Times Quick Cryptic 1571 by Izetti

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I found the last Izetti I blogged really hard but, by contrast, this one proceeded calmly and smoothly. Each sector filled in by turn from NW, NE, SE to SW finishing with LOI 14ac on a quite surprising and very satisfying 7:35.

I had a few pauses for decision points on the way – I’ll mention these as we go.

ACROSS
1. Thus cover is substantial (5)
SOLID – thus (SO), cover (LID).
4. Weakness of female feeling ill (7)
FAILING – female (F), feeling ill (AILING).
8. Didn’t allow sports official to get employed (7)
REFUSED – sports official (REF), employed (USED).
9. Symbol of religious authority about to be given to US university (5)
MITRE – about (RE) given to US university (MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology). First pause as I didn’t think I knew the university but, when I saw the definition, I remembered.
10. A lad mixed up with rebels who sing old songs? (10)
BALLADEERS – anagram (mixed up with) of A LAD and REBELS. This pause was due to having written in BALLADiERS and then wondering what had gone wrong. The slightly unusual ‘with’ to add rebels to the anagram became clear.
14. Greek characters leaving the job unfinished (6)
THETAS – as this was LOI, I had all the checkers. I’d typed in THETA but hesitated before the S as I had to work out the (THE), job unfinished (TAS)k before putting it in.
15. Gold trade offers a painful experience (6)
ORDEAL – gold (OR), trade (DEAL).
17. Smart guy, the one sitting between Tom and Harry? (6,4)
CLEVER DICK – well, there’s Tom, (DICK) and Harry so we have our ‘guy’ and smart is (CLEVER). Whilst smart guy is the definition, smart is also used as word play making thus a partial &lit, I think. I liked this one – COD.
20. Male taken in by deception is one of no fixed abode (5)
TRAMP – male (M) taken in by deception (TRAP).
22. Holiday? Get flowery garland, certainly (7)
LEISURE – flowery garland (LEI – Hawaiian garland worn round the neck), certainly (SURE).
23. Seen as a cake without topping (7)
NOTICED – a cake without the topping is (NOT ICED).
24. Refusal to keep dry and neat (5)
NATTY – refusal (NAY – I tried to fit ‘no’ in at first) around dry (TT – teetotal). I had to look up tee total to make sure it’s tee and not tea and sure enough it is. From Collins – C19: allegedly coined in 1833 by Richard Turner, English advocate of total abstinence from alcoholic liquors; probably from total, with emphatic reduplication. So it’s T-Total not only drinking tea.
DOWN
1. Seen in menders, a ripped garment (4)
SARI – seen in mender(S A RI)pped.
2. Abandoned port (4)
LEFT – double definition.
3. Day going round Paris surprisingly different (9)
DISPARATE – I’d got to DISPAR given I had the first letter and the anagram (surprisingly) of PARIS. I was pretty sure it was disparate but took a pause to equate day as (DATE) to go round the anagram. Then I rationalised it as ‘on this specific day/date’.
4. Tricky to manage, like a violin? (6)
FIDDLY – a violin is a fiddle so is (FIDDLY).
5. Form of belief exists, followed by millions (3)
ISM – exists (IS), millions (M).
6. Financially embarrassed home — that place sold finally (2,3,3)
IN THE RED – home (IN), that place (THERE), sol(D). I hardly bothered with the parsing on this one.
7. In oily manner, putting off a girl, yes? (8)
GREASILY – anagram (putting off) of A GIRL YES.
11. Point made by management? (9)
DIRECTION – I originally had this as a double definition but I think the compass point is the definition. Management’s job is to provide (DIRECTION) hence made by management?
12. Store with mass of stuff in Teesside location (8)
STOCKTON – being familiar with Teeside helped – store (STOCK), mass of stuff (TON).
13. Like something that matters about eastern part of Med (8)
RELEVANT – about (RE), part of Med (LEVANT).
16. Rotten, like a horse prepared to ride, first to fall away (6)
ADDLED – like a horse prepared to ride without the first letter s(ADDLED).
18. Look for building that can accommodate any number (4)
HUNT – building (HUT) holding any number (N).
19. Study Yankee’s to declare false (4)
DENY – study (DEN), Yankee (Y).
21. Illustration of India engraved in copper (3)
PIC – India (I) inside copper (PC).

36 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1571 by Izetti”

  1. No one likes a clever Dick; I remember that from a John Cleese sketch. Vinyl only knew the Massachusetts Stockton, which I didn’t, while I only knew the California one. And ‘Teesside’ suggested NE, which didn’t help. l3d LOI. 6:23.
    1. Stephenson’s Stockton to Darlington Railway was a pioneering early line. If you Google “Railway Engine Stockton”, you’ll hopefully be rewarded with a short clip of the fabulous reproduction in the town centre that operates once a day.
        1. Thanks John ! I left my phone in the car when last in Stockton in 2018, and missed my chance to film it.
  2. 12dn STOCKTON ON TEES was the Constituency of PM Harold MacMillan (Supermac!)

    FOI 1ac SOLID

    LOI 14ac THETAS where Londoners go to watch musicals like ‘Airspray’.

    COD 24ac NATTY

    WOD 17ac CLEVER DICK

    Time 8 mins 45

  3. Straightforward until I was left with only the intersecting 12dn and 14ac which had me baffled and took me 4 minutes over my target 10. Much time lost here trying to justify OMEGAS before at last coming up with THETAS, then with its final checker in place STOCKTON was a write-in.
  4. All green but it look 22m to get there. THETAS took a chunk of that and the crossing RELEVANT did too. I must have come across Levant before but it didn’t come to mind so I was looking for a word with a D in it – east of Med – which was presumably exactly what Izetti intended! NATTY also held me up, needed the blog to justify TT – which only brought the Isle of Man to mind. STOCKTON’s a long way from Yeovil so I’m going easy on myself for taking time over that and the construction of BALLADEERS took a while too. Apart from those easy peasy!
  5. 14 minutes.

