Times Quick Cryptic No 3073 by Wurm

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

A touch on the trickier side perhaps.

My solve was a bit all over the show, with bits and half-bits solved here and there, courtesy of some excellent misdirection and well-woven anagrams: I really liked ‘serve = minister’ at 19ac, and the PRESCOTT anagram at 1ac (which could be rather tricky if you’re not aware of him). 12d is a thing of beauty, however, with both a satisfying PDM (“Ah, that sense of compromise”) and a cracking surface.

A cryptically-defined tool and a couple of sports references might also vary on people’s obscurometer. I came in at 7:45, a bit slower than average.

Lovely puzzle – many thanks to Wurm!

Across
1 Reshuffle protects old Labour man (8)
PRESCOTT – anagram (reshuffle) of PROTECTS. Deputy Prime Minister with New Labour, the press had a bit of a running theme with nicknames for him: Two Jags (what with having two fancy cars), became Two Jabs after a ding-dong with a protester, became Two Shacks, and so on, culminating with “Two Shags and No Jobs” when a cabinet reshuffle decidedly did not protect him (unlike in the clue) after revelations of an affair.
5 Birds section in Science Museum (4)
EMUS – “section” in sciencE MUSeum
8 Stick knife into second fruit (5)
SPEAR – S(econd) PEAR (fruit)
9 Pluck wingless eagle in Swiss city (7)
LUCERNE – a “wingless” pLUCk, and ERNE (eagle)
11 Sudden crash! End absurd with Plutarch (11)
THUNDERCLAP – anagram (absurd) of END with PLUTARCH
13 Arrested outlaw Kelly embracing trouble (6)
NAILED – NED (outlaw Kelly) embracing AIL (trouble)
14 Arsenal player  one trained to shoot (6)
GUNNER – double definition, one nickname of Arsenal being (fairly unmysteriously) the “Gunners”
16 Sherry transformed emotional lad — no E needed! (11)
AMONTILLADO – anagram (transformed) of eMOTIONAL LAD – “no E needed!”
18 Cosmonaut Georgia twice runs home (7)
GAGARIN – GA (Georgia), twice, R(uns) IN (home)
19 Minister to start game at Wimbledon? (5)
SERVE – double definition
20 Mystical character about to ensnare French one (4)
RUNE – RE (about) to ensnare UN (French for one)
21 How mince is cooked for noodle dish (4,4)
CHOW MEIN – anagram (is cooked) of HOW MINCE
Down
1 I can’t answer that question or succeed in exam (4)
PASS – double definition
2 Elgar concerti excited music producer (8,5)
ELECTRIC ORGAN – anagram (excited) of ELGAR CONCERTI
3 Engine part in vehicle, awkward brute on hill (11)
CARBURETTOR – CAR (vehicle), an anagram ( awkward) of BRUTE, on TOR (hill)
4 Poem set around Spanish city (6)
TOLEDO – ODE (poem) LOT (set/group)around = reverse
6 Film legend in minor role many reviewed (7,6)
MARILYN MONROE – anagram (reviewed) of MINOR ROLE MANY
7 Rubbish clearances with these   defensive players? (8)
SWEEPERS – double definition, a sweeper being one of the backs in football (in which a “clearance” is indeed getting the ball away from one’s own goal area).
10 Cutting-edge tool of revolutionary design? (8,3)
CIRCULAR SAW – cryptic definition, with a neat play on both “cutting edge” and “revolutionary” in the “groundbreaking” sense in the surface reading.
12 Stop being annoyed: compromise (8)
ENDANGER – END (stop) ANGER (being annoyed). As in: “Anger/being annoyed will only further your opponent’s aims.” And as in: “The agent’s asset was compromised.”
15 Embrace line contained in easy task (6)
CLINCH – L(ine) contained in CINCH (easy task). CINCH: originally a rope used to secure a saddle or pack to a horse; from that into any sort of firm or secure hold; and later into a sure thing or simple task.
17 Plant in river surrounded by marshy land (4)
FERN – R(iver) surrounded by FEN (marshy land)

 

87 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 3073 by Wurm”

  1. 20 minutes (fast for me), which I think gives me the pick of the seats in the SCC.

    I started with EMUS and SPEAR but, frustratingly, PRESCOTT stayed just out of reach for some time. Decent progress was maintained, however, until NAILED, ELECTRIC ORGAN and ENDANGER put up some stiff resistance at the end. I arrived at NAILED via NAbbED and NickED, and I never did understand why ENDANGER meant ‘compromise’.

    Many thanks to rolytoly and Wurm.

  2. Mostly straightforward, but found the long anagrams quite tough on this one. Then the big hold up was amontillado, where I was totally guessing the order of the letters, and endanger, which came eventually.

  3. Started with 1d, but then struggled to untangle Prescott 🙄, so hopped around the grid a bit before the two long anagrams opened things up. Slightly disappointed that the sherry was yet again Amontillado – when are we going to have a good, cold Fino, or better still a Manzanilla ?
    All complete in time to snatch a sub-20, with no mistakes for a change. CoD to Thunderclap for the novelty. Invariant

    2. Ummm, I am of the opinion that manzanilla whilst somewhat similar is not sherry??
      ON EDIT: Wrong!! It is sherry, wot woz i thinkin?

  4. Last two in (ENDANGER and PRESCOTT, for which I ultimately resorted to pencil and paper) took the bulk of my time. A typically enjoyable but tricky Wiggly Wurm.

