Times Quick Crossword No 174 by Izetti – brought to you in association with the General Synod

Author   macavity123Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Solving time: straightforward.

Morning all.

The Don is here today with a puzzle that is at the softer end of the scale, and will encourage some of the newer solvers. Nothing too stressful here, although I have to say that I think our setter has got a bit tangled with the members of the orchestra at 22 across. My dictionaries give BASSISTS as stringed instrument players, rather than WIND players. Maybe Izetti got mixed up with BASSOONISTS; I suppose there are bass wind instruments, but it’s a bit of a stretch. He should have quit after “players”.

My only other small gripe is the rather excessive religious refernces in clues. I know one of his other hats is the editor of a fine crossword in a certain weekly journal, and one expects a religious reference in all his puzzles but there are a few too many for me today. It’s all a matter of taste.

Incidentally, our setter’s new edition of his excellent Crossword Manual is out which takes you on a journey through the world of puzzles, it’s a good book to help you with solving at all levels including moving on to the more advanced puzzles such as Listener and suchlike. Available from all good bookshops and the usual online outlets, though I was intrigued to see a certain site offer a “used” version of this edition on the day it was published.

Across
1 SCOT – We start today with a simple wordsum. The definition is “Native of Fife?” S (Small) + COT (bed).
4 REPEATER – Normally the definition is the shorter part of the clue, but here it makes up the bulk of it. “Someone who keeps saying the same things?” is the definition and the answer is an anagram (indicated by SILLY) of REPARTEE.
8 DAIRYMAN – Definition is “sort of farmer”. Another anagram, this time of MAIN YARD and indicated by “working”.
9 LOGS – A double definition clue, with one of the two cryptic. “Bits of wood” is the ‘ordinary’ definition. The other part refers to books that you may (if you are of a certain age) have used in maths at school. I certainly haven’t needed them since!
10 DEWY – One of the more unusual words in today’s puzzle. “A bit wet” is the definition. The answer is hidden backwards (“Some” is a standard indicator for a hidden answer and “turned” a fairly standard way of getting you to reverse something. The answer is hidden backwards in “SUNNY WEDNESDAY”.
11 BACKWARD – Another double definition with one half cryptic.”Less advanced” is the normal definition. An a cryptic way of saying a part of a hospital where you would get treated if you had hurt the part of your body where the spine is.
12 GUYANA – Back to the wordsums. “Country” is the def. GUY (fellow) + AN + A (answer, as in Q & A).
14 INDICT – One of my favourite clues today. A nice surface reading to it. “A word meaning charge” is the definition and the answer is felicitously hidden in the phrase “CERTAIN DICTIONARIES”
16 WATCHDOG – Another wordsum. “Person to keep an eye on things” is the definition. W (wife) + AT + CH (church) + DO (party) + G (good).
18 BARK – A straightforward double definition clue here. BAY, as ina dog baying; plus part of a tree.
19 HERE – “At this point” is the definition. HE (the boy) + RE (bible classes).
20 ENGRAVED – “Impressed”, as in what an etcher may do is the definition. A container and contents type of clue with GRAVE (solemn) surrounded by (beset by) END (death).
22 BASSISTS – Think our setter has got a bit mixed up. If he had stopped after players, it would have been find, but as far as I can see (Chambers and online), BASSISTS are stringed isntrument players. BASSOONISTS are wind players. I suppose there must be bass instruments in a wind section, but it’s a bit of a stretch. Anyway, it’s B (leader of Band) + ASSISTS (helps).
23 TOSS – Only at fairgrounds and in Crosswordland is the word “Shy” used in this context. S + S (Saints) and OT (holy books) reversed (in retreat).

Down
2 CHAPEAU – “Hat” is the definition (It’s in Chambers). Another wordsum. CHAP (fellow) + EAU (water in French). There is a loose argument that you could use French as part of the definition, but it is not strictly so.
3 TARRY – “Delay” is the definition. TAR (black stuff) + RY (abbreviation for railway).
4 RUM – Double definition. A word meaning strange and a type of spirit.
5 PANICKING – “In a state of terror” is the definition. A wordsum. PAN (Greek god) + I.C. (in charge) + KING (ruler).
6 ALLOWED – “Permitted” is the deifnition. Here you want a word that means holy, and then as with the clue , remove the first “h”, as indicated by the apostrophe.
7 ELGAR – Another hidden clue. The name of a composer is hidden (sitting in) “HOTEL GARDEN”.
11 BEARDLESS – “With faces unhidden” is the sort of cryptic definition. It’s an anagram (beaten) of SAD REBELS.
13 ARCHERS – “Fighters we no longer need” is the definition again, although some of the members of the Sealed Knot Society may disagree.A word that means “protesters” without it’s first letter (leader).
15 CARPETS – “They may be in rooms at home” is the definition. CAR (vehicle) with PETS (dogs, maybe) beneath.
17 ARENA – “A sports facility” is the definition. It’s a reversal of AN ERA ( a + time)
18 BLAST – “Verbal outpouring” is the definition. B (bishop) + LAST (after everyone else).
21 GAS – “Possible fuel” is the definition. A word meaning cut (GASH) needs to lose H (hard to avoid it).

Thanks to our setter for today’s challenge and I now need to return to my OU French essay….. Au revoir!

25 comments on “Times Quick Crossword No 174 by Izetti – brought to you in association with the General Synod”

  1. I thought the sealed knot re-enacted the battles of the civil war? No archers there (nor grundys. Possibly a Pargetter?)

