QC 1665 by Teazel

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I have had some very easy Monday crosswords in recent weeks. This one was also quite straightforward although I would say it was slightly more difficult than the others. It also contained some very entertaining clues and I enjoyed it a lot. Many thanks to Teazel for a slightly more challenging and more than usually entertaining start to the week.

FOI was the fairly obvious 1A and I think the LOI was 14D not for any reason of difficulty but just because I jumped around the grid a lot and this was the last one I came to. As I say I liked quiet a few of the clues but probably 6D gets the COD for its neat definition.

Definitions are underlined and everything else is explained just as I see it as simply as I can.

Across
1 Light fixture (5)
MATCH – double definition.
4 Fish’s small head (7)
SNAPPER – S (small) + NAPPER (head). As in “You look neat, talk about a treat, you look dapper from yer napper to yer feet”).
8 Energetic backing for detectives arresting large numbers (7)
DYNAMIC – CID (detectives) ‘arresting’ MANY (large numbers) all reversed (‘backing’).
9 Prophet Amos esteemed, to some extent (5)
MOSES – hidden word: aMOS ESteemed ‘to some extent’, and I guess it’s also an &lit. In spite of the history of my avatar given the other week I haven’t retained a huge amount of knowledge about the Old Testament prophets although I guess Amos must have thought Moses was a good guy. I also remember from my Bible-bashing days that his little book comes between the other little books of Joel and Obadiah, although that is of course completely irrelevant to the clue.
10 Corruption of grown-up portion, with Ecstasy in it (12)
ADULTERATION – ADULT (grown-up) + RATION (portion) with E (ecstasy) in it.
12 Each solicitor to patronise restaurant (3,3)
EAT OUT – EA (each) + TOUT (solicitor).
13 Consider an affront to be given another errand (6)
RESENT – somebody who is given aother errand may be RE-SENT.
16 Timid hangman’s developed powerful strength (5,3,4)
MIGHT AND MAIN – straight anagram (‘developed’) of TIMID HANGMAN.
18 Test for car, one following distinctive pattern (5)
MOTIF – MOT (test for car) + I (one) + F (following).
20 Place is curiously distinctive (7)
SPECIAL – straight anagram (‘curiously’) of PLACE IS.
21 Happy about copper being an element (7)
MERCURY – MERRY (happy) ‘about’ CU (chemical symbol for copper).
22 Walk over: time to pick up a book (5)
TREAD – T (time) + READ (to pick up a book).
Down
1 Think temperature’s dropped, so intervene (7)
MEDIATE – MEDITATE (think) ‘dropping’ T (temperature) gives MEDIATE.
2 What Peter Piper did, for example, is hard to say (6-7)
TONGUE-TWISTER – cryptic double definition.
3 In reality, this is unwelcome to hear (4,5)
HOME TRUTH – IN (home) + TRUTH (reality).
4 Certain to keep city safe (6)
SECURE – SURE (certain) ‘keeping’ EC (city (of London)).
5 After losing the first two, claim point (3)
AIM – clAIM ‘losing the first two’.
6 Mail worker no longer in theatre (4-9)
POST-OPERATIVE – a mail worker could cryptically be a ‘post operative’. Or maybe I’m over-thinking it, maybe it’s just POST (mail) + OPERATIVE (worker). But I guess it comes to the same thing really. And so would you be (post-operative, that is) if you were no longer in the theatre (i.e. after an operation). (Sorry if that is over-explaining but I thought it might not be clear to some of the less experienced).
7 Got up in pink (4)
ROSE – double definition.
11 Most fashionable, but comes to an end in river (9)
TRENDIEST – DIES (comes to an end) in TRENT (river).
14 Confused as sharp taste came first (7)
TANGLED – TANG (sharp taste) + LED (came first).
15 Planet extremely hazy and boggy (6)
MARSHY – MARS (planet) + HY (‘extremely’ HazY).
17 Prayer leader? I am a medium (4)
IMAM – IM (I’m, I am) + A + M (medium).
19 Illness proceeded very rapidly, we hear (3)
FLU – sounds like FLEW (proceeded very rapidly).

