Times Quick Cryptic 1846 by Izetti

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

An old school Izetti full of cunning, deviousness, unusual terms, double definitions, cleverness, marvellous surfaces and long answers – in short, I’d rate this as hard (I took just over 15 minutes). Old hands will, I think, enjoy this but for anyone newer on the scene who struggles – could I urge you to have a go, not worry about completing and take a look at the way the setter has laid out each clue. The ‘surface’ is the surface reading – and the more like an English sentence it is, the harder, sometimes it is to break down. The more relevant the surface/parsing is to the answer the cleverer the clue.

The top half didn’t yield very much at all so I settled down to enjoy the challenge and found there is so much to enjoy in this – I absolutely loved 2dn – and admired so many more. Thanks Izetti.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
1 Courteousness from old man initially in Leeds, say (6)
COMITY – (O)ld (M)an inside Leeds, say (CITY). And we’re off! Comity only painfully dragged from the memory banks and ‘Leeds, say’ wasn’t doing any favours.
4 Sink getting old food (4)
SAGO – sink (SAG), old (O).
9 Certain mammals — planet contains five pairs perhaps (7)
MARTENS – planet (MARS) contains five pairs (TEN). Strike two! Martens are any of several agile arboreal musteline mammals of the genus Martes with bushy tails and golden brown to blackish fur. E.g. pine marten (which I have heard of).
10 Nick has no time to go to church (5)
NOTCH – no (NO), time (T), church (CH).
11 Be levered somehow into building high up? (9)
BELVEDERE – anagram (somehow) of BE LEVERED. Strike three! A Belvedere is a building such as a summer house or roofed gallery sited to command a good view (hence ‘high up?’).
12 Feel bad about street in Paris (3)
RUE – double definition.
13 European to rush around part of UK (6)
DANISH – rush (DASH) around part of U.K. (NI).
14 Groups of schoolteachers maybe in English county (6)
STAFFS – double definition.
16 Mucky stuff pleasant? Not entirely (3)
GOO – not entirely pleasant (GOO)d.
17 Fresh source of milk in part of America (3,6)
NEW JERSEY – fresh (NEW), source of milk (JERSEY).
19 Join in swimming finally in lake (5)
MERGE – swimmin(G) inside lake (MERE).
20 Very stupid and insane possibly — one must be kept in (7)
ASININE – anagram (possibly) of INSANE including one (1).
21 Cuts lines on graph? (4)
AXES – double definition.
22 Gems of quality brought aboard ship (6)
STONES – quality (TONE) inside ship (SS).
Down
1 Be in cold and horribly damp temporary overnight facility (4,3)
CAMP BED – be (BE) inside cold (C) and an anagram (horribly) of DAMP.
2 I’m Norma: rely on being transformed into famous actress (7,6)
MARILYN MONROE – goodbye I’M NORMA (Jean) RELY ON – being anagrammed (transformed) magnificently into a famous actress. I just sat back and relished this wonderful clue. COD.
3 Somehow he’s best, keen, full of energy — wonderful person (3,4,5)
THE BEES KNEES – anagram (somehow) of HES BEST KEEN containing energy (E).
5 A paper given time has info processed somehow (5,1,7)
AFTER A FASHION – a (A), paper (FT), time (ERA), anagram (processed) of HAS INFO.
6 Chore mixing paint? (5)
OCHRE – anagram (mixing) of CHORE. Ochre is used in making paint.
7 Some smashes for a Wimbledon champion (4)
ASHE – some of sm(ASHE)s. A fine player.
8 Number working in a theatre (12)
ANAESTHETIST – crytic definition. Numb being used in the make senseless sense (if that makes sense).
15 Hesitation to put launch onto loch (7)
SHYNESS – the instruction is clear – put launch (SHY – as in throw) onto (on top of) loch (NESS).
16 Greek character in school with arts degree (5)
GAMMA – school (GAM) with arts degree (MA). Strike four! I’m sure some of you will know gam as a school of whales – my guess is the majority (like me) wouldn’t have (but now do – so we’re that much ahead of the GAMe).
18 Sport is conflict with referee finally intervening (4)
WEAR – conflict (WAR) with refere(E) inside.