    This was going hugely quickly until I ground to a halt with my last 3, engaged, gas and blast. Took me an age to get those, I was convinced it couldn’t be gas because gas is the full name of a fuel, not part of the name…the shame. Still, I got there in the end (basically I shoved gas in anyway without understanding why it was correct).

  2. Identical experience to faceofboe, it would seem – ground to a halt in south east corner.

    Re. TOSS, always thought saint gave us ST rather than just an S.

    Also agree macavity’s observation regarding bassists being strings rather than woodwind.

    Anyway, enjoyable puzzle and thanks to setter and blogger.

  3. One saint is a ST, but two or more saints are SS… and “a saint’s” might be STS or even ASTS
  4. Donizetti must be turning in his grave. I think the blogger is right and that I must have been distracted by the bassoon. The trouble is that when one makes this sort of mistake, one never finds it on checking. The answer of course is to check every word in a dictionary, even to check that a cow really is an animal! Very sorry!
    1. Te absolvo – parce that it was a glorious QC to solve – witty & light hearted – many thanks.
  5. 25 mins flying solo 🙂

    Super blog Macavity thx. QC was really great fun – witty & amusing.

    COD ‘ALLOWED wonderfully crafted clue 🙂

    LOI BEARDLESS just couldn’t get the anagram – I blame the fact that Z8 has a beard!

  6. 13 uneventful minutes. If it’s any consolation to the setter, as a former musician and teacher of the subject I failed to spot anything amiss at 22ac before the blogger pointed it out.
  7. Maybe slightly longer than the usual time. Held up slightly at the end by BEARDLESS because I’d entered a stupid unparsed “watching” at 16ac and it was only after I had changed it to the correct WATCHDOG that I was able to finish the puzzle.

    Thanks to Don for the apology about 22ac, but shouldn’t the editor have spotted it?

  8. Not too difficult but very enjoyable. BASSISTS was last in with similar wind concerns but the word play was clear. For once quickly saw all the hidden words and the required meaning of shy. Favourite BACKWARD.
  9. Not too difficulty, as most have said, despite time wasted trying to validate some unusual spelling of “bassoonists” that could be made to fit 22ac. BEARDLESS was a nicely disguised anagram.
  10. Nice and straightforward with some nice neat surfaces. Also raised an eyebrow at Bassists and took much longer than I should have to get Gas but my favourite is Beardless, something pleasing about the image of defeated rebel warriors returning home to sadly shave.

    Also nice to see compilers commenting on here, makes it worthwhile commenting just to say thanks! Also thanks to Macavity.

  11. I think the comments so far including the setter’s apology are subtly wide of the mark. In musical circles, and I hesitate to question Donizetti here, the term Bassists can be used to apply either to the string section or the wind section. However the wind section bassists normally are those playing brass not woodwind instruments such as tuba. Strangely we don’t normally refer to the woodwind bassoonist in this way, not sure why, we just don’t. As a flautist, tenor saxophonist and great bass recorder player I am sometimes one and sometimes not. All this said I got the clue as it was fairly obvious and I raised an eyebrow at Izetti as I filled it in.

    Sorry for being a pedant. Great blog. Thanks

    Edited at 2014-11-06 02:57 pm (UTC)

    1. Thanks for the insight, bryan, but for crossword purposes definitions need to be supported by a recognised source (usually Collins, one of the Oxfords or Chambers) and this one simply isn’t.
      1. Yes it is of course true that dictionaries lag behind usage, as Nigel has pointed out by referring to Wiki. In this case the lag is surprisingly huge…at least a generation! I am embarrassed to admit that even the dictionary I helped edit …Bloomsbury / Encarta …has a definition restricted to string instruments. Since my rehearsal this evening was cancelled I pondered further on our usage. It is actually very complex for those interested. In orchestral circles the cello would not usually be considered a bass instrument (it is really tenor range). However I remember the leader of a famous string quartet talking at one of their concerts and referring to the cellist as their bassist. (It has of course the lowest range of a quartet ).

        So thanks to Izetti not only for an entertaining puzzle but unwittingly uncovering this anomaly.

  12. 9 minutes of enjoyment. Can’t say I noticed the Christian references – the same way I probably wouldn’t notice a similar number of food or science references – but I did notice the musical boob after trying to shoehorn bassoonist in.
  13. A gentle puzzle, at the easier end of the spectrum I thought. Liked WATCHDOG and BACKWARD and along with others I was initially confused by BASSISTS, but the cryptic seemed clear enough. I did think that bassist may work for the reasons as bryanlawson says and did a quick Google to satisfy my curiosity. Found the link below to further the cause of pedantry.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_(instrument)

        1. Unspammed. Unfortunately not, Nigel. LJ is suspicious of anything that’s a web address – or looks like one. Even leaving out a space after a full stop can alert it and lead to messages being put into abeyance. One needs a higher LJ access level to get away with it e.g. Maintainer, which is what some bloggers have, or possibly a paid account, though I’m not sure on the last point. If you want a workaround try writing dot/colon instead of ‘.’ and ‘:’ e.g. http colon //en dot wikipedia dot org/wiki/Bass_instrument

          Edited at 2014-11-06 11:57 pm (UTC)

          1. Thanks for the info.

            When I click on the new link I posted (with the underscore at the end) it works for me. Doesn’t it work for you?

            1. Yes it works fine but it originally went directly to the “suspicious messages” bin until I unspammed it.
  14. Very witty and fun to solve. I was held up in the SE too, mainly because I had LEAF for 18ac at first pass.

    Also didn’t know TARRY, and would have plumped for tardy in more crossword-naive days.

    Thanks indeed to Izetti and Macavity.

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