Times Quick Cryptic No 1378 by Tracy

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Good quality puzzle from Tracy, somewhere around the average difficulty mark. I finished a few seconds under my target with a few unparsed. Not too much in the way of obscurity, but there are a couple of obscure etymologies, and there was a good bit of interesting vocab to add to the nice surfaces. Very good fun – many thanks to Tracy!

Across
1 A thrash in large town is a disaster (8)
CALAMITY – A LAM (a thrash) in CITY (large town). Etymology obscure, with many tempted to link it to Latin for straw (calamus), but see here.
5 Enjoyable day in pool (4)
FUND – FUN (enjoyable) D(ay)
9 Beginning to anticipate win, once more (5)
AGAIN – A (beginning to Anticipate) GAIN (win)
10 One that’s stoned, endlessly outspoken after a party (7)
AVOCADO – VOCA (“endlessly” VOCAL/outspoken) after A DO (a party)
11 Can, given time, and elected (3)
TIN – T(ime) and IN (elected)
12 Terribly pleased about a new walkway (9)
ESPLANADE – anagram (terribly) of PLEASED about/around A N(ew)
13 Celebrity appearing in satire, now nervous (6)
RENOWN – “appearing” in the letters of satiRE NOW Nervous
15 Braved winds bravely, say (6)
ADVERB – anagram (winds) of BRAVED. This is a DBE, hinted at by the word “say”, as explained in the excellent new glossary. My LOI, it wasn’t biffed (or BIFD) so much as BIFC (bunged in from checkers). At least, I didn’t go back and re-read the clue with little else that would fit _D_E_B. Nothing else, according to Crossword Solver, but they’ve somehow forgotten about “adweeb” (same idea as asleep or aback, if one is taken adweeb one is taken to a state of dweebdom).
17 Genuine article secured by relative, not quite 100 (9)
AUTHENTIC – THE (article) secured by AUNTI (“not quite” AUNTIE/relative) C (100).
19 Catch sight of tailless sow (3)
SEE – “tail-less” SEED (sow). As in to sow/seed the land.
20 Leaves company after return of Italian explorer (7)
TOBACCO – CO. (company) after TOBAC (Cabot/Italian explorer, “returns”/reverses). I gave up racking my brain for Italian explorers after Polo and Columbus and moved on. I remember a restaurant task on the (UK) Apprentice a few years ago where the team came up with a menu/decor theme celebrating famous Britons. Pride of place was given to Columbus, and there was utter disbelief all round come the grand opening. “But his name’s Christopher! That’s English!” Easy to mock, though; I’ve a feeling I thought Cabot was Portuguese before solving this, which I (possibly) wouldn’t have done had I known his non-anglicised name, Giovanni Caboto.
21 Tolerate fat? Not initially (5)
ALLOW – TALLOW (fat), “not initially”.
22 Boss getting rid of one restaurant worker (4)
CHEF – CHIEF (boss) getting rid of I (one)
23 Something that may be added or removed? (8)
APPENDIX – nice cryptic (double) definition: added to book, removed from body.

Down
1 Escort a damaged vessel (7)
COASTER – anagram (damaged) of ESCORT A.
2 Pounds get paid to master (5)
LEARN – L (pounds) EARN (get paid)
3 Reckon why men adjusted spanner (6,6)
MONKEY WRENCH – anagram (adjusted) of RECKON WHY MEN. There are lots of theories about the etymology of this, including non-key wrench (as opposed to the earlier key wrench), and being invented by the otherwise unknown Mr Monckey. Both implausible, as explained by World Wide Words, with the likeliest answer being the simplest: it looks a bit like the face of a monkey (or at least it does in the drawing they have).
4 Vagrant, male lying in bunker (5)
TRAMP – M(ale) lying in TRAP (bunker)
6 Ignorant, a female in Paris about a conflict (7)
UNAWARE – UNE (“a”, feminine in French/Paris) about A WAR (a conflict)
7 Radio-controlled aircraft finished across river (5)
DRONE – DONE (finished) across R(iver)
8 Kowtow, as a violin pupil might? (3,3,6)
BOW AND SCRAPE – cryptic hint. A very low bow facilitated by drawing one’s foot back out along the ground, hence the “scraping”. Kowtow is a similar idea in reverse, literally meaning to knock one’s head on the ground.
14 Striking number heading chart (7)
NOTABLE – NO. (number) heading/coming above TABLE (chart)
16 Polish see British uprising get bigger (7)
BEESWAX – BEES (SEE B(ritish), uprising/reversing) WAX (get bigger)
17 A dry, mostly freezing cold, upper room (5)
ATTIC – A, TT (tee-total/dry), ICY (freezing cold) “mostly”
18 Run into very quiet group of soldiers (5)
TROOP – R(un) into TOO (very) P (piano/quiet)
19 Small boy devouring a cold dish (5)
SALAD – S(mall) LAD (boy) devouring/taking in A

35 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1378 by Tracy”

  1. I think I thought that Cabot was English, although I’m sure I was taught correctly. Biffed BEESWAX; W X something of a giveaway. 4:34.
    1. Apparently America was named after his sponsor, a Welshman called ap Merrick, and not Vespucci after all.
  2. 9 minutes. The clues to BOW AND SCRAPE and APPENDIX each raised a smile.
  3. I made heavy weather of this with most of it feeling like a real battle. I didn’t help myself by not spotting things that should have been relatively obvious, such 1d being an anagram. The final couple of minutes were spent on 10a which I assumed began ‘ADO’ and I’m still not sure why VOCA is in the middle of it.
    Anyway an enjoyable workout which I finished in 17.15, with a doff of the cap to 8d and 23a.
    Thanks for the blog
    1. It’s tricky: It looks like A DO VOCA, but you have to read it as A VOCA [endlessly vocal after a], DO.
  4. Well would have been 12 mins if I’d stopped to think about 10ac but bunged in a made up word ALOUADO in hope. Should have known that the QC doesn’t tend to have really obscure words in… otherwise nice puzzle, loved 23a APPENDIX

    NeilC

  5. Done and dusted in 3K, but I’m still given myself a Decent Day because it felt quite tough in places and I neither biffed nor got stuck!

