Times Quick Cryptic No 1423 by Felix

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This one took me less than 11 minutes, so is relatively easy by my reckoning – I hope you found it likewise.

“I was driving a roomy furniture van full of yeast and noodles up Table Mountain, heading for Mecca, when I ran into a peasouper – damn climate…”  Anyone want to finish this?

Across
1         V rare unit, fun when deployed as aid to removals (9,3)
FURNITURE VAN – Anagram (when deployed) of [V RARE UNIT, FUN].
9  Major visitor attraction set for construction?  No abandoned (5)
MECCA – The construction set is MECCA{no}, with the NO omitted (abandoned).  Is meccano just as famous on the other side of the pond?  It was invented by Frank Hornby in Liverpool in 1898.
10 Prize for third daughter looking tanned (7)
BRONZED – BRONZE (prize for third place) and D{aughter}.
11  The weather, etc, recalled around S American capital (7)
CLIMATE – ETC (etc) reversed (recalled) and surrounding (around) LIMA (S American capital)
12 Raising agent from Axis, not the West (5)
YEAST – Y (one of the axes on a graph) and EAST (not the west).
14 Peer up, so distraught about a thick fog (9)
PEASOUPER – Anagram (distraught) of [PEER UP, SO].  London was famous for its PEASOUPER fogs, sometimes called LONDON PARTICULARS, which has resulted in pea soup now being called London Particular in some parts of the City.
18 Load deducted?  Some of it anthing but! (5)
ADDED – Hidden in {lo}AD DED{ucted}.  The whole clue gives the definition.
20  Fools taken in at Chinese restaurant? (7)
NOODLES – NOODLES may be taken in (eaten) in a Chinese restaurant, and can mean ‘fools’, so this is a kind of cryptic double definition.
21  Single short song, where you might get 10 (7)
SOLARIA – SOL{e} (single, short – missing last letter) and ARIA (song).  SOLARIA is the plural noun of SOLARIUM, where one might get BRONZED – the answer to the 10 a clue which is referenced here.  Note for newbies – in Times QCs, as a general rule, numbers written as numbers (i.e. 10 rather than ten) are references to other clues rather than the number itself, more often than not in my limited experience.
23  Call up the day before about fair (5)
EVOKE – EVE (the day before) containing (about) OK (fair).
24  Heavy bouncer coming from BMA social? (8,4)
MEDICINE BALL – BMA is the British Medical Association, so one of their social events might well be called the MEDICINE BALL.  A MEDICINE BALL is a weighted ball used in rehabilitation and sports exercise.

Down
2  One very quietly grabbed by relative departs, released (9)
UNCLIPPED – I (one) and PP (very quietly) inside (grabbed by) UNCLE (relative) and finally D{eparts}.
3  A king, once more climbing, falls here (7)
NIAGARA – A (a) R (king – Rex) and AGAIN (once more) all reversed (climbing) to give the site of the famous falls.
4 Feature in SA that might be occasional? (5,8)
TABLE MOUNTAIN – The well-known geographical feature near Capetown, which could be referring to an occasional table.
5  Little jumper: for yours truly ample (5)
ROOMY – ROO (baby kangaroo, hence little jumper) and MY (for yours truly).  Little bounder might be a more accurate description of a Roo, but might have led to a less effective misdirection.
6  That is verse – and one last letter (3)
VIZ – V{erse} and I (one) and Z (last letter).  As well as being the name of a popular English comic magazine, VIZ can mean ‘namely’ or ‘that is’ in written English.
7  Awfully untidy state of dresser?  Hardly! (6)
NUDITY – Anagram (awfully) of [UNTIDY].  NUDITY is the undressed state of dresser, hence the negative definition.
8  Ultimate in tasteless ridicule, overall (5)
SMOCK –  S (ultimate letter in {tasteles)S and MOCK (ridicule), to give the name of the long shirt-like garment worn to protect other apparel, like an overall.
13  March over to see this clot? (5,4)
APRIL FOOL – Cryptic definition.
15  Demonstrate right book shows a bit of wisdom (7)
PROVERB – PROVE (demonstrate) and R{ight} and B{ook}.
16  Carriage German mayor ordered originally turned up (6)
HANSOM – HANS (a German) and M{ayor} and O{rdered} (both ‘originally’ i.e. first letter) turned up (reversed).  A HANSOM cab was a two-wheeled carriage pulled by a horse and used as a taxi.
17  Like London gardens, in need of levelling (5)
ASKEW – AS (like) and KEW (famous gardens in London).
19  Physicist emerging from motorcar I drove northward (5)
DIRAC – reverse hidden (emerging northward) in {motor}CAR I D{rove}.  Paul Dirac was a famous English theoretical physicist.
22  Was leading light (3)
LED – Double definition, the second referring to the Light-Emitting Diode (LED).

22 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1423 by Felix”

  1. Slowed down at the end, with MECCANO and for some reason SMOCK as my LOsI. I think the equivalent for MECCANO in the US, at least in my childhood, was the Erector Set. In any case, it wasn’t a household word for me, and the definition of Mecca as a ‘major visitor attraction’ was misleading–properly so, mind you. I don’t care for cross-referencing clues like 21ac, but I suppose, since they’re in the 15x15s, we need one here now and then. My understanding is that an Arabic number always refers to a clue and never to a number, at least in the 15x15s, and I can’t imagine that the rule is different for the QCs. (Well, naturally, numbers greater than clue numbers don’t count; one can find ’50’, say, or ‘500’ in a clue.) 6:33.
    1. I neglected to comment at the time, but remembered as I was doing my blog of today’s Cryptic Jumbo… which has a 50 across. Luckily it was not cross-referenced. That would be a sneaky trick.
  2. 10 minutes, so back on safer territory after yesterday’s kamikaze mission, although I took DIRAC on trust. I remember a reasonable number of scientists for their discoveries and laws named after them from my schooldays, but the names of the ones such as this that I have only met in crossword puzzles very rarely stick in my brain.

