Times Quick Cryptic No 1409 by Breadman

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

On my holidays in the Scottish Borders at the moment (apologies for the self-indulgence, but see the end of the blog for a couple of related bonus clues) and travelling home today, so I may be less responsive to comments than usual as a result. And, before you ask, no we didn’t see any 5Ds. A neat crossword from Breadman today (it’s a pleasure to have my second in a row from him on my blogging duty), with a couple of interesting items of general knowledge again. Not quite so challenging this time, perhaps, as this took just over 5 minutes for me, despite being delayed by a careless mistake; but I’m sure you will tell me if I misjudged that –  I did have a few MERs and others may find those clues, and maybe some others, a little troublesome. Thanks Breadman for the nice Friday brain stretching exercise. How did you lot all get on?

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions thus and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Racehorse, however unkempt, initially black, then scarlet (12)
THOROUGHBRED – THO (however) ROUGH (unkempt) [initially] Black  [then] RED (scarlet).
9 Di leaves daily records for person born in early April (5)
ARIES – The daily records are diARIES. Remove Di to get my star sign. A careless biffed ARIAN from me initially not surprisingly gave me trouble with finding the film at 3D.
10 Artilleryman keeping agile, having moved royal insignia (7)
REGALIA – RA (Royal Artillery; artilleryman) outside [keeping] (agile)* [having moved]. A MER from me, Shouldn’t it be artillerymen? Or can RA refer to a single gunner?
11 Vocalised melody, knocked back alcoholic cocktail (7)
SANGRIA – SANG (vocalised) AIR (melody) reversed [knocked back] to get RIA. I’d never thought of it as a cocktail, but I guess it is.
12 Riches entice grabbing Conservative (5)
LUCRE – LURE (entice) outside [grabbing] C (Conservative).
13 Opening section of play maybe concerning battle (6)
ACTION – The opening section of a play might be ACT I. Add ON (concerning). Very neat surface.
14 Single digger regularly nervous (2,4)
ON EDGE – Watch out for this sneaky setter’s trick… the wordplay doesn’t match the enumeration of the answer. Here we have ONE (single) and the alternate letters of DiGgEr [regularly].
17 Tall building initially tempts one in debt (5)
TOWER – First letter of [initially] Tempts, OWER (one in debt).
19 American officer, rejected by UN court, no longer working (7)
DEFUNCT – The American officer is a FED (federal agent; employee of the FBI, DEA or Border Patrol), reversed [rejected] to get DEF and add UN CT (court).
21 Mostly damp after tea — this might clean the car (7)
CHAMOIS – CHA (tea) with all but last letter [mostly] of MOISt (damp) [after]. Yes I still use a chamois leather to wipe my car when washing it.
22 Layabout seen in bridle road (5)
IDLER – Hidden in brIDLE Road.
23 Perhaps HP, finally identifying private robe (8-4)
DRESSING-GOWN – DRESSING (perhaps HP sauce) and last letter of [finally] indentifyinG OWN (private). HP sauce a dressing? Hmm. If you say so.
Down
2 The rain ruined covering for thatch? (7)
HAIRNET – (the rain)* [ruined] and a bit of a cryptic definition (indicated by the ?). Being follicly challenged my thatch is none too impressive. A bit of a cheeky definition, methinks.
3 Store tracks film from the 1990s (9,4)
RESERVOIR DOGS – RESERVOIR (store of water) DOGS (tracks). The colourful film by Quentin Tarentino. I don’t think I’ve seen it.
4 Loud outcry raised, on river with paddle (6)
UPROAR – UP (raised) [on] R (river) [with] OAR (paddle).
5 Dance in euphoric state with cast (8,5)
HIGHLAND FLING – HIGH (euphoric) LAND (state; country) [with] FLING (cast; throw). The scottish dance generally danced to a Strathspey tune on the bagpipes.
6 Memorial of antiquity priest kept in church (5)
RELIC – The most common priest in crosswordland is ELI. Here he is [kept in] RC (Roman Catholic; church)
7 One accurately shoots lifeless London landmark (7)
DEADEYE – DEAD (lifeless) EYE (London landmark). I am reminded of this book by Kurt Vonnegut, a favourite author of mine in my youth.
8 Type of guitar graduate strums peripherally (4)
BASS – B.A. (bachelor of Arts; graduate) with the outside letters of StrumS [peripherally].
13 Maybe worker to benefit taking in constant medication for stomach? (7)
ANTACID – ANT (worker) with AID (benefit) [taking in] C (constant).
15 European starts to look around Windsor, an ancient part of England (7)
DANELAW – DANE (European) and the first letters of [starts to] Look Around Windsor. The region of old England subject to Danish law.
16 Sid reflected inside a long time — did he have a light-bulb moment? (6)
EDISON – Sid [reflected] is DIS, Put him [inside] EON (a long time) to get Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light-bulb.
18 Meander is a feature of some rivers around east (5)
WEAVE – WAVE (a feature of some rivers) [around] E (east). The wave being a tidal bore, perhaps?
20 Biting pastry dish (4)
TART – Double definition.

