QC 3035 by Izetti

Author   MerlinPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Quite gentle from Izetti here, 12:22 for me, with a fair amount of time on the LOI, 10a, which needed 6 checkers.

I actually spotted the Nina in this puzzle, it’s in the definition for 8A.

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, (parentheses for synonyms),  {curly brackets for deletions} and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Called off dance, sadly having little room inside (9)
CANCELLED – (DANCE)* inside CELL (little room)

I was sure “little room” was going to be LOO.

For CANCELLED, the American rule is to double the ‘l’ if the last syllable is accented when you add the suffix -ing or -ed, but not if the first syllable is accented. The British rule is to always double the ‘l’. This explains most of the differences: traveled, canceled, fueled and so on. (Both sides of the pond double the ‘l’ in words like propelled where the stress is on the second syllable.)
6 Metal  container (3)
TIN – Double def

Originally, all cans were ‘tin can’ because cans were lined with tin. The Brits took tin, the Americans took can for the short name.
8 Somehow get Nina something to fight disease (7)
ANTIGEN – (GET NINA)

ANTIGENS are substances that trigger an immune response, while antibodies are proteins produced by the body to neutralize or eliminate antigens. Essentially, antigens are the “invaders” and antibodies are the “defenders”. Not sure Izetti has this right, biochemists of the blog please elaborate.
9 Appeal first to cause damage (5)
CHARM – C{ause} + HARM (damage)

“first to” to indicate the initial letter seems a bit unnatural to me.
10 The last word in forecasts in difficult situations (12)
PREDICAMENTS – AMEN (the last word) in PREDICTS (forecasts)

This was my LOI, and only unpacked post-submission.
12 Harry is secret agent, very holy person (6)
MOLEST – MOLE (secret agent) + ST [saint] (very holy person)

As soon as I saw “Harry” I thought must be “Hal”, and forgot to go back and check if it might be the definition.

How long before we see Harry=Spare?
13 Doesn’t move  bits of wood (6)
STICKS – Double definition
16 Church always needs top people who will encourage others? (12)
CHEERLEADERS – CH{urch} + EER [E’ER] (always) + LEADERS (top people)

Not a fan of those tiresome poetic abbreviations (called syncope) such as “o’er” or “e’er”. Come on, poets, it doesn’t fit, so chose a different word.

Also “people” used twice here, is this a bug or a feature?
19 Excellent new form of oil, a dressing (5)
AIOLI – AI (A1=Excellent) + (OIL)* [new form of]

I always find this word tough to spell. A1 actually comes from the Lloyds classification of ships, where A1 was the best.

I can now share this excellent cartoon about Julius Caesar playing Battleships:
20 Shake maiden overcome by huge drink (7)
TREMBLE – M{aiden} inside TREBLE (huge drink)

The ever reliable Fowler distinguished between triple which suggests three different things (triple jump, triple crown) and treble which suggests three of the same thing (treble 20, winning the treble, a “huge drink”). US English doesn’t seem to make this distinction.

“Trebles all round” as they used to say in Private Eye.
22 Not all sleep in shelter (3)
LEE – {s}LEE{p}

I always get confused between LEA (meadow), LEE (shelter) and LEIGH (pretentious suffix on house names in the Home Counties)
23 Rage uncontrollably and provoke female relation (5-4)
GREAT-AUNT – (RAGE)* + TAUNT (provoke)

Collins has GRAND-AUNT as a possible alternative. Kind of word that probably crops up in Mephisto.
Down
1 Pussy protecting old fur? (4)
COAT – CAT (pussy) contains O{ld}
2 Normal  sort of note (7)
NATURAL – Double Def

In Music if a note is neither sharp nor flat it is NATURAL, and has the sign ♮. (It’s a bit more complex than that, but close enough)
3 Work unit in Chester garden (3)
ERG – Hidden in Chester garden

The ERG is a unit of energy equal to 10−7 Joules, and is mainly used in astrophysics.

An ERG is about the amount of work done by a fly performing a “press-up”, the leg-bending dip that brings its mouth to the surface on which it stands and back up.
4 Spreading calumny, losing millions is madness (6)
LUNACY – (CALU{M}NY)* [remove M{illions}]

The association of madness with the moon goes back to at least at least Pliny. But Pliny believed all sorts of weird stuff. It appears in the Bible (Matt 4:24), σεληνιάζομαι (seléniazomai) which is translated in the King James Version as “lunatick.”

