A gentle Friday Quick Cryptic from Teazel today [Edit: well it was for me as I had all the required knowledge and vocabulary, but your mileage may differ]. I was just 3 answers short of a clean sweep and was held up only briefly by finding the first word in 6D (my clue of the day for the surface) to finish in 4:32. I also enjoyed the cheese sandwich. Thank-you Teazel. How did you all get on?
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Sawbill’s turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword here. If you are interested in trying our previous offerings you can find an index to all 117 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Beyond Europe, price increase to make milk safe (10) |
| PASTEURISE – PAST (beyond) EU (Europe) RISE (price increase). An easy one to start. | |
| 8 | Seen milling around outside, graduates in a group (2,5) |
| EN MASSE – (seen)* [milling around] outside MAS (graduates). | |
| 9 | Retrospective look breaking through in stringed instrument (5) |
| VIOLA – LO (look) reversed -> OL, in VIA (through). | |
| 10 | Scatterbrained daughter at the back (4) |
| DAFT – D (daughter) AFT (at the back of a ship). | |
| 11 | Bury dung for disintegration? It’s bottled! (8) |
| BURGUNDY – (bury dung)* [for disintegration]. The image conjured up the by surface is not pleasant, unlike Burgundy wine. | |
| 13 | Rural deity finally blessed a wild animal (5) |
| PANDA – PAN (rural deity), last letter of blesseD, and A. | |
| 14 | Bad weather announced, as a rule (5) |
| REIGN – RAIN (bad weather) sounds like REIGN. | |
| 16 | Loss of nerve as result of a walk in the snow? (4,4) |
| COLD FEET – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint. | |
| 17 | Fellow making section of book much shorter (4) |
| CHAP – CHAP{ter} (section of a book) much shorter. | |
| 20 | Miss run, and one may be out of the competition (5) |
| LOSER – LOSE (miss) R (run). | |
| 21 | Derisory payment for strip cartoon (7) |
| PEANUTS – Double definition. | |
| 22 | Opposing band on the radio — a necessity when driving in cold weather? (10) |
| ANTIFREEZE – ANTI (opposing), FRIEZE (a decorated band along the wall of a room), sounds like FREEZE. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Implore to take some simple advice (5) |
| PLEAD – Hidden in simPLE ADvice. | |
| 2 | One may need two knockouts to win (12) |
| SEMIFINALIST – Cryptic definition. | |
| 3 | Facility that troops may stand at (4) |
| EASE – Double definition. | |
| 4 | Piteous in French street, suffering flu (6) |
| RUEFUL – RUE (French street) (flu)* [suffering]. | |
| 5 | Violence, say, involves grave wrong (8) |
| SAVAGERY – (grave)* [wrong] in SAY. | |
| 6 | Louche cousin desperate for accommodation (7,5) |
| COUNCIL HOUSE – (Louche cousin)* [desperate]. I had to cross out the letters for HOUSE to see the first word. | |
| 7 | American jail, that one in the ravine (6) |
| CANYON – CAN (American slang for jail) YON (that one). | |
| 12 | Endless hostilities at home for killer of vermin (8) |
| WARFARIN – WARFAR{e} (hostilities) without the last letter IN (at home). A chemical used as a rat poison. It is also used as a medicine to prevent blood clots. | |
| 13 | What you might add to a cheese sandwich is a difficulty (6) |
| PICKLE – Double definition, the first a cryptic hint. | |
| 15 | Key Greek character in tourist spot there (6) |
| DELPHI – DEL (delete key label is often abbreviated to that) PHI (Greek character). The tourist spot in Greece. Delphi in legend (previously called Pytho) was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions .. | |
| 18 | Dated and almost approved (5) |
| PASSE – All but the last letter of PASSE{d} (approved). | |
| 19 | Den left impression (4) |
| LAIR – L (left) AIR (impression of a quality or manner given by someone or something). | |
12:05 – it’s been quite a slow week overall, and nearly every time, it’s because I’ve been breezeblocked on my LOI. Today was no exception. I must have spent two or three minutes staring at it, and even got MrB to take a look, but he wasn’t any help 😅 But then the eponymous drop. Phew!
I’m another who often struggles with Teazel, although I always enjoy his puzzles, but found this mostly straightforward.
FOI Pasteurised LOI Semifinalist COD Council house
Thanks Teazel and John
Another day from hell. I am close to breaking point with these puzzles. It was anything but gentle or easy for this ignoramus.
Here is my week:
M – 14
Tu – 34
W – 60
Th – 13
F – 28
A total of 149 minutes. A testament to my complete inability to comprehend cryptic crosswords. How can I be so poor after all this time?
I got less than half on the big puzzle, most of which was totally impenetrable.
I try so hard and I get nothing but frustration and self-loathing in return. Something like 12 hours this week. What’s the point?
PS Just read the blog for big crossword. This reinforces my belief that I haven’t got what it takes. So many easy clues that simply pass me by.
No doubt I will return next week for more humiliation, although I’m not sure why.
Well, Gary, maybe you should look at it a different way. Never mind how long it takes to complete a puzzle. What did enjoy about the clues you could solve? And what did you learn from the TfTT blogs for clues you couldn’t solve? It is just a matter of practice and it takes time. Eventually, of course, like with me, senility sets in and you gradually get less proficient, but, hey ho, that’s life. I may be getting gradually slower but that doesn’t detract from my enjoyment. Don’t let not being a speedy Gonzales impair your entertainment.
I’ve been thinking that too, John! As a support assistant in a school, I was once recommended to think of 3 positive things to say before being negative.
Thanks Jubrin
Thanks John, I’ll try to do that 😊
A gentle outing for a Friday. No particular problems and an escape from the SCC.
COD Bury dung anagrammed to get Burgundy! Cheers!
10.45. I should have tried this before the 15×15 , which left me with brain fade.
John, for some reason the webpage for your Sunday Special is not publishing comments. I don’t think the problem is my end as there are no comments at all as at 9.00 am on Sunday.
What I was trying to say for Sawbill was:
“Excellent puzzle, all done in a faster-than-usual 8 minutes. A small hesitation over Nature = Make up, but the first definition and the checkers were clear enough. Very much enjoyed CROSSBENCHER and AFT, two lovely clues of very differing length! Many thanks Sawbill for another most enjoyable challenge.
Cedric”
And, even odder, my picture goes AWOL. And then, just as inexplicably, returns. It is 1st December not 1st April, isn’t it?
How odd. There are 4 comments on the solution page, so I don’t know why you can’t comment or see the comments there. As for here… maybe you weren’t logged in for the previous comment?
Thank you John. No idea what happened – but now all resolved and the website took the comment at third time of asking. Perhaps because I was on a different device?