Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce our series of Quick Cryptic crosswords. We take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it's my turn.
You can find a link to the crossword here and the answers below. Feel free to leave any comments or questions here as you would do on TfTT. You can find an index to the complete series of crosswords here.
Before looking at the answers, if you would like some additional help, click the label below.
Hints and tips...
Some hints and tips:
- The theme, if you haven't guessed it yet is given away by 10A. Several creatures and characters from her two stories appear elsewhere in the grid.
- The "place to sleep with others" in 3A is something you might find at an old-fashioned boarding school..
- For the "number of Romans" in 12A think Roman numerals.
- In 14A you need to think of a word for "hurtle about" and change a letter as specified.
- 24A contains another Roman numeral.
- In 25A it's a creature that's fabulous.
- 27A is a hidden word clue.
- 4D references the sad (for the answer to the clue) story of the Walrus and the Carpenter.
- In 17D you need to remove the specified letter to create the letters for an anagram.
- 22D has another bit of whimsy. For "course" think "golf course"
- 23D features another chess man in the wordplay.
And click on this label to get the solution.
Definitions underlined in bold italics , ( Abc )* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
Across
1 Outlandishly odd old bird that is no more (4)
DODO – (odd)* [outlandishly] O (old).
3 Drowsy little creature finds place to sleep with others by river (8)
DORMOUSE – DORM (place to sleep with others) OUSE (river in Yorkshire).
9 Noblewoman's daughter beginning to understand board game. (7)
DUCHESS – D (daughter), first letter of Understand, CHESS (board game).
10 Wandering Celia is a young Victorian explorer (5)
ALICE – (Celia)* [wandering].
11 Eccentric characters seen in suits (5)
CARDS – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint.
12 A number of Romans follow priest with source of recipe for magic potion (6)
ELIXIR - ELI (priest) IX (nine in Roman numerals; a number) first letter of Recipe.
14 Rush about but make time for hard shelled swimmer (6)
TURTLE – HURTLE (rush about) making the H (hard) into T (time) -> TURTLE.
16 After finishing drink dark man jumps on board (6)
KNIGHT – Last letter of drinK, NIGHT (dark).
19 Insane threat from mad tea-party host (6)
HATTER – (threat)* [insane].
21 Like Chablis, perhaps, with milk (5)
WHITE – Double definition.
24 After king leading nine, ace, five and, finally, three to reveal jack (5)
KNAVE – K, first letter of Nine, A (ace), V (five in Roman numerals) and last letter of threE.
25 A French idol hosting head of republic? That's fabulous (7)
UNICORN – R (republican) in UN (a in French) ICON (idol).
26 Foolishly trust in a person out of habit (8)
NATURIST – (trust in a )* [foolishly].
27 Listen to me... In essence, Trump's stonewalling (4)
PSST – Hidden in TrumP’S STonewalling.
Down
1 Deed I act out to demonstrate devotion (8)
DEDICATE – (Deed I act)* [out].
2 Colour scheme of French? Wow! (5)
DÉCOR - DE (of in French) COR (Wow!).
4 Sad story about English shellfish (6)
OYSTER – E (English) in (story)* [sad]. A reference to the tale of “The Walrus and the Carpenter”.
1 Outlandishly odd old bird that is no more (4)
DODO – (odd)* [outlandishly] O (old).
3 Drowsy little creature finds place to sleep with others by river (8)
DORMOUSE – DORM (place to sleep with others) OUSE (river in Yorkshire).
9 Noblewoman's daughter beginning to understand board game. (7)
DUCHESS – D (daughter), first letter of Understand, CHESS (board game).
10 Wandering Celia is a young Victorian explorer (5)
ALICE – (Celia)* [wandering].
11 Eccentric characters seen in suits (5)
CARDS – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint.
12 A number of Romans follow priest with source of recipe for magic potion (6)
ELIXIR - ELI (priest) IX (nine in Roman numerals; a number) first letter of Recipe.
