A nice Quick Cryptic from Shay today with plenty of easy clues but a few trickier ones – there are some well-disguised definitions in places. My LOI was 12D which took me a while to see. The puzzle took me 4:34 so well below my average, but other may find it a bit more tricky. Thank-you Shay.
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 135 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Nice socialist relatives (7) |
| KINDRED – KIND (nice) RED (socialist). I didn’t know the meaning of the word as “A group of relatives, family, clan” but only “Similar in kind”, but that’s just my ignorance. | |
| 5 | Piece of information concealed by chief actors (4) |
| FACT – Hidden in [concealed by] chieF ACTors. I sometimes struggle to spot a hidden answer clue, but not this one. | |
| 7 | Left after naked auntie — or before? (5) |
| UNTIL – {a}UNTI{e} without her last letters [naked], L (left). | |
| 8 | Spades and excavation in play area (7) |
| SANDPIT – S (spades) AND PIT (excavation). Don’t forget to bring along a bucket. | |
| 10 | Caught shy fish (3) |
| KOI – KOI sounds like [caught] COY (shy). | |
| 11 | Going to the bar and back? (5,4) |
| ROUND TRIP – Cryptic definition and my COD. You go to the bar to get a round of drinks in. | |
| 13 | They are mostly rough and ribald (6) |
| EARTHY – (They ar{e})* [rough]. Mostly meaning lose the last letter od “are”. | |
| 14 | Stupid amount of money for dumplings (3,3) |
| DIM SUM – DIM (stupid) SUM (amount of money). This article tells us “Some estimates claim that there are at least two thousand types of dim sum in total across China, but only about forty to fifty types are commonly sold outside of China.“ | |
| 17 | Bust put nearer entrance (9) |
| ENRAPTURE – [Bust] (put nearer)*. Sneakily, the surface reading makes you think the answer is a noun, but it isn’t – it’s the verb. | |
| 19 | Reportedly go out with marine (3) |
| SEA – SEA sounds like [reportedly] SEE (go out with). | |
| 20 | Downturn in trade after last month (7) |
| DECLINE – DEC (December, last month) LINE (…of business; trade). | |
| 22 | See you and Mike run regularly (5) |
| ADIEU – Alternate letters [regularly] of AnD mIkE rUn. Luckily I spotted the definition straight away – it’s pretty well disguised, I think. Nice one. | |
| 23 | Opening of exclusive retreat in paradise (4) |
| EDEN – First letter of Exclusive, DEN (retreat). | |
| 24 | Famous chapel is set in Barking (7) |
| SISTINE – (is set in)* [barking]. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Joint leader is an idiot (11) |
| KNUCKLEHEAD – KNUCKLE (joint) HEAD (leader). | |
| 2 | Chat about setter being better dressed (7) |
| NATTIER – NATTER (chat) [about] I (the setter). | |
| 3 | Hurls ripe bananas in supremo’s office (9) |
| RULERSHIP – (hurls ripe)* [bananas]. The surface conjures up an amusing image. | |
| 4 | Endlessly debate athletic event (6) |
| DISCUS – DISCUS{s} (debate) without it’s end letter [endlessly]. | |
| 5 | Bit of fish finger, half gone (3) |
| FIN – FIN{ger} [half gone]. You have to separate the “fish finger” to find the definition. | |
| 6 | Hop bud, pickled (5) |
| CAPER – Double definition. | |
| 9 | Record means something important to tailor (4,7) |
| TAPE MEASURE – TAPE (record) MEASURE (a means to an end). | |
| 12 | Finally reprimanded for one’s manners in roads (9) |
| DRIVEWAYS – Last letters of reprimandeD foR, I’VE (one has, one’s) WAYS (manners). A bit tricky for a QC, I think, and my last one in. | |
| 15 | Japanese scoff and hiss — I am out of order (7) |
| SASHIMI – (hiss I am)* [out of order]. | |
| 16 | Force you to put on frock (6) |
| DURESS – U (textspeak for you) in DRESS (frock). | |
| 18 | Drove fast car over England’s borders (5) |
| RACED – CAR [over] -> RAC, and outer letters [borders] of EnglanD. | |
| 21 | Trendy new pub (3) |
| INN – IN (trendy) N (new). | |
12.50 Many of the clues needed a second visit and I was held up by DRIVEWAYS at the end, which I did parse eventually. Thanks John and Shay.
Back after a holiday, I had a quick start and slow finish on this.
LOI DRIVEWAYS after 16 minutes.
However to get there I had corrected FAT LOT to FAT SUM to BIG SUM. I was so relieved to get Driveways that I failed to parse 14a properly; that was dim.
Enjoyed it. Some good surfaces.
David
19 minutes, at least 6 of which were spent on DRIVEWAYS. As others have said, not the greatest of clues and a disappointing way to conclude the week.
Thanks for the blog John.
PS: I see the Snitch for the 15 x 15 is in the ‘very hard’ bracket. Think I’ll pass on that today.
DRIVEWAYS unachievable ( not QC rated?)having ‘fat sum didn’t help
I too enjoyed the mix of easier and chewier questions. I thought the parsing of DRIVEWAYS was a bit steep for a QC. Just one quibble: I always thought that ‘au revoir’ meant “see you”, while ‘adieu’ meant that you did not expect to see that person again and were commending them to God.
I decided to have a crack at the 15 x 15 and got 17 (and half of another).
Time – 2.5 hours.
Better than watching The Hundred 🤣
Way too difficult for us, but everyone else seemed to love it. Adieu dies not mean See you. It means goodbye for ever. Driveways is a parking space.