Times Quick Cryptic No 963 by Orpheus

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Nothing too difficult here, if one discounts the UK centric General Knowledge (TYNE), a new word (for me at least), the school pudding and the dodgy homophone.  At 13 minutes, this was comfortably inside my target time of 15 minutes, and I enjoyed racing through it (relatively speaking of course).

As usual, thanks to Orpheus for an enjoyable challenge.

Across
1  Showing pretentiousness at university?  Shame! (6)
UPPITY – ‘at university’ gives UP and ‘shame’ gives PITY.  My Chambers defines UPPITY as ‘uppish’ which in turn is defined as ‘pretentious’.
6  A burden – like this clue? (6)
ACROSS – A (A) CROSS (burden, as in a cross to bear).  6a is an ACROSS clue, so the definition is a cryptic allusion.  Hopefully, you didn’t think the answer was OBTUSE!
9  Associate returning about new carriage (7)
PARTNER – RE (about), N{ew} and TRAP (carriage) all reversed (returning) to give PARTNER
10  Track down husband leaving ancient country (5)
TRACE – The ancient country is T[h}RACE, with H{usband} leaving.  Thrace is roughly equivalent to parts of modern day Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey in SE Europe.  In the past, it was also referred to as ‘Europe’ before the meaning of that term was extended to mean the whole continent.  Orpheus himself (not literally our Setter) was a notable Thracian, representative of the arts of song and lyre-playing.
11  Engineers keep it as an observance (4)
RITE – Engineers is often RE (the Corps of Royal Engineers), and they ‘keep’ (contain) IT (it)
12  Rambling gains her a job on the farm (8)
SHEARING – Anagram (rambling) of [GAINS HER]
14  Insert a note written by crime fighters (11)
INTERPOLATE – The crime fighters are INTERPOL and A (a) and TE (note, as in doh, ray, me, etc.) is written next to it (written by)
18  English knight, practical, provoking jealousy (8)
ENVIABLE – E{nglish} N (knight – think chess notation) and VIABLE (practical, as in a viable / practical option)
20  Solitary type loses head – a fantastic person (4)
ONER – the solitary type losing head is a {l}ONER.  A ONER is a unique or fantastic person, as well as being other things (such as a big lie or a £1 note)
22  Language used in skirmish in Didwana? (5)
HINDI – Hidden in {skirmis}H IN DI{dwana}.  Didwana is a town in the Rajasthan area of India, and HINDI is also the official language there
23  Part of engine and kit found by tree (7)
GEARBOX – GEAR (kit) found by BOX (tree)
24  The last word in Lieutenants threnody (6)
LAMENT – LT (Lieutenant) containing AMEN (last word).  Threnody (an ode or song of lamentation) was new to me, but the answer was obvious from the word play.
25  Stick in this place with commanding officer (6)
COHERE – HERE (in this place) and CO (commanding officer)

Down
1 Universal anger about politician and judge (6)
UMPIRE – U{niversal} and IRE (anger) about (around) MP (politician).
2  Joke about woman, a strait-laced type (7)
PURITAN – The woman is RITA inside PUN (joke)
3  Twenty went missing on north east river (4)
TYNE – take ‘went’ out of T{went}Y (missing) and place on N{orth} E{ast}
5  Noisy reception when Queen pays a visit? (8)
CATCALLS – The Queen here is an adult female CAT who CALLS (visits).  CATCALLS got their name from a squeaking instrument used in theatres to express disapprobation, disapproval or derision, especially at an artiste’s performance
6  Chap in love, one from a Gulf state (5)
OMANI – O (love, as in tennis scores) and I (one) containing MAN (chap)
7 Toboggan initially stored on shelf (6)
SLEDGE – S{tored} (initially, i.e. first letter) on LEDGE (shelf)
8  A prig – Chloe, resolved to tour a group of islands (11)
ARCHIPELAGO – Anagram (resolved) of [A PRIG CHLOE] around (touring) A (a).  Archipelago (with capital) means the Aegean Sea originally, but since this surrounds a group of islands, it has been extended to describe such a feature.
13 Kinsman’s narrative? (8)
RELATION  – Double definition (like most two-word clues)
15  Defensible points accepted by board (7)
TENABLE – E{ast} and N{orth} (points, of the compass) accepted by (inside) TABLE (board)
16  Deadly time to stab the French prince (6)
LETHAL – The French is LE, the prince is HAL (usually Henry V before he ascended to the throne, from Shakespeare) ‘stabbed’ by T{ime}
17  Mischievous-sounding girl? (6)
TRIXIE – Type of homophone, sounding like ‘tricksy’, (given to pranks and mischief)
19  Poison archdeacon with high honour (5)
VENOM – VEN (honorific prefix to the name of an archdeacon) followed by OM (order of merit) or high honour
21  Soon has a turn making pudding (4)
SAGO – S{oon} with A GO (a turn).  SAGO is reminiscent of school days, and is a milky cereal pudding made with the pith of the sago palm.

