Times Quick Cryptic 1140 by Izetti

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

I completed within my 10 minute target, but only just as some of it was quite hard. I must have read nearly 10 clues before finding one that I could solve with certainty but once I had some checkers in place it all started to come together.

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]

Across
1 I was first to be going around shop (4)
DELI – I LED (I was first) reversed [going around]
4 Wild beasts in helmets (8)
BASINETS – Anagram [wild] of BEASTS IN. A basinet is a light steel helmet usually with a visor, not to be confused (although I managed to do so) with ‘bassinet’ which is a hooded cradle or pram..
8 What students of poetry will do is talk (8)
CONVERSE – Alternatively spaced this becomes CON VERSE (what students of poetry will do – with ‘con’ in the sense of ‘study’)
9 Victory by English? Drink! (4)
WINE – WIN (victory), E (English)
10 Home centre close to hospital (6)
HEARTH – HEART (centre), H (hospital). Hearth = home has come up before and it’s in the dictionaries but I’m still a little puzzled why if they mean the same thing do we have the expression ‘hearth and home’ which suggests they are distinct?
11 Painter enthralling residents to some extent (6)
INGRES – Hidden (to some extent) in {enthrall}ING RES{idents}. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780 – 1867).
12 One irritated absurdly about nothing and getting worse (13)
DETERIORATION – Anagram [absurdly] of ONE IRRITATED containing [about] 0 (nothing)
16 Maps showing street heading west to church and a river (6)
CHARTS – CH (church), A, R (river), ST (street) reversed [heading west]
17 Silly, taking me for one that’s foul (6)
SMELLY – A substution clue: S(-i +ME)LLY
19 Change that comes with flow of water receding (4)
EDIT – TIDE (flow of water) reversed [receding]
20 Pirate getting sozzled, condition produced by pre-dinner drink (8)
APERITIF – Anagram [getting sozzled] of PIRATE, IF (condition)
21 High in pitch, female voice entertains group (8)
FALSETTO – F (female), ALTO (voice) contains [entertains] SET (group). Rather a good piece of misdirection here suggesting the answer may be a female voice when we actually it refers to a (predominantly)* male one.   (*please see comments in the discussion below)
22 Information about lake and valley (4)
GLEN – GEN (information) containing [about] L (lake)
Down
2 Go to match perhaps when the opposition is strong (5)
ELOPE – A rather good cryptic definition
3 Tavern: its beer specially for spineless types (13)
INVERTEBRATES – Anagram [specially] of TAVERN ITS BEER
4 Hospital event needing bed, we hear (5)
BIRTH – Sounds like [we hear] “berth” (bed – on a ship). Rather a loose definition.
5 More like caraway cake? It’s less healthy! (7)
SEEDIER – Two definitions of sorts with the first being vaguely cryptic
6 He gets warning about role of journalists (13)
NEWSGATHERING – Anagram [about] of HE GETS WARNING. Not all journalists are newsgatherers, but we get the idea.
7 Eat long misshapen fruit (7)
TANGELO – Anagram [misshapen] of EAT LONG. A cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit or pomelo that turns up at least once a week on Countdown.
10 Carrier bringing note up (3)
HOD – DOH (note) reversed [up]. Used for carrying bricks.
13 Animal chained cruelly (7)
ECHIDNA – Anagram [cruelly] of CHAINED. Another name for the spiny anteater and a creature that’s beloved by crossword setters.
14 A moment in this month (7)
INSTANT – Two meanings. Does anyone still  use ultimo / instant / proximo for  last month / this month /  next month?
15 When a yes conceals a no (3)
NAY – Hidden [conceals] in {whe}N A Y{es}. Nay, nay and thrice nay! with happy memories of Frankie Howerd Up Pompeii.
17 Various notes for typist (5)
STENO – Anagram [various] of NOTES. Originally short for ‘stenographer’ but then a word in its own right. An Americanism, according to SOED.
18 See anger that runs through France (5)
LOIRE – LO (see), IRE (anger)

43 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1140 by Izetti”

  1. I had to double-check my acrosses when I saw N_W_G at 6d; nothing at first seemed possible as fillers of those gaps. But I calmed down at last. BASINET and INGRES struck me as a bit esoteric for a QC, maybe. I was under the impression that FALSETTO is also, if rarely, a female voice; the Hawai’ian singer Genoa Keawe used falsetto often. For instance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM4ufPm3cuc 5:53.

