Times Quick Cryptic 332 by Oran

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A most enjoyable, slightly different flavour of puzzle today with a number of cryptic style clues and definitions, and less clues based on deconstruction and reconstruction of words.

A few that went in easily enough but were a bit trickier to parse in detail, but no obscurities (unless you count 20dn, which I wouldn’t as it seems to pop up frequently in Crosswordland).

Some neat and amusing clues – favourite being the excellent 11ac. Thanks very much to Oran.

At time of posting, the puzzle seems to be unavailable at the site but you should be able to access it with this link:

http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20150617/6209/

Definitions underlined, anagrams indicated by (–), DD = double definition

Across
1 Hangover cure left on floor of kennel? (4,2,3,3)
HAIR OF THE DOG – DD, the second one being very slightly cryptic. Nice gentle opener, particularly for anyone with the affliction in question!
9 Slight self-indulgence, in part (5)
ELFIN – Hidden (indicated by “in part”) in sELF INdulgence
10 Carelessly put it round outside of gash, or on edge (7)
UPTIGHT – *(PUT IT) – with “carelessly” as the anagrind – goes “round” GH (outside of GasH)
11 One cracks novel, green motoring? (7)
CARSICK – Excellent cryptic definition, I thought, with the supporting wordplay being *(I CRACKS) with “novel” as the anagrind. Took me a while to get this, as I was looking for a well-known novel with I mixed into it, with the whole being some pun on lead free or something like that… My COD
12 Furious corsair losing his head (5)
IRATE – PIRATE. Our old friend the corsair (PIRATE) decapitated
13 Prepare herb as quantity of medicine? (6)
DOSAGE – DO (prepare – as in “I’ll just do the veg”) + SAGE (herb)
14 Copper’s after a degree: you can count on it! (6)
ABACUS – A + BA (degree) + CUS (copper’s), giving the very smart calculating device from the ancient world
17 Small vessel that’s for transporting 18 (5)
SEWER – S (small) + EWER (vessel – being a water jug) giving the conduit for WASTE (18dn)
19 Welcome thoroughly bad weather forecast? (3,4)
ALL HAIL – DD – the latter somewhat cryptic
21 Across the channel, a measure that’s flawed (7)
UNSOUND – UN (“a” across the channel – i.e. in France) + SOUND (a measure – as in take a sounding)
22 My appeal to my son? (2,3)
OH BOY – I have a feeling this might prove troublesome to some. Think of “My!” as a (slightly old school) rendition of “Gosh!” for the definition. The “appeal to my son” bit is clear enough if you waded through Latin O Level and wondered when you’d ever actually say ‘Oh Table’ (Mensa, Vocative) – otherwise it might not be. Hopefully you get the drift…
23 Do they bring home the bacon? Yes and no (12)
BREADWINNERS – Good cryptic clue – not much to add
Down
2 Has the money for grants (7)
AFFORDS – DD – the first being the more common usage, the second being as a synonym for ‘provides’
3 Easily defeat organised groups over eighteen holes (3,5,5)
RUN RINGS ROUND -“”eighteen holes” gives us ROUND (as in game of golf). RUN RINGS requires us to think in terms of RINGS (e.g. drug rings – “groups”) that are RUN (“organised”). One where the answer was quickly apparent, but the parsing was a bit trickier
4 Liveried manservant, stylish and cool, about fifty (6)
FLUNKY – FUNKY (stylish and cool) “about” L (fifty in Roman numerals). I think these days a Flunky is used to describe any kind of underling, but apparently historically it was specifically used a propos a liveried / uniformed manservant
5 Bragging, perhaps, with swell means of transport (3,3,7)
HOT AIR BALLOON – HOT AIR (bragging) + SWELL (balloon)
6 Follow old woman’s teachings (5)
DOGMA – DOG (follow) + MA (old woman)
7 Cowardly hunch about lieutenant overturned (7)
GUTLESS – GU[TL]ESS. Hunch = GUESS, “about” TL (lieutenant reversed – overturned)
8 Grace endlessly seen in posh vehicle (4)
MERC – MERCY. My LOI, as I failed to see Mercedes as a “posh vehicle”. I happen to drive a clapped out old C200 which I picked up for the Australian equivalent of 3,000 quid and which gets me from A to B with bits falling off every now and again – never occurred to me it was “posh”!
13 I’d burst out, upset (7)
DISTURB – *(ID BURST), with “out” as the anagrind
15 Church with orange room (7)
CHAMBER – CH (church) + AMBER (orange)
16 Finally meeting and greeting old statesman (6)
GANDHI – G (finally meetinG) + AND + HI (greeting) giving us the great Mahatma
18 Refuse series of bets: a worry having arisen (5)
WASTE – bETS A Worry. Reversed hidden (signalled by “having arisen”)
20 When speaking, lie about songs (4)
LAYS – Homophone (indicated by “When speaking”) of laze, giving the plural of LAY as in a song, often found in Crosswordland

24 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 332 by Oran”

  1. I thought this was going to be a breeze at first–1ac certainly a quick start–but a couple clues slowed me down a treat. I’d forgotten ‘funky’ in this meaning, for one, and for another, MERC to me normally means Mercury (do they still make them?); fortunately, a European acquaintance had once used the term and I finally recalled it. Made the stupid error of putting in ‘airsick’ at first–no, I don’t know why either, which didn’t help matters. I didn’t care for 23ac: a couple of checkers, and what else could it be? 8:40.
    1. Interesting re. 23ac – a classic “different strokes for different folks” thing: notwithstanding an abundance of cross checkers, it was penultimate one in for me as I was stuck deep in porcine territory, looking for swineherds etc.
    2. I too struggled with 23a, not getting it till most of the checkers were in. But then, that’s largely down to the fact that I struggled with DISTURB, unable to see the anagram till I wrote down all the letters in my little circle!

