This may be a tale of two types of solvers – those who get 1ac early and those who don’t. I was in the latter category, took 25 minutes and think this is pretty hard but fraught with interest. There is also (surprisingly coincidental) proof that Quick crossword clues can be of the same level as the 15×15. With devils, gods, sins and sacred utterances (there’s even cricket) here there’s a mystic/religious air – so hoping that you are sitting comfortably, and on a wing and a prayer – here we go.
Definitions are underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 Thought this might suggest enslavement? (12) | |
| DELIBERATION – This, I think, is the game changer – get this and you’ve got all the first letters of the down clues which makes them far more get-able Thought is deliberation and de-liberation could be said to take away one’s freedom. | |
| 8 Trouble with graduate’s blind faith? (5) | |
| DOGMA – Dogma is a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true and serves as part of the primary basis of an ideology or belief system. Trouble is DOG as in to be dogged by ill health and MA is the graduate. | |
| 9 One would become crazy losing this game (7) | |
| MARBLES – If one loses one’s marbles one is said to be crazy. | |
| 10 Monstrous creature — one not spotted nevertheless (3) | |
| YET – Monstrous creature (YETi), the I is taken out – as one (I) is not spotted or seen. | |
| 11 Bats aren’t idle — this bat may not stay around for long (4-5) | |
| TAIL-ENDER – A Times crossword isn’t really a Times crossword without a cricketing reference. This one is an anagram (bats) of AREN’T IDLE to make a player who goes out to bat last and, being down the order (worse at batting), isn’t expecting to cause too much trouble to the opponents bowlers. | |
| 13 Vessel taking supplies west (5) | |
| SLOOP – It took me a while to get to the correct meaning of supply – as in to supply/pool resources – the pool is then a supply. So supplies = POOLS. West means it’s written backwards from the right (east) of the page to the left (west). | |
| 14 Love obtained by a little girl in haven (5) | |
| OASIS – Love (O), a (A) girl (SISter) shortened (little). | |
| 16 Internet — a strange delight (9) | |
| ENTERTAIN – Anagram (strange) of INTERNET A. | |
| 17 Troublemaker in grim place (3) | |
| IMP – The answer is in the clue grIM Place. | |
| 19 Attack devil finally with a yell (4,3) | |
| LASH OUT – Last letter of deviL with A yell (SHOUT). | |
| 21 Artist crossing a street — someone with distinctive hairstyle? (5) | |
| RASTA – Artist (RA – Royal Academy of Arts) around (crossing) a street (A ST). | |
| 22 Two members providing a lot of money (2,3,3,1,3) | |
| AN ARM AND A LEG – Funny how these terms come about and they seem a little ghoulish. In France, apparently, something expensive costs the eyes from the head. | |
| Down | |
| 1 Daughter, tot with yen for father (5) | |
| DADDY – Daughter (D), tot as in tot up (ADD), yen (Y). | |
| 2 Bed time? Possibly it’s ghoul time! (6-3) | |
| LIGHTS OUT – Anagram (possibly) of ITS GHOUL plus time (T). | |
| 3 Labour Party’s involvement with EU — a new face being put on here? (6,7) | |
| BEAUTY PARLOUR – Anagram (involvement) of LABOUR PARTY plus EU. | |
| 4 Soldiers wanting chief to hang on (6) | |
| REMAIN – Soldiers (RE), chief (MAIN). | |
| 5 Like a delta in which a number will get trapped (5-8) | |
| THREE-CORNERED – There are 4 main types of river delta this being about the Arcuate deltas which are triangular in shape, like the Nile River’s delta. This shape, resembling the Greek alphabet’s fourth letter (which has three corners), gave deltas their name. I realise you’ve just GOT to know – so the others are bird foot, cuspate and estuarine (just in case they come up in another crossword). A number (THREE), trapped (CORNERED). | |
| 6 Work not beginning — fuel needed (3) | |
| OIL – Work (tOIL) without the first letter. | |
| 7 Sailor meets girl, a divine being (6) | |
| OSIRIS – An ordinary seaman (OS) – yes, I know, I also tried it with AB in as many ways as I could – plus girl (IRIS). Onward on the voyage of discovery – Osiris was an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He was classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh’s beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and holding a symbolic crook and flail. | |
| 12 Girl’s church book found in the sack (9) | |
| DISMISSAL – Girl’s (DI’S), church book (MISSAL) which is a liturgical book containing all instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the year. | |
| 13 A deception — initially, husband’s upset woman (6) | |
| SHEILA – This took a while – a deception (A LIE), initially husband’s (H’S) all backwards (upset). No mention of Australia (or Nick the Novice) where sheila = woman so presumably this is just a woman’s name. | |
| 15 Sacred utterance from fellow on train leaving home (6) | |
| MANTRA – Fellow (MAN) on TRAin. To be home is to be ‘in’ so to leave home off the answer is to remove the ‘in’. | |
| 18 Called after parking incident damaging car? (5) | |
| PRANG – Here’s the proof that Quick and 15×15 clues can be of the same level. Yesterday’s 15×15 included 22ac ‘Got in touch following parking shunt (5)’. So anyone struggling with this Quick cryptic should be emboldened as this clue is one of today’s easier ones. The answer to both is called (RANG) after parking (P) giving a car accident. | |
| 20 Evil in Jerusalem with love denied (3) | |
| SIN – And so to complete today’s sermon on the settee, after all the gods and religious principles we are left with sin – SION without (denied) the love (O). Sion or Zion is a place name often used as a synonym for Jerusalem. The word is first found in Samuel II, 5:7 dating to c.630–540 BCE according to modern scholarship. It commonly referred to a specific mountain near Jerusalem (Mount Zion), on which stood a Jebusite fortress of the same name that was conquered by David and was named the City of David. | |
I thought the level of difficulty was pretty high for a Quickie, the delta thing being very obscure I’d have thought, though the answer wasn’t difficult to work out from wordplay and a few checkers. “Pools / supplies” was tricky too, and possibly OSIRIS.
The City of David tunnels is one of the three must-do things in Jerusalem, the others being the Western Wall tunnels and a walk along the walls themselves.
Edited at 2014-08-12 02:34 am (UTC)
Chris, you have a typo with AN missing in 22a.
To my chagrin (and thanks for the reference Chris!) I did not get SHEILA or OSIRIS. THREE-CORNERED went in on a wing and a prayer as could not parse it at all – I was thinking about mathematical differences etc. rather than a kind of estuarine map of Tasmania (of which probably the less said the better…)
Excellent puzzle and great blog – thanks to both Izetti and Chris.
Nice blog with impressive background material Chris!