Quick Cryptic No 2730 by Izetti

Author   DoofenschmirtzPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

 

On my first pass of the acrosses, I got PAPAL, RED-LETTER and PYLON, and thought I was in for a real struggle. But the down clues were friendlier, and I ended up finishing in 14:17, inside my target of 15:00. No real unknown words: the closest for me was OPTIMA, but I had the crossing A by the time I came to that for the second time, so in it went.

I’ll happily be corrected, but I think we have three &lit clues today, where the whole of the clue is both the definition and the wordplay.

Definitions underlined, synonyms in round brackets, wordplay in square brackets and deletions in squiggly brackets.

Across
1 They have growth and are expected to make a profit (4,5)
CASH CROPS – A cryptic definition to get us started.
6 The old man repeatedly left in Vatican office? (5)
PAPAL – PA (the old man), twice [repeatedly], L (left).
8 Females having rows (9)
OARSWOMEN – Another cryptic definition. That’s ‘having rows’ in the sense of ‘going for rows in a boat’.

To my shame, my LOI. Reason for my shame: my daughter is an oarswoman. Oops.
9 More than one support  breaks (5)
RESTS – A double definition.

The example of “rest” = “support” that comes to my mind is from snooker, where the rest is a support for the cue for shots that can’t otherwise be reached.
10 What round Eden could be somewhat rare? (9)
UNDERDONE – Anagram of ROUND EDEN. Read the first five words as “What ’round Eden’ could be” to see the anagram indicator.

Izetti and I will have to agree to disagree on whether a “somewhat rare” steak is “underdone”.
12 Church official gets rector initially on edge (6)
VERGER – R{ector} [initially] on VERGE (edge).
13 Most favourable conditions in which I am top posssibly (6)
OPTIMA – Anagram [possibly (or even posssibly)] of I AM TOP.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this plural before, but I knew “optimum” and it wasn’t a big leap from that to “optima”, following the pattern of minimum/minima etc.
16 Like an important day that’s embarrassed landlady? (3-6)
RED-LETTER – A landlady is a LETTER, and if she were embarrassed she might be RED.
18 Speech indistinct — language muffled (5)
HINDI – hidden in [muffled [by]] {speec]H INDI{stinct}.

Proof that even the most reliable of ‘rules’ – that the answer is always at the start or the end of the clue – is more of a guideline than a rule.  (With apologies to Captain Barbossa.)
19 What could be lasting, involving love and a touch of agony? (9)
NOSTALGIA – It’s a anagram of LASTING, O (love) and the first letter [a touch] of A{gony}.

And I think, for the third time, that we have an &lit: the whole clue is both the definition and the wordplay.
21 Tower in which may be seen some unhappy Londoners (5)
PYLON – Hidden in [in which may be seen some] {unhap}PY LON{doners}.
22 Team sets time aside for refreshments (9)
ELEVENSES – ELEVEN (team) + SE{t}S [T for time aside].
Down
1 Resolution could be so cruel (7)
CLOSURE – Anagram [could be] of SO CRUEL.
2 Walked in home counties and had purposeful step (6)
STRODE – TROD (walked) in SE (south-east, the south-east of England also being known as the ‘home counties’).
3 Cringe, meeting farmyard animal with some hesitation (5)
COWER – COW (farmyard animal), ER (some hesitation).
4 My, male showing a bit of resistance! (3)
OHM – OH (My!), M for male.

An Ohm is the SI unit of electrical resistance.
5 Absent Asians set out for Spanish city (3,9)
SAN SEBASTIAN – Anagram [set out] of ABSENT ASIANS.

I needed to do a letter count to be sure of the correct spelling of SEBASTIAN.
6 Tenacity that comes with each dismissal? (12)
PERSEVERANCE – PER (each), SEVERANCE (dismissal).
7 Proudest drunk showed attitude (8)
POSTURED – Anagram [drunk] of PROUDEST.
11 The first  to be different from everyone else? (8)
ORIGINAL – A double definition.
14 Prep has to be done maybe (7)
PERHAPS – Anagram [to be done] of PREP HAS.
15 Males collecting English degrees (6)
STAGES – E for English in STAGS (males).