14 Rush about but make time for hard shelled swimmer (6)
TURTLE – HURTLE (rush about) making the H (hard) into T (time) -> TURTLE.
16 After finishing drink dark man jumps on board (6)
KNIGHT – Last letter of drinK, NIGHT (dark).
19 Insane threat from mad tea-party host (6)
HATTER – (threat)* [insane].
21 Like Chablis, perhaps, with milk (5)
WHITE – Double definition.
24 After king leading nine, ace, five and, finally, three to reveal jack (5)
KNAVE – K, first letter of Nine, A (ace), V (five in Roman numerals) and last letter of threE.
25 A French idol hosting head of republic? That's fabulous (7)
UNICORN – R (republican) in UN (a in French) ICON (idol).
26 Foolishly trust in a person out of habit (8)
NATURIST – (trust in a )* [foolishly].
27 Listen to me... In essence, Trump's stonewalling (4)
PSST – Hidden in TrumP’S STonewalling.
1 Deed I act out to demonstrate devotion (8)
DEDICATE – (Deed I act)* [out].
2 Colour scheme of French? Wow! (5)
DÉCOR - DE (of in French) COR (Wow!).
4 Sad story about English shellfish (6)
OYSTER – E (English) in (story)* [sad]. A reference to the tale of “The Walrus and the Carpenter”.
5 Replicated note about a city
(5)
MIAMI – A in MI MI (replicated note; note twice).
6 Wedding bells sound after college (7)
UNITING – UNI (college) TING (bell’s sound).
7 Container bottled by brewery (4)
EWER – Hidden in [bottled by] brEWERy.
8 It goes pop when the money's gone (6)
WEASEL – Cryptic definition. “Half a pound of tuppenny rice… That’s the way the money goes…”. The odd one out among the creatures in the puzzle - there is no weasel in Wonderland.
13 Number Ten backed local network (8)
ETHERNET – ETHER (anaesthetic gas; number) TEN reversed, [backed], -> NET.
15 Make further changes to create a quiet time to support study (7)
READAPT – READ (study) A P (piano; quiet) T (time)
17 Stupidly we begin without firstly garnishing starter (6)
NEWBIE – (we be{g}in)* [stupidly] without the first letter of Garnishing.
18 Gangs of disheartened adults (6)
GROUPS – GRO{wn}- UPS without the middle letters, [disheartened].
20 Article on old tax authority of those people (5)
THEIR – THE (definite article) IR (Inland Revenue; previous tax authority before merger with Customs & Excise to make HMRC).
22 Press with these tools, of course? (5)
IRONS – Double definition the second a bit of whimsy seeing IRONS as ‘tools’ used on a golf course
23 Similar to a man, has no tail (4)
AKIN – A KIN{g} (chess man) without the last letter [has no tail].
MIAMI – A in MI MI (replicated note; note twice).
6 Wedding bells sound after college (7)
UNITING – UNI (college) TING (bell’s sound).
7 Container bottled by brewery (4)
EWER – Hidden in [bottled by] brEWERy.
8 It goes pop when the money's gone (6)
WEASEL – Cryptic definition. “Half a pound of tuppenny rice… That’s the way the money goes…”. The odd one out among the creatures in the puzzle - there is no weasel in Wonderland.
13 Number Ten backed local network (8)
ETHERNET – ETHER (anaesthetic gas; number) TEN reversed, [backed], -> NET.
15 Make further changes to create a quiet time to support study (7)
READAPT – READ (study) A P (piano; quiet) T (time)
17 Stupidly we begin without firstly garnishing starter (6)
NEWBIE – (we be{g}in)* [stupidly] without the first letter of Garnishing.
18 Gangs of disheartened adults (6)
GROUPS – GRO{wn}- UPS without the middle letters, [disheartened].
20 Article on old tax authority of those people (5)
THEIR – THE (definite article) IR (Inland Revenue; previous tax authority before merger with Customs & Excise to make HMRC).
