Times Quick Cryptic No 953 by Mara

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I managed to whizz through this inside 8 minutes, which is my fastest time for a QC for a while, although there was lots of subtlety and fine surfacing here.  I think I was helped by (what seemed to me to be) a higher than average number of anagrams and partial anagrams, which I tend to see quite quickly.  There was also a smattering of basic General Knowledge, none of which caused me any cause for concern.  I hope others will not have been stumped by AD NAUSEAM (maybe the spelling), GARDA, SONATA, PSEUD or ISRAELITE (maybe the spelling again!)

Thanks Mara for an enjoyable puzzle which is probably pitched just about right for a QC for those developing their skills, and thanks also for giving yours truly a mention in 12a.

Across
1  Sly cat in shop finding source of money (9)
CASHPOINT – Anagram (sly) of [CAT IN SHOP]
6  One about to display passion (3)
IRE – I (one) and RE (about)
8  Dandy holding glittering light (3,4)
FOG LAMP – Dandy is FOP, and inside it (holding) is GLAM (glittering)
9  A boring thing, looking back, for Irish police (5)
GARDA – A (a) DRAG (boring thing) all reversed (looking back).  An Garda Síochána (Guardian of the Peace), or more commonly known as ‘the Gardia’, ‘Garda’ or ‘the Guards’, is the police force of the Republic of Ireland, and was formed in 1923.
10  Lead compound heals (5)
LEASH – Think dog lead rather than Pb or act like a leader.  Anagram (compound) of [HEALS].  Nice surface here.
12  Rat, something in compost heap, perhaps? (6)
ROTTER – I make an appearance in the puzzle I am blogging – how neat is that?  A kind of cryptic by example, or could it be a dd?
14  Never vandalised loo ninety-four! (3,2,4,4)
NOT ON YOUR LIFE – Anagram (vandalised) of [LOO NINETY-FOUR]
16 Composition offering some jingles on a tambourine (6)
SONATA – Hidden inside {jingle}S ON A TA{mbourine}
17  Fraud misleading dupes (5)
PSEUD – Anagram (misleading) of [DUPES].  I wondered whether it was PSEUD or PSEUDO, but my Chambers confirms that either is legitimate for a pretentious person, or a fraud by any other name!
19  Feature a nation (5)
CHINA – The feature is a CHIN and a is A.  Facial features such as chin, nose, ears ‘feature’ regularly in Crosswordland.
20  Suffering bird, did you say?  That’s unlawful (7)
ILLEGAL – A jokey homophone (did you say?).  ILLEGAL sounds like an ILL EAGLE, or a suffering bird.
22  Test cricket for today ends (3)
TRY – Last letters (or ends) of {cricke}T {fo}R {toda}Y
23  Endlessly repeated thus, commercial has rebranded a US name (2,7)
AD NAUSEAM – Commercial is AD followed by an anagram (rebranded) of [A US NAME].  AD NAUSEAM is Latin for an argument or discussion that has continued ‘to the point of nausea’, or that has been made repeatedly.  Argumentum ad infinitum (to infinity) has a similar meaning.

Down
1 Fastener locking posh couple of females in prison (4,4)
CUFF LINK – Posh in Crosswordland is invariably U, with FF (couple of females) all ‘locked’ inside CLINK (prison).  CLINK for prison comes from The Clink, a notorious and very early 12th Century prison in Southwark, London.
2  Drop into abyss, a goner (3)
SAG – Hidden (into) in {abys}S A G{oner}
3  Fruit – a penny for everyone (5)
PEACH – P (penny) and EACH (for everyone)
4  Act of taking someone off to prison, mean I fancy (13)
IMPERSONATION – To ‘take someone off’ is to IMPERSONATE them.  This is an anagram (fancy) of [TO PRISON, MEAN I], and is neatly constructed.
5  Grind the grit, so more dense (7)
TIGHTER – Anagram (grind) of [THE GRIT]
6  One translation of earliest ancient Hebrew (9)
ISRAELITE – I (one) and an anagram (translation) of [EARLIEST].  The Israelites were the ethnic stock from which modern Jews and Samaritans originally trace their ancestry.
7  Welsh boy church body upset (4)
EVAN – NAVE (central aisle of a church) ‘upset’ (reversed) to give the popular Welsh masculine  name
11  Power – a youth desperate to grab it after start of revolution (9)
AUTHORITY – An anagram (desperate) of [A YOUTH] together with (grabbing) [IT] and start of R{evolution}
13 Old-time swinger? (8)
PENDULUM – A cryptic &lit clue referring to the PENDULUM that used to swing and keep time in, for example, grandfather clocks.
15  A newspaper article, in rising, falls (7)
NIAGARA – A (a) RAG (newspaper) A (article) and IN (in) all concatenated and reversed (rising) to give the name of the world famous falls that lie between the USA and Canada.
17  Sauce lifted over golden rice dish (5)
PILAU – Sauce here is LIP (think cheek) reversed (lifted) and followed by AU (golden), to give PILAU (an alternative to PILAF), a dish where rice is cooked in a seasoned broth
18  Small, small bed for Highlander? (4)
SCOT – S{mall} and COT (small bed).  I think the question mark is intended as a sort of apology to non-highlanders who might also refer to themselves as Scots, other types of Scot are available!
21  Letter read out – gosh! (3)
GEE – double definition and homophone combined.  Gee sounds like the letter G read out.

