Times Quick Cryptic No 1359 by Mara

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A gentle Friday offering from Mara today. Nothing too difficult, I think, as I was all done and dusted in 4:40. Lots of neat surfaces added a bit of extra fun to the solving and blogging. Thanks, Mara, for the entertainment. Did anyone have any horses that got scared? How did you all get on?

Definitions underlined in blue bold italics, Abc indicating anagram of Abc, deletions like this and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Try a measure of spirits (4)
SHOT – Double definition. So how much booze do you get in a shot? This may, or may not, help.
4 The pics, a strange compilation from various sources (8)
PASTICHE – Anagram of The pics a [strange]. “A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, or music that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche celebrates, rather than mocks, the work it imitates“. I sort of only vaguely knew that, but now I am somehwat the wiser having looked it up.
8 Bird, wretched duck! (8)
FLAMINGO – FLAMING (wretched) O (= 0 = duck at cricket).
9 Entering Malmo, vehicles advance (4)
MOVE – Hidden in [entering] MalMO VEhicles. Advance, but not always as fast as they used to, according to this.
10 Famous traitors sent back (4)
STAR – The trators are RATS. Reversed [sent back] they become STAR.
11 One confused royalist! (8)
SOLITARY – Our second anagram, [confused] royalist.
12 Atrocity west of a peninsula in old war (6)
CRIMEA – CRIME (atrocity) [west of] (i.e. to the left of) A. A convention worth noting. The points of the compass can be used as positional or directional indicators. e.g. West (on the left, as here) East (on the right) and in Down clues North (on top) and South (at the bottom). Similarly “to the west” means going leftwards (i.e. reversed in an Across clue) and “to the north” means going upwards in a Down clue.
14 Type of music for Mark or John (6)
GOSPEL – …along with Matthew and Luke. I tried in vain to find any gospel singers called Mark or John. Do you know any?
16 All men on board, in black and white? (5,3)
CHESS SET – Cryptic definition. All the pieces, black and white,  to be put on a CHESS board at the start of the game are known as a SET.
18 Look back and forth (4)
PEEP – [back and forth] indicates we are looking (as it were) for a palindrome. No, not SEES, as in “I sees yer” as the people mentioned in 15D might say.
19 Hired vehicle: duty to take one (4)
TAXI – TAX (duty) I (one). Lemon squeezy. Well, if you were struggling to get started, this, surely, would get you on the road.
20 Not doing anything interesting initially, I cannot elaborate (8)
INACTION – Interesting [initially] (i.e. first letter) and anagram of [elaborate] I cannot. Elaborate further on this clue? I cannot.
22 Hours of work important for device on computer (5,3)
SHIFT KEY – SHIFT (hours of work) KEY (important). Hmm. To describe one of the keys on the keyboard as a device in its own right is not technically correct, but never mind. Of course they only exist on a computer keyboard from the legacy of that ingenious invention, the typewriter.
23 Lean over part of foot (4)
HEEL – Double definition. And perhaps a missed opportunity for a triple definition? Try adding “of an inconsiderate person”. Ahem. Leave setting to the setter, John. I’ll get my coat.

