Quick Cryptic 2014 by Izetti – Times for The Times

So I came in slightly over target at 6 and a bit minutes. It’s got a whole bunch of crossword staples that you either know or you don’t, (LING, IDE, ELL) which makes me think the less experienced solvers might struggle. A couple of fiddly compound anagrams might cause trouble as well. Overall an enjoyable solve. Across
1	Pile of alkaline substance in Irish location (8)
	LIMERICK – LIME is alkaline, RICK is a pile
5	Part of body gripped by hysterical female (4)
	CALF – hidden word: hysteriCAL Female
8	Punished when discovery is broadcast (5)
	FINED – sounds like ‘find’
9	Always on the retreat, Heather is moving unsteadily (7)
	REELING – EER backwards + LING (heather)
11	Repeatedly on cruises at sea as an expert (11)
	CONNOISSEUR – anagram (‘at sea’) of ON ON (‘on’ repeatedly) + CRUISES
13	Standards one’s needed to seal business arrangement (6)
	IDEALS – DEAL inside I’S
14	Boy should go to an HE establishment? There’s agreement (6)
	UNISON – UNI + SON
17	Lovers’ rendezvous in the allotment? (11)
	ASSIGNATION – double definition
20	A job given to the French disciple (7)
	APOSTLE – A + POST + LE
21	Paella almost ruined part of a jacket (5)
	LAPEL – anagram (‘ruined’) of PAELL (being ‘almost’ PAELLA)
22	Measure of cloth needed by a lady (4)
	ELLA – ELL + A. An ell is a measure of length previously used in the textile industry, equivalent to about 45 inches. Its only remaining use is in crosswords
23	Good old Indo-European person entertaining any handsome youth (8)
	GANYMEDE – G + MEDE with ANY inside. The Medes used to live in Media, roughly Azerbaijan. Ganymede was a Trojan youth who was so beautiful he was carried off to be Zeus’s cup bearer. I have the same problem. Bloody deities, always trying to get me to bear their stupid cups.

Down
1	Port still on the table after dinner? (4)
	LEFT – double definition
2	Bloke outside can upset restraining device (7)
	MANACLE – MALE outside anagram (‘upset’) of CAN
3	Shiner on vessel from old part of Yorkshire land (6,5)
	RIDING LIGHT – Yorkshire used to be divided in to ‘ridings’, ‘light’ as a verb means to land
4	My fellow provides a line of defence (6)
	CORDON – COR (my!) DON (fellow in two different ways – a bloke’s name, also a fellow of a college e.g in Oxford)
6	Like one sort of fish apart (5)
	ASIDE – AS + IDE. IDE is a fish that exists mainly in crosswords
7	Statuette incorporates fruit and water (8)
	FIGURINE – FIG + URINE
10	Silly senate needs to be reformed substantially (11)
	ESSENTIALLY – anagram (‘needs to be reformed’) of SILLY SENATE
12	Minister’s house failing to accommodate a charity event (8)
	VICARAGE – VICE (failing) with A RAG inside
15	Some lousy naps expected in gap between cells (7)
	SYNAPSE – hidden word, denoted by the universal trigger word ‘some’: louSY NAPS Expected
16	Optical device arrived, to be given to artist (6)
	CAMERA – CAME + RA (royal academician)
18	Ill-gotten gain’s turned up in seat (5)
	STOOL – LOOT’S backwards
19	Pipe for smoke removal disappeared, we hear (4)
	FLUE – sounds like FLEW

50 comments on “Quick Cryptic 2014 by Izetti”

Back to usual with a DNF today.

I got RIDING LIGHT correct, despite not having heard of one. Similarly, GANYMEDE was a successful guess, despite knowing it only as a planetary moon. However, I put CONNOSSIEUR (an idiotic mis-spelling) and ELLE which, having NHO the cloth measure, I thought was a reasonable guess for a lady.

So, a bad week: Mr Random 2-3 Setters

Many thanks to Izetti and curarist.

… but fair, and some good clues. Took ages to start. FOI LAPEL, COD ASSIGNATION, LOI , unparsed VICARAGE. NHO but guessed RIDING LIGHT. DNF as I knew but couldn’t recall ELL. Once upon a time I enjoyed Don’s puzales.

Must admit I’m not a fan of puzzles that are full of old crossword code. This was like a 1960’s Daily Telegraph — full of RAG, COR, LING, ELL etc
Did it over a couple of days but parts of it was like the Times 2 non cryptic!
Nick

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