    Edited at 2018-07-23 03:08 am (UTC)

    1. Yes, I was aware of female falsetto although in some circles there was still some controversy about its existence at the time I was learning about such things from a musician’s pov rather than a scientific one. That was why my original comment had the word ‘predominantly’ in it but somehow this got deleted in the edit so I have now restored it.
  2. I thought, in that anxious moment after pressing submit, as I realised that 4dn BERTH was wrong
  3. I didn’t know what caraway was, or the unhealthy meaning for seedy, but after an alphabet trawl I was left with a choice of seedier or stewier, which may not be a word!

    I also got bogged down by misspelling echidna, and putting in ecarts for maps…

    Have heard of baby bassinets but not the helmet basinet. Also dnk Ingres or instant for month.

    COD aperitif

  4. Re 10 across – I do believe there is an expression Home is where the hearth is which would mean that home equals hearth

    By the way I’m so in awe of all the speedy times recorded by all. I’m a relative newbie and am normally pleased just to finish. However I am improving with practice and must take this opportunity to thank all the bloggers as this has not only helped me improve but is also fun to read.

  5. The saying I’m familiar with is ‘Home is where the heart is’, but in either case home isn’t being equated with the other thing, the other thing is being offered as the defining element of home. Anyway, it’s encouraging that you’re getting better; keep it up!
  6. ELOPE was my last one in, and a fine piece of cryptic definition.
    STENO calls to mind those women in US TV court scenes taking verbatim notes on a device that had about six keys without ever looking down, one of those tasks that looks completely impossible.
    Not too worried about HEARTH=home, more worried about my version which had EARTH for centre “close to” the H at the other end. Still not quite sure how I passed that through.
    Decent crossword with some quirky words: nicely unravelled, Jack.
    1. Come to any Commercial Court trial in London and you’ll see the same! They keys are phonetic. It’s astonishing how good they are at it.

      Templar

      1. Thanks for that! Perry Mason trials were rarely in the London Commercial courts, and I rather assumed some Dragon Dictate inspired technology would have taken over by now. Fantastic skill to which I could never aspire.

  7. I found this a bit tricky but got there all parsed in the end. Held up by my last 3 – SMELLY, looking for a synonym of Silly for a while, STENO, which seems a bit of an archaism (and I was trying to find a combination of doh, re mi rather than the anagram)and FALSETTO my LOI, thinking of Base Camp. I guess I was overthinking things for a QC, but Izetti can throw in some testing clues at times. Over 2 mins over average.
  8. Is it Monday today? I think this must be my slowest start to the week for quite some time. Completed in 15:08 but like jackkt took a while to get going with my FOI 10d HOD. LOI 2d ELOPE and biffed 4a BASINETS and 14d INSTANT. Needed the blog to elucidate.
  9. Quite a challenging puzzle after a slow start but I found the longer anagrams easy (with the exception of Newsgathering). Ended up in the NW corner with Elope, my COD. It is interesting that only the indomitable Kevin has posted a time so far – unusual. Perhaps it suggests that some of our speed merchants have reason to be a little coy today….. For my part, a little over 3 kevins so not too bad. John
    1. As you asked… 8:50, which for me is nearly 2 1/2 minutes over average.
  10. Oh! And many thanks to Izetti for an excellent QC and to Jack for his usual excellent blog. John
  11. Oops! I didn’t update the page before making my comment on times. Thanks, desdeeloeste (as well as jackkte, of course) for your honesty.
  12. … would have been two but spent a full Kev on 1ac and 2dn. I had become obsessed with 1ac being ALDI as soon as the I went in (as if Izetti would even have heard of ALDI, but I thought his butler might have mentioned it to him) and spent a long time trying to work out why that could be right, and what 2dn would be if it was L-O-E … and round and round in circles I went.

    Hey ho, got there in the end, ELOPE was LOI and I had to come on here to have it explained to me. As usual Izetti provides a stiff work out and a really enjoyable puzzle. Thanks to him and jack for the blog.