22 Press with these tools, of course? (5)
IRONS – Double definition the second a bit of whimsy seeing IRONS as ‘tools’ used on a golf course
23 Similar to a man, has no tail (4)
AKIN – A KIN{g} (chess man) without the last letter [has no tail].
.
A very nice puzzle, finished in just over 12 minutes so bang on par for the Sunday Specials. And for once even I spotted the theme. But not quite all parsed as Ethernet was biffed - a real Doh! moment when I saw the parsing. I always forget that that type of number.
ReplyDeleteElixir my favourite, closely followed by Knave. Many thanks John for the puzzle.
Cedric
Thanks, Cedric. Glad you enjoyed it. My own favourite was OYSTER as it was the checkers I had in place that let me find I could put the word. I hope you spotted the oblique reference to "The Walrus and The Carpenter" in the clue. I like the final lines... "Shall we be trotting home again? But answer came there none. And that was scarcely odd because they'd eaten every one".
DeleteEnjoyable and encouraging puzzle. A quick solve. Even I couldn’t fail to see the Alice theme. I am sure she would have found an ETHERNET useful in Wonderland. Liked many inc DORMOUSE, PSST, KNAVE, OYSTER, WEASEL.
ReplyDeleteThanks vm, John.
Countrywoman
Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it, found it encouraging and managed a quick solve.
DeleteWell, lots of fun and lots to unpack too. I probably liked grown-ups missing its middle most and also the KNIGHT and KING as chesspieces. Knew the monkey/weasel song as starting "All around the mulberry bush" but then researching and reading about its origins and variants was very interesting. I had a couple of mini-reservations- the definition of DEDICATE and the "with" in "with milk"?Just minor MERs, not enough to take away from the pleasure of the experience- thanks a lot, John!
ReplyDeleteThanks. Glad it was fun for you. And thanks for the comments on the clues. I don't know whether it's true or not, but many years ago there was a story about a borough council somewhere in Greater London decreeing that the canteen should not refer to "black coffee" or "white coffee" as "black" and "white" were political terms, but that they should be called "coffee without milk" and "coffee with milk". Admittedly "with milk" is definition 18 of 25 in Chambers. As for DEDICATE, I was trying to refer to the definition "to devote wholly or chiefly", but maybe it's a bit loose.
DeleteYes, the cafe use of "with milk" makes that clear to me now. I think DEDICATE is just a very difficult word to define concisely. I notice I wrote "minor MER" , forgetting the M already stands for minor!
DeleteOh, and ELIXIR and UNITING were favourites too.
ReplyDeleteThis was fun! FOI Dodo gave away the theme straightaway and then it was fun to find all the related answers. Glad you included the Oysters. The G in 16a led me down the garden path for a few minutes looking for a PC answer... But 24a was my favourite. Thanks for giving me a smile this morning.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting. Glad you found it fun.
DeleteThanks for an entertaining puzzle, which unfortunately was a dnf on three for us. Groups my favourite, cards Francesca's.
ReplyDeleteSorry you didn't manage to complete it. Better luck next time.
DeleteEnjoyable puzzle as usual. Main hold up was the SE corner, where I initially failed to see 25ac “Unicorn”. 21ac “White’ and 22dn “Irons” felt so straightforward I thought I was missing something. However, 27ac “Psst” was clever.
ReplyDeleteJamesEd46
Thanks for the feedback. The definition for UNICORN was, perhaps, a little unhelpful. I decided to use "stonewalling" rather than "stupid" in 27A as that would have been a bit rude, I think.
ReplyDeleteI guessed the theme before I'd even started! Then I got ten across answers on the first pass, which helped a lot with the downs. I needed a bit of help because most of the downs weren't in Alice (as far as I could tell), especially Ethernet. Admired Hatter. Didn't parse Akin - forgot that a king was a man on a chessboard. FOI Dodo and LOI Newbie. Thank you John for an entertaining puzzle and for bringing back memories of two much-loved books from my childhood.
ReplyDeleteZajonc
Thanks for commenting, Zajonc. Glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDelete