Times Quick Cryptic No 2803 by Orpheus

Author   TemplarPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I think that this is quite an easy one because I almost managed the perfect clean sweep (all clues in order), blown out only by 11a. Still, brisk business by my standards at 05:14 so mohn/verlaine may be breaking 2 minutes! Hope you enjoyed it; may the PB be with you.

Definitions underlined in bold.

Across
1 Tom possibly injured Paul with tip of this weapon (8)
CATAPULT – CAT is “Tom possibly”, then an anagram of “Paul” (“injured”) and T for the “tip of this” (first letter).
5 Almost perfect notion (4)
IDEA – IDEAL is “perfect”, take off the last letter for “almost perfect”, et voila.
8 Piece of fruit — round, as it happens (5)
OLIVE – olives as “fruit” always catches me, because I habitually think of fruit as sweet. But of course an OLIVE is a fruit, so fair enough. O for “round” + LIVE for “as it happens” (“live broadcast” eg). COD from me for a smooth, elegant surface.
9 Trade union golf club keeping old towing vessel (7)
TUGBOAT – TU for “trade union”, G for “golf” (NATO alphabet), then BAT for “club” inside which (“keeping”) is O for “old”. Phew. Easier to adopt “biff then parse” on this one; I found it hard to lift and separate “golf” and “club”.
11 Conscientious way a top man accompanies father home (11)
PAINSTAKING -my LOI, with all checkers in place and even then it took me a while to understand it because it’s a real mosaic of a clue. ST (street) for “way” + A KING for “a top man”. That gives you STAKING. It “accompanies” PA for “father” and IN for “home”. I’m forgiving myself for not getting this straight off the bat!
13 Mistakes encountered in Canberra talks (6)
ERRATA – hidden word (“encountered in”) in “Canberra talks”. You occasionally used to find a slip inside a book marked ERRATA listing a few known errors discovered after printing; it’s Latin, the plural of “erratum”. Through long usage it is now often treated as a singular noun rather than plural (like “data” or “candelabra”) when referring to a list of errors.
14 Church caretaker, initially rather on edge (6)
VERGER – thanks to the unforgettable Edward Sinclair as the VERGER in Dad’s Army, this was a gimme for me. “Initially rather” gives us the closing R, and that is added to (“on”) VERGE for “edge”. “Oh do be quiet Mr Yeatman”.
17 Girl’s pulling power, a diversion (11)
DISTRACTION -DI’S our girl, as she so often is, and she has TRACTION.
20 1100 on returning craft, a river passenger transport (7)
TRAMCAR – I grimly built this up from knowing that it had to have MC in it (the Roman numerals for 1,100). I don’t think I’ve ever been on a TRAMCAR, but Edinburgh has spent a fortune on a new system so maybe they’re coming back. The wordplay is MC for 1,100, going “on” TRA for “returning craft” (ART reversed, in other words) + A + R for “river”. Another mosaic and a definite biff-then-parse for me.
21 Blast of wind engulfing European visitor (5)
GUEST – GUST is a blast of wind and it goes round (“engulfing”) E for “European”.
22 Practical Cockney chap (4)
ANDY – ‘e’s an ‘andy geezer to ‘ave arahnd, says the stereotypical Cockney of his friend who knows how to plumb in a washing machine (or similar practical task).
23 Scottish city woman in a Swiss city (8)
ABERDEEN – ditching Di we move on to DEE for our “woman”, and she is inside (“in”) A BERN. Yes I thought it was spelt BERNE too. No it isn’t an error – apparently if you’re French Swiss you say BERNE but if you’re German Swiss you say BERN. How jolly confusing.
Down
1 Arresting type gathering last of bumper yield (4)
CROP – a COP is an “arresting type”, and here he “gathers” an R for the “last [letter] of bumper”.
2 Person taking holiday just before the fall? (7)
TRIPPER – a cracker joke clue, involving a play on the US sense of “fall” for “autumn”.
3 Very old priest involved with choir (11)
PREHISTORIC – anagram (“involved”) of PRIEST + CHOIR.
4 Up-to-date news from the French trial (6)
LATEST – LA for “the French”, TEST for “trial”.
6 Indian loincloth some remained hot in (5)
DHOTI – hidden (“some”) in “remained hot in”. Famously modelled by Gandhi.
7 US soldier in car or rising aircraft (8)
AUTOGIRO – this word was at the fringes of my vocabulary and in fact only known to me as “autogyro” but I got there through the wordplay, which is GI for “US soldier”, going inside AUTO for “car” and RO for “or rising” (this being a down clue).
10 Sombre Aussie soldier, one working in churchyard (11)
GRAVEDIGGER -GRAVE for “sombre” + DIGGER for “Aussie soldier”. Collins has it as Australians more generally than soldiers – hence Rupert Murdoch’s Private Eye nickname, The Dirty Digger.
12 Feud involving archdeacon and one owing money, we hear (8)
VENDETTA – the honorific for an archdeacon is “venerable”, so that’s VEN. DETTA is aural wordplay for “debtor”, “one owing money”.
15 Italian citizens — small number feeding web-footed birds (7)
GENOESE – NO for “small number” and that goes inside (“feeding”) GEESE.
16 Sign of injury on a black beetle (6)
SCARAB – SCAR is “sign of injury” and it goes “on” A + B. There are more than 30,000 varieties of SCARAB beetle, some of them very beautiful.
18 When speaking, remained sober (5)
STAID – sounds like (“when speaking”) “stayed”.
19 Astonish tabloid, seizing end of report (4)
STUN – talking of the Dirty Digger, the “tabloid” is The SUN and it has inside it (“seizing”) T for “end of report”.

96 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 2803 by Orpheus”

  1. 13 minutes

    I suppose I should be satisfied, but I’m not. Stupidly put RECTOR instead of VERGER initially and then agonised over AUTOGIRO.

    Got about half on big crossword. Dreadfully slow.

    I’ve been made an ‘academic coach’ at work (not at my request) and must now coach students on how to be positive and celebrate their achievements. Can you think of anyone less suited to such a role?

    My glass tends to be of the half-empty variety!

  2. I see the wonders of crossword land. The other day wedge was used for golf club but here it is G for golf and bat for club.

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