Quick Cryptic No 913 by Izetti

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I found this to be a nice easy romp by Izetti, and completed it well inside 10 minutes, being helped by spotting the two long down clues almost immediately.

There were no difficult or unusual words to hold me up, and other than PERI and HA-HA, nothing too obtuse on the GK front either, except maybe the composer, who was a write-in for me after my blog a couple or three weeks ago.

Difficult to pick a CoD, but my word of the day, I think, is FRETWORK.

Across
7  There’s little right in devil becoming a chum (6)
FRIEND – The devil in this case is a FIEND containing R{ight}
8  A bishop ecstatic, distracted (6)
ABSENT – A B{ishop} and SENT (ecstatic)
9  Celebrity sending nasty people back (4)
STAR – The nasty people being sent back (reversed) are RATS
10  Been playing with aunt yet to lose (8)
UNBEATEN – Anagram (playing) of [BEEN] and [AUNT]
11  Pessimist, endlessly severe after reflective mood (8)
DOOMSTER – DOOM is reflected mood (reversed), and (endlessly severe) STER{n}
13  Many items at the auction(4)
LOTS – Double definition
15  Son and relations hide (4)
SKIN – S{on} and KIN (relations).  Hide here is the hide of an animal, rather than its verbal sense
16  Fairy at front of hut wasted away (8)
PERISHED – A PERI (in Crosswordland as in my Chambers dictionary) is a beautiful fairy, and this is placed in front of SHED (hut)
18  Treat she arranged in places of entertainment (8)
THEATRES – Anagram (arranged) of [TREAT SHE]
20  Male to consume something from the butcher (4)
MEAT – M{ale} and EAT (to consume)
21  Church has a building for renting, a holiday home? (6)
CHALET – CH{urch} with A LET (building for renting).  A CHALET is one type of holiday home, although other types are available – hence the question mark
22  Performer among celebrities in Germany (6)
SINGER – Hidden in (among) {celebritie}S IN GER{many}

Down
1 Worry when given job to produce ornamental design (8)
FRETWORK – To worry is to FRET and job is WORK
2  Tried somehow to get chaps to agree in a harmful way (13)
DETRIMENTALLY – Anagram of [TRIED] (somehow), followed by MEN (chaps) and TALLY (agree)
3  Short notice, fair and correct (6)
ADJUST – AD (short notice) and JUST (fair)
4  Composer who gives others a ‘distressing’ experience? (6)
BARBER – Cryptic clue with a pun on distressing (a BARBER removes tresses, so can be said to be a dis-tresser).  A similar clue appeared a few weeks ago on my blog, clued ‘American composer responsible for hair’.  The answer refers to Samuel Osborne Barber II, the American composer referred to, although at the time I noted that it could also refer to Stephen Barber who has worked with Keith Richards, the LSO, etc.
5  This bent male’s running the organisation (13)
ESTABLISHMENT – Anagram (running) of [THIS BENT MALE’S]
6  Individual catching cold in the past (4)
ONCE – Individual is ONE, catching C{old}
12  Woman in garden the day before Christmas? (3)
EVE – According to at least one myth system, EVE was the woman in the garden (of Eden) and is the name of ‘the day before’ certain events, such as Christmas or New Year
14  Youngster eats greens surprisingly – but no seconds whatever! (8)
TEENAGER – Anagram (surprisingly) of [EAT{s} GREEN{s}] with the S{econds} removed (but no seconds)
16  Talk about one criminal at sea (6)
PIRATE – PRATE is to talk, about I (one)
17  Withstand naughty sister (6)
RESIST – Anagram (naughty) of [SISTER]
19 Landscape feature of two hectares (2-2)
HA-HA – HA is an abbreviation for Hectare, and put two of them together to get a HA-HA.  A HA-HA is a ditch or vertical drop between a garden and surrounding landscape which forms a barrier without spoiling the view.

25 comments on “Quick Cryptic No 913 by Izetti”

  1. 9 minutes, so 1 within my target 10. I needed most of the checkers before the long Down answers came to mind. PERI for ‘fairy’ used to be regular fare in crosswords at one time but I don’t recall seeing it for ages and it may be a first for a QC so newbies may be puzzled by it. DOOMSTER is not a word I ever use so once again I needed several checkers before I thought of it.

    Edited at 2017-09-07 05:34 am (UTC)

  2. Not too bad, but didn’t know PERI, and not sure about “distressing” for BARBER – detressing, surely? And my LOI was ADJUST (don’t know why I found it so difficult). Thanks Rotter and Izetti.
    1. I also wondered about dis-tress, but if one can dis-able, dis-agree, dis-allow, dis-arm and dis-band (to name a few), why not dis-tress? I guess that the setter feels likewise that it’s dubious, hence the quotes and question mark.
  3. I found this to be one of Izetti’s gentler offerings – or most of it anyway. I spent the last 5 minutes of my 17 minute solve completely stumped by 3 and 4d. No surprise with the composer as that’s one of my weaknesses but for 3d I was looking for the wrong definition of ‘correct’ until the penny dropped.
    An enjoyable puzzle with my COD being 14d
  4. Calling Christianity a “myth system” seems needlessly provocative in a crossword blog.

