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Friday, 3 April 2026

Weekend Quick Cryptic 152 - Solution

Phil Jordan, Sawbill and I are continuing to produce our series of Weekend Quick Cryptic crosswords. We take turns, publishing one a fortnight, and this week it's Phil 's 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...

Here are a few hints and tips.
  • In 13A retreats is a reversal indicator
  • The Japanese display in 21A is of flowers
  • In 22A the king is Charles III
  • In 1D "being broadcast" is a "sounds like" indicator
  • The wine in 3D is Hungarian
  • The Lawrence in 5D is DH Lawrence
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 Spying sea pigeon in flight (9)
ESPIONAGE – (sea pigeon)* [in flight]. As well as being a bird Sea Pigeon is the name of a famous racehorse.
6 Knight is coming back before rain starts (3)
SIR – IS [coming back] -> SI + first letter of Rain [starts].
8 Lose hope when Pa rides off (7)
DESPAIR – (Pa rides)* [off].
9 Wax lyrical about Western electoral statistic (5)
SWINGSING (wax lyrical) [about] W (Western).
10 Woman badly hurt (4)
RUTH – [badly] (hurt)*.
11 Bird doesn't fly - and is a traffic hazard (8)
JAYWALKSJAY (bird) + WALKS (doesn’t fly).
13 Say army corps retreats to break cover (6)
EMERGEEG (for example; say) + REME (army corps), all reversed [retreats].
14 The upper classes shop so extravagantly (6)
POSHOS – (shop so)* [extravagantly].
17 Footwear for fitness coaches (8)
TRAINERS – Double definition.
18 Cain's brother, we hear, perfectly fit (4)
ABLE – Sounds like, [we hear], ABEL (Cain’s brother).
20 To begin with rowdy and careless kids sling luggage here (5)
RACKS – Initial letters [to begin with] of Rowdy And Careless Kids Sling.
21 President to outlaw a Japanese display (7)
IKEBANAIKE (Eisenhower; president) + BAN (outlaw) + A. The Japanese art of flower-arranging.
22 King leaves basket for fish (3)
EEL – {CR}EEL (basket) without the CR (King Charles)
23 Portrayed as evil, dines out after protest (9)
DEMONISEDDEMO (protest) + (dines)* [out].
 
Down
1 Back the last one home in race being broadcast (7)
ENDORSE – Sounds like [being broadcast) END HORSE (last one home in race).
2 Cheap psalters ripped up in party game (4,3,6)
PASS THE PARCEL – (Cheap psalters)* [ripped up].
3 It's acceptable to leave wine unopened (4)
OKAY – {t}OKAY (unopened). Tokaji (or Tokay) is a renowned Hungarian dessert wine, celebrated for its high acidity and intense, honeyed sweetness derived from noble rot.
4 Tar on highway - in Spain? (6)
ABROADAB (Able Bodied seaman; tar) + ROAD (highway). The ? indicates a definition by example.
5 Clint Lawrence came from here (8)
EASTWOOD – Double definition. DH Lawrence came from Eastwood in Nottinghamshire.
6 Blab, as a careless waiter may do (5,3,5)
SPILL THE BEANS – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint.
7 Is bad tempered crunching gears (5)
RAGES – [crunching] (gears)*.
12 In Pentagon, is Edward feeling anguish? (8)
AGONISED – Hidden in PentAGON IS EDward.
15 Cook has a way with flight attendant (7)
STEWARDSTEW (cook) + A + RD (road; way).
16 Self-evident statement is accepted by Trump (for the most part) (6)
TRUISMIS in [accepted by] TRUM{p} [for the most part].
17 Brief extract from writer's essay (5)
TERSE – Hidden in, [extract from], wriTER’S Essay.
19 Wail loudly as knee is dislocated (4)
KEEN – (knee)* [is dislocated].

15 comments:

  1. Cedric Statherby3 April 2026 at 13:09

    12 minutes for a perfectly pitched puzzle, though I did not know what was going on in my LOI EASTWOOD - largely because I completely failed to lift-and-separate Clint and Lawrence. And even if I had, not sure I'd have been any the wiser!

    Many thanks Phil for the puzzle, the most enjoyable of the week!

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  2. High praise indeed! Wetherspoons have a pub in Eastwood named "The Lady Chatterley".

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  3. Managed most of this without too much difficulty but needed more time to solve JAYWALKS (requiring an alphabet trawl as far as J) and STEWARD, my last one in.
    NHO IKEBANA but it was easy to work out. Favourites were ABROAD and EEL.
    Thanks Phil and John for a pleasant Sunday morning QC

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    1. Thanks Ian, glad you enjoyed it

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  4. Enjoyable puzzle, thank you. I didn’t parse okay or eel, and hesitated on Eastwood - thinking Lawrence was he of Arabia and trying to make Clint Eastward work. Twit. Sam

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    1. An interesting piece of lateral thinking! Glad you enjoyed it.

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  5. Many excellent clues-thanks! One small aesthetic quibble- I wonder if you could have used a synonym for anguish as it shares a lot of letters ( a, n, g, i, s) with agonised?

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    Replies
    1. I never considered that - quite a good point.

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  6. Really enjoyed this. A couple of challenges - the NHO Ikebana (very gettable)/the ending of Poshos being stretched over two words. Failed to parse Emerge but it had to be. Smiles at end'orse. DKN Lawrence was from Eastwood but it all fitted.... Keep 'em coming! Many thanks

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  7. and I forgot my pleasure at seeing Keen(ing) reappear after such a long absence from the spate we had in the QC - always reminds me of John Buchan's Dickson McCunn series.

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  8. Thanks Andrew - I tend to think that D.H.Lawrence is irrevocably linked with Eastwood. Perhaps I expect too much of our younger solvers.

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  9. Thanks for a very enjoyable puzzle. Another attempt to crowbar in Eastward before the penny dropped. We liked eel and abroad particularly. Cheers Chris and Francesca

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  10. Thanks to both of you as usual. One of the testing team thought POSHOS was pushing it a bit, but nobody has criticised it here, so I seem to have got away with it!

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  11. We laughed at poshest, so a good clue in our humble opinion

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  12. Sorry poshos, c and f

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