20 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 953 by Mara”

  1. This was a struggle, although as always I’ve already forgotten why. Like Vinyl, I biffed CASHPOINT; I don’t think ‘sly’ is particularly convincing as an anagram indicator. I think the ? at 18d is because ‘Highlander’ for SCOT is a [shudder] definition by example [DBE], a Bad Thing for some, which can be rendered acceptable (for some) by a ? or a ‘perhaps’. 9:14.
    1. It’s curious that the extensive list of anagrinds in Chambers contains ‘slyly’ but not ‘sly’ itself, unless it’s implicit that one part of a word includes all others for this purpose. My immediate thought was that ‘sly’ in the sense of ‘devious’ seems fine, but on checking the usual sources for definitions of ‘sly’, not one of them mentions ‘devious’. They’re given together in Collins Thesaurus but from past discussions we know that a thesaurus entry does not prove exact equivalence of meaning in many cases.

      As to the remainder of the puzzle, I also took a long time to see IMPERSONATION and needed most if not all of the checkers before it came to mind, and that probably accounted for the extra 1 minute over my target 10 needed to complete the grid. And even then I thought of ROTTER but carelesssly wrote ‘rotten’ at 12ac.

      Incidentally I watched a rare interview with Terry-Thomas only yesterday (it was part of a bonus item on a DVD) in which he told the (Dutch) interviewer that he did not see himself as a typical Englishman in the same way as, say, Robert Morley or Wilfred Hyde-White were. “I’m more cosmopolitan”, he added. Really?!

      Edited at 2017-11-02 06:25 am (UTC)

    2. My Chambers app has as one definition of ‘sly’ as ‘cunningly made’. Although it goes on to say that this definition is now obsolete, this works for me. I did raise an eyebrow when I spotted the unusual anagrind, but didn’t think enough about it to look it up before I saw the comment above.

      I agree that the Highlander / Scot link is a DBE, which is what I meant by ‘other types of Scot are available’.

      1. One of these days I suppose I should take a look at a Chambers; they seem to come up with definitions that no one else has. I bet half the setters are on the editorial board.
  2. About 30 mins. Was struggling and then the second coffee kicked in and completed with LOI Evan.

    Dnk sauce as a word for lip/cheek.

    Couldn’t parse authority so thanks for the blog.

    Lots of good clues: cuff link, fog lamp, rotter, cash point. But COD impersonation.

  3. Crept under the 10 minute barrier and had fun doing so. Particularly enjoyed cod 1d. 23ac caused a pause when I realised there was only the one ‘U’ in the anagram and so I had to revise my mis-spelling.

  4. 16:47. First sub 20 for a few days, definitely felt easier than of late. Although sitting at desk with pencil and paper always leads to a faster solve than the iPad propped up in bed.

    PSEUD is a great word not heard so often since the demise of Pseuds Corner in Private Eye.

    “U” for POSH, is pretty dated now.

    LOI 11d, but did see IMPERSONATE early. COD 6d

    2. As a subscriber to PE for many a year I can assure you that your report of the demise of Pseuds Corner is greatly exaggerated, i.e. it continues to thrive. Somebody was called a pseud here the other day for discussing classical music!
  5. But wasn’t sure why a PENDULUM should be so described. What’s old about it, was my reaction. But upon googling bit, I discover that pendulum clocks seem largely to have gone the way of all flesh. How sad. I shall reflect on that as I wind my clocks up on Saturday morning, a weekly ritual.

    A fun puzzle and as usual from the Rotter a diverting blog. You were my LOI, I’m afraid. Nothing personal.

    Templar

  6. I made harder work of this than I should have done due to my anagram blindness striking me again – it took me a long time to spot them at 1a and my last two in 10a and 11d. An enjoyable solve though in 26 minutes with COD going to 17a.
  7. I also managed to scrape in under 10 minutes, with 9:42. I was never stuck, just had to think carefully in places. Liked CUFF LINK and ROTTER. FOI SAG, LOI EVAN. Thanks Mara and Rotter.
  8. Like Plett, I’m not a huge fan of anagrams – they either jump out, or hide in the darkest places. It was the latter today so, despite this being an easier QC than of late, my time was on the slow side at 45 mins. I particularly enjoyed 1d, and so that gets my CoD vote. Do the setters know which puzzle will appear on what day ? I have always imagined they submitted several at a time, and the Editor chose the order to get a good mix (or not as the case may be ☺). Invariant
  9. I started this very quickly with 1d straightaway and then 1a. Unthinkingly I wrote Impressionism at 4d which was a neat way of spending more time on this enjoyable puzzle.
    Also I thought that an “old-time swinger” might be a cricket clue -Fred Trueman came to mind.
    Despite all this and trying to solve it partially on a bus I finished in an approximate 17 minutes.
    I thought of our blogger when I got 12a -what a coincidence that it’s his turn today . LOI was 7d. David
  10. Went great guns at this today – just under 20 minutes and all went in pretty easily apart from SONATA (I guessed it ended in ADA as in a jingle “ad” on “a”). Didn’t see the hidden at all! Other than that, very satisfying. Thanks Rat/Rotter and Mara.
  11. Two completed on the bounce! Probabiy about an hour. Ire / Evan accounting for at least 20 mins.

    Mighty

  12. About 15 mins for all but 17a, I dont know why, it was a very common expression of disdain when I was at college in the 70s.

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