At the time of writing the setter of this puzzle wasn’t declared in the online version, but jackkt tells us in the comments it is Tracy. I thought it on the whole a very pleasant, middle-of-the-road Quick Cryptic with which to finish the week with no less than 6 whole or partial anagrams. COD to the nice semi-&lit 6D. There was one unfamiliar word that I had to drag from the depths of my memory and I couldn’t remember what it meant, but the wordplay and crossers made it clear enough. There was another where I was puzzled at first by the wordplay and a third where the indicator in the wordplay looked wrong. I wonder, did any of these give others trouble too? My FOI was 1A, which helped with the Downs, and LOI 1D, finishing about 30 seconds below my target time. So, nearly all good stuff, then and npt too hard. Thank-you Tracy. How did everyone else get on?
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword, entitled “Number 22”, here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.
Across | |
1 | Film‘s starting point abroad (13) |
TRAINSPOTTING – (starting point)* [abroad]. The well known (although I’ve not seen it) black comedy drama set in Edinburgh. Read about it here. | |
8 | Parts reportedly for luxury car (5) |
ROLLS – Sounds like [reportedly] ROLES (parts, like Mark Renton and Daniel Murphy in 1A). The luxury car marque with the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot, now a subsidiary of BMW. Henry Royce deserves a mention too. | |
9 | Entrance made by different singers (7) |
INGRESS – [different] (singers)* | |
10 | Defiant words, likewise, at that place (2,5) |
SO THERE – SO (likewise) THERE (at that place). I was a bit puzzled at “likewise” for so, but it’s in the dictionary and an example where you can substitute one for the other is “He worked hard – so did she”. | |
11 | Redesigned seat fitted with wide strap (5) |
TAWSE – [Redesigned] (seat)* including [fitted with] W (wide, as put in the scorebook at cricket). TAWSE is a scottish word meaning “a thong with a slit end, formerly used in schools for punishing children“. | |
13 | Pound split by Italian page for fussy fault-finder (3-6) |
NIT-PICKER – NICKER (pound sterling) [split by] IT (Italian) P (page). | |
17 | Box containing eastern throwing weapon (5) |
SPEAR – SPAR (box with an opponent) [containing] E (eastern). | |
19 | Very behindhand after electric current cut off (7) |
ISOLATE – SO (very) LATE (behindhand) [after] I (electric current, as referred to in equations such as V = IR). | |
20 | Rejected set of clothes Oscar collected (3,2,2) |
OUT OF IT – OUTFIT (set of clothes) outside O (Oscar) [collected]. This looks odd to me as I’d expect “X, Y collected” to mean “include X in Y” not the other way round. Or am I being thick? I expect so. [Edit: See kevingregg’s comment for an explanation]. | |
22 | Very warm, the Spanish inn (5) |
HOTEL – HOT (very warm) EL (the, in Spanish). | |
23 | Operetta article somehow worried my wife (3,5,5) |
THE MERRY WIDOW – THE (article) [somehow] (worried my)* W (wife). By the Austro-Hungarian composer, Franz Lehár the operetta is titled in German “Die lustige Witwe“. |
Down | |
1 | Flog junk round hotel (6) |
THRASH – TRASH (junk) [round] H (hotel, in the NATO phonetic alphabet). | |
2 | Suddenly, everyone agreed about carbon (3,2,4) |
ALL AT ONCE – ALL (everyone) AT ONE (agreed) [about] C (chemical symbol for carbon). | |
3 | Beginning or ending of mountain climb (7) |
NASCENT – Last letter [ending of] mountaiN, ASCENT (climb). | |
4 | Government leader to prepare member of the clergy (5,8) |
PRIME MINISTER – PRIME (prepare) MINISTER (member of the clergy). | |
5 | Awkward drunk (5) |
TIGHT – Double definition, the first as in “a tight spot”. | |
6 | What Arctic explorer covers? (3) |
ICE – Hidden in ArctIC Explorer [covers]. A neat semi-&lit, where the entire clue is the definition and all but the reference word “what” is the wordplay. | |
7 | Turn on charm, mostly to get the honest truth (6) |
GOSPEL – GO (turn in a game, for example) SPELl (charm) without the last letter [mostly]. | |
12 | Justified, conflict with editor following angry tirade (9) |
WARRANTED – WAR (conflict) RANT (angry tirade) ED (editor). | |
14 | Expertise of king who won unexpectedly (4-3) |
KNOW-HOW – K (King) (who won)* [unexpectedly]. | |
15 | Armed guard in foreign sector (6) |
ESCORT – [foreign] (sector)*. | |
16 | Loud roar coming from fifty entering underneath (6) |
BELLOW – L (fifty) [entering] BELOW (underneath). | |
18 | Cap removed from toy firearm (5) |
RIFLE – All but first letter [cap removed] of tRIFLE (toy, the verb). | |
21 | Part of body shown in photo, enlarged (3) |
TOE – Hidden in [shown in] phoTO Enlarged. |
Like Kevin, I didn’t know what a tawse was, but confidently wrote it in.
