Times Quick Cryptic No 2408 by Joker

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Perhaps a touch on the trickier side today.

The top half went in smoothly enough but the bottom half took a bit more unpacking, with my geography and anagramming leaving a bit to be desired. And a major PDM when I finally discovered what was going on with 24ac.

Wrapped up in 8:18, and much enjoyed – many thanks to Joker!

Anagram indicators in italics.

Across
1 Not sweet, animal, heartless. Just so (6)
BRUTAL – BRUT (not sweet, as in a wine) AnimaL “heartless”. The definition refers back to the rest of the clue, which adequately describes BRUTAL.
5 Patrol going around entrance (6)
PORTAL – PATROL going around
8 Risk grenade exploding with pin’s end put in (8)
ENDANGER – GRENADE exploding, with N (piN‘s “end”) put in
9 President that’s cleaner? Not right (4)
BUSH – BrUSH (cleaner) without the R(ight). The first Bush, to preserve the non-living-person (except for the monarch) rule in Times crosswords (except Sundays).
10 Amphibian’s weight in trap (4)
NEWT – W(eight) in NET (trap)
11 Nice place, relaxing (8)
PLEASING – PL. (Place, as in a town square) EASING (relaxing)
12 Scattered boxes with energy (6)
SPARSE – SPARS (boxes) with E(nergy)
14 Without leaders, fun truly is wild (6)
UNRULY – “without leaders”, fUN tRULY
16 Tell about English initially going lower in division (8)
RELEGATE – RELATE (tell) about E(nglish) and G (“initially” Going)
18 Sulphur frequently is not hard to the touch (4)
SOFT – S(ulphur) OFT (frequently)
20 Execute reform centrally (4)
HANG – cHANGe (reform) “centrally”
21 Head leaves Bedfordshire town likely to fail (8)
UNSTABLE – Dunstable is our Beds town, with the head leaving
23 Establish a colony   somewhere in Yorkshire (6)
SETTLE – double definition
24 Wizard   writer for children (6)
POTTER – double definition: from Harry to Beatrix. I was scrolling down through Collins to see what on earth kind of child’s writing implement a “potter” was when Beatrix appeared. I doubt I would have parsed this otherwise; I was miles off.
Down
2 Fury about new rocket-testing area (5)
RANGE – RAGE (fury) about N(ew)
3 Large area requires empty outdoor vehicle (7)
TRACTOR – TRACT (large area) requires OR (“empty” OutdooR). “Outdoor” is a generous hint from Joker (and one I availed of), but has nothing to do with the actual definition, which would involve it doing double duty.
4 Record   piece of firewood (3)
LOG – double definition
5 Hound is in itself endearingly attractive (9)
PERSECUTE – PER SE (in itself) CUTE (endearingly attractive)
6 Puzzle about public transport (5)
REBUS – RE (about) BUS (public transport)
7 Weapon store is second in combat zone left (7)
ARSENAL – S(econd) in ARENA (conbat zone) L(eft)
11 Strange erratum replacing middle of page is ill-considered (9)
PREMATURE – strange ERRATUM replacing the AG of PagE
13 Repaper for renovation — and what one must do first? (7)
PREPARE – REPAPER for renovation
15 Perhaps lounge with paintings to go from the top (7)
RESTART – REST (perhaps lounge) with ART (paintings)
17 Cube has heaviness without width (5)
EIGHT – wEIGHT (heaviness) without the W(idth)
19 Primarily fake, artificial, lying, sham, ersatz? (5)
FALSE – Fake Artificial Lying Sham Ersatz “primarily” spell FALSE, and also define it in various ways
22 Lose one’s footing, dropping large drink (3)
SIP – SLIP (lose one’s footing), dropping L(arge)

 

85 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 2408 by Joker”

  1. Dnf…

    Could be on a clean sweep depending on tomorrow.

    I had everything after 20 mins, but just couldn’t get 5dn “Persecute”. Then, on reviewing the answers, I see I put “Pleasant” for 11ac (still not sure why that couldn’t actually be an answer).

    I rattled through Yorkshire towns, and ended up putting “Nestle” for 23ac – as in establishing a colony and the fact there is a Nestle factory in York. Ok – perhaps that was stretching it a bit, but it seemed to work 😀

    FOI – 10ac “Newt”
    LOI – dnf
    COD – 24ac “Potter!”

    Thanks as usual!

    1. Yes I too had PLEASANT – the problem with it is that EASANT is not a word.

      1. Agreed – but I took it as a double definition of “Nice Place” and “Relaxing”.

  2. I liked this puzzle from Joker although I really wasn’t sure whether BRUTAL was the right answer. Now I understand the parsing, especially the double duty of ‘heartless’ (thanks guys) I really like it. Also liked PERSECUTE (very nice). HANG took a while to parse and I was also a little unsure about EIGHT for cube.
    A really enjoyable workout – thanks Joker and rolytoly.

    BTW I’m no longer registering my times for the QC. Instead I’m enjoying the challenge of completing every one, even if sometimes it takes quite a while. It’s great to see progress of course, but I’m measuring mine by fewer DNFs and greater enjoyment.

    1. I agree entirely with your approach. I used to struggle with the 15×15, taking 2 or 3 hours. I enjoyed the challenge but rarely finished without seeking help. The QC gives me just as much enjoyment and takes around 30 mins normally. Hopefully my times will improve, but that is not the primary motivation.

