Times Quick Cryptic 916 by Flamande

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A good QC. 12 minutes of happy misdirection – a good example of which is LOI 15ac – I tried so hard to make up an item of clothing I’d never heard of only to find it doesn’t exist. A Latin poet, Japanese martial arts and nautical navigation make an appearance to liven things up a bit.

ACROSS

1. Take a bow – acknowledge spectators. An archer would also take a bow before firing at apples.
5. Moor – Othello was one. Homophone (you can hear) of encore-more.
8. Mandated – given authority. Fellow (MAN) with old hat (DATED).
9. Neap – sort of tide – when the Moon and the Sun are at right angles to each other in relation to the Earth they each pull at the seas meaning tides are less extreme in any one place. Seen in Ju(NE AP)parently.
11. Ovoid – shape. Love (O) described by (surrounded by) Latin poet (OVID). His verse includes poems on love, Ars Amatoria, on myths, Metamorphoses, and on his sufferings in exile, Tristia.
12. Orchard – source of fruit. Or (OR), green vegetable (CHARD).
13. Spring – double definition.
15. Robert – chap – a male person’s name. The formal attire is a ROBE and right is RT. For a wild moment I considered a special piece of clothing worn for Burn’s night – but recovered.
18. Trainer – sports coach. Anagram (churned up) of TERRAIN.
19. Lager – drink. Reginald (REG) and Alan (AL) backwards.
21. Temp – office worker. Note (TE), politician (MP).
22. Paradise – the Garden of Eden. Is (IS) included in display (PARADE).
23. Rope – length of cord. Rolled (backwards) in th(E POR)ch.
24. Tenement – accommodation. Temporary sort (of accommodation) TENT filled by European (E) soldiers (MEN).

DOWN

1. Tomboys – boisterous girls. Anagram (ruined) of MY BOOTS.
2. Kendo – fencing. I knew this as someone, a long time ago at work, practised it – the Japanese art of fencing with pliable bamboo staves or, sometimes, real swords. OK upwards around border (END).
3. Abandoning – quitting. A (A), group (BAND), performing (ON), in (IN), (G)reek.
4. Oregon – US state. Valuable metal (ORE), not quite exhausted (GON)e.
6. Overage – too old. Mean a(VERAGE) to make a fresh start (replace ‘a’ with ‘o’).
7. Rapid – quick. Mugging (RAID) pinched (taking/holding) very little money (P – one penny).
10. Schoolmate – friend in class. Anagram (revised) of MATHS COOL and English (E).
14. Road map – plan. Anagram (organised) of A PROM without (outside) publicity (AD).
16. Torrent – cascade. Know all about them this week walking in the Lake District. Split (RENT) below rocky peak (TOR).
17. Ornate – fancy. Anagram (badly prepared) of A TENOR.
18. Tutor – teacher. Sound of disapproval (TUT), zero (O), (R)esponse.
20. Gripe – beef/grumble/moan. Get hold of (GRIP), English (E).

23 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 916 by Flamande”

  1. After working the regular cryptic, I decided to try to work all the across entries here first, to make it harder. I got all but three of them before I looked at the downs. My LOI was, of all things, ROBERT (me too!). I was looking for something more complicated.

    Edited at 2017-09-12 03:26 am (UTC)

  2. 13:41. Last two were ROBERT and ABANDONING. Studied Ovid for Latin O Level many years ago, so it had to be him.

  4. 22 mins. LOI kendo and Robert.

    Glad orchard was obvious because chard was not too familiar.

    COD Tomboys.

  5. Done and dusted (with my tickling-stick)in 9.28 so reasonably do-able.

    WOD 2db KENDO (the well known Liverpudlian/Nippon singer/comedian/swordsman)

    COD 12ac ORCHARD

    20dn GRIPE is good too – a Meldrew-ism.

  6. Actually I did get KENDO eventually, thanks to a dim memory of Pink Panther films. But I was convinced it was a form of barrier-type fencing and spent ages racking my brain for a relative of the KRAAL!

    LOI was OVER AGE, bucking the ROBERT trend.

