Quick Cryptic 801 by Izetti

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
14 minutes for this tussle with Izetti who continues our education en route to the 15×15 which, hopefully, is to be your next target. These include double bend, plural French words, subatomic particles, no less than three 13 letter anagrams and an English lesson. All of these are very fairly clued and I found it highly enjoyable – COD from many to 2dn. Thanks prof!

ACROSS

1. Struck – hit. Double bend (S – it’s a shape thing), vehicle (TRUCK). I’m much more used to car/van/bus in QCs.
4. Damsel – girl. The (plural) in French (LES) and angry (MAD) all backwards.
8. Monstrosities – big ugly things (a bit like 13 letter anagrams!). Anagram (must get demolished) of IN MOST STORIES.
10. Lousy – very bad. See (LO), us (US), yen (Y).
11. Gripper – one who won’t let go. Complainer (GRIPER) keeping quiet (P).
12. Commandeers – forcefully get hold of. Anagram (for deployment) of MEN COMRADES.
16. Resents – feels bad about. Landlords’ charges (RENTS) around Home Counties (SE).
17. Meson – something tiny. Prof Izetti’s physics lesson of today – a meson is any of a group of subatomic particles that are both hadrons and bosons, including the pion and kaon. The prof is not only highly instructive but also fair in providing kind cluing.the answer could be nothing else – this person (ME), boy (SON).
18. Pressure group – lobbyists. Anagram (being tricky) of RUE PROGRESS, at university (UP).
19. Remote – electronic device. Engineers (RE – Royal Engineers), test (MOT – annual car test in U.K.), back of th(E).
20. Attend – be present at. A (A) and final (END) to collect racing trophy (TT). Having always known of the IoM TT races – I now learn that the TT stands for Tourist Trophy

DOWN.

1. Simile – figure of speech. Show amusement (SMILE) apprehending one (I).
2. Run out of steam – come to a grinding halt. I believe the question mark invites us to think of steam engines running out of power when grinding corn. Well, it did me and so I enjoyed the clue all the more. Anagram (uncertain) of MANS FUTURE TOO.
3. Catty – spiteful. A bit crazy – scatty – a condition which can be entered into whilst attempting to solve 13 letter anagrams. With no leader s(CATTY).
5. Asinine – a bit stupid. A (A), transgression (SIN), in (IN), front of (E)mperor.
6. Slippery slope – double definition.
7. Lustre – brightness. Good person (ST – saint) with something attractive (LURE) about it.
9. Organiser – one making arrangements. Anagram (bad) of GROANER IS.
13. Mindset – way of thinking. Another anagram (somehow) of TIMIDNESS – with some letters removed – ‘is’ being avoided.
14. Proper – appropriate. A quick English lesson refresh from the prof – a name is a proper noun.
15. Sniped – criticised slyly. Rushed (SPED) around part of UK (NI).
17. Might – power. Homophone (in the auditorium) of small person – mite.

32 comments on “Quick Cryptic 801 by Izetti”

  1. Quite hard, so about an hour.
    Got stuck on 7 clues (4a, 17a, 20a, 5d, 7d, 15d, 17d).

    17a I put boson but couldn’t justify the bo before seeing meson.
    LOI 15d sniped as couldn’t parse it.

    COD 2d.

  2. Very hard work getting started and continuing and finishing off, but other than that it was easy enough. 20 minutes.

    MESON my LOI, vaguely remembered having got to it via wordplay and checkers.

  3. This seemed like nothing but anagrams at the time, and much to my surprise I was able to spot the long ones without having to write the letters down, which I almost always have to do with the 15x15s. But some of the non-anagrammatic clues slowed me down some, like 15d, as I recall. 6:05.
  4. Finally finished, but lost track of the time taken. Struggled with the SE corner. Put in MIGHT and SNIPED without understanding why, so thanks, blogger, for clearing that up. Never heard of MESON, so had to check after putting it in. A tough, but enjoyable crossword, Izetti. Gribb.
  5. More of a DNgetevenclose. Thanks blogger for filling in the many gaps.
    CSky
    3. Yep- even after trying catty, truck refused to enter what I used to call my mind.