    2. I wish I had your approach to the QC, but my competitive side won’t let me!

  3. I completed yesterday’s 15×15 in just over an hour this morning; not an easy puzzle.
    So I was confident about Joker’s QC; he’s a setter I normally do well with.
    But after 20 quite difficult minutes I still had two left (1a and 3d) so took a break.
    Have just come back to it and immediately saw BRUTAL -I was very misled by the Just So device.
    LOI was TRACTOR where I had the OR from the start, but I was stuck with COAST as a maybe.
    A challenging puzzle for me.
    David

  4. 25:25. Being unable to see the role of hound or the point of middle of page or that per se was required all meant I spent ages on PREMATURE and PERSECUTE. Oh well, the SCC is a pleasant place- good company and a decent cup of tea.

    1. Sorry, I couldn’t join you today but enjoy your tea on the terrace. I can assure you it’s been especially nice out there for the past week – especially with the sunshine and long summer days 🍰☕

  5. 8:38 but with a very careless typo. BOSH for BUSH. Drat! Thanks Joker and Roly.

  6. My knowledge of Yorkshire is good, Bedfordshire bad, so has to Settle for looking at an old atlas to find D-UNSTABLE. In one of my early mag jobs in London, we used to be treated to a Christmas lunch at Whipsnade Zoo by our printers but that was in ye very olde days. (Didn’t get to go round the zoo though.)
    Laughed aloud at PERSECUTE PDM so that’s my COD.
    Failed to parse BRUTAL.
    Completed the top half quickly but slow on PLEASING and looked up PREMATURE. Didn’t realise replacing AG of Page meant deleting. Oh well.
    Thanks vm, Roly

  7. FOI the AL of BRUTAL although the full answer was my penultimate solve. PREPARE amused me because it reminds me of my dad who says ‘if you are going to do a job, do it properly’ and yet I married someone who likes to do a job hastily. DIY is not one of his many talents. LOI in a good time for this week, 8:33, was PERSECUTE.

  8. Unusual midday solve but still a DNF – beaten by 16a Relegate (not getting beyond ‘delegate’) & 20a Hang (unable to parse) as I was too unsure of 17d eight to enter it for sure. If I had been confident of Eight I would possibly have completed this tricky one from Joker.
    Dunstable is notable for the traffic queues at Icknield Way/Watling Street junction. Otherwise an un-remarkable town but with a much maligned reputation. For four years I worked in Luton, and so Dunstable has always seemed much nicer, and almost countryside.

  9. I struggled to get started but then put on a bit of a spurt … until about eight clues to go, that is. Those final eight (or so) took an eternity and I stumbled across the line in 47 minutes. Somewhat on the slow side for me these days, but Joker often has that effect.

    For me, the top half of the grid contained the most challenging clues. RANGE, BRUTAL, (the unparsed) PERSECUTE, PLEASING, BUSH and (the NHO) REBUS all remained out of reach for a very long time.

    Mrs Random had few such problems, finishing as she did in 26 minutes.

    Many thanks to Joker and rolytoly.

  10. 10.48 Quickest for three weeks, though it felt quite slow. RESTART, UNSTABLE, PREMATURE and RELEGATE held me up at the end. While thinking about the cryptic bits I initially rejected “REST-ART” as not a word. I really should type in ideas to see how they look.

  11. 31:28, but as ever just happy to finish. Thought I was going to fail at the last hurdle and spent many minutes on HANG (thank you rolytoly for clearing up the wordplay).

    I think I’m slowly getting better. Still get stuck a lot, but I’m also getting more clues in seconds rather than minutes.

  12. Joined those who found it tricky. Some solved without being able to parse, eg brutal, had to get help for the two towns. ‘Poor week for us so far.

  13. I don’t often post on here as I am an early evening solver and most of the points I would have made have already been covered. Even so, I visit every weekday – sometimes for an answer or explanation, but always to enjoy the comments from other solvers.
    Like Chabuduo above I rejected REST-ART as nonsensical before revisiting the clue when my brain suddenly moved the emphasis to give RE-START. Doh! PERSECUTE was my LOI as I was sure there must be a dog reference somewhere, and I was unaware of PER SE meaning ‘in itself’.

    1. Hello Wheatstone! Do please post your comments from time to time, despite the relative lateness of your solves. Quite a few of us re-visit this place later on in the evening to catch up on the chat and responses to earlier trails of conversation.

  14. No official time but somewhere between 20-25 mins. Not an SCC escape. I should perhaps be satisfied given some of the earlier posts, but I never really got on the wavelength and did some biffing. Another day when I struggled with some clues that should be food and drink (11dn; 24ac; 15dn).

    Liked SETTLE but more than a MER at the straight definition for RELEGATE. Any football fan will tell you that it means to go down a division! I should know as a member of the tangerine half of Dundee.

    Thanks for the blog.

    PS Just realised I actually had a DNF as I put PLEASANT for 11ac. Sums up my general level of incompetence at the moment. ☹️ A truly dreadful week thus far. Two DNFs and well in excess of 2 hours. What’s the betting on an Izetti tomorrow?

    1. I’m expecting Izetti tomorrow. He’s been turning up every other Friday since March and he’s due again. If it’s not him then a theme or NINA.

      I was at 2hrs yesterday and my weekly goals are already met or in tatters. A DNF on Tuesday blocking the clean sweep and the SCC escape today. I suppose as we’re now in June, I currently still have the chance to avoid any solve taking longer than an hour … roll on tomorrow…

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