A rather tricky but perfectly fair challenge for us for the end of the week from Don with the usual neat and precise clues and some nice pieces of misdirection. I found it at the harder end of the spectrum, taking 9:17 to finish – my slowest for quite a while. There are a few words on the edge of my vocabulary that I needed the wordplay to find. 5d took me a while to see and 4A was my LOI. Lots to enjoy, though – I liked the concise 12A best. Thank-you Izetti! How did you all get on? If you found it difficult, don’t worry – I’m sure you will be in good company.
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword, entitled “Gone Fishing”, and a bonus quiz round, 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 | Separate identity given in sleazy bar (6) |
| DIVIDE – ID (identity) “in” DIVE (sleazy bar). | |
| 4 | Carefulness with which engineer approaches old Chaldean city (6) |
| RIGOUR – RIG (engineer, the verb) O (old) UR (Chaldean city). Even with the perenniel crossword favourite old city, I still struggled to get this one until I realised “engineer” was the verb not the noun! My LOI. Nice one. | |
| 8 | Group in the morning coming back chums (5) |
| MATES – SET (group) AM (morning) “coming back” -> MATES. | |
| 9 | Editor about to get set of principles laid down (7) |
| DECREED – ED (editor) “about” -> DE, CREED (set of principles). | |
| 10 | Meat in picnic basket half wasted (3) |
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HAM – HAM |
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| 11 | Dad gets torn apart with time — condition of having children (9) |
| PARENTAGE – PA (father) RENT (torn) AGE (time). | |
| 12 | Shoot messenger? (6) |
| RUNNER – Double definition. Another typical setter’s trick… Gramatically “shoot” is a verb in the surface reading, but it is a noun in the definition. | |
| 13 | Mathematical concepts appearing in problem: massive (6) |
| LEMMAS – Hidden, “appearing in” in probLEM MASsive. A Lemma is “a subsidiary or intermediate theorem in an argument or proof” as we all know… or maybe we don’t. I couldn’t remember what it meant and I have 2 children at university studying maths and my wife’s a maths teacher. | |
| 16 | Prohibition has detective briefly restraining pub workers (9) |
| DEBARMENT – DET (detective) “briefly” outside, “restraining”, BARMEN (pub workers). I was misled to start with by thining the definition was “pub workers”. | |
| 18 | Refusal by daughter to show sign of agreement? (3) |
| NOD – NO (refusal) D (daughter). | |
| 19 | Pub submerged in the river could be more watery (7) |
THINNER – INN (pub) “submerged in” THE R (river). When I was working in Telford this was a local pub… The Boat Inn in Jackfield in the Ironbridge Gorge has been flooded many times, most recently in 2020. It has lines on the door showing previous flood levels.
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| 20 | Attack bishop, after all the rest (5) |
| BLAST – B (bishop) LAST (after all the rest). Nice ambiguity in the clue… does the bishop come at the start or end of the answer? | |
| 22 | Realise that you have to stop and get very cross (3,3) |
| SEE RED – SEE (realise) RED (light that indicates that you have to stop). | |
| 23 | Fix material next to display (6) |
| REPAIR – REP (material) AIR (display). REP is one of those words I’ve only ever seen in crossword clues, but it is one to remember as it’s a handy one for setters. Rep “is a cloth woven in fine cords or ribs across the width of a piece, usually made of silk, wool, or cotton“. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Mother a bit wet, not all there (3) |
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DAM – DAM |
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| 2 | Contents of mini-vat could supply health supplement (7) |
| VITAMIN – (mini-vat)* “could supply”. | |
| 3 | Rapid escape, an extraordinary vanishing act (13) |
| DISAPPEARANCE – (rapid escape an)* “extraordinary”. An act like Harry Houdini’s perhaps. | |
| 5 | Popular copper entertains them periodically, beyond a doubt (13) |
| INCONTESTABLE – IN (popular) CONSTABLE (copper), outside, “entertains”, ThEm “periodically” – i.e. alternate letters. I needed the checkers to see this one. | |
| 6 | Norma maybe is not entirely cooperative (5) |
| OPERA – Hidden, “not entirely”, in coOPERAtive. This opera by Bellini comes up a lot in crosswords. | |
| 7 | One badly attired may need to be compensated (9) |
| REDRESSED – Double definition, the first a cryptic hint. | |
| 9 | Devon flower in spring (4) |
| DART – Double definition. I pondered this for a while as I thought the second definition ia little oblique, but then I thought of a startled animal spring/darting from the bushes. The first definition, of course, uses the old trick of “flower” meaning something that flows, i.e. a river. | |
| 10 | Historian reveals bad king to us in a different way (9) |
| HERODOTUS – HEROD (bad king) (to us)* “in a different way”. Herodotus is known for his detailed account of the Greco-Persian wars. I eventually vaguely remembered the name but had no idea what he wrote about. | |
| 14 | State of an atom, spinning around neutron initially (7) |
| MONTANA – The answer has nothing to do with this, of course. It’s (an atom)* “spinning”, “around” Neutron “initially”. Nice looking surface, but our setter is clearly no physicist! James Chadwick would spin in his grave at such a concept. But the surface meaning of a clue doesn’ have to be literally true. | |
| 15 | Put up with something hairy for the most part (4) |
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BEAR – BEAR |
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| 17 | Female going to match — second-rate journey? (5) |
| BRIDE – B (second-rate) RIDE (journey). | |
| 21 | Deserter heading north is a sailor (3) |
| TAR – RAT (deserter) “heading north”, i.e. reversed – this is a down clue -> TAR. | |
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