Well that’s the end of the crossword. But…
As my kids are on tour with the Suffolk Youth Orchestra in Italy, we are having a short break away. My friend Tim, who also has a son on tour with the orchestra is doing the same. He sent me a photo of a glass of beer he was drinking (with the glass suitably inscribed with helpful clues) and asked me to guess where he was. So I sent him a few photos back asking him to guess where I was with a message saying “I decline to include a photo of the beer here as it is rather undistinguished” (and I hadn’t photographed my glass anyway). He asked if that was a cryptic clue, which it wasn’t, so I just had to reply with a couple of clues for him. See if you can solve them (of course there is a big extra clue in the introduction to the blog).
Firstly, the beer I was drinking (or rather the brewery)…
Sound measure of harbour is the beer (8)
and as to where I am…
Strangely judge herb without energy here (8)
First correct answers can claim a bottle of one the brewery’s craft ales (rather more exciting than their actually perfectly respectable best bitter) from me when they see me in person.

26 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1409 by Breadman”

  1. Biff City: 1ac (…BRED), 19ac, 23ac (no idea what HP meant), 3d, 5d, 13d, 15d; and another half-dozen where I parsed as I typed. I never noticed the RA problem, if problem it be; it may well have been a typo. For what it’s worth, ODE only gives ‘Royal Artillery’ (not ‘Royal Artilleryman’) for RA. 4:54.
  2. Nothing overly tricky, but I didn’t help myself by assuming that the film was going to end in BOYS (from the checkers) and then scouring my memory of nineties films rather than following the wordplay. Particularly enjoyed 5d and LOI ACTION. Finished in 12.15.
    Thanks for the blog
  3. Maybe I was having an off day but I found this hard and had particular difficulty getting started at all. I limped home eventually in 17 minutes placing me squarely ‘in the red’ for the second time within 10 days having gone for 5 weeeks prior to that.

    RA is Royal Artillery which in crossword-speak usually translates as ‘gunners’ and ‘riflemen’ would be a valid alternative, but I can find no justification for ‘rifleman’ singular. Like our blogger I wanted to put ARIAN at 9ac.

  4. Back from my holiday on the South Coast, and with Javascript (whatever that is) working back on the computer. I was pretty quick through this starting with THOROUGHBRED. After 10 minutes I only had two left, 18d and 13a. I had thought WEAVE but couldn’t parse it.For 13a, I was thinking cricket or theatre (what’s the technical term for that bit at the start of a play -don’t know). Anyway I saw ACTION and then plumped for WEAVE. Perhaps a MER there. If I had several, they would be POLYMERS. 14:09 in the end.
    And I would be delighted to have a pint of Belhaven with you in Jedburgh, or elsewhere.
    David
    1. Hi David. Well done. You win the prize. Maybe see you at The George again on Crossword Finals day… if it happens this year.
  5. Wasn’t timing but about 8 mins. Edison was an inventor of the light bulb, Swan invented it simultaneously. Each got a patent in their own country and only discovered each other when they applied for patents in each other’s countries. US and UK respectively. Unwilling to compete they formed the Swan Edison co and had a lucrative monopoly.
  6. Pleasant crossword.. I also use a chamois leather on the car but it is not made from a real one. I sincerely hope they are not available any more
    Next month I am walking South from Kirk Yetholm which is just down the road from Jedburgh. I love the Border country.. much nicer than the Maldives imo, John 🙂
    1. The whole St. Cuthberts Way is now on my my bucket list, and I think it goes through there! Never been to the Maldives so I can’t say, but I’m not one for loafing in the sun so that may be true of me too.

