Times Quick Cryptic No 2063 by Wurm

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Some of the parsing here didn’t get finally clarified until I came to write the blog (inc. 1, 3, 4 and 7d), and I don’t have an accurate time as I was interrupted several times whilst solving, but I am sure that it was inside my target time of 15 minutes.

As hinted at above, some of the parsing took a time to resolve, but all was fairly clued, and I hope that my parsing issues didn’t delay you too long.  My thanks to Wurm for a good QC.

Across

1  Ram perhaps caught up in meadow flower (9)
BUTTERCUP – BUTTER (a ram is perhaps an example of one) and C{aught} and UP.
6  Bug snug in this hairpiece? (3)
RUG – Cryptic clue recalling the saying ‘as snug as a bug in a rug’.  A RUG is another name for a hairpiece.
8  Nuncio confused about rook as mythical creature (7)
UNICORN – Anagram (confused) of [NUNCIO] around R{ook} (chess notation).
9  Animal finally going for synagogue official (5)
RABBI – RABBIt is the animal from which we drop the last letter (finally going).
10  Chopped the ham and tripe that’s brought in a bowl? (12)
AMPHITHEATRE – Anagram (chopped) of [THE HAM] and [TRIPE] and [A] (that’s brought in a…).
12  Plant found in Manila (4)
ANIL – Hidden in (found in) {m}ANIL{a}.  ANIL is the Indigo plant or dye.
13  Stupid person accepts fine offering (4)
GIFT – GIT (a fool or stupid person, or sometimes a ‘rotter’) containing (accepts) F{ine}.  These days GIT is probably better known as a software version control system, although I am sure that it used to be the name given to a head boy in some Scottish public school. 
17  Private chat in centre – listen with child outside (5-2-5)
HEART-TO-HEART – HEART (centre) and HEAR (listen) with TOT (child) outside.
20  Daughters initially on ship wear formal clothes (5)
DRESS – D{aughters} (initially) RE (on) and SS (ship).
21  Writer Dante mostly one to hang around? (7)
PENDANT – PEN (writer) and DANTe (mostly, drop last letter of DANTE).
23 Hunk from poster put on weight (3)
WAD – AD (poster, as in ADvertisement) put on W{eight}.  WAD as in large quantity or hunk of money.
24  Delicacy to complement sour vegetable? (9)
SWEETMEAT – A SWEET MEAT is the opposite, or complement, of a SOUR VEGETABLE, and is also a delicacy.

Down

1  Attack in boxing contest (4)
BOUT – Double definition, the first as in a BOUT or attack of illness.
2  Not fat, I am tucking in, finding nutrient (7)
THIAMIN – THIN (not fat) with I AM inside (tucked in).  I had an MER at THIAMIN as a nutrient as it is a Vitamin (Vit B) but I suppose nutrient is such a general term that it does pass muster.
3  The author Umberto Green? (3)
ECO – Double definition, the first as in Umberto ECO (auther of ‘The name of the rose’, and the second being a synonym for green, as in ECO-warrior.
4  King, but not crowned, protected by staff (6)
CANUTE – CANE (staff) protecting bUT (but not crowned, i.e. remove first letter, B).  It took me a while to unscramble this one, but not long to get the answer.
5 Voracious shark splintered bargepole (9)
PORBEAGLE – Anagram (splintered) of [BARGEPOLE].
6  Steal from books to make automoton (5)
ROBOT – ROB (steal) and OT (books, the old testament).
7  Covering stored in short German aircraft (6)
GLIDER – LID (covering) inside (stored in) GER (short German).
11  Embarrassing condition, this I also spread around (9)
HALITOSIS – Anagram (spread around) of [THIS I ALSO].
14  Incinerator’s features including receptacle for ashes (7)
FURNACE – FACE (features) around (including) URN (receptacle for ashes).
15  Dog had Miss Piggy brought round? (6)
SHADOW – HAD (had) with SOW (Miss Piggy) brought round.
16  Locks perhaps not totally secure? (6)
TOUPEE – Artificial hair locks, cryptically defined.  Another hairpiece, but I don’t see a theme.
18  A top up (5)
AHEAD – A (a) and HEAD (top).  If one is UP in a race, one is AHEAD.  Nice concise surface.
19  It’s Let It Be that concludes this great live event (4)
STET – Final letters (that concludes) of {thi}S {grea}T {liv}E {even}T.  STET is a written instruction to restore, after originally marking for deletion when editing, hence ‘let it be’.  This answer also appeared in yesterday’s 15 x 15.
22  Fortune Tory keeps after taxes (3)
NET – Hidden (kept) in fortuNE Tory.

