Quick Cryptic Number 607 by Izetti

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Many of these words were unfamiliar to me, but I only realised just how many when writing the blog; a testament to the fairness of the clueing. I’m definitely more of a fan of double definitions when the words are pronounced differently, I liked the symmetry of using both forte and piano, and the sneaky capitalisation of a word that could be read as a noun by putting at the front of the sentence. Apparently I also think more of Timothy than Sidney.

My favourite was 15dn. I did try a bit of googling to see if any of the places or geographical features mentioned are 1ac, but sadly not. Come on setter!

Definitions underlined.

1 Having equal dimensions — that could engender eroticism (9)
ISOMETRIC – anagram of (that could engender) EROTICISM.
6 Spread for pig (3)
SOW – double definition.
8 Offering some sleep, rest — one English city (7)
PRESTON – hidden in (offering some) sleeP REST ONe.
9 Stranger story included in article (5)
ALIEN – LIE (story) in AN (article).
10 Sad angel sits awkwardly — a feature of church architecture (7,5)
STAINED GLASS – anagram of (awkwardly) SAD ANGEL SITS.
12 Standing place in short grass (6)
REPUTE – PUT (place) in REEd (grass) without its final letter (short).
13 Assembler of equipment in better shape (6)
FITTER – double definition.
16 Section of London underground organising a rebellion, OK? (8,4)
BAKERLOO LINE – anagram of (organising) A REBELLION OK.
19 Persian king quietly leaving Mediterranean island (5)
CYRUS – p (piano, quietly) taken out of (leaving) CYpRUS (Mediterranean island).
20 Be hugging two men where a sympathetic manner is needed? (7)
BEDSIDE – BE outside (hugging) ED and SID (two men).
22 No sound of horses to be heard (3)
NAY – homophone of (to be heard) “neigh” (sound of horses).
23 Entertaining duke, newspaper proprietor provides evening drink (9)
SUNDOWNER – SUN (newspaper) and OWNER (proprietor) surrounding (entertaining) D (duke).
1 Little devil leading island warriors (4)
IMPI – IMP (little devil) in front of (leading) I (island).
2 Dance in old cosy place accompanied by record (3-4)
ONE-STEP – O (old), NEST (cosy place) and EP (record).
3 Have a meal in ‘ot weather (3)
EAT – hot weather is heat, so ‘ot weather is ‘eat.
4 Smuggler gets table decoration (6)
RUNNER – double definition.
5 Cook and cleaning lady ask a lot of questions (9)
CHARGRILL – CHAR (cleaning lady) and GRILL (ask a lot of questions).
6 Snapshot in South Africa shows star (5)
SPICA – PIC (snapshot) inside SA (South Africa).
7 Snakes men found in royal house (7)
WINDSOR – WINDS (snakes) and OR (other ranks, men).
11 Matters of concern in terrible streets (9)
INTERESTS – IN plus an anagram of (terrible) STREETS.
12 Polish image reveals a river of historical significance (7)
RUBICON – RUB (polish) and ICON (image).
14 Anxiety of number on Jerusalem’s hill (7)
TENSION – TEN (number) on SION (Jerusalem’s hill).
15 Something on sewing machine movin’ up and down (6)
BOBBIN – moving up and down is bobbing, so…
17 Part of Ireland it’s crucial for bishop to enter (5)
KERRY – KEY (crucial for) with RR (Right Reverend) entering.
18 Loud organ conveys apprehension (4)
FEAR – F (forte, loud) and EAR (organ).
21 Couple in act outside university (3)
DUO – DO (act) outside U (university).

13 comments on “Quick Cryptic Number 607 by Izetti”

  1. Tougher than yesterday which is why I came in at 10.02 (5.30 yesterday was my PB)

    COD 23ac SUNDOWNER which can refer to any alcoholic drink imbibed after work – or whatever.

    horryd shanghai

  2. I had to wait for some checkers before sorting out the long anagrams at 10ac and 16ac, although if I’d written the letters down I might have solved quicker. I knew SPICA, vaguely, but would never have got it without the clear wordplay. Wasted some time thinking ‘place’ at 12ac was PL and that ‘bishop’ at 17d was B. 5:02.
  3. 8 minutes for this rather tricky QC offering from Izetti. The only thing I needed to check after completion was SPICA, though as Kevin says above, the wordplay was clear so I was pretty sure of it. I feared for newer bods over some of the other answers though.

    On RR for Bishop, I can never see it without thinking of the Right Reverend Reverend Wright on KYTV (or Radio Active before that) which then leads me on to memories of Rabbi Rabbit (their answer to Roland Rat). Does anyone else remember? No, I thought not.

  4. I was going to leave a comment but kevingregg has already written it for me almost word for word. Typical Izetti, a good test with lots of nice surfaces and humour, 16a very clever I thought. Thanks blogger and Izetti.
  5. Tough but fair I thought – it took me around 30 minutes. I couldn’t see the second definition in 4d and couldn’t fully parse 12a, so thanks for clearing those up William. Lots of enjoyable clues e.g. 5d and 16d but my COD goes to 23a for making me smile
  6. Typical effort from the Don enjoyable and educational but even with ignorance of the new words doable….tx. (Impi, spica)
  7. Found this much easier than yesterday, which I really struggled with. Spica was new to me, although reasonably clear from the clue, but I thought everything else fairly straightforward. Particularly liked 23ac & 15d
    PlayupPompey
  8. At 30mins dead, my best Izetti finish for some time, especially as I thought it was going to be a struggle after the first pass through. Getting the long anagrams quickly for a change certainly makes things easier. As others have pointed out, the cluing really helped with the unknowns, so thank you Don. My favourite was 20ac, but 23ac and 12d were close behind. Invariant
  9. Dnk SPICA despite having First Aid training. Taught maths for thirty years dnk ISOMETRIC is an anagram of EROTICISM (there are very few jokes in mathematics and there must be one in there somewhere). BAKER street was the first tube station in London (what was the point? did it really exist before they built a second station?) 4’22” today, thanks William and Izetti.
  10. Once I got going I solved this steadily. I solved the bottom half first and once I saw Preston, I finished off the top half. 15 minutes in total.
    New to me were Impi and Spica but I was confident from the clue.
    Favourite 23a . David
  11. 18:59, for another full set this week. Knew Spica from the rhyme “Arc to Arcturus and spike to Spica” to locate the bright stars beyond the handle of The Plough. COD was CYRUS, and LOI the tricky REPUTE. Truncating the last letter of a (tough) synonym for grass is at the top end of difficulty for QC.
    As always, good pace with Izetti with clues dropping in at a pleasing rate. But disappointed to see OR for ‘men’ again.

    Edited at 2016-07-06 04:23 pm (UTC)

  12. Wow just la few days ago I commented on Kerry appearing as an Irish county rather than the normal Mayo and here it is again. I think it is an identical clue to last week!
  13. Humph at falling for 1d imps and not seeing impi (a new word for me). This is the second day in a row with a DNF for a one letter error. Was happy enough to be led into 6d spica (another new one for me) so extra annoyed to not be content with impi. Couldn’t parse 17d but it had to be kerry, also 12a repute. Thanks to the blog for explaining these and 21d duo. A very fair and satisfying puzzle with COD 16a bakerloo line. I shall look at the next Izetti with less trepidation than hitherto!

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