Times Quick Cryptic No 644 by Hawthorn Friday, 26 August 2016

This is a fine Friday QC offering from our esteemed Puzzles editor, an excellent start to the Bank Holiday weekend. Although finished in just under eleven minutes, I found more and more to comment on while writing the blog. Definitely fewer than usual of the sometimes very obvious anagram indicators – just consider the various ways here of indicating an anagram (mixture of letters): playing, grotesquely, nuts, disguised, dodgy, around… Plus some very fine ‘surfaces’ – first or literal readings of the clues, which can mislead, or perhaps allude to the answer.

ACROSS

7. Ruffian who loses head playing in goal (8)

HOOLIGAN Definition is ‘ruffian’ – WHO loses head = HO + anagram (playing) of ‘in goal’.

8. I governed Middle Eastern state (4)

IRAN ‘governed’ = ran. ‘Emir’ was the first word to spring to mind, but I resisted the temptation to biff (bang in from definition).

9. Stick advertisement in this place (6)

ADHERE advertisement = AD + ‘in this place’ = HERE, definition is ‘stick’. This one may be becoming a chestnut, am pretty sure we had it recently.

10. Make amends an hour after midday (5)

ATONE – ‘an hour after midday’ is one o’clock, i.e. AT ONE, ATONE means to make amends. The fine novel Atonement by Ian McEwan shows that attempts to make amends can be tortuous.

11. Gobble some treats (3)

EAT- Gobble = EAT, some treats = EAT, contained in the phrase

12. Where one might find glove available (2,4)

ON HAND – definition is ‘available’, and you might find a glove on a hand, or more likely in a lost property office or sock drawer.

14. Coating of luxuriant hair receding — then finally none left (6)

ENAMEL – the coating is ENAMEL, as on teeth or older baths. ‘Luxuriant hair’ is MANE, receding means backwards. ‘Finally none’ indicates the last letter of none – E, and ‘left’ = L. A brilliant clue, in that it reads very sensibly, like many in this puzzle. The key word for me was ‘receding’, which triggers thoughts of words or parts of phrases going backwards.

16. Thirsty person, perhaps, drinks River Test! (3,3)

DRY RUN – the definition is ‘Test’. The ‘thirsty person’ is a DRY’UN, containing (drinks) R for River

18. Shameful broadcast observed and performed (6)

SORDID – definition is ‘Shameful’. ‘Broadcast’ indicates a homophone/sounds like, so ‘observed’ = SAW = SOR. ‘Performed’ = DID. Hence SOR + DID. This was my LOI (last one in).

19. Answer point as appropriate (3)

APT – all abbreviations, A for answer, PT for point. ‘Appropriate’ is a useful word in crosswords as it can also mean ‘steal’.

20. Classical writer’s hero grotesquely seizing head of Medusa (5)

HOMER – the ‘classical writer’ is HOMER, who allegedly wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, although they’re more likely products of a committee. ‘Hero grotesquely’ indicates an anagram of ‘hero’, HOER, seizing (including) the head of Medusa, M. This wonderful clue contains very fine potential misdirection. Taking, wrongly, ‘Classical writer’s hero’ as the definition we could think of Perseus who took the Gorgon Medusa’s head (even if we can’t remember the details, the statues and paintings may be half-remembered, and the whole image is ‘grotesque’). Hint: If you ever see an apostrophe in a cryptic clue, ask yourself whether it is possessive (belonging to the ‘writer’ in this case) or short for, for example, ‘writer is’. Plus see 1d below.

21. Vegetable right next to a plate (6)

RADISH – Right (R), next to ‘a plate’ = A DISH. A radish is definitely a vegetable, so no need for discussion about fruit, legumes or tubers, unless…why is it never cooked?

23. Toil endlessly to produce smile (4)

GRIND – this is GRIND (toil) endlessly, without its last letter. Not sure that a grin is quite a smile. On the other hand, if you try to smile and do not fully succeed, you can end up with a stupid-looking grin, so maybe that’s the point.

24. Disregard past appearance (8)

OVERLOOK – ‘Past’ = OVER, ‘appearance’ = LOOK, and if you OVERLOOK something, you disregard it. Worth noting that this is only one of the two common uses of OVERLOOK, which can mean (1) to see, then ignore, or decide to forget, as in this clue, or (2) to not see at all.

DOWN

1. Hermit accepting university teacher’s become capital fellow (8)

LONDONER – definition is ‘capital fellow’, in this case someone from London, the capital of England. ‘Hermit’ is LONER, including (‘accepting’) DON ‘university teacher’. Having until recently been a teacher/lecturer in a Millennium University, I was never, ever, referred to as a don. Note particularly in this clue that the ‘s is short for ‘has’. See above at 20 ac.

2. Lose nuts and fruit (4)

SLOE – from which a type of gin can be made. Definition is ‘fruit’. ‘Lose nuts’ indicates an anagram (‘nuts’) of ‘Lose’ = SLOE

3. A truncated Green Day set (6)

AGREED – definition is ‘set’ = AGREED. A + GREE (truncated Green) + D (day). I am not familiar with the works of Green Day, who I believe are, or were, a band. ‘Set’ has the largest number of definitions of any word in the English language, but in this case the misdirection refers to the (list of) songs played during a live performance.

4. Con man disguised in dodgy tie (6)

INMATE – definition is CON, short for convict, the present (or past) inmate of a prison. ‘Man disguised in dodgy tie’ indicates an anagram (disguised) of MAN in an anagram (dodgy) of TIE. Fans of Orange is the New Black will know that the women prisoners are all called ‘inmate’ by the guards.

5. Reptile is around rocks (8)

DINOSAUR – a dinosaur was a reptile, although there was no-one around to call them that. ‘Rocks’ indicates an anagram of ‘is around’. The clue nicely conjures up images of lizards scuttling over rocky terrain.

6. Prepared venison, for example (4)

GAME – possibly the most difficult clue, as the checkers only give the vowels, and short answers are in my opinion usually more difficult than long ones. If one is GAME, one is ready, prepared, for something. Venison still counts as ‘game’, i.e. hunted meat, but is more likely to be farmed nowadays.

13. I’m puncturing a friend’s spleen (8)

ACRIMONY – ‘spleen’ = acrimony, possibly from the belief that the emotion was centred in the bodily organ. IM (disregarding the apostrophe) is in (puncturing) A CRONY, where a crony is a friend – although I think the word ‘crony’ has negative connotations.

15. European campaign issue (8)

EMISSION – an ‘issue’ is something that issues, in this case, EMISSION, made up of E (European) and MISSION (campaign). Also, note, EMISSIONS (CfCs, diesel, nuclear) tend to indeed be European campaign issues, so this may possibly be what some call an ‘&lit’ clue.

17. Slender tip of Neolithic projectile (6)

NARROW – N (tip, first letter, of Neolithic) + ARROW (projectile), ‘slender’ is the definition. And the tip of an arrow or stone knife is narrower than the rest.

18. Road from outskirts of Stockport lined with oak, perhaps (6)
STREET – ‘outskirts of Stockport’ = ST, first and last letters, lined with (i.e. has inside), TREE (oak, perhaps). A street is a road, a road is not necessarily a street… hang on, what about Watling Street?

20. Feather duster harbours group of creatures (4)

HERD – The ‘group of creatures’ is a HERD, the phrase ‘Feather duster’ contains the word: {featHER Duster}

22. Artist brought up one boy (4)

DALI – being a down clue, ‘brought up’ indicates reversing words for ‘one boy’ i.e. I LAD. How many artists have four letters? GOYA, MIRO, HALS….

I am definitely enjoying this blogging, and all comments are most welcome.