7 minutes for the puzzle. I note we have THE MERRY WIDOW at 23ac, the operetta by Franz Lehar whose surname was an answer in the QC on 19th March and was unknown to many solvers.
Edited at 2021-04-09 03:57 am (UTC)
Edited at 2021-04-09 06:09 am (UTC)
Finished in 8.02 with LOI ISOLATE and I thought KNOW-HOW and ALL AT ONCE were particularly good.
Thanks to John
But even so, a struggle. I think a lot depends on whether one gets 1A Trainspotting early — I did not, having NHO the film or being confident in 13 letter anagrams with no checkers, and that led to 7D Gospel not falling until I had the G — I too failed to separate the Turn and On in the clue at first. Also not initially convinced by 20A Out of it, as like John I also wondered about what was collecting what (though thanks to Kevin’s explanation I see that now), but more fundamentally I did not immediately equate Rejected with Out of it. Not a phrase I’m familiar with in that sense.
COD to 19A Isolate, a nice surface.
And now on to the Saturday special, which I look forward to tackling tomorrow. Many thanks to John for the blog, and a good weekend to all
Cedric
I usually check homonyms such as ROLLS before pressing submit, but this one was less ambiguous than many. Nothing worse than a sombre pink square on these.
Operetta always seems to be G&S, but none seemed to fit those word breaks. I was one of those complaint about Lehar in an earlier QC.
I see RIFLE appeared again today, that’s twice in three days I think.
COD TRAINSPOTTING which I was slow to see. I couldn’t believe it could be an anagram in such a great surface. Usually long anagrams have obscure words in them.
NHO TAWSE but it couldn’t be SWEAT or WASTE so tawse it has to be.
Many years since I heard anyone use NICKER instead of quid. I wonder what is the origin of that.
Enjoyed ISOLATE my COD but several other contenders including 2D, 3D, 12D. Wondered about CORSET intead of ESCORT but decided a corset is ‘armless.
Just under 40 minutes, so just at the top end of my yardstick.
Thanks Tracy and John. Look forward to the Saturday special.
Do you refer to 10p pieces as florins too? And I thought I was eccentric referring to a pony!
FOI: ROLLS
LOI: GOSPEL
COD: NASCENT (and WOD – lovely word)
Thanks to Tracy and John.
Looking forward to the weekend QC – thanks.
Lots of good clues, though, so it seems unnecessary to list them — everyone will have their own choices. A good end to the week — thank you to Tracy and John. John M.
Edited at 2021-04-09 08:24 am (UTC)
I puzzled over TAWSE for a bit, wondering what the bit of a ship where the mooring ropes go through had to do with a seat or a strap and then realised I was thinking of HAWSE.
NASCENT isn’t a word I use very often.
Much enjoyed, thank you Tracy and John.
Diana
Well under 10 minutes before the final tricky three or four.
I had DESCENT for a while but it clearly did not fit the anagram for 1a. Eventually I saw THRASH then I worked hard on the anagram and found the film. LOI was GOSPEL -there are many meanings for Charm.
16:39 in the end. Good puzzle.
David
Pleased to get TRAINSPOTTING (no desire to see it), THE MERRY WIDOW (much jollier). Only vaguely heard of TAWSE. Liked NIT PICKER, NASCENT, ALL AT ONCE (FOI). LOI ESCORT.
Gosh, Mayfields, I always say I am a bit behindhand. Is it old-fashioned? I thought it was an everyday word. Anyway CsOD ISOLATE and OUT OF IT.
Thanks, John, vm. Look forward to the w/e special.
FOI: 9a INGRESS
LOI: 3d NASCENT
Time to Complete: 53 minutes
Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 21
Clues Answered with Aids (3 lives): 3d, 5d, 11a
Clues Unanswered: Nil
Wrong Answers: Nil
Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 24/24
Aids Used: Chambers, Bradfords
Yay, another finish, and on a Friday too!
