A neat and gentle Quick Cryptic from Joker today with nothing too difficult, I think, although it includes both a triple definition and an &lit. It took me 4:08 which is well within my target time. Nice one Joker! Thank-you.
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword entitled “In The Ball Park” here. The title, as usual, is a clue to the theme. Can you find it and the related thematic references? If you are interested in trying our previous offerings you can find an index to all 157 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Manage to get round small group of trees (5) |
| COPSE – COPE (manage) getting round S (small). | |
| 4 | Tedium of moving bedroom (7) |
| BOREDOM – [moving] (bedroom)*. | |
| 8 | Leaders among sharks and rays eat fish (7) |
| SARDINE – First letters of [leaders among] Sharks And Rays + DINE (eat). And, indeed, both sharks and rays do eat fish. | |
| 9 | Follow around river path (5) |
| TRAIL – TAIL (follow) round R (river). | |
| 10 | Suffering minutes inside club, mostly loud (10) |
| DISCOMFORT – M (minutes) inside DISCO (club) + [mostly] FORT{e} (loud). | |
| 14 | Company briefly employing family member (6) |
| COUSIN – CO (company) + [briefly] USIN{g}. | |
| 15 | Swelling British association of workers (6) |
| BUNION – B (British) + UNION (association of wokers). | |
| 17 | Sign of hesitation after my remark upset reveller (10) |
| MERRYMAKER – (my remark)* [upset] + ER (sign of hesitation). | |
| 20 | Mean drunk in snug (5) |
| TIGHT – Triple definition. | |
| 22 | Rubbish clothing at start of season (7) |
| GARBAGE – GARB (clothing) + [at start of] AGE (season, the verb). | |
| 23 | Climb-down on the subject of free entertainment? (7) |
| RETREAT – RE (on the subject of) + TREAT (free entertainment). | |
| 24 | Certainly cutting for each card game (5) |
| POKER – OK (certainly) in [cutting] PER (for each). | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Halved cash with street players (4) |
| CAST – [Halved] CA{sh} + ST (street). | |
| 2 | Standard king’s garden open to the public (4) |
| PARK – PAR (standard score in golf) + K (king in chess notation). | |
| 3 | I bite idly resolving fitness for consumption (9) |
| EDIBILITY – (I bite idly)* [resolving]. | |
| 4 | Run into coastal shore as breakers do (6) |
| BREACH – R (run) in BEACH (coastal shore). | |
| 5 | Renegade and traitor, primarily (3) |
| RAT – Initial letters [primarily] of Renegade And Traitor. An &lit clue, where the whole clue is both the definition and wordplay. | |
| 6 | Monstrous biocidal bats (8) |
| DIABOLIC – (biocidal)* [bats]. | |
| 7 | Combative Italian dividing his city over time (8) |
| MILITANT – IT (Italian) in [dividing] MILAN (his Italian city) [over] T (time). | |
| 11 | Route maps ordered for Cheddar perhaps (9) |
| MOUSETRAP – (Route maps)* [ordered]. The cheese you generally put in a mousetrap. You can find the route map for a 4-mile walking trail around Cheddar Gorge here. | |
| 12 | Weapon armistice nearly knocked for six (8) |
| SCIMITAR – Anagram [knocked for six] of (armistic{e})* [nearly] | |
| 13 | Totally striking, OK? (8) |
| OUTRIGHT – OUT (striking; on strike) + RIGHT (OK). My LOI. It took me a while to see how “out” was “striking”. Doh! | |
| 16 | Bot making all get grief on Tinder initially (6) |
| MAGGOT – First letters [initially] of Making All Get Grief On Tinder. | |
| 18 | Want chessplayer to sacrifice bishop (4) |
| LACK – {b}LACK (chessplayer) without [to sacrifice] the B (bishop). Nicely apt chess surface. | |
| 19 | Tackle illicit drugs (4) |
| GEAR – Double definition. I thought “gear” meant the paraphernalia for taking drugs, rather than the drugs themselves but I see I was wrong, as meaning 6 in Chambers shows. | |
| 21 | Bond regularly involved in strife (3) |
| TIE – Alternate letters [regularly involved in] sTrIfE. | |