Times Quick Cryptic 2066 by Oink

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

8 minutes for a quick QC. Oink makes an appearance or two in this pleasant and enjoyable solve.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 A mistake, whichever way you look at it (4)
BOOB – a palindrome – whichever way you look at it.
4 Horses that might feature on the menu? (8)
TROTTERS – horses for trotting races and pigs trotters – something I haven’t had in many a long decade.
8 Nude king among those gawping (8)
STARKERS – king (K) inside those gawping (STARERS). My LOI having been looking at something ending LESS and then getting ‘tied up with streaker’ – so to speak.
9 Rushed to meet head of KGB in station (4)
RANK – rushed (RAN), (K)GB.
10 Attack a milk producer (4)
GOAT – attack (GO AT). Some very good goat cheeses around.
11 Copied limit at Edinburgh to an extent (8)
IMITATED – some of the clue (to some extent) – l(IMIT AT ED)inburgh.
12 Importance of statues English carted off (6)
STATUS – statues with E for English (STATU)e(S).
14 Corsica gendarme clutching to-do list (6)
AGENDA – inside (clutching) – Corsic(A GENDA)rme.
16 Behind in French coursework? (8)
DERRIERE – I think ‘in French coursework?’ is an acknowledgement that the word is originally ‘behind’ in French (so found in a French course) but has been adopted into English as the term for buttocks/rump. I had a quick, but unsuccessful, attempt to see if a derrière could be a particular line in a course of bricks.
18 Reportedly get rid of nun’s accommodation (4)
CELL – homophone of sell.
19 A weighty book, in my opinion (4)
TOME – in my opinion (TO ME).
20 Tramline surprisingly ending here (8)
TERMINAL – anagram (surprisingly) of TRAMLINE. Good clue given that a tramline has a terminus.
22 Prime Minister once having argument in airport (8)
HEATHROW – Prime Minister once (HEATH), argument (ROW).
23 Top bishop is in Paris (4)
BEST – bishop (B), ‘is’ in Paris/French (EST).
Down
2 Impossible job in remote settlement (7)
OUTPOST – impossible (OUT) – as in that’s right out.
3 Explosion half buried a good man (5)
BURST – half of (BUR)ied, good man (ST – saint).
4 Couple row endlessly (3)
TIE – row endlessly (TIE)r.
5 Pig-headed botanist stupidly taking an E (9)
OBSTINATE – anagram (stupidly) of BOTANIST plus (E).
6 Suspicion surrounding monarch’s houses (7)
TERRACE – suspicion (TRACE) surrounding monarch (ER).
7 Get up around noon and wash (5)
RINSE – get up (RISE) around noon (N).
11 Policeman crept in so awkwardly (9)
INSPECTOR – anagram (awkwardly) of CREPT IN SO.
13 Tease troops getting married in tent (7)
TORMENT – troops (OR – ordinary ranks) with married (M) inside tent (TENT).
15 Ready for a holiday in the States? (7)
DOLLARS – cryptic definition – ready = money = dollars in USA.
17 Run off with east European, heading north (5)
ELOPE – east (E), European – Pole upwards (ELOP).
18 Ascent of Conservative member (5)
CLIMB – Conservative (C), member (LIMB).
21 Fighting back is natural (3)
RAW – fighting – war – backwards (RAW).

66 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2066 by Oink”

  1. Happy with all except LOI DERRIERE. I hope someone is able to enlighten us because to me it seems deeply unsatisfying as is.
    1. As has been discussed in comments above, the ‘coursework’ seems to have been added to make the clue cryptic. ‘Behind in French’ as a clue would have been a concise one, so I stand by my comment in the blog that coursework is there to indicate the French word for behind could be found in a French school class/course,
  2. Please could you elaborate on the word play of 15d. Where does holiday come in? Many thanks.
    1. If you go on a holiday somewhere it’s standard practice to take some local currency with you ( although I prefer using an ATM at the arrival airport). The clue could equally have been ‘a trip to US’.
  3. Almost all completed in 20m, then, like others we pondered over dollars and derriere. However, a pleasant puzzle to start the week.
    1. Yes, it was a tricky clue. I don’t think I would have solved it as a stand alone clue, but a full set of crossers helped. Definitions are (almost) always at the start/end of the clue in a QC, but the singular ‘ready’ did throw me for a bit.
  5. Not the easiest Oink, but at least I got there eventually. 27:30 in the end, though I had everything in a minute or two before that and kept the watch ticking while I wondered if I could make sense of the coursework bit of 16a and whether DERRIERE really was spelt with a double R. I got DOLLARS before I had the D in place and did wonder whether it was right, given the singular ‘ready’, but when AGENDA went in I assumed it must be okay. COD to BEST. Thanks Oink and Chris.
  6. A real struggle in the NW corner with 4 failures: BOOB, GOAT, OUTPOST and BURST. Dreadful! Oh, and missed DOLLARS too.

    Edited at 2022-02-08 08:41 pm (UTC)

  7. Fractionally less awful than yesterday, but only slightly.

    A 64-minute DNF. Stumped by DOLLARS. I know ‘readies’ for money, but not ‘Ready’ in the singular. Basically, I could have spent another 64 minutes on this clue and still not solved it.

    A horrible start to the week: 2 hrs 10 mins spent achieving 2 DNFs.

  8. Going quite well until dollars. Guessed it but didn’t put it in as I couldn’t see the connection. Never heard of cash as ready, only readies. I seem to be a season ticket holder in the SCC and am now taking up to an hour to complete each QC. Perhaps I’ve plateaued?

    Gary A

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