Times Quick Cryptic No 1019 by Joker

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I always enjoy Joker’s puzzles and this is no exception. Nothing too 8a or 23a, I think – I got home in well under my average time, but there were a couple of tricky ones along the way. 5a may include a word unfamiliar to some and the definition at 21a is a little tricky to spot. 5a, 15a, 17a, and 20a got me humming. 9a (without an “at” in the middle, which would be a bit 23a) was neat, but my favourite was the lovely example of my favourite sort of clue – the &lit, at 14a. What is more, there are some delightful clue surfaces, such as 5a, 6d and 16d. So, thank-you Joker for the excellent crossword. How did you all find it?

Definitions underlined in italics, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Good looking husband — with a lot more, too! (8)
HANDSOME – H (husband) AND SOME (a lot more too). Sounds like me. Ha ha.
5 Antiphonal effect covered by the choir (4)
ECHO – Hidden word in {th}E CHO{ir}. Hello hello? The chief advantage of antiphon, as I recall, was alternating psalm verses between Cantoris and Decani meant you only had to get half the pointing right. The great English choral tradition, eh? Well I know there is at least one among our community who remembers it!
8 Difficult to understand cruel treatment imprisoning three leaders of strike (8)
ABSTRUSE – Not ABSTRACT as I nearly biffed, but ABUSE (cruel treatment) including [three leaders of] STR{ike}. Somewhat related to 16d’s clue, methinks.
9 Come to funeral party (4)
WAKE – Double Definition. Nice surface.
11 Like an army unit get manlier when freshly deployed (10)
REGIMENTAL – (get manlier)* [freshly deployed]. Quite a witty anagrind, I thought.
14 Leader in Hastings, a king from a long time ago? (6)
HAROLD – You take the leader of H{astings} + A R (king) + OLD (from a long time ago) and assemble to get the aforementioned leader. A great example of the noble art of &lit clues.
15 Really angry about one king initially overlooking Japanese emperor (6)
MIKADO – Well here’s a howdy do. Did you biff this? Assembly instructions are… MAD (really angry) [about] I K (one king) and add the start of [initially] O{verlooking}. I’ve got a little list… and three little maids from school. Have I given you an earworm yet?
17 Again find record finished after second note? (10)
REDISCOVER – When your record is finished, your DISC is OVER… and put it after RE (second note), to find the answer. All together now.. “Do a deer, a female deer…”
20 Gawp mostly, to see famous artiste (4)
STAR – To gawp is to STAR{e}… take most of it. And do you recall which famous artiste sang “I was born under a wandering star”?
21 Make several levels of street sign (8)
STRATIFY – The trick is to spot the definition, then it’s just ST (street) + RATIFY (sign – as in sign a treaty). Anyone for layer cake?
22 Monkey with vote marking for summit (4)
APEX – APE (monkey) + X, what you put in the box when you vote in this country. No hanging chads here!
23 Very unpleasant morgues upset English (8)
GRUESOME – (morgues)* [upset] + E (English). And I’m sure you wouldn’t have to be English to be upset by them.
Down
1 Hard to take in intensity of feeling (4)
HEAT – H (hard) + EAT (to take in). The sort of intensity of feeling you get if you have your feet held to the fire.
2 Inquisitive father’s boy slipped up on study, finally (4)
NOSY – Your father’s boy is his SON, and you slip him upwards on the grid and add stud{Y} [finally] to get Mr. Parker.
3 Dali, perhaps, reinterpreted rural sites (10)
SURREALIST – (rural sites)* [reinterpreted]. I loved the museum in St. Petersburg, Florida when I visited it many moons ago, not just for the paintings, but the architecture too.
4 My wand nearly is involved in occult rites (6)
MYSTIC –  A bit of a vague definition, but the wordplay is easy enough MY + STIC{k} (wand) [nearly].
6 Applaud tango music that’s rubbish (8)
CLAPTRAP – Take this one (dance) step at a time… CLAP (applaud) + T (tango in the NATO phonetic alphabet) + RAP (music)… which I think is music that’s rubbish. Was our compiler insinuating that he agrees with me?
7 Fail to notice finished appearance (8)
OVERLOOK – OVER (finished) + LOOK (appearance).
10 Angrily criticise after food shop is slow and cautious (10)
DELIBERATE – The food shop is a DELI. Add BERATE for angrily criticise, but take care.
12 Is mother after cleaner showing attractive personality? (8)
CHARISMA – CHAR is the cleaner and put IS MA [after]. Now if you have this and are 1a too you must have been born under a lucky 20a.
13 Around university, raged at changing what students do on degree day (8)
GRADUATE – I seem to remember we had DEGREE DAY as an answer in a crossword recently. Here it is part of the definition. Take (raged at)* [changing] and insert U (university) to find out what they do then…. as my eldest did last year.
16 Notice puzzling question about time (6)
POSTER – The puzzling question is a POSER. Insert T for time.
18 Grain store is put up on empty lido (4)
SILO –  You put is upwards to get SI and add an empty L{id}O. Funny place to build a grain store, I thought.
19 Rubber ring in polystyrene (4)
TYRE – A lovely hidden word to finish with, in {polys}TYRE{ne}. But we all know its neoprene not polystyrene they are made from, don’t we?

