Quick Cryptic Number 577 by Izetti

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I made a slow start to this, not seeming to get a hold anywhere despite one or two easy starters. Came to a grinding halt in the SE corner and took longer than usual to fill the last few squares. As usual with Izetti, though, a very fair contest cleverly disguised with misdirection (I liked 12ac for this in particular). It’s also a pangram, something I don’t always spot!

I’m not wholly sure that I’ve parsed 23ac correctly; hopefully the hive mind will come to the rescue, and I’ll try to check in later today to correct any errors.

Definitions underlined.

1 Dad with university material for common people (8)
POPULACE – POP (dad) with U (university) and LACE (material).
5 Cover the sound of modern music (4)
WRAP – homophone (the sound) of “rap” (modern music).
9 Wild animal in eastern country (5)
ELAND – E (eastern) and LAND (country).
10 These prophets could be so clear (7)
ORACLES – anagram of (could be) SO CLEAR.
11 Old vessel buried in Barking (3)
ARK – hidden (buried) in bARKing.
12 Record holders needing money to play (9)
JUKEBOXES – cryptic definition with a sly surface that set me off up the garden path.
13 Where some collected rain seen? (6)
DRAINS – hidden in (some) collecteD RAIN Seen. Not quite an &lit, I think, since “where” is not required for parsing.
15 Rebuked head of college concealed little boy (6)
CHIDED – first letter (head) of College, with HID (concealed) and ED (shortened, or little, boy’s name).
17 Dreadful dig at Time toned down? (9)
MITIGATED – anagram of (dreadful) DIG AT TIME.
19 Knowing what has six legs? (3)
FLY – double definition.
20 What, in French, interrupts holiday to make appeal? (7)
REQUEST – QUE (what in French) put inside (interrupts) REST (holiday).
21 A feature of Hampton Court creating surprise (5)
AMAZE – A and MAZE (feature of Hampton Court).
22 Stare and stumble around (4)
LEER – REEL (stumble) reversed (around).
23 Setback that leaves madam unaffected (8)
REVERSAL – here goes… the first five letters are palindromic, so the word can be read in reverse (set back), provided SAL (girl’s name, madam) is unaffected (i.e. not part of the reversal). See first comment below; a reversal would leave ‘madam’ unaffected. Thanks Kevin!
1 Horse needs food plain (7)
PIEBALD – PIE (food) and BALD (plain).
2 Row after quiet act of mischief (5)
PRANK – RANK (row) after P (quiet).
3 Gnarly deejay playing for Queen once briefly (4,4,4)
LADY JANE GREY – anagram of (playing) GNARLY DEEJAY.
4 Jar: old, broken one? (5)
CROCK – double definition, jar or old and broken jar.
6 Corrupt dealer, cross inside, becomes chilled out (7)
RELAXED – anagram of (corrupt) DEALER, with X (cross) inside.
7 Models right to avoid difficult questions (5)
POSES – POSErS (difficult questions) missing the R (right).
8 Various bits of body chart are showing food energy source (12)
CARBOHYDRATE – anagram (various bits) of BODY CHART ARE.
14 Quite an unusual old thing (7)
ANTIQUE – anagram of (unusual) QUITE AN.
16 Electricity generator in uninteresting little room (3,4)
DRY CELL – DRY (uninteresting) and CELL (little room).
17 Greek character, artist, left a sort of painting (5)
MURAL – MU (Greek letter), RA (artist), and L (left).
18 Maybe Sir‘s basis for legal claim (5)
TITLE – double definition.
19 Notes low-lying tract of land (5)
FLATS – double definition.

24 comments on “Quick Cryptic Number 577 by Izetti”

  1. I think 23ac works like this: a REVERSAL is a setback, and reversal of ‘madam’ leaves the word unaffected. I don’t know what type of clue that is, but. And CROCK is, I think, a double definition, but ‘old, broken one’ refers, not again to a jar but to (e.g.?) a beat-up old car. (I wondered about this when I solved, and just now looked in my English-Japanese dictionary to find that second definition.) On edit: I just made the additional effort of reaching across my desk for the SOED, which gives ‘an old broken-down horse; …an old worn-out vehicle, ship, etc.’ inter alia. All new to me. A lot easier than yesterday’s. 4:50.

