Times Quick Cryptic No 3085 by Dangle

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Fun puzzle, on the gentler end of things.

I crept in a few seconds under the five minute mark, which doesn’t happen too often. Some nice things mixed in with those good old favourites like ‘antipasti’ and ‘Etna’, including a bit of a chuckle on realising the ‘PM, briefly’ wasn’t deducting the last letter from a six-lettered PM.

In fact, there seem to be a mere four six-lettered prime ministers: two are fairly gettable, but come to the front of the class for a very large cupcake (sometimes just called a cake) if you manage either of the others.

Answer:

Most of us should be able to dredge up WILSON and ATTLEE, but then you’re right back to some chap called Henry Pelham (1743-54) for the third. The fourth is slightly debatable, but if you knew that the mid-Victorian Lord Palmerston’s actual name was Henry John Temple.. well then you should probably be feeling quite smug.

Good breezy fun – many thanks to Dangle!

Across
7 Tolerate rabid English hosts (5)
ABIDE – is “hosted” by rABID English
8 Ghost beginning to panic Chinese male (7)
PHANTOM – P, HAN (Chinese), TOM (male – as in a male animal, rather than a random male name)
10 Curse about the missing hot clothing (7)
SWEATER – SWEAR (curse) about TE (ThE missing H for Hot)
11 Come a cropper collecting large medieval weapon (5)
FLAIL – FAIL (come a cropper) collecting L(arge). News to me (mercifully) but now I know the origin of “to flail about”. A mace on a chain, basically. The flail was originally a tool for threshing corn, but vaguely serviceable as a weapon if needs must, à la pitchfork: think nunchucks, which probably also derive from it.
12 A new suggestion to go with sparkling wine: hors d’oeuvres (9)
ANTIPASTI – A, N(ew), TIP (suggestion) to go with ASTI (sparkling wine)
14 Asian city close to Tokyo (3)
LAO – LA (city), closing letter of tokyO
15 Sharp intake of breath after son disappears in hole (3)
GAP – GASP (sharp intake of breath) loses S(on)
16 Prises end off vending machine, perhaps (9)
DISPENSER – anagram (off) of PRISES END
18 Tie up   PM, briefly (5)
TRUSS – double definition, the second as in Liz Truss, the less said about the better.
20 Stuffy, bald husband leaves (7)
AIRLESS – HAIRLESS (bald), H(usband) leaving
22 Trio tactfully concealing 18th-century legislation (4,3)
RIOT ACT – concealed in tRIO TACTfully
23 Defy British party (5)
BRAVE – B(ritish) RAVE (party)
Down
1 Chuckling, after bloke initially suggests unlawful killing (12)
MANSLAUGHTER – LAUGHTER (chuckling) after MAN (bloke) and S (“initially” Suggests)
2 Avoid team’s favourite somersaulting (8)
SIDESTEP – SIDE’S (team’s) PET (favourite) “somersaults” = reverses
3 Second time in faction (4)
SECT – SEC(ond) T(ime)
4 Rejects special containers for tea (6)
SPURNS – SP(ecial) URNS (containers for tea)
5 Face fine for developing stimulant (8)
CAFFEINE – anagram (for developing) of FACE FINE
6 Smoker in canteen upset (4)
ETNA – “in” cANTEen “upset” – reverse
9 Underfed, mishandle our careers (12)
MALNOURISHED – anagram (careers) of MISHANDLE OUR. As in to career (or indeed flail) about.
13 Editor stops troublesome individual with a large platform (8)
PEDESTAL – ED(itor) stops PEST (troublesome individual) with A L(arge)
14 Salvages lost city (3,5)
LAS VEGAS – anagram (lost) of SALVAGES
17 Inadequate theory voided following study (6)
SCANTY – TY (TheorY “voided”) following SCAN (study)
19 University fellow is a noodle (4)
UDON – U(niversity) DON (fellow)
21 Polish base of shiny gemstone (4)
RUBY – RUB (polish) Y (“base” of shinY)

 

79 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 3085 by Dangle”

  1. Managed to solve in 23 minutes, a steady solve for me. Found it an enjoyable puzzle, and like everybody else got a chuckle from 18a. Thanks for the blog 😁

  3. I thought I was in trouble getting only 4 in the first across pass, and one of those wrong (KYO for 14a, which fits the clue and is slang for Kyoto, as Brum is for Birmingham). However almost all of the downs went in in one pass and the rest followed. Excellent degree of difficulty to my taste, only 3D was a write in, but no real holdups. Thanks to Dangle and rolytoly.

  4. I only managed six. 1d and 9d were write ins. 22ac Trio being an anagram of riot so right answer for the wrong reason. Didn’t even think about looking for the hidden. Udon parsed and antipasti bifd given Asti.

    Thanks to R and D

    I need some more R&D on my technique.

  5. A speedy one for me at 10:12, but I preferred taking these more slowly on my phone as I enjoyed a leisurely buffet breakfast on the holiday from which I returned yesterday. I’m ready for my croissants and coffee now, and maybe an extra fig or two, but there aren’t any.
    COD to the well hidden RIOT ACT. Thanks Dangle and Roly.

  6. 5:23

    This was pretty gentle with two long write-ins down the sides. Not sure whether I’ve come across UDON before, but if I have, I didn’t know that it was noodles. LOI SCANTY which needed a short think.

