Times Quick Cryptic No 948 by Wurm

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I see this is Wurm’s third outing, the previous two being June and August of this year. June’s was deemed quite easy; August’s was deemed quite hard. This is decidedly in the latter category, if my nigh on twenty-minute solve is anything to go by. Some lovely clues – two concise double definitions, three or four playful &lits, a strutting beach god, and generally nice surface readings made it all very enjoyable, so very many thanks to Wurm!

Across
1 Sharp Conservative stopping benefit (4)
ACID – C(onservative) stopping/breaking AID (benefit) 
4 Corrupt idea — deal that makes capital (8)
ADELAIDE – Anagram (corrupt) of IDEA DEAL. A state capital is a capital as well!
8 Tools and skip used in money lending business (8)
PAWNSHOP – PAWNS (tools/minions/etc.) HOP (skip)
9 Dog end (4)
TAIL – double definition, verb then noun. You could just about make this an &lit if you wanted – very nice either way.
10 Grunge band playing here finally shows bite (4)
EDGE – GrungE banD playinG herE “finally”. Bite = edge = sharp, incisive.
11 Old Roman general from Riga mixed drink (8)
AGRICOLA – Anagram (mixed) of RIGA, COLA (drink). Governor of Britain in the later 1st century.
12 Beach god finds girl (6)
SANDRA – SAND (beach) RA (god). I was looking for a famous beach, and couldn’t get Waikiki out of my head.
14 Sewer, lake and river back in northeast (6)
NEEDLE – L(ake) DEE (river) back/reversing in N.E.
16 Force in tornado unleashed as Shuttle moves? (2-3-3)
TO-AND-FRO – Anagram (unleashed) of TORNADO, in goes F(orce).
18 City, once, score without ball (4)
TROY – TRY (score) “without” O (ball): without = outside, as in the opposite of “within”.
19 Serving man dropping in from Valparaiso (4)
PARA – “from” the letters of valPARAiso
20 Embraced in cuddle that’s rough (8)
INCLUDED – Anagram (that’s rough) of IN CUDDLE
22 Heaps fruit in two-wheeler (8)
RICKSHAW – RICKS (heaps – of hay, etc) HAW (fruit – as from the hawthorn). I was a while getting this – my LOI.
23 Indifferent over after spinner on song initially (2-2)
SO-SO – O(ver) goes after Spinner On Song, “initially”.

Down
2 Female agents receiving praise (7)
CLAUDIA – CIA (agents) receiving LAUD (praise).
3 Time to bring in new poet (5)
DANTE – DATE (time) to bring in N(ew)
4 When hot it’s put out by volcano (3)
ASH – AS (when) H(ot)
5 Language operates poorly without noun (9)
ESPERANTO – anagram (poorly) of OPERATES, without/outside N(oun).
6 For example, an   account in Times? (7)
ARTICLE – &lit, of sorts, with the wordplay element being that it is also a double definition.
7 Dentists may resort to this   procedure (5)
DRILL – &lit, of sorts, with the wordplay element being that it is also a double definition.
11 60s idol first man to get religion (4,5)
ADAM FAITH – ADAM (first man) to get FAITH (religion). I suppose I might dimly have heard of him – I see he went bankrupt, to the tune of £32 million, courtesy of a doomed venture setting up the TV Money Channel.
13 Men distressed in evil country (7)
DENMARK – MEN “distressed” in DARK (evil).
15 Brave woman one residing in Liss (7)
LIONESS – ONE residing in LISS. I hadn’t heard of Liss – it’s a village in Hampshire with a long and thrilling history, or so its Wikipedia entry compliers will have us believe.
17 Arab chap coming in round island (5)
OMANI – O (round) I(sland), MAN (chap) coming in. In parsing, it took me a while to realise that “Man” wasn’t the island.
18 Support band? (5)
TRUSS – double definition – a frame and a belt. I bunged in tress because I’m an idiot.
21 What’s rook released from throat? (3)
CAW – &lit: a caw being the sonorous singsong of the rook. A craw is the gullet of a bird used for food storage, release the R for rook. Caw, rook and crow are all onomatopoeic – a very intimidating noise from a very intelligent animal.

