Quick Cryptic 1134 by Izetti

Author   CuraristPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Decent rattle through today, which was welcome after recent blogging days. Nothing too tricksy, no Ninas. Took far too long to spot the parsing of 17ac so I suppose that’s my CoD. 6 minutes.

Across
1 Small island in March is blissful place (8)
PARADISE – March is PARADE, with SI inside – edited: sorry – it’s IS inside, short for island. Thanks for pointing that out kevingregg…
5 Show contempt and endless malevolence (4)
SPIT – SPITE without its end
9 Yobs, many hanging around university (5)
LOUTS – LOTS outside U for university
10 Favoured and named and given encouragement (7)
INCITED – IN is favoured, CITED is named
11 Muck in mound regularly removed (3)
MUD – alternate letters of MoUnD
12 Given order, go in early as soldier (9)
LEGIONARY – anagram (‘given order’) of GO IN EARLY
13 Powerful dope hidden in bed (6)
COGENT – GEN is dope, as in information, COT is bed.
15 Walk beginning to end for one toddling along (6)
AMBLER – RAMBLE (walk) with the first letter moved to the end
17 Rapid way to write with one moving round more slowly (9)
SHORTHAND – Biffed this then stared at it for ages before a Doh! moment. The short hand on a clock moves more slowly that the longer one.
19 Mechanical device in East Anglian river (3)
CAM – double definition
20 Event is put on record. something poetic (7)
EPISODE – EP (record) + IS +ODE
21 Bit of a joint eaten once, middle portion (5)
TENON – hidden word: eaTEN ONce. Carpentry joint.
22 Pieces of fruit in small diagrams (4)
FIGS – short for FIGURES
23 State since renamed — or so I heard when travelling (8)
RHODESIA – anagram (‘travelling’) of SO I HEARD

Down
1 Argument from European male in charge (7)
POLEMIC – POLE + M + IC
2 Some toast what the milkman does (5)
ROUND – double definition
3 Purification process that could be nationalised (12)
DESALINATION – anagram (‘could be’) of NATIONALISED
4 Sort of drink — celebrate, imbibing litre (5)
SLING – SING with L inside. As in Singapore
6 Lift pal collapsing — into this? (7)
PITFALL – what do we call this? Not quite an &lit, but there’s nothing really to underline. Anagram (‘collapsing’) of LIFT PAL
7 Finish up in Scottish river now (5)
TODAY – Finish is DO, ‘up’ (backwards) it’s OD, inside TAY.
8 Given room, perhaps, adapted (12)
ACCOMMODATED – double definition.
14 Good water sport on the up (7)
GROWING – G is good, ROWING is the water sport
16 Country manor dilapidated, the reverse of tip-top (7)
ROMANIA – anagram (‘dilapidated’) of MANOR, + IA (reverse of AI or tip-top)
17 The woman, a female offering something that’s corny? (5)
SHEAF –  SHE + A + F
18 Foreign character could be a help (5)
ALEPH – anagram (‘could be’) of A HELP. First letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
19 Coins numismatist necessarily holds up (5)
CENTS – backwards hidden word: numismatiST NECessarily

33 comments on “Quick Cryptic 1134 by Izetti”

  2. Biffed SHORTHAND like our blogger, but never looked back; maybe just as well, as like Jack I knew them as big and little hands. Slowed down a tad at 17d, since my corn is your maize. 5:56.
  3. I delayed myself considerably by biffing SCRAWLING at 17a which made the SW unsolvable until I revisited. I considered DISTILLATION at 3d but a quick glace at the anagrist made me discount it quickly. Finally crawled over the line at 14:39. Thanks Izetti and Curarist.
  4. At 17 minutes this was another bad day for me caused by a problem of my own making i.e. biffing DISTILLATION at 3dn after only a cursory glance at the anagrist. This made 12ac and 13ac impossible to solve until, after wasting much time trying to do so, I conceded there might be an error somewhere and revisited the clue at 3dn.

    I also had difficulty understanding the second part of 17ac but then experienced a Doh! moment like our blogger. On reflection I think in my childhood we spoke about ‘big hand’ and ‘little hand’ rather than ‘long’ and short’.

