QC 1405 by Izetti

Author   astartedonPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

No idea about time, done in the middle of other tasks and interruptions, but it felt like medium difficulty to me.

FOI 5A. LOI 10D and I think that must also be my COD.

Nothing showing on the NATRAF.

Definitions are underlined, and everything else is explained just as I see it in the simplest language I can manage.

Sorry, got to dash, life beckons with its crooked little finger.

Across
1 Holiday-maker? Person getting half cut by river (6)
CAMPER – CAM (river) + PER (PERson ‘half cut’).
5 Work involving paintings maybe to some extent (6)
PARTLY – PLY (work) ‘involving’ ART (paintings).
8 Statements as discharged nun meets canon (13)
ANNOUNCEMENTS – straight anagram (‘discharged’) of NUN MEETS CANON.
9 What sounds like terrible person working with colours (4)
DYER – homophone of DIRE (terrible).
10 Composer taking part after comeback — fellow yet to meet his match? (8)
BACHELOR – BACH (composer) + ELOR (ROLE backwards, i.e. part ‘after comeback’)
11 Trick by Greek character providing sea food (6)
SCAMPI – SCAM (trick) + PI (Greek character).
13 Mean to have nurse at back of home (6)
INTEND – TEND (nurse) ‘at back of’ IN (home).
15 Splash when soup initially meets dish (8)
SPLATTER – S (Soup ‘initially’) + PLATTER (dish).
17 Some crushed in stampede (4)
RUSH – hidden word: cRUSHed.
19 Kitchen ingredient we’d cooked in novel pud — carrots (7,6)
CUSTARD POWDER – straight anagram of WE’D (‘cooked’) in another anagram (‘novel’) of PUD CARROTS.
21 Get angry as one of the top players, without hesitation (3,3)
SEE RED – SEED (top player, as at Wimbledon) ‘without’, i.e. ‘outside’ ER (hesitation).
22 Good attempt to incorporate a new framework (6)
GANTRY – G + TRY (good attempt) ‘incorporating’ A + N (a new).
Down
2 A togetherness comes with the departure of one relation (5)
AUNTY – A + UNTY (UNiTY (togetherness) with the departure of I (one)).
3 Set of instructions for scientific unit (7)
PROGRAM – PRO (for) + GRAM (scientific unit).
4 Possibly an extra sequence (3)
RUN – in cricket, a run that is scored other than by the batsman hitting the ball with his bat, is called an ‘extra’. Please adapt gender of relevant noun and pronoun to suit your taste.
5 More inclined to moralise, having power and influence? That is right (9)
PREACHIER – P (power) + REACH (influence) + IE (that is) + R (right).
6 Old magistrate about to meet woman in garden (5)
REEVE – RE (about) + EVE (woman in garden (of Eden)).
7 Disappointment in the French community — about 500 (3-4)
LET-DOWN – LE (French definite article) + TOWN (community) ‘about’ D (Roman numeral for 500).
10 Like one with skin problems needing surgeon in hospital unit (9)
BLISTERED – LISTER (Joseph Lister, surgeon who pioneered the use of antisepctics) ‘in’ BED (hospital unit).
12 Catch a cold, turning up, then erupt furiously (7)
CAPTURE – AC (A + Cold) reversed (i.e. ‘turning up’ in this down clue) = CA. Then add on PTURE,  anagram of ERUPT (‘furiously’).
14 Action in football match to add as extra feature (5-2)
THROW-IN – if you add something as an extra feature you might ‘throw it in’.
16 Feature of church to change, we hear (5)
ALTAR – sounds like ALTER (to change).
18 Some problems — we argue and use bad language (5)
SWEAR – hidden word: problemS WE ARgue.
20 Margaret turning up in strange petticoat (3)
PEG – hidden word reversed (i.e. ‘turning up’ in this down clue): stranGE Petticoat. Peg or Peggy is a comon diminutive for Margaret.

28 comments on “QC 1405 by Izetti”

  1. Just popped by to mention that last Saturday’s Jumbo Cryptic, no. 1393 is an unusually straightforward one, bar two or three clues. I normally complete them when time permits over two or three sessions but rattled through it in one, this time.

    I thought today’s QC moderately difficult, some easy clues but some distinctly not.

    What is a NATRAF, please? Should I add it to the TfTT Glossary?