I worked quite quickly through this puzzle but was slowed down somewhat by the last 3.
8a. ROLLS – Like some others here I was initially a little unsure as to whether I was looking for ROLES or ROLLS. But then I reasoned that the luxury car was the word I was looking for. It was the word “for” that lead me to that conclusion. For told me that I was looking for another word “for” luxury car.
5d. TIGHT – One of my three lives used here. To be honest I had tight pencilled in, but I have never heard of tight being used to described drunk. Had I not found it in Chambers I would have suspected that the setter was making it up.
11a. TAWSE – I knew it had to be an anagram of SEAT around W but have never heard of TAWSE. Second life used.
3d. NASCENT – One clue remaining and one life left. Having had DESCENT pencilled in for a while I soon saw that it was not the word I was looking for. I was convinced that the definition was “beginning”. I could not see a suitable word with the letters I had in already within Chambers, but Bradford’s came to the rescue. Never heard of NASCENT.
So, a completion of 53 minutes. Not too bad for me at this stage.
Very enjoyable solve in below average time. NHO behindhand as a word but shall now look for opportunities to use it! My wife’s father used to talked about being ‘Tawsed by the masters’ in school in Glasgow.
Edited at 2021-04-09 09:55 am (UTC)
Diana
6:08
Edited at 2021-04-09 10:09 am (UTC)
P.S. PB is shorthand in the Random house for peanut butter (one of my favourite substances in the world). And BP is shorthand for Branston Pickle. Put the two together … delicious!
FOI – 9ac INGRESS
LOI – 1dn THRASH
COD – quite a number to chose from but I think it has to be 1ac TRAINSPOTTING for the very well hidden anagram.
Good puzzle, very neat. I knew the TAWSE, since one forms part of a gruesome exhibit of old punishments in the West Highland Museum in Fort William (also including a birching table!).
FOI ALL AT ONCE, LOI GOSPEL, COD TRAINSPOTTING since it made such a mug of me, time a sluggish 12:47 for 3.2K and a Terrible Day.
Many thanks Tracy (now that I know who the setter was!) and John.
Templar
My LOI was ISOLATE, which took a minute or so to parse, but which I thought was very clever when I did.
N.B. Mrs Random will tackle today’s QC sometime over the weekend, as she’s not here today. She may well be suspicious about my fast (for me) time when she gets back.
Many thanks to Tracy, and to johninterred for both the blog and the “extra weekend entertainment”. I plan to have a bash at it tomorrow or Sunday, perhaps while Mrs R is catching up on today.
FOI 1a Trainspotting (never watched) LOI 15d Escort (not always ‘armed’ in my usage/opinion/other ways it has been clued) COD 9a Isolate – amusing and me took a few moments to see this. Not helped by entering 11a in 5d (well, I already had the T…) but soon corrected. Didn’t manage to parse Nit-Picker but it seemed obvious from the checkers. Grateful for John’s explanation here. I printed off the on-line copy and that hasn’t identified Tracy as the setter – so thanks for pointing that out and to him for a clever and enjoyable end to a good week. Will have to find something else to do before supper…but will try to avoid Saturday’s treat until tomorrow or Sunday!
FOI Rolls
LOI Isolate
Most time spent — Tawse, Nit-Picker and Out of It.
Panic moment — didn’t think I’d see Gospel.
Thanks all,
John George
FOI ROLLS
LOI OUT OF IT
COD GOSPEL
TIME 2:52
Never heard of TAWSE nor PICKER. New ones… undoubtedly only to be used in Cryptics, however!
My pattern seems to be to work steadily through the puzzles now, and then get totally stuck on about 4-5 clues. Still, have improved enough to get here.
Would be curious which other Cryptics I might try without feeling overwhelmed by a large jump in difficulty?
As to ‘intermediate’ cryptics, you could try the Guardian ones, but if you don’t want to learn another language, just watch out for ‘the 15×15 today was easy (more straightforward)’ tip-offs occasionally appearing in the QC comments, like the one a couple of days ago.
Marmite peanut butter is great…so is tbe XO marmite
Looking forward to the weekend QC Special!
DNK “Tawse” for 11ac, but the rest went in steadily. Should have spotted 1ac sooner, but I wasn’t thinking of a particular film. Didn’t we have Rifle and Tight the other day?
I’m another one who nearly put “Gushes” for 7dn, but for once I resisted as it didn’t feel right.
FOI — 8ac “Rolls”
LOI — 7dn “Gospel”
COD — 13ac “Nit Picker”
Thanks as usual!