Down
2 Her slot designed as gun holder (7)
HOLSTER – Her slot [designed]. A nice easy one to start the Downs.
3 Watch, say, construction of mitre (5)
TIMER – [say] indicates that “Watch” is a definition by example; [construction of] mitre.
4 Period of rest coming up for God (3)
PAN – NAP [coming up] (i.e. reversed) gives us the god PAN. He who is… “the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs“.
5 Vessel in superficial glare of publicity (9)
SPOTLIGHT – Nice surface as the definition is not obvious. Put POT (vessel) [in] SLIGHT (superficial).
6 Prisoners recollected its name (7)
INMATES – [recollected] its name. Which get’s me wondering for what they couldn’t remember the word. Lawfulness, perhaps?
7 Hoedown’s beginning on float (5)
HOVER – Hoedown’s [beginning] (i.e. first letter) OVER (on). On a float at a Mardi Gras parade in Appalachia with film coverage from a drone, maybe?
11 Past moves in polished comedy routines (9)
SLAPSTICK – Anagram of Past [moves] in SLICK (polished).
13 Parent with very difficult dog (7)
MASTIFF – MA (parent) [with] STIFF (very difficult), as in a stiff test.
15 Horrendous sight was witnessed by me, it’s said (7)
EYESORE – Sounds like [it’s said] I SAW. And before you protest, I know some people who pronounce this with an intrusive R when the next word begins with a vowel… like “I saw’r it!”
17 Doubly hard to catch swallow in wasteland (5)
HEATH – H and H (doubly hard) outside [to catch] EAT (swallow). “An area of open uncultivated land, typically on acid sandy soil, with characteristic vegetation of heather, gorse, and coarse grasses“. I was leading a walk on one of these earlier this week,
18 Level playing field (5)
PITCH – Double definition. The former as in “her frustration reached such a pitch that she screamed“.
21 A US city, no matter which (3)
ANY – A NY (New York – US city). If you want go to a city of 100,000+ inhabitants in the US (as of July 2017) you have a choice of 311 of them according to this.

25 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1359 by Mara”

  1. 7 minutes despite a delay getting started as the first five or six clues I tried failed to yield up their secrets. FOI MASTIFF. I wasn’t particularly aware of the ‘compilation’ nature of PASTICHE, so its presence in the clue held me up just a little.

    Edited at 2019-05-24 04:27 am (UTC)

  2. I often find Mara’s puzzles tricky and today was no exception. I could try to blame spending too much time in wine bars and pubs this week for feeling rather tired this morning, but I’ll give credit to the setter.
    I started well and would have finished within 20 minutes but for my last two, 20a and 15d. I wrote INACTIVE for 20a after a long deliberation but that made 15d look very odd. So I correctly considered the mistake option. That left me with all the checkers for 15d. Perhaps some will say this is a chestnut but it held me up for ages as I thought it would end in SOME. Eventually I saw it and crossed the line in 27:29. Another good puzzle in a week of good puzzles. David
  3. No problems for me today. Started with TIMER and finished with TAXI. 7:33. Thanks Mara and John.
  4. I found this Mara QC a little testing. I could blame my slower than target time on the Mobile App solve which only shows part of the grid but I think that is an unfair reflection on the quality of the QC. FOI MOVE and LOI the intersecting HOVER. For 18a I had sEEs initially but I corrected it once I had the P checker. There was INACTION on that clue and PASTICHE and SOLITARY, all anagrams! I liked FLAMINGO and SLAPSTICK. 11.11
  5. No pen this morning so had to do this on my phone … never as much fun, somehow. I like holding a pen and fiddling with it as I think, and when I write in answers with a pen I don’t get fat-finger errors which make me have to go back and correct things. And as desdeeloeste says above, you can’t see the whole grid, which feels … wrong.

    Anyway. I limped through an initial pass of the acrosses getting only 3 or 4, then wrote in all the downs one after the other without pause except HEATH (seems very harsh to call a heath “wasteland” just because it’s uncultivated, iffy definition in my book [awaits someone to hit him with a dictionary]), then picked off the acrosses without significant pause except for CRIMEA which stumped me and required a trawl. All done and dusted in 14 mins for an estimated 3 Kevins and an OK Day. FOI MOVE, LOI CRIMEA, COD SOLITARY.

    Thanks Mara and to John for an excellent blog.