Nope, not M for male this time.
17 Eliminate periods with little energy (5)
ERASE – ERAS (periods) + E (little energy).
20 Notice swedes being regularly consumed (3)
SEE – Remove alternate letters from S w E d E s.

 

81 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 2730 by Izetti”

  1. 10:17. PERSEVERANCE was my COD. NOSTALGIA is a combination of love and agony? Not my first thought but I guess it’s close enough. I think the definition for PAPAL might be better if “in” is included.

  2. The same doubts as curryowen about NOSTALGIA. He’s also right that ‘in’ is part of the definition of PAPAL. Also, conversely ‘to be’ should not be underlined in 11d. 6:43.

  3. 9.57, absolutely smashing the 10-minute barrier. I liked this overall but agree re NOSTALGIA, I can’t see anything in the clue that means nostalgia as I understand it. Also I know the guidelines around hiddens are fairly relaxed, but even so at 21ac (PYLON) the ‘in’ directing us to the hidden does not, literally speaking, direct us to the hidden but back to the definition. Mind you I am quite proficient at being confused by things like this…

  4. As the blogger says I think the whole clue means NOSTALGIA. Works for me, anyway.
    Finished in 10:03 today

  5. Just curious… Who is “Brian” (the addressee or the signature in the intro)? Seems you aren’t listed, Doofenschmirtz, on the Current Bloggers page.

    1. It’s something to do with football punditry. Not my area, but others will know.

    2. I believe (without doing any checking whatsoever) that the Brian in question is Brian Moore, the football commentator for ITV during my formative years. “It’s a game of two halves, Brian” became something of a catchphrase as a caricature of the first sentence uttered by many footballers during their post-match interview.

      1. It was Brian Moore which reminds me of ‘Good evening Brian’ from the Monty Python ‘Literary Football’ sketch which is available on YouTube.

    3. Or Brian Clough, I reckon. There used to be a column (in Private Eye) called Colemanballs which featured idiotic comments by sports commentators like David Coleman. ‘It’s a game of two halves’ is one example – we still say it as a family! If you google Colemanballs, you will find it rewarding.

  6. 12 minutes. NOSTALGIA seems fine to me. -algia comes from algos meaning ‘pain’ and commonly appears in various medical terms e.g. neuralgia. ‘Nostalgia’ seems to have originated as meaning acute homesickness but later became associated with a more general wistful remembrance of the past often tinged with sadness.

  7. With Izetti there is always an elegance to the setting. ELEVENSES is a good example.
    By coincidence my fourth novel is set in SAN SEBASTIAN and Bilbao. The third in the series, The Violin and Candlestick, was published yesterday by Hobeck Books (check out their website). I am David Jarvis, as many of you know.

    1. Reading the Collation Unit now – came on the train with me yesterday. Good to know there’s more to come!

    2. Congrats. I will search out ‘The tip of the iceberg ‘ and add to my list.

    3. Ooh, I love a good thriller and your reviews are excellent. By happy coincidence I’ve just finished a book, and am now going to get started on The Tip of the Iceberg.

  8. Taken out to almost 20 minutes and then was careless with my tenses (possible typo) with STRiDE and just couldn’t spell PERSEVEReNCE – having checked SAN SEBASTIAN anagrist carefully that’s disappointing! CASH CROPS took ages at the end, couldn’t get ‘cost something’ out of my head. Loved OHM when it came after a long struggle needing the M from OARSWOMEN, which also took ages because I only considered two rows for too long. Four on the first pass, so just a bit out of my depth all puzzle.

