Times Quick Cryptic No. 104 by Mara

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
The button seems to be okay, but in case of difficulty here’s the url: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/timescrossword/20140731/227/

I’m standing in for Macavity today.  17 minutes for this one. I’ve given up trying to predict the level of difficulty that others may experience but if one doesn’t have the requisite general knowledge needed for a couple of clues I suspect this could prove a bit tricky to finish off.  Definitions are underlined

Across
1 Kind boy finally getting drink (6)
BRANDY – BRAND (kind), boY (boy finally)
4 Strike-breaker classified as blackleg for starters? (4)
SCAB – The first letters [for starters] of Strike-breaker, Classified, As, Backlog. The ploy is nicely concealed by the use of a hyphenated word and the line break. The definition is most but not all of the clue so I would classify this as semi &lit.
9 Country again rent asunder (9)
ARGENTINA – Anagram [asunder] of AGAIN RENT
10 Expert, one in a suit (3)
ACE – Double definition, the second being a cryptic reference to playing cards
11 A record year? (7-5)
SEVENTY-EIGHT – Double definition, the first with reference to the gramophone records of my childhood which played at 78 revolutions per minute and broke very easily.
13 Killer decapitates US poet (6)
HITMAN – wHITMAN. Some may have a problem coming up with the name Walt Whitman (1819-1892) as the candidate for decapitation.
15 Rough direction, did you say? (6)
COARSE – Sounds like [did you say] “course” (direction). With the third letter unchecked it’s necessary to check the word order carefully to determine the definition and therefore the spelling.
17 Cross river shortly behind two vessels (12)
CANTANKEROUS – CAN (vessel #1), TANKER (vessel #2), OUSe (river shortly)
20 Frozen stuff featuring in Arctic expedition (3)
ICE – Hidden inside ‘arctIC Expedition’
21 Editor in edited, new version (9)
RENDITION – Anagram [edited] of EDITOR IN, N (new)
22 Mistake to leave? Not entirely (4)
GOOF – GO OFf (leave not entirely)
23 Slender bar in the air (6)
SKINNY – INN (bar) inside SKY (air)

Down
1 Dress up for card game (4)
BRAG – GARB (dress) reversed [up]. We had this yesterday when the definition was ‘show off’ but today it’s the poker-style card game which may be unfamiliar to some.
2 Early German in view (5)
ANGLE – Double definition
3 Be a scared man, shaking, where skeletons rise from their graves (5,7)
DANSE MACABRE – Anagram [shaking] of BE A SCARED MAN. Again this may cause problems. The form is most widely known in art – Holbein’s woodcuts for example, and music, perhaps the piece by Camille Saint-Saens used as the theme to the TV series ‘Jonathan Creek’. The suitably macabre image conjured up by the surface-reading makes this the best clue of the day for me.
5 One invoicing for horse (7)
CHARGER – Double definition
6 Break lung? (8)
BREATHER – Double definition
7 It’s right around one’s middle! (5)
GIRTH – A measurement of circumference. Both cryptic and &lit I’d say but I stand to be corrected on that. Thanks to mohn2 for pointing out that its an anagram [around] of RIGHT. I thought I was missing something!
8 Mining, lesson one: the choice is yours! (4,4,4)
TAKE YOUR PICK – A corresponding phrase with a cryptic hint to start with. Does anyone remember the TV quiz show presented by Michael Miles? It’s best forgotten really. Unfortunately I also remember it on Radio Luxembourg (208, Your Station of the Stars) which really dates me!
12 Huge cut in branch (8)
WHACKING – HACK (cut) inside WING (branch)
14 Eat long bananas, other fruit (7)
TANGELO – Anagram [bananas] of EAT LONG. The hybrid fruit produced by crossing mandarin orange with pomelo aka grapefruit.
16 Weed, contemptible type (5)
SKUNK – Double definition, the first one used in druggy circles.
18 One in common up for marriage (5)
UNION – I (one) inside NON-U (common) reversed [up]. Those not familiar with the whole U/Non-U thing might care to look it up here.
19 Just touching, leafy borders (4)
ONLY – ON (touching), LeafY (leafy borders

13 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No. 104 by Mara”

  1. I found this one relatively hard, with only a handful of the acrosses coming out on first pass. I had 7D as an anagram (round) of right, though arguably the whole clue is needed for the definition.
  2. Like mohn2, I found this rather tough (10:10ish). I never thought of the DANSE MACABRE as involving rising from the grave–I mean, it’s a dance, innit?–and wasted some time thinking of Walpurgis Night and such.SCAB was perhaps unduly easy, simply because it’s the only other word I know for blackleg. And I didn’t (of course) know the druggy meaning of SKUNK, and thought it was odd to abbreviate ‘skunkweed’.
    1. I think the general idea is that the dead come back and interact with the living so they are taken to have risen from the grave even if that process isn’t actually depicted or represented.
  3. My fastest finish of the week at 25 minutes. Didn’t quite understand the parsing of 13ac and 12dn. Thanks to jackkt I do now…

    Eurc.

  4. That was the 78 dropping onto the turntable.

    Thanks for the blog Jack. I got nowhere near finishing this one and thought it was very hard indeed. Reading the blog I see that there was nothing particularly unfair. I just wasn’t on the setter’s wavelength.

  5. 6 mins, but in my haste I entered “Dance Macabre” for 3dn. Really stupid because I know the correct spelling so I can’t use the excuse that I should have looked at the anagram fodder more closely, even though I should have done. GIRTH and SKUNK were my last two in.
  6. Found today’s much harder than yetserday and didn’t finish but enjoyed it and thanks for the blog for making it all clear.
  8. I had skank for SKUNK (only meaning I know for that is the smelly creature) and had to cheat on GIRTH.
  9. Found this one very hard. Was misdirected by having 1ac as benign = kind, Ben = boy, gin = drink but the “finally” was not enough to mix up the gin. Spent whole afternoon on it with much help from phone app and finally finished and all correct at 4.30pm. JC
    1. Welcome aboard! Hope you’ll stick around and join in the fun. It would be nice if you could put a name of some sort at the end of future contributions, or better still sign up for a (free) Live Journal account and give yourself an ID and avatar. There’s a link to do this at the very top of this page.

      Edited at 2014-08-01 08:06 am (UTC)

  11. Finally got around to signing up! Thanks for the blog which is a fantastic help for a complete novice who made the switch to trying the cryptic puzzles when the quick cryptic started. Sometimes I think I’m getting the hang of them and then I get to one like this one (104) which I got totally stuck on bar a few. Frustrating but definitely addictive!

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