Times Quick Cryptic 1440 by Izetti

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Solving time: 7 minutes. I found this very easy for an Izetti puzzle but I shall not be surprised if less-experience solvers have a few more problems. It’s a pangram, meaning that every letter of the alphabet appears at least once.

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
8 King and knight associated with a terribly wicked practice (7)
KNAVERY : K (king – chess or otherwise), N (knight – chess),  A, VERY (terribly – as in ‘a very/terribly good book’)
9 Composer left after wild party (5)
RAVEL : RAVE (wild party), L (left). Most famous perhaps for his Bolero.
10 Cry as TV doctor facing work (5)
WHOOP : WHO (TV doctor), OP (work). Usually a cry of excitement or triumph but neither of those when associated with a cough.
11 English Queen to go wrong, having unknown royal assistant (7)
EQUERRY : E (English), QU (queen), ERR (go wrong), Y (unknown). X,Y and Z are the most common ‘unknowns’.
12 Mention school subject, and again, railing about it (9)
REFERENCE : RE (school subject – Religious Education), then FENCE (railing) containing [about]  RE (it – the school subject again)
14 After end of work I quietly sleep (3)
KIP : {wor}K [end], I, P (quietly). At one time a KIP was a cheap lodging house providing  a bed and overnight accommodation and from that it became a word meaning ‘sleep’.
16 Mother wanting nuts sent around (3)
DAM : MAD (nuts) reversed [sent around]
18 Most cheerful relation, one taken in by joke (9)
JAUNTIEST : AUNT (relation) + I (one) contained [taken in] by JEST (joke)
21 Musician is beginning to talk with coterie (7)
CELLIST : CELL (coterie), IS, T{alk} [beginning]
22 Mum‘s right to follow friend (5)
MATER : MATE (friend), R (right)
23 Shouts disapprovingly, being heard finding alcohol (5)
BOOZE : Sounds like [being heard] “boos” (shouts disapprovingly)
24 Our dean arranged a piece of music (7)
RONDEAU Anagram [arranged] of OUR DEAN. The piece of music is more usually spelt ‘rondo’ in English, with ‘rondeau’ reserved for a type of lyrical poem, but this spelling can also be valid for music especially when it’s written by a French composer e.g. this superb example by Rameau.
Down
1 Pinned, as we are, stuck into desk working (8)
SKEWERED : WE’RE (we are) contained by [stuck into] anagram [working] of DESK
2 Got rid of loud female – nothing was uplifting (3,3)
SAW OFF : F (loud) + F (female) + 0 (nothing) + WAS all reversed [uplifting]
3 Noise made by buzzer – end of sleep (4)
BEEP : BEE (buzzer), {slee}P [end]. Who remembers this from 1958?
4 Wife terribly nervy seeing monster (6)
WYVERN : W (wife), anagram [terribly] of NERVY. In heraldry it’s a winged dragon with a serpent’s tail.
5 A frightful grunt when yours truly is involved in quarrel (8)
ARGUMENT : A, anagram [frightful] of GRUNT, with ME (yours truly) contained [involved]
6 Composer‘s drunk vodka penning end of lieder (6)
DVORAK : Anagram [drunk] of VODKA containing [penning] {liede}R [end]. Soothe all your troubles away with the first 4 minutes of this …
7 Friend of everybody ending in ignominy (4)
ALLY : ALL (everybody), {ignomin}Y [ending]
13 I jeer so inappropriately when Charlie comes in and is elated (8)
REJOICES : Anagram [inappropriately] of I JEER SO with C (Charlie) contained [comes in]
15 Fade as apostle no longer favoured (5,3)
PETER OUT : PETER (apostle), OUT (no longer favoured)
17 Poet marks one line – character slightly lacking (6)
MILTON : M (marks – currency), I (one), L (line), TON{e} (character) [slightly lacking]
19 Expresses what guttersnipe is concealing (6)
UTTERS : Hidden in [concealing] {g}UTTERS{nipe}
20 Woman embraced by strangest hero (6)
ESTHER : Hidden in [embraced by] {strang}EST HER{o}. She has her own book in the Old Testament and was the subject of a work by Handel that’s generally accepted as being the first English oratorio. Here’s the overture.
21 Young animal going over a West Indian island (4)
CUBA : CUB (young animal), A
22 Seductive woman in furs, reportedly (4)
MINX : Sounds like [reportedly] “minks” (furs)

