QC 2045 by Izetti

53 comments on “QC 2045 by Izetti”

1. I didn’t even look at the setter, but evidently I have completed two puzzles by Don M this weekend – first the Mephisto, and now this pretty straightforward Quickie.

   I tried the method used in the videos posted by some of our bloggers, hitting all the across clues first, and then all the downs. About half the across clues were left blank on the first past, but a lot of downs went in pretty quickly, and I was able to come back to the across clues and finish. Time: 7:10.

   I have managed to re-enter the top 200 on the overall leaderboard, since all my solves with errors have dropped off – that’s one way to do it.

   On edit: alert to those who would like to tackle the 15 x 15 – today’s is just about the easiest ever, with most solvers taking 50% of their usual time. That doesn’t mean everyone can finish, but it might be worth a try.

   Edited at 2022-01-10 01:29 am (UTC)

   1. Thanks for the 15×15 tip. I enjoyed doing it and felt it was closer to a QC. I went very well until 3 from the end when I decelerated rapidly. Ended up finishing within half an hour but liked it a lot. John M.
2. Back to some quick times after last Friday’s quickie which I found very tricky!
3. Normal Monday Service resumed.

   FOI 8ac OPEN

   LOI & COD 15ac OPORTO

   WOD 13dn MORTICIAN – Addams Family?

   As per Lord Vinyl, the 15×15 is a Quick Cryptic in itself!

4. I assumed that EXTRAS was a cricket term meaning ‘runs’ in some way, and fairly confidently bunged it in. 5:58, compared to 8:03 for the regular cryptic. Do try it.
   1. Except in Oz where they are known as sundries.
      1. Extras works fine down under — highest scorer for England in recent Ashes 😉
5. 7 minutes to fill the grid but if I had been solving online and submitted immediately I’d have had an error as it was only afterwards that I realised that NITs are not eaten (at least not intentionally!) so the answer at 5dn had to be NUT. Still well within my target 10 minutes even allowing for the correction.
6. Well, I saw Izetti and feared a long slog. However, I saw 1a right away and went on to find this QC to be gentle but enjoyable. I took it steadily and enjoyed the ride in 3 mins under target (all parsed). Thanks to Izetti and Don. John M.

   Edited at 2022-01-10 09:22 am (UTC)

7. Thought I was on for one of my quickest Izetti’s, but like Astartedon I got bogged down and then wasted 5 mins on 7dn “Rediscover”. In the end I drifted into the SCC and finished in 21 mins.

   Still not sure about the second definition for 18ac “Tight” — will have to look it up.

   FOI — 1ac “Air Freshener”
   LOI — 7dn “Rediscover”
   COD — 3dn “Finesse” — so very true

   Thanks as usual!

   1. One over the eight = drunk = tight.

      Brewer’s advises that ‘one over the eight’ is only slightly drunk, and adds that ‘eight’ is a reference to eight pints of beer (or one gallon) which were traditionally regarded as a reasonable amount for the average person to drink. If only that were the position of modern-day medical advisors!

      1. Thanks Jackkt.

         Knew “drunk” = tight, but never heard of the “one over the eight” expression.

         I can barely get over 3 pints nowadays without having to call it a day.

      2. Thanks for this. I didn’t understand the one over the eight definition either.
8. Gentle start to the week — so gentle in fact that, on several occasions, we spent time looking for a more complex solution when the answer was simply staring us in the face! We came in at 12 minutes.

   FOI: air freshener
   LOI: EXPOUND
   COD: MAINSTREAM

   Thanks Astartedon and Izetti.

9. Home in 06:22, probably my fastest time for an Izetti. LOI was MISSTATEMENT. FOI AIRFRESHENER from the definition; the unknown Nares did not out me off. That gave me lots of ammunition.
   A nice puzzle where for once my first thought was generally correct.
   Now for the 15×15.
   David
10. Had to dot round the grid. I was slow to solve the anagrams AIR FRESHENER and MISSTATEMENT. Biffed REDISCOVER and MAINSTREAM. FOI TOAST, LOI NAILED. Liked BANDIT, FINESSE.

    Thanks for helpful blog, as ever, Don.