      I also thought of ‘airsick’ first. I think many people will, as airsickness is a more talked about concept generally than carsickness, I believe.

      In Hong Kong, locals – who own them in large numbers – refer to the Stuttgart car as a Benz, which brought me up with a start when I first heard it, being used to Merc.

      Edited at 2015-06-17 02:08 am (UTC)

  2. Excellent puzzle – my reward for coming back to look at a Quicky after a month or so?! Took a bit under 10 minutes.

    11a was indeed superb and other stuff (like ALL HAIL) great fun. Myself, I think I’d put 1a down as another CD, but I don’t suppose it matters much. As Wordsworth said, ‘We murder to dissect.’

    1. Welcome back to the grass roots – good to see you here! Agree your take on 1ac – and also the Wordsworthian sentiment so I won’t change the blog – but thanks for pointing it out.
  3. I took so long over this one (34 minutes) that I now think I must have nodded off whilst solving without realising, which is disappointing considering the long answer at 1ac came to mind before my hard copy was out of the printer. Having eventually completed this I then went on immediately to solve today’s vintage 15×15 in exactly the same time – 34 minutes! Normally I really struggle with those.
    1. I was a DNF on this – couldn’t get MERC or WASTE or SEWER. Rest were a breeze, though I was on to break the 10 minute barrier – then crashed and burned. 🙁 might try the 15×15 on the long train journey home or may just retire hurt for the day. Maybe the number puzzles will cheer me up.
      1. Chin up – MERC was hard, and if you didn’t get WASTE then you were stuffed (I believe is the technical term) on SEWER. Better luck tomorrow!
  4. Like others 1a went straight in but it then took a long time to finish, not helped by taking ages to see the hidden ELFIN. Last in LAYS, I thought it was going to be the answer but waited until my penultimate ALL HAIL went in. Liked WASTE but COD also to CARSICK.

    A fine puzzle.

  5. Sorry to be at the other end of the spectrum from you, Nick. 11ac was in my opinion the worst clue — I put a dash beside it, intending to find out afterwards what was really happening. Maybe I don’t really see it all, but ‘carsick’ is an adjective whereas the definition in the clue ‘green motoring?’ is nounal. How can they be equivalent?

    And the surface is pretty weak so far as I can see. What picture does it all paint? A rather messy one I think.

    1. I think you have to read the literal ‘green motoring’ as if it were a telegram, as if the full form were ‘I was green while motoring’. As for the surface, if one thinks of green motoring as, say, an electric car, and the ‘one’ as an old biddy who has always driven a petrol car with a stick, but is given an automatic electric car as a 70th birthday present, and learns to love it, then, well, he may be said to crack novel, green motoring.
      1. Whenever I see a question mark at the end of a clue I suspect the setter is taking a liberty. I needed a couple of checkers to see what was going on but really liked this clue.
    2. I’m indebted to my learned friend ulaca’s response to your query – albeit he appears to have got a spot of gender confusion happening towards the end of his submission (can happen on a late night in HK as I recall).

      Maybe it’s just a Quick Cryptic versus 15×15 cultural thing. The cryptic definition is very much in the Sunday Times style and, if presented there, would (I think) gain plaudits. Anyway, clearly a case of quot homines tot sententiae.

      1. I learn more about how ignorant I really am every day. I really thought biddy was a male as I wrote – I could see him there with his cloth cap driving his first Marina – and the Damascene moment occurred only as I was puzzling over your gentle rebuke.
          1. As I was in the kitchen replenishing my glass ahead of Race 8 at the Valley, I realised I had got that wrong too. I meant ‘correction’, but felt on current form if I corrected myself I would get that wrong too…
  6. Wow, this was a stinker. Certainly different to the norm. Not enjoyable, hope not to see Oran too often.
    1. Hi Anon,

      Please display the usual courtesy on this site of using an account name (or if for some reason you will not, at least sign off your message with a name so we can distinguish you from other nameless drop-ins).

      Whilst you are, of course, entitled to your opinion, I think that Oran’s puzzle was top flight and may he or she deliver many more.

  7. That was an almighty struggle. I didn’t think Id ever get 11a, 17a, 8d or 18d, but I after a long time staring blankly at it the answers seemed to suddenly appear, although I’m not sure I’d classify a Merc as a posh car these days. Never heard of 20d so I wrote in lays more in hope than expectation of getting it right.
    Particularly enjoyed 19 and 22a
  8. There were a few too many write-ins (starting with 1ac) for this to be a full blown ‘stinker’, but it was certainly challenging enough in parts. Missing the reverse hidden in 18ac didn’t help matters either. Invariant
  9. Just under 10 minutes for me, so a decent challenge. I rather liked 11a and the way it joined up with 8d. Luckily I don’t get CARSICK myself, as I spent the middle of the day in and out of the car chasing a bunch of fast women across Suffolk. And no, I don’t drive a MERC.
  10. I found the long answers quite easy and some of the short ones difficult, despite having lots of helpful letters.
    I solved it fairly steadily and my last two were Elfin and Affords -which did not seem hard afterwards.
    A strange brew and an enjoyable puzzle. David
  11. I found the 15 x 15 to be easier than this one. Fine puzzle however, with thanks to blogger and setter.

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