41 comments on “QC 1665 by Teazel”

  1. 1ac was only fairly obvious to me because I’d learned that meaning of ‘fixture’ here last week. Also DNK NAPPER. Biffed MIGHT AND MAIN, based on a quick estimate that the anagrist was all there. LOI DYNAMIC. 4:15.
  2. 13 minutes, so another target missed in my current patchy run of solves after a brief respite last Friday. This one had me hopping around all over the grid in an attempt to build up some momentum but things were not going too badly until I hit upon 16ac, the clue that eventually put an end to any hopes of completing within my target 10 minutes. I guessed that the middle word would be AND, and I had one checker in each of the other words, but nothing would come to mind even after investing time writing out the remaining anagrist. I got to it in the end having moved on and returned to it with more checkers in place, but MIGHT AND MAIN (or ‘with MIGHT AND MAIN’ as Collins has it) is an expression I’ve never heard in my life and I’m pleased to note that neither has Brewer’s.

    Don has already mentioned a quotation in which NAPPER meaning ‘head’ appears, to which I would add that it’s from the chorus of the music hall song ‘Any Old Iron’ originally made famous by Harry Champion and later given a new lease of life in a classic recording by Peter Sellers. The very next line contains another crossword favourite, ’tile’ meaning hat:

    Any old iron? Any old iron?
    Any, any, any old iron?
    You look neat! Talk about a treat!
    You look a dapper from your NAPPER to your feet
    Dressed in style wi’ a brand new TILE
    And your father’s old green tie on
    I wouldn’t give you tuppence for your old watch-chain
    Old iron, old iron!”

    Edited at 2020-07-27 06:08 am (UTC)

    1. You (and mendesest and flashman) surprise me greatly; I would have thought that this was a generally known, albeit outdated, cliché. I’ll be curious to see who else DNK.
  3. Finished all green in a reasonable 15m but only 4 acrosses on the first pass and lots of hard work needed to get to some of the answers. Hadn’t heard of NAPPER and have never known anything beyond the first two lines Jackkt kindly provides but as Vinyl says only one fish would fit so I stuck it in. Also never heard of MIGHT AND MAIN but once MIGHT AND seemed unavoidable there wasn’t much left to do with the last three checkers. MEDIATE was last one in having been abandoned earlier and forgotten in my struggles elsewhere on the grid. I liked this one.

    Edited at 2020-07-27 06:11 am (UTC)

  4. 14 minutes with a long time spent on LOI mediate which just wouldn’t come and needed an alpha trawl.

    Dnk might and main.

    COD aim.

  5. 12:14 from me, so agreed this was a fairly easy puzzle today. Also dnk MIGHT AND MAIN.

    FOI: match
    LOI: tread

  6. I knew Might and main from the A A Milne poem.
    What is the matter with Mary Jane
    She’s crying with all her might and main
    And she won’t eat her dinner – rice pudding again
    What is the matter with Mary Jane?
    Etc
    Sally
  7. Might and main was lurking somewhere at the back of my subconscious. DNK NAPPER but had to be. I wonder what the origin of it is.

    Thanks Teazel and Astartedon.
    PS It seems you have “quite” a “quiet” day today!

  8. No problem with MIGHT AND MAIN here and it went in after a brief look at the letters of the anagram fodder. However I’d never heard of NAPPER so it 4a went in with fingers crossed. Like Vinyl I found parsing TRENDIEST much easier once I’d changed rivers from the Test to the Trent. I finished in the NW, which I’d struggled with at the start in 10.31, so a little under average for me. LOI was HOME TRUTH and COD went to POST OPERATIVE.
    Thanks to astartedon
  9. No problem with MIGHT AND MAIN but I was tripped up by some others which turned out to be straightforward once an answer emerged.
    Examples: MEDIATE, RESENT, TANGLED, DYNAMIC, TRENDIEST (all nice clues). I enjoyed POST OPERATIVE. In the end, I went above my 15 min target by 3 mins and wondered why. Monday morning brain fog maybe. Many thanks to Teazel and Don. John M.