    Lovely puzzle which I thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks Izetti. But DNK BARBER, so thanks Rotter for the explanation. I’m not very good at composers, a weakness in my general knowledge. “Peri”, however, came immediately to me thanks to G&S (Iolanthe, or The Peer and the Peri).

    Templar

    1. Sorry for any offence that my own lack of belief may have caused, but I never referred to Christianity. There are other systems that refer to Eve in the ‘garden'(e.g. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Bahai, Yarsanism, etc.)
  5. This one took me 8:34 and didn’t give me any particular holdups. FOI was BARBER, which raised a smile, and LOI was DETRIMENTALLY. Nice puzzle. Thanks Izetti and Rotter.
  6. 12:42 today, so the easiest for me for a while but I’m still waiting to break the 10 minute barrier. Peri was unknown to me but the answer to the clue was clearly Perished. Ha Ha would also have been unknown had it not appeared in a puzzle a few weeks ago.
  7. Four comments promised but only one visible! Since I enjoy the feedback, I am testing the system. Will the number move to five — will this comments disappear or will it unlock the rest?
    1. Some comments are submitted and subsequently edited, which counts as a new comment.

      Please could you add a name to your own comments so that we know to whom we speak, or alternatively, sign up or sign in to a livejournal account. Thanks.

      1. Are you sure about edited comments counting as new, Rotter? It has never occurred to me, but now you mention it it could account for some anomalies.

        However sometimes I’m among the first to comment and I’m notorious for editing up to half-a-dozen times so I think I’d have noticed if the comments total was higher than the number of postings visible in the early hours.

        It’s certainly true that bloggers are notified by email of every comment and edit if they have settings set to receive them, as do contributors with LJ accounts when another person replies directly to their comment.

        Suspicious messages also get added to the total until they are deleted.

        1. I’m pretty sure that is how I have accounted for anomalies in the past. When I first looked back at this blog this morning, I could only see your first comment, the blog was showing two comments, and I saw that you had edited, which I took as confirmation of my earlier suspicions that this was happening. I could be proven wrong though!

          I just edited this to see what effect it has…

          And again – hmmm – inconclusive, no of comments remains at 12 on the main page. maybe you are right Jack, and I am wrong.

          Edited at 2017-09-07 10:45 am (UTC)

  8. Romped through in less tan 10 mins all except 4d, eventually gave up, not the first time an obscure (at least to me) composer has stumped me and I listen to a wide variety of classical music.

    Editing does not raise the comment number, I just tested it by adding this line.

    Edited at 2017-09-07 11:21 am (UTC)

  9. Under 10m for this which, given the slightly odd grid, came as a surprise to me. But the clues were very well done and great fun (COD the composer). Much more fun than the main puzzle today. Well done Rotter for calling religion for what it is – I think someone taking their time to entertain and delight us has some leeway with these things. The sooner we become a secular republic the better!
  10. 7:32 for me today. I’ve been trying to base my technique on Magoo’s methods in the YouTube video series, albeit without the blistering speed, and I think dotting around following what crossers I have, but without getting too bogged down on any one answer seems to be doing me good…

    This was nice lunchtime fun, with “peri” the only unknown. Can’t remember at which stately home I first saw a HA-HA, but it was probably one of Capability Brown’s. FOI 7a, LOI the unknown composer, though I probably spent more time working the DOOMSTER out.

    Edited at 2017-09-07 12:59 pm (UTC)

    1. I’ve been doing that for quite a while, but have spent even less time on clues that don’t yield straight away since watching Magoo in action. It definitely helps.
  11. A neat little offering from Izetti. Like our blogger, I saw both the long down straight away as I had plenty of checkers. It all fell into place so quickly I must be close to a PB with a time of 3:37.
  12. a little frustrated here … literally flew through most, but DOOMSTER, BARBER & TEENAGER didn’t appear … I kick myself for TEENAGER, but for a new kid, I’ll forgive myself for the other two.
    FOI 7a and LOI 3d.
    Carl
  13. A good puzzle for some of lunchtime and finished on the train home from a day out in London. COD has to be 16d FOI 9a LOI 3d.
  14. A gentle Izetti today which I finished in just under 10 minutes.
    The long 5d seemed obvious and opened things up. LOI was 9a as I was darting around the grid. Liked 1d. David

  15. 17:28. Samuel Barber, Adagio, wonderful piece, a bit overused in films. Also only ever heard PERI from Iolanthe.

    Ecstatic = sent?

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