Well, this was a genuine Quick Cryptic from Joker, at least as far as I was concerned. I might have stumbled over 1a for a short while, but everything else went in comfortably, inside 9 minutes and with no major hold-ups.
Across
- Quarter ration for domestic male worker (5-7)
HOUSE-HUSBAND – HOUSE (quarter) and HUSBAND (ration, as in husbanding supplies). I was briefly thrown by this, but it fell once I had a checker or two.
8 A pot is slightly open (4)
AJAR – Something of a chestnut, A and JAR (pot).
9 Mask at one time put in cradle regularly (7)
CONCEAL – ONCE (at one time) included in alternate letters of CrAdLe.
11 Including queue for bank (7)
INCLINE – INC{luding} and LINE (queue).
12 Charlie has branch to shin up (5)
CLIMB – C{harlie – phonetic alphabet) and LIMB (branch).
14 Highly motivated daughter needs rent (6)
DRIVEN – D(aughter) and RIVEN (rent, as in torn).
15 Notice problem about temperature (6)
POSTER – POSER (problem) containing (about) T{emperature}.
18 Fallacy nicely traps one disinclined to believe (5)
CYNIC – Hidden answer inside (traps) {falla}CY NIC{ely}.
20 Look forward to penny credit being corrected (7)
PREDICT – Anagram (being corrected) of P{enny} and [CREDIT].
21 Pick up child likely to make mischief and wander (7)
IMPROVE – IMP (child likely to make mischief) and ROVE (wander).
23 Song West Side Story heroine left unstarted (4)
ARIA – MARIA (West Side Story heroine) after the M has been dropped (left unstarted).
24 Men let gannet free in mix-up (12)
ENTANGLEMENT – Anagram (free) of [MEN LET GANNET]. This came easily to mind, as I have recently been reading about quantum entanglement.
Down
2 Dissent from job notice badly drafted (9)
OBJECTION – Anagram (badly drafted) of [JOB NOTICE].
3 Young fish from South Africa, right to eat (7)
SARDINE – S{outh} A{frica} followed by R{ight} and DINE (to eat).
4 Joint English and Yankee game (6)
HOCKEY – HOCK (joint, on a quadruped) with E{nglish} and Y{ankee} – (phonetic alphabet).
5 Coins newly minted using sound waves (5)
SONIC – Anagram (newly minted) of [COINS].
6 Cutting tool unknown in A&E (3)
AXE – X (unknown in mathematics) inside A and E (A&E).
7 Intended fine food shop to roast? (10)
DELIBERATE – DELI (fine food shop) and BERATE (to roast, as in to give a roasting to).
10 Revengeful, formally charge four in five with Ecstasy (10)
VINDICTIVE – INDICT (formally charge) with IV (four in Roman numerals) all inside V (five in Roman numerals) and E{cstasy}.
13 Sixth sense currently being taught (9)
INTUITION – If one were currently being taught, one might be IN TUITION.
16 Finished weapon – and method of delivery (7)
OVERARM – OVER (finished) and ARM (weapon). Bowling OVERARM is a type of delivery in cricket (and other, lesser games).
17 Charm of a quiet ringing of bells (6)
APPEAL – A (a) P (quiet, musical notation) and PEAL (ringing of bells).
19 Boast new coronation headgear (5)
CROWN – CROW (boast) and N{ew} – this should be fresh in everyone’s memory, both from the coronation itself, and yesterday’s puzzle where it appeared in the plural form.
22 Exercise time for Rover? (3)
PET – PE (physical exercise) and T{ime}, with Rover (common name for a dog) serving as a kind of definition by example.
A steady solve of a more approachable puzzle than the last few.
I managed to complete this taxing but enjoyable QC from Joker, a setter I don’t usually associate with the words “enjoyable QC”.
House-Husband held me up for much of my solving time. I’m not overly happy with husband being ration. I do feel that if he put his mind to it, Joker could have given a better word to describe husband in this clue.
Other than that a nice QC, though I don’t think I would have been able to complete it without a little help from the cat (who liked the sardine clue).
No actual time, but must have been around 20m, fastest for many a day. Spent a short time trying to recall Maria for 23a. A very pleasant solve, thanks Joker.
HOUSE HUSBAND went straight in and that got me going OK, but am I really a domestic male worker? 10D only came after I had all the checkers. Good puzzle and not too difficult – my fastest time for 2 weeks. Thanks Joker and Rotter. 4:01.
12:10 Battle of Gestilren: King Sverker II of Sweden is defeated and killed, by King Eric X of Denmark who then takes the Swedish throne
No real trouble, HOUSE HUSBAND needed all the checkers.
AJAR is surely a very ancient Chestnut. “When is a door not a door. When it is AJAR”
Am I the last POSTER today? Busy days are like that, dipping in and out and savouring them. Joker does bring a smile to me and I like that. Today especially for OVERARM very topical and PET.
I am about to cook my fresh SARDINES tonight. Now I know they are young fish it explains why each week at the fishmongers they seem to be getting bigger!
Thanks very much to Joker, great puzzles and the Rotter for the explanations.
15:44 HOUSE HUSBAND took a while. I wondered if a quarter ration might be a MOUSE something. But I was still heading for a quick finish until I spent more than six minutes on LOI POSTER. An entertaining puzzle anyway.
A slow but enjoyable plod for me today. Needed all the checkers for HOUSE HUSBAND. Enjoyed DELIBERATE. Didn’t know SARDINE was a young pilchard, or that there was a verb ‘to husband’ – well I never. Thanks all. Short and sweet. Andy Murray match is calling…
8/24 in 35 minutes. 16 problems. Dreadful.
Sorry to hear that Ian. I thought there were some tough clues today.
Have you tried the Quintagram? I try to attempt this now but without any expectations. It hasn’t improved my performance yet, but I think it’s a good learning device. Why not give it a go as a warm up for the QC?
27 mins – split over three sessions.
I found this on the harder side, and it took an age to get 10dn “Vindictive”, 11ac “Driven” and 21ac “Improve”.
Some good clues though.
FOI – 6dn “Axe”
LOI – 21ac “Improve”
COD – 10dn “Vindictive”
Thanks as usual!
At least I finished today, although I found it very hard. I was totally lost with 1ac and hadn’t a clue what type of clue it was. With the A and D at the end, I saw worker and thought of HAND! That rather set the tone.
There were some difficult synonyms and I struggled mightily with POSTER, despite understanding the word play. I also had problems with HOCKEY (got the EY easily enough) and IMPROVE (needless to say, I saw the clue and thought homophone).
Thanks again to those of you who took the trouble to offer me words of encouragement yesterday. I’m still disappointed with my time today (26 mins), as those I am usually on a par with seem to have jumped ahead. I will persevere, although I’m struggling.
Thanks as always for the excellent blog Rotter. I needed it to parse a few today.
All done in 8:40. As many others, HOUSE HUSBAND needed most of its checkers.
Thanks to Joker & TheRotter