  9. Very much like our blogger, I got almost no acrosses on first pass, feared for the worst, and then found the down clues much more amenable for an eventually quite sprightly 11 minute completion. I was convinced 6A ended in -LL (“repeatedly left”) and confused by the definition “language” not being at the start or end of the clue for 18A (why not just reorder the clue “Speech indistinct – muffled language”?).

    As for 21A, although I didn’t notice it at the time, I do agree with LindsayO that the surface is slightly odd. The problem Izetti has is that he wants the unhappy Londoners to be in the Tower for the nice image of prisoners in the Tower of London, but he needs the Tower to be in the unhappy Londoners for the wordplay to work. Which as drafted I’m not entirely convinced it does.

    Many thanks Doofers for the blog.
    Cedric

  10. Made heavy weather of this partly due to an intermittent glitch with my anagram hat. Not noticing that ‘drunk’ in 7d was an anagram indicator was particularly frustrating as it’s such a common one. UNDERDONE, CASH CROPS and LOI RESTS also proved stubborn.
    Finished in 9.11 with PERSEVERANCE just pipping CLOSURE to COD.
    Thanks to Doofers

  11. Another amazing coincidence of a clue in the concise today!

    For us a classic Izetti, with a good few clues being read many times as we came back again and again. After 32.16 and having looked at H?D?I for about 15 minutes on and off, weighed up Hanoi vs Hindi and went for Hindi’s as the word language was in the clue! So yet again HUGE frustration that our LOi was a hidden (forgot Tina’s maxim). Thanks Mr D for the parsing.
    COD to red letter for the mental image 😀

    On the bright side, finally we are sat outside on a lovely summer morning.

    Thanks Izetti.

  12. 15:23
    Couldn’t get beyond Cash Cows which led to a hold up for the final three, including RESTS and ERASE. And OHM: I saw “My” being reminded of this device yesterday in the 15×15, but couldn’t get beyond “Cor”.

    “Love and a touch of agony” is a nice definition of NOSTALGIA. It is definitely tinged with sadness or regret as I see it. Otherwise it’s just remembering.

    COD OARSWOMEN.

  13. I Enjoyed this from FOI CLOSURE (which I wrote wrong twice for some reason as I’m sometimes dyslexic with down clues so an erasure at hand is a good idea) to LOI ORIGINAL which I needed the checking letters to see.
    I thought NOSTALGIA was just a CD until I read the blog now my COD along with UNDERDONE.

  14. 9:27

    As for others, slow on the first run of acrosses, but better on the downs. Did pause for thought at 22a thinking it might be an anagram, but PERSEVERANCE put me right. L2I were ORIGINAL and the hidden-in-plain-sight HINDI.

    Thanks Izetti and Doofers

  15. I made rather heavy weather of that. My main error was seeing that 5d was a Spanish city, looking at “absent” and confidently writing in LOS T at the start. Then I was looking for some suitable Asians. Los Teasterns must be a city somewhere, right?

    Anyway that caused a right old snarl up in the NE and by the time I’d sorted it all out I was at 10:36 for 1.6K and a Poor Day. COD to the excellent ELEVENSES.

    Many thanks Izetti and Doofers.

  16. LOI OARSWOMEN which required several alphabet recitals before spotting the obvious.
    Strolled into the club on par 26 mins. Croissant were not so fresh but I have recently found a new artisan source whose pistachio filled croissants are beyond delicious and worthy of negotiating a road closure or two to reach their unusual and irregularly opening location.
    Thanks Doofers and Izetti.

  17. Three uses of “could be” as an anagram indicator. Enjoyable puzzle and blog.

  18. DNF.
    Gave up after 30 minutes.
    A really nasty one.
    Far too hard for a “Quick Cryptic” .

    1. Izetti is generally considered quite a challenging setter for newbies, but persever 😉, and I’m sure you will get to like his style (I certainly did).