24 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1440 by Izetti”

  1. A few years ago, I would have said that the Wyvern was an English river, but it’s appeared a couple of times in 15x15s. I hadn’t thought of a MINX as a seductive woman but a pert or impudent one; but ODE’s ‘flirtatious’ I suppose covers it: ‘an impudent, cunning, or boldly flirtatious girl or young woman’. 5:30.
  2. Gentleman of certain age have an advantage over ‘Brother Jonathan’, as since 1953, the eternally 13 year old ‘Minnie the Minx’ (Hermione Makepeace) has terrorised the readers of ‘The Beano’. She boasts a statue in Dundee alongside ‘Desperate Dan’. Discuss.

    My time indeed – OH! 10 minutes on the dot.

    FOI 3dn BEEP

    LOI 17dn MILTON

    COD 18ac JAUNTIEST

    WOD 22dn you little MINX!!

    Edited at 2019-09-16 03:28 am (UTC)

    1. Yes, I nearly mentioned Minnie but then thought she was more of a trouble-maker than a seductress (unless I missed something in the innocence of childhood!) so not really relevant to the clue. Good to be reminded of her all the same, and in the process I watched a couple of her animated cartoons on YouTube.

      Edited at 2019-09-16 05:29 am (UTC)

      1. And what of the Hillman Minx? – we had a dark blue one as a run around for a short while in the sixties.

        Edited at 2019-09-16 06:29 am (UTC)

  3. 4 clues I could not solve, but answers pretty obvious once explained. Just not tuned in properly today.
  4. 23 minutes.
    Dnk wyvern, forgotten equerry.

    Associated with not needed in 8a.
    Does rejoices exactly equal elated?

    Found reference and cellist difficult to parse at first.
    Had T_B_ for 21 d for a while which didnt help.

    Cod jauntiest.

  5. Good to be back on the QC after some troublesome weekend puzzles. I started with WHOOP, progressed steadily after that and, for the first time, suspected a pangram and was helped when it came to BOOZE towards the end of my solve in the SW.
    LOI was MILTON. I had MARLOW at first but I was unsure about his spelling and whether he might also have been a poet.
    21a was holding me up as synonyms for Coterie were not forthcoming. A pleasing all correct 13:24 in the end.
    WYVERN unknown. Not the easiest of puzzles; a fair test.
    David
  6. A fair start to the week from Izetti. I thought this was going to be a doddle but was slowed by some clues in the NW and LOI MINX (all of which were pretty straightforward once they clicked). A little over 3K today but it rushed by. I spent the last 2 weeks mainly at sea but managed to catch up on all the QCs whenever I got a signal so my 100% completion record since no.1 is still intact. With hindsight, the number of ‘unusual’ letters today should have shouted ‘pangram’ but I never seem to pick up on these things. I had no trouble with the nice musical clues or EQUERRY. Thanks to Izetti and jack. John M.
  7. Not so easy today for me, couldn’t get past JOVIALEST if it’s even a word for 18ac until I finally unpicked the clue properly and bunged in REFERRING at first which also didn’t work. Once unravelled (no pun intended) then it fell into place. 16.19

    NeilC

  8. I can’t believe that QC 1440 passed without reference to that being the year in which Crosswordland’s favourite school was founded. Standards!

    I actually thought that was quite tricky for an Izetti and it took me 2.75 Kevins for an “OK For A Monday I Suppose” Day. The downs seemed easier than the acrosses, mercifully.

    FOI EQUERRY, LOI ARGUMENT, COD JAUNTIEST

    Thanks Izetti and Jack.