…they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them

The English 1871 and 1881 censuses included columns to identify “lunatics” alongside “imbeciles” and “idiots”. By 1901, the term “idiot” was replaced with “feeble-minded”.
5 Mac dieted wrongly — reduced by 10 per cent (9)
DECIMATED – (MAC DIETED)*

I’d say used to mean reduced by 10 per cent, and now actually means “devasted”, and is a word that launches a myriad of pedants, and yes myriad originally meant 10,000 but no-one has a pet peeve about that.
6 School term’s beginning with wet weather (5)
TRAIN – T{erm} + RAIN (wet weather)

“School” the verb, here.
7 Goddess arranged mise en scène originally (7)
NEMESIS – (MISE EN S{cene})*

NEMESIS was the spirit of divine retribution against those who succumb to hubris, the meaning is now extended to something like arch-enemy.

mise-en-scène in cinematography refers to everything that appears before the camera—the sets, props, costumes, actors, and even the lighting.
11 Spotting some Parisian in tears (9)
DESCRYING – DES (Some Parisian) + CRYING (tears)

Most of my NHOs in crosswords are botanicals, composers, birds etc. Not often they are straight English verbs like this, and I can’t recall ever coming across it. I kept banging my head against “describing” and “decrying”.

I’ve not read Janes Austen’s Emma, but there it is in Chapter 28:

Miss Bates, passing near the window, descried Mr Knightley on horseback not far off. 
12 Outside one church mum meets the Spanish saint (7)
MICHAEL – I(one) + CH{urch} contained inside MA (mum) + EL (“the” in Spanish)

To us English, St Michael is most famous not for being an archangel but for being in our pants, as a brand of Marks & Spencer. It was introduced by Simon Marks himself, but  was retired in 2000.
14 Vehicle I purchased — not half a beast! (7)
CARIBOU – CAR (Vehicle) + I + BOU{ght}(purchased)

I always find this “not half” business a bit odd. It just means half.
15 One insect or another that will die ultimately (6)
BEETLE – BEE (another insect) + {tha}T {wil}L {di}E

This type of clue uses the single word “insect” in both the wordplay and the definition.
17 Aloof, hiding head? Show feelings dramatically (5)
EMOTE – r{EMOTE} (Aloof)
18 Garment in love story (4)
VEST – Hidden in love story
21 Consume beef, say, sliced off on top (3)
EAT – m{EAT} (beef, say)

86 comments on “QC 3035 by Izetti”

  1. 4:37, with DESCRYING a surprise, though not unknown. Thanks for the blog — 1 across should have ‘outside’, not ‘inside’. (Or the word order flipped.)

  3. Thank you for the detail. 4:51, didn’t feel that smooth.

    – ‘TIN’ felt barely cryptic
    – I think ‘who will encourage others’ suffices as a definition for CHEERLEADERS, so no double ‘people’ reading needed
    – AIOLI seems painfully frequent!
    – Had to laugh at seeing the classic trope ‘decimate ACTUALLY means…’ in a clue
    – Extremely tenuously, antigens could have been said to ‘fight the disease’ Covid-19 by making the nasal swab tests work

  4. 8.04, about a quarter of which was spent trying to figure out the NHO DESCRYING and justify why BEETLE was that. Nice puzzle, thanks Izetti and Merlin.

  5. A sleepy 40:39 for me, done while listening to the dawn chorus. LOI VEST. Why does it take so long to see something so obvious?

  6. 8 minutes. Easy apart from 11dn DESCRYING, a word only vaguely remembered and I had no idea what it meant.

    As a ‘great-uncle’ myself I see nothing Mephisto-ish about the term GREAT AUNT, and Bertie Wooster seemed to have several of them.

    it’s true that for the most part musical notes neither sharp nor flat are NATURAL, but they only take the ♮ sign in certain circumstances, otherwise musical scores would be cluttered and indecipherable.

    P.S. edit: I’ve just noticed that the alternative offered by Collins is actually ‘grandaunt’ which looks very odd, and the male equivalent is ‘granduncle’ which looks ridiculous!

  7. After all the Deightons, Le Carres and Charles Cummings I’d have been on to mole as a secret agent a bit quicker – not to mention the fact it comes up here so often but I didn’t and that and DESCRYING both took ages. All the first four went straight in but then a bit gap until the bottom filled up. Loved CARIBOU – there’s not creature that ends in U – oh! Then stuffed it up with a weird rogue I in NEMESIS. All green in spirit but not reality.

  8. Antigens are found in vaccines – to provoke an immune response, so could be said to fight disease. So I think the clue works. Thanks Merlin and Izetti.

    1. Arsonists provoke a response from the fire brigade, but it doesn’t make them firefighters. I think Izetti has just got this one plain wrong – which I assume is what Merlin also meant with his ever-so-understated “not sure Izetti has this right”.