60 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 2063 by Wurm”

  1. Plenty of porbeagles hereabout, so no problem with that. Never thought of them as particularly voracious in the sharky way of things however.
    ANIL was a new word for me, first for a long time, but clued clearly. Same MER as others about the wig and the delicacy, and wasted time thinking BOUT was tooo obvious and not very cryptic, but no alternative presented itself so in it went.
  3. An assisted 1hr40 for me. So I guess that’s technically another DNF.

    40-mins this morning (7-8 clues in first 20mins then not much extra).

    A further hour this afternoon where I started checking my answers after 45-mins as I began to lose the will to live. A couple of small corrections got me PENDANT, NET and ANIL then bludgeoned my way through THIAMIN (finally remembering it), SHADOW, WAD.

    FOI ECO
    LOI TOUPEE (bludgeoned)
    COD STET
    NHO ANIL, PORBEAGLE (but thought as we were looking at predators it likely ended in EAGLE)

  4. Late start, and no finish. Did manage to guess Porbeagle, but refused to put STET in, as never heard of it and it looked unlikely.

    Also missed TOUPEE, although I did have the right sort of locks.

    NHO ANIL for that matter either

  5. Pleased to have everything correct in the end, but I would have been closer to the half hour mark had I not spent several minutes convincing myself that SWEETMEAT was definitely right (by seeing how the clue worked), that TOUPEE was probably right (even though I didn’t see what the “perhaps not totally secure” was doing) and that STET was the most likely thing, though I’d never heard of it. One thing I didn’t have a problem with was PORBEAGLE, and I can’t help feeling that if RABELAIS, HEGEL and whatshisface (I’ve already forgotten him – no I haven’t, it was TARTUFFE) can appear in a QC, then the common name of a British species of shark that I’ve known about since childhood, can have a place too. We all have different GK. Final time 37:41, COD BUTTERCUP. Thanks Wurm and Rotter.
  6. Struggled with this one and failed on CANUTE, PORBEAGLE and TOUPEE despite having clicked that locks was hinting at hair of some sort.
  7. Very late solve by the Randoms and, I’m afraid I haven’t got time to read everyone’s thoughts and comments. However, I will do so tomorrow.

    In summary, I found this QC incredibly difficult. The wordplay in several of the clues seemed very contrived and, even though I somehow staggered over the finish line unaided, I remained unsure of the parsing for more than a third of them. That shouldn’t happen nowadays (I’ve been going at this for 20 months, now), so I would suggest it wasn’t really a QC. 66 minutes for me.

    Mrs Random, of course, would (rightly) take issue with my conclusion, as she polished it off in just 21 minutes. Her mysterious ability to guess randomly, but also correctly never ceases to amaze me.

    Many thanks to Wurm and Rotter (I will go through your blog at leisure tomorrow).

  8. This was one of the hardest QCs I’ve attempted. I failed to finish for most of the reasons listed above, though I did learn that anyone calling me a stupid git can be informed of their tautology. Unless, of course, their meaning is that I am both foolish and a contemptible person.
  9. I found it difficult. Didn’t know the shark although I was almost there with the letters of the anagram. Hate anagrams. Stet means let it stand not let it be. That is amen. Also re means about or concerning or in the case of not on, surely? Didn’t know anil but guessed it.
  10. Found this one impossible. PORBEAGLE, TOUPEE, PENDANT all stumped me among many others. I actually use STET in everyday life (publishing background) but didn’t get it. Ah well.

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