65 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 1846 by Izetti”

  1. I automatically assume that ‘theatre’ is going to have a medical sense, and combined with ‘number’, the clue led swiftly to ANAESTHETIST. I agree with Vinyl about the rather esoteric vocabulary. I didn’t know the ‘courtesy’ meaning of COMITY (LOI), only the comity of nations. 2d very nice indeed. 5:31.
  2. Can anybody explain to me why this clue is a cryptic definition? What does ANAESTHETIST have to do with theatres? Thanks in advance.
  3. I first came across ‘number in theatre’ when I first started doing crosswords and I loved it then and so it was nice to see the return of my old friend — a personal chestnut. So that went straight in but I struggled in many other places finally finishing all green in just under 25m. I also enjoyed GAMMA as I used to have a Suzuki RG Gamma 250 (mark 3), so a good trip down memory lane today. Had to trust the cryptic for COMITY and had to biff then parse in many places — notably AFTER A FASHION. NHO of BELVEDERE but it was fun working out what to do with all those Es and once I’d fixed ‘camp ded’ it became clear. Somehow missed 2d on first read through — I could have done with those checkers earlier. LOI SAGO which I’d forgotten existed, again.

    Edited at 2021-04-06 06:00 am (UTC)

  4. 10 minutes. Not sure I have met COMITY before but it wasn’t a difficult clue as ‘Leeds, for example’ in one word couldn’t really be anything but CITY.

    MER at paint = OCHRE whilst solving but a little research afterwards suggests it’s perfectly valid.

    Edited at 2021-04-06 05:02 am (UTC)

  5. 20:32, a shade outside target time, with ANAESTHETIST and NOTCH holding me up for a full six minutes. I had SEVENTY and SEVENTEEN which fitted my checkers and was trying to makes these be my “number”, but was inspired to think of second meaning of “theatre”, not a chestnut for me.

    Agree that vocabulary was tough for those who like to knock off the first few across clues to get going. COMITY was pulled from some deep memory.

    Figured that GAM=school was some Public School slang, from Eton or Greyfriars, probably. “I say you fellows, when are you returning to Gam after exeat?”

    COD MARILYN MONROE: outstanding, one to share with non-runners

  6. Coming home in just under 10K this was on the gnarly side for me and I echoed many of mendesest’s comments. Knew gam from whale watching and dragged comity from some deep recess. Sago was a tasteless school dessert not much improved by a bowl of red or yellow gelatinous goo purporting to be jam. COD MM which just overtook ANAESTHETIST which was my COD when I first came across it some time ago and Curarist sprang to mind. Thanks Izetti and Chris for unravelling 5D. Hope you enjoyed the long weekend of sun, wind and snow and an entertaining boat race. So near yet so far.

    Edited at 2021-04-06 07:10 am (UTC)

    1. Yes – I hesitated on this – it was unfortunate that neither square had a checker.
  8. As usual I got nowhere with a Izetti puzzle. As soon as I saw who the setter was I knew I would struggle. I tried but just far too difficult for me.
    1. Understandable but I hope you’ll at least go through the blog and see how the clues were crafted. This helps to increase your skill at breaking clues down – and also I think you’ll enjoy a lot of these – why not start at 2dn?
      1. Hi

        Yes I always look at the answers and how they were obtain here when I have any clues I was not able to answer. I answered 2d, but just found much of the puzzle too hard and not at all enjoyable.

  9. A tricky but high quality puzzle, which (for the second day in a row) I made harder work of than I should have done. I had a complete brainfreeze over ‘number’, which I’ve seen several times before and needless to say I had a major ‘doh moment’ when the penny finally dropped. It also allowed me to abandon my attempts to justify catch for 10a.
    Finished in 13.47 with LOI NOTCH. Too many clues that would normally be COD to pick one out.
    Thanks to Chris and Izetti
  10. About an hour, in two halves interrupted by sleep. FOI 1a, but I confess to checking a dictionary. LOI 5d biffed. I thought it strange that “processed” and “somehow”, both valid anagrinds, were together, but I didn’t take the step of identifying the latter as the definition.

    4a always brings a smile as I remember Spike Milligan’s “How do you start a pudding race? Sago!”

  11. “Martens are any of several agile arboreal musteline mammals….”

    No. When I see or hear the word Martens, I always think of Alexei Sayle singing about a certain brand of footwear.

