Times Quick Cryptic No 2749 by Asp

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Our second puzzle from new setter Asp, pitched a bit gentler this time…

… which is to say, gentler than the dizzy heights of 150 on the Quitch, from Asp’s debut last month. Definitely quite a lot of tricky things going on here as well, but the grid was more generously peppered with easier entry points and anagrams, making for a more accessible puzzle.

And a lovely puzzle it was, with inventiveness and some cracking surfaces, my favourites being 11ac, 4d and an actual chuckle at 6d. I clocked in at 7:41, only slightly quicker than Tuesday’s, so I’d still put this above 100 on the Quitch.

Good stuff indeed – 7d to Asp!

Across
1 Resisting having status (12)
WITHSTANDING –  WITH (having / in possession of) STANDING (status). I’d never considered NOTWITHSTANDING deriving from NOT WITHSTANDING, instead guessing it was from NOT WITH STANDING (whatever that was supposed to mean). Notwithstanding several minutes poring over the dictionary, however, I remain notmuchwiser, although I suppose “not defending one’s position” could sort of mean “regardless”.
8 Obstruct everybody on street (5)
STALL – ALL (everybody) on ST[reet]
9 Fat babies regularly smudge clothes (7)
BLUBBER – BBE (B a B i E s “regularly”) that BLUR (smudge) “clothes”. A Yoda-esque type of word construction more often in the main puzzle seen.
10 Second person caught sheep (3)
EWE – if you catch something you hear it, in this instance YOU being another word for ‘second person’. In  Asp’s first puzzle there was an ambiguous ‘reversal’ clue, where the answer could have been either TIDE or EDIT. We have a similar clue today, in that the answer could perfectly well be YOU or EWE. It occasionally happens that a clue can be ambiguous, taken by itself, but there certainly is no rule against such a thing, unless the ambiguity remains after all the checkers are in place (obviously).
11 Lazy and not even dressed? (9)
SHIFTLESS – double-ish definition: a now rare meaning of shiftless is being without shift – i.e. naked – a shift being an undergarment. The OED cites someone called T. Otway from 1680, “He threaten’d me to banish me [from] his House, Naked and shiftless to the World.”  I did spend some time wondering if SHIRTLESS could possibly be a word for lazy.
13 Rent   somewhere in Croatia (5)
SPLIT – double definition, the first as in rent/torn asunder
14 Dispossess some crime victims (5)
EVICT – “some” crimE VICTims
16 Son is mixed up with Arab in scrapes (9)
ABRASIONS -anagram (mixed up) of SON IS with ARAB. Made a shade trickier by wondering if the anagram fodder was SON IS with ARAB, or SON with ARAB IN – either works in the cryptic.
17 Singular   type of number (3)
ODD – double definition. I felt sufficiently confident to put in ONE as the answer, thinking vaguely that something like “He’s a one” could mean being a ‘singular type’ as in someone particularly unusual. But no, doesn’t really work.
19 Man on public transport performing for money (7)
BUSKING – KING (man – another word for any piece in chess) on BUS (public transport). To busk originally had the more general meaning of going from place to place, or simply looking for something, from either the French busquer or Spanish buscar, to seek out.
21 I left marriage finally, after former partner’s removal from home (5)
EXILE – I L[eft] E (marriagE “finally”) after EX (former partner)
22 Dish was for lad prepared by another (7,5)
WALDORF SALAD – anagram (prepared) of DISH WAS FOR LAD, with the definition referring back to the word DISH. Yum. Although it’s been a while since I’ve had one. Edit: that would of course be a WISHDORF SALAD (a revolting thing indeed); this is an anagram (prepared) of WAS FOR LAD, with “another” LAD on the end.
Down
1 Debris used to be there following evacuation (5)
WASTE – WAS (used to be) TE (TherE “following evacuation”)
2 Itinerant reporter entertains wild party briefly (9)
TRAVELLER -TELLER (reporter) entertains RAVe (wild party) “briefly”
3 Complacent broadcast feels as if it’s beginning to decline (4-9)
SELF-SATISFIED – anagram (broadcast) of FEELS AS IF ITS and D (“beginning” to Decline)
4 Although adults loathe babies, everyone is tiny to begin with (6)
ALBEIT – the “beginning” letters of the six words following the definition. (Hmm, that felt only marginally quicker than writing out “adults loathe babies, everyone is tiny” and then fiddling with the starting letters.)
5 Daring dancing stunned lasses (13)
DAUNTLESSNESS – anagram (dancing) of STUNNED LASSES. Dauntlessness looks longer than stunned lasses.
6 Where one might file bad reviews about writer? (3)
NIB – A bad review might be carefully filed away in the BIN; about = reverse.
7 Cheers person getting paid to be a model (6)
PROSIT – PRO (person getting paid) SIT (be a model)
12 Real idiot upset leader (9)
EDITORIAL – anagram (upset) of REAL IDIOT
13 Silence report of religious building in disrepair (6)
SHABBY – SH! (Silence!) and ABBY unquestionably sounds (by “report”) like ABBEY (religious building)
15 His work is supposed to be done by someone else (6)
FORGER – cryptic definition
18 Daughter understood the meaning of fear (5)
DREAD – D(aughter) READ (understood the meaning of)
20 Main means of authentication is reduced (3)
SEA – SEAL (means of authentication) “reduced”

86 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 2749 by Asp”

  2. I found this to be honest harder than the regular puzzle today and took 14 minutes.
    A good challenge though

  3. DNF. Another shirtless for SHIFTLESS. Otherwise all went in without too much trouble. Couldn’t parse BLUBBER or SEA – thanks for explanations roly. ALBEIT was the standout clue for me. Really liked this one from Asp even though it was quite challenging in places

  4. A very slow solve, treading carefully throughout and needing aids. Thank goodness for the blog! Would like a further easing up in difficulty here. Worked too hard to really be counted as fun…
    FOI 8a Stall
    LOI 11a Shiftless
    COD – don’t really remember any – it too long!

  5. 21:04. Slow work today, held up by RINGER for FORGER, BLUBBER, plus thinking rave was involved instead of revel.

  7. Another dodgy DNF here, but as I am on vacation nothing shall bother me! Great clues though BLUBBER went right over my head.

    Thanks to Asp and roly!

  8. Withstanding …. WHAAT?! Prosit …. WHAAT?! Can we have some setters who use common modern day language please! Nightmare puzzle … !

  9. This was a toughie but got there with the Gentleman’s help for FORGER and PROSIT. No idea why I couldn’t see FORGER and like others I’ve always said Prost!

    I enjoyed some of the surfaces particularly the singular type of number; and the real idiot who upset the leader – we’ve seen a lot of these around the UK this week.

    Thanks RolyToly and Asp -although your name gives me the jitters.

  10. I’d forgotten the name of the setter of the puzzle that caused me so much trouble a few weeks ago, so I approached this with an open mind – and found it perfectly approachable. LOI Busking (I kept thinking it ought to be Busker, but that wasn’t enough letters) and POI Forger, which I think was the hardest clue on the grid. Could not parse Traveller, Blubber and Busking (forgot about “man” on chessboard). I’d put this at moderate difficulty. Some nice smooth surfaces to admire.

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