      1. Cant agree with that, the antigens in a vaccine are harmless, so extending your reasoning they are people pretending to be arsonists in order to train the firefighters to be able to deal with the real thing. (and so do help)

    3. But the role of antigens is passive. It is antibodies which actively fight and see off disease. I’m not sure the clue works, but must admit that having been beaten by Izetti so often the wish to see him in error may be influencing me!

  9. A gentle stroll through crossword land this morning, from CANCELLED to MOLEST in 6.07.
    Thanks to Merlin for the excellent blog and Izetti for the puzzle.

  10. Took a couple of minutes to get going, then a nice steady solve to finish in 18.00

    Enjoyed some clever use of words as nouns instead of verbs and vice versa for a morning of clanging PDMs.

    Predicament was not LOI but needed all the checkers to reveal itself.

    Thanks Izetti and Merlin for the entertainment, love the cartoon 😂

  11. Nice puzzle, great blog. Thanks Merlin.
    PS Never realised the distinction between TRIPLE & TREBLE before. There’s a thing!

  12. 10:06 for a pleasant solve, with some great clues – like Merlin, PREDICAMENTS was my LOI and a very neat clue, and I also smiled at the “correct” usage of DECIMATED (when does the modern meaning become the accepted correct one?).

    I do these puzzles on my phone and so have the added pleasure of trying to guess the setter. Today I had no idea – the top half seemed so straightforward that I wondered if it was a puzzle by Trelawney – until I came to DESCRYING. Only Izetti could throw such a word into an otherwise very accessible puzzle – it seems he really can’t help himself and has to have at least one quirk per puzzle! So as well as a faster-than-average solve I score one for guessing the setter today.

    Many thanks Merlin for the most informative blog.

    2. Guess no more – if you turn your phone on its side and press the button to hide the keyboard the setter will be revealed. Turn phone back to upright and keyboard will come back.

      1. But that would remove my little bit of fun! And I think that only works for an iPhone?

    3. “Shall we decimate them? That sounds good, nice word. Decimate. Remove one tenth of the population!”

      The Master
      Doctor Who, The Sound of Drums

  13. A record 20 missing 10ac, 19ac, 12ac and 17d.

    A good start to the day.

    Thanks Izetti and Merlin

    1. Some in French – des – in tears – crying.

      What’s the problem?

      But we now know what it means, to catch sight of. I don’t think I’ll be using it soon. I don’t think it works in the present continuous, if I’ve got the definition of the tense correct? Catching sight of something is instantaneous unless you are measuring the time between the photons entering the eye and the perception in the brain.

      1. Point taken, but what about “after descrying Mr Knightley, Miss Bates said Oh, Miss Woodhouse…”?

  14. A very approachable offering from Izetti, only DESCRYING and. MOLEST holding me up a little. About 20 minutes for a leisurely finish.

  15. Enjoyable puzzle. Helped to a 9:12 finish by getting PREDICAMENTS early on. Happy with DESCRYING – good to have some unusual vocabulary in a QC.

  16. 15.30 with a ‘don’t think any more about it’ for DESCRYING.
    Loved the blog, thanks Merlin. Zipped through at a pace for me, so thanks too to Izetti.
    COD BEETLE

  17. Very straightforward for me. Worked steadily through until LOI BEETLE DESCRYING not a problem for a Jane Austen lover. Thanks Merlin as usual for great informative blog – loved the A2 Brute cartoon.

  18. I don’t regard DESCRY as that unusual – esp for crossword solvers – but I’m obviously in the minority. Gentle (but nice) crossword , 5′ or so. Thanks Izetti, and Merlin for the entertaining blog – love the cartoon!

  19. DNF MOLEST, VEST. How stupid of me – and miswrote DESCRYING.
    Otherwise enjoyable.
    Liked many inc CANCELLED, EMOTE, BEETLE.
    Thanks vm, Merlin. Blog much needed. Yes, loved the cartoon.

  20. 10 minutes. Izetti without too many obscurities and I even managed to recognise DESCRYING. MER initially at ANTIGEN but I take DramS’ point related to the role of antigens in vaccines.

    Thanks to Merlin for the usual comprehensive blog and to Izetti

  21. 4:51

    Only four in from the first pass of acrosses, but pretty much the whole set of downs on the first pass, bar EMOTE which was my LOI. I am a silent pedant with DECIMATED, not using it myself, but noting when others do. Didn’t know that is what DESCRYING means, but the wordplay was clear enough. Nice also to see my name in lights.

