Times Quick Cryptic No 1449 by Joker

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A neat and, dare I say it,  (I have been wrong in the past), straightforward puzzle from Joker today. An abundance of simple A + B and letter deletion type clues should get you going. There is nothing too difficult, I think, although there is some nice cleverness at 12A (my clue of the day), 4D and 7D. I finished in 4:50 so I expect some other quick times too. Thanks Joker. How did you all like it?

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

Across
1 Northern valley sees English youth returning (4)
DALE – E (English) LAD (youth) [returning]. Ee by gum,  a nice friendly clue to start.
4 Carnage in service area (8)
MASSACRE – MASS (service) ACRE (area). You need to spot you have to separate “service area” into its constituent parts. A smooth surface reading that’s a bit gruesome when you think about it.
8 Very relaxed about heartless sports official (8)
CAREFREE – CA (about) REFeREE (sports official) without the middle letter [heartless].
9 Fish getting European set of regulations (4)
CODE – COD (fish) E (European). Hmm. European fishing regulations post-Brexit? No I’m not going there.That’s a whole can of, er, sardines, perhaps?
10 Magical being, not fine and delicate (4)
AIRY – fAIRY (magical being) without the f [not fine].
11 Very unpleasant losing hours in cold or long passage (8)
CORRIDOR – In similar vein… hORRID (very unpleasant) without the h [losing hours] surrounded by [in] C (cold) OR.
12 What is shown by irate MP erupting? (6)
TEMPER – Hidden in [is shown by] iraTE MP ERupting. Not an anagram of irate MP as I thought at first, failing to count the letters! This is a neat example of an &lit clue, where the whole clue is both the definition and the wordplay. Somewhat topical too, methinks!
14 Make a speech about new fancy (6)
ORNATE – ORATE (make a speech) [about] N (new).
16 Modified radio set for space orbiter (8)
ASTEROID – (radio set)* [modified].
18 Distant European traveller (4)
FARE – FAR (distant) E (European). A taxi passenger, for example.
19 Democrat anger is dreadful (4)
DIRE – D (Democrat) IRE (anger). A bit like the MP at 12A.
20 Suggested young troublemaker gets legally sanctioned (8)
IMPLICIT – IMP (young trouble maker) LICIT (legally sanctioned; i.e. allowed in law).
22 More dull Yankee praise that’s insincere (8)
FLATTERY – FLATTER (more dull) Y (Yankee).
23 English painter dismissing the Queen’s circle (4)
TURN – TURNer without [dismissing] the ER (Queen). J M W Turner was known as the ‘painter of light’. Here is his famous  “Dutch boats in a gale”

Tate Gallery, London
Down
2 Greed of girl over cereal (7)
AVARICE – AVA (girl) [over] (this is a down clue) RICE (cereal).
3 Each day before getting on railway (5)
EVERY – EVE (day before) [on] (similar to above) RY (railway).
4 Impair — regularly? (3)
MAR – Alternate letters of iMpAiR. Unusually, impair is both the definition and the fodder of the wordplay direction. Very clever. Not an &lit as the whole clue is not the definition.
5 Damage through use breaking blade? Curse! (9)
SWEARWORD – WEAR (damage through use) inside [breaking] SWORD (blade).
6 Sale of lots of uranium in operation (7)
AUCTION – U (Uranium) in ACTION (operation; military). Typical setter sneakery in the definition. Nice one! You weren’t misled by “lots of uranium” were you?
7 Sat on a bronco, perhaps round here? (5)
RODEO – RODE (sat on a bronco, perhaps) O (round). Lovely!
11 Acid destroying visor core (9)
CORROSIVE – [destroying] (visor core)*
13 False justification before writing? (7)
PRETEXT – PRE (before) TEXT (writing).
15 Row about mistake getting small dog (7)
TERRIER – TIER (row, as in of a stand) [about] ERR (mistake, the verb, as in mistake a Turner for a Constable, for example).
17 Facility needing spades to finish off (5)
SKILL – S (spades) KILL (finish off).
18 Upset if tan is faded (5)
FAINT – [Upset] (if tan)*.
21 Money for work and play, reduced by pounds (3)
PAY – Another deletion to finish with. PlAY without [reduced by] the L (pounds)

22 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1449 by Joker”

  1. I can’t remember what slowed me down, other than LOI MASSACRE, which I wasted over a minute on. 7:36.
  3. I too found this both neat and relatively straightforward, clocking in at 1.3 K for a Very Good Day. (I did find the frequency of A+B clues a little repetitive though.)

    FOI DALE, LOI CAREFREE. COD by miles was 12ac – brilliantly topical. I too fell for the anagram idea and spent a little while trying to understand why “primate” could be the answer – MPs showing their inner chimps perhaps? Then I counted the letters …!

    Thanks Joker and John.