      Edited at 2019-08-02 07:56 pm (UTC)

      1. Yes, near the middle .. I walked St Cuthbert’s Way, in 2013. V pleasant walk – make sure you arrive at Lindisfarne at low tide, so you can walk over the sand to the island..
  7. Like Kevin I was able to parse this as I typed it in, completing all the acrosses in order and then all the downs in order … except it took me 1.9 Kevins to do it! And also except that when I got to HIGHLAND FLING I discovered that “functus” hadn’t been the right answer at 19ac. Hey ho, still a Very Good Day. Great fun puzzle, though I shared the MER at RA.

    A Scotsman writes – of course you haven’t seen any Highland flings in Jedburgh, John – you should never see them below the Highland Line! I’m now off to Glencoe for a month, bliss, but my attendance here may be sporadic.

    Thanks to Breadman and John.

    Templar

    1. Actually, I’m a Scotsman myself and knew full well not to expect to see one. Mind you I have seen it done considerably further south… My school in South Africa in the 1960’s had an annual Highland Dance competition. Scottish expats get everywhere, don’t they? Enjoy Glencoe. Lovely part of the world!
  8. 18 minutes, under my target with more biffing than usual, mainly due to helpful checkers. I parsed everything fully except ACTION, so thanks to John for the explanation.
    I’ll think of HP as a dressing when I next have it on my bacon sandwich – it will taste even better!

    Brian

    Edited at 2019-08-02 08:27 am (UTC)

  9. 7.42 and no complaints here. Ready for a weekend now. Oh and I’ve been close to your holiday place but not the brewery.

    NeilC

  10. I also raised an eyebrow at RA for one person, and wanted to put ARIAN at 9a, but I soldiered on. FOI, THOROUGHBRED. LOI, WEAVE. 7:39. Thanks Breadman and John.
  11. Yet another deceptive QC from Breadman. A quick start for me and them a descent into the SCC – well over target. Looking over it, I had no cause for complaint; the clues were fair. I was slow to see DEADEYE and my LOI was ACTION. Perhaps it is just a Friday morning thing for me. Thanks to setter and I’ll now check my parsing against john’s. John M.
  12. Thanks to an excellent blog. My LOI was 14a. Had the letters available. Had to be On Edge. Got the One but what about DGE. Thanks to the blogger I now understand. Cheers. PS Still working on the beer as I know where you are!
    1. Lol. If you get stuck, read the other comments on the blog… the answer is there.
  13. I found this QC very accessible and completed it within my target 10 minutes. FOI 1a THOROUGHBRED and LOI 7d DEADEYE. Although I had heard of 15d DANELAW I didn’t realise it encompassed the shire that I live in. 8:38
  14. My MER was 21a – a chamois is used to dry the car once clean, rather than to clean it. Otherwise a pleasant enough puzzle. No time due to forgetting to pause when the doorbell rang, but probably 10-12 mins as it felt about average.
  15. Like yesterday, I thought this was a bit tricky in places, so I was surprised to finish in 27mins, fully parsed. Deadeye and Reservoir Dogs took a fair bit of time to see, and I did wonder about the Battle of Actire before the better known version came to mind. Invariant
  16. HP a dressing? Not sure The Wolseley or Greasy Spoon would concur
    Finished under 30.
    Johnny.
  17. ….what with HP as a dressing, the one man regiment, and what I took to be the Severn bore.

    I submitted Saturday’s prize Telegraph this morning (I relieved my neighbour of it at the recycling bin !) and running plum down the middle of the grid was HIGHLAND FLING ! Weird how often such things happen in crosswords.

    DRESSING-GOWN parsed post-solve. Wasted time wondering about a “mass guitar”, and that was how I slid over my target.

    FOI THOROUGHBRED
    LOI BASS
    COD HAIRNET
    TIME 5:01

  18. 35 minutes – my best ever time! (I am sadly part of the SCC). Very enjoyable, parsed most but biffed a few. Always love reading this blog and the comments afterwards!
    1. Well done on the PB. Nothing sad to be part of the SCC. I love to see everyone’s comments and I think the SCC sometimes has the most fun.

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