37 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 948 by Wurm”

  1. “What’s rook released from throat?” is obviously supposed to be an &lit, but it doesn’t work for the definition, only (sort of) for the wordplay. The definition would be “What rook’s released from throat.” I say “sort of” because it seems to be asking for what happens to “rook,” the “r,” not what happens to a word for “throat”—i.e., “craw”—after “r” is removed.
    It is also news to me that “try” can mean “score,” and I haven’t found a dictionary definition supporting that yet. And I looked at Collins first, which usually has the Britishisms that elude me.
    This puzzle was rather too easy to be very satisfying. Of course, I worked it after finishing the 15×15, as is my wont, and it’s all relative.

    Edited at 2017-10-26 04:40 am (UTC)

      1. Indeed, thanks for the tip. Wikipedia says it’s analogous to a touchdown in American football. Now, what seemed odd, of course, was the use of a word synonymous with a mere attempt to mean a success. So I read further… Turns out that in the early versions of the game a try earned no points in itself but only gave the offense a chance to have an unimpeded kick at the goal posts. “Modern rugby,” though, “and all derived forms now favour the try over a goal and thus the try has a definite value, that has increased over time and has for many years surpassed the number of points awarded for a goal.”

        So what is called a “try” is now worth more than the achievement of an actual goal.

        That’s the kind of quirky etymology that can make even the sports world interesting.

        Edited at 2017-10-26 05:43 am (UTC)

        1. Yes that’s interesting re try. As for caw, I read the literal as “What has rook released from throat? Answer, a caw”, which, if not seamless, does seem fine to me. The wordplay “(What is) R released from craw?” is surely a cryptic commonplace!
          1. Since in “What rook’s released from throat” the contraction is for “has,” you would think I would have seen that! It was eclipsed by the fact that you have to read “What’s” as “What is” for the wordplay—which I still see as indicating something about the “r” rather than about the word left when it is removed. However, I see now that my phrasing, in the cold light of my 9:40 “dawn” (making the coffee now), that my suggested alternative for the definition doesn’t work for the wordplay.
        2. You are correct all the way through. A try still gives an unimpeded kick at the posts for a goal, which is called a conversion. The reason it is called a conversion is that the try (5 points) is converted into a goal (7 points). All that has happened over a period of time is that the original ratio (0 points for a try and 3 for a goal) has evolved into the current (5 points for a try and 7 for a goal). Throughout a goal can also be scored from a penalty, which, unlike soccer, can be awarded anywhere on the field, and has always been 3 points. As in American football, which was at least partly derived from rugby, there has come an understanding that the hard bit of the game, and the best bit to watch, is getting the ball over the end line by hand, and not just the relatively less good booting it over the posts.
    2. For me, in the cryptic it’s ‘what is’ and for the surface it’s ‘what has’. That’s unproblematic surely?

      Any road up, I’m with rolytoly, this is a fine QC, most enjoyable.

      1. Indeed. What’s got into me?!
        I still don’t think the wordplay works, but neither would “What rook’s released…”
  2. I think ADAM FAITH was my LOI, since I’d never heard of him. Sort of heart-warming to hear that he went bankrupt trying to set up a ‘Money Channel’. As Roly is to Waikiki, so me to Bondi; and Pan was my god for a long while. How I intended to combine the two, I have no idea. RICKSHAW was also long in coming. As no doubt were several others, as my time was 10:08.
    1. And the song that originally brought him to fame and fortune was called “What do you want if you don’t want money?”
  3. I needed only 9 minutes for this but I was conscious all the way through that it may present many a tough challenge for less experienced solvers.