  19. Enjoyable. Quite fast for me and all correct. PAPAL and PERSEVERANCE helped. Took me a while to see CROPS at 1a then had to wait for the penny to drop for OARSWOMEN.
    It fitted but I wasn’t sure about NOSTALGIA, as, looking back, there isn’t much agony – regret perhaps. A Greek word, of course. Later: now looked up and realise that ‘-Algia’ does mean pain. And Nost means home or homecoming – there seem to be different views. (Sorry, Jack has said all this.)
    Liked PYLON, VERGER, COWER.
    Thanks vm, Doofers.

  20. 18 Speech indistinct — language muffled (5)
    HINDI – hidden in [muffled [by]] {speec]H INDI{stinct}.

    If setters are now going to abandon the “guideline” about having always having the answer at the very start or end of the clue then I might just as well abandon these cryptics altogether. They are hard enough without that extra bit of nastiness.

    2. There’s no such guideline; it’s simply that that’s where answers usually fall.

      1. If the answers do not fall at the very end or very beginning of the clue then it makes it more difficult for many people (including me) to solve it. These puzzles are hard enough without an extra level of
        toughness from breaking with this rule (or guideline or whatever).

        1. The definition thing won’t apply to cryptic definitions or &lit clues. As others have said, it’s not a rule, nor a guideline for setters, only a tip for learners as to where they might start when looking for the definition.

  21. 11.10 fail

    Dunno about heavy weather – more like a hurricane here. Totally breezeblocked on ORIGINAL and HINDI. The placing of the definition totally threw me for the latter whilst I just couldn’t see a word that would fit the former. Strange. A typo as well.

    Thanks Doofers and Izetti

  22. 7:56
    Perhaps I’ve just been fortunate with the crosswords I’ve selected so far, but 18a is the first time I’ve ever seen a definition in the middle of a clue. It actually prevented me from seeing it as a hidden for a while. Surprised this didn’t raise more eyebrows, as I thought this “rule” was touted as more towards the unbreakable end of the cryptic spectrum.

    1. My understanding has been that this “rule” is a very commonly adopted approach but that it is not absolute. I quite like that a setter will, if done sensibly, play with our expectations of what is going on in a clue. They do it in so many other ways anyway. With a couple of checkers in, this somewhat leapt out at me so I wasn’t bothered by the construction.
      Just into the SCC but enjoyed Izetti’s challenge as usual. Lots of gentle cunning and cleverness. ELEVENSES had me puzzled towards the end but brought a smile when light dawned.

      1. I think that you are missing the point. These cryptics are hard, but one can learn the ways of setters. Even those of average ability and new starters can complete some of them, as long as they have some guidelines or rules to stick to. If these guidelines or rules are abandoned then this will be fine for the experts – but others will find the puzzles more and more unapproachable.

        1. I think the point is that with lots of practice we learn to become more flexible solvers. I failed spectacularly to parse HINDI but now have experience which may (or may not!) help with such clues in the future. There is no enjoyment or sense of achievement without challenge 😉

    2. I disagree with our blogger and think the definition is ‘language muffled’ – ie the answer is hidden in (muffled) by the first two words of the clue.

    3. The two books that I have read about how to solve cryptic crosswords both say that the definition is “almost always” at the beginning or end of the clue. Nevertheless I didn’t get HINDI, unfortunately! My score today was 13/24. I have only completed a Times QC once.

  23. Like our blogger I found the across clues far more difficult than the down ones. Couldn’t parse NOSTALGIA, but nothing else fitted. OPTIMA was the only word I could make from the anagram. LOI ELEVENSES.

  24. 11:00 (William Rufus dies in hunting “accident” in New Forest)

    In common with others, a slow start which speeded up.

    LOI was ELEVENSES. I was convinced that I was looking for an anagram of TEAM SETS T, and only on stating to try and solve it with pen and paper did I spot that it had one E too few.

    Thanks Doofers and Izetti

  25. I imagine you and Izetti might agree on whether a ‘somewhat rare’ chicken was underdone though!

  26. 14 minutes. Another who was slow out of the blocks, probably spooked by seeing this was by Izetti. In retrospect, there wasn’t much that should have made this as difficult as I found it to be when solving.

