Quick Cryptic 1724 by Pedro

Author   curaristPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Generally straightforward with a couple of chewy ones. 3d took me a while to spot. Just over 6 minutes for me

Across

1 Left excellent, decorative fabric (4)
LACE – L + ACE
4 Encountered feathers around Lake, indication of disaster (8)
MELTDOWN – MET + DOWN with L for lake inside
8 Game of golf a rep organised (8)
LEAPFROG – anagram (‘organised’) of GOLF A REP
9 Cricketer first for honours in Somerset city (4)
BATH – BAT with H (first of Honours)
10 Following a religion, entirely on the radio (4)
HOLY – sounds like ‘wholly’
11 Assortment: possibly it’s cheap (8)
PASTICHE – anagram (‘possibly’) of ITS CHEAP
12 Supporters surrounding Rolls Royce in search (6)
FERRET – FEET around RR
14 Contaminate fin, etc, when swimming (6)
INFECT -anagram (‘swimming’) of FIN ETC
16 Learning well, horse breeder promises to pay (8)
STUDIOUS – STUD + IOUs
18 Horribly evil! (4)
VILE – anagram (‘horribly’) of EVIL. And an &lit of sorts
19 Competent brewer initially brought in beer (4)
ABLE – ALE with B for Brewer inside
20 Records office, say, is to attempt tracking source of records (8)
REGISTRY – EG (say) + IS + TRY all after R (first letter of records)
22 Staff touring area wrong to limit good advice to motorists (4,4)
ROAD SIGN – ROD (staff) around A for area + SIN round G for good
23 Speed last of dinner gets consumed (4)
RATE – R + ATE

Down
2 Chaps upset, caught in a single bloomer (7)
ANEMONE – MEN upside down inside A + ONE
3 Attract topless lady, ultimately vain (5)
EMPTY – TEMPT minus its top, + Y
4 Harm horse, docking tail (3)
MAR – MARE minus the last letter
5 I almost stop probing firewood delivery arrangements (9)
LOGISTICS – I STIC(k) inside LOGS
6 Fed up about bride forgetting day, ask for details of service? (7)
DEBRIEF – FED backwards with BRIE (BRIDE minus D for day) inside
7 Seductive woman with a teasing desire (5)
WITCH – W + ITCH
11 Fragrant stuff in Italian river upset our trip (3-6)
POT-POURRI – PO + anagram (‘upset’) of OUR TRIP
13 Left-wing teacher, one with ginger hair (7)
REDHEAD – RED + HEAD
15 Criminal, say, heads for priest, really intending to enter religious group (7)
CULPRIT – P + R + I (first letters of Priest Really Intending) inside CULT
17 Ban cheers and a more hostile expression (5)
TABOO – TA (cheers) + BOO (hostile expression)
18 Eyeshade? Guest has dropped it (5)
VISOR – VISITOR minus IT
21 Success, declining a drink with tonic (3)
GIN – GAIN minus A. Biffed WIN initially as I expect many others did,

49 comments on “Quick Cryptic 1724 by Pedro”

  1. Toughest one of the week for me, needing to wrestle with quite a few before coming to a standstill with three to go in the NE. MELTDOWN fell first of those once I went through the the clue bit by bit, still thought it was a tough definition and those starting letters allowed WITCH, which I considered and rejected because I couldn’t see how the definition fitted – I think I was thinking something like SIREN – and finally DEBRIEF with fingers crossed. Need the blog to see what was going on – thought bride might be B and then couldn’t see what was going on with the rest apart from the backwards fed bit – it really wasn’t that complicated. All green in a shade under 18.
  2. At 13 minutes this was my worst time for a while with the 3dn / 10ac intersection as my sticking point towards the end. Neither clue was particularly difficult but I suffered a mental block.

    Like mendesest I looked twice at the definition of WITCH as I think it’s one that’s a bit old-fashioned and has fallen out of use. But SOED has it as: A fascinating, bewitching girl or young woman.