    After Meccano, Frank Hornby went on to invent the O scale clockwork model railway and Dinky Toys. The Double-O electric trains came along after his death. It’s good to see that Meccano has survived down the years and still uses Imperial measures in its construction despite a time under French ownership. Purists bemoan the amount of plastic involved now though.

    Edited at 2019-08-22 02:51 am (UTC)

  3. Just under 15 minutes today finishing in the NW. Last in were SMOCK and CLIMATE.
    I did not find this easy but, in comparison to other puzzles this week, it was easier.
    I found 17d tricky but clever.I’ll make that COD. Difficult if you don’t think of Kew.
    David
  4. A mix of the straightforward and the quirky. I slowed gradually to end up with a SCC time – over 3K. I finished in the SW corner with SOLARIA, MEDICINE BALL, and HANSOM – all good clues. My COD might have been YEAST but it was easily biffable so I ended up choosing NIAGARA and ASKEW. Thanks to both. John M.

    Edited at 2019-08-22 07:44 am (UTC)

  5. I also finished in the SW and it took me about three or four minutes to crack Hanson and then Solaria. Ended on 15:12 so still a good time.
  6. 16:07, a PB or very close to it, after getting nowhere with the QC yesterday.
    For once I was on the setters wavelength (I’d heard of Paul Dirac) and I was only held up in the SW. There were some very clever clues, but I thought TABLE MOUNTAIN and APRIL FOOL were a bit weak but easily solved from the checkers so I’m not complaining.
    Thanks to Felix and therotter

    Brian

  7. FURNITURE VAN was biffed from the enumeration and then vaguely justified from the anagrist. TABLE MOUNTAIN went in similarly, and MEDICINE BALL jumped out at me. Unclasped, unshackled(too long) and unclamped came and went before UNCLIPPED revealed itself. Paul DIRAC was remembered this time. ASKEW was clever. Also liked ROOMY. Just over my target for this nice puzzle. 10:35. Thanks Felix and Rotter.
  8. ….which doesn’t mean it was child’s play by any means. As a non-scientist, I was fortunate to know of DIRAC, and the surface was friendly.

    My dad tried to interest me in Meccano when I was little, and failed miserably – but dyspraxia was unknown in the early 50’s and I self-diagnosed in MY early 50’s.

    Loved the preamble to the blog Rotter, and thanks to Felix for a good puzzle that should suit most solvers.

    FOI FURNITURE VAN
    LOI ADDED
    COD MECCA
    TIME 3:28

    1. My dispraxia didn’t stop me liking Meccano, I still have some of my 65 year old Meccano in the garage, and many a car over the years has had some incorporated! In fact the toy shop that stocked it was something of a Mecca for me.
  9. I found this tricky in places, particularly in the SW, where SOLARIA and HANSOM were my LOIs. For 21a I was trying to think of holiday destinations – Mallorca got stuck in my head, despite not fitting. Finished in 14.42 with an unparsed TABLE MOUNTAIN.
    Thanks to Rotter, although I think you’re missing an ‘a’ from the anagram fodder in 14a
    1. Absolutely right P, we’ll spotted. I’m answering this on my phone, where I have failed to find the sign-in option, otherwise I’d correct the blog now, but it will have to wait until I get home. Thanks.

      Therotter

  10. Enjoyable puzzle done in about 1.8K for a Very Good Day. Got seriously hung up on ASKEW, though, and got there by a ridiculously circuitous route (deciding that the gardens must be Kensington Gardens and then jotting down ASKEN and then staring at that for 5 minutes and then eventually …).

    Thanks Felix and Rotter.

    Templar

  11. Messed myself up initially on 23a. Thought the heavy bouncer with medical connotations would be a hospital ball – as in the felling of Steve Smith! Doesn’t pars so well of course and the puzzle would have been set long before. Maybe the rain has stopped at Leeds.
    L&I
  12. Clocked same time as yesterday, around ten mins, though speed-solving is as far as I know not really the game here. I’m sure it shouldn’t be!

    17d’s def I thought might ruffle feathers today, as it’s not really bloomin’ obvious, and TABLE MOUNTAIN has already been chastised.

    Thx Felix and Rotter.

  13. After yesterday’s DNF I was grateful to finish, but I needed a second sitting to solve the Mecca/Smock pairing. Both were fairly clued, but I just couldn’t see what was going on for ages. Hansom/Solaria also caused problems along the way, so this was never going to be a quick time. My favourite today was 13d, April Fool. Finally, am I the only one who thinks Pea Souper is two words, or at least hyphenated? Invariant
  14. I missed yesterday’s QC as I was out with my sister in Thetford Forest, Norfolk, but from the comments I’ve just read on here, it is clearly one I should catch up with at some point. Anyway, like others, I found this relatively easy and finished in 26:09, though I think new solvers might still find some of it tricky as there were quite a few phrases that, while obvious to me now, would have meant nothing to me when I first started. I’m thinking of things like “Little jumper” meaning roo, and “northward” meaning a down clue is reversed. Anyway, overall very enjoyable. Particularly liked 12a.
  15. No hold ups for me, although an annotation of “yuck” by 4D showed what I thought of the TABLE MOUNTAIN clue. COD to MECCA. 4:55.
    1. I don’t think I can add anything to Rotter’s explanation in his blog, but there’s a famous Table Mountain (and Table Mountain National Park) in Cape Town, South Africa (SA in the clue) and there’s also a type of furniture called an ‘occasional table’. The clue is just a whimsical reference to both.

      Edited at 2019-08-22 08:05 pm (UTC)

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