Times Quick Cryptic No 1828 by Joker

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I finished just outside my target time, as I dithered at the end over what vowel could best be stuck in the middle of 21d. Three ‘Unlucky!’ signs and a couple of increasingly confused guesses later, I clicked on the Check Grid option and saw I had a typo at 4d. So not fully parsed (or checked) before submission, it’s safe to say, although my initial answer was correct. And a charming little clue it turned out to be. Before all that kerfuffle I was held up at 6d, which I needed for 13ac and 20ac. A fine puzzle with a broad range of clue types and an array of good surfaces – many thanks to Joker!

Across
1 Send part for actor as an afterthought (10)
POSTSCRIPT – POST (send) SCRIPT (part for actor)
7 Failure of a person nearer losing head (5)
LOSER – cLOSER (nearer, “losing head”)
8 Pope is quiet concerning argument (7)
PONTIFF – P (piano – quiet) ON (concerning) TIFF (argument)
10 One French eleven embarrassed about power still running? (9)
UNEXPIRED – UNE (one, French) XI (eleven) RED (embarrassed) about P(ower)
12 Couple from Petworth (3)
TWO – “from” the letters of penTWOrth
13 Coordinated part of shoe (6)
INSTEP – not a double definition, as IN STEP = coordinated is two words.
15 Beetle is small vehicle with a boot at the front (6)
SCARAB – S(mall) CAR (vehicle) with A and B (Boot “at the front”)
16 Be frightened of losing female attention (3)
EAR – FEAR (be frightened of), losing F(emale)
17 Rip up root for processing as a source of scent (9)
POTPOURRI – anagram (for processing) of RIP UP ROOT
20 Returned nails highly favoured for scrap (7)
SNIPPET – SNIP (pins = nails, “returned”) PET (highly favoured)
22 A marathon in company with others (5)
ALONG – A, LONG (marathon). Along / together / in company with others.
23 Gambler reportedly intended enrichment (10)
BETTERMENT – BETTER (gambler) MENT = reportedly/sounds like MEANT (intended)

Down
1 Sheriff’s group’s attitude about James’s end (5)
POSSE – POSE (attitude) about E (jameS’s “end”). I’m glad to learn the original meaning of the term: “The population of able-bodied men above the age of fifteen in a county whom the sheriff may summon to repress a riot, pursue felons, etc.” (OED). (Short for posse comitatus, literally the possible/potential group of comites, or group of companions.)
2 Cars happen mostly to get broken up here? (9)
SCRAPHEAP – not quite an &lit clue (see 21d), as the “here” is not part of the wordplay. An anagram (to get broken up) of CARS and HAPPEn (happen, “mostly”)
3 Half-hearted meal is exceptionally good (5)
SUPER – SUPPER = meal, half-heartedly = remove one of the central letters.
4 Uniform’s needed in Royal Navy career (3)
RUN – U(niform) is needed in RN (Royal Navy). I had RRN, grr!
5 One who decorates mooring rope (7)
PAINTER – double definition, the second completely unknown to me.
6 Dull nature of film including noisy and empty scenes (10)
CLOUDINESS – CINE (of film) including LOUD (noisy), and then SS (“empty” SceneS)
9 I forgo debt in difficulties — something that may cross a line (10)
FOOTBRIDGE – anagram (in difficulties) of I FORGO DEBT. Line as in a railway line.
11 Tamper with a note to get degree (9)
DOCTORATE – DOCTOR (tamper with), A, TE (note, do-re-mi, etc., also spelt TI)
14 Disturbed islander losing large fish (7)
SARDINE – anagram (disturbed) of ISANDER (islander, “losing L(arge)”)
18 Private coach starts to travel using the orbital road (5)
TUTOR – “Starts to” Travel Using The Orbital Road
19 Kangaroos need time to sleep (5)
ROOST – ROOS (kangaroos) need T(ime)
21 Tap put another way? (3)
PAT – &lit, where the whole clue is both cryptic wordplay and a literal definition: PAT = tap, reversed or “put another way“; and a pat is a tap, put (i.e. defined) another way. Very nice!