    Templar

    Edited at 2019-05-24 09:01 am (UTC)

    1. I’m with you on that. Heathland is a lovely habitat that supports many species.

      Edited at 2019-05-24 01:58 pm (UTC)

    2. What would qualify then as wasteland? My understanding is that it is non-mountainous land not being put to agricultural, industrial, leisure or residential use.
    3. Happy to oblige

      Collins has HEATH as: a tract of open wasteland, esp. in the British Isles, covered with heather, low shrubs, etc.; moor :

      🙂

      Edited at 2019-05-24 03:48 pm (UTC)

  6. A nice end to the week. I thought it would be a doddle when I completed the NW corner quickly but there were chewy bits to come. I finished just inside the rotter’s time (no Kevins for comparison yet) so it hasn’t been a bad week for me. LI were SLAPSTICK and CHESS SET. Many thanks to Mara for a good puzzle and to John for a helpful blog (e.g. The parsing of SLAPSTICK which I biffed). John M.
  7. Well inside my target at 13 m, but initially held up by putting the wrong answer in 3D. I went for REMIT initially, same anagram, different answer, which worked for me, as in ‘not on my watch’ and ‘not on my remit’. Oh well! Quickly resolved when I couldn’t make -H-R work for 1a. Either 1d or 3d had to be wrong, and 1d was so obviously right. Other than that, no difficulties and a nice puzzle.
  8. 10 minutes on my phone so probably as fast as I’ll get.
    Nice puzzle. Done sitting on a settee in a furniture shop, waiting…

    Quite a few anagrams.

    Last few were solitary, inmates and gospel.

    Cod solitary.

  9. I always used to find Izetti puzzles the most difficult but, in recent months, it’s Mara who has caused me the most difficulty. Today was no exception. They’re all great clues, I think – with the possible exception of “heath” as “wasteland” – but I just came to a halt at about twenty minutes in with quite a few still to go. Suddenly, I realised that 11 down was “slapstick ” and that revelation seemed to unglue my brain and I polished off the remaining answers in about a minute. Phew. Thanks so much, John, for a great blog and thanks, too, to Mara.
  10. …. I’ll jump in a TAXIcab, riding through London town to cry you a song” (Jethro Tull, from the album “Benefit”).

    As a retired black cab driver, I’ve always felt that everybody should have a duty to take one.

    No equines were traumatised in any way as I cruised through this.

    FOI MOVE
    LOI PEEP
    COD TAXI
    TIME 3:18

  11. I had match for 18d and meet for 18a … possible?

    match for level and playing field – double definition.
    teem is forth send it backward to give meet i.e. to look.

    utterly preposterous or some merit? probably the former …

    Carl (and I was doing so well …!!!)

    1. Nice try, Carl. But if you had set the clues as writ for those answers, I don’t think the editor would have let you get away with it!
  12. I too got only 3 4-word accrosses, but then the downs just flowed in in order, filling in the acrosses as I went. 9:30, not a Pb, but best for several months
  13. I’m fairly sure this would have been my first sub-20 finish for Mara, but I carelessly wrote in Pistache for Pastiche at 4ac, which made the anagram at 6d quite an interesting challenge. I eventually gave up and came back when I had a few more crossers, at which point Inmates was obvious and the Pistache error jumped out. My only other hold up was parsing 7d, where to be honest I’m still struggling a bit with on/over, but no doubt there are dozens of everyday examples of their interchangeability. 22mins in total (close, but no prize), with 20ac Inaction a nose ahead of 5d and 23ac as my CoD. Invariant
  14. This was just what I needed after a bit of a slog in the office today, entertaining but gentle. No real hold ups and all polished off in 7.20 with LOI MASTIFF. Particularly enjoyed the succinctness of 11a.
  15. I’ve been doing the Friday quick cryptic for a couple of months now. It usually takes me a couple of hours (!) so I was delighted to get today’s done in 32 minutes. I might have beaten half an hour if I hadn’t put ARCH for 23-across.

    /c

    1. Congratulations! Keep at it and you will start to find them easier.
  16. I’m grasping at straws here, as it was the sole reason for my DNF (I always get tripped up by cryptic clues), but doesn’t the Queen mean that it’s not quite ‘all men’ on board?
    Or are all of the pieces just referred to as ‘chess men’?
    Maybe I’m just SO progressive minded I was blind to the answer, knowing it’s not all men!
    More likely I’ve just missed something.
    And a heath is definitely not a wasteland!
    Anyway, still enjoyed it!

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