Times Quick Cryptic 1021 by Izetti

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I don’t want to talk anything up here, but there seems to have been a change in the puzzles produced by that once most fearsome of setters – our great friend, Izetti. Time was, when, much younger and naive in the ways of the blogging World, that name on a blogging day would make me stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, square my shoulders and, with a quick ‘once more unto the breach dear friends’, I would set forth and valiantly plunge into battle.
Today’s and the puzzle I was privileged to blog a mere two weeks ago, however, have been slain with a whoop and a holler in sub ten minutes.
As always, your comments are appreciated to see if my own experiences have anything to do with the reality of the wider World out there.

That is not to say that this is without interest – plenty of long clues today but very fairly clued – only LOI 3dn caused me some pause at the end, lots of multiple twists of word play, lots of anagrams. There’s also a slightly military theme in 9, 14, 16 across and 5dn. So thank you Izetti for a very enjoyable Quick Cryptic.

ACROSS

1. Intransigent – stubborn. At home (IN), anagram (terrible) of STRAIN, with fellow (GENT).
8. Topic – what can be discussed. Head (TOP), in charge of (IC).
9. Longbow – the fighting yeoman had it. Desire (LONG), to show obeisance (BOW).
10. Rho – Greek character. Accommodated in ou(R HO)use.
11. Redbreast – bird. About (RE) to get an anagram (crumbled) of BREAD by stone (ST in weight).
13. Salsa – dance. Little Sarah’s (SAL’S) going to a (A).
14. Lance – weapon. Kept by c(LAN CE)rtainly.
16. Tyrannies – wicked regimes. Anagram (somehow) of TRY, to confront (come up against/next to) anagram (terribly) of INSANE.
17. Star – ace (e.g. sportsperson). A (A), church (CE).
19. Neatest – with the least clutter around. Had meal (ATE) inside cosy home (NEST).
21. Irish – language. Girl (IRIS), hard (H) to follow.
22. Costermonger – street trader. Anagram (upset) of GROCERS MEN TO.

DOWN

1. Inter – bury. Team from Milan – Inter Milan – currently fourth in the Italian Serie A football league.
2. Top Dollar – highest fee. Anagram (contrived) of OLD PATROL.
3. Ascertainment – making sure. Anagram (gets treatment) of ANCIENT MASTER.
4. Solids – non-fluid items. Thus (SO), covers (LIDS).
5. Generalissimo – supreme commander. Anagram (when order is imposed) of SEEMS ORIGINAL.
6. Nib – writer. Supply of wines (BIN) sent up – upwards/backwards.
7. Swathe – cover (dress). Anagram (thrown) of WAS over article (THE).
12. Annealing – hardening. Girl (ANN), somewhere in London (EALING).
13. Satiny – lustrous. For example (SAY) keeping (inside which is) metal (TIN).
15. Litter – double definition.
18. Ether – organic compound. Kept in stor(E THE R)are.
20. Ado – fuss. A (A), social event (DO).

27 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1021 by Izetti”

  1. I actually knew there was an INTER Something team, although I don’t think I could have come up with Milan. Bunged in ‘ester’ for some reason at 18d–well, it is a compound–which slowed me down needlessly on 21ac; otherwise smooth sailing. 4:54.
  2. 47 minutes, another toughie in my opinion.

    Held up by annealing, satiny and LOI ascertainment. Even with all the checkers and the remaining anagram letters it took a long time to work out.

    Dnk annealing and wasn’t 100% about costermonger but it couldn’t be anything else.

    COD to annealing.

  3. 9 minutes. I wasn’t sure of ANNEALING but it consists of a girl’s name and a London suburb and it fitted the checkers, so it was probably going to be okay.

    Its dictionary definitions may be somewhat confusing for non-technical bods such as myself, but the principle appears to be that by making something softer and less brittle it becomes stronger or ‘toughened up’ as the clue has it. ANNEAL can also be used figuratively to mean toughen the will or determination etc.

  4. Oh, when the penny finally drops! I thought I was sailing through this until I came to a juddering halt with ascertainment and also stuttered with satiny (plus a lazy mis-reading of 16ac leading me to tyrannise instead of tyrannies). Ah well. Nice puzzle, though.
  5. I really enjoyed this one. Very few complete write-ins but then again very few that held me up for long – until I eventually turned to the anagram at 3d. Even with all the checkers it took a bit of unraveling, not a common word.

    Nice to see my home town getting an honourable mention. I know a few Anns from that neck of the woods and the last thing any of them need is any more toughening up!

