Times Quick Cryptic No 758 by Rongo

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This was my slowest time after a few speedyish days, coming in at 12-and-a-half minutes, so maybe slightly harder than average. Bonus new word (or re-learnt word), which is always nice, and one I’ll try to remember, which isn’t something I can say for some of the lesser-known sea-dwellers and their ilk. As such, I’d give COD to 8d, but there were lots of good clues today, with the parsing of several done post-solve. I liked the 13ac nature of 11ac, for example, and the good quality soundalike at 1ac. So yes, very good, knowledge-broadening fun – many thanks to Rongo!

Across
1 Rectangular layout of elements from report of month with pranks?
MATRIX: sounds the same (“from report of”) MAY TRICKS (month ; pranks)
4 Hood left on farm animal
COWL: COW (farm animal) L(eft)
9 A quick temper for the US’s terrible
SHORT FUSE: anagram (terrible) of FOR THE US’S
10 Maybe the end of a French film part for a shark
FIN: double definition
11 Regret bringing iron to island of exile with expert on strike
FEEL BAD ABOUT: Fe (Iron) ELBA (island of exile) DAB (expert – as in a dab hand) OUT (if workers are “out”, they are on strike).
13 Retreating spies thus mark picture built up gradually
MOSAIC: CIA (spies) SO (thus) M (mark) reversing/retreating.
15 Maybe scrumpy contains last of aviation fuel that’s partly burnt
CINDER: CIDER (scrumpy, maybe) contains N (last of aviation)
17 Change of heart before is supposed to be premeditated
AFORETHOUGHT: Anagram (change) OF HEART before OUGHT (is supposed)
20 People walk all over this short friend
MAT: MATE (friend, shortened)
21 Country’s expense of finally leaving Continent
COSTA RICA: COST (expense) F (of, finally) leaving AFRICA (continent)
22 Called up a step
RUNG: double definition
23 Blokes with story mostly kept in one’s head
MENTAL: MEN (blokes) with TALE (story, mostly)

Down
1 Hard arithmetic problem turned into soft stuff
MUSH: H (hard) SUM (arithmetic problem) turned/reversed.
2 After consumption, a single type of steak
T-BONE: TB (consumption) ONE (a single)
3 Complicated genetic line includes line producing cleverness
INTELLIGENCE: anagram (complicated) of GENETIC LINE including L (line)
5 Not working, boy possesses nothing to get rid of
OFFLOAD: OFF (not working) LAD (boy) possesses O (nothing)
6 Semi-permanent desire connected to bit of nomenclature
LONG-TERM: LONG (desire) connected to TERM (bit of nomenclature).
7 Continuous low sound, a note for one of us
HUMAN: HUM (low sound) A N (a Note)
8 To sum up, surrender again?
RECAPITULATE: double definition? No, not strictly – to capitulate again would have to be re-capitulate. It’s possible I’ve seen this word before, but if so I had entirely forgotten it, let alone its meaning. From Latin for chapter/section (capitulum), recapitulare meant to summarise into main points. The OED charts the evolution to our modern meaning of capitulate as follows: from the French capitulare, meaning to hold a chapter meeting (1330); to negotiate or parley (1540); to negotiate terms of surrender (later 16th century); and finally simply to surrender (1751). Cue some cheap joke about the inevitable outcome of French military negotiation that my sister-in-law would not thank me for.
12 Carcass preserver processed mere lamb
EMBALMER: anagram (processed) of MERE LAMB.
14 With hair removed around sides of the cut
SHORTEN: SHORN (with hair removed) around TE (sides of the).
16 Kitchen utensil seen in show: his knife
WHISK: seen in the letters of shoW HIS Knife.
18 Island swallowed by tropical uplift
HOIST: Is. (island) swallowed by HOT (tropical)
19 Judge to cause trouble for prison
JAIL: J (judge) AIL (cause trouble)

21 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 758 by Rongo”

  1. This was probably a PW, and now I can’t think why it took me so long. Well, not knowing what ‘scrumpy’ meant didn’t help matters, and 6d was a problem. Liked 14d. 11:06.
  2. Just over an hour, found this quite tough.

    The main culprits were:
    4a cowl, 17a aforethought, 22a rung, 6d long term, 8d recap, 14d shorten.

    Cowl came up recently so that was frustrating.
    DNK that TB was called consumption, or M for mark.

    Might have to cut down on the red wine.