  5. Another bad day – over 5 Kevins. The experienced solvers clearly found fewer pifalls than I did. I fell into too many and had to rethink. Like others, distillation was a classic sneaky one from Izetti. Thanks to setter and helpful blogger. John
  6. 7 and a bit (for what it’s worth) liking the smart anagram for LEGIONARY.
    Regular readers will be delighted to know that Coleraine came away with a useful away goal in a 1-1 draw against Spartak Subotica last night.
  7. … write out 100 times

    Actually I never wrote it in because I was sure I’d have heard of a River Cog, but I became so fixated on it that it wasn’t till I got ROMANIA that I finally thought of the CAM. Ahem.

    Finished in a shade under 3 Kevins, not displeased with that. Forgive me jackkt but I wrote in SHORTHAND without being able to parse it. It was my LOI even though the answer was immediately obvious, because I try to follow the rule of not writing in without parsing … but I just couldn’t! So thanks for explaining it, Curarist, and for the excellent blog.

    FIGS gets COD from me, made me chuckle. Thanks to Izetti for another lovely, elegant puzzle.

    Templar

  8. Thank you for appreciative comments. I fear that ‘biffing’ is often caused by an obsession to finish quickly in order to quote a quick time and impress others.It goes along with the mentality of solvers who don’t like unusual words, because they like to biff from definitions. One purpose of the QC is to encourage learners to work out subsidiary definitions, sometimes even for words with which they are unfamiliar. I fear that biffing is a consequence of the obsession with ‘times’ for The Times. Relax, gentle solvers and enjoy!
    1. Interesting comment Izetti. I am not one of those obsessed by times. Mine range from 15 – 60 minutes (ish). My objective is to finish the puzzle and enjoy the achievement of having done so. It takes what it takes. Yours are always a challenge, and therefore rewarding when solved. As you say, relax and enjoy.
      PlayUpPompey
    2. I wonder how many solvers are obsessed with times, and how many of those are trying to quote a quick time and impress others. I’m not, anyway, although I do the QCs as fast as I can; as far as I’m concerned, the QCs are workouts where I can try to improve my speed. Biffing is not a consequence of any obsession with times is my guess, but rather as Vinyl suggests, a part of the process of solving. But Izetti has the bottom line: relax, enjoy.
      1. Same for me, Kevin. Yes I record my time, but not to impress others. I also think of the QC as a workout, but I also enjoy the craftsmanship of our setters for the brilliant combination of wit, invention and instructional cluing for cryptic novices – Izetti being a master of the art. Long live the QC!
  9. I’m another one who wrote in distillation for 3dn but quickly corrected it. 17ac SHORTHAND, from an excellent clue, I wrote in and parsed belatedly. Have to confess I DNK 18dn ALEPH having no knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet and this was my LOI. 18dn and 7dn TODAY resulted in a lengthy solve time of 18:39.
  10. 10 minutes – with much time spent failing to parse 17ac and trying to find anything else to fit and make sense.
    So as jackkt said: D’oh !
  11. I have no idea how the blogger found this easy, for me it was close to impossible. I think I wrote in 7 answers before I gave up. That is 2 in a row that have been way above anything a beginner could hope to solve. Not an enjoyable experience nor a learning one. Nakrian kickiat.
    1. Please don’t give up. I have found the last 2 QCs to be very challenging. I’m not sure whether you have access to the online puzzle but if you do then it may help, as a beginner, to reveal a word that gives you a checker for another clue.
    2. Hang in there Nakrian, we’ve all been there!

      My technique when I’ve been beaten by the puzzle is to go through the clues I couldn’t solve side by side with the blog explaining them. It’s a free tutorial in how it all worked and even if you only remember 25% of it, it helps to build up your knowledge. Then next time you see the same trick used by a setter, you have a chance of recalling it and being able to crack the clue.

      Templar

    3. When I started out Nakrian, a good week was when I finished one, and I never came close to solving an Izetti. Now a bad week is if I have a DNF. Keep reading the blogs, and trust me you’ll get there.
      PlayUpPompey
    4. I’m with you on this. Didn’t spot a lot of the anagrams or the hidden. Biffed a few and checked they were correct on the app on my phone but couldn’t parse them. Don’t think of cogent as meaning powerful, for example.

