QC 1245 by Izetti

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Oh dear, I think I made a bit of a meal of this one. Managed it in 10 minutes but I feel as though I should have been posting a PB down around the 6-minute mark. All the clues were going in pretty easily and then I snagged on the final 3 or 4, with every one turning out to be a smack on the head job. I think it was just my speed vertigo (referred to several months ago in this blog) that slowed me down. Sometimes when I think I’m going well (by my own standards) and that a good time might be coming up my brain freezes. I’m sure it happens to a lot of people, and I am also sure that it is something that will disappear with experience and practice.

But hey! Many thanks to Izetti for a challenge that proved for me to be tougher than at first appeared. It was fun, with 1A going in straight off the bat. 5D was my LOI in spite of the fact that I could feel in my bones that SAILOR was the definition and that the Henry we were talking about was the eighth one, but the cogs didn’t mesh immediately so I moved on and came back to it later. Foolish child. I am also ashamed of not getting 19A straight off, chemist that I am, and I think that my COD has to be that or the aforesaid 5D, with 19A pinching it for the smoother surface and clever definition.

Deploying my NATRAF (Nina And Theme Radar And Filter) yielded no results.

Definitions are underlined and everything else is explained just as it appears to me in the simplest language I can muster.

PS I am trying to post this but am having connection problems. I will try to use a mobile router but inevitably this is going to appear on the website later than I would have wished.

Across
1 Enjoyable experience of a big swimmer from a previous era? (1,5,2,1,4)
A WHALE OF A TIME – A WHALE (big swimmer) + OF A TIME (from a previous era – as when we describe a film or book or similar work that seems a bit dated as being ‘very much OF ITS TIME’).
8 A knight with additional decoration somewhere in Northern Ireland (6)
ANTRIM – A + N (knight as abbreviated in chess) + TRIM (additional decoration) gives the northern Irish county.
9 Hesitation about time of abstinence? Back down (6)
RELENT – RE (hesitation (ER) reversed (about)) + LENT (time of abstinence). As when I asked somebody the other day if they were ready for Christmas and they told me “No, we’re giving it up for Lent”.
10 Gloomy, having eaten hard fish (4)
SHAD – SAD (gloomy) having ‘eaten’ H (hard).
11 Any number in peculiar top hats and skimpy female attire (3,5)
HOT PANTS – N (any number (algebra)) ‘in’ HOT PATS: an anagram (‘peculiar’) of TOP HATS.
12 What sounds like common bird sound (5)
CHEEP – homophone for CHEAP (common).
13 Old car not starting creates fury (5)
ANGER – an old car is a BANGER, and if it doesn’t start it creates ANGER. If you don’t believe me ask Basil Fawlty.
15 Pair to perform at front of one church in rehearsal (8)
PRACTICE – PR (pair) + ACT (to perform) + I (one) + CE (church (of England)).
17 Boy comes to end of the big book (4)
TOME – TOM (boy) + E (end of thE).
19 I? I love to eat (6)
IODINE – can you see the underlining? It’s very small isn’t it? I is the chemical symbol for iodine, element number 53 in the periodic table. I + O (love) + DINE (to eat) = IODINE.
20 Pussy is crossing avenue — caution! (6)
CAVEAT – CAT (pussy) ‘crossing’ AVE (avenue).
21 Insincere toad sadly thinking of no one else? (13)
INCONSIDERATE – straight anagram of INSINCERE TOAD. I really liked this because it worked so well on the surface and in the solution. I even considered it as a COD, but for all its smooth surface it was in the end a pretty straightforward anagram.
Down
2 Female just on the scene, turning up with honoured companion (5)
WENCH – NEW (just on the scene) ‘turning up’ (i.e. reversed in this down clue) gives WEN. Add on CH (Companion of Honour, therefore ‘honoured companion’) gives the solution.
3 Shorten a span (7)
ABRIDGE – A + BRIDGE (span).
4 Wood used in model-making (3)
ELM – hidden word: modEL Making.
5 Sailor Henry’s was a Spanish Catherine (5,4)
FIRST MATE – Henry VIII’s first ‘mate’ was Catherine of Aragon, a ‘Spanish Catherine’.
6 A US lot losing heart unfortunately in Oklahoman city (5)
TULSA – anagram of A + US + LT (LoT ‘losing heart’).
7 Bloke receiving Communion finally in church (7)
MINSTER – MISTER (bloke) ‘receiving’ N (CommunioN finally).
11 Joy has to keep quiet and languishes (9)
HAPPINESS – to solve this HAS must ‘keep’ (i.e. hold inside) P (quiet) and PINES (languishes) giving HAPPINESS.
12 Vehicle with nothing on? That’s funny! (7)
CARTOON – CART (vehicle) + O (nothing) + ON.
14 Manage to communicate, that’s clear (3,4)
GET OVER – double definition. As in getting a point over and getting over a hurdle.
16 Cloth seen in porch in Oxford (5)
CHINO – another hidden word: porCH IN Oxford.
18 This writer has a set of religious books planned (5)
MEANT – ME (this writer) + A + NT (New Testament, a set of religious books).
20 Hero in police department (3)
CID – as in El Cid. I think originally ‘Cid’ meant ‘Lord’. But I think this became his nickname and how he was known eventually, and he became quite a battlefield hero. So I think in the end Cid equates happily to hero. Almost a double definition except CID in the police sense is an acronym not an actual word.