    I really liked ORCHARD – very neat. Whole puzzle was an enjoyable work out. Thanks to setter and blogger.

    Finished soon after Orpington.

    Templar

  7. Relatively straight forward for 10:20. Held up parsing 6d and 23a although the solution was obvious. Didnt know ore = valuable metal, source of valuable metal perhaps. I had OR (gold)for the valuable metal and spent a while searching about for the required “E”. However Oxford has it as a second definition after the mineral so I concede.

    At the risk of being picky a neap tide is when the sun and moon are at right angles to each other from the earth. When they are opposite they reinforce each other and we get a spring tide. Check on “Tide” in Wikipedia for a full explanation.

    Edited at 2017-09-12 11:03 am (UTC)

  8. Had to use the brain cells quite a lot for this one, eventually submitting at 11:12. FOI was TAKE A BOW and LOI, which held me up for a while, ROBERT. Nice puzzle, Thanks Flamande and Chris.
  9. Found this quite hard going and finally defeated by ROBERT. Is a robe necessarily formal wear? e.g. bathrobe, beachrobe.
    Because I am annoyed now, may I take issue with the blogger over “a single pence”. It is a penny, at least for those of us brought up with proper money (Lsd).
    PlayupPompey
    2. Change made – The correct term for monetary amounts of pennies greater than 1p is pence (e.g. one pound and twenty pence). One penny and two pence coins are legal tender only up to the sum of 20p; this means that it is permissible to refuse payment of sums greater than this amount in 1p and 2p coins in order to settle a debt.
  10. 1a and 1d made me think this was going to be very easy. It wasn’t -for me.
    Needed time to deduce what was going on in certain clues; put More for 5a which did not help later. The definition could be at the start or the end so you really need 7d before answering.
    My last two were 15a and 2d. I thought 15a was an item of clothing ending in GENT (for Chap). 2d was unknown; I considered Kenco -could the coffee be named after something? The clue led me to Kendo.
    Time not exact as I was distracted by daughter watching Homes under the Hammer- a morning show in the UK which draws you in despite yourself. Say about 25 minutes. David
  11. Right can be Rt as well as R.
    I still forget Flower can be a river, that Side can be On and to look for hidden words when all else is lost.
    Finished in under 10m but with a lucky Robert (can Roberts be lucky?). Thanks all
  12. Glad it wasn’t just me who took some time about ROBERT. That was my last one in, just after SCHOOLMATE. (Tip: If you read a clue and think “why are there so many words!?” then it’s often a multi-word definition like “friend in class”.)

    FOI 1a, found the right hand side significantly tougher than the left, though for some reason it took me a long time to think of a US state beginning with O that wasn’t OHIO or OMAHA…

    10:57 all told.

  13. Just outside my target of 30 mins, with 30:42. LOI was PARADISE, just didn’t see it at first. Got KENDO early on. I remember fellow Stokie Kendo Nagasaki from when he used to fight Big Daddy.
  14. It seems Karma may exist. Yesterday I stated that I found Flamande the easiest QC setter and today he/she sets one that had me working very hard.
    Like others my LOI was 15a where I spent a lot of time trying to think of obscure items of formal clothes ending ‘gent’ or a man’s name ending ‘eit’.
    Eventually crossed the line in 18 minutes, particularly enjoyed the simplicity of the surface in 13a.

  16. ‘Moor and More are homophones witch why the clue ends with ‘can you hear ‘.

    since when did moor and more “sound” the same???
    Just saying!
    who’s this witch by the way?

    1. No Scot would pronounce them the same…they’re obvioucly different sounds! I’m often confused and thwarted by these references to homophones in crosswordland.
      Could never understand the questions in my primary school English language book which asked us to choose between witch/which and whales/Wales etc. 😉
      1. Have to side with the setter on this one – ‘moor’ and ‘more’ have identical pronunciation in standard English.
        However, I do not agree with setter they ‘ore’ is a valuable metal although it may well be the mineral source of one.
        LOI and COD to 15ac – held me up for a couple of minutes at the end. 7’30”
        1. As mentioned the OED also has it for the metal, so I have to side with setter, even though it stumped me too.

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