29 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 963 by Orpheus”

  2. I don’t recall any particular clue slowing me down, just steadyish going. Didn’t know about CATCALLs and ARCHIPELAGO, so thanks, Rotter, for the info (I do hope you looked these up!). Newcomers should keep VEN in mind; and TYNE is one of several conveniently monosyllabic British rivers that show up often: DEE, EXE, OUSE, CAM, etc. Also the names of the notes have various spellings: doh, ti, etc. 5:18.
    1. Obviously, these things just trip off the tongue naturally…

      I wish! Having not enjoyed a classical education (not much of an education at all really – I was far to young and immature to appreciate it when I had the chance), I have a tendancy to look things up when I come across a question, and then immediately forget to remember them for future reference.

      Thanks for the comments though – nice to know that our efforts are appreciated from time to time.

  3. 12 minutes, so a third consecutive day over my 10 minute target. The answers aren’t flying in quite like they used to – at the moment, at least.

    ONER as ‘fantastic person’ was the only unknown although it has probably come up before. I’d be more inclined to say he/she is a ‘one-off’ which could be taken for good or ill.

    Considering ‘Newcastle upon Tyne’ and ‘Tyneside’ I wouldn’t expect TYNE for ‘river’ to be much of a stretch for most solvers, especially preceded by ‘north east’ as part of the worplay but also to identify the location of the answer.

  4. Wasn’t sure about ONER when I hit submit, but couldn’t see what else it could have been. TRIXIE was a bit stubborn too so not too surprisingly they were the last two in.

    Other than that a steady train-based iPad solve at 6.03

  5. Strange day, 1 hr and 5 mins in total but 25 mins spent on oner (dnk), gearbox (guessed box = tree), relation, tenable, Trixie and another 25 minutes on LOI interpolate, but I had sleigh instead of sledge which I knew was wrong but didn’t change…

    Also Dnk thrace (although recall thracians being mentioned in asterix books) and threnody.

    Pleased to remember cat for queen and Amen for last word.

    So another toughie in my opinion.

    Edited at 2017-11-16 09:46 am (UTC)

  6. 10.50 with 5dn CATCALLS my LOI

    COD I4ac INTERPOLATE was a bit a stopper. 8dn ARCHIPELAGO runner-up

    WOD THRENODY

    DNK or like 20ac ONER

    Mr. Rotter, your efforts are always appereciated I assure you.

  7. I found this difficult with 14a, 20a, 15d and an unparsed 5d proving particularly stubborn. We’ve had the queen/cat thing before but I had inconveniently forgotten it. 3d made me smile, completed in 29 minutes.
  8. Why does queen = cat? CATCALLS was my LOI and I was a bit unsure even then. I decided that CAT must be an abbreviation for CATHERINE (many queens of that name). The blog suggests cat = adult female cat which is new to me. The Concise Oxford I consult on crossword matters gives eleven meanings for cat ranging from “female sovereign etc., esp. the hereditary of an independent State” via “sl. a male homosexual, esp. an effeminate one” to “a person’s sweetheart, wife, or mistress” … but no cats. (Though I learned that Queen Anne’s Lace = cow parsley. That’s fantastic. I can’t wait to ask the gardener to pull up the Queen Anne’s Lace.)

    Do I need a better dictionary?!

    Anyway, lovely puzzle as so often with Orpheus. Like Jack the answers aren’t flying in for me this week but I got there in the end, with INTERPOLATE and then CATCALLS being the final walls. Particularly liked ACROSS.

    Thanks to the Rotter.