    Thank you as always to setter and blogger.
    6’45”

  6. Very enjoyable and a first for me because I managed to do it all in my head before I wrote in the answers. Do others do it like that? I hoped for congratulations from the app for the two minutes that I took to write in the answers. Instead it recorded all the time that I had spent puzzling.
    1. That’s a new one on me – and I suppose the timer ought to record the thinking time. Good effort to hold all the checkers in your head though – congratulations.
  7. I think it is probably right to say that Izetti has eased up. It was purely from bloggers’comments that I had the notion that he was the most challenging of the setters; but he has not lived up to his reputation of late. Annealing happened to be beyond me today; but it was otherwise not a real snorter.A bit like being told some schoolmaster is a real terror and then finding him a perfectly reasonable individual. DM
  8. I started quite well, with 1ac, 1d and 8ac as write-in, but then foolishly biffd Loyalty (was I the only one ?) for 9ac and moved on with the intention of working out the parsing later. . . This resulted in quite a delay when I subsequently rejected what was an obvious anagram indicator in 5d. It was only when I saw the (very neat) Swathe at 7d that I finally gave up and worked out Longbow, which produced a smile and is my CoD. At 42mins, I wouldn’t say this was easy, but perhaps not quite as hard an Izetti as usual. Mind you, it’s obvious what is going to happen now. Invariant
  9. I managed to race through, in just over 5 minutes and would have likely had a personal best, but for being very careful about entering the downs to ensure I didn’t have typos resulting from autoskip, which have caught me on previous occasions.
  10. Well I thought this was a lot tougher than recent days, so Izetti stays on my list of ‘difficult’ setters. Pexiter.
  11. Nice puzzle which I completed in 6:52, but unfortunately I failed to proof read and had TYRRNNIES at 16a. Bah! ASCERTAINMENT, my LOI, was the only one which really delayed me, and I had to write it out before spotting it. Thanks Izetti and Chris.
  12. Bang on my ‘on the rattler’ target of 15 minutes today (I tend to solve slightly quicker when I do it at home!). Nice puzzle, fairly clued.

    I agree Jackkt’s comments above re annealing. It was very familiar to me from heat-treating work-hardened (mostly copper) pipes in my years as an engineer. The effect is to make the pipe less brittle and more bendable (softer), which feels more like softening than ‘toughening up’ as described in the clue. However, the effect also makes the pipe less easy to break or snap, so it could be considered to be tougher, but softer.

    Word of the day is COSTERMONGER. It derives from costardmonger, where a costard is a large cooking apple, hence seller of fruit and veg, especially from a street barrow. Nice!

  13. I found this a real toughie and DNF. I did not like the definition of ASCERTAINMENT, which I could not work out even with all the checkers. For me it is ” found out” not “making sure” which surely is verification rather than ascertainment. Ah well, I am sure Izetti is right. Live and learn.
    PlayUpPompey.
  14. Not really timed today as it was done in several bursts but I thought it was about average in toughness. Never parsed Generalissimo but wrote it in whilst thinking of the absurd Kenny Everet character with the enormous epaulettes. When I finally got it, longbow was my COD and I was annoyed I didn’t see it sooner. All in all, I thought it was an enjoyable puzzler. Thanks to Izetti and Chris (was fiends a deliberate mistake?)
  15. No real problems today. Annealing unknown but I am getting more confident now and trusted my parsing. LOI was 13d. 15 minutes in all. Enjoyable puzzle. David
  17. Most of this went in at a steady pace but I went completely blank when left with 12d and it accounted for the final 6 minutes of the 27 it took me to complete, so well over my target time (sub 20 minutes) today – although no less enjoyable for it.
    I do hope all this talk of Izetti easing up a bit doesn’t provoke him!
    Thanks for the blog
  18. Not really timed today as it was done in several bursts but I thought it was about average in toughness. Never parsed Generalissimo but wrote it in whilst thinking of the absurd Kenny Everet character with the enormous epaulettes. When I finally got it, longbow was my COD and I was annoyed I didn’t see it sooner. All in all, I thought it was an enjoyable puzzler. Thanks to Izetti and Chris (was fiends a deliberate mistake?)
  19. Started off briskly with 1a and then most of the the down clues starting in 1a. Slowed up in the South not really trusting my parsing until crossers began to prove me correct. No problem with annealing and really admire the so elegant 7a swathe. Fouled up on 13a/13d and when I eventually plumped for 13d patina, that left me with an unsatisfactory 13a polka….FOI 1a LOI 13a COD 9a.

    I agree this seemed an easier Izetti puzzle, but still challenged by some of the clues, so thanks for Chris for the blog to straighten me out.

  20. Izetti is brilliant but my second QC under 5 minutes (and the only other one was Sir Don’s last puzzle). Give me costermonger or annealing which are actually quite well known compared with the flora and fauna which seem to dominate the puzzles these days and require anything from a logical conclusion to a stab in the dark.. I would like Izetti to do the Friday QC, more difficult than average, with his usual impeccable surfaces and wit.
  21. I knew ascertainment because my wise old grandfather’s catch phrase was ” let ascertainment take the place of conjecture”?
  22. Gettable by any Fawlty Towers addict. Basil asks Manuel the whereabouts of Sybil – referring to her as the generalissimo. Manuel replies “in eh eh eh eh eh Madrid”.
  23. broadly medium difficulty in my opinion, but annealing stumped me till today!

    satiny, costermonger and the aforementioned annealing all quite tough for a QC (IMO).

    COD : 15d – I struggled with this as well, but thought it was great clue once solved.

    thanks Izetti & Chris.
    Carl

  24. Excellent crossword – took me an hour and a half but all the clues were very fair and understandable – and witty. Izetti please keep it at this level for us mere mortals! Particularly liked Inter – very clever
    Nick

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