Times Quick Cryptic 1356 by Izetti

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This one’s an Izetti – so it’s clever but gettable. Thoroughly enjoyed my 13 minutes bouncing around the grid. The NW caused the most problems and I finished with LOI 13ac.
6dn gets my COD for its relevance to my recent travels (masters graduation/commencement ceremony in USA of two people I consider heroes). We have some synchronisation of the numbers for QC and 15×15 this week which I hope won’t cause any confusion.

ACROSS

1. TRANCE – daydream. Any number (N) in a spot (TRACE).
4. MASHED – crushed. Nuts (MAD) with the female (SHE) tucked inside.
8. REFINED – made clear (refined sugar etc). Looking embarrassed (RED) about punishment (FINE).
10. TINGE – colour. In pain(TING E)xperimentally.
11. WORSE – not so good. Anagram (drunk) of SWORE.
12. POSTURE – attitude. Little old (O) and saint (ST) with virtuous (PURE) outside. I tried getting pi or pious in here.
12. SANCTIONS – double definition. Gives go ahead/endorses and punishments. With punishment appearing in 8ac as well I thought a theme was going on but I can’t see further evidence.
17. HITCHES – double definition. Travels depending on lifts (lovely deception)/problems.
19. THEME – subject. Article (THE), this writer (ME).
20. PROWL – sneaky walk. Solemn person (OWL) following pair (PR).
21. DEPARTS – goes. Anagram (being disturbed) of PAD REST.
22. DOSING – giving drug to. Rover maybe (DOG) admitting wrong (SIN).
23. ASLEEP – not wanting to be disturbed maybe. Snake (ASP) outside shelter (LEE).

DOWN

1. THROWN – cast aside. Homophone (we hear) of sovereign power – throne.
2. AS FAR AS IT GOES – double definition which took a long time to get.
3. CONCERN – worry. About (C) and navy (RN) with no longer (ONCE) getting in the way – in between the two.
5. ANTIS – more than one opponent. Is (IS) under social worker (ANT).
6. HONOURS DEGREE – university recognition. Anagrams (changes) of HERO UNDERGOES.
7. DIETED – certainly did not binge. Peter out (DIE) and Edward (TED).
9. DEPUTISED – substituted. Anagram (terrible) of DISPUTE then editor (ED).
14. OCTOPUS – organisation with widespread influence (a powerful influential organization with far-reaching effects, esp harmful ones). Officer (OC – officer commanding), foremost (TOP), American (US).
15. SHAPED – designed. A (A) and piano (P) inside outhouse (SHED).
16. GETS UP – rises from bed. To obtain (GET), drink (SUP).
18. HELEN – a particularly beautiful one (female) – referencing Greek mythology, Helen of Troy, also known as Helen of Sparta, was said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. Must have had a pretty good PR dept. ‘The’ in Parisian/French (LE) taken in by female (HEN). I think this counts as a partial &lit.

20 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1356 by Izetti”

  1. Got the 2 long downs almost immediately, which helped with the acrosses. I think we had 2d quite recently in a 15×15; and I biffed 6d after a quick glance at the anagrist. LOI DIETED. 6:47.
  2. 11 minutes, missing my target by 1. I also struggled with the NW where TRANCE and CONCERN were my last ones in. And I had to actually write down the unchecked anagrist at 6dn before I could unravel the answer.
  3. My FOI was HITCHES so it took me a while to get going. And my last two were TRANCE and CONCERN which I wrote in without fully parsing. Some tricky stuff en route e.g. DIETED. In the end it took me 15:25 and I thought it was a very enjoyable and fair challenge. COD to the devilish CONCERN.
    DNK this meaning of Octopus so as ever with Izetti I learnt something. David
  4. A very good QC – thanks to Izetti. I enjoyed this and was going very well before being slowed down by a few including TRANCE, CONCERN, SANCTIONS, and LOI OCTOPUS so I ended up taking twice as long as yesterday – 3K. Like vinyl, I biffed a couple (although THROWN was my FOI). Thanks to Chris for his usual crisp blog and for clarifying the parsing of OCTOPUS unambiguously – I got hung up on POTUS as ‘top American’. John M.

