphibian originally featuring in sci-fi film (3)
EFT – first letter of (originally) Filling, contained by (featuring in) E.T. (sci-fi film). A juvenile newt.
4 Helper on vessel talked of for a number of years (6)
DECADE – sounds like (talked of) “deck aid” (helper on vessel).
5 Musician’s device satisfied small number in capital (9)
METRONOME – MET (satisfied), then NO (small number) in ROME (capital).
6 Succeed ultimately, say, as painter and sculptor (5)
DEGAS – last letter of (ultimately) succeedeD, then E.G. (say), and AS.
7 Titled person needing oxygen in Greater London borough (7)
BARONET – O (oxygen) in BARNET (Greater London borough).
11 Approaches engendered by certain scorers? (9)
OVERTURES – definition and cryptic hint.
12 Stiffened fabric a couple of male animals required (7)
BUCKRAM – BUCK and RAM (couple of male animals). A stiff, loosely woven, cotton fabric.
14 Close relative runs into trouble (7)
BROTHER – R (runs) contained by (into) BOTHER (trouble).
15 Yarn Liberal associated with major railway junction (6)
CREWEL – L (liberal) with CREWE (major railway junction). A yarn used for embroidery.
17 Learner in group lacking illumination (5)
UNLIT – L (learner) in UNIT (group).
18 Part of circle primarily haunting gateway, perhaps (4)
ARCH – ARC (part of circle), then the first letter of (primarily) Haunting.
21 Goal of one entering in the morning (3)
AIM – I (one) contained by (entering) AM (the morning).

73 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2057 by Orpheus”

  1. Just avoided a CREWEL fate by guessing correctly. BUCKRAM and EFT are very familiar by now but there’s always a new word, isn’t there? (In fact I looked briefly at the blog for the “Monthly Club Special” the other day and don’t think I recognised a single word!)

    Like Steed and Emma I found this a mix of testers and write-ins, which made for an enjoyable solve since the easier ones meant that one was never stuck for too long.

    FOI ABEL, LOI BADGER, COD AMSTERDAM, time 08:48 for 1.3K and a Very Good day.

    Many thanks William and Orpheus.

    Templar

  2. Didn’t get too many across at the top on first read through but improved towards the bottom. The downs went in more easily and the grid filled up fairly rapidly from there. Small delay at 7dn where I thought the answer was the borough rather than the aristocrat. Didn’t properly parse overture or metronome, so thanks for the explanations William. Had vaguely heard of crewel and knew all the other vocabulary. Finished in the (for me) fairly rapid time of 12 mins.

    FOI – 9ac TIGER
    LOI – 11dn OVERTURE
    COD – a toss up between 1ac AMSTERDAM and 4dn DECADE.

    Thanks to Orpheus for an entertaining puzzle.

  3. But finally limped over the line in 30 mins or so. Knew CREWEL, but NHO EFT — guessed from wordplay. Held up significantly by OVERTURES and ARCH, latter due to having SALT MIRES at first 😆 Many thanks Orpheus and William.

  4. Completed over lunch today so later than usual. All done in 15 with a typo at crewel, w
    hich was in itself a guess. Anyone else remember the mouse who lived in a windmill in Old Amsterdam? For that 1Ac is my FOI & COD
    LOI overtures
    Thanks William & Orpheus

  5. Probably due to our ages but we knew all the difficult ones from our childhoods – buckram and crewel, and the musical countertenor and Degas too. We don’t do it against the clock but managed a lunchtime sandwich and finished before the fruit and nuts.
  7. Needed our joint knowledge today, eft, buckram and crewel only known to one of us. Amsterdam was fairly obvious, had to remember the Netherlands have two capltals, The Hague came to mind first.
  8. Back from our bird spotting — we (with the help of true birders} saw a water rail, curlew, whimbrel and pintail — all would make excellent crossword answers (and on occasion have been known to!)
    Forgot to thank Orpbeus and William earlier — so thanks 😊
  9. From. Amsterdam to Crewe Central, arriving slightly early.

    FOI 1 dn ABEL

    LOI 3ac COMBAT

    COD 15dn CREWEL

    WOD 5dn METRONOME

  10. Another good day for me, though I thought I was going to come unstuck on my LOI COMBAT. Initially I had written in “BOMBUT” hoping it was some unknown word for “fellow”, but I knew that was very unlikely. Thankfully I didn’t take too long to see the light and stopped my watch on 15:34, which I think just about scrapes into my top 20 fastest ever. I must confess that a few went in unparsed and I’m glad I remembered coming across BUCKRAM, CREWEL and COUNTERTENOR in previous crosswords. COD to AMSTERDAM as I always approve of the inclusion of rodents, even headless ones. Thanks William and Orpheus.
  11. That was tough with 3 NHO words, BUCKRAM, EFT and LOI CREWEL. Had to rely on half the clue to get each of them and almost put EAT until I realised the clue would then be incomplete.
  12. Some nice cluing so thanks to orpheus and blogger.
    Bit worried though…4 in a row completed!
  13. All correct in 43 minutes, but not all fully parsed and not all GK known.

    BUCKRAM, EFT and DAB only half-remembered from their previous appearance(s) here. Had to trust wordplay for DEGAS and ABEL. NHO CREWEL, but again had to trust wordplay (and TROWEL just didn’t make sense).

    Many thanks to Orpheus and William.

  14. Another struggle. Had to look up dab and put in bland for 17 down. Never got on the wavelength at all, and, for a newish solver, there were few easy pickings to get me started. Monday’s ‘easy’ solve seems a long time ago!

    Gary A

  15. Tricky I thought and quite pleased to finish in s slightly sub-par time

    Liked DECADE

    Thanks all

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