56 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1828 by Joker”

  1. I found this quite tricky and my solve was patchy starting off with 1a POST. The SCRIPT came later. I biffed PAINTER from a single definition and I also contemplated AMONG but I just couldn’t parse it. I didn’t think too much about PAT as two of the three checkers together with the definition worked. My biggest hold up was my LOI CLOUDINESS which went in semi parsed having only the LOUD and SS components. 9:41 for an OK day.

    Edited at 2021-03-11 12:39 pm (UTC)

  2. I seemed to solve this fairly steadily with no particular hold-ups and was surprised to find I had taken 22 mins. And then I had managed to fall into the AMONG/ALONG trap. Never completely parsed CLOUDINESS or UNEXPIRED (or AMONG of course). Knew the second meaning of PAINTER, possibly due to reading Swallows and Amazons more years ago than I care to remember.

    FOI – 7ac LOSER
    LOI – 20ac SNIPPET
    COD – 16ac EAR for the concise surface

    Thanks to Joker and Rolytoly

  3. We were off to a flying start but took 20 minutes to complete – partly due to biffing, incorrectly, scrapyard at 2D which meant we had to revisit…and the clock kept ticking. Also had to biff 5D as had NHO painter defined as a mooring rope.

    FOI: postscript
    LOI: snippet
    COD: postscript

    Thanks to Joker and Rolytoly.

  4. A very similar experience to others, particularly when it came to entering CLOUDINESS only semi-parsed. A liitle over target today at about 12 minutes, but not unhappy with that as I’ve been finding Joker a bit trickier recently. Indeed it took me until 12a to get started. PAT made sense when I finally twigged — no biffing there! I did raise my eyebrows at POTPOURRI as one word — I’ve always written it as two. But 15a — what a superb clue — that’s a candidate for Clue of the Week in my book 😊

    FOI Two
    LOI Doctorate
    COD Beetle

    Many thanks Joker for the fun and Roly for the most informative blog

  5. I dont understand the confusion over 21dn. Most of the alternaties suggested fit the checking letters but none the clue neither the wordplay nor the definition. Only PAT worked.

    Am I missing somthing?

    1. I initially thought of “tup” in the context of “tapping” or “butting” someone – hence “put another way” is “put” reversed.

      However – I was reading too much into it and whether you could really class tapping someone as a headbutt is probably stretching my idea of the slang a bit too far.

        1. I did know that — and part of my thinking was around the expression “tup tup” which kind of describes the tapping of rams/sheep heads together when being “playful”. Like I said, read far too much into it 😀
  6. Got very confused as to how to tackle 6D : totally missed CINE and the indicator ’empty’ though I could see the answer involved clouds somehow.

    20A my brain was tricked into thinking of a scrapheap already (2D) and didn’t consider alternate meanings.

    Enjoyed this QC very much!

  7. Found this very tricky today and for some reason entered AMONG instead of ALONG so DNF

    Never parsed cloudiness so thanks for that.

    Thx Roly and Joker

  8. Finished outside our target with one wrong, we had among for 22a. We also had apt for 21 d until spending some time sorting out 22a.
  9. An easier than usual Joker I thought. FOI 1a Postscript yielded all the down clues and gave a raring start. Familiar with painter from sailing days (much missed). A DNF as 22a Among seemed to me ‘in company with others’ but clearly not so. LOI 6d Cloudiness – I had loud + ss so it was the only word that fitted the clue. COD – liked the visual ‘vw boot at the front’ in 15a Scarab.
  10. We had this vision of them all sitting on a phone line like birds which was a bit offputting!
    Biffed 6d with a different parsing.
    Hard going but some fun clues
  11. A late solve for me as I’m now back to having to work to get paid, which is tiresome. Anyway, a most enjoyable solve. 33:34 in the end, so a little over target. NHO a mooring rope being a PAINTER but other than that, nothing to report. FOI LOSER, LOI DOCTORATE, COD 20a. Thanks Joker and Roly.
  12. I enjoyed this and finished in 22 minutes.
    But had Among early and didn’t revisit.
    FOI Postscript
    LOI Cloudiness
    COD Pat

    So DNF technically
    NHO Painter as mooring rope

    Thanks all
    John George

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