    Edited at 2020-07-27 08:40 am (UTC)

  10. MIGHT AND arrived quickly, but MAIN took ages to appear from my subconcious mind. No problem with SNAPPER, but MEDIATE, DYNAMIC and HOME TRUTH caused a major hold up as my last 3 in. 13:13. Thanks Teasel and Don.
  11. 18 minutes here too, held up in the NW by MATCH, MEDIATE, DYNAMIC and the first part of HOME TRUTH (I biffed HARD initially). And that was after struggling with the DNR (remember) MIGHT AND MAIN. A good challenge for a Monday morning – COD to 6d. Thanks both.
  12. I found this challenging but enjoyable – thanks Teazel and astartadon. Only reservation is that it suited my vintage. I worked out ‘might and main’ and then had to check that it existed. ‘Any old iron’ was popular when I was young so i should have known napper but I doubt many youngsters would know either of those.
    1. I trust that you were young when Peter Sellers recorded it in 1957, rather than when Harry Champion originally used it in his music hall turn in 1911 !
      1. sorry this went to spam so I missed it. I sometimes think if I was nearer a 100 I’d be an expert at this 🙂
  13. An excellent QC test from Teazel, I thought.
    It took me about a minute to find FOI MOSES. I solved steadily after that but each clue required care. Wasn’t sure about SNAPPER; and AIM was deceptively difficult.
    After 13 minutes I just needed 1a and 1d. There are so many words for light and fixture and it took me ages to get MATCH. LOI MEDIATE.
    17:42 on the clock. COD to MEDIATE.
    David
  14. ….MIGHT AND MAIN”, as it would have appeared years ago, but not with this puzzle which was of average difficulty. “MAIN” is actually a tautology in this usage, and “with all ones MIGHT” remains in (uncommon) use, while the full version is really redundant.

    FOI MOSES
    LOI/COD HOME TRUTH
    TIME 0.85K

    1. If it were “Small fish is head” it might just about work, but not with the wording used I’m afraid ! It shows you’re thinking though.
      1. If you look at it as a semi &lit I think it works. “fish” is kipper with a small head “s” gives skipper. Skipper as someone you might fish with in charge of a boat is more of a reach, but I have certainly seen bigger ones than that in clues before.
        5d becomes an interesting challenge though 🙂
    2. It doesn’t work but I like the similarity of meaning of ‘kipper’ and ‘napper’.

      Edited at 2020-07-27 12:54 pm (UTC)

  16. Back to a rather slow solve after romping through Friday’s QC. No real hold-ups until I was left with my last four: MIGHT AND MAIN, MEDIATE, DYNAMIC and HOME TRUTH. Not helped by biffing HARD TRUTH at 3dn which of course made 8ac impossible. I also spent a long time on 16ac before realising that it was an anagram. A good Monday morning workout, so thanks to Teazel and to Astartedon.

    FOI – 9ac MOSES
    LOI – 1dn MEDIATE
    COD – the very concise 7dn ROSE

  17. ….is not exactly a “sitter”, but I’ve done it in under 6 minutes. It certainly presents a fair challenge to those here who fancy a slightly stiffer challenge !
  18. Maybe it’s just that it’s Monday morning, but I found this one tough. After the first few didn’t go in (apart from FOI MOSES) I allowed myself to ponder the clues too much (mainly fruitlessly) and found I had taken over fifteen minutes just to reach the end of the across clues, having only got three of them. Fortunately the downs were a lot kinder and with checkers, the acrosses started to go in. Took a while to sort out MIGHT AND MAIN, though it might have been lurking somewhere in the back of my head, and my last two, TANGLED and RESENT both took a while too, so I ended up on 51:48. Not a good day, but thanks anyway.
  19. MIGHT AND MAIN well known here though it does have an archaic feel to it. Pretty plain sailing in 1.6K for a Very Good Day. I liked the idea of Amos only giving limited approval to Moses.