    Templar

    1. I assume you meant ‘queen’ for ‘cat’ when you looked in the dictionary. The Concise Oxford may be a bit too concise; the ODE gives ‘female cat, esp. one that has not been spayed’ as one definition of ‘queen’.
      1. Indeed I did! Thanks. I might wander across to the Inner Temple library this pm and see how many meanings for Queen the full OED offers …
  9. … but everything accessible nonetheless. I did ponder over gearbox being part of an engine as opposed to a distinct mechanical device attached to it to form a drive train but – meh! In it went.
    COD 14a, very succinct.
    Thank you Orpheus and The Rotter.
    5’ and a bit of shrapnel.
    1. Yes you’re right, a gearbox is not part of an engine – it’s part of the transmission which is driven by the engine. I think if something is part of an engine then removing it would cause the engine to fail or at least not run correctly e.g. piston, crankshaft, valve, carburettor. Remove the gearbox from its attachment to an engine and the engine will continue to run perfectly.
      1. I have to agree that the gearbox is part of the drive train rather than the engine, but this is crosswordland and we’ve already had crankshaft and camshaft in the last week, so it’s not a big mental leap:-)
        1. Engine can be used to describe the part of a train, usually at the front, that drives it and so the gearbox then becomes integral to that rather than merely attached.
  10. I habitually use an on-line Chambers app on my ipad as my dictionary of choice, and much easier than visiting a library. Queen as a noun is there given 10 definitions, including those quoted above, but also including ‘6. An adult female cat’. It also has ’10. A size of roofing slate, 3 feet by 2′, which I found new and interesting. I should get out more often!

    Edited at 2017-11-16 11:39 am (UTC)

    1. that the full volume OED in the Inner Temple library (which may be harder than using an app, but which is a delight) gives 12 meanings for “queen”, the 11th of which is “a female cat”, first usage 1898. All examples suggest specific use for a breeding mother.

      Meaning 9.a is “one of the classes into which fullers’ teasels are sorted”, meaning 9.c is “a class of apples, the rennets” and meaning 10.b is “A local name for the smear-dab” … so it could have been worse!

      Templar

      1. If you have a local authority library card, it might give you full online access to the big OED, surrey library card does. And of course they are free.

  11. I enjoyed this puzzle which took me 8:22. FOI UMPIRE. TYNE a write in for a North Easterner. I think TENABLE was my LOI. ONER and TRIXIE gave me pause, as I’ve not heard the expression ONER before, although One Off was familiar. I suppose if one follows Mr Geldof, Trixie should spring to mind, but it didn’t for me. Don’t forget TOM or jazz fan for cat too. Thanks Orpheus and Rotter. Blogs always appreciated!
    1. I’ve never seen or heard ONER, except in the NY Times crosswords, where I’ve seen it too often.
  12. Well, I thought that was the third hard one in a row. In the end I needed two sittings to crack loi 5d, having spent far too long considering non-existent variations of caterwaul. While I quite often don’t recognise the answer (eg oner), it’s not often the clue contains an unknown like today’s Threnody. And we still have Friday’s offering to come. . . Invariant
    PS Your blogs, Rotter, are the ones I most look forward to, so you are very much appreciated.
  13. I managed to get two or three clues in the big crossword before looking at this. The warm-up obviously worked as I had most of it done in 10 minutes and finished in 13.
    LOI was Trixie after assuming Oner had to be correct; I haven’t seen this meaning before.
    Enjoyed the cross word. I’ve got time to go back to the other one now. David
    PS COD to 3d.
  14. We used to use ONER as slang for a one pound note when they still existed, if my memory serves me correctly.
  15. I found this even more difficult than yesterday’s QC (and that was a poor performance!).
    However, I’ve learnt quite a bit today e.g. thrace, cohere, oner and sago. I’ll kick myself for not solving 4a (ACROSS) for a little while.
    Thanks to Rotter & Orpheus.
    Carl

  16. So who cares about a sub ten minute solve anyway? The crossword was enjoyable with some write ins where checkers were available especially in the SW but also some clues to get the teeth into. LOI and cod to 3dn as it took a while to see ‘went’ inside twenty and I was distracted thinking it may have been an anagram (went missing) of 20ac which is also 4 letters.

  17. About 40 mins. Cat=queen was unexpected, but seemed to fit. ONER also an odd one. Never did see INTERPOL, and was looking for something ending in ‘police’ which fitted my checkers at the time.

  18. Say go!

    It took a while to get 5d despite knowing the term for a female cat, but I scraped in just under 20 minutes, so not too bad.

    Many thanks for another interesting blog, especially the origin of Archipelago – I’m a regular visitor to Greece but I hadn’t come across that before.

  19. DNF. Lots of learning points here – cat queen, interpolate meaning insert, n as knight, sago, threnody and oner as vocab.

    Managed to work most out through wordplay but scuppered myself with a hasty “peek” instead of “rite” for 11a. Saw ‘engineers keep’ and ‘observance’ and thought it was an anagram. Once that was in, the rest of NW was impossible!

    Mighty

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