    Templar

  13. I found this puzzle harder than most, taking 15:27 before I was able to submit. ELOPE held me up for a coupe of minutes at the end and DETERIORATION took me longer than it should as I was too lazy to resort to pen and paper. SMELLY took a while to sink in, and like johninterred I tried to use the tonic solfa at 17d for too long. Nice puzzle. Thanks Izetti and Jack.
  14. As ever with Izetti some clues that needed careful reading and some words from the more esoteric end of the spectrum. BASINETS and TANGELOS only seem to exist in the parallel universe of crosswords and newer solvers should commit INGRES to memory – setters seem obsessed with him. 5:17
    1. Likewise con/study – I’ve never come across this outside crosswords. Invariant
  15. My usual 30 mins or so. Vaguely remember ECHIDNA from other crosswords, but otherwise all the anagrams came easily enough. Do TANGELOs actually exist outside of Crosswordland (and Countdown apparently)? COD ELOPE. Lovely clue. LOI BASINETS – when I eventually realised it was an anagram.
    I’ve come across stenos in UK courts as well. We used to stop every hour or so just to give them a break. They are amazing to watch in action.
    PlayUpPompey
  16. Quite a hard challenge for my first QC for a couple of weeks. Basinets and Ingres were both unknown, but the long anagrams were for once a help rather than a hindrance. The NW corner held me up and pushed my time north of 30 mins, with the well thought out Elope loi. I also enjoyed 15 and 18d along the way. Invariant
  17. Cruising through towards a sub 5 min finish when I hit a brick wall at 2d with e-o-e offering multiple alternatives. The penny finally dropped with an audible chuckle – what a lovely cryptic!
    As always, many thanks to blogger and setter.
    5’45”
  18. Bassinets, Ingres and echidna in one QC seemed a little harsh but all is forgiven with cod 2dn – having looked at this every which way until, finally, the wonderful cryptic blossomed in all its glory. 11:45.
  19. Came to this late in the day after golf in Surrey. It was very hot and the roads,as usual,were very busy.
    Anyway, a cup of tea and an Izetti to wind down after the M25.
    I managed to finish this in 19 minutes. LOI was Elope as I paused to parse an earlier guess.
    I knew there was a word Bassinet and I assumed either I couldn’t spell it or there was an alternative spelling. That was a lucky break. The three long clues were not too hard and that helped. COD to 17a.
    FOI was Wine. A hint perhaps now that I no longer in the car. David
  20. I really struggled with this one – particularly the NW. Like others ELOPE proved tricky but the BIRTH/HEARTH clues were my real stumbling block. I was convinced they had to finish in an L from ‘close (end of) to hospital’.
    I was on the point of giving up when I spotted 2d and then the others followed, eventually crossing the line in 38.37.
    Thanks for the workout Izetti and the blog jackkt
  21. Completely thrown by having “nod” for 15d, which so obviously the right answer that I couldn’t see any alternative. Also struggled with newsgathering- the only possibility but never seen by me as a single word (I even had to force my iPad to treat it as one for this post!). Never heard of Ingres.

    Paulw

  22. Is how the BeeGees sang I believe. DNF today. Spotted 7 anagrams but only got 4. Biffing Seine rather than Loire didn’t help.
    Indebted as ever. John.
    1. I thought 18d was a particularly fine clue, as the Loire actually does (more or less) run through France, while the Seine – my first choice too – doesn’t. Setters like Don have a scholar’s passion for accuracy, and it was this that actually have me pause rather than a re-reading of the clue!
  23. I spend my life praising Izetti for his brilliant crosswords and Jackt is an excellent blogger. Today, however, I didn’t llke steno or smelly at all. Newsgathering was my FOI which shows how weird I must be!
    1. I have to disagree – especially re SMELLY. I thought this was an excellent, Quickyesque example of the fiendish letter-substitution clue sub-type. Or maybe it was something else about the clue you didn’t like.
  24. 8:51 for this excellent offering, with another tip of the hat to 2d and a mention too for 18d.

    Re 10a, the type of intensifying dyad represented by ‘hearth and home’ is not uncommon. We have also ‘heart and soul’ (cf ‘body and soul’) and ‘might and main’, to give two further examples.

  25. I think”centre” has two uses in this clue. So the definition is home centre and centre gives heart with h from close to hospital.
    1. I see what you mean but Times cryptics don’t usually permit ‘double usage’ of words in a clue (the exception being in &lit clues where the whole clue makes up the defintion).
      1. I know that, but for setters, rules are there to be broken, and they have done this before.
  26. Completely thrown by having “nod” for 15d, which so obviously the right answer that I couldn’t see any alternative. Also struggled with newsgathering- the only possibility but never seen by me as a single word (I even had to force my iPad to treat it as one for this post!). Never heard of Ingres.

    Paulw

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