    I would agree with Guy that there’s something not quite right about 21dn.

    The TAIL clue made me laugh.

    I lost perhaps a minute over my LOI, convinced that the god at 12ac ought to be Pan.

    Edited at 2017-10-26 05:51 am (UTC)

  4. Interesting use of without in two clues (opposite of within rather than ‘lacking’) Was stumped by a few but understood and enjoyed the solutions. I got Adam Faith because I remember him well but I don’t like clues that require knowledge of the 60’s or earlier (even though I’m that generation)
  5. RA was the first god that came to mind, probably due to a youth spent reading PG Wodehouse. I seem to remember Psmith being stuck on a 2 letter clue for god ending in A. That might just be wishful thinking though:-) Anyway the rest of the puzzle took me to just over 10 minutes at 10:44. An enjoyable interlude. I remember Adam Faith well enough, but my mind wouldn’t originally go further back than Adam Ant until I had the F and the H. FOI was ACID and LOI INCLUDED which took me longer than it should have. The fact that it was an anagram eluded me for a minute or so. Nice puzzle. Thanks Wurm and Roly.
  6. No time but the last few took ages:

    included (until I twigged the anagram),
    caw (just from the what sound comes from a rook,
    truss (only knew the frame part)
    and the last two random girls names Sandra and Claudia. Sand for beach should have been obvious…

    dnk ricks for heaps.

    COD 14a SEWER!

  7. Yes I messed up 3D with the poet Donne instead of Dante. They both fit, although I HAD thought “done” was a bit of a stretch from “time”!
  8. I thought this was very hard today – enjoyable but difficult and I resorted to throwing in a few guesses in several places without getting the cryptic definition, luckily correctly. Ended in 39 minutes finally.
  10. This seemed easy at first but I was slowed down by the girls’ names, the country and my last two Rickshaw and Caw.
    At first I thought Caw was good but I now see there’s something not quite right; nice idea.
    23 minutes before coming here and seeing that Donne is wrong. I justified it as people shout Time when something is done or finished, probably in sport. Ah well. David
  11. Yes, SEWER was good. We have seen it before, but it held me up again and I didn’t spot it until several seconds after I had first considered NEEDLE as the answer.

    I thought this was tough for a QC. I don’t have an accurate time as it was done in two sessions, but at least 20 minutes I should think.

    Good blog Roly – I don’t think I have ever blogged a WURM puzzle, for which I am somewhat grateful based on this experience.

  12. A different feel from Wurm, but some excellent clues. Done in just under 10 mins. COD 12a. There are many other words in the grid – I can see Apes, Lass, a couple of Lies, Narc, Dog, Mar. I assume all accidental. Nice puzzle and blog.
  13. For some reason completely missed EDGE. Think I was just utterly bemused by trying to work out what a Grunge Band is. Are there such things? On the other hand ADAM FAITH is very much my era. Tools = pawns I thought was a bit of a stretch, and remain unconvinced by 21d, although there wasn’t much else it could be.
    Ah well, tomorrow is another day.
    PlayUpPompey
  14. Two days in a row unsolvable and definitely not aimed at beginners. Did not understand sewer needle and could not find a defininition connecting the two. The blog was not clear about the connection.

    The blogs are the only thing that keep me going as they offer some help in understanding crosswords.

    I would love to hear from some real newbies on how they fare, not just the people who use this as a warm up for the cryptic. I suspect many like me rarely bother to comment but struggle on many of the puzzles.