    1. It’s Don’s acronym for Nina And Theme Recognition, but I can’t remember the full definition.
    2. I forget what it stands for, something to do with looking for a Nina; to the best of my knowledge, nothing ever shows up on it, so not much point in adding it to the Glossary.
    3. Kevin is right. Not worth noting. It’s just my way of reminding myself to have a quick look for Ninas after finishing because I missed rather an obvious one a few months ago.
  2. As always, I can’t remember anything about this, but it took me quite a while. I don’t think I knew there was such a thing as CUSTARD POWDER. 9:09.
      1. Having just now looked it up, I see that it’s not much used in the US.
          1. Well it is in my house! My husband would be horrified if I stopped making Bird’s Custard and guests appreciate it too. Especially good with a nice fruit crumble! The instant packets, tins etc don’t come close. Not complicated to use the powder or I certainly would have given it up years ago.
            Obliged to comment on the custard as I made such a bad attempt at the crossword and ended up with a DNF. That had become rare but I struggled last week too. I seem to be going backwards!!
            Thanks for the blog which helped me to understand where I failed. MM
    2. The kind you buy in cartons and tins is expensive and gloopy for me – the best is always the stuff you mix yourself !
  3. As usual, Izetti pushed me close to my target time, but at least I never felt as though I was struggling with this puzzle. RUN was my FOI, and PREACHIER was my final entry. 9:06. Thanks Izetti and Don.
  4. It felt like I made harder work of this than I should have done. The whole of the NW proved stubborn as did 10a where I thought that the answer was an obscure composer which is definitely not my forte.
    There were lots of ‘Doh’ moments as the answers slowly fell into place and I realised that I’d completely misunderstood the clue. Izetti basically did me like a kipper, so hats off to him for an entertaining start to the week. Completed in 15.54 with LOI BACHELOR.
    Thanks for the blog
  5. Either that, or I wasn’t quite tuned in. Looking over it afterwards, I admired the usual smooth surfaces but couldn’t see what caused the innocuous 1A to hold me up. Just scraped inside my target !

    FOI ANNOUNCEMENTS
    LOI CAMPER
    COD THROW-IN
    TIME 4:54

  6. 15:27 for this pleasant puzzle including the time to search for a pen, write down all the letters and eventually solve my LOI CUSTARD POWDER. I wonder if that’s been in a puzzle before.
    I did not fall into the ALTAR trap this time, that was pleasing. FOI was PARTLY. COD to the Custard Powder. David
  7. A thoroughly enjoyable but testing QC. I won’t give a long list of my favourites or difficulties but will simply say that BLISTERED was my COD. I had to jump around the grid a lot – my progress was far from smooth (and I ended up in the NW corner). Just over 2.5K so I am firmly in the SCC today but Izettl gave lots of pleasure. A very good blog, too. Thanks to both. John M.

    Edited at 2019-07-29 08:58 am (UTC)

  8. In line with others, I found this tough but enjoyable and clocked in at 2K for a Decent Day. Definitely a step up from the average QC but not a step too far! I will, I hope, be hauling up the odd potful of SCAMPI (nephrops nephrops) during my August on the west coast of Scotland.

    FOI PARTLY, LOI CAMPER (spent a very long time trying to insert an R into a 5 letter word meaning “person getting half” … durr), COD BACHELOR.

    Thanks to the two Dons.

    Templar

  9. I struggled as usual with Izetti and had to complete in 2 sittings, with scampi, program, capture, splatter and LOI blistered all needing the brain rest.

    Like David I got altar right this time.

    Cod scampi.

    Edited at 2019-07-29 10:18 am (UTC)

  10. No, don’t give up. It’s the only way to improve. Izetti can be more difficult than the others but perfectly fair. Looking back over the clues there is nothing to object to surely?

    In fact I thought it was a very fair and challenging puzzle and in my rush this morning I forgot to thank him in the blog.

    So many thanks Izetti!

  11. 15 minutes, so 1 more second and I’d have been in the red. Delays starting and finishing both caused by the same clues, 1ac, 3dn and 9ac.

    As a child of the 50s never a day went by without custard being served and CUSTARD POWDER was the ONLY way of making it that was acceptable to my palate at the time. Occasionally my mother would make ‘proper’ baked custard which I absolutely loathed (although in retrospect I’m sure it was delicious). But even using powder involved pans of boiling milk and washing up, so when ready-made custard in tins and later pots arrived and I moved from home that’s what I switched to.

  12. Don’t know why but I never get anywhere with Izetti puzzles. Don’t like the clueing and as a result don’t enjoy his puzzles. The only we I really have problems with, not that I often finish the others. I found this hard but not sure why when I look at 5he answers. Again down to the clues. Think I will be giving him a miss in future

    Tim

  13. Two sittings and a few raised eyebrows along the way (Preachier?), with 10 (x2) , 11 and 12 needing the extra time. Probably best if I stop there. Invariant
  15. Mr Bird was a chemist whose wife had an egg allergy. So he invented custard powder in his kitchen and thus made his fortune.
    DNF today. NE corner tough
    Johnny
  16. Finished in two sessions, which is always pleasing with Izetti. His clues are always fair and well worth while perservering with. Time irrelevant, we learn a lot from his clues. Thanks to Izetti and all contributors, we always enjoy and learn from the comments.
  17. I’m with our blogger in finding it medium difficulty, but maybe I was just lucky enough to have the requisite GQ so as not to have to rely on and puzzle unduly over the wordplay. COD to CUSTARD POWDER… as unlikely an ingredient to find in a crossword as I’ve come across. I’ve got plenty of rhubarb in the garden to go with it if anyone wants any. Lol. Thanks Don and Izetti…. or should that be Don squared? 5:45.

    Edited at 2019-07-29 08:44 pm (UTC)

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