    Thanks Roly and Dangle

  7. Not easy as far as I was concerned. Took ages, despite solving 1d straight away. LOI COD TRUSS. Very slow in that corner. I kept choosing the wrong anagram letters in general. In fact, I was rather dim today.
    LAO was one of my early solves, though. Also liked SIDESTEP, AIRLESS, SWEATER. DNF FLAIL, though vaguely heard of, come to think of it. NHO UDON.
    Thanks vm, Roly.

  10. A gentle and entertaining 10:22 solve, with so many surfaces to admire. I especially like LAO, GAP, and TRUSS, and MANSLAUGHTER, though chestnutty, elicited a slightly horrified guffaw. Surface-of-the-day to UDON, I worked with many such in my career.

    Thanks to Dangle and rolytoly.

    If only the website would settle down!

  11. 7:29. But could have been faster if I’d been more confident with LAO and UDON. Two NHOs was a bit unexpected. And UBOD looks just as likely.

  12. 9:09, very enjoyable puzzle, and I particularly liked the brief PM – great clue, and yes, like many others I was looking for a 6 letter PM to shorten like I was meant to.

    Many thanks Roly for the blog.

  13. 6:34. Yep also fell for the 6 lettered PM, but moved on quickly so was left with T and U crossers which made me chuckle.

  14. 15:19 here, but I’m blaming at least some of that time on my cat who was very insistent that I should put my phone aside and pay attention to him. At least he doesn’t bring me dead things.

    I liked TRUSS and SWEATER the most today. Inexplicable Slowness Award goes to ETNA, where I knew exactly what was going on but somehow still missed the hidden. Ho hum.

    Thanks to Dangle and rolytoly.

  16. A steady solve today. I didn’t parse PHANTOM and was slow to see SWEATER, BRAVE and LOI SPURNS. 7:09

  17. I got diverted on 14A. An Asian city that closed to become Tokyo is Edo.
    I did live there for a few years !

  18. Not sure why it took so long, but I was slow today. There were a few darker clues today, what with MANSLAUGHTER, FLAIL, MALNOURISHMENT and TRUSS (although that one did make me LOL – not the actual person obviously).
    I have no idea why my LOI took so long – I had the SP, and thought about URNS, after bags, pots and cups, but didn’t put them together for what seemed like ages!
    15:30 FOI Antipasti LOI Spurns COD Dispenser
    Thanks Dangle and Roly

  19. NHO Lao. Is this some random Asian person, the same way as Han are a random (though large) group of Chinese and Tom (as I thought until I read the blog) some random bloke?
    Googled lao, but could only find Laos, of course.

    1. I had to look it up too, but dictionaries better than Google for crosswords.

      Collins: “Lao
      in British English
      (laʊ IPA Pronunciation Guide ) or Laotian (ˈlaʊʃɪən IPA Pronunciation Guide )
      noun
      1. Word forms: plural Lao, Laos or Laotians
      a member of a Buddhist people of Laos and NE Thailand, related to the Thais
      2. the language of this people, closely related to Thai
      adjective
      3. of or relating to this people or their language or to Laos”

      1. I was surprised, a while back, to find out that Laos is properly named “Lao People’s Democratic Republic” and therefore the S in Laos indicates the plural or apostrophe or some such thing. Had forgotten that by today.

        1. Thanks both.
          Even knowing Laos, it never occurred that it could be a native of that country, I would have expected Loasian or similar. I thought it must be some leader I hadn’t heard of.

  20. My thanks to Dangle and rolytoly.
    Overall not a pushover by any means. Thought I might get stuck. Eventually DNF on GK/Vocab, Udon at 19d.
    11a Flail, I had to think about this as it isn’t normally a weapon as such, any more than a machete or any other agricultural implement.
    COD 18a TRUSS!!!!! Excellent!
    Nearly failed on a lazy 12a AntipastO, but woke up in time.
    DNF, NHO 19d Udon. Never seen them in Sainsbury. Guessable but I didn’t, so. I think that is abstruse, especially for a quickie. But then, if you don’t know it it’s hard, if you do it is easy….

  21. Pleasant zip through after a lovely walk on the South Downs to celebrate Mrs Templar’s birthday.

    All done in 05:21, COD TRUSS like most others. Good fun. Many thanks Dangle and roly.

  22. 9:22 with no real problems but we were a bit slow to feel confident about LOI BRAVE, (BR)AVE not making sense. Loved TRUSS (as a crossword answer, obs). Was I the only feeling that come a cropper was a bit strong for fail? Fall seemed to be a better fit but FLAIL was obviously required. Thanks, Rolytoly and Dangle.

    1. To me, come a cropper has always meant things go rather disastrously wrong. So, if anything, fail isn’t strong enough.

  23. Struggled with this, resorting to blog @ 30 mins for Sweater (got the word play, just couldn’t assemble it) and that made Spurns difficult to solve. Thanks Roly and Dangle

  24. 17 minutes of angst, frustration and despair. I daresay this was a doddle for most of you, but I lack the talent to achieve a fast time. Just 77 on Snitch and I still struggled.

    Got about half on 15 x 15 in over an hour. That speaks for itself.

    Thanks for the blog.

  25. 18:06

    Was biffing my way to a fast time only to find that the biffed CORN LAW instead of RIOT ACT, stuck a total spanner in the works and had to go back and parse everything. LOI SCANTY.

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