Quick Cryptic 794 by Izetti

Author   galsprayPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Not much to say today.  I think it was on the easier side, and I can’t see much that would raise a solver’s hackles.  Took me 4:56.

Thanks Izetti.  Here’s how I parsed it all.  Clues are reproduced in blue, with the definition underlined.  Anagram indicators are bolded and italicised.  Then there’s the answer IN BOLD, followed by the parsing of the wordplay.  (ABC)* means ‘anagram of ABC’.

Across
1 Part of leg in young animal (4)
CALF – Double definition
A gentle start to proceedings.
4 Descent from pier edge looking tricky (8)
PEDIGREE – (PIER EDGE)*
Descent as in ancestry.
8 Exotic bordello you ring from outside (8)
DOORBELL – (BORDELLO)*
9 Eject some notorious terrorist (4)
OUST – Hidden (some) in (notoriOUS Terrorist)
10 Adornment of one of five Kent children? (6)
SEQUIN – A quintuplet (one of five children) in the South-East (Kent) would be a S E QUIN
11 Very tired, he had to lie at back of vehicle (6)
BUSHED – HED (he had) at back of BUS (vehicle)
12 I’m involved with trade event’s promotion (13)
ADVERTISEMENT – (IM TRADE EVENTS)*
16 Stick together in this place having joined firm (6)
COHERE – HERE (in this place) having joined CO (firm)
17 Trace of drug found in journey (6)
DERIVE – E (ecstacy, drug) found in DRIVE (journey)
E for drug is very much a crossword standard these days.
19 Part of foot to get better reportedly (4)
HEEL – Homophone (reportedly) for HEAL (get better)
About as homophonic as homophones get, I’d have thought, but someone will point out that they’re pronounced differently in Upper Volta.
20 Relegation? There’s strong feeling shown by crowd finally (8)
DEMOTION – D (crowD finally) + EMOTION (strong feeling)
21 Rat? Something the waiter brings in beer! (8)
BETRAYER – TRAY (something the waiter brings) in BEER
22 Refusal by a husband to be a man of rescue (4)
NOAH – NO (refusal) + A + H (husband)
Boat-builder and crowd-control genius.
Down
2 A person with little energy in home? (5)
ABODE – A + BOD (person) + E (little energy)
3 A lot of money with cashier, one predicts (7-6)
FORTUNE-TELLER – FORTUNE (a lot of money) + TELLER (cashier)
Dodgy profession, great song.  “Now I get my fortune told for free!”
4 Heathen god receiving each hymn of praise (5)
PAEAN – EA (each) inside PAN (heathen god)
Ok, this might be an obscurity to some.
5 One born in Leeds upset French composer (7)
DELIBES – I (one) + B (born) in (LEEDS)*
If you don’t know the composer, the most likely arrangement of the letters (given the crossers) happens to be the correct answer.
6 A dragon aims to, changing into a very helpful person (4,9)
GOOD SAMARITAN – (A DRAGON AIMS TO)*
7 Terribly earnest Japanese? (7)
EASTERN – (EARNEST)*
More northern from where I’m sitting, but you get the gist.
10 Country that’s abandoned in spring (3)
SPA – SPAin (country) without IN
13 See dreadful comedies getting no end of criticism (7)
DIOCESE – (CO{M}EDIES)*  M (end of criticism) not included
14 Time to tidy up a dusty office finally (7)
TUESDAY – [A DUSTY E (office finally)]*
Hmmm, “time” to clue “Tuesday”.  On Wednesday the 15×15 had “period” to clue “October”.  Nothing wrong with it of course, just not the first thing to spring to mind.
15 Cup match that gives inconclusive result (3)
TIE – Double definition
17 Object when strange journalist turns up (5)
DEMUR – [RUM (strange) + ED (journalist)] reversed (turns up)
18 Woman’s stringed instrument (5)
VIOLA – Double definition

18 comments on “Quick Cryptic 794 by Izetti”

  1. 2 x galspray today – that’s 9 minutes, but still on the faster side for an Izetti puzzle for me. I took extra time over 4dn as the wordplay gave me PAEAN for a word that I would have spelt PAEON. In my higgerance I wasn’t aware they are two separate words, the O one being a type of metrical foot. One lives and learns!
  2. 8.44 I just never seemed to get going.

    with COD 10ac SEQUIN holding me up somewhat and stupidly 10dn SPA. However, hackles unraised!

    Only knew PAEAN.

