Quick Cryptic No 119 by Izetti

Author   macavity123Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Solving Time: Relatively straightforward

The Don is along with today’s Quick Cryptic and it’s a reasonably accessible puzzle with our setter’s invariable smattering of religious clues (a little irritating for those of us who don’t share his Passion). The only one I had any bother with was the unusual word at 12 across, which, to be fair, was clued in a fairly accessible manner.

As a postscript, I hope this is early enough for the anonymous bod who grumbled last week.

Across
7 NEMO – The definition is ‘novel captain’, referring to Jules Verne’s famous naval personage. O MEN (old soldiers) reversed (westward).
8 TEMPLATE – Here, the definition is a model. TEMP (Agency worker?) + LATE (formerly).
9 BLITHE – A word for merry or happy is the definition. B (Bishop) + LIT (drunk fired up) + H.E. (explosive).
10 SAVAGE – Def = brutal individual. A + V (very) inside SAGE (wise person).
11 AVON – English river = def. AVION (French word for a plane) minus I (one ditched).
12 MARGRAVE – (German) nobleman [equivalent to a Marquess] is the definition. MAR (ruin) with GRAVE (serious) alongside.
15 PROCURED – Got = definition. CURE (remedial treatment) inside PROD (stimulus).
17 LAND – Come down to earth = definition. L (last letter of FALL) + AND.
18 JOB LOT – Motley collection = definition. JOB + LOT (two characters from the Old Testament).
21 SOREST – Most irritable = definition. SO (therefore) + REST (relaxation).
22 DESOLATE – This is one of those clever clues where the whole thing defines the clue cryptically, but also provides the indications. An anagram (OTHERWISE) of SO ELATED gives a word that is the opposite!
23 ABED – A four-poster, maybe, is the definition.AB (standard crossword abbreviation for a sailor, Able-Bodied) + ED (journlist).

Down
1 FELL OVER – Tripped up is the definition. F (female) + EL (the in Spanish) + lover (SWEETHEART).
2 COTTON – This was my last one in today, not particularly hard from the checking letters. MATERIAL is the definition. CO (firm) + TT (dry, as in teetotal) + ON (leg[side] in cricket).
3 STREAMER – FLAG = definition. An anagram (could make) of ME STARE = R (top of roof).
4 EMUS – Birds = definition. Hidden inside THE MUSEUM.
5 CLEVER – Smart = definition CL [CLASS minus ASS] + EVER (always).
6 STAG – Party man? is the slightly cryptic definition, indicated by the question mark. The name for a person who attends a certain type of party.
13 RADISHES – Salad items = definition. RA (artist) = DISHES (culinary containers).
14 VANISHED – Disappeared is the definition. VAN (vehicle) + I + SHED (got rid of).
15 CALLOW – Green is the definition. COW (farm animal) with ALL (EVERYTHING) inside.
17 LARIAT – What cowboy may use is the definition. An anagram (winding) of A TRAIL.
19 OPEN – Public = definition. O (love) + PEN (writer).
20 TRAP – Catch is the deifnition. The reverse (coming up) of PART (character in play).

Thanks to Izetti for today’s challenge. See you next week!

18 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 119 by Izetti”

  1. Today’s hold-up for me was in the NW corner where for a while the only 4-letter literary captain I could think of was ‘Ahab’, and the checkers proved elusive. Once I had solved 1dn it all became clear and I completed in 11 minutes.

    Nice puzzle. Thanks to setter and blogger.

  2. I found this harder than usual, though I’m wondering if there were another couple of clue discrepancies between the online/paper/app versions of the puzzle as online 9A contains “fired up” rather than “drunk” and 6D contains some wordplay as well as the cryptic definition. Held up for a while at 18A by an unwarranted conviction that RAG BAG was the answer, though neither word struck me as a likely Bible character and, looking in the dictionaries, I now see it’s actually all one word anyway. I think the definition at 23A needs the “in” at the front.
      2. Thanks – you are right. I realised it after the blog had been written and thought I’d gone back in and changed it.
  3. When you say the Don, presumably you mean Don Manley? Is that a guess, or do we have information about who sets which ones?
    1. Don tends to use pseudonyms that follow Don – and Donizetti is thus. I also blogged one of his earlier puzzles.

      Apologies for putting drunk rather than fired up in 9 across. Have amended this.

  4. Hardest for a long while for me. Too many words I just didn’t know. Lariat and margrave, for a start. Feel like I’ve gone back several paces. Sigh.
  5. This took me a bit longer than usual too faceofboe. I think that for most of us the time/difficulty does vary quite a lot according as much to our mind set as the actual puzzle, although I often find this style of grid a bit tricky. I too could not get AHAB out of my mind although I had the checkers so knew it must be someone else. It took me 4 minutes to realize who!
    Really liked JOB LOT. Thanks for clear blog.
  6. A few seconds under 5 mins. I thought this was one of the Don’s easier QCs, although I might just be having a good day because my time for the main puzzle looks a decent one. PROCURED was my LOI after CALLOW.

    I would advise faceofboe above to learn how to trust wordplay. The more puzzles I do the more comfortable I feel entering a word I have never come across before if the wordplay is clear enough. Although I knew both of the answers in the examples that were given, for MARGRAVE the “mar” and “grave” elements of the wordplay are relatively straightforward with the helpful checkers, and the anagram indicator for LARIAT (winding) and its fodder (a trail) meant that the answer couldn’t really be anything else with the checkers in place because “liraat” and “lartai” both look completely wrong.

  7. I agree with faceboe this was harder than usual. I have been making progress thanks to the blogs but always struggle with izetti. One of these days I will finish one on my own. Thanks for the blogs they are really helpful.
  8. Relatively easy lunchtime solve which entertained me for about 7 minutes. I also, like sleepytraveller, wondered why the blogger missed the saint and equally saintly abbreviation which gave the party man at 6d. Maybe it is too obvious to be pointed out. Otherwise a nice, complete but succinct blog – thanks.
    1. It was so obvious that I missed it but I managed to put in the right answer. I looked up 12a and was annoyed because: a) I knew the word, and b) The word play was clear.

      18a was very witty.

  9. I got really stuck in the NW corner. I finally twigged NEMO but had FLAMBE for 9ac (FLAME and B = bishop becomes explosive but I now see how weak this is as it does not account for the Merry because the M has already been used in flame. Because this was wrong I could not get COTTON but was pleased to realise the cricket ref to leg as meaning ON. As always, the blog is really useful.
  10. Nine minutes online, nothing held me up apart from clumsy typing when their system keeps typing across when you want down and vice versa.
  11. 17 mins for me tonight – an average time. I liked MARGRAVE, BLITHE and JOB LOT. Don’t give up Faceofboe! The wordplay becomes easier with practice, I’ve noticed over time LARIAT crops up frequently when the clue involves cowboys, so it’s one of those words I store away in the little grey cells for future use. Thank you Izetti and thank you Macavity
  12. I’m another who found it took longer than usual, but no idea why. The answers just didn’t leap out at me. 35 minutes of plodding….

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