Quick Crtyptic No 281 by Izetti

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A pleasant offering which took 9 minutes – so, on the easy side but not without interest including the odd bird, a romancer, people from Media (not journalists this time) and some nautical ruminations.

Definitions underlined, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition, deletions CROSSED OUT.

Across
1 This person is about to drown in wine, regretting being away (8)
&nbsp &nbspHOMESICK – This person (ME), is about (SI) – all drowning in wine (HOCK).
5 Bird has titbits, losing time repeatedly (4)
&nbsp &nbspIBIS – Take all the T’s out of titbits and you’re left with our odd bird which is any of various wading birds of the family Threskiornithidae, such as Threskiornis aethiopica (sacred ibis), that occur in warm regions and have a long thin down-curved bill.
8 Left to join superior girl in the country (8)
&nbsp &nbspPORTUGAL – Left (PORT – stop me if you’ve heard this one before – port is the side of the boat which used to moor against the harbour/port before the days of rudders when steer boards were on the right hand side of the vessel – hence starboard – think Viking longboat), superior girl (U GAL).
9 Performance gives a funny feeling (4)
&nbsp &nbspTURN – dd.
11 Famous Greek island possessed by cunning old people (10)
&nbsp &nbspARCHIMEDES – Cunning (ARCH), old people (MEDES who lived in Media – an ancient country of SW Asia, south of the Caspian Sea: inhabited by the Medes – corresponds to present-day NW Iran) possessing island (I). Even if, like me, you hadn’t heard of the Media folk then I think our Greek with a predilection for baths is famous enough to get the clue and thereby learn an interesting titbit (with all the T’s) of information.
14 Refer everything impolite, not right (6)
&nbsp &nbspALLUDE – ALL, RUDE.
15 Make a hole through mass of stonework at front of church (6)
&nbsp &nbspPIERCE – Mass of stonework (PIER). I had thought that this was the stonework jetty (against which the port side of a vessel…) but on investigation I learn that a pier in this sense is a wharf and that a pier is the wooden deck type which extends out over water. This pier is, therefore, the pillar, support, pile which supports buildings. Church (CE).
17 Do be kind to cheat, getting a red card (4,1,5)
&nbsp &nbspHAVE A HEART – Cheat (HAVE – as in con), a red card (A HEART).
20 Many items at auction (4)
&nbsp &nbspLOTS – dd.
21 Split in the course of row? That’s become more fashionable (8)
&nbsp &nbspTRENDIER – REND inside TIER.
22 Journey made by newly-wed heading off (4)
&nbsp &nbspRIDE – BRIDE.
23 Assessed by the tailor as ‘regular‘? (8)
&nbsp &nbspMEASURED – dd.

Down
1 Bob‘s aspiration (4)
&nbsp &nbspHOPE – dd, Bob Hope being one.
2 Advocate of Communism to spoil mark on ballot paper (4)
&nbsp &nbspMARX – To spoil (MAR), X on ballot paper.
3 Fair treatment in Kent location after nine maybe (6,4)
&nbsp &nbspSQUARE DEAL – Deal in Kent after three threes.
4 Tea served with tea dance (3-3)
&nbsp &nbspCHA-CHA – Tea (CHA) – twice.
6 Jump over a railway line — that’s the limit! (8)
&nbsp &nbspBOUNDARY – BOUND, A, RY.
7 Evil rites, nasty and disturbing (8)
&nbsp &nbspSINISTER – Evil (SIN), anagram (nasty) of RITES.
10 This person’s getting important road permits for people entering country (10)
&nbsp &nbspIMMIGRANTS – This person’s (I’M), important road (MI), permits (GRANTS).
12 Composer with position set up — one who has completed university course? (8)
&nbsp &nbspBACHELOR – BACH, ROLE backwards (set up).
13 Very pleased about English, very buoyed up? (8)
&nbsp &nbspELEVATED – ELATED about E, V.
16 Law as removed from contract (6)
&nbsp &nbspDECREE – DECREASE?
18 Familiarity provides cover for this romancer (4)
&nbsp &nbspLIAR – The answer is in the clue (provides cover for) famiLIARity. A romancer along the lines of exaggerate, lie, tell stories.
19 Valuable violin — not the first — needed for jazz (4)
&nbsp &nbspTRAD – STRAD – traditional jazz, as revived in the 1950s

9 comments on “Quick Crtyptic No 281 by Izetti”

  1. i think it is amusing that we get on planes from the left because 2000 years ago the steering oar was on the right
  2. I thought ‘port’ replaced ‘larboard’ because there was too much confusing of the latter with ‘starboard’; although why the hell they couldn’t have just said ‘left’ and ‘right’ is beyond me. (Doesn’t the (US) Navy now use left/right?) Anyway, this wasn’t that easy for moi, as I was suckered by the surfaces of 11ac and 7d into misparsing. COD to PIERCE. I finally twigged to 3d by recalling advice given by a blogger some time ago, viz., if you see a U, think Q. 7:25.
  3. 8 minutes. Looked twice at a number of clue details but satisfied myself they were all fine.
  4. My fastest time to date, 15mins. 11 ac took me the longest to get. My Greek islands were not any use and got the answer by our flook when all the other letters were in. Really enjoyed this offering, feeling success at last!
  5. I got there in end but I failed to get homesick parsed as I still tend to think that this person is him rather than me.

    Edited at 2015-04-07 09:28 am (UTC)

  6. I enjoy izetti’s crosswords but I do struggle with them. Today it was the short words which defeated me. 9a, which I should have got, 18d – I’ve not heard of that definition of romancer before, I was trying to think of a 4 letter Cassanova and 19d – another music clue that beat me. Funnily enough Stradivarius did go through my mind, but not the shortening of it.
    COD for me was 5a.
  7. Rattled through about half of these before coming to a halt. Thereafter a slow crawl to the finish line. My slowest Izetti finish for some time. On a positive note, I did manage yesterday’s 15×15, so progress of sorts. Invariant
  8. Way back in the otherwise swing sixties the Times setter put me off cryptics for some forty years by asserting that the Nile was a red or blue flower, now of course standard crosswordspeak (I.e. words never uttered in real life). Having been lured back by these mini tempters ‘flower’ has finally lost its Pet Hate title to ‘singer’ rhyming with ginger. But I was not defeated this time, having learnt to mistrust every drop of ink that falls from a Setter’s pen. Bless’em all!

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