Times Quick Cryptic No 724 by Teazel

Author   robrolfePosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Times Quick Cryptic No 724 by Teazel

Friday, 16 December 2016

A faster-than-average solve on this one, and that included much time staring at 10 across. A very good puzzle for learning the basics of cryptic clues, with lots of anagram indicators, included words, some double meanings – thanks to Teazel. General knowledge required for 20 ac, 1d and 3d, but all gettable from wordplay. 15d is clever, but the cleverness makes it too easy.

ACROSS

1. Remove all cards and prepare for action (5,3,5)

CLEAR THE DECKS – two meanings, a deck is a pack of cards, and warships are ‘cleared for action’, hence the phrase.

8. Go over in bad mood (5)

CROSS – two meanings again, one crosses e.g. a river, and one is cross about something

9. One crowing, finding nothing in list of duties (7)

ROOSTER – or cock as it is known in the UK, crows traditionally at dawn – O (nothing) in ROSTER (list of duties)

10. Resolve to arrest one for sacrilegious murder (7)

DEICIDE – a most unusual word, spent ages on this. DECIDE (resolve) including (arresting) I = the act of killing a god

11. Nut in middle of open tin (5)

PECAN – PE (the middle of open) + CAN (tin)

13. Girl next door, perhaps, sporting boring hue (9)

NEIGHBOUR – an anagram (sporting) of ‘boring hue’

17. Shout half-heartedly under the deck (5)

BELOW – BELLOW half-heartedly, one L, one is ‘below’ when under the top deck of a ship

19. Fruit is an essential, since returning (7)

SATSUMA – Fruit, backwards (returning) {A MUST AS}. AS = since. Satsuma is a district/domain/region of Japan.

20.Flower, a winner, ignored by husband (7)

CAMPION – an actual flower for once, rather than a river. CHAMPION (a winner) without H (husband).

22. Spy is a decent chap (5)

AGENT – A GENT (decent chap)

23. Get this show on the road! (6,7)

STREET THEATRE – one gets this show on the thoroughfare – although actually ‘street theatre’ is a genre, not necessarily on the street

DOWN

1. Rotter arrested by US agency, the insect! (6)

CICADA – Grasshopper {CI {CAD} A}, CAD = rotter, CIA the US counterintelligence agency.

2. In heightened mood, moving on to email (9)

EMOTIONAL – anagram (moving) of ‘on to email’

3. Some dross in Italian composer (7)

ROSSINI – Some d{ROSS IN I}talian. Note that ‘Italian’ is not part of the definition, but it makes it easier. Try listening to the Petite Messe Solennelle, which is neither small nor solemn.

4. Tree, one with four legs (old joke)(5,8)

HORSE CHESTNUT – The tree from which we get conkers, a horse has four legs, a chestnut is an old joke (or indeed a crossword clue, such as 22ac).

5. Sag and fall, having eaten nothing (5)

DROOP – sag, DROP including O

6. Company, time for bed (3)

COT – CO (company) + T (time), a cot is a bed

7. Looking hard, having lost a cord (6)

STRING – {STARING (looking hard) minus (having lost) A} = STRING, cord.

12. Having drunk port, uncle is fat (9)

CORPULENT – anagram (drunk) of ‘port, uncle’. A very nice surface to this clue, but the imagery puts the answer in mind quickly, before looking at wordplay.

14. To argue falsely is a scandal (7)

OUTRAGE – anagram (falsely) of ‘to argue’

15. Counter on which to tell one’s beads (6)

ABACUS – Easy to answer, but the parsing is: definition is ‘counter on which to tell’, one has (one’s) beads

16. Baby’s toy to unnerve (6)

RATTLE – Baby’s toy and unnerve, double definition. Rattles used to be used in football crowds long ago.

18. Defer gesture of farewell, we hear (5)

WAIVE – homophone (we hear) of wave (gesture of farewell)

21. Damage gospel, tearing off the end (3)

MAR – damage, referring to the Gospel of St. Mark, MAR {K}

Please comment on the puzzle and the blog.

17 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 724 by Teazel”

  1. Another quickish solve, though I had to leave the NW and come back to it at the end. FOI COT, LOI CICADA, COD SATSUMA.

    I disagree with a couple of your explanations. 15dn definition is “counter” and the rest of the clue is a cryptic explanation designed to mislead us by making us think of a shop counter. Or perhaps you could think of the whole clue as an &lit?

    1ac the definition is “prepare for action” and the rest is a literal reading of the words of the phrase. I assume the origin of “clear the decks” is that when a ship’s company prepare for action they leave the decks and go back to their stations.

