Greetings from a currently cloudy North Devon, where I am busy relaxing on holiday. This is our second Quick Cryptic from Jimmy, who – if it is possible to draw any conclusions from just two puzzles – seems to be shaping up to be one of the friendlier setters. The last was a rare sub-5 for me; this took a minute longer but was still a steady solve with no hold-ups. I marked 7a and 9d for special mention, but there were lots to choose from here. Thanks Jimmy!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, most quoted indicators are in italics, specified [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. For clarity, I omit most link words and some juxtaposition indicators.
| Across | |
| 1a | Element of slapstick comedy is captured differently (7,3) |
| CUSTARD PIE — IS CAPTURED anagrammed (differently) | |
| 7a | Only half of Spanish football team in field (5) |
| REALM — Only half of REAL Madrid (Spanish football team) | |
| 8a | Discovered tragic king not losing heart (6) |
| LEARNT — LEAR (tragic king) + NoT without its centre (losing heart) | |
| 10a | Back from pyjama party in state of agitation (3) |
| ADO — The last letter of (back from) pyjamA + DO (party) | |
| 12a | Bit of Roman arch is made to show radical concept (9) |
| ANARCHISM — A bit of RomAN ARCH IS Made | |
| 13a | What sounds like requirements for massages (6) |
| KNEADS — What sounds like NEEDS (requirements)? The answer does | |
| 14a | After strong wine, a Liberal makes grand entrance (6) |
| PORTAL — After PORT (strong wine), A + L (Liberal) | |
| 17a | Fruit from can — entire bananas (9) |
| NECTARINE — An anagram of (… bananas) CAN ENTIRE | |
| 19a | 501 pence for guacamole, say (3) |
| DIP — DI (501, Roman style) + P (pence) | |
| 20a | French physicist’s mother backing his father? (6) |
| AMPÈRE — MA (mother) reversed (backing) + PÈRE (his father – “his” indicating the French word) | |
| 21a | American reversing boat reduced fare from Japan (5) |
| SUSHI — US (American) reversing + SHIp (boat) without its last letter (reduced) | |
| 23a | Artist gets drunk, one making clever plans (10) |
| STRATEGIST — ARTIST GETS anagrammed (drunk) | |
| Down | |
| 1d | Feeling concern about knave stealing vehicles (10) |
| CARJACKING — CARING (feeling concern) around (about) JACK (knave) | |
| 2d | Son accompanying old man in health resort (3) |
| SPA — S (son) with PA (old man) | |
| 3d | Give weapons to group, or a bit of kit for the captain (7) |
| ARMBAND — ARM (Give weapons to) BAND (group) | |
| 4d | Daughter gets rotten roll, a bit of bread abroad (6) |
| DOLLAR — D (daughter) + an anagram of (rotten) ROLL A | |
| 5d | Tips Lamarck oddly ignored, or Newton? (5) |
| ISAAC — tIpS lAmArCk without odd letters (oddly ignored) | |
| 6d | Maintained tidiness needs sorting out (8) |
| INSISTED — TIDINESS has to be anagrammed (needs sorting out) | |
| 9d | Tiny characters run around US shopping centre (5,5) |
| SMALL PRINT — SPRINT (run) around MALL (US shopping centre) | |
| 11d | Defeated in part of cricket match, caught by a crossword setter (8) |
| OVERCAME — OVER (part of cricket match) + C (caught by) + A + ME (crossword setter). Chambers tells us C = Caught (by), so you can equally well take “by” as a juxtaposition indicator instead | |
| 15d | Supervise poetry in Old English (7) |
| OVERSEE — VERSE (poetry) in OE (Old English). Again, you can choose your interpretation slightly as O and E are of course also individual abbreviations, but OE is a recognised abbreviation for Old English | |
| 16d | Where to see pictures contained by graphic in email (6) |
| CINEMA — The answer is lurking in (contained by) graphiC IN EMAil | |
| 18d | Spy perhaps not a lady? (5) |
| AGENT — A GENT (perhaps not a lady) | |
| 22d | Leaders of some key industries go downhill rapidly (3) |
| SKI — Initial letters (leaders) of Some Key Industries | |
Enjoyed that. A real confidence booster puzzle for us amateurs. Thanks Jimmy and Kitty.
A really nice puzzle, thanks Jimmy. Thanks for blog Kitty.
OVVERCAME and ADO held me up, but got them in the end. A neat and entertaining puzzle.
5:54
Late night solve so expected brain fog to draw this out. Thankfully Jimmy seems to set in synonyms that occur to me quickly, at least on this occasion. OVERSEE must be a chestnut but it’s always nice for a tip-of-the-brain-word like verse to drop into another where it is not pronounced as such. Having just read this back, I fear I am not making sense so perhaps time for bed. Thanks Kitty for the blog.