    No problems with AMONTILLADO, since my father used to drink it!

    All done in 08:09 for a dead heat with Dr Shred and a Good Day. Many thanks Wurm and roly.

  5. The names of wines have often struck fear into my heart, especially when they are long and clued as anagrams. Crosswordland is not a particularly welcoming place for non-drinkers. Having said that, on this, as on most other occasions, I have managed to piece together the correct answer, though I’m not sure if I’ve heard of AMONTILLADO before, or it just sounded right. Just escaped the SCC today with 19:33, which is better than the last couple of days when I’ve finished a lot quicker but with stupid errors (BEANO and SPEEDCUT). LOI and COD to ENDANGER. Thanks Wurm and Roly.

  6. Completed in 20 minutes with the SW corner being the trickiest. I seem to remember an old green and white ceramic sherry decanter (if that’s the right word) with the word Amontillado displayed across it sitting on my parents mantlepiece – somehow it has stuck in my memory even though I never touch the stuff! Thought there could have been a reference to “two jags” at 1a and as a football fan Gunner and Sweeper were straightforward. Whenever I see GK in the blog I think goalkeeper!
    Thank you Wurm for a challenging but fair puzzle and Roly for the clarifications.

  7. Completed over lunch. Struggled to spell both MARILYN MONROE and CARBURETTOR and had to look carefully at the anagrist several times 🙄 ENDANGER was a PDM. LOI RUNE. Unable to parse TOLEDO as I went along. Thanks for sorting it all out RT. COD CIRCULAR SAW. Interesting to see the man behind the name – thanks for link Templar. Nice one Wurm.

  8. Didn’t find this too hard, though had to check ERNE was an eagle and couldn’t parse TOLEDO. All finished in 26 minutes, a nice bit under my half hour target Thanks Wurm and Rolytoly!

  10. Dipped into the SCC for the first time this week with a completion time of 22 minutes. The answers kept coming today but only slowly. My inability to spell the second half of CHOW MEIN had me ticking off the letters of the anagrist to get MARILYN MONROE. I also needed Rolytoly’s excellent blog to understand the compromise at 12dn.

    FOI – 5ac EMUS
    LOI & COD – 12dn ENDANGER. Also liked PASS at 1dn – very clever

    Thanks to Wurm and Rolytoly.

  11. All but LUCERNE I got today, didn’t know an Erne was a type of Eagle, but interesting to learn. Thank you for the blog 😁

  12. No problem with ENDANGER = comprise but didn’t quite get there.otherwise great QC, balance solved relatively easily

  14. We’re British but Two Jags was still the last one in, though he didn’t hold us up for too long. A somewhat faster than average 10:31 with nothing overly difficult. COD SERVE. Thanks, Rolytoly and Wurm.

  15. 12.00 Definitely trickier than recently though last two PRESCOTT and TOLEDO shouldn’t have taken as long as they did. ENDANGER was nice. Thanks rolytoly and Wurm.

  16. Indeed on the trickier side! My nemesis Wurm first pushed me into the Club (where is everyone?) and then I was too tired to see GUNNER (still don’t understand it, have to go read the blog) and settled for RUNNER (I am a gardener, my only excuse). So DNF. May I still have a coffee?

    (I see Vinyl just enumerated all my difficulties but somehow, somehow, finished, and in not too long a time either. hmmmmmm)

    NHO Mr Prescott, had no idea of the two T spelling of carburetor. The rest was pretty easy and fun, though I was slow on CIRCULAR SAW (ho ho) and THUNDERCLAP. Agree ENDANGER is a great clue.

    Thanks to Wurm and roly.

  17. plenty of anagrams which suited us, dragged up gagarin from the distant past, enjoyable puzzle for us.

  18. 22 mins…

    Definitely felt anagram heavy, but there were some good clues scattered amongst the grid. For 1ac, I was looking for something more generic rather than a specific politician, so it took a while for the penny to drop on that one. I agree that 12dn “Endanger” was very well constructed.

    FOI – 1dn “Pass” – appropriate as one of my family were getting their GCSE’s today.
    LOI – 16ac “Amontillado”
    COD – 3dn “Carburettor” – mainly for misleading me down the whole anagram route.

    Thanks as usual!

    PS. John Prescott once sat opposite me in the business class lounge at Heathrow and was actually reading a classic car magazine.

    1. That’s funny about Prescott! Oh, what a paparazzo would have given to be in your shoes… ok, probably not much, but you can just imagine a little “article” out of that.

  19. 6:41. Ouch! After a pass of the across clues I had a speculative NICKED for 13A and SNIPER for 14A which made solving the crossing down answers rather a problem. Stupid boy. Great puzzle, though. Thanks Wurm and RolyToly.

  20. 9:41. I was thinking I’d never written CARBURETTOR with two T’s, but then I rethought and realise I’ve probably never written the word at all!

  21. 12.37. first pass was pretty easy, but the edges were rather harder. LOI ENDANGER. good puzzle + thanks both

  22. 23 minutes.

    Not that you would know it from my time, but in retrospect I think this was pretty straightforward. As usual, I made a mess of several easy clues. Very angry with myself being in SCC. No excuse for that.

    A half hearted attempt at 15 x 15 but too cross after QC to stick with it. Got some answers but again several idiotic mistakes. Fed up at my inability to see what is staring me in the face! 😡

    1. Gary, my friend, Kipling told us that Triumph and Disaster were imposters. You either have to accept that very sound advice. . . or basically get another hobby. It’s really your choice. Invariant

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