11. An easy one for Izetti, nine minutes with two to go, then a minute each for those. Seventeen on first pass. FOI air freshener, LO’sI nut and toasted. Frustrating that these took so long, but had to do an alphabet trawl to get the last letter of nut, then toasted was a PDM. All parsed for once. Thanks, Don, and Izetti. Will try the 15 x 15 as weather is definitely permitting.
12. Quite gentle for Izetti, I thought. I liked the romantic undertaker. The 15×15 only took me 2 minutes longer, so, as others have said too, it is definitely one for regular QCers to have a go at. 4:11 for this.
13. Bucking the trend I had a bad case of Monday Morning for this one and kept feeling that the answer was almost there … before giving up and moving on. I need an espresso! Elegant and ingenious as always from Izetti.

    FOI OPEN, LOI NAILED, COD the manspreading ASTRIDE, time 12:57 for 2.1K and a Poor Day. Off to dip a toe into the Big Boy pond now!

    Many thanks to the Two Dons.

    Templar

14. I probably shouldn’t start by commenting on the biggie, but – honestly – give it a go! It took just two minutes longer (a PB for me) than this one, which I spent 12 minutes on. I thought this was gentle for an Izetti, although the last two took two minutes. I got hung up on the anagram at 24a – is MISTESTAMENT even a word? More likely a momble 😅 But knowing the Don’s propensity to words relating to religion, I thought: why not? Anyway, that made TAUNT rather tricky. When I suddenly realised which relation was required (and I am one to nine!), MISSTATEMENT fell into place.
    I watched a recent QI last night where they featured a variety of words and phrases for drunk – there are absolutely hundreds. The versions here are quite old-fashioned I suppose, definitely more genteel than many modern equivalents! Anyway, the clue made me smile.
    A fun morning but over too quickly – how am I going to fill the time?
    FOI Air freshener
    LOI Misstatement
    COD Mortician
    Many thanks both Dons
    1. Many thanks for the 15 x 15 recommendation. Off to give it a go after finishing the QC in under 20 today. I couldn’t parse FINESSE and like others didn’t know ‘one over the eight’ meant drunk — many thanks for the blog and to Izetti for a doable puzzle! Enjoyed MAINSTREAM and EXPOUND 😄
       1. Let us know how you get on with the biggie — I hope you enjoy it 😊
          1. Just finished… and happy to report I completed the whole thing in around 30 minutes! I know it was easy but it still counts 😂
15. 13 minutes with no major hold-ups, although I tried and rejected tin, pan and can before tun occurred to me. I also mis-bifd terms instead of TIMES and sorting out that error took a little while. Otherwise, a nice easy puzzle from the Don. Thanks both — now I will look at the biggie.
16. Must have been straightforward as I established a PB of 4:19. Whoo hoo! FOI AIR FRESHENER. LOI MISSTATEMENT. Thanks Izetti and Don.
17. Solved steadily with NAILED LOI.
18. 13:04, gentle stuff, although I agree that MISSTATEMENT sounds like the ultimate in weasel words, such as “I may have mis-spoken”, “If I caused offence, then I apologise”

    Three letter vessels, quite a few needed to be checked off: tin, can, pot, pan. TUN is of course more obscure than any of these.

    TIGHT for drunk sounds very Brideshead, nowadays someone who is tight is miserly.

    COD TOASTED

    LOI NAILED

    Edited at 2022-01-10 11:20 am (UTC)

    1. TUN appears in the names of a lot of pubs. There are 57 pubs called “The Three Tuns” in the UK and used to be many more.
19. I was very much on wavelength. I did contemplate the well known food NiT instead of NUT but only for a few seconds and I didn’t get the second definition of TIGHT, my LOI. 5:55 and 3 secs faster than Kevin for an excellent day. Thanks Izetti and Don

    Edited at 2022-01-10 11:45 am (UTC)

20. Good morning as I settled in somewhere cosy between 20 and 25 mins with no passes. May have a go at the main puzzle this evening after reading the encouragements herein.
    Thanks Don & Don
21. Gentle one from Izetti.

