Today we have just the second Quick Cryptic by Dangle and the first I’ve got to blog…. …and what a super Quick Cryptic it is. It took me just 4:11 solving all but three of the clues on a first pass, so it can’t be too hard, can it? OK, as ever, maybe your mileage will differ as there are a couple of clues that are on the tricky side.
At the Words and Puzzles conference in Oxford that I attended two weeks ago (see here), a common theme that came up a few times is that a good cryptic clue should have some sort of story in the surface reading. My COD goes to 10A for the story that is entirely non-fiction. Lovely job Dangle, thank-you! How did everyone else 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 126 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Vile celebs paid to dance (10) |
| DESPICABLE – (celebs paid)* [to dance]. | |
| 8 | Enduring course (7) |
| BEARING – Double definition, conforming to the late Rotter’s rule that a two word clue will usually be a double definition…. an exception being “Pin number (4,3)“. For the answer to that see later in the blog. | |
| 9 | British pilgrim’s Indian snack (5) |
| BHAJI – B (British) HAJI (pilgrim). “Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime.” A pilgrim who has undertaken the Hajj is a Haji. | |
| 10 | Perhaps Murdoch’s nationality, briefly (4) |
| IRIS – IRIS{h} (nationality) without the last letter [briefly]. Iris Murdoch “…was a an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Born in Ireland, when she was a few weeks old the family moved to London...” hence the factually accurate clue surface. Nice one! | |
| 11 | Split up ecstasy and rum (8) |
| ESTRANGE – E (ecstasy, the drug) STRANGE (rum). I can’t comment on whether it is better not to take them both at the same time, but that’s what the clue seems to recommend. | |
| 13 | Principally work a long time for these? (5) |
| WAGES – First letter of Work, AGES (a long time). Fortunately I am no longer a wage slave now I’m retired, although I was one for a long time. | |
| 14 | Honk horn hard in Jag (5) |
| TOOTH – TOOT (honk horn) H (hard). You need to ignore the misleading capital of Jag for the cryptic reading of the clue. | |
| 16 | Female with golden hair in defence (8) |
| FORTRESS – A three part charade… F (female) OR (golden) TRESS (defence). | |
| 17 | Rejected objections in short piece (4) |
| STUB – BUTS (objections) reversed [rejected; sent back] -> STUB, of a cigarette, perhaps. | |
| 20 | Buddhist monk caught pack animal (5) |
| LLAMA – LLAMA sounds like [caught] LAMA (Buddhist monk). | |
| 21 | Italian food mixing air, oil and a dash of vinegar (7) |
| RAVIOLI -Add just a single letter [dash] of Vinegar, to the mixture… [mixing] (air oil v)*. | |
| 22 | Removes water from her teddy as liquid (10) |
| DEHYDRATES – (her teddy as)* [liquid]. Maybe she dropped her teddy in the bath. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Name a current trade hub in the Middle East (5) |
| DUBAI – DUB (name; give a name to) A I (symbol for current in physical equations such as V = IR). | |
| 2 | Cry out to host possessing grooming product (7,5) |
| SHAVING CREAM – HAVING (possessing) in SCREAM (cry out) – [to host] being an inclusion indicator. | |
| 3 | Goddess lives on island (4) |
| ISIS – IS (lives) IS (abbreviation for island). | |
| 4 | Solemn month (6) |
| AUGUST – Double definition. Our second such two word clue… and the answer to the clue given in the first one at 8A above, “Pin number (4,3)“, is… DEAD LEG. Geddit? The clue’s a two word cryptic definition. | |
| 5 | Reprimand, after 51 getting free (8) |
| LIBERATE – LI (51 in Roman numerals) BERATE (reprimand). | |
| 6 | Brown rat, I fancy, out for fish (7,5) |
| RAINBOW TROUT – (Brown rat I)* [fancy], OUT. | |
| 7 | Advanced problem enthrals European (2-4) |
| HI-TECH – HITCH (problem) outside, [enthrals], E (European). | |
| 12 | Upset Yorkshireman resumed displaying identification online (8) |
| USERNAME – Reverse hidden [upset… …displaying] in YorkshirEMAN RESUmed. | |
| 13 | Cake made of batter? Go on! (6) |
| WAFFLE – Double definition, but not a two word one this time. | |
| 15 | Wrong of stars to have yen for model, ultimately (6) |
| ASTRAY – The only tricky clue in the puzzle, I think… Take ASTRAL (of stars) and replace the last letter, [ultimately], of modeL with a Y (symbol for the currency Yen) -> ASTRAY. | |
| 18 | Happiness is found in Tbilisi after odd characters expelled (5) |
| BLISS – Put IS in the even-numbered letters of tBiLiS. | |
| 19 | State hesitates to dispense with borders (4) |
| AVER – Well maybe this one is slightly tricky too… It’s state the verb in the cryptic reading rather than the noun it is in the surface reading. {h}AVER{s} (hesitates) without its outside letters [dispense with borders]. Update: As several commenters have said{w}AVER{s} works just as well and may be what the setter intended, but I prefer havers. | |
Enjoyed this. Good mix of clue types which I had to work at, but made for an engaging leisurely solve. Failed to parse Aver, but wasn’t helped by thinking that hesitates gave you the “er” bit.
FOI Bhaji
LOI Astray
COD Waffle
Thanks John and Dangle.
A quick one for me. Only ASTRAY, which I didn’t parse until I read this blog and DESPICABLE (trying to anagram wrong parts) caused me issues. It could have been quicker if had just plumped for ASTRAY rather than mull it over.
COD: HI-TECH
I found this one tough but fun. About eight on first pass and then I ground to a halt! ESTRANGE finally got me going again and that gave me LIBERATE. Not helped by gloriously sunny day, so I gardened, and returned, and gardened… and so well into the SCC before LOIs FORTRESS and USERNAME. I considered DISTRESS for 16a, thinking of a golden-haired girl called Di having a tress, but it doesn’t really parse and WAFFLE killed that idea! Very enjoyable challenge, thanks Dangle and John.
Yes. Great gardening weather… and great walking weather too. Did 17.5 miles today from Garboldisham in Norfolk around the Norfolk/Suffolk boundary – i.e.River Little Ouse, via Thorpe Woodlands, Knettishall Heath, Hopton and Blo Norton. Feet a bit sore and legs a bit tired tonight.
Another rotten performance.
I thought that I might just have turned a corner yesterday when, for once, I performed adequately. I should have known better!
I was very slow and off it with this and I did not enjoy the experience.
A dreadful week (as ever):
M – 16m
T – 50m DNF
W – 42m DNF
Th – 12m
F – 24m
4.5 years at this and I’m still nowhere near the level of skill I aspire to. I am way behind those I was once on a par with.
Thanks for the blog.
No time because our timer on the app reset to zero on completion again (anyone else having that problem? I recall it being a regular thing a year or so ago) but it felt a bit faster than par though we are haverers. Thanks John and Dangle.
Very good puzzle – took over 2 hours and actually put BHAGI after all that.
Nice to have some modern wordplay- I can’t do the pre-1950s language that some setters still use.
Thanks Dangle and John
I finally got around to the QC today, thinking that being fully awake for once would probably help, and it really did, with things jumping out of the screen in a very pleasant way, for a finish in 11:57. Really good wordplay and surfaces, nothing unknown except BHAJI. I confess I didn’t parse ASTRAY, gave it up after a brief look. I have to agree, IRIS is COD.
Thanks Dangle and John.
Shocking performance on 15 x 15. Got 10 in over an hour. Totally out of my depth here. I don’t have any talent for this. ☹️