25 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1019 by Joker”

  1. These went in almost non-stop, but I had to return to get STAR; a very gentle one today. I thought ‘leader in Hastings’ a bit of a gimme; but I liked ABSTRUSE. 3:27, about as fast as I’ve ever been, or will be (and Verlaine once again in under 2 minutes!).
  2. I filled this in about as quickly as I could write. Today’s 15×15, too, will no doubt disappoint Verlaine when he’s done in three minutes.
    I’d like to add that, although it’s not my cup of THC, I think rap is worthy of respect, and I can’t believe how long it’s been around now.

    Edited at 2018-02-02 04:38 am (UTC)

  3. 8 minutes but feared yet another BB (breeze block) moment was upon me as at 7 minutes I was left with only 21ac unsolved. Fortunately it was clear that it had to start with ST for ‘street’ and with a strong ‘Y’ checker at the end of the word there weren’t too many options to run through before arriving at STRATIFY.

    On the so-called ‘music’ clued at 6dn, I believe it’s actually spelled starting with a ‘C’ which for the sake of politensss remains silent. If only its exponents would!

  4. 8 minutes for me too – one of the gentler offerings of the week. Nothing too difficult though 8d, my LOI, held me up for far too long. It’s also my COD.
    Was William Walton’s Facade the first rap music? Discuss.
    1. Yes. That’s a good suggestion. Your comment brought to mind Schonberg’s use of Sprechstimme in Pierrot Lunaire which came 10 years earlier, but that’s not quite the same thing as the words are still sung. This article suggests the origin of rap is the African tradition of griot or jaliyaa.
  5. You’re showing your age Jack
    So stand at the back
    It’s all about rhyme
    Let me show you one time

    No, you’re probably right actually!

  6. A fairly easy one at 11:22, just took a while to accept that ABACT cannot possibly equate to “cruel treatment”.

    Thanks for the blog John.

  7. Thought it was on the easier side until I got to my L4I which then took about half of my 29 minutes. I’m a bit like the mighty Saints these days: a lot of draws and not many wins. Thanks to Joker and John
    1. Since you refer to them as “mighty” Nick, I assume you are referring to Northampton Saints!
      PlayUpPompey
  8. Agreed, a gentle run out to end the week. there are several clues I enjoyed for their economy but COD was 1ac. I enjoyed that.
    PlayUpPompey
  9. A gentle workout to end the week. I started with NOSY and finished with STRATIFY. I liked the anagram at 11a too. An enjoyable 7:17. Thanks Joker and John.
  10. The struggles of January seem a distant memory. Good fun today, looking forward to more of the same next week. Thanks all. LOI, abstruse ahead of stratify. Nosy took a while too, not sure why now it’s done.
  11. Well, a very enjoyable and (for me) quick 22 mins, until I came to a complete halt with 1d and 8ac outstanding. Spotted the STR component in 8ac, but that just set me off looking for words ending in -stress. None of these would yield the required cruel treatment (apart from the torture of nearly finishing. . .) until a repeated alphabet trawl finally produced Abuse. Even then, I took a couple more minutes to convince myself that Heat was the right answer for 1d. A nice QC from Joker, and yes earworms abounding from 15ac – possibly the first D’Oyly Carte production I ever went to at the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton, but it certainly wasn’t the last. Invariant

  12. The streak ended in the ABSTRUSE 8a. I gave it a good shot : staring at the 1d/8a crossing just like Invariant. I was very close but OBTUSE kept pulling me in the wrong direction. Just checked my notes and I did right ABSTRUSE down but wanted to fit ABASE in for ‘angrily criticise’. And I also scratched down HEAR in my alphabet trawl. So just missed out.

  13. I had the same last two as Invariant and Merlin, but they were my only real hold ups as the rest went in very smoothly for an 11 minute finish. COD 8a
  14. A nice mix of clues I thought. 1a was a nice way to start and I didn’t have any major hold-ups. My LOI was 15a where I had to parse carefully as I feared that Japanese emperors might defeat me. But all done in an average time for me. I did not have the clock to hand. David
  15. Oh dear
    Over there the pedants are raving about ratlike
    Over here the auld mannies are ranting about rap
    What’s a boy to do?
    1. Sometimes it is fun to poke the ants nest and see what happens. Actually, despite my comment on the clue, I don’t mind rap as an art form, I just don’t connect with most performers. Each to their own, I say. My favourite rapper is Muhammed Ali, e.g. “You think the world was shocked when Nixon resigned?/Wait `til I whup George Foreman’s behind./Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee./His hand can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.”

      Edited at 2018-02-02 09:14 pm (UTC)

  16. Funny and reassuring to find others stuck at 1 down and 8 across. I was determined to fit three ‘s’s into the answer and wouldn[[t let go of ‘cruel’. I hoped the word luscress existed – it doesn’t! DM
      1. Somewhat perceptive of our setter to have “Difficult to understand” as the definition for 8a when so many have had trouble with it!
  17. I always find Joker a challenge, and lost out today by a fixation that 12d was charmxxx and then could go no further and hit a wall that didn’t give me 20a and 22a… Eventually gave up and came here to find out how I should’ve done it! 1d and 8a were also problematical. Disappointed not to have finished the week with a full solution. Maybe I should have left it overnight and perhaps seen these afresh. Where would we be without our bloggers! I still have Wednesday’s to finish over the weekend…
    1. I remember the feeling. And I still get frustrated when I get stuck. Seeing things afresh does work, in my experience. Keep at it and things will get easier with time. Glad you find our blogs helpful!

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