Quick Cryptic 599 by Izetti

Author   emu66Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Another DNF for me after last week. Clever anagram at 1a, but I didn’t know the phrase and also stumped by 5d, although nothing unfair about it. I think I blogged a dope/gen clue recently.
A good challenge – thank you Izetti.

Across
1 Marched, boots falling apart – unable to carry on: HORS DE COMBAT
Anagram (falling apart) of MARCHED BOOTS
8 Shining silver base: AGLOW
Silver = AG, base = LOW, as in ignoble
9 Descent of eagle flying outside home: LINEAGE
Anagram (flying) of EAGLE, including home = IN
10 Dance in the grass when it’s dry: HAY
Double definition – not a country dance with which I’m familiar; not that that means anything!
11 This person’s left, worker of great significance: IMPORTANT
This person’s = IM, left = PORT, worker = ANT
13 Ape of a particular colour, apart from tail: ORANG
Particular colour without tail= ORANG(e)
14 Response from agent – lazy, heartless: REPLY
Agent = REP, heartless lazy = L(az)Y
16 A pest who’s working in terrible factory : SWEAT SHOP
Anagram (working) of A PEST WHOS
17 In course of education I learnt nothing: NIL
Hidden word
19 Awful poseur male being brought in as top dog: SUPREMO
Anagram (awful) of POSEUR M(ale)
21 Wild animal, last to be seen in the country: ELAND
Last to bE, country = LAND
22 Philosopher isn’t ‘wet’ gent, I fancy : WITTGENSTEIN
Anagram (fancy) of ISNT WET GENT I

Down
1 Barren territory for former PM: HEATH
Double definition
2 New career takes in amateur athletics event : RELAY RACE
Anagram (new) of CAREER, including amateur = LAY
3 Not resting, we’d wander around London thoroughfare: DOWNING STREET
Anagram (wander around) of NOT RESTING WED
4 Islamic ruler chap I will finally upset: CALIPH
Anagram (upset) of CHAP I (wil)L
5 Biblical folk making small returns on investments, we hear: MINOR PROPHETS
Small = MINOR, homophone (we hear) of investments = PROFITS
6 Afghan regularly seen as military commander: AGA
Alternate letters (regularly) of AfGhAn
7 Dope with bid to be in the privileged classes: GENTRY
Dope = GEN, bid = TRY
12 A couple of pages to finish – get old bit stuck on: APPENDAGE
A = A, couple of pages = PP, finish = END
13 Bosses unusually worry constantly: OBSESS
Anagram (unusually) of BOSSES
15 Little man sitting in the seat: THRONE
Little man = RON, inside THE
18 The French hideout piled up with goods: LADEN
The French = LA, hideout = DEN
20 One Greek character and another outside hospital: PHI
Another Greek character = PI, outside hospital = H

16 comments on “Quick Cryptic 599 by Izetti”

  1. Toughest this week, needed all the checkers for 1a. Did the setter know something when 3d was composed. COD and LOI 15a so many subtle misdirections in 6 words. Thanks Izetti and blogger
  2. A slight correction at 4d: the anagrist is CHAP I (wil)L (‘finally’).
  3. Several clues had me thinking, and my first pass through the acrosses yielded precious little. I was at a loss at 1ac until I got the D from 3d; once I decided it couldn’t be DO I realized it was French, and things fell into place. Some nice anagrams (DOWNING STREET, LINEAGE, SWEATSHOP) and lovely surfaces. 6:34.
  4. 21:10. Not sure about ‘hay’ for dance. Also a ‘Heath’, at least here in Surrey, is definitely not barren, I think it derives from ‘heather’? 1a tough, as did not expect a French phrase, but with checkers not too bad. Old ELAND shows up again, a frequent visitor. COD was MINOR PROPHETS, I don’t always like homophones, but this us a good one. A lot of anagrams today.

    Edited at 2016-06-24 08:30 am (UTC)

    1. “Hay” or “hey” is a country dance popular with morris men amongst others. There’s a famous traditional tune called “Shepherd’s Hay” often heard in an arrangement by Percy Granger, though he spelt it “hey”.
  5. That’s the thing. Tough today, not helped by having (8,5) for 5d, LOI. Oh, and the lack of sleep. 1ac, 16ac, 3d as noted, and 18d seem prophetic, and not in a minor way. Let’s hope a 19ac doesn’t appear. Young adults, who voted overwhelmingly for their future, have to put up with it for a biblical seventy years. 9’41” today.

    Edited at 2016-06-24 09:27 am (UTC)

  6. Yes, this was tricky. I needed 16 minutes and was hindered by carelessly biffing SUPREME at 19ac which gave me problems at 15dn.

    21ac is [last to be seen in] {th}E LAND (country).

    Edited at 2016-06-24 08:36 am (UTC)

  7. I really enjoyed this puzzle – it was one that actually had to make you think hard and carefully to get the answers.
    I had “hop” for 10a until I realised that drying is what you do to hops, rather than the name for the dried item itself.
    Hey ho, or should that be “hay ho”?
  8. Tough to finish. Did not know hors de combat so forced to resort to a checker. And relied on my wife for minor prophets
    1. For your information “Hors de Combat” means “war horse”, same as “coup de grace” means “lawnmower”
  9. This puzzle held me up a bit. My two big weaknesses are plants and the bible so I left biblical folk till the end. I was also held up by 1a as the only English word I had for the two letters was Do; this was a very good clue and knowing it was an anagram helped hugely. I thought of hors de combat quite quickly and it’s a phrase which I regard as reasonably common. Most went in after a brief struggle. Back at 5d I thought the second word might be Trippers -who make returns- but I got it eventually.
    About 45 minutes whilst watching the developing news in the UK. David
  10. Pleased to finish this fully parsed, save that the dance meaning of hay was unknown. Quite hard going in places, 15d for example held me up for ages. Invariant
  12. Found this tough and eventually gave up on the second part of 5d – I could have kicked myself when I read the blog as I’d been mulling over profits for a while. Excellent puzzle though – COD 9a.
  13. Just got round to reading the blog. Glad to see the reasoning behind 2d relay race – couldn’t think of another solution but had no idea of why! Didn’t find this so difficult as most of Izetti’s puzzles but maybe I was ‘in the zone’ for a change. Still a bit challenged by 15d throne – my LOI and bit a of a guess at that. Agree we’ve seen Gen=Dope recently (thx to reading all those Biggles books as a lad – I always insisted they were educational). Thx Blogger and to Izetti too. A good week for me. Had to resort to my iPhone book for my daily Costa (The Complete Works of John Buchan).

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