      I must admit that a few months ago I would probably have got none of them, so progress…

      Two really difficult days. Let’s hope the weekend helps to clear the brain ready for next week.

  12. Typical Izetti. Tough but rewarding. Never heard of ALEPH so needed the checkers to biff it. Never parsed SHORTHAND, but the definition was a gimme. Took a while to spot LEGIONARY as I was convinced that “go in early” had something to do with opening the batting (says a lot about my obsession I suppose). AMBLER my COD, although I have seen that clue formulation used before.
    Much enjoyed
    PlayUpPompey
  14. Agreed – Izetti standard from the Don, and very enjoyable for the challenge. My last two in were, inexplicably, 14d and 22a. In 14 I couldn’t spot the definition, and spent far too long looking for a water sport written upwards to finish after the G for good – stupid. In 22 I never did see the obvious parsing having biffed it out of desparation, in a little over 19 minutes.

    Thanks setter and blogger, and well played Coleraine to get the away goal!

  15. I had this done in 20 minutes bar 18d. It took me a while to get started but then things went quite well aided by 3d and 8d which both seemed relatively easy.
    But I had no idea how to get 18d and missed the anagram. ALEPH was unknown to me, so thanks to Izetti for yet more education. I will now have a look at the Hebrew alphabet. David
  16. Thank you, Izetti, both for a very enjoyable puzzle and for your kind comments which, for a beginner like me, are so encouraging! Having had a grim time with yesterday’s crossword, I wasn’t looking forward to today’s – but it was great. Particularly liked 17 across. Thanks, also, to curarist for the blog. I’d got “tenon ” – what else could it be? – but I didn’t know why it was the answer until I read your super explanation.
  17. I found this tough in places but fair. I was inexplicably held up at the end by the 19s where I got a bit obsessed by thinking 19a would be Ram and I figured out that 19d was a hidden but was looking in the wrong place. I eventually had my doh moment here but unfortunately never had it for 17a.
    Completed in 19.31.
    Thanks for the blog
  18. It’s not how long it takes-it’s how much you enjoy it. Yours, difficult, or in this case easy, are always brilliant and witty. Thanks to setter and blogger.
  19. Don’t worry about solving times. There are some very bright guys (in this and other fields) who do tasks very quickly. Frankly I’d not be one of them.
    Purpose of solving is IMHO just enjoyment – it is a leisure activity. Nonetheless it can be interesting to see the solving times of various puzzles by those people and to admire their achievements at the Times Championship which gives a lot of publicity to crosswords to the wider world and can increase interest in them. Solving can become more satisfying for new solvers if they can solve faster and with practice they probably will. I am out of sympathy with “biffing from definition”. There is a second part of the clue (wordplay). Why not use it? One hint I would give to new solvers is not to be misled by the surface reading of a clue. Try to look at the whole clue literally and carefully. You (usually!) will find definition and wordplay side by side (in either order) but not necessarily split by a natural break. Reading blogs on this site will explain.
  20. Doing this a day late as I’m away for a long weekend. Interesting discussion here about ‘biffing’ and speed. Personally, even when I can see the answer from the definition from the checking letters, I always try and work out the word play, as that is the fun bit. Of course sometimes I can’t… such as SHORTHAND in this crossword. But I also record my times so as to track my form… and train for the Championships, which I am participating in for 2nd time this year. So sometimes I biff and then revisit the wordplay after completing the grid. As for this crossword – another great one from Izetti. And, like, jackkt, I was guilty of not properly solving the anagram at 3d, with DISTILLATION to start with, making LEGIONARY and COGENT ungettable until after I’d corrected my mistake. That left me 2 minutes over average time. Serves me right for not working out the wordplay properly! The across combination of COGENT AMBLER my favourite. Thanks Curarist and Izetti.
    P.S. Greetings, should you revisit this, to PlayUpPompey – I’m in earshot of Fratton Park.

    Edited at 2018-07-14 09:23 am (UTC)

  21. Thank you Izetti, for your welcome advice on how to approach the cryptic Xwd. To me it would be beyond sad to finish in the time that many claim! A fun hour left, and nothing to do…

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