    I liked the two cryptic defs at 1a and 8a. My favourite was the NOSTALGIA &lit which I thought conveyed the “sweet sorrow” sense of the word very well.

    Thanks to Doofers and Izetti

  27. Izetti back to his best – I’m sure I remember that his puzzles have been very approachable recently. Another who got very few acrosses on the first pass, but the downs helped to start to complete the grid. I suspect my QUITCH scores will be dark orange to red. Edit: Indeed – 3rd worst WITCH score!!

    I was mainly very poor at spotting anagrams. UNDERDONE and SAN SEB being the most egregious examples.

    CASH CROPS LOI, NOSTALGIA COD.

    8:25

  28. 4:27 but foiled by “San SebastiEn” (I meant to go back and check the anagrist but forgot).

  29. Struggled a bit on this. 15 minutes to get to my last three which were: OARSWOMEN, OHM and CASH CROPS. 20 minutes all told.
    But it was all in vain. Am I the only person who cannot spell PERSEVERANCE?
    I had …Ence.
    A challenging QC.
    David

  30. Hooray – out of the SCC with a 14 minute solve! Would have been quicker had I not put seed corns at 1a (fitted 3d and 5d) and raced onwards and downwards, only for 5 minutes of puzzling 1d, 2d and 4d. It was ohm for resistance that broke the logjam with closure and strode following. Lovely puzzle. COD red letter (my sort of day) and now it’s time for 22a! I thought nostalgia was well clued (got it instantly) and anyone who has ever suffered with neuralgia will testify to the touch of agony! Thanks to Izetti and to Doofenschmirtz.

  31. I was not really with it today for some reason finishing in 12.15. Looking at the puzzle post completion I feel it should have been within my capability to finish within my ten minute target time. Having so few answers on the first pass of the across clues didn’t help, and I took ages to get ELEVENSES and the fairly straightforward anagram POSTURED.

  32. I gave up pretty quickly on this one when it became quite apparent that I was getting nowhere.

    Unfortunately Pumpa is still out in the tiles so I could not ask him. Lately he’s been coming home with wet feet. Neighbour tells me he likes to wade into her pond and drink from the fountain they have there.

    Three day break off work starting today. Also pay day during that time. The candy store best be fully stocked.

    My verdict: Too difficult for me, though I confess that I wasn’t really feeling the love for QC today. Excuse #3 – feeling tired.

    Pumpa’s verdict: 🎣

    1. I do hope Pumpa’s kidneys are OK, as we had that problem with one of our cats in his old age.

      1. He’s fine. Like many cats he prefers to drink from running water, only drinking from his bowl if he’s thirsty and no running water is available. I believe it’s a throwback to their wild ancestors.

  33. My understanding is that the answer can be right at the start of the clue OR right at the end. So, could not Izetti simply have worded it ” Speech indistinct – hides language ” ?

  34. Totally missed the genius of 19a Nostalgia and happily biffed Neuralgia, corrected only when 20d SwEdEn didn’t work.
    Noticed that 13a Optima was absent from Cheating Machine; I solved the anagram whilst CM was still thinking. It is slow on anags. Ditto for San Sebastian, now added. I had Saint Seb in already.

  35. I think the secret to a fast time today was getting 1ac and 6d early. Unfortunately both needed some crossers (in fact, all of them for loi Cash Crops), so this turned into a slow solve. Any lingering hopes of a sub-20 were dashed by not imediately seeing the anagram for Underdone, and by being confused about the type of row in 8ac – Mrs Invariant doesn’t do oars. . . Cash Crops needed a re-think to give up Cost as the first word, before the eventual pdm. CoD to 4d, Ohm, for being the key to unlocking the NW. Invariant

  36. FOI CLOSURE and LOI OARSWOMEN which was a duh moment. I got CROPS before CASH. I came up with Corn CROPS as a possibility until I solved 2d. I liked UNDERDONE, NOSTALGIA and ELEVENSES. 8:24 for an OK day.

