Times Quick Cryptic No 2033 by Teazel

Just inside target at near to 15 minutes, with a couple of pieces of esoteric general knowledge, and some parsing issues to get to grips with.  This was a fine QC from Teazel, with some good misdirection.  COD to 18d which I didn’t really understand fully until writing the blog.  Other questions were raised in parsing 1d and 14a.

Thanks Teazel, and good luck to all of you – see you the other side of Christmas, which I hope you will all enjoy.  I certainly will enjoy it more as a result of yesterday’s good news from the doctors.

Across

7  Hurry to eat seafood delicacy once (8)
FORMERLY – FLY (hurry) containing (to eat) ORMER (seafood delicacy – at least according to some!)  An ORMER is the name given to the abalone mollusc in the Channel Islands, and may not be widely known.  I was vaguely familiar with the term, but would have struggled to define it.
8  Run over Bill in highway (4)
ROAD – R{un} O{ver} and AD (bill, as in a poster or ad).  Bill Stickers will be prosecuted!  Yes, but what what did he do wrong?
9  Spare back numbers?  More likely than not (4-2)
ODDS-ON – ODD (spare) and NOS (numbers) reversed (back).  I think we have seen this answer recently, clued slightly differently.
10  Lost vital fluid, swallowing new mix (5)
BLEND – BLED (lost vital fluid) containing N{ew}.
11 Expression of surprise chef hasn’t finished (3)
COO – COOk (chef hasn’t finished, lose the last letter).
12  Place is in complete shade (4,2)
PURPLE – PL (place) inside PURE (complete).  Pl is a legitimate abbreviation for Place, seen most often on street maps and signs.
14  Confined to bed in store? (4,2)
LAID UP – Double definition.  MER at first at the tense of the second definition, thinking store (v) is to lay up, but if something is ‘in store’, it can be described as being ‘laid up’.
16  Formality of reworked charts  (6)
STARCH – Anagram (reworked) of [CHARTS].
18  Temple a deity enters each year (6)
PAGODA – A GOD (a deity) inside PA (per annum – each year).
19  Couple failing to start broadcast (3)
AIR – pAIR (failing to start, drop first letter.
20 Die in water, having fallen crossing river (5)
DROWN – DOWN (having fallen) containing (crossing) R{iver}.
21  Emphatically endorse a fine business (6)
AFFIRM – A F{ine} and FIRM (business).
23  Briefly arrive at a state of unconsciousness (4)
COMA – COM{e} (briefly arrive – drop last letter) and A (a).
24  Chief competitor, not right to be concerned with records (8)
ARCHIVAL – ARCH{r}IVAL (chief competitor, dropping the second R – not right.

Down

1  Powder that is rarely expensive? (4,4)
GOLD DUST – I wondered if this was a triple definition, but in the end decided it was a cryptic clue.  Something that is described as like GOLD DUST is extremely rare and / or expensive.
2  Prophet needing a couple of seconds(4)
AMOS – A (a) with MO (the first second, brief period of time) and S{econd} (the second second of the pair).
3  Canter around in hypnotic state (6)
TRANCE – Anagram (around) of [CANTER].
4  Character something that clashes when outspoken (6)
SYMBOL – Today’s homophone clue (when outspoken) – sounds like cymbal.  Lots of those played last week at school nativity plays, or maybe not!
5 Information exchange that shouldn’t take long (8)
BRIEFING – Cryptic clue.
6 An odd number of feet in the enclosure (4)
YARD – Double definition, the first cryptic, there being three feet in a YARD.
13  Private’s unusual solar pen (8)
PERSONAL – Anagram (unusual) of [SOLAR PEN].
15  Subterranean passage in progress (5,3)
UNDER WAY – Double definition
17  Girl, Chinese?  Commonly, no (6)
HANNAH – Random girl’s name, but generously clued.  HAN (Chinese) and NAH (common version of No).
18  Caper around quietly, country having banned foxtrot (6)
PRANCE – I’m going to bet that some will still think this is an anagram of CAPER, but actually, ‘caper around’ is the definition.  The wordplay is P (quietly) and {f}RANCE (country having banned foxtrot, F in the phonetic alphabet).
20  Cease to use doctor before operation (4)
DROP – DR (doctor) before OP{eration}.  Doctor has been used so much as an Anagrind recently that I started on the wrong path.
22  Frustrate using sword (4)
FOIL – Double definition.

My next blog is on the 6th January 2022.  If I get time, it is my intention to award the inaugural ‘The Rotters’, annual prizes (with no monetary or other value) for a selection of the best clues / themes from the ‘puzzles what I blogged’ during 2021.  Do feel free to send me nominations, but only from puzzles numbered nnn3, i.e puzzles what I blogged.  Merry Xmas x.