      Philip

  7. I had to grind this one out. Like Jack I had trouble getting started and never got into a flow. 19:48 by the time congratulations appeared. FOI SIMILE, LOI RESENTS. Liked SLPPERY SLOPE. Thanks Izetti and Chris.
  8. Hard work, over half an hour – but useful. Thank-you. Couldn’t see why ‘might’ was correct – but of course, it’s obvious – thanks!
  9. Think this one suited me because of the long anagrams. It’s when it comes to actually knowing stuff that I struggle.

    Very enjoyable workout. Thanks Izetti and Chris.

  10. 6.34 for this one. Nothing really held me up but some of the long anagrams didn’t drop straight in – a downside of solving on a tablet. My physics knowledge is dreadful so I had to trust the cryptic and cross fingers on submission.
      1. Practice makes perfect! Tomorrow I shall do the puzzle standing on one leg just to add to the gaiety of it all.

        Edited at 2017-04-04 05:42 pm (UTC)

  11. 43mins today so over twice my target, but I got there in the end with a little help from my wife who spotted Catty.
  12. Two sittings (again) to crack this offering from Izetti. I got the long answers quite quickly, but then struggled in the corners with the 14/19 and 4/7 combinations. I did manage to parse everything in the end, but it was hard work today. 14d was (eventually) my favourite. Invariant
  13. Izetti has set a cracking puzzle which I had to work hard to complete in about 30 minutes. COD to Commandeers (Chris you need a plural there). Then had a go at the main puzzle and gave up quickly when I realised the setter was trying too hard. Thanks blogger and setter
  14. Enjoyable struggle for 45 minutes aided by some long anagrams. Pexiter (having been confronted by a pop up asking me to agree to the new live journal terms and conditions I took the time to read them and immediately logged out as it seemed pretty clear that a Russian based organisation was going to use my logon details for any purpose they felt like. No thanks!)
    1. Don’t worry too much, Pexiter, they’ve got all they need on you already!
      1. Yes, I appreciate that, but at least I don’t have to explicitly agree to their new terms and conditions. Will still visit and post here of course. (Paranoid? *looks round frantically* “Who said that?!”) Pexiter.
  15. Significantly harder than recent puzzles. I required many aids to complete and was doubtful about several parsings. A real mental work out.
  16. That was hard work. I didn’t have too much trouble with the long anagrams which would usually open things up nicely but I really struggled with my last 3 in and they eventually needed a second sitting. The unknown 17a, which on solving was very fairly clued, 17d where I missed the homophone (as usual!) and 4a where I was thrown by the plural.
    I eventually staggered across the finish line in around 30 minutes. Particularly enjoyed the surface of 5d.
    Thanks to Izetti and Chris
  17. I like Izetti’s puzzles. They look rather difficult at first pass through but all the information is there cunningly disguised as careful reading pays dividends. Once you get a few of the usual long anagrams things start falling into place. I think we might share something in common in our backgrounds so perhaps why I think these are model puzzles that entertain and frustrate in exactly the right ratios.
  18. I found this tough. FOI was 10a after looking for a way in. I managed to work out Meson and was slow to parse Attend. My last two were 7d and finally 4a Damsel. However I now see that I got 17d wrong. For a small person I had Midget which had to become Migit to fit ( this is an unknown unit of power, somewhat less than a megawatt).
    No exact time as lunch out interrupted. David

  19. As soon as I saw it was an Izetti puzzle I braced myself for failure and was not disappointed with a DNF.

    Really struggled to get going on this. I thought Bosun also for 17ac, and just didn’t get 17d although looking back it’s now obvious.

    I had Pressure Group for 18ac but struggled to find the last “P” (why is university “UP”?)

    Once again, missed MOT for test (kept thinking exam, oral etc).

    Anyway, look forward to tomorrow.

    DR31

    1. As far as I know, it’s ‘up’ because people in London travel up to Oxbridge. Presumably, being sent down uses the same reasoning ? Invariant

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