    Thanks Merlin and Izetti

  22. Just could not get Harry or the secret agent, grrrr. Otherwise no problems, but a DNF is a DNF ….
    Hang on (an hour later): maybe I don’t berate myself after all; neither Collins nor Chambers gives MOLEST as = “harry”. My crossword guru friend declares it out of order; is this a MER?

      1. Now that is extremely intriguing! So is a “crossword dictionary” a different animal from a “dictionary”, then? As in, more far-fetched “definitions” are “allowed” than would normally qualify for recognition within the parameters of what is recognised to be the English language? Special pleading?

          1. That’s very funny. And judging by recent QCs it’s the only one it needs to have! But (with respect) that’s less, i.e. giving you those extracts from the accepted English language that are likely to be helpful in a crossword. What was worrying me was the implication (or indeed demonstration) that a crossword dictionary could give you *more* than is generally accepted to belong to the English language. For example we had miniscule in a crossword not so long ago; would that be found in a crossword dictionary, I wonder.

            1. You mean, “miniscule” *is* in the crossword dictionary? If so, that worries me.

  23. Fairly safe for me today, with just a few “is that…?” moments – DESCRYING being a word, NEMESIS originally being a goddess, and NATURAL working as a note (despite many years stuck in front of a piano as a child). Also stuck for a long time trying to think of some notable Harry that would fit in M_L_ST, before figuring it was probably something else. Thanks for the blog – particularly loved the cartoon!

  24. As Cedric (nearly) says, Izetti just couldn’t stop himself throwing one in at the end of an otherwise uncharacteristically straightforward puzzle. I wasn’t far into double figures when I spent time on MOLEST and then spent much more time on my LOI DESCRYING. Obviously I could construct it from the clue but I haven’t met the word before (I’m not an Austen afficionado).
    Ah well, I ended up just over 15 mins with fingers crossed for my LOI.
    Thanks to both.

  25. Nice stroll through with no hold-ups. Aloli and descry both rang faint, but sufficient, bells. Thanks to Izetti and Merlin. Great-Aunt is a curious one in that it is 2 generations before you. Great-Grandmother is 3. Presumably both great and grand are generation indicators; on aunt they are alternatives, on mother they “stack up” and indicate a generation each. Curious the English language; you can have a great mother, but not a great-mother, whereas you can have both a great aunt and a great-aunt.

  26. 18 mins…

    13 mins for everything apart from my LOI 11dn “Descrying” which, I will confess, I dnk – or, if I did, I don’t remember it. Other than that, I agree this was a gentle Izetti.

    FOI – 1ac “Cancelled”
    LOI – 11dn “Descrying”
    COD – 10ac “Predicaments”

    Thanks as usual!

  27. I thought the top half was straightforward, the bottom half distinctly less so in places. Molest took longer than it should have, but Emote was my main sticking point. E*o*e started out as Evoke, which I knew was wrong, but it required an alpha-trawl to sort out. Loi was the nho Descrying. Izetti seemed perfectly clear about what he wanted, but I tried really hard not to follow his instructions before yielding in order to preserve a sub-20. CoD to Beetle for the parsing pdm. Invariant

  28. Enjoyed this offering from Izetti but alas a couple of pink squares on submission. A salutary lesson in not being ars*d to parse as I went along putting in CLAIM for the relatively straightforward CHARM.

    Otherwise it would have been 8:25.

    LOI for me was VEST only dawning on me late on to look for a hidden.

    Thanks Merlin

  29. In the mangrove swamps where the python romps
    There is peace from twelve ’til two
    Even caribous lie and around and snooze
    For there’s nothing else to do …

    That’s my ear worm for the day then, thank you 14d.

    Horses remained unalarmed; they and I were astonished to see this was an Izetti; COD PREDICAMENTS; all done in 05:55 for an Excellent Day. Many thanks Don and Merlin.

  30. 19:53

    Mostly straightforward but had a complete blank over LOI DESCRYING which added 5 minutes to the final time.

  31. A gentle puzzle by Izetti’s standards, where I shared the experience of many when, after two straight passes, I was left with the MOLEST/DESCRYING crossing.

    Even spell check on here doesn’t like DESCRYING, but I recently won a game on GrabbyWord largely by sticking “des” in front of my opponents “crying”. Those familiar with the game will realise the enormous point scoring potential of that move – those not familiar should download it and give it a whirl. It can be tremendous fun!

    You will note, however, that I actually spotted the word in question BEFORE I twigged the secret agent (espionage novels are not my milieu).

    As a committed non-scientist I simply biffed ANTIGEN as an obvious anagram, without any consideration as to its exact meaning.