    Templar

  4. I am off to London shortly so I was trying to rush through this -and failed. Last two were SWEARWORD and CAREFREE ( which I assumed started R).
    About twenty minutes in the end,after stopping to check trains.
    As usual there are signalling problems in the Lewisham area (this is 2019! -signals should have been sorted by now) so I have time to post this. David
  5. I agree this was a neat and relatively straightforward puzzle. Thanks again setter and blogger! Turn was little tricky as an answer and passenger might have been a little kinder as clue than traveler for a quickie, but all good for me!
  6. Another good day for me coming in at two seconds under 3K with 22:46. I was worried for a while when I’d got everything but 8a and 13d in pretty much my pb time of 16 minutes, but couldn’t think of any word that meant false justification nor an 8-letter sports official that fitted. The one thing you can be almost sure of with Joker though, is that the words are not going to be unknown and the clueing will be fair, and so it proved today with a nice penny drop moment seeing my LOI carefree. COD to 11a as I thought of horrid being the word I needed to lop the H off, and then dismissed it thinking, “but there’s not going to be a word that includes orrid, is there?”
  7. 16m with AIRY being the culprit for taking me over my target, and LOI taking more than two of those minutes. With _I_Y to help, I couldn’t get PIXY out of my mind, but couldn’t justify it either. Otherwise, no real problems, although I was slow to see CAREFREE. Thanks Joker and John.
  8. In case it gives solace to others who struggled, I blundered about the grid coming up short and repeatedly retracing my steps. That I finished in 13 minutes surprised me. As always, it all looks easy when you’ve got it.
  9. In case it gives solace to others who struggled, I blundered about the grid coming up short and repeatedly retracing my steps. That I finished in 13 minutes surprised me. As always, it all looks easy when you’ve got it.
  10. ….where I again spent more time in enjoying Joker’s craftsmanship than I did in actually solving it.

    FOI DALE
    LOI SWEARWORD
    COD TEMPER
    TIME 3:57

    1. If you’re so brilliant that you can complete the crossword in less than four minutes, despite spending more time admiring than solving the clues, again (!), do you really think this is the place for you? I’m stunned that someone with your mental skills can’t understand a simple fact – the quick cryptic is for beginners.
      1. No, the QC is for anyone who enjoys doing it – even if that enjoyment is only fleeting. I took almost the whole of my target 20 minutes in two sittings, but I still love to hear about the genius brigade. MM
      2. The art form and skill of the setters of the QC is much admired by many experienced solvers. Indeed many of the best do it every day (including the runner-up at last year’s crossword championships). And Phil is one of those. That he chooses to participate here and share his experiences enriches this forum, to my mind. I’m not in that class, but like many other contributors here I am no beginner and enjoy the QC enough to do this blog every other Friday and comment most days.
  11. Enjoyed this, especially 12ac which seemed neatly topical. Held up by TURN, my LOI, until I remembered that ‘English artist’ is almost always Turner (who also happens to be my favourite artist).
    PlayUpPompey
  12. I think my lack of recent practice is starting to tell. I was slow and in fact needed a second sitting to work out the 5d/11ac combination. Everything was fairly clued, and I admired quite a few of them as I meandered around the grid – in some cases more than once… 12ac was topical and very well hidden, but 13d caught my eye and gets my CoD vote. Invariant
  13. I didn’t find this as straightforward as some and like Invariant was held up at the end by 5d/11a with CAREFREE also proving tough. Didn’t help myself by taking an embarrassingly long time to solve the anagram at 16a. Finished in 11.52 and I’ll jump on the 12a for CoD bandwagon.
    Thanks for the blog
  14. Can someone clarify 7d for me please.

    The blog gives here as the definition which makes no sense.

    I understand the wordplay to get rode and o.

    Thanks

    1. Good question. This is a “self-reference” to the rest if the clue. If you think of the “perhaps” and “here” as indicating a question “If you are sat on a bronco, where might you be?” the answer is “At a rodeo”. Does that help?

      Edited at 2019-09-27 10:42 pm (UTC)

  15. I came to this after a day touring Glencoe, Oban and environs, nicely finished off with a good meal, wine and a new (to me) Talisker malt – Port Ruighe. Perhaps this explains my leisurely 2.5 Kevins. I jumped about the grid for easy pickings at first and then filled in the fair, but less obvious answers. I liked MASSACRE, CAFEFREE, CORRIDOR, and IMPLICIT. Thanks to J & J. John M.
  17. 17m on a sunday at work.

    Random comment about fast solvers. This site benefits so much from the expertise of phil, kevin, and others.

    Cod cod.

    1. Thanks for the encouragement to the old hands. I wont resign my blogging commission then 🙂 And I enjoyed CODE too.

      Edited at 2019-09-29 06:14 pm (UTC)

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