Times Quick Cryptic No 223 by Dazzler

Author   macavity123Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Solving time: Troubling to explain, middling to solve!

Morning all.

I found this a bit of a challenge today. A couple of the last clues went in with little trouble from crossing letters (the two long down ones). When I then went to explain them, I saw that they didn’t quite work out, and it was only after a few minutes that I realised I had an alternative spelling in 9 down!

That said, it was a nice puzzle with some smile moments. I liked the clue for 10 across, and I now have an image of Her Maj popping down to her local TSB (Coutts, shurely? – Ed) to pay her Giro in.

Lots of container clues today with words or letters inside others, so a chance to practice those.

Thanks to Dazzler for the puzzle. See you next week!

Across
7 AWARD – The definition is present. WAR (fighting) inside AD (borders, i.e. first and last letters) of AIRFIELD.
8 ADORING – Loving is the definition. ADO ([to make a]song and dance) + RING (band).
10 NIGHTIE – One of my favourites, the clue not the answer! This is an ‘all-in-one’ clue where the whole clue defines it and the word play is within as well. NI (reverse of IN – turn in) + an anagram of EIGHT to give you what you would wear if you did just that.
11 THROB – A word that means to pound is hidden inside BATHROBE.
12 BOSSA NOVA – Steps, i.e. a dance, is the slightly cryptic definition. BOSS (manager) + A + NOV (month) + A (ago, initially).
14 AIL – The definition is trouble. Regularly6 in a clue usually means to take alternate letters of a word, and so it is here. Everyother letter of DANIEL = AIL.
15 RUE – Be sorry about is the definition. RULE (government) minus L (ignoring Labour’s leader).
16 SCRATCHED – A double definition clue. If you pull out of a race at the last minute you do this, and a superficial wound.
18 UTTER – Say is the definition. NUTTER, minus the first letter.
20 RED FLAG – Another double definition. A symbol of revolution is also a sign used to warn of danger.
22 HOLDALL – Large bag is the definition. OLD (dating from far back) inside HALL (auditorium).
23 CREDO – Statement of beliefs is the definition. D (democrat) goes inside an anagram (new) of CORE.

Down
1 GAINSBOROUGH – I wonder how many entered this from cross-checking letters without actually checking how the clue works! I know I did! Painter is the definition. GINS (drinks) around A + BOROUGH (town). At first I thought it was just a double definition. of painter and town!
2 LARGESSE – Generosity is the defintion. L (Liberal) + an anagram (when drunk) of AGREES with S (first letter, source of SOCIALIST’S).
3 EDIT – Correct is the definition. The first name of Ms Piaf without H (husband).
4 MAKE-DO – Ad hoc is the definition. MAKE (fashion) + DO (party).
5 PORTRAIT – Sketch, maybe is the definition, as a portrait could be a sketch. PORT (left) + R.A. (the abbreviation for a member of the Royal Acadaemy, i.e. an artist) + I (one) + T (time).
6 TIER – Row (as in line – not the sense given by the clue) RE (about) + IT, all reversed. One of the oldest sayings in crosswordland is by Afrit, I think, and requoted by Ximenes in his excellent and seminal work “On the Art of the Crossword”: “I need not mean what I say, but I must say what I mean”.
9 GOBBLEDEGOOK – Probably the clue I had most trouble with, as I entered an alternative spelling, with a Y. This made explaining it difficult, as I’d entered it again from checking letters. GOBBLED (scoffed) + E.G. (say, for example) + O (nothing) + OK (very good).
13 AUSTRIAN – European is the definition. An anagram (upset) of ARTISAN + U (first letter, originally) of UNIONS.
14 ACHILLES – Greek hero is the definition. CHILL (cold) inside a reverse (rising) of SEA.
17 RARELY – Once in a blue moon is the definition. A + R (queen, Regina) inside RELY (bank).
19 TALE – Lie is the definition. A homophone (we hear) of TAIL (the end).
21 DUCK – A double definition. To avoid and a big round zero in cricket.

8 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 223 by Dazzler”

  1. 10 minutes again for me though I had problems getting any sort of flow to my solve so I kept hopping around the grid. I had a problem parsing 4dn as I had never come across ‘make-do’ as anything other than a verb so couldn’t see how exactly it corresponded to ‘ad hoc’. All sorted now though.
  2. Well inside the 10 minute barrier today. Perhaps I’m just on Dazzler’s wavelength…Thanks for the blog, nicely explained.
  3. Quite a tough one for me. Got stuck on the painter and the dance steps. An enjoyable challenge though I did not like the use of the word ‘ nutter ‘ for a mentally ill person. Thanks for the blog.
  5. Another enjoyable puzzle, with plenty to smile at and offering a reasonable challenge. Took me a good number of the across clues before I clicked onto Dazzler’s wavelength. But after that, the solve went quite smoothly. Had enough checkers early on to see that GAINSBOROUGH had to end in borough, but persisted a little too long in looking for the name of a town before the DOH moment.

    Like macavity I enjoyed NIGHTIE and also ACHILLES and LARGESSE.

  6. Easiest one of the week for me. Started really well and even got Gainsborough and then Bossa Nova straight from the clues. Alas, Tier/Adoring in the NE corner ment I have still to break through the 1 hr barrier. For some reason it’s nearly always the shorter answers that give me the most difficulty. Invariant
  7. All went swimmingly until left just with the Gainsborough/Bossa Nova pair. For some reason, could not get on the right wavelength with either of these (convinced I was looking for a town and some kind of staircase respectively).

    DNF in time I allotted, so tail between legs. Thanks for the blog macavity

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