    Templar

  9. I found the majority of this straightforward, with the exception being the NW quarter so I left that to the end. I had to trust the wordplay with 24a and 6d, where for some reason whenever I’ve heard the name DVORAK I’d assumed that his name would contain more than 6 letters. Finished with SAW OFF in 9.14 with COD going to 8a.
    To cap of an enjoyable solve I also think that this is the first time I’ve spotted a pangram, happy days!
    Thanks for the blog
  10. I started this in the early hours after a long and ultimately bibulous day, nodding off after a couple of clues and waking to find 8 minutes or so had elapsed, at which point I paused the puzzle. Returning to it this morning, I finished it off in a total of 13:55. WYVERN was no problem. My uncle used to own a Vauxhall Wyvern when I was a lad. MILTON, RAVEL, DVORAK and RONDEAU were also very familiar. It took me while to see CELLIST and SAW OFF was my LOI. An enjoyable puzzle, once I was sufficiently awake. Thanks Izetti and Jack.
  11. This felt harder at the time than it was in hindsight. The unusual letter combinations in the WYVERN and DVORAK anagrams threw me a bit. Otherwise all fairly clued and nothing too obscure by way of GK.
    My thanks to setter and blogger.
    4’50”
  12. Wrong side of 20 minutes for me after a long weekend at a Navy reunion, so somewhat jaded. Knew and got all the answers, even the composers, but slow on some answers, and spotted the pangram fairly early. Thanks Jack and Izetti.

    Just had to edit this as the darn spell checker called the Don Yvette!

    Edited at 2019-09-16 09:45 am (UTC)

  13. Not at all easy today, although it was only the NW corner that really caused me problems, plus equerry which I’d never heard of (despite being a UK solver). Never heard of coterie, rondeau (or rondo) or wyvern and didn’t manage to parse knavery. Had taken something over half an hour to get left with virtually nothing in the NW, had a 14a for maybe 20-30 minutes and then slowly pieced it together (should have seen whoop and beep earlier), finishing in 95:13. LOI and COD 12a
  14. I was, as usual, on Izetti’s wavelength, although it took me three visits to nail KNAVERY, hence, like Plett11, my labours were completed in the NW corner.

    FOI RAVEL
    LOI WHOOP
    COD BEEP
    TIME 3:26 (which may be why I didn’t spot the pangram)

  15. Not the easiest one to come back to after a few days away. I was glad to cross the line after 36 mins – not sure if that makes me ‘less experienced’ or, as we say in these parts, ‘slow’. Anyway, I did at least manage (at last!) to remember that TV Doctor = Who, albeit at probably the 3rd or 4th time of asking (definitely slow). I was also relieved to get the unknown Wyvern. CoD to 12ac, Reference, which was a delight to parse. Invariant
  16. I found this quite hard work. Never come across RONDEAU spelt that way. The WYVERN of course (as I am sure everybody knows) is the symbol of Wessex. There are some of us left who still revere the great King Alfred!!
    PlayUpPompey
  17. Not too bad for me today, DNF as usual but got about 3/4 without help. COD was BEEP, such a cute clue. Looked up coterie as I knew it was a clique but couldn’t think of any synonyms that fitted. I thought of cellist but got in a pickle thinking it was spelt with an H. Looked up the spelling of Dvorak. pondered on KNA—- for too long before seeing it.
    _CHS
    1. To work out MILTON a trip to IKEA might help, purchase some shelves (Bryan) and follow the instructions – carefully. Then re-look at MILTON.

      Edited at 2019-09-17 03:07 am (UTC)

        1. No, it wasn’t very helpful, was it?

          But what he was getting at with the reference to IKEA is that the wordplay is a sort of self-assembly job where each part of the clue (apart from the definition ‘poet’) gives you a piece of the answer and the pieces then need to be fitted together to make the whole, so:

          marks = M, one = I, line = L, character [slightly lacking] = TON{e}

          If you didn’t know MILTON as a poet then that’s unfortunate but the wordplay as demonstrated above plus 3 checked letters from other clues should have given you a good shot at it so that you could arrive at his name and look him up.

          Edited at 2019-09-18 04:44 am (UTC)

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