Quick Cryptic 2351 by Izetti

Author   BletchleyRejectPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

When I saw the clue for 1a I thought we were in for a Classics-based toughie but…

Thank goodness things were a bit gentler from then on. The part of speech for the word at 3d was unusual, making the clue harder than it should have been, but otherwise I didn’t find there were many obscurities here and I finished in 7:40.

My favourite was the double def at 17a.

Thanks to Izetti

Definitions underlined in bold 

Across
1 Old Greek writer’s place, penning line, by bridge (8)
PLUTARCH – PUT (‘place’) containing (‘penning’) L (‘line’) ARCH (‘bridge’)
6 Some idiots ignoring omen (4)
SIGN – Hidden (‘Some’) in ‘idiotS IGNoring’
8 A heartless religious teacher with cold language (6)
ARABIC – A (‘A’) RABI (‘heartless religious teacher’=RABBI with middle letter B deleted) C (‘cold’)
9 Fool engaging leaders of English society doesn’t stop talking (4,2)
GOES ON – GOON (‘Fool’) containing (‘engaging’) ES (‘leaders (=first letters of) of English society’)
10 Old bird in repeated act (4)
DODO – DO DO (‘repeated act’)

‘Act’ as noun in surface reading, verb in answer

MOA, DODO and there are many others (sadly) in the real world but these two are the commonest ‘Old bird(s)’ in crossword land
11 Anonymous female star, not so great (8)
FACELESS – F (‘female’) ACE (‘star’) LESS (‘not so great’)
12 Snake less happy after losing its head! (5)
ADDER – SADDER (‘less happy’) deleting first letter S (‘after losing its head!’)
13 Reference book eventually cut short (5)
ATLAS – AT LAST (‘eventually’) deleting last letter T (‘cut short’)
15 Bits of hymns in church old vicar finally employs (8)
CHORUSES – CH (‘church’) O (‘old’) R (‘vicar finally’= last letter of ‘vicar’) USES (’employs’)
17 Ruin work of art? (4)
BUST – Double definition
19 Arrangement of chairs, first put out for dining (6)
EATING – SEATING (‘Arrangement of chairs’) deleting first letter S (‘first put out’)
20 Success obtained by the French pair (6)
COUPLE – COUP (‘Success’) LE (‘the French’)
21 Don’t go and wander off — not right (4)
STAY – STRAY (‘wander off’) with R deleted (‘not right’)
22 What risk-averse people want, certainly (2,2,4)
TO BE SURE – Double definition, the first descriptive, the second in idiomatic use
Down
2 Mythical ship sinks below lake slowly (5)
LARGO – ARGO (‘Mythical ship’) under (‘below’ in a down clue) L (‘lake’)

A few months ago, jackkt posted a link to a performance on trumpet and organ of the well-known LARGO “Ombra mai fu” from “Xerxes” by Handel. Here is a vocal performance by a boy soprano; the accompaniment is a bit bare bones but it’s worth it for that first sung note alone.
3 Jeer during special date is forbidden (7)
TABOOED – BOO (‘Jeer’) contained in (‘during’) anagram (‘special’) of DATE

I’d forgotten (if I ever knew) that TABOO can be a transitive verb.
4 Legendary bird eaten by crocodile (3)
ROC – Hidden (‘eaten by’) in ‘cROCodile’
5 Top-quality school form (4-5)
HIGH-CLASS – HIGH (‘school’) CLASS (‘form’)
6 Son not ill? Excellent! (5)
SWELL – S (‘Son’) WELL (‘not ill?’)
7 Head of Government whips up complaints (7)
GROUSES – G (‘Head’ (=first letter of) of Government’) ROUSES (‘whips up’)
11 Looking ahead for potential development area we hear (9)
FORESIGHT – Homophone (‘we hear’) of FOR (‘for’) SITE (‘potential development area’)

I thought ‘area’ by itself would do for SITE, but this doesn’t account for ‘potential development’. I suppose a SITE could also be regarded as a ‘potential development area’ and this is supported by the Collins definition: “the piece of land where something was, is, or is intended to be located”.

At least the homophone is uncontroversial, to my ear anyway.
12 A hatter is mad, essentially (2,5)
AT HEART – Anagram (‘is mad’) of A HATTER
14 Party’s travails (7)
LABOURS – Double definition
16 Wet home bathed in bit of sunshine (5)
RAINY – IN (‘home’) contained in (‘bathed in’) RAY (‘bit of sunshine’)
18 Sun’s to rise with a hint of light being introduced (5)
SOLAR – L (‘hint of light’) contained in (‘being introduced’) SOAR (‘to rise’)

Apostrophes do matter. I’d have to say that ‘hint of’ indicating “first letter of” is not my favourite wordplay device.
20 Loaf of bread for horse (3)
COB – Nice double definition to end with

I like the OED definition for the ‘horse’: “A short-legged, stout variety of horse, usually ridden by heavy persons”. Poor old thing, stoically plodding along.

61 comments on “Quick Cryptic 2351 by Izetti”

  2. Middle of the road from me today.

    Bottom right held me up. BUST was my LOI, and I liked COUPLE once I got it.

    6:24

  3. 4:24 this afternoon, for what I reckoned was one of Don’s more gentle QCs, as long as you’d heard of the old Greek.
    I was held up briefly by 15 ac “choruses” where I went for “chorales” initially, until I realised I couldn’t parse it.
    Quite liked 22 ac “To be Sure”, although in an Irish crossword it would presumably need to repeated and so wouldn’t fit a QC grid.
    Thanks to Don and to BR for the blog and the cultural add-on.

  5. A nice steady solve with no particular hold-ups. All done and parsed in 14 minutes. Thanks to Izetti for a relatively gentle offering and to BR for the blog.

    FOI – 6ac SIGN
    LOI – 14dn LABOURS
    COD – 7dn GROUSES

  7. Late news:
    Following some reports yesterday of the relative accessibility of yesterday’s 15×15, I thought I would (for the first time) give it a real go – timed and without aids. Unbelievably, I crossed the line fully parsed in 64 minutes.

    Astonishmentness! I may never again achieve such a feat, so I will pour myself (and Mrs R, of course) an early ‘yardarm’ this evening.

    2. Magnificent. Congratulations. I am sure it will in time be the first of many.

      Did Mrs R give it a go too?

    4. You might also want to have a go at today’s – it’s no harder and only one nho.

    5. Any more of that and we’ll revoke your membership of the SCC! Seriously, well done. You should be very proud. 👏👏👏

  8. DNF again. Could not see PLUTARCH or CHORUSES (where I was trying to make VERSES work)

  10. I very much enjoyed this QC. Like the COB, I plodded stoically to a time just under the half hour mark.

    A host of fine clues and misdirection, and a great tonic after a dull day at the coal face.

    FOI – SIGN
    LOI – GROUSES (a few minutes to get that one)
    COD – GOESON
    PDM – DODO (looking for something much more complicated, my usual IZETTI problem).

    Great blog BR, many thanks 😊

  11. All green in 9:27, but had to come here to get the parsing of HIGH CLASS, which I had bunged in with a shrug. Enjoyable puzzle, lots of “add/subtract a letter” clues, which I like, and very few anagrams, which I don’t.
    Thanks to Izetti & BR

Comments are closed.