Times Quick Cryptic No 1008 by Joker

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A good puzzle from Joker – I found it middle-of-the-road in terms of difficulty and a nice smooth solve, with the few trickier clues offset and interspersed with gentler ones. My only real sticking point was the 1d/8ac crosser, where I had a vague idea that I knew a dog breed that fitted the “- – R – E – T” checkers. What I’m not sure, unless there’s a corgi-setter cross out there called a “corsett” [… actually I see there is such a cross, but ridiculously it doesn’t appear to be called a corsett]. So that held me up for a couple of minutes and pushed me correspondingly over my ten minute target. Lots of good clues and surfaces elsewhere, but I’ll give COD to 10ac after I parsed it and realised it wasn’t just a loose cryptic definition type thing. Many thanks to Joker!

Across
1 Old-time flyer flying hotter MiG (5,4)
TIGER MOTH – anagram (flying) of HOTTER MIG.
6 Slalom, perhaps with great ability avoiding lines (3)
SKI – SKILL (great ability) losing LL (lines)
8 Present-day charge to hire dog? (7)
CURRENT – RENT for a CUR = charge to hire dog. Interesting idea, this dog-hiring service – I can see the ad: Now a dog can be just for Christmas.
9 Strongroom — valuables are usually left there to begin with (5)
VAULT – The “beginning” letters of “valuables are usually left there”.
10 A feature of double dosing doing everything with repetition (12)
ALLITERATION – a feature of “double dosing doing”: ALL (everything) with ITERATION (repetition).
12 Drive up price of sheep dip finally (4)
RAMP – RAM (sheep) P (dip, finally)
13 A container is slightly open (4)
AJAR – A JAR (a container)
17 Frank talking could constitute a threat to her? (5-2-5)
HEART-TO-HEART – anagram (could constitute) A THREAT TO HER.
20 Rope very quickly turned with end of cable attached (5)
NOOSE – SOON (very quickly) turned/reversed, with E (end of cable)
21 Fire is popular feature of church (7)
INSPIRE – IN (popular) SPIRE (feature of church)
23 Terminus in Wendover (3)
END – “in” the letters of wENDover
24 Betrayal years after Romeo is embraced by instructor (9)
TREACHERY – Y(ears) after R(omeo) is embraced by TEACHER (instructor)

Down
1 What one might do with a yacht pin (4)
TACK – Double definition. A yacht pin, I see, is nothing more technical than a lapel pin in the form of a yacht, so you could make this a bit of an &lit if you wanted.
2 Great ape is right poorly in Indian state (7)
GORILLA – R(ight) ILL (poorly) in GOA (Indian state). Sounds like me when I was there – apart from the “great” bit.
3 Short railway supported by East Kent town (3)
RYE – RY (short/abbrev. railway) supported/propped up by E(ast)
4 Blooming ready? Start! (6)
OUTSET – OUT (blooming) SET (ready)
5 Be cautious and keep one’s own automobile key (4,1,4)
HAVE A CARE – HAVE A CAR (keep one’s own automobile) E (key, musically)
6 Arab said to be upset about leader of ulema (5)
SAUDI – anagram (upset) of SAID about U (leader of ulema). Nice surface reading, if you knew what “ulema” meant, which I didn’t: it’s a collective word for Islamic scholars.
7 Sing all together — about time (6)
INTONE – IN ONE (all together) about T(ime)
11 I’m customer for a doctor that is restless (9)
IMPATIENT – IM PATIENT (I’m customer for a doctor)
14 Service provider broadcast part of poem (7)
AIRLINE – AIR (broadcast) LINE (part of poem)
15 Alter some of the coinage (6)
CHANGE – double definition
16 Learner having no really bad habit (6)
NOVICE – If one’s without a bad habit, one has NO VICE.
18 Don’t go near an empty space (5)
AVOID – A VOID = an empty space.
19 Supporter lacking in bravery: extremely (4)
VERY – BRA (supporter) lacking in braVERY
22 So unwell — finishing early (3)
SIC – SICk (unwell — finishing early)

17 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1008 by Joker”

  1. I tried to think of a dog, too, until CUR finally came to mind. ‘Old time flyer’ immediately suggested X MOTH, but ‘Gipsy’ came to mind first, and it took me a bit to get the TIGER part. 19d: Alas, another ‘supporter’. 6:45.
  2. 25 minutes.