    Roly, I couldn’t properly parse AVOCADO at the time and I don’t understand your explanation. You say “VOCA (“endlessly” VOCAL/outspoken) after A DO (a party)”. But VOCA isn’t “after” A DO, it’s in the middle of A DO. (Alternatively, there’s another A DO – that comes “after” AVOC, but AVOC doesn’t mean “endlessly outspoken”.) Can anyone lighten my darkness?

    FOI CALAMITY, LOI and COD APPENDIX. Thanks Tracy and Roly.

    Templar

    1. As Kevin explains, it’s A then VOCA(L) followed by DO. You have to lift and separate the components of the clue. I also thought ADO was a clue element at first, and only parsed it correctly after I’d biffed it from checkers. Divide the clue into two parts. Outspoken endlessly after a. Party.

      Edited at 2019-06-20 07:41 am (UTC)

      1. Thank you John. I understand now. (Kevin’s message hadn’t appeared when I was typing my message with sausage fingers on my phone!)
  6. Like Jack, I smiled at BOW AND SCRAPE and APPENDIX. It took me a couple of double takes before I realised COASTER was an anagram. CALAMITY was my FOI and NOTABLE my last. Scraped in at exactly 10 minutes. Thanks Tracy and Roly.
  7. All correct except the dictionary doesn’t seem to include the explorer TIROCCO or the NOTURNE chart.

    Liked avocado, troop, and appendix.

    Edited at 2019-06-20 08:08 am (UTC)

  8. Very minor contribution to an excellent blog – I took “not quite 100” to be 99 or IC which leaves “relative” to be AUNT. I missed AVOCADO as well as sure word started with ADO… Great fun, 30 mins, good for me – I’m new to this!
    Woodeye.
  9. Just inside my 15 m target. I parsed AUTHENTIC the same as Woodeye above (welcome Woodeye!). Nice puzzle.
  10. I enjoyed this – thanks to setter and blogger! I have one small quibble. I don’t think ‘too’ equates to ‘very’. If something is very good or pleasant it isn’t excessively so. Just my view!
  11. Nice puzzle and I thought my time was pretty rapid until I finished and saw it was 4K. I must have been quite deeply immersed! I thought ADVERB, TOBACCO, AUTHENTIC, and APPENDIX were good clues and RENOWN was rather well hidden. LOI NOTABLE. Thanks to Tracy and Roly. John M.

    Edited at 2019-06-20 08:31 am (UTC)

  12. I took 19 minutes, one under target and very good for a Teasel. This follows a PB of 14m yesterday and a comprehensive DNF on the last Izetti, so I don’t really know where I am.
    I thought it was a typical Teazel puzzle with very smooth surfaces and tricky wordplay. I parsed everything except TRAP, but apparently it’s a golfing term, and I thought of IC for 17A, but the correct number for 99 is XCIX.

    Brian

      1. Thanks, I thought I was too quick! I don’t get the setter on my phone.
        Brian
  13. Good quality puzzle – liked bow and scrape, adverb and appendix. 12 mins.
  14. Not the easiest of QCs to come back to, but nevertheless an enjoyable 34min solve, with those last four on loi 20ac. I don’t think I have come across Cabot, or if I have I didn’t remember him, but either way it took me some time to get the answer having first ‘explored’ the wrong end of the clue. Impossible to choose between Adverb/Authentic for my CoD vote, so they will just have to share. Invariant
  15. Bow and scrape, your answer ignores the pupil …surely scrape refers to the action of the bow against the violin that a novice might cause…
    1. Yes that’s another thing I didn’t make clear: I meant the cryptic hint referred to the bowing and scraping that a novice voilinist might and left it at that, before giddily going on to the reason for the actual phrase, which I quite liked!
  16. Thoroughly enjoyed this, but a little over my target. Slowed down by 15ac! Thanks to all the bloggers, when I started, I’d get 4/5 myself and need help to get any further. Now I’ll generally finish the QC and get 5/6 on the main one. Progress!
  17. Another question please. 2d ‘pounds’ which is plural. I was looking at double L. Would pound ( singular) not be L? How can pounds also be L or do I just need to go and watch the cricket? Again many thanks to setter and blogger as ever. L&I
    1. If you’re old enough to remember the old money, pounds, shillings and pence were represented by LSD. S and D have long gone but L for pound or pounds remains.

      Edited at 2019-06-20 12:34 pm (UTC)

  18. It’s a tool in the setter’s armoury. £1 has one £ just as £5 does, so the single £(L) can represent either. At least that’s how I see it.
  19. An enjoyable crossword and blog. However, can you please expand on the bloggers comment “DBE” for 15 across. A link to all crossword related acronyms would be appreciated. Ta
    2. Er, I think the link was in the very same sentence, in that underlined word saying “glossary” – at least, I hope it shows up as such, because that’s sort of why I went full on jargon in that clue!
  20. Lovely surfaces today. Thank you Tracy. I really enjoyed ADVERB, APPENDIX, MONKEY WRENCH and BOW AND SCRAPE. About 9 mins with LOI AVOCADO.
  21. Found that very tough. Eventually just missing avocado – nice clue. But took the best part of an hour. Some good ones in there though. Thanks!

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