    FOI MATCH, LOI MEDIATE, COD MERCURY. Thank Teazel and Don.

    Templar

  20. James here…(the one with the Captain Kirk) picture.

    For some reason I appear to have been banned from commenting on the blog. Not sure whether this is a technical issue, or if I’ve inadvertently offended anyone, but just wondering whether anyone else has had a similar issue?

  21. James here (the one with the Captain Kirk picture).

    I appear to have been banned from commenting on the blog. Not sure whether this is a technical issue or if I’ve inadvertently offended someone, but just wanted to see whether this had affected anyone else?

  22. Might and main went straight in, as did Adulteration and Tongue Twister.

    I too biffed Hard Truth but eventually the Dynamic penny dropped, one of last two in, along with Mediate.

    Enjoyable all round, and easier than of late, so thanks as ever.

    Napper – not heard since my long ago childhood!

  23. Would have been 6 minutes but it was 9 because HARD TRUTH was HOME TRUTH — thanks to astartedon for parsing that one for me.
  24. Even though the chap who is due to paint the eaves hasn’t turned up! Great QC from Teazel – some very enjoyable clues. We too (well Mrs Peel) entered hard truth instead of home truth but corrected it when we solved 8A (dynamic). No problems with might and main – went straight in. Finished in a pleasing 18 minutes which included an interruption due to a delivery.

    FOI: tongue twister
    LOI: adulteration
    COD: might and main

    Thanks to Astartedon for the blog.

  25. 9 minutes with MIGHT AND MAIN needing all the checkers as I am another who has never heard of the saying. SNAPPER was also biffed from ‘Fish’ and ‘small’. I DNK napper. Other than these 2 clues it was a steady L to R solve. Thanks

    Edited at 2020-07-27 01:49 pm (UTC)

  26. Found this a hard start to the week, taking almost 45 mins, but it was still enjoyable none the less.

    As many above, I also hadn’t heard of “Might and Main” but couldn’t see what else it could be. The NW corner proved the trickiest, but once I got 1dn “Mediate” the rest fell in fairly quickly.

    FOI – 5dn “Aim”
    LOI – 3dn “Home Truth”
    COD – 10ac “Adulteration” – nice misdirection sending me off looking for an anagram.

    Thanks as usual.

  27. … for a slow finish in 22 minutes. And rather too many of those were biffed. DNK Napper in 4A (though as others have said, it was the only possible answer), and also thought the river in 11D was the Test.

    Failed to work out the grammar of the cluing for 3D – what Peter Piper did is not itself a tongue twister, it is an act of harvesting. Reporting what he did, now that’s the TT.

    Puzzled too by 22A Tread. How does this equal Walk over? Walk-over could be trample on, or could mean game conceded by opposition, or could even mean walk finished, but tread?

    Ah well. Perhaps I’m just not on Teazel’s wavelength. Thanks to Don for the blog, in which as usual all was made clear.

    Cedric

  28. I really enjoyed this and beat my PB of 8 June by 30 seconds, coming in at 10:23 so many thanks to Teazel.
    My only hold-ups were MIGHT AND MAIN and SNAPPER which I biffed. I too thought that the river in 11D was the Test and was wondering how the letter ‘I’ fitted in.
    Lots of smiles along the way, such as ADULTERATION and MERCURY and my COD goes to MEDIATE.
    Thanks also to Don for the helpful blog.
  29. We found this a steady solve until loi 13a, took us 10 m for the penny to drop. Knew napper – common word in the Birmingham/ Black Country area when I was young, many years ago. Had 8a dynamic, but could not parse. Thanks Teazel for a good puzzle.

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