    Last few were
    Alliteration
    Airline (service provider definition held me up)
    Inspire crafty definition.
    Very
    LOI Intone.

    I liked impatient, novice and COD Very.

  3. Panic stations initially as nothing leapt to mind for the clues in the NW corner so I had to gain a foothold elsewhere and work upwards. Most of the rest fell into place quite quickly but I took ages to spot what was going on at 19dn and I abandoned it for a while so that it niggled away in the back of my mind and slowed me down further. On returning to the NW with a few checkers in place the answers gradually came to me.

    So after 7 consecutive days of solving within 10 minutes my run was broken by the 15 minutes required for this one.

    I’ve often wondered why we have the word ‘reiteration’ which seems to mean exactly the same as ‘iteration’.

    Edited at 2018-01-18 05:58 am (UTC)

  4. One small quibble re 3 down – Rye is in East Sussex, not Kent. The border wanders around down there!
  5. Like Kevin I biffed GIPSY MOTH until RYE brought me back to earth. As pointed out by Anon, Rye would appear to be in East Sussex rather than Kent! Didn’t have a problem with CURRENT. Liked INSPIRE. 7:25. Thanks Joker and Roly.

    Edited at 2018-01-18 11:57 am (UTC)

  6. The NW went in very quickly so I thought this was going to be a gentle offering but it seemed to get trickier further down – particularly the SE. 21a, 14 and 19d proved a bit sticky at the end and I was relieved when I finally twigged what was going on with 19. Completed in 17 minutes (around average).
    Thanks for the blog.
  7. My first finish of the week, and what a struggle it was. Most of the clues seemed to be specifically designed to set me off in the wrong direction, or maybe I am just having a bad week. Once I had unscrambled them I realised just how good a crossword this is.
    COD ALLITERATION (that took a while)
    Thought service provider = AIRLINE was a bit loose, although fair enough. Many of us might wonder about the quality of service they do provide these days, but that is another matter.
    Good challenge and pleased to have finished it.
    PlayUpPompey
  8. Changing ‘Kent’ to ‘Sussex’ makes for a better clue since Rye IS in East Sussex but the East is there to give us the ‘E’ in the answer. So both a factual error and a missed opportunity! Pexiter.
  9. I always enjoy Joker’s puzzles and this was no exception. I was not rushing today which helped -or Gipsy Moth might have gone in early at 1a.
    I finished in 16 minutes and my last two were 14d -which need a careful reading of the clue -and 10d where with all the checkers I had to work out what was going on.
    Didn’t know enough geography to be troubled by Rye. They have an excellent golf course there where every January they play for the President’s Putter. David
  10. Quite a few tricky ones in today’s 40min teaser from Joker, especially loi 10ac, which took a good 5 mins to see even with all the checkers in place. 4d was another one that I struggled with, but eventually saw what was going on. By the way, Rolly, I think 1d is a reference to sailing against the wind (tacking), and a type of pin eg a thumb tack, rather than an obscure lapel pin design. Though, we have had so many obscure references lately. . . Invariant
    1. Ignore that, just looked again at your blog (carefully this time) and can see you had spotted that already. Invariant
  11. Failed to parse 7d so a DNF – didn’t feel confident with intune but needed to finish and move on with the evening. I should have resisted. Otherwise a nice challenge from Joker and thanks for a helpful blog. 3d was obvious enough for me to fail to spot the incorrect county. FOI 1d LOI7d COD10a .
  13. I do enjoy Joker’s puzzles and this was another excellent example. Finished in below average time as I avoided any bear traps. 10a is very good and I liked the combination of 5, 11, 19 and 22d. Nice blog Roly. Dog for Christmas – lol. Thanks to you and Joker.

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