  3. I thought I was easily heading for my target of 10 minutes but fell at the last hurdle because my first thought for “called” at 22ac was RANG which I couldn’t reconcile with “step” and it took me ages to think around it and find a word that fitted both.
  4. After thought I was home in 8.02. So for all those aware of scrumpy, you’re in with a chance!
    Flashman don’t give up the drink!

    I too RANG for a short while.

    COD 10ac FIN (fnar-fnar!) WOD RECAPITULATE

    P.S. Costa Rica is where Kim Kardashian is vacationing after her rather nice tweet to fellow tweeter DT – to wit last year – only 2 people in America shot by Muslims from the 7 countries: 11,500-ish Americans shot by homeland Americans.

    Making Trumpton feel safer?

    Edited at 2017-02-02 11:38 pm (UTC)

  5. 8.44 for this chewier than normal offering. A few that required careful study of the wordplay or the chance to waste effort, such as looking for a reverse hidden island in swallowed by tropical (there isn’t one, take my word for it).
  6. Back in harness after failing to post yesterday, enduring a train journey. COWL seemed overfamiliar, while RUNG required much thought. RECAPITULATION fairly quickly in, as this is what people who like meetings mean by ‘recap’. Liked 2d, have had the hacking cough for weeks now. 5’33” thanks roly and Rongo.
    1. Wow! Seriously, you could ask 100 people what a recap was, and then ask them what the word recapitulation means. Everyone who doesn’t get the answer isn’t allowed to vote – and I will happily include myself.
  7. On a different scale of difficulty from yesterday’s ‘ideal for first timers’ puzzle. Some very good 15×15 level clues, particularly 11a and 17a (COD) and a mention in dispatches for 1a. Thank you Rolytoly and Rongo.
    6′ 45″
    GeoffH
  8. ‘Rung’ and ‘shorten’ held me up for ages, so 20 minutes or so.
    I wrote yesterday that I wasn’t graduating to the 15×15 successfully. So I tried again, and completed yesterday’s with some help from solvers. Took me hours and hours, mind…..
  9. DNF: having biffed AFTERTHOUGHT at 17ac, couldn’t make anything fit at 14dn, bor could see what was wrong. Also held up at 1ac because I’ve always said “MAT-TRICKS”
  10. This must have taken me best part of a hour, so a long haul but an enjoyable challenge with some pretty testing anagrams. COD & LOI Aforethought.
    PlayupPompey
  11. I also found this more of a struggle with MUSH and MATRIX my last 2 in. FOI, the now familiar COWL. Like Vinyl, I wanted 1a to be metric, but I couldn’t justify it. No trouble with 8d as my piano teacher drove into my head that a piece of music starts with the Intro, then the Exposition, then has the Development Section, followed by the Recapitulation. Liked SHORT FUSE and EMBALMER. Total 13:54. Thanks Roly and Rongo.

    Edited at 2017-02-02 02:25 pm (UTC)

  12. Would’ve been a lot quicker if I hadn’t put *ENBALMER for 12dn. Hence eventully LOI MOSAIC. FOI MUSH, COD SHORTEN.
  13. 11 mins here – which felt like quite a good performance. Thouroughly enjoyable – lots of clues requiring the ‘mosaic’ touch (good reference Roly). COD to 7dn – low sound had to be ‘moo’ didn’t it? Well no – and then the definition which caused a smile. Gtreat blog, great crossword.
  14. I made heavy weather of this with the SW requiring 2nd and 3rd visits and just drawing a blank. My main issue was that I couldn’t make head or tail of the anagram in 12d. However once 13a clicked the rest started to make sense. No exact time today but I would estimate 35ish minutes. LOI 22a, COD 21a
  15. I started quickly and having seen Cowl in yesterday’s 15×15, a potentially tricky clue was solved. Some of the parsing I found hard e.g. Costa Rica which I got eventually. It all came down to 7d where I struggled to see what was needed. In desperation I put Aural ( our Al being one of us). Not sure how I missed the right answer. Good puzzle. David
  16. Needed two sittings on this, mainly because I biffed Haiti for the island at the wrong end of 18d, and had a slightly more credible Rise for 22ac. Went away when nothing would fit, and came back later to sort out the mess. Oh yes, 1ac took ages as well. Not a good day. Invariant
  17. Much, not just harder but, trickier today. All of which made it a great workout. Probably took an hour but this reinforces my view that the tussle is a major part of the fun. FOI 4a LOI 14d CsOD 11a and 13a . Enjoyed 21a in my 21a. Really lots of lovely clues to puzzle out and really did struggle to find 17a needing all the checkers before being able to parse it properly. More like this please!

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