    WOD 5dn DELIBES

  3. I don’t think this was as easy as the blogger makes out. Never heard of peaan for 4dn or the the composer at 5dn. For some reason, 8dn took me ages, and I was desperate to put pagan for 4dn, which threw me off looking for an anagram of bordello for 8ac. Gribb.
  4. I also thought this was on the harder side and was very happy to knock the last two (14dn then 21ac) down. These plus 10ac, 13dn and 5dn (which ended up working out just as our blogger described) all put up something of a struggle. So it was with a happy feeling of achievement to see the ‘congratulations’ message come up in 12 minutes. Good stuff!
  5. Around 7m for this with slight hold up on 17a / 17d. I thought this was a terrific puzzle for improvers with some lovely use of language. Things like SE for Kent, SEE for diocese (a lovely double usage) and Paean which I haven’t seen used before. I love the people who do these in a very quick time and then say they’re not on the wavelength! As Mr Dury said – there ain’t half been some clever b*****s. Now to be depressed as I try the Friday 15×15. Thanks setter and blogger.
    1. Well wonders never cease – the main puzzle is an absolute delight! Seems to have the stamp if a certain setter in Sunday Times but if you think literally many clues fall out.
  6. Definitely harder than average for me with some less than obvious definitions (descent, rat, time), less than everyday vocab (paean, Delibes) and a gem at 10a.
    GeoffH
  7. I also found this on the trickier end of the spectrum, taking 15:22, although I was a bit sleepy when I tackled it. Started with SPA and finished with BETRAYER. Liked SEQUIN. An enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Izetti and Galspray.
  8. Almost dead on 7 minutes. TUESDAY took a while to see and, although nothing else in particular held me up, I always find Izetti’s clues need to be read carefully, making a really fast time more difficult.
  9. 15 minutes until got stuck on 10a, which I would have never solved. Happy with 24/25th of puzzle solved. Liked 13d, while thought 14d was badly defined. Ciao. Unclemarvo.
  10. I thought this was deceptive and not straight forward. True, the first 10 or so rattled in and I smugly thought it was fairly easy, but then I hit a brick wall.

    Struggled with 4a, 11a and 14d and 21a.

    I got 13d but by a completely different means. I interpreted the definition as “See dreadful” and saw “Dier-Seas” as a homophone. Not sure if this was intentional or complete fluke, but got the answer in the end.

    Technically DNF as I didn’t know 4d and my guess was incorrect.

    DR31

  11. Can’t believe all these happy bunnies, I found that the toughest for ages and didn’t enjoy it. Even when I’d got Tuesday I couldn’t bring myself to write it in because I couldn’t believe that “Time” would be used as a definition for a day of the week. “Delibes” is also ridiculously obscure – though easy enough to work out from the clue, I then had to Wiki it to check he/she existed! “Something the waiter brings” for “tray” also raised my hackles, so I’m definitely out of tune with the majority on here
    1. Delibes! Why don’t you take up needlepoint or philately? I think you’d enjoy it more.
      Horryd Shanghai
  12. I thought this was going to be a simpler Izetti offering after the two long down clues and a few others went in quickly, but it got a lot harder. The unknown 4 & 5d took a lot of puzzling over, before being written in without much confidence. I had no idea how the quin part of 10a was parsed and it took me a while to see what was going on with my LOI 21a. A tough but fair challenge which I completed in 26 minutes. COD 4a
  13. ‘Can’t believe all these happy bunnies, I found that the toughest for ages and didn’t enjoy it. Even when I’d got Tuesday I couldn’t bring myself to write it in because I couldn’t believe that “Time” would be used as a definition for a day of the week’.

    Agree totally. Simply unacceptable clueing from Izetti (again).

  14. I really struggled with this one. I had Delibes as likely (he’s not that obscure) but wasn’t sure as I didn’t twig that I had to use th first letter of ‘Born’ – these pesky first letters seem to crop up a lot and I often miss them. I think ‘heel’ was the FOI closely followed by ‘Viola’.
    Couldn’t see ‘Tuesday’ until I had all the crossings and still couldn’t see why it should be. ‘Time’ as a clue for a day of the week didn’t jump out at all. Didn’t twig it was an anagram either.
    ‘SE’ from ‘Kent’ was also odd – I could see that it should be ‘sequin’ and where the quin came from but that was all.

    Edited at 2017-03-25 08:31 am (UTC)

  15. 63 minutes but I will call it an hour after deducting 3 to tend to the life inhibitors.

    4d paean, I was lucky pan has cropped up a few times lately in the 15×15 otherwise this would have been tougher. I think this is a bit harsh, a difficult word clued by heaven god for pan.

    Didn’t parse sequin, and guessed the composer at 5d.
    For 14d Tuesday, it would have been too easy to clue it as day to tidy…

    COD 10d.

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