Times Quick Cryptic No 2242 by Teazel — Did you hear about the fire at the circus?

Author   plusjeremyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I was well and truly Teazed! But at least I finished, albeit in 11:19. This was very tricky but very satisfying.

My conventions in the solutions below are to underline definitions (including a defining phrase); put linking words in [brackets]; and put all wordplay indicators in italics. I also use a solidus (/) to help break up the clue where necessary, especially for double definitions without linking words.

Across
1 Screen bride’s attendant behind house (4,4)
HOME PAGE – PAGE after HOME

I hadn’t thought of PAGE as being a bride’s attendant specifically, and the definition ‘screen’ is not much of a help!
5 Stops wedding announcement being read (4)
BANS – homophone of BANNS
8 Irishman I brought forward for a summary (2,3)
IN ALL – NIALL with the I moved to the front

Not sure if I got the definition right, but it couldn’t be ‘summary’, could it?
9 Friend shielding revolutionary hacker (7)
MACHETE – MATE around CHE
11 Swallow starts to execute acrobatic turn (3)
EAT – first letters of EXECUTE ACROBATIC TURN
12 Ask Hector to cook something for tea (9)
SHORTCAKE – anagram of ASK HECTOR
13 Notice about dog to tie up (6)
SECURE – SEE around CUR
15 Determined [to be] under canvas (6)
INTENT – IN TENT
18 Use plan in touring Korea, for one (9)
PENINSULA – anagram of USE PLAN IN
19 Message on tomb [that brings] a tear (3)
RIP – R.I.P.

I laughed at this one.
20 Gain / medal for gallantry, initially relieving castle (7)
WINDSOR – WIN + DSO (Distinguished Service Order) + first letter of RELIEVING

Didn’t know the medal, but fortunately the castle was gettable.
21 Subject to choose, not the last (5)
TOPIC – TO PICK without the last letter
22 Fungus / that damages iron (4)
RUST – double definition

Shows you how much wheat farming I do… never heard of the first definition!
23 One may show press instruction at an opening (8)
DOORBELL – cryptic definition

I mean, are doorbells typically accompanied by instructions?
Down
1 Woman who’s expecting? (7)
HEIRESS – cryptic definition

Expecting an inheritance, that is. Not totally sure I understand what’s going on here. I looked in the dictionary to see if there are any specialized definitions of ‘expect’ that have to do with inheritance, but I couldn’t find any.

For what it’s worth, I originally wanted this one to be WAITRESS.
2 Carving name into flesh [is] deliberate (5)
MEANT – N in MEAT
3 Bound to open hands [in] US resort (4,7)
PALM SPRINGS – SPRING in PALMS

Biffed this one.
4 Frisk doctor entering prison (6)
GAMBOL – M.B. in GAOL

Perhaps someone can explain to me the whole GAOL thing. Is this the only British spelling of what we call ‘jail’? Is it an equivalent alternative? Do you see it in newspapers? Etc.
6 Maintain period [is] normal (7)
AVERAGE – AVER + AGE
7 [For] investment, one’s raised / for example / euros initially (5)
SIEGE – I’S reversed + E.G. + first letter of EUROS

I can’t imagine many will be too happy about this one. ‘Investment’ is a rare definition of SIEGE. I was fortunate enough to have not even read the definition until writing this blog.
10 Shrub [found in] bed on holiday (11)
COTONEASTER – COT + ON + EASTER

Never heard of this one, but pieced it together from the wordplay.
14 Dogs, a number wearing coats regularly (7)
CANINES – NINE in every other letter of COATS
16 Clay pit being worked over in no way unusual (7)
TYPICAL – anagram of CLAY PIT
17 Book [is] nothing after a couple of pints (6)
QUARTO – O after QUART

This one took me awhile, and I nearly gave up!
18 One with a penny debt might … (5)
POWER – P(enny) OWER is ‘one with a penny debt’

I liked this one.
19 … [cause] pure chaos / with European currency (5)
RUPEE – anagram of PURE + E

60 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 2242 by Teazel — Did you hear about the fire at the circus?”

  1. We were slow on this one. 1a caused problems, Home page and 7d siege. No problem with cotoneaster, plentiful in garden and very colourful berries now.

  2. Much the same experience as everybody else – a slow solve taking 25 mins in all, with everything parsed. NHO siege = investment or rust = fungus. Also wanted to put waitress at 1dn. Some very tricky clues here.

    FOI – 5ac BANS
    LOI – 23ac DOORBELL
    COD – 23ac DOORBELL. Also liked 1dn HEIRESS and 10dn COTONEASTER.

  3. enjoyable but ouch as 4 left undone
    some fun cluing in the ones we did get
    liked machete

  4. A tricky challenge, but I must have been on Teazel’s wavelength as it took only average time. With only the initial S, I put in SIEGE on wordplay and a hunch, but seeing the blog think it was probably more than a hunch and that at some time in the past 80 years I have read something like …troops were invested in the city…

    FOI BANS, LOI and COD DOORBELL. Puzzle and blog both much enjoyed, thanks T and J.

  6. I’m with Poison Wyvern and others on this, way to tricky / obscure. 1A “screen” could mean any page, not a clear indication of HOME PAGE. NHO SIEGE for investment! And I thought QUARTO was a paper size? Glad to have got more than half solved / parsed.

  7. Ok – a day late but FWIW – I didn’t find this so hard at all. Many that were not liked by others eg Doorbell seemed pretty straightforward, especially with a couple of crossers to give confidence to the PDM. My failures were 18d Power and 22a Rust. I think I should have got Rust but P-ower seems off the mark from the clue – and there are options eg pawns which looked more credible to me. I guess the lack of a single word clue in the definition spooked me. If I had got Rust, then Powe would have been more obvious with two checkers. I didn’t push the solve as I was keen to catch up and tackle today’s puzzle. But, really nothing to complain about regarding the clues I did get. So not sure what the fuss is about. We’ve had real stinkers compared to this one.

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