    4:30

22. Izetti was in a benevolent mood today! AIR FRESHENER and MAINSTREAM were write ins so opened up the grid nicely. I’m another who’d not heard of the second definition of TIGHT and had a minor hold up over LOI NAILED. Finished in 7.04.
    Thanks to astartedon
23. A steady but not particularly quick solve for me today at 19 mins. I think I was probably guilty of over complicating things when they were in fact relatively simple. Took far too long to see mortician despite being well aware I was looking at an anagram – I mean, how many synonyms are there for undertaker anyway?

    FOI – 1ac AIR FRESHENER
    LOI – 7dn REDISCOVER
    COD – 3dn FINESSE

    Thanks to Izetti and Astartedon

24. Yes, this was a gentle enough start to the week, allowing me an 18min finish. Unlike Astartedon, I normally find anagrams quite tricky, but they fell into place quite easily today and opened up the grid. Finesse and loi Nailed slowed me down at the end, but I’m always happy with a sub-20 Izetti. CoD to 16d, Potsdam, which I only knew because of the WW2 conference. Invariant
25. ….for an Izetti, and I only had 4 clues left after the first pass. Today I started a new regime of sight checking every answer as it went in, which should hopefully solve my fat finger problems, even if it does add a few seconds — though it didn’t seem to here.

    FOI AIR FRESHENER
    LOI REDISCOVER
    COD MORTICIAN
    TIME 3:20

26. 20 mins including a badly timed call from the big boss’s PA. Who knows what might have been?
    1. How frustrating 😒 I always find it hard to get back into the swing after an interruption.
27. Just over 20m which is good for us. Bit slow seeing a few clues eg 15a oporto. A very pleasant start to the week.
28. Just 12 minutes, all fully parsed, and a new PB for me.

    I sprang out of the blocks with AIR FRESHENER, OPEN and MAINSTREAM. Then I more-or-less maintained that pace as I built on the available checkers, before slowing only ever so slightly into the finish — my last two being REDISCOVER and NAILED.

    I realised from about the halfway point that a PB was a possibility, and I became increasingly trembly as I approached the line. My big fear was that I might ruin a silver or bronze medal performance by going all out for gold. In the end, I still had time to double-check NUT, which I had question-marked on the way through.

    What a day! But, hang on, I’ve just remembered the saying about after the Lord Mayor’s show ….

    Many thanks to Izetti and astartedon.

    1. That was me: somerandomchap
       1. Congratulations! May we ask if as well as a PB you achieved that even more difficult task of outsprinting Mrs Random?
          Cedric
          1. You may, and I’m a bit abashed to admit I did. She finished in 24 minutes, today.
29. I don’t generally time myself, but I’m waiting for a train, so..
    Much enjoyed and it took 15 minutes, to complete, with all parsed.
    LOI Rediscover
    Thanks, Don and Izetti.
    Now, off to the 15×15, which I hope to complete, on the train.
30. … that this was a fine Izetti, but at the easier end of his usual offerings. A new year’s resolution from the Don perhaps to help us poor mortals?

    No real hold-ups and a solve in just under 11 minutes. 7D Rediscover was my LOI and needed all the checkers, even though I decided quite early on that it had to start REDIS-

    Many thanks to our other Don for the blog
    Cedric

31. Nice start to the week
    Never do all the across and then the down as need all the help i can get
32. A PB and on an Izetti — very impressive!
33. Bucking the trend a bit here as I didn’t find this that easy, although it was far from the hardest Izetti ever. Ended up on 32:59, although several minutes of that were spent on my LOI NAILED as I just didn’t think of reading the “wasn’t well” on its own, and I was misdirected by the superfluous addition of “somehow”. I’ve never heard of the “One over the eight” expression either. I thought the answer must have been arrived at by swapping the first letter of eight for a T, although I couldn’t see how this was indicated. So, thanks for the lesson, Izetti, and thanks too Astartedon.
34. 👍
35. I’m a nit(wit) for not getting nut, but otherwise ok. A nice start to the week.
36. Great news 🥳 Congrats!
    1. … Despite my PB, Mrs Random still had the last laugh, as she finished the 15×15 today — for the first time ever.
       Respect (from me)!
37. Cause for celebration all round, I’d say 😊
38. It’s always gratifying to complete one of these — congrats 😊

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