Times Quick Cryptic No 1943 by Orpheus

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
One of my fastest solves for a while at just inside 8 minute, so I expect to see some fast times from the Greyhounds and Whippets.

I noticed a large number of the letter S in the grid on completion, and counting them, found 15 occurrences out of the 114 required letters.  With a frequency distribution of 13.2%, this is about double that expected for the letter S in standard English text.  I just thought you should know that!

Across

7  Thick-skinned type taking fruit by Italian river (5)
HIPPO – HIP (fruit) and PO (seemingly the only river in Italy according to Crosswordland.
8  Traipse around Virginia?  That’s hard work (7)
TRAVAIL – TRAIL (traipse, which can mean to straggle or lag) surrounding (around) VA (standard abbreviation for Virginia).  Travail means excessive labour or toil, but isn’t a word that I hear very often.
10 Genuine as our type, ultimately (7)
SINCERE – SINCE (as, because of) and ouR and typE (ultimately, last letters of).
11  Initially horror and despair engulf sufferers here (5)
HADES – &Lit (or is it Semi &Lit? I can never tell the difference) using first letters (initially) of Horrors And Despair Engulf Sufferers
12 Throw a party – and do some conjuring, perhaps? (9)
ENTERTAIN – Simple Double definition, I think – I can’t see anything else here.
14  Friend having drink knocked back (3)
PAL – LAP (drink) reversed (knocked back)
15  Tree that’s not quite stable (3)
FIR – FIRm (stable), not quite meaning to drop the last letter.
16  Non-Christian minister’s ties misrepresented in section of media (9)
PRIESTESS – Anagram (misrepresented) of [TIES] inside PRESS (section of media).  I wondered about whether or not a Priestess could be Christian, but my Chambers is quite definite – ‘Priestess – a female priest in non-Christian religions’.
18  Church official of greater seniority (5)
ELDER – Double definition
20  Family member spent so recklessly (7)
STEPSON – Anagram (recklessly) of [SPENT SO].
22 Go off at a tangent about son in rented accommodation (7)
DIGRESS – RE (about) and S{on} inside (in) DIGS (rented accommodation).
23 Leader of Mexicans in America less (5)
MINUS – M{exicans} (leader of) IN (in) and US (America).  This is a bit of a clunky surface.

Down

1  Derbyshire town developing leftish creed (12)
CHESTERFIELD – Anagram (developing) of [LEFTISH CREED].
2  Society dramatist welcoming second unmarried woman (8)
SPINSTER – S{ociety} and PINTER (dramatist, Harold, famous for The Birthday Party) and including (welcoming) S{econd}.
3  It’s nothing darling (4)
LOVE – Double definition.
4  In defeat he named a Greek goddess (6)
ATHENA – Hidden answer in {defe}AT HE NA{med}.  ATHENA was the Greek goddess of wisdom.
5 Huge amounts of corporal punishment (8)
LASHINGS – Double definition, reminding me of Billy Bunter and Famous Five stories, ‘… all washed down with lashings of ginger beer’.
6  Palid daughter getting stick (4)
WAND – WAN (palid) and D{aughter}.
9  Lack of enthusiasm, a disadvantage to shoppers? (12)
LISTLESSNESS – Cryptic hint – being without a shopping list could be a disadvantage when shopping.
13  Soldiers go separate ways, initially enjoying easy banter (8)
REPARTEE – RE (soldiers, Royal Engineers) with PART (go separate ways) and E{njoying} E{asy} (initially).
14  Affable countryman crossing lake (8)
PLEASANT – PEASANT (countryman) crossing L{ake}.
17  Demand little sibling enters in time (6)
INSIST – SIS (little sibling – short for sister) inside (enters) IN (in) and T{ime}.
19  Magistrate in Venice finally meeting man’s best friend (4)
DOGE – {venic}E (finally) ‘meeting’ DOG (man’s best friend).  Venice may be doing double duty, as the DOGE was the former name of the Chief Magistrate in Venice and Genoa, so it could also be part of the definition, as well as providing the necessary E.
21  English graduate digesting opening of major novel (4)
EMMA – E{nglish) and MA (graduate, Master of the Arts) containing another M, opening of M{ajor}.  The novel is by Jane Austen and has spawned many dramatizations and films.