    Edited at 2016-05-25 05:22 am (UTC)

  2. This took some time, LOI 23a and needed the blog to parse it properly. As an old fogey who thinks it all went downhill after Led Zeppelin 4, having got the checkers in, I bet you all have no idea what I really, really wanted to put in for 5a.
    Thanks blogger for explaining a few and thanks Izetti for another good test.
    1. I think I’m on your wavelength about an alternative answer with only the second and fourth checkers in!
  3. 9 Minutes, so possibly a little on the easy side for Izetti which I’m sure will be appreciated by newer solvers. 23ac works exactly as Kevin has explained, and I’d have classified it as cryptic. I missed the pangram though I think it had occurred to me along the way that I should remember to check for one, but then forgot.
  5. 5ac: Or RAP preceded by C(from “cover”) – a dig at the sound of modern music. But I couldn’t bring myself to write it in.
  6. That’s what I had for 5ac, T-RAP, but WRAP is right. The famous ELAND makes an appearance. Jane Grey was yet another young woman, like Anne Boleyn or Jane Seymour or Katherine Howard, set up for a short and unhappy reign by manipulative families. Since she was queen regnant shouldn’t she be styled Queen Jane? Good QC today.
  7. Spent as long on my last three (7, 18 and 23) as all the rest together, and even then couldn’t parse 23ac. Still, can’t grumble too much as there were a number of nice clues along the way, with 22ac my favourite today. Invariant
  8. Completed this in about 20 minutes so on the easier end of the Izetti scale for me, but failed to parse 23a. I was also tempted by the alternative answer for 5a but wasn’t sure The Times would feature such a word. Lots of entertaining clues today but my COD was 12a.
  9. After quick start came to grinding halt in SE corner. 23ac being main stumbling block. 1d made us smile!
  10. Unlike everyone else I found today’s very tough. and struggled with several such as PIEBALD and ORACLES. I guessed REVERSAL but could not see how it worked with Madam(thanks all for the enlightenment). I got FLY on the basis of 6 legs but am still not sure why “knowing” is a double definition.
    1. Fly is in Chambers as knowing, I had to check after biffing, but I think it is the realms of a knowing wink, nudge nudge know what I mean, he’s a bit fly, rather than knowledgeable, wise etc.
  11. Same time as yesterday 36:01. Struggled at the end, with FLATS last one in, and still don’t see FLY=’knowing’. ELAND was mentioned recently as being more common in crossword land than in the wild, so got that one quickly. After a few checkers was convinced that 16d read as something inside ‘uninteresting’, or DU_ ___LL.
  12. I had a real struggle in the SE. I was on the point of giving up needing 19a and 19d and I could not be sure of 23a- Reversal did not seem to quite fit and there was a perhaps unintended anagram of Leaves in there.
    But then I tried a long Pangram – assisted search. Assuming it was a Pangram, I needed a V and a F. This gave me confidence in Reversal and I tried the F in the 19s and finally it was done. Very good puzzle which tested me fully. David
  13. Some of this was straightforward and some tough, but eventually managed to complete it. Can go off to sleep now and anticipate tomorrow’s challenge.
  14. Could almost be a quadruple definition

    Jar = Crock (as in Crock of gold)
    Crock is short for crockery – certainly including jars
    Crocks are the broken bits of pottery that gardeners use for drainage
    Old Crock is a common derogative in sporting circles for someone feeling their advancing years

  15. Hope someone picks this up –
    23ac 577
    Since when has madam been Sal ! The whole clue depends on guessing ‘reversal’ (I had the 2 E’s but it didn’t help’)
    And what’s the ‘leaving madam unaffected’? unless madam is Sal but there’s no help for ‘rever’
    In a beginners xword are we meant to have spotted it’s a pangram with r and v still spare ?!
    It’s always a bad clue when the answer doesn’t really explain it and nor could the blogger and friends
    The whole xword was difficult – needed to cheat on 1ac as tried ‘pa’ and ‘pap’ – in two years of quick cryptic I don’t think ‘pop’ has cropped up as father but I’m not complaining about that
    Please keep it up – read blog everyday day for two years and couldn’t live without it
    Tor prim
  16. Hope someone picks this up –
    23ac 577
    Since when has madam been Sal ! The whole clue depends on guessing ‘reversal’ (I had the 2 E’s but it didn’t help’)
    And what’s the ‘leaving madam unaffected’? unless madam is Sal but there’s no help for ‘rever’
    In a beginners xword are we meant to have spotted it’s a pangram with r and v still spare ?!
    It’s always a bad clue when the answer doesn’t really explain it and nor could the blogger and friends
    The whole xword was difficult – needed to cheat on 1ac as tried ‘pa’ and ‘pap’ – in two years of quick cryptic I don’t think ‘pop’ has cropped up as father but I’m not complaining about that
    Please keep it up – read blog everyday day for two years and couldn’t live without it
    Tor prim
    1. see the first post by kevin forget the sal thing madam is unaffected by reversal
      DaveG
    2. It was a ridiculous clue for a crossword that is in no way a ‘Quick Cryptic’. This (and the pomposity of the regulars on here) is why so many have given up on the times quick cryptic and sought better xwds elsewhere.

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