    Edited at 2019-05-21 07:38 am (UTC)

  5. An excellent puzzle with just the right mixture of the challenging and the straightforward (for me anyway). Like others I finished in the NW with the 1s, in 15.02 – just outside my target time. I thought OCTOPUS was particularly good.
    Thanks for the blog
  6. 19 mins, last few hitches, prowl and shaped.

    Cod hitches or mashed.

    Dnk owl for solemn person.

  7. THROWN off course by Izetti today. The NW corner proved the trickiest particularly as I didn’t see the long 2d until about 10 minutes into the solve. FOI 10a TINGE, biffed 12a POSTURE and 14d OCTOPUS and my LOI, following an alphabet trawl, was 7d DIETED. 14:55

    Edited at 2019-05-21 10:41 am (UTC)

  8. Miles off track today, just couldn’t see it. Got totally stuck on 1ac and 3dn, finally used an aid to get CONCERN after which I then saw LOI TRANCE. Had already taken over 20 minutes by then, having taken a long time to get OCTOPUS and SANCTIONS. Dear oh dear. Lots to admire in the puzzle but a chastening experience. Here’s to tomorrow! Thanks to blogger and setter.

    Templar

  9. As usual with an Izetti, I had to work hard to extract the definitions from the well crafted clues. Nothing held me up completely, but I was stretched to 11:11 by the time I’d submitted. DIETED was my LOI. Thanks Izetti and Chris.
  11. I had trouble with seeing the blog at all since your ‘Read more’ invitation at the top didn’t work, Chris. For me, anyway. It was only by clicking on ’11 comments’ at the bottom that it appeared in all its glory.

    Edited at 2019-05-21 11:04 am (UTC)

    1. Sorry about that. It’s the standard ‘read more’ so I don’t know why it didn’t work. Let me know if this happens again please?
  12. Needed two sittings for this, and even then had Throws rather than Thrown, and wondered why it wouldn’t parse… Similarly, couldn’t parse 3d (thanks, Chris) but at least I had the right answer with that one Not the easiest Izetti, but I made heavy going in places. 2d was my favourite. Invariant
  13. ….TRANCE and ASLEEP in opposite corners may explain why I didn’t breeze through this in my usual way with an Izetti puzzle. I had to come back to the NW corner, where I couldn’t get an early foothold.

    Excellent puzzle which made me think more than usual.

    FOI TINGE
    LOI CONCERN
    COD SANCTIONS
    TIME 4:50

  15. Enjoyable solve, but it took me a night’s sleep to get the last tricky few (TRANCE, CONCERN, DIETED and LOI OCTOPUS). Saw 2 down early on, except that I had it as “so far as it goes” – interesting variation, which made it difficult to get 1a. Loved the intricate construction of CONCERN and the deceptive cluing for DIETED, not surprised I couldn’t do them late last night. Have not come across OC for officer, but clearly one to remember.
  16. Why don’t some bloggers here write the whole clue? It’s far better and clearer to do so
    1. Two reasons I don’t:
      1. Mainly – I see these things as puzzles. Someone coming on this site should already have had a go at solving the puzzle and may have some gaps – then come here for explanations. They therefore have the whole grid still available. I tend to brief explanations so folk can work out what they need, if any further explanation is required I’m always happy to supply. This also helps some dialogue on the site and it’s great when others join in and add to the conversation,

      2. I do this, on the move, on an iPad on which it’s almost impossible to copy and paste the whole clue from the grid (I’ve tried). To write it out would add quite a bit to the 1.5 hours it takes to sort the blog out, which I’m happy to do to help other people (for free) – but there are limits.

      Edited at 2019-05-29 07:50 pm (UTC)

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