    Edited at 2020-10-16 07:40 am (UTC)

  3. First bad time for a while, coming in at 20:55 today, well over my sub-15 min target. Had a lot of trouble trying to get the anagrams on the first pass through and basically failing at them. Had to finish up with an alphabet trawl for EMPTY as I just couldn’t see it.
  4. I found this quite tough in places with the NW holding out for the longest. Fortunately the wordplay for ANEMONE was very clear because it’s a word I always struggle to spell correctly. I needed a lot of checkers before the anagrams for PASTICHE and LEAPFROG resolved themselves, wasn’t convinced by the definition for WITCH and I had to resort to an alphabet trawl of LOI HOLY.
    Finished in 13.15 with my favourite being MELTDOWN, with an honourable mention to FERRET.
    Thanks to curarist
  5. Congratulations to Curarist for doing this so easily. I found it the most difficult QC for weeks and registered an embarrassingly long time. I found myself entering answers and then convincing myself they were wrong and removing them because crossing clues didn’t click. Then, finally realising they were right all along and re-entering them. Some nice clues but some stinkers for a QC with some masterly misdirection. Probably just me on a Friday…… Now to get on with the day. John M.

    Edited at 2020-10-16 08:32 am (UTC)

  6. Just made my 15 minute target by 5 seconds with this toughest-of-the-week offering from Pedro. FOI LACE, LOI ROAD SIGN and COD to EMPTY. Thanks C and P.
  7. I agree this is hardest for ages. I’ve been under 10 for several days but this was nearer 20. Many of these wouldn’t have been out of place in the main cryptic
  8. This was my first DNF for a while, with seven to go at my 30 minute limit. I never had enough checkers for the difficult anagrams, and some of the definitions such as WITCH and EMPTY were well down my list of ‘possibles’. I also failed miserably with MELTDOWN and LOGISTICS.
    I’m not complaining, though, as I did have a PB on Monday.
    Thanks to Curarist for sorting it out for me.

    Brian

    Edited at 2020-10-16 08:54 am (UTC)

  9. 3d EMPTY took me a long while to spot and was my LOI at 11:40. My penultimate solve was 6d DEBRIEF. I also biffed a few i.e. LOGISTICS, ROAD SIGN and GIN. Thanks Pedro and curarist.
  10. Several very dodgy clues meant I had no chance with this crossword.
    11 Across ( Answer= PASTICHE ?) is definitely wrong :
    “Assortment: possibly it’s cheap”
    Pastiche means imitation NOT assortment.

    1. SOED: pastiche 1) noun. A medley of various things; spec. (a) a picture or a musical composition made up of pieces derived from or imitating various sources.

      That’s an assortment by any other name. Your meaning is also there but words often have more than one meaning.

  11. 9:16 today. Just got stuck in the NW, with the last three taking forever to work out. Don’t know why anemone took me so long, we grow enough of them! Though I often spell it anenome!!

    FOI LACE
    LOI HOLY
    COD EMPTY

    H

  12. This reminded me of certain train journeys to Preston: major delays in the NW. I started OK with MELTDOWN and proceeded from there clockwise but there were gaps all over the place. When I eventually read 1a, it went straight in but I still needed lots of time to unravel ANEMONE,EMPTY and LOI FERRET. I too wondered about the definition of Pastiche but the anagram was clear enough. 19:33 on the clock. COD to ROAD SIGN. David
  13. Fresh from my PB on Wednesday this was pretty much a PW, with a DNF after 25 minutes, and at least one I had put in wrong. I have finished the 15×15 in less time!

    Pedro usually finds me out – he is the only setter I have DNFed twice this year – but at least I see I am not alone in finding this very much on the tough end of the spectrum. For some reason the anagrams just refused to resolve themselves easily, even when written out on paper, and I share the view that to clue pastiche as assortment in 11A, while it might be in the dictionary, is an unusual use of the word. I wonder how many people reading this blog have used pastiche to mean assortment in real life.

    On the other hand I did not see anything wrong with 7D Witch; indeed it was almost my FOI. For me the connection with seduction is via the word bewitch.

    So a tough end to a mixed week of highs and lows – on balance I think more fun than always effortlessly solving in microseconds!

    Thank you to Curarist for the blog, more than usually needed this time, and a good weekend to all.
    Cedric

  14. Crikey, the customary Pedro stinker, what an end to the week. A mix of some offbeat definitions (DEBRIEF = “ask for details of service”; HOLY = “following a religion”; PASTICHE = assortment; WITCH = “seductive woman”) and more intricate wordplay than we usually see in the QC (ROAD SIGN, LOGISTICS, REGISTRY) made for some hard yards. It also (in my view) made for some ugly, clunky surfaces (4ac, 15dn (terrible!), 20ac, 22ac).

    FOI LACE, LOI EMPTY, no COD, time 1.25 Jacks in the absence of Kevin for a Poor Day.

    Thanks Pedro and the speedy curarist.

    Templar

    Edited at 2020-10-16 10:31 am (UTC)

  15. Bang on 30 mins for me, although I nearly had another last minute clue fail with 5dn “Logistics” – which is so obvious in hindsight that I’m struggling to understand why it took me so long.