29 comments on “QC 1245 by Izetti”

  1. I was going along lickety-split, but HAPPINESS & IODINE took an undue amount of time, especially for me to remember I. Does ‘of a time’ mean ‘from a previous era’? News to me. So far as I know, CID is not an acronym, as it’s not–correct me if I’m wrong–pronounced as a word. UNESCO is an acronym, UN an initialism or abbreviation. 6:57.
    2. And yes, I had similar difficulties with OF A TIME. Hence the slightly tortured linguistic gymnastics to get there. But I think that’s what he meant.
  2. 20 minutes, held up by iodine, first mate, and relent.

    Also struggled to parse practice.

    COD Iodine

  3. Just over 14 minutes. LOI iodine – keep meaning to learn those chemical elements (ditto the Greek alphabet). Why the question mark in 12D?
  4. A good QC I thought with a mixture of easy-ish clues and some tougher ones.
    I was going well but got stuck in the SW mainly.
    I had to correct First Lady (biffed) to First Mate at 5d and finished with IODINE after HAPPINESS emerged. 19:57 on the clock. David
  5. a little longer for me c. 25-30 mins which suggests a little tougher esp. for a Monday.
    I struggled to get going at the start (11a FOI) and it seemed a little of a slog throughout. There seemed few that clicked immediately and all required a little thought, perhaps not 16d & 4d though.
    There are quite a few clues that impressed 18d, 19a and 15a.
    COD: 19a
    LOI: 5d (I just wasn’t 100% sure, mate = wife? maybe …).
    thanks to blogger, setter and all who contribute.
    Carl
    1. Yes, well I was almost going to comment that in the biological sense I think Catherine was probably not his first mate. But I stayed my hand for the very reason that I believe in human relations mate does still have more the connotation of ‘spouse’ rather than just someone you have ‘mated’ with. No doubt as marriage falls further out of fashion this usage will change.
  6. It seems ages since we had a puzzle from Izetti and on checking up I can confirm the last was on 20th November – that would have been 4 weeks tomorrow, which I’m pretty sure must be the longest gap since QCs began over 4 years ago.

    I looked twice at SHAD as I wasn’t 100% sure of its being a fish, but the wordplay was clear enough. My main problem that took me to 12 minutes, 2 over my target 10, was 5d where I took ages to understand the cryptic reference. Prior to that I’d been considering FIRST NAME and trying to the remember the Spanish for ‘a’.

  7. What utter joy to discover that INCONSIDERATE is an anagram of “insincere toad”. A wonderful surface and thus COD from me, even if our esteemed blogger thought it too straightforward!

    All done in 1.8 Kevins, a Very Good Day. Longest delays over FIRST MATE (having toyed with “first wife” and “first lady” but rejected them for lack of nautical connection), MINSTER (after all checkers I wanted to write in “monitor” and took a while to shake the thought) and LOI IODINE.

    Lovely to have an Izetti puzzle after a long gap; an early Christmas present! Thanks to Izetti and the other Don.

    Templar

    1. Sorry if I sounded arrogant. I didn’t mean to be. I just meant that that particular clue was quite clearly signposted as an anagram and once that was established the rearrangement was not difficult.

