A typically elegant offering from Izetti, beautifully crafted with very smooth surfaces. I would guess this one to be about Medium level of difficulty, with no obscurities (the references I was unsure of – at 17a, 5d and 12d – were more a reflection of my general ignorance of matters mathematical and ecclesiastical) and very fair definitions throughout.
I hope everyone had a satisfactory visit from Santa, and may I take the opportunity to wish all at this site – and our esteemed setters – a happy New Year.
Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–): omitted letters indicated by {-}
| Across | |
| 1 | Place with a group of detectives becomes calm (6) |
| PLACID – PL (abbrev. place) + A CID (a group of detectives) | |
| 5 | Assign position in river (6) |
| DEPUTE – PUT (position) ‘in’ DEE (river) | |
| 8 | Strange joke — pitch that to win a big prize (3,3,7) |
| HIT THE JACKPOT – *(JOKE PITCH THAT) with “strange” indicating the anagram | |
| 9 | Greek character some maybe tamed (4) |
| BETA – Hidden in (some) mayBE TAmed | |
| 10 | Endless impertinence by group showing enthusiasm (8) |
| CHEERING – CHEE{K} (endless impertinence) + RING (group) | |
| 11 | Yell coming from son given fatty food (6) |
| SCREAM – S (son) + CREAM (fatty food) | |
| 13 | Certainly fashionable to have legal document (6) |
| INDEED – IN (fashionable) + DEED (legal document) | |
| 15 | He’s a daft drunk and goofs (8) |
| FATHEADS – *(HES A DAFT) with “drunk” signalling the anagram | |
| 17 | Mathematical function is hit (4) |
| COSH – DD, the first being the maths abbreviation for cosine hyperbolic. Not being much of a mathematician I was aware of COS but not the hyperbolic variety, but it seemed the only option given the “hit” definition. | |
| 19 | Eccentric stranger in odd arrangement for regular payments (8,5) |
| STANDING ORDER – *(STRANGER IN ODD) with “eccentric” signposting the anagram | |
| 21 | Travel game is taking place in Anglican church (6) |
| CRUISE – RU IS (game – i.e. rugby union – is) ‘in’ CE (Anglican church) | |
| 22 | Regret being disabled, not losing heart (6) |
| LAMENT – LAME (disabled) + N{O}T (not losing heart | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Behold fire beginning to be put out — there’s flowing water here (5) |
| LOIRE – LO (behold) + {F}IRE (fire beginning to be put out) giving the French river | |
| 3 | Naughty tot kept in pen in small house (7) |
| COTTAGE – *(TOT) – with “naughty” suggesting the anagram – is ‘kept in’ CAGE (pen) | |
| 4 | Fade away, allowance of food and drink being cut (3) |
| DIE – DIE{T} (allowance of food and drink being cut) | |
| 5 |
Groups of parishes with luvvies around the north-east (9) |
| DEANERIES – DEARIES (luvvies) goes ‘around’ NE (north-east). Deanery is a word I’ve heard many times, but was never too sure of the exact meaning: it is, apparently, a group of parishes presided over by a dean. | |
| 6 | Card game that can get red hot (5) |
| POKER – The notion of the ‘red hot poker’ gives a cryptic steer to the answer | |
| 7 | Beat counter to get change (7) |
| TROUNCE – *(COUNTER) with “to get change” indicating the anagram | |
| 10 | Aggressive commanding officer and doctor show up (9) |
| COMBATIVE – CO (commanding officer) + MB (doctor) + EVITA reversed (show up) | |
| 12 | Cathedral staff producing part of a book (7) |
| CHAPTER – DD, the first being the term used to describe an assembly of the canons of a cathedral | |
| 14 |
Propriety requires new code — bottom less than totally visible! (7) |
| DECORUM – *(CODE) – with “new” indicating the anagram – + RUM{P} (‘bottom’ minus it’s last letter – less than totally visible) | |
| 16 | Greeting with a number being hugged in foreign capital (5) |
| HANOI – HI (greeting) ‘hugging’ A NO (a number) | |
| 18 | Genius Albert, not a German mug! (5) |
| STEIN – [EIN}STEIN – Albert without EIN (‘a’ in German) | |
| 20 | Set member up (3) |
| GEL – LEG reversed (member up) | |
Season’s greetings to Nick and Don, the Trollope of Setters, indeed!
DEANERIES lost me a moment. Although the answer was easy enough to spot I paused briefly to think twice about DEARIES for ‘luvvies’ before deciding it was fine and moving on. I also looked twice at FATHEADS because the answer wasn’t a meaning ‘goofs’ that I was aware of, and COSH because my knowledge of mathematical functions – quite comprehensive 50+ years ago – has faded almost to nothing, and I had only the faintest recollection of this one.
Edited at 2017-12-27 06:35 am (UTC)
I had DEPOSE at 5a (POS=position), which seemed fair enough. This led to an impossible 7d and a DNF.
COD 10d.
Always had cosh on my fx29 Casio calculator: never needed it until now.
I could be wrong, Nick, but I think this is your Quicky blog ton up – congratulations on the milestone! And all the best for 2018.
This took me 21 minutes finishing with Cosh. I knew it meant Hit but did not know the hyperbole. Deaneries solved late on and Cheering delayed me too. COD to 10d. David