    Wasn’t sure about 7dn “Witch” (I initially had something completely unacceptable which I knew couldn’t be right and won’t repeat here). Like a few people, I biffed “Win” for 21dn thinking Gin was too obvious. Liked 3dn “Empty”, 6dn “Debrief”, 15dn “Culprit” and 18dn “Visor”. Thankfully didn’t have too many issues trying to spell 2dn “Anemone” for once.

    FOI – 1ac “Lace”
    LOI – 5dn “Logistics”
    COD – 12ac “Ferret” – simple but clever.

    Thanks as usual.

    1. Yes I was taken aback by that, but Wiktionary has as 3rd def “One who exercises more-than-common power of attraction; a charming or bewitching person.” so we were both wrong to MER.
      Andyf
  16. Felt sluggish doing this so I’m glad others found it chewy too. However, at least I finished, so for me this was not as difficult as yesterday’s offering, even if it did take me nearly five minutes outside my target, with 34:43. Not being able to spell POT POURRI held up seeing ROAD SIGN, even though I had the ROAD bit. Never did parse GIN, nor EMPTY, though I didn’t realise that until I came on here. It was a bit of a breakthrough moment when I realised I was looking for a topless “attract” rather than a topless lady, and hence the word ended with Y rather than N. Anyway, LOI and WOD was FERRET, COD 5d. Thanks Pedro and Curarist
  17. Like others, I found this a bit of a struggle and finished a whisker under 20 minutes, making my average for the week 15 minutes so not all bad.
    Thanks to Pedro and to Curarist for explaining REGISTRY, ROAD SIGN (which I’m sure I’ve struggled with before), EMPTY and WITCH.
    I liked HOLY which was my LOI, STUDIOUS, TABOO and VISOR and my COD goes to DEBRIEF for its complicated but logical wordplay.
  18. I struggled with this and had to resort to seeking help with a couple. Didn’t see WITCH as ‘seductive woman’ or PASTICHE as ‘assortment’, although it was the only choice with the anagram. Took a while with EMPTY and HOLY, not realising ‘on the radio’ meant ‘sounds like’.
  19. Really struggled with this – even the anagrams put up a fight. Looking back, nothing was impossible, but when something as generously clued as 4ac is almost my loi, then it’s clear I just wasn’t on Pedro’s wavelength. Crawled over the line just north of 30mins, with loi Empty responsible for a chunk of those. CoD to 16ac, Studious, just ahead of 18d Visor. Invariant
  20. We too found this one to be quite challenging. We took ages to see the anagram in 8A (leapfrog) and even longer to biff 3D (empty) meaning that we finished in 23 minutes. Thanks to Pedro for the Friday workout – the week’s toughest by far.

    FOI: lace
    LOI: empty
    COD: studious

    Thanks to speedy Curarist for the blog for explaining the answer to 3D!

  21. So well done to the blogger!!

    10:26 for me, with road sign taking the longest, and being LOI.

  22. I found this à stretch although I did manage to finish it, limping over the line at 22 minutes. I took longer because I couldn’t believe that some of my answers were correct. Despite what the dictionary might say , does anybody use PASTICHE to mean assortment? I googled its meaning before I entered it and only imitation of work came up. Still, it had to be. Not wild about MELTDOWN for indication of disaster either. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the mental workout demanded by the parsing of many of the clues here, eg REGISTRY and ROAD SIGN. Also very much liked FERRET for the cheeky reference to FEET. Thanks, Curarist, for the blog and thanks too to Pedro
  23. I did not get 2 clues. Witch, which was a terrible clue and does not fit the definition. Struggled with empty. As an aside I thought potpourri was one word not 2 and have not found a dictionary that shows it as 2.

    A hard puzzle but fair

  24. I was also held up at the 10a/3d crossing, as I was sure they were going to end with N. Got there eventually though. Unlike a lot of you, the assortment definition of PASTICHE was the only one I was familiar with! I went over my target at 10:37. Thanks Pedro and Curarist.
  25. Had to get inspiration from CDC for Anenome , which then seemed obvious. Ditto Able.
    Stuck on Holy which then seemed obvious too.
    Failed on Culprit and put Register – shd have gone back to check parsing. Oh dear.
    COD Ferret
    Worried about Witch but then solved Meltdown, rather a weird clue, I agree.
    One of the clues that went straight in was Pastiche!

    Thanks all round, as ever.