    Dnk LEI for the Hawaiian garland or balladeers, although it sounded right.

    COD thetas.

  6. My experience echoed our blogger. I thought Izetti’s instructions were very clear; I then just needed the right GK or whatever. My first thought at 12d was Redcar. And I was lucky to alight on THETAS early. FOI was FAILING; LOI DISPARATE.
    A fast 08:08 on the clock. David
  7. Most of this flew in and I was in PB territory until I hit THETAS, STOCKTON and LOI NATTY but 24.51 for me is still pretty swift.
  8. I was about to hang out the bunting for that rarest of all events for me, a Sub-Kevin. Then I realised that vinyl had beaten him to the first blog post so I was looking at the wrong time … [insert sad face icon]. Oh well, 1.4K is still a Very Good Day!

    The only one I really had to suck my pen over was RELEVANT, where I spent too long thinking that “part of Med” was the definition. Fantastic blog-bonus to be taught the origin of “teetotal”, thank you Chris!

    FOI FAILING, LOI RELEVANT, COD PIC (it just tickled me). Thanks Izetti.

    Templar

  9. I thought that Izetti was in a generous mood today. My only hold up being my final two in; the town, where I couldn’t get CACHE out of my head and THETAS, where I toyed with THEBAN for Greek, but couldn’t make the parsing work. I’m reading Silk Roads at the moment which has lots of references to The Levant, which made 13d a lot easier. Finished in 7.46.
    Thanks to chris
  10. I’m more on rusty’s wavelength than most of the regulars above. Most of the top half went in pretty smoothly with DISPARATE and BALLADEERS dropping out quickly. However, I slowed lower down and had major gaps in the SE (apart from CLEVER DICK which was a write-in for me). RELEVANT was first to break the logjam and NOTICED raised a smile. STOCKTON was slow to emerge but easy with hindsight. I needed the crossers for PIC which I did not spot at first. This took me a shade over 4K (all parsed) so not a source of pride but it was a fascinating puzzle. I’ll now read Chris’s blog again. Thanks, both. John M.
  11. 14 minutes for me, but probably should have been quicker. TT is familiar to me. I think I have previously said that all serving men in the RN used to have one of these attributes associated with their names – UA, G or TT, all related to their entitlement to Grog – Under Age, Grog (entitled) and Tee Total (declined voluntarily). TT wasn’t very common!

    Nice puzzle and blog, thanks.

    1. Yes indeed ! It was written when they were in pantomime at the Globe Theatre in the town with Cliff. Later, and for a panto season further north, they wrote “Alice in Sunderland”.
  13. ….REFUSED access to the on-line puzzle by the FAILINGS of my phone – the Help Desk have been as much help as a blind guide dog – I shall have to be satisfied with 0.55 Kevins, and a SOLID solving performance. You may call me a CLEVER DICK, I’m pretty thick-skinned.

    FOI SOLID
    LOI TRAMP
    COD FIDDLY

  14. SOLID went in first, then steady progress saw me over the line with NOTICED at 7:57. I was in Stockton on Saturday. Thanks Izetti and Chris.
  15. Raced through by my standards but Failed on Relevant and Thetas. Should have been more patient. Enjoyable though.
    1. Well, yes – management steers the direction of a company so board members are called directors.
  18. Even with multiple fat-finger phone errors which needed correction during the solve, I completed this in 0.7 K, or 4:29. I liked NATTY. Off home now, from where I shall work until at least 6 April. Maybe a chance to hone the 15×15 skills.
  19. As for others, very much a tale of two halves. Top half flew in, bottom half quite empty except for a CLEVER DICK. Chipped away at it and ended at the crowded intersection of 12D and 14A to finish in 16 mins. Slower than hoped for but pleased to get over the line.
  20. … as I put Fiddle not Fiddly in for 4D. Reasoning was “it’s tricky to manage” = “it’s a fiddle” which stood up at the time but I can see it doesn’t now.

    Shame as otherwise it all went in smoothly and would have been about 8 minutes. Ah well.

    Have we not had Noticed very recently?

    Many thanks to Chris for blog
    Cedric

  21. After a brisk start, I really struggled with my last few clues. 13d, Relevant, eventually fell into place, leaving just (just!) the 3d/14ac combination, but it took me an age to spot Thetas and only then did day/date come to mind to flag up Disparate – not an everyday word. So, what could have been a quickish solve eased out to one just north of 30mins. Definitely missed out today on a generous puzzle from Izetti. Invariant
  22. Spread this throughout the day so not sure what the total time was. Irrelevant anyway as I DNF.

    Frustrating, as apart from not knowing “Levant” for part of the Med and having a brain fade re: Stockton, the rest were relatively straight forward for an Izetti and I should have done better.

  23. Day 5 of my self-isolation (now feeling fraudulently fit and healthy but needs must) so how to explain such a late posting? ‘Dad, I’ll let you have my Netflix login’ says daughter No. 1, that’s how! One serious time-thief.
    No problems at all when I finally got round to it.
    My thanks to Izetti and Chris.
    3’25”
  24. When I first started on quick cryptics I avoided Izetti puzzles and said so on this blog which drew the usual abuse from one particular gentleman. Now I appreciate them as a challenge and happily do them. This one was a fair test. By the way I have tried and failed to register. I mention this in case the blog’s Rottweiler starts on about anonymous comments.
    1. Great progress! You are always welcome to comment here. Shame about the registration process – it does work – I registered so long ago I can’t remember the process. Finding a unique name can be a problem, otherwise I think it’s just going slowly through the process. Good luck!

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