    1. The phrase comes from wooden warships when clearing the decks meant removing from the gundecks anything that would get in the way of the gun crews. Thus, for example, cabin walls were removed, furniture put into longboats to be towed behind the ship, cattle pens removed, cattle thrown over the side, etc leaving a literally clear deck apart from the guns and their ammunition.
  2. Like Vinyl, I took too much time getting 23ac; in my case, anyway, road is rural and street urban, which probably delayed the connection. I actually flung in ‘rosary’ at 15d, while thinking, Where’s the cryptic? 6:34.
  3. 10ac DEICIDE held me up too but not for long LOI and COD

    Business was finished in 6.21 so I would say that this puzzle is on the easy side of the difficulty spectrum.

    WOD HORSE CHESTNUT

    QC-ers do have a bash at Sotira’s Christmas Turkey – lots of fun as it was written by the ‘Times for the Times’ ensemble.
    The top half being somewhat easier than the bottom, but no clue where Verlaine was lurking.

  4. 9 minutes, so back on track today after a couple of days off it. A full minute was lost to 10ac at the end and maybe more time along the way as I had passed over the unsolved clue a number of times until it was all that was left to do. Eventually I thought of -CIDE for “murder” and found the the single missing letter that made sense of “sacrilegious”.

    Sometimes it can be difficult for bloggers to pick the exact designation of clue-type and nailing the &lits is a particular stumbling block for me, but that’s what I’d have gone for with ABACUS. With regard to CLEAR THE DECKS I don’t see a problem as there are indeed two meanings as stated both in the blog and in the comment above, the first being a literal reading and the second the actual meaning of the well-known expression, and Galspray’s explanation of its origin is correct according to Brewer’s.

    Edited at 2016-12-16 05:48 am (UTC)

  5. 35 minutes, so not a terrible showing for me. I struggled with the NW corner. I’ve never heard of cicada or deicide, so had to check them after popping them in. 15dn was put in without really understanding why, although it had to be it. For some reason, I also took an age over 8ac, convinced “go” was over (i.e “og” ) inside a word for bad. Gribb.
  6. Completed in 9 minutes – my first sub 10 minute solve – and I managed to solve the clues pretty much in order, instead of jumping round the grid as I usually do. Only minor hold up was the unknown 20a (LOI) but once the checkers were all in place the cluing was quite clear. COD 10a.
  7. One of my fastest ever. DEICIDE was new to me but fairly obvious from the clue. Otherwise a very gentle end to the week.
    PlayupPompey
  8. I had two left after 8 minutes and was aiming at my first sub ten minutes solve. Wrote in 15d unparsed and then had 10a left. Decided that Resolve = Drive and, rather like on the M6, I encountered a sudden hold-up. I put the puzzle down and came back to it and then it was obvious. So about 13 minutes in all. David
  9. 43 minutes and an enjoyable solve, probably would have been quicker but I was having to shout at the kids!!

    Stuck for a while on 20a campion, 23a st theatre, 15d abacus and 16d rattle.

    I presume the tell in the abacus clue refers to a cashier type?

  10. I must have hit Teazel’s wavelength today. Pen didn’t stop from clearing the decks to wa(i)ving the rattle. Sub 4′ so into PB territory. Hopefully a good confidence builder for new solvers.
    GeoffH
  11. 29 mins, so ending the week on a solid finish. LOI DEICIDE, although I had ‘drive’ for resolve as that fitted the checkers. Some good double defs today such as CLEAR THE DECKS and STREET THEATRE.
  12. Possibly a PB at something certainly under 20 minutes – I don’t keep a watch on this. I deduced 10a and then checked it existed. Otherwise a very straightforward end to this week. I’ll have to take a magazine to read over my Costa tonight…

    After a couple of years I no longer feel I can say I’m a ‘newbie’. Can somebody give me a suggested hierarchy from newbie to the clear experts (anyone under, say, 7 minutes)? There must be at least three intermediate steps!

    Thanks to all.

    1. Dear Andrew Turner,

      The Meldewvian Hierarchy.

      Flashman (Unrated) – Novice (Nine) – Gothick (Ten) – Jackkt (Jack) – Sotira (Queen) – Verlaine (King) – Magoo (Ace)

      Fortunately there are no Trumps.

      A Galspray is five consecutive under pars – in any given week.

      Season’s Greetings

  13. Can someone parse ABACUS for me again? Is this supposed to be a double definition, the second being “one’s beads”? Seems like a weak clue.

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