    FOI TIN
    LOI MOLEST*
    COD PREDICAMENTS
    TIME 3:48

    * A “molester” is NOT somebody who tracks down secret agents….

  32. From CANCELLED to EMOTE in a not too shabby 6:26. I did however need all the checkers for DESCRYING and I didn’t know NEMESIS as a goddess. Thanks Merlin.

  33. I didn’t get too many on my first sweep of the across clues, but things picked up after that, and I crossed the line nicely under target at 9.25. GREAT AUNT and finally DESCRYING were my last two in.

  34. CANCELLED was FOI. DESCRYING and BEETLE brought up the rear. 6:31. Thanks Izetti and Merlin.

  35. Lovely QC and blog, Merlin.
    Never heard of that use of syncope only knowing it as a faint.
    Trebles all round still happen in most editions of Private Eye.

  36. A not too shabby 15 minutes until woe! Seeing 9ac incomplete at the end I read the first word of the clue and stuck in ‘claim’ without a second thought. Never mind – there’s always tomorrow. As for the rest I didn’t know Nemesis was a goddess and only vaguely recognised descrying as a word without really knowing what it meant.

    FOI – 1ac CANCELLED
    LOI – DNF
    COD – 16ac CHEERLEADERS

    Thanks to Izetti and to Merlin for the very informative blog.

  37. Finished in 21 minutes, with DESCRYING my last one, had to guess the E, thinking DES sounded more French than any other vowel in the middle 😆. Really good cryptic, COD, goes to MICHAEL. Thank you for the blog 😁

  38. Pretty much a top to bottom solve.
    1a I too expected the loo in Cancelled. DNK the spelling rule, thanks Merlin.
    8a Antigen. Pleased to see Nina in the anagrist, and totally unaware of the error, so perfectly happy with this!
    10a Predicament. I missed the Amen in there so I must have biffed it.
    POI 5d Decimated. Unusual precisely correct definition here. Normally it is used to mean 90% killed rather than 10%, as pointed out by Merlin and many others.
    Thanks to Merlin and Izetti.

  39. 10 minutes and no real problems. LOI TREMBLE.
    I have read a fair bit of 19th century fiction and descrying was familiar from that.
    COD to MOLEST. Nice puzzle.
    And great blog, thanks.
    David

  40. 6.00 That was very gentle. I had to come back to VEST, MICHAEL and MOLEST. Thanks Merlin and Izetti.

  41. Full of good clues, several of which resulted in little grins

    Very enjoyable indeed. Thanks Don.

    About normal solving time

    Thanks Merlin for the interesting blog

  42. NHO DESCRYING, but still managed to get there in the end despite being held up by MOLEST.

    Hilarious blog. “Come on, poets, it doesn’t fit, so choose a different word.“ 😂 Actually, just write a better poem.

    Your simmering fury at misused or misdefined words and phrases has me in stitches.

    Pi ❤️

  43. 7:33 which I’m rather pleased with as Izetti is a setter I often struggle with. I’d actually heard of the word DESCRYING but thought it meant something else entirely which wasn’t terribly helpful. Count me as another who loved the Battleships cartoon!
    Thanks to both Izetti and Merlin.

  44. Like an Izetti generally, no exception on this kinder than some version. MOLEST misled me comprehensively until a late PDM. Not Hal then, or any famous Harry. Wicked. Great blog too, I enjoy some opinion and information when reviewing the puzzle.
    So far today I have baby great tits and bluetits in the garden, and young robin and blackbird. On cat and jackdaw watch, hose at the ready…

  45. 4:32. No dramas or, indeed, anything written on my copy. No problem with DESCRYING, although it’s not a word I would ever use. Thanks Izetti and Merlin.

  46. 5.07

    Somewhat better than a DECIMATION of my normal time.

    Liked DESCRYING.

    Solid puzzle and amusing blog, thanks both.

  47. I’ve always thought DESCRY was synonymous with ‘decry’ so I have definitely learned something today 😆 Held up briefly by MOLEST and LOI BEETLE. Didn’t immediately spot the hidden VEST. Otherwise pretty plain sailing. Great blog Merlin. Hadn’t appreciated the subtle difference between treble and triple before. Really interesting. Nice QC although uncharacteristically gentle for an Izetti.

  48. Izetti at his most difficult today. I gave up after 50-55 minutes with only the NHO D_S_R_ING (11d) unsolved, but many of my later clues (e.g. EMOTE, BEETLE, CHARM, MOLEST) took ages to crack and parse. A rather soul destroying experience for me, I’m afraid.

    Thanks to Merlin and Izetti.

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