Times Quick Cryptic No 159 by Felix

Author   macavity123Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Solving time: Upper end of scale.

Greetings all

One from the harder end of things today, but not by much. I think I had my stupid solving head on when I tackled this as working out how 6 down worked held me up for far too long!

Quite an abundance of double (and in one case triple) definition clues here too.

If any of you are at the Times Championships on Saturday I shall be there. It should be a grand day out. Will anyone end young Mr Goodliffe’s reign? There may be a few rivals for his crown this year!

One thing’s for certain. On today’s solving performance, it won’t be me!

Across
1 ROUNDABOUT – A double definition clue to start with. A word that means not exactly, approximate and something you would find at a funfair.
8 BAFFLED – Mystified is the definition. A wordsum. B.A. (Graduate) + F (forte- musical abbreviation to play loud) + FLED (ran away).
9 ENNUI – Tiredness, boredom is your definition. The first letters of “Earnest, Nine Nights Unbroken Insomnia”.
10 DRAW – A triple definition clue! A word that means to pull, to map out and to tie as in sport.
11 ICE PICKS – Definition is climbing gear. Another wordsum. I (One) + C.E. (Civil Engineer) + PICKS (chooses).
13 FEDORA – The definition here is cryptic – something that goes to his head refers to a hat! FED (FBI agent) + OR (heraldic word for gold) + A (article).
14 JANGLE – To sound harsh is the definition. J (judge) + ANGLE (point of view).
17 AREA CODE – In this clue the definition is “may need this” but it is qualified by the idiom conveyed by the rest of the clue. A READE (A READER briefly, i.e. minus its last letter) around (ringing) CO (company).
21 LAURA – Girl is the definition. L (last letter, ultimately, of tranquil) + AURA (air).
22 SKY BLUE – This was almost my last one in, as I persevered trying to make SEA BLUE fit for a while, couldn’t see a reason for it and eventually realised that there are other shades of blue that begin with S! SKY (to send up(wards) as in cricket) + BLUE (down).
23 PORK-PIE HAT – A cryptic type definition for another tye of headgear. If you don’t tell the truth you tell this, especially in parts of London.

Down
2 OFF HAND – The definition here is casual. HAND (labourer) with OFF before it, i.e. further up in the answer.
3 NILE – The name of a river is the definition. Inside N.E. (north east) goes I (one) + L (lake)
4 ADDICT – User is the definition. An anagram (indicated by slightly differently) of DID inside ACT (performance).
5 OPEN PLAN – Think this might have been a clue more suited to this puzzle’s big brother! An anagram (moved) of PANEL ON + P (top, i.e. first letter of Panel) gives the name for a space that is free of partitions.
6 TONIC – I think I have my dumb head on today! Spent agres trying to work out why two thousand pounds equals ton (£2000). However it’s not money slang, it’s the proper meaning of weight! TON + I + C (first letter of Charge) with medicine as the definition.
7 KISS ME KATE – The name of a musical is your definition. Inside KE (most of the word KEY) goes an anagram of MISTAKES.
8 BED OF NAILS – A double definition with part of it cryptic. A phrase that means a difficult situation is also somewhere you’ll find hard to lie upon, unless you are a fakir!
12 ARMCHAIR – Another double definition. The name for a type of seat at home, as well as a description of a non-expert, often based at home too. Think of the phrase ” ___ viewer”.
15 GORILLA – A way of describing someone who is heavy. An anagram (shifted) of LOG and RAIL.
16 ADDS UP – The definition is makes sense. ADD (to include) + SUP (drink).
18 EQUIP – issue is the definition. The last letter of comedienne, E + QUIP (joke).
20 TYPE – Double definition. A word that means a sort, as well as printed letters.

14 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 159 by Felix”

  1. 10 mins. I took ages to see the SKY BLUE/TYPE and ROUNDABOUT/OPEN-PLAN pairs of crossers. No problem with TONIC though. Some of these clues felt like they belonged to the main puzzle.
  2. I also found this at the tricky end of the spectrum – bit of a slog, with not much humour to lighten it up.

    TONIC went straight in for some reason, but JANGLE eluded me for ages, as did OPEN PLAN and OFF HAND.

    Thanks for very neat blog macavity, and best of luck on Saturday!

  3. 15 minutes and I was also baffled by how 6dn is supposed to work. I meant to revisit it before coming here but forgot, so I now I don’t know if I would ever have cracked it. Just to clarify, it’s the pork pie you might tell at 23ac not the hat. Good luck to those attending the Champs. I don’t even bother trying to enter because my mind goes blank if I’m working against a clock.

    Edited at 2014-10-16 09:05 am (UTC)

  4. Just a quick correction to your blog – the ‘f’ in 8 across is from ‘female’ surely, not ‘forte’ for loud which isn’t mentioned in the clue! Enjoy the blog by the way, very useful for checking reasoning plus the occasional one the gets away.
  5. Some challenging clues today but I got there in the end although I have only just realised that the setter,was telling a porkie pie
  6. Yes, in 8ac F is for female. Also, 2000lb is not a ton.. however the clue says “Over two thousand pounds,” so 2240lb is therefore OK…

    Edited at 2014-10-16 03:00 pm (UTC)

  7. Struggled with this one. SKY BLUE and TYPE were early entries but I just could not see 1a even with all the checkers. I still do not like the clue but perhaps that is because I could not answer it.
  8. The setter’s nom-de-plume is totally inappropriate – non felix sum.

    I was 8Ac for most of this, with Z8 having to drag me along by the scruff of my neck. Took almost 33 mins.

    I agree with Nick except I would change his ‘bit of a’ to ‘a real’.

    My first thought is that I don’t have a COD but there were a couple of clever-clogs-clues: PORK-PIE HAT (does anyone remember Porkpie from the TV series ‘Desmond’s’?) and ROUNDABOUT.

  9. What’s 19 ac? ?ORCA? I don’t really get it. OR from mirror and CA from carp perhaps?
    1. Yes, “sea creature” is the definition, “swallowed by” is the containment indicator, and the answer is hidden in mirrOR CArp. An orca is a species of whale.

      Edited at 2014-10-16 04:29 pm (UTC)

  10. Needed to come back to this one to finish off, so definitely at the harder end of the scale, but a fun puzzle to solve.

    COD for me was Pork Pie Hat which has a special place for me as the Charlie Mingus standard “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” covered by John Renbourn who I saw perform it live recently. I loved his commentary from the gig, where he said he had only just learnt how to play it some forty years after his first recording! It WAS wonderful 🙂

    For info, re the “ton” issue

    1 Short Ton [US] = 2,000 Pounds
    1 Long Ton [UK] = 2,240 Pounds
    1 Metric Ton = 2,204.62262 Pounds

    So I guess we’re in UK or metric units 🙂

    Edited at 2014-10-16 07:56 pm (UTC)

  11. Top draw indeed. I enjoyed solving this morning and managed to complete it with less of a struggle than I’m used to. Great fun.

    Thanks to macavity and jerry for explaining TON!

  12. Fantastic site that stops me changing my daily paper – and even believe I might one day understand all these clues. But where was 19 across?
  13. I think it’s a term for *A* heavy (ie a thug) rather than just someone who is heavy. You don’t have to be heavy to be a heavy.

Comments are closed.