A Quick Crossword of about average difficulty from Oink today, if my time of a little over 5 minutes is anything to go by. Mostly quite straightforward as always with Oink, but I fell for a couple of misdirections. ALICE and SPARING held me up most. Some lovely smooth surfaces, the Italian cook Angela being my favourite. Thank-you Oink. How did you all get on?
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword, entitled “Some Hae Meat”, here. If you are interested in trying our previous offerings you can find an index to all 121 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | The fall of Kamala Harris? (6) |
| AUTUMN – Cryptic Definition. I should have seen this more quickly as it is a bit of a chestnut. Kamala Harris is American and in the USA they call AUTUMN “fall”. | |
| 4 | Fat Scottish landowner abandoning island (4) |
| LARD – LA{i}RD (Scottish landowner) without the I (island). Lard is the clarified fat of a pig… so this is our trademark porcine reference of the day from Oink. | |
| 9 | Anticipate enemies crossing river by middle of week (7) |
| FORESEE – R (river) in FOES (enemies), and the middle letters of wEEk. | |
| 10 | He’s going to love this magazine (5) |
| HELLO – HE’LL (he’s going to) O (0; love in tennis). | |
| 11 | Programme made by bad actors abroad (9) |
| BROADCAST – Did you try to find an answer including the (porcine reference) HAMS, as I did, too? But no. It’s an anagram… (bad actors)* [abroad]. | |
| 12 | Regret cruelty to an extent (3) |
| RUE – Hidden in cRUElty. | |
| 13 | Times editor removed (6) |
| ERASED – ERAS (times) ED (editor). | |
| 15 | A French team playing in Madrid? Amazing! (6) |
| UNREAL – UN (A in French) REAL (Real Madrid; team playing in Madrid). | |
| 17 | Intend using Valium regularly (3) |
| AIM – Alternate letters of vAlIuM [regularly]. | |
| 18 | After revolution, bosses attract attention (4,5) |
| TURN HEADS – TURN (revolution) HEADS (bosses). | |
| 21 | Panic after leader’s departure? That’s a mistake (5) |
| ERROR – {t}ERROR (panic) without the first letter [after leader’s departure]. | |
| 22 | Moderate South Africa group holding power (7) |
| SPARING – P (power) in SA (South Africa) RING (group). This held me up a bit – needing a bit of a squint to match answer to definition. | |
| 23 | Attempt to arrest old right-winger (4) |
| TORY – O (old) in TRY (attempt). | |
| 24 | Limped excessively carrying hamper (6) |
| IMPEDE -Hidden in, [carrying], lIMPED Excessively. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | A couple of females, clever and congenial (7) |
| AFFABLE – A F F (couple of females) ABLE (clever). | |
| 2 | Body temperature, approximately (5) |
| TORSO – T (temperature) OR SO (approximately). It’s worth remembering OR SO as it comes up quite often. | |
| 3 | Stadium never condemned for accident (12) |
| MISADVENTURE – (stadium never)* [condemned]. An unusual anagram indicator, but not unprecedented – last seen here in Times 28933 last June. | |
| 5 | Generally free (2,5) |
| AT LARGE – Double definition, conforming to the late Rotter’s rule “If the clue is just two words, it’s probably a double definition”. | |
| 6 | Doctor and I talk interminably (5) |
| DRONE – DR (doctor) ONE (I, the Roman numeral). | |
| 7 | Bishop worried about letter to Greek ambassador (4) |
| BETA – B (bishop) ATE (worried) [about] -> ETA. The clue doesn’t need “ambassador” but it improves the surface reading. It got me looking for something ending in HE (His Excellency), though. | |
| 8 | Hit by a bullet? This will give you a boost (4,2,3,3) |
| SHOT IN THE ARM – Double definition, the first a cryptic hint. | |
| 14 | Criminal married man who adored him? (7) |
| ADMIRER – [Criminal] (married)*. | |
| 16 | Angela’s cooking an Italian dish (7) |
| LASAGNE – (Angela’s)* [cooking]. I liked the neat surface for this. | |
| 17 | A chap who’s employed by the CIA? (5) |
| AGENT – A GENT (chap). | |
| 19 | Retiring English teacher getting pay increase (4) |
| RISE – E (English) SIR (teacher) all reversed [retiring] -> RISE. | |
| 20 | Adventurous girl caught in a lie (5) |
| ALICE – C (caught) in A LIE. I was held up with this one thinking the definition was just “Adventurous”. Alice, of course, had adventures in the Lewis Carroll book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland“. | |
I’m bucking the trend today with 15:33, which I think should have been quicker. On the other hand it’s been a hell of a week so I’m relieved to finish at all.
Thank you for the blog!
19 minute DNF.
Put ALIVE for ALICE. My inability to see how this simple clue works demonstrates just how bad I am at this. Given the SNITCH, I suspect that most of the earlier comments will be along the lines of how easy it was. I dare not read them as I will just feel worse.
I really am nowhere with this. An utterly appalling display to end another bad week. I simply don’t have it. What else is there to say?
108 minutes this week, 2 SCC escapes and a DNF. Awful. I spend hours trying to improve by doing the 15 x 15, and this is where I’m at.
Having seen the SNITCH for the 15 x 15 today, there is absolutely no point even looking at it. I’m fed up enough already. Another miserable weekend awaits.
I don’t know how to improve or to derive any satisfaction from this.
I raced through this and was all set for a sub 20m until 2d stopped me in my tracks. Finally settled for the non parsing ANIME for an adventurous girl which resulted in a DNF. In retrospect ALICE is an easy clue.
However it was a lovely QC and I am grateful to Oink and John for the challenge and the solutions.
Now read the earlier comments. Wish I hadn’t as it makes me realise just how far behind the competition I am. All those times under 10 mins. How is that done?
Decided to look at the 15 x 15. Got 13, many being guesses. I’m trying so hard and failing so badly.
What is this competition you refer to? The Times Championship isn’t until October.
I managed two answers on the 15×15. Actually even one of those I got wrong because I got the substitution wrong. You’re a better solver than me but you don’t have the mental skills – if it were me I’d be getting some Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to sort out my attitude.
Thanks New Driver, I might try something along those lines.