Times Quick Cryptic 2080 by Breadman

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 12 minutes, missing my target by 2. I found this tough getting started and there were a few tricky things along the way.

With J and Z appearing early I was half-expecting a pangram, but rather surpisingly we’re a missing a G!

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.

Across
1 Language Sean misused in jest (8)
JAPANESE
Anagram [misused] of SEAN contained by [in] JAPE (jest)
6 Fraud unknown on south-west island (4)
SWIZ
SW (south-west), I (island), Z (unknown). I’d have spelt it ‘swizz’ but ‘swiz’ is an alternative.
8 Dull English or US coin (4)
DIME
DIM (dull), E (English)
9 Someone who looks old alongside British waiter (8)
OBSERVER
O (old), B (British), SERVER (waiter)
10 Damage new hat on long-distance race (8)
MARATHON
MAR (damage), then anagram [new] of HAT ON
12 Want Geordie to meet newsman (4)
NEED
NE (Geordie  – north-east), ED (newsman – editor)
13 Untidy person‘s thorough wash mostly very loud (6)
SCRUFF
SCRU{b} (thorough wash) [mostly], FF (very loud – music)
16 Stop by English river last (6)
ENDURE
END (stop), URE (English river)
17 Lie in hospital, exhausted (4)
TALE
Hidden [in] {hospi}TAL E{hausted}
18 In New York, university cream broadcast skill in maths (8)
NUMERACY
U (university) + anagram [broadcast] of CREAM, contained by [in] NY (New York)
21 Live empty life in same Yorkshire town (8)
BEVERLEY
BE (live), then L{if}E [empty] contained by [in same] VERY (same – the very same)
22 Father and son rage (4)
SIRE
S (son), IRE (rage)
23 Resign from actor’s union without case (4)
QUIT
{e}QUIT{y} (actor’s union) [without case – casing]
24 Wine Rob tipped over — “oops” heard (8)
BORDEAUX
ROB (reversed) [tipped over], then DEAUX sounds like [heard] “doh” (oops! – I’ve made a silly mistake)
Down
2 Dog equipment in outskirts of arena (5)
AKITA
KIT (equipment) contained by [in] A{ren}A [outskirts]. I didn’t know the dog so I got lucky here picking KIT over RIG for equipment. The word has appeared before, most recently in a QC last July also set by Breadman, and I didn’t know it then either.
3 Nocturnal tree-dwelling lemur half visible, certainly (3)
AYE
AYE{-aye} (nocturnal tree-dwelling lemur) [half visible]. I struggled with this one too.
4 Record old companion’s age (5)
EPOCH
EP (record), O (old), CH (companion of Honour)
5 German city engineer’s inner nature (7)
ESSENCE
ESSEN (German city), CE (Chartered Engineer)
6 Romantic musician, seconds before, excited Andre (9)
SERENADER
S (seconds), ERE (before), anagram [excited] of ANDRE
7 Church worker in Ireland chilled drink (3,4)
ICE BEER
CE (church) + BEE (worker) contained by [in] IR (Ireland). Collins: a beer that is chilled after brewing so that any water is turned to ice and then removed. I’ve been drinking beer all my adult life and I’ve never heard of this.
11 A Greek character joins blokes in scheduled recreation (9)
AMUSEMENT
A, MU (Greek character) then MEN (blokes) contained by [in] SET (scheduled)
14 Conversation starts to echo around Una’s French country house (7)
CHATEAU
CHAT (conversation), E{cho} + A{round} + U{na} [starts]
15 Cool weapon for group of admirers (3,4)
FAN CLUB
FAN (cool), CLUB (weapon)
19 City chief recalled legendary Rovers footballer, American (5)
MAYOR
ROY (legendary Rovers footballer) + AM (American) reversed [recalled]. Those who don’t know Roy can read about him here if they wish.
20 Gracious female, upper-class, somewhere in the Ionian Islands (5)
CORFU
COR (gracious!), F (female), U (upper-class)
22 Visit   Ely perhaps (3)
SEE
Two meanings – the second being a cathedral city

70 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2080 by Breadman”

  1. Was on the wavelength today perhaps, and I would have probably come in at around 16 minutes or a bit under, but I forgot I hadn’t revisited 16a. I’d originally put in HALTER, thinking a last might be some kind of horsey equipment, and although I soon found out it wasn’t, even my faint letters gave me the impression of a full grid when I got what I thought was my LOI AMUSEMENT. I stopped my watch on 14:57, pleased with a sub-15 and only discovered my error when I saw ENDURE on here. So a big fat D’OH from me. Like others, I wasn’t sure of the SWIZ spelling, and not 100% about AKITA, but no problem with anything else. The aye-aye is well worth looking up by the way. A really nightmarish beast with huge eyes and a specially adapted middle finger that’s very thin and elongated so that it can probe into holes in trees and skewer any grubs that may be lurking within. COD to SIRE. Thanks Jack and Breadman.
  2. Can’t decide whether this was extra hard or I was slow because of a very long day working at my daughter’s house (my plastering skills have improved from ‘it just needs a good sanding’ to ‘not bad’.) Either way, 30mins is borderline missed the coach, so not a great start to the week. My last pair, Aye and Essence were responsible for quite a few at the end, lemurs not being a strong suit, and engineers usually being RE or REME (Chartered Engineers are CEng, though Civil Engineers — brickies — could conceivably be CE in polite circles.) Invariant
  3. I’m a proud Yorkshireman who was born in Beverley and worked as a solicitor in Ripon (on the River Ure) for 10 years! This took me 30 mins or so, and was just the right mix of straightforward and tricky.

    D’oh I’d probably now seen as coming from Homer Simpson, but I will always associate it with Peter Glaze on ‘Crackerjack’.

    GaryA

  4. Quite a bit of thought needed for many of the answers and really wasn’t sure of my spelling for LOI BEVERLEY, but just sneaked under my 20 minute target.
  5. No particular problems, just took me a while and lots of PDMs. Could not fully parse a couple: DNK CE=Chartered Engineer, and guessed AYE, forgetting that I have of course heard of the Aye-aye. Temporarily invented a new word FANBOMB until I spotted BEVERLEY… LOI ENDURE, FOI SWIZ, COD CORFU 😆 Many thanks Breadman and Jack
  6. Way back at the beginning, was Templar winding us up with his NHO D’OH? It’s one of ours. It’s in the Glossary
  7. In the grand scheme I’m sure it doesn’t matter but why do some write d’oh and others doh? What is the function of the apostrophe there? Thinking of apostrophes , I would have put one after asses a few days ago in asses’ bridge.(Not in the grid of course but in our discussion of the clue).
    1. It’s been years since I’ve heard Homer, but I think he aspirates the [d], or inserts a glottal stop; to me, anyway, it sounds different from ‘dough’.
  8. All done apart from Beverley. Got the Be and the Le but same=very was beyond my understanding. You might say “the very same” but if you say very it’s surely used as a shortening of a phrase not a substitute for the word same. Very dubious clue — and spoilt a nice puzzle.

Comments are closed.