    Or it could be that I am just rubbish at crosswords!,

    1. I’m a newbie (8 months of cryptic-ing), and I found this pretty difficult. Harder than Tuesday’s 15×15 in some places! I detest random girls’ names (two here!) so that didn’t help. TROY had me flummoxed: got it but couldn’t parse it, but I was very chuffed when I saw NEEDLE.
      I don’t always add a comment due to lack of time, but I do read the blog every day, and I often use it alongside the 15×15 to aid my learning. So thanks to all the lovely bloggers!
    3. I’m not sure if anyone has explained, but one sews (i.e. stitches) with a needle. Similarly, one digs with a spade. So, as a digger could be used to clue spade, sewer can be used to clue needle.
      1. My explanation wouldn’t have been as clear as the Rotter’s, so I will just try, alongside Lucy, to encourage Anon: I personally had a long, slow (and enjoyable, and ongoing) cryptic learning curve. It has taken me over a decade to look at an answer like “sewer” and forget that it might need explanation! Flow-er for river is the most common of this type of thing, and numb-er (for painkiller, etc.) crops up quite a lot as well.
    4. 2 month newbie here and I found this incredibly difficult. on reflection, I should have solved a few more than I did, but after a little success earlier in the week (all relative), this brought me crashing back down to earth! I hope I don’t see Wurm for a little while …
    5. I’ve been doing these now for 2 years and yes I am improving but I did find this difficult , don’t despair . I guess some people who comment are old hands .I find the blogs helpful and am really trying to think outside the box after years of doing concise crosswords. I am enjoying the challenge. Today I read sewer as the underground variety so completely on the wrong track there,
    6. Don’t despair – those of us who aren’t super solvers have good days and bad! The blog is really helpful and you will learn more and more as the weeks go by. I’ve been doing the QC for a couple of years and have enjoyed learning the quirks of cryptic crosswords. I’m now brave enough to tackle the 15 x 15, but rarely finish! I still enjoy the challenge. Good luck – and don’t forget to have fun 🙂 PSB
  15. 7:22. It’s good to get another puzzle from Wurm – the slight differences in style between setters is part of the charm of the QC, I think. There seemed to be rather a lot of proper names here, but all are fairly clued. 18a my last one in, as it took me a while to think of rugby as the ball game. I liked the PARA ‘dropping in’ at 19a.
  16. I found this really hard today – nearly an hour, with help from solvers, as opposed to my usual 10 -15 minutes or so. Not sure why really. But Adam Faith was my first one in, which perhaps gives away my age!
  17. I can’t say I enjoyed this one too much, but that might just be sour grapes as I found it so hard. I think I’ll have to file it in the ‘I will learn a lot from it’ folder!
    Eventually struggled over the line with LOI 18d, but no time recorded due to the number of breaks taken.
    Thanks for the blog
  18. Agree as a one year newbie. Too hard and need at least a few easy ones to find a way in and make it enjoyable. Always read the blogs to try to improve but this week just feel demoralised.
  19. As the hour came and went my enthusiasm dropped a little, but I persevered (stubbornness more than anything else) and I eventually finished. Even then, I had Donne for 3d, so didn’t have the satisfaction of a correct solution. I know Wrum is just an occasional setter, and unfamiliarity doesn’t help, but I have certainly come across easier 15x15s and can only sympathise with those newbies who have had a difficult few days. Invariant
  21. About half way between best and worst ever. I think the winging is overdone
    Try is the standard score of Rugby
    Sewer is one of those words with two distinct meanings – a person (or in this case object) that sews, or a disposer of effluent.
    similar to flower (a river/blossom).
    tail made me laugh out loud, I thought it must be something to do with bicycle sheds and sharing cigarettes
    Agricola I didn’t know but the crossers made it quite straight forward
    All in all and enjoyable and fair puzzle
  22. QUICK cryptic. Really? It took me about two hours and four or five reference books. And I am no ‘newbie’ (horrible word) having been doing cryptics for over 50 years. I too do not believe 21d can be satisfactorily parsed. I too was stuck on 12a, never getting beyond PAN so ending with an inexplicable PANDEA. Didn’t like 18a either.

    Much too hard for a QC. My usual time is the time it takes me to eat a bacon and egg breakfast. That – and finding 11d easy – reveals that I am ancient.

    treesparrow

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