  37. FOI, OHM, LOI, ELEVENSES. Exercised care with the anagrist for SAN SEBASTIAN. 7:08. Thanks Izetti and Doofers.

  38. After my touch of hubris yesterday, believing I had learned so much about the tricks of crossword setters, I was delighted to be soundly thrashed by this one. Anagram indicators I didn’t spot, cryptic definitions that were beyond my ability to think laterally about, and even a definition that was not at the beginning or end of a clue (I remember Kevin saying some time ago that this was not a rule, not even a convention, so I did actually get this one… eventually).

    My measure of success is not record times, it’s not even completions; it’s just enjoyment over my morning coffee, and I thoroughly enjoyed being put in my place by Izetti today. I’ll be better next time he appears as a result!

    FOI PAPAL
    LOI ELEVENSES, but 5 unsolved after that
    COD HINDI

  39. 11:30
    Lots of anagrams.
    Straightforward apart from LOI cash crops which took a long time to see.

    COD oarswomen.

  40. No time to discuss, but at 18 minutes it was an excellent day for me. Possibly my fastest ever Izetti.

    2. 👏👏👏

      I had a 16 minute finish which I’m happy with.

      Just spent almost 2 hours on big crossword – DNF and totally shattered!

  41. Agree with Doofers. I worked steadily through this and then spent many brain stretching minutes on the last four despite having most of the crossers. I’m talking about you CASH CROPS, OARSWOMEN, UNDERDONE and ELEVENSES.
    Another fine QC from Izetti who has become one of my favourite setters.
    COD OARSWOMEN.
    43:26

  42. 18 mins…

    Contrary to a few people above, I didn’t find this too bad. In fact, I may even have been quicker if I hadn’t got somewhat stuck on 1ac (I initially couldn’t see beyond “Cash Cows”).

    FOI – 4dn “Ohm”
    LOI – 1ac “Cash Crops”
    COD – 22ac “Elevenses” – a bit of a chestnut, but the lovely surface still made me smile.

    Thanks as usual!

  43. 13.17 I had a quick start but got stuck at the end. UNDERDONE took five minutes and then ORIGINAL went straight in to finish. I think 21a works fine. We can see “some unhappy Londoners” in PYLON. Thanks Doofers and Izetti.

  44. DNF

    Tough one today. I so wanted 1ac to be CASH COWS but 8 letters don’t go into 9 squares. Crops was obvious as soon as I saw the pink square having put crows in desperation.

    Also failed on VERGER which is unforgivable. Admittedly, I’ve only heard the word in Dad’s Army, but still…

  45. I very much enjoyed this one finding it a real challenge. I never did parse HINDI (thanks for explanation D) and CASH CROPS and ELEVENSES took quite some time. COD to OHM, once I’d got cor=my out of my head. Thanks all.

  46. Pleased to finish it even though it’s now past 2 o’clock! LOI STAGES, far from obvious.

  47. 12:53, about on par. LOI ORIGINAL. Not particularly upset by the clue for HINDI, it seemed odd at first but with the first and last letters in place it became clear. Thanks for the blog, Doofers, I share your concerns about ‘somewhat rare’ and UNDERDONE! You’re forgiven though, Izetti, nicely pitched for us.

  48. Failed with 1a and 4d. otherwise we were pleased with this Izetti puzzle, enjoyable solve.

  49. I can see why some found this too hard. But this is Izetti – always scrupulous with his clues and worth following to learn. My only query was with 15d Stages = degrees, so my LOI. Happy to spend the time on his puzzles – entertainment is the name of the game for me.
    FOI 6a Papal
    LOI 15d Stages
    COD 11d Original

  50. All done and dusted in about 20 minutes
    A gentle offering from Izetti for a change.

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