      After all, I did comment that I almost picked it as COD as well, which is rare for an anagram.

      1. You didn’t at all, and I’m sorry to have given you a wrong impression! All I meant was that a clue being straightforward has never stopped me giving it COD if the surface was good enough. I am a simple creature.

        Templar

  8. I love Izetti puzzles, it is all about the word play. Hesitated over SHAD as DNK and LOI like others was IODINE which with my science background should have been easier. All done in 7:32.
  9. Just inside 14 minutes for me, with no specific problems, just slightly jaded this morning I think. 1a went straight in, which helped. 5d my CoD and WENCH my WoD. Thanks Izetti and astartedon for the puzzle and blog respectively.
  10. I liked the puzzle, so thanks to Izetti but I had a bad day – for some reason the brain was like an engine without oil this morning. Iodine was LOI at approx 40 mins which is around double the norm. COD First mate.
  11. This was pure 11 down for me. Took me plenty of time but I had to keep standing back to admire the clues (and I confess sometimes my ability to solve them!). Thank you for giving us such a lovely start to the week.

  12. 20 minutes, 10 under my target and probably a PB for an Izetti. All parsed as well, apart from the start of 9A where I knew hesitation could be ‘er’ but ‘about’ can also be ‘re’.
    Very enjoyable, thanks to Izetti and blogger.

    Brian

  13. That would be the Crossword Editor, who has put an absolute beast of a puzzle in the 15×15 slot this morning. Dean Meyer on a Monday ? Go to your room !!!

    This, on the other hand, was an excellent puzzle which I thoroughly enjoyed.

    Almost fell for FIRST WIFE, and inexplicably failed to parse WENCH until afterwards.

    FOI ANTRIM
    LOI HAPPINESS
    COD FIRST MATE
    TIME 4:05

  14. Nice to get an Izetti again, with his usual entertaining clueing. I enjoyed the insincere toad, but COD to IODINE. HAPPINESS and HOT PANTS my last 2 in. 5:01.
  15. Really neat puzzle but tripped up on 5 and 6dn by failing to parse/check. Biffed FIRST DATE (was tempted by FIRST KATE, too, which she was (of three)) and somehow put in a random TOLUA (eh?). 13.13. COD IODINE (didn’t spot the underline and wouldn’t have understood it anyway!) and FIRST MATE.
  16. That was a very enjoyable 15 minutes to start off the week with just the right combination of straightforward and more challenging clues. The parsing of 15a and 11d proving particularly hard to crack. Too many excellent clues to single one out but honourable mentions to 11 and 21a and 5d. My LOI was 12d, just preceded by IODINE.
    Thanks for the blog
  17. Slightly on the harder side, as I expect from an Izetti. Worked up from the SE corner again. Presents new challenges I find. Was unsure of SHAD, but it had to be. I believe CID originally meant leader or warlord, but in this case is now associated with a particular leader. FOI CID, LOI ABRIDGE, COD FIRST MATE – enjoyed that.
    PlayUpPompey
  19. 9 minutes, but having biffed FIRST NAME at 5dn, submitted without thinking about the clue, except for a vague idea that HenryI had something to do with setting up the Navy.
  20. Well, that will teach me not to finish before manging to parse a dubious answer. I was feeling very smug with what I thought was my first ever sub 20 Izetti solve, only to discover that my biffed First Rate ship of the line (sailor) was too clever by half. Drat, or words to that effect. A lovely Izetti puzzle, with Iodine, chestnut or not, my CoD. Invariant
  21. I hadn’t ever seen that idea, though the practice of using chemical symbols in that way is not new, as far as I am aware.

    A stroll for me this one, and most enjoyable.

  22. I had a whale of a time with this! Maybe I’m getting better with practice? (my LOI). Straightforward all the way through, and didn’t get stuck on anything at the end as I so often do. Must be my fastest Izetti yet, but I still enjoyed many of the clues. COD to Iodine.
  23. The last two weeks have seen my times drop – relaxing on board ship and downloading each day. No distractions and my mind benefitted.
    Back to earth today – excellent puzzle with lots to decipher, as always from Izetti. I was much slower – almost 4K. FOI 1a. LOI Iodine (and I have spent my life as a research chemist!). John M.

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