    Edited at 2020-10-16 02:01 pm (UTC)

  26. Same here – a slow end to the week. Definitely on the trickier side!

    FOI Lace LOI Pastiche (I think – I did this this morning and can’t quite remember) COD Leapfrog Time about 13:30

    Thanks all

  27. BATH has not been in Somerset for many years. Now in BANES. PASTICHE and WITCH – not meanings I had ever come across before. EMPTY = vain seemed a bit of a stretch as well. The net result was a long, long struggle which left me totally dissatisfied.
    PlayUpPompey
    1. BATH has been in Somerset since time immemorial, apart from 1974-96 when it was in the now defunct county of Avon.
      1. Ceremonial not but administrative Somerset. Being from Yeovil, firmly in both, I fully expected the answer to be Wells and was rather flatfooted for a bit trying to think where there might be another city in the county.
  28. We join others to find parts tricky, especially the NW corner, took us an age to see the homonym at 10a, taking us beyond our target. Thanks to Pedro for the workout and also for the blog.
  29. Taking the opportunity of waiting for someone needing a hospital appointment, this one took up nearly an hour that needed to be whiled away. I thought there were a smattering of tougher clues that might have been at home in the 15×15, but the more experienced might judge other wise – 3d Empty being one such. Several admirable clues eg 18a Vile, 22a Road Sign. Didn’t have time to check parsing on 21d Gin. Haven’t we seen 8a Leapfrog before – I think the same cluing…? also 2d Anemone? Mind you earlier this week I was surprised to find a clue from the QC in a 15×15 where the familiar cluing seemed so unlikely (27794: 6a Onus). FOI 1a; LOI 19a Able; COD 6d Debrief. A nice end to the week from Pedro so thanks to him and for an informative blog from Curarist. Is there a Saturday puzzle?
    1. No Saturday puzzle I’m afraid – that’s only on the fortnightly occasions when John does the Friday blog. It’s his turn next week, and I’m well on the way to completing one for November 6th.
      1. Thanks – I’ll find something else to do. Must be busy or the management will amply fill the gap! 🙂
      2. Thank you, Phil and John, for your superb work on these fortnightly unofficial quickie puzzles.
        They are always of good quality and of uniform difficulty, which must be a real challenge.
        Pam
  30. ….which took me a blink over target.

    FOI LACE (which led me into a sense of false security)
    LOI EMPTY (as my head may have been)
    COD LOGISTICS (what’s wrong with haulage ? Even our truckers are poseurs these days)
    TIME 5:03

  31. I definitely found this a struggle – a combination of some tricky and obscure clueing and me just not being on the wave length. Completion took me all of 55 mins – definitely my longest time for ages. Thanks to Curarist for explaining the numerous answers which I was unable to parse.

    FOI – 1ac LACE
    LOI – 22ac ROAD SIGN
    COD – 18ac VILE for its simplicity

  32. I was reassured at the number of people who found this really tricky too.

    I knew 21d must be GIN but I couldn’t work out why.

    I’m glad we don’t have too many puzzles this tricky or I’d give up trying.

    Diana

    1. I must say I agree with your last comment. Earlier in the week we had some contributors querying easier puzzles – if they tried this one they would most likely have not just given up today but been turned against crosswords altogether. And that is not the point of the QC.

      Mrs S, who regularly finishes the 15×15 faster than I finish the QC, commented that several of these clues were “interesting”. Which I think means “surprisingly challenging for your crossword, my dear”!

      Cedric

      1. You have to be careful here Cedric. It’s very tempting to equate speed with difficulty but ‘wavelength’ matters. I was slow today, but looking back nothing should have been that difficult. In fact, missing Meltdown on the fhe first pass was really annoying, and as for the anagrams…
  33. After a false sense of achievement all week, this one threw me back to measure my time in hours rather than minutes.
    Struggled to get MELTDOWN, could not see LEAPFROG for ages (and beyond), LTI HOLY and EMPTY.
    Managed to find a newsagent to deliver today, so will be happy to revert to putting pencil to the paper and gaining more time to sleep!
  36. In the 1970s Jack The Lad put together an assortment of tunes as one of the tracks on their debut album, and they called the track “A Corny Pastiche”. So yes, I came across it used with that meaning.
  37. Can someone help me- it’s driving me mad… 3d and 8a intersect at the 3rd letter for 3d, meaning EMPTY must be spelt ‘EMTPY’ or MELTDOWN must be spelt ‘MELPDOWN’. Do I have a misprinted version or was this the case for all of yours?!

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