My second Quickie blog this week, this time standing in for Macavity. Teazel’s puzzle took me 11 mins and was very enjoyable. It seemed fairly straightforward but we’ll see what others make of it. Happy New Year to all!
{deletions}, definitions, [indicators]
|
Across |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Perhaps rock foreign character so (5) |
| MUSIC – MU (foreign character – Greek letter), SIC (so – Latin, but used in English often as an annotation to indicate that an apparent error is intentional) | |
| 7 | A new church in a valley that may be seen coming down mountain (9) |
| AVALANCHE – A, VALE (valley) with A+N (new) + CH (church) inside it | |
| 9 | Right to leave healthier-looking willow (5) |
| OSIER – {r}OSIER (healthier-looking) | |
| 10 | Objecting to clergyman not finishing first course (9) |
| ANTIPASTO – ANTI (objecting to), PASTO{r} (clergyman – not finishing) | |
| 11 | In addition, a couple speaking (3) |
| TOO – Sounds like [speaking] “two” (couple) | |
| 12 | After a second, sure to find out (9) |
| ASCERTAIN – A,S (second), CERTAIN (sure) | |
| 14 | In China, ran police ragged (9) |
| PORCELAIN – Anagram [ragged] of RAN POLICE | |
| 16 | Entering party united couple (3) |
| DUO – U (united) inside [entering] DO (party) | |
| 18 | The New World has no coffee (9) |
| AMERICANO – AMERICA (The New World), NO. Very neat. | |
| 20 | Male affected to walk smartly (5) |
| MARCH – M (male), ARCH (affected) | |
| 21 | Smother or, say, tolerate Catherine? (9) |
| SUFFOCATE – Sounds like [say] “suffer” (tolerate), CATE (Catherine abbr.). If you prefer the traditional spelling of the name the second part of the word sounds like “Kate”. | |
| 22 | Nymph‘s parent keeping track (5) |
| DRYAD – DAD (parent) enclosing [keeping] RY (track – as in railway) | |
|
Down |
|
| 1 | Tearful, arresting a revolutionary (6) |
| MAOIST – MOIST (tearful) enclosing [arresting] A | |
| 2 | Reject tailor’s assistance? As you wish (4,8) |
| SUIT YOURSELF – Two definitions, the first is cryptic | |
| 3 | Shell of vehicle quickly assembled (8) |
| CARAPACE – CAR (vehicle), APACE (quickly). “Assembled” simply indicates the two elements are put together. | |
| 4 | Indian dish cooked originally in a lot of water (6) |
| BALTIC – BALTI (Indian dish), C{ooked}. A reference to the Baltic Sea. | |
| 5 | Artist’s first in personnel file (4) |
| RASP – RA’S (artist’s), P{ersonnel} | |
| 6 | Drug female star finally missed (6) |
| HEROIN – HEROIN{e} (female star – finally missed) | |
| 8 | Warehouse car crash, Andy injured (4,3,5) |
| CASH AND CARRY – Anagram [injured] of CAR CRASH ANDY | |
| 13 | Dipping into currency, a few thus released? (8) |
| RANSOMED – SOME (a few) inside [dipping into] RAND (currency – of South Africa) | |
| 14 | Crack up in power lift (6) |
| PRAISE – P (power), RAISE (lift) | |
| 15 | Computer image of a sailor from Virginia? (6) |
| AVATAR – A, VA (Virginia), TAR (sailor) | |
| 17 | Monster concealed flower (6) |
| ORCHID – ORC (monster), HID (concealed) | |
| 19 | Partially repair one golf club (4) |
| IRON – Hidden inside {repa}IR ON{e} | |
Did not know OSIER, but was able to work it out from cross checkers and wordplay. Thought suffocate was a wee bit of a stretch as a homophone, but good fun.
2dn was LOI. Like these jokey kind of clues, but this one eluded me for a fair while.
Thanks to Teazel for a nice puzzle to kick off the New Year, and as ever to Jack for a very neat blog.
Favourite ANTIPASTO.
Happy new year to all.
Many thanks
A Newbie
Here’s the definition you’re after:
(transitive) (informal) to present or report, esp in glowing terms ⇒ it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
Collins online dictionary is free and a good source of info.
Major problems with ‘suffocate’ though. I put down the ipad to make another cup of coffee and on returning I noticed the clue said ‘smother’ not ‘smoother’. Bleary eyed? Me?
Happy New Year to all – and a special thank-you to jackkt whose constant support of this site and us all is really appreciated.
Edited at 2015-01-01 12:15 pm (UTC)