55 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1943 by Orpheus”

  1. My usual twenty minutes, but it felt faster and didn’t seem difficult. FOI travail, LOI priestess. Did not fully parse/semi-biffed sincere, digress, spinster or repartee. Thanks, Rotter, for the full explanations of these, and the rest of the blog, and Orpheus for a friendly puzzle. GW.

  2. 38 mins. Had a lot of blanks after the first run through but then made slow but steady progress. Like others, my last 2 in were LASHINGS and PRIESTRSS. COD to 9d Listlessness which made me chuckle. Thanks to Rotter and Orpheus

  3. I cannot really complain too much today. 18 minutes solve.
    Thanks to Rotter for the blog — as others I couldn’t see why Sincere. (LOI). I thought that both Entertain and Listlessness left a bit of a Hmmm feeling…but otherwise generally fair to middling!
    Thanks all
    John George
  4. Particularly liked 1d as it was definitely a leftish creed seat when Tony Benn was its MP and I believe it is back in the fold now, after a brief flirtation with the Liberal Democrats. Not sure how left wing the current mp is.

    Agree 23d a bit clunky. Could have been “Mexican leader in …”, surely?

    Otherwise, easier than I have found Orpheus to be in the past, an enjoyable 30 mins or so..

    Edited at 2021-08-19 02:01 pm (UTC)

  5. I was surprised to read that most solvers above found this offering from Orpheus relatively easy. Maybe it was, but only when compared to other Orpheus QCs. I experienced a solution-drought around 20 minutes in, when I had about 7 clues still to solve. Three clues in a row – LASHINGS, PRIESTESS and one other (I forget which) – required the last resort approach of an alphabet trawl, but these opened up the grid and my remaining clues then fell quickly. My LOsI were DOGE and DIGRESS, and I finished in 35 minutes.

    Mrs Random continued her excellent run of form with an 18-minutes solve today, and she’s nowjust off to the garden centre to buy something for her Mum’s birthday tomorrow.

    Many thanks to Orpheus and therotter.

  6. Today’s quick cryptic 1943 by orpheus is completely different version from answers given on Times for the Times???
  8. I got off to a speedy start(for me) with Chesterfield only to be stumped by the final hurdle Priestess which I realised was a sort of anagram but sounded Christian and threw me. Hey ho I continue to learn and am eternally grateful to all bloggers and setters.
  9. 11:03, so a good time and by far the best of the week. I agree with others on the sad lack of 1A again.

    peasant/pleasant is a chestnut I think.

    12a ENTERTAIN: This seems a pretty weak clue, or I’m missing something clever

    LOI WAND

    COD LISTLESSNESS : what a great clue

  10. I tried to do the puzzle while waiting in the car as I was early for a funeral but I just couldn’t.
    Now staying at relations the answers came.
    Obviously my mind wouldn’t work earlier.
    Thanks all.
  12. Back with the whippets, just, after a series of slow solves recently. A mostly PLEASANT crossword from Orpheus with a teeny Greek theme going on. I took a little while to get started for some reason but completed in 10 mins. I liked HIPPO and LOVE but thought ENTERTAIN was bit meh. I didn’t parse SINCERE so thanks for that Rotter.
    FOI Pal — and I got that wrong initially by not reading the clue properly and putting Lap in!
    LOI Love — very slow to see what was going on there
    COD Listlessness
    Thanks Orpheus and Rotter
    1. My life would have been easier if I had ever understood what goes on with love !
  13. As a comparative newbies, enjoyed this. Only biffed SINCERE (now I know!). Helped by having lived in Chesterfield. Dave and Sal (never listless when shopping!)

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