  12. Great little puzzle, stretched me all the way and misled me repeatedly. Not met the theatrical number before so that took a long time to register, but so did many others. SAGO was strangely elusive but that helped me get 5D which opened up the right side and eased me home eventually. Knew all the words, just, but needed here to perfect some of the parsing — GAM is new to me. Lots of CODs so I won’t try to single one out. Many thanks Izetti and Chris.
    1. I think Eric Morecombe’s immortal words have relevance to crosswords too.. Knew all the letters, just not in the right order!
  13. Some odd words in this – COMITY, BELVEDERE, GAM – but it’s one of those puzzles that, whilst a nightmare for new solvers, won’t be too bad, I would think, for the more experienced. I’d just about class myself in the latter group now and this was a steady solve for me. Nothing held me up unduly and I finished with ANAESTHETIST in 24:40. FOI, though I wasn’t sure it would end up being at the time as I’d only vaguely heard the word, was COMITY. I was going to comment on the fact that Izetti had used the same word, “somehow” three times as an anagrind, but I now see it is only used twice like that, presumably to throw us off the scent of the other time where it is the definition (5d). More deviousness from the Don. Anyway, lots to enjoy, but COD to 10a. Thanks Izetti and Chris.
  14. I think Izetti overdid the obscurity with eg comity and especially gam but I eventually got there.Embarrassed to admit that at first I fell for the old chestnut – number – because before I got ‘notch’ seventy eight might have fitted (albeit two words or hyphenated). Thanks setter and blogger!
  15. A typical Izetti with a tantalising mix of easy (a few) and tough but very clever clues. I managed quite a few in the top half before moving south although SAGO didn’t drop out until later. I deduced COMITY and hoped it was was OK though I couldn’t be sure of the definition. GAM was beyond me but had to be.
    Yes, COD has to be 2d but AFTER A FASHION came close for me. Lots of other good clues but some of the 12/13 letter answers helped by providing crossers. Sadly, ANAESTHETIST was not one of the easy ones. It took me ages and stretched my time to 2 mins into the SCC.
    Thanks to Izetti for an exceptional outing. Now to go back and savour the details again in Chris’s fine blog. Joh M.

    Edited at 2021-04-06 08:57 am (UTC)

  16. My FOI was WEAR and then I made pretty quick progress. I thought COMITY and BELVEDERE were unusual words but the clueing was precise. After 9 minutes I just needed 8d. I was thinking about hospitals but once again was fooled by Number-but not for too long this time as I finished in just under 10 minutes.
    An excellent puzzle.
    Izetti always gives clear indications -as long as you are able to find them -and I expect the odd rare term.
    COD to DANISH.
    David

    Edited at 2021-04-06 09:02 am (UTC)

  17. This one stretched me past my target, as I was unfamiliar with a couple of definitions such as BELVEDERE and COMITY, and had to rely on the wordplay. ANAESTHETIST was my LOI, but only because it was the last clue I looked at. It is a chestnut for me now. An enjoyable tussle. 11:11. Thanks Izetti and Chris.
    1. Oh how I enjoyed seeing Connors thrashed! He’d destroyed the ageing Ken Rosewall to win the title the previous year and showed not an ounce of grace in victory, nor respect for the legendary player he had beaten.
  18. A tough one. Struggled with COMITY (giving Leeds as a clue was not helpful!) and MARTENS, guessed GAMMA.
  19. … which both stretched and entertained. All done in 12 minutes, for a Good Day, though I also mis-parsed 16D Gamma. With the G to start the answer was clear enough, but like Merlin I assumed that Gam was a school I had not heard of (Glasgow Academy of Music, perhaps?). As soon as I saw Chris’s blog though I remembered that we have had Gam = school of whales within the last year or so, so I might/could/should have remembered it.

    Many fine clues, some of them truly Outstanding. I share the general appreciation, nay admiration of 2D Marilyn Monroe (and managed to spell her right too!), which must be in the running for Clue of the Month, let alone of the Day. Goodbye Norma Jean is playing as I type this.

    Many thanks to Chris for the blog
    Cedric

  20. One day I will remember that “number” = “someone or something which makes you numb”. One day I will also learnt to count the anagrist, so that I don’t waste time trying to make a 12 letter word from a 10 letter anagrist (“in a theatre”, anagram indicated by “working”).

    Alas that day was not today, so I am awarding myself 10 Dum-dum Points.

    Otherwise on the hard side but very enjoyable.

    FOI COMITY, LOI ANAESTHETIST (3 mins of bafflement), COD MARILYN (bravo), time 12:37 for 2.3K and a Dum-dum Day.

    Many thanks Izetti and Chris.

    Templar

    1. I tried to make the same anagram up to 12 by adding ‘on’ for working. Oh dear.
  22. LHS was OK apart from MARTENS (good clue but had to look up mammals).
    Annoyed I had to look up 8d as we have had that kind of ‘number’ before.
    Also feebly looked up sink which gave me SAGO and hence AFTER A FASHION.
    Liked NEW JERSEY, THE BEES KNEES (PDM) biffed GAMMA, COMITY. Only easy ones were MARILYN and RUE.
    No prob with BELVEDERE as lots of hotels are so named whether or not they have a good view (Bel Vedere)
    WEAR a cunning one.
    Thanks all, esp Chris.
  23. Especially the anagram and surface for 2 down. Had forgotten GAM = school (of whales), but bunged it in anyway. Surface of 1 down was also great, but there were many excellent clues from Izetti today. COMITY I had NHO, but with crossers, the wordplay was obvious enough.

    LOI MARTENS, trying to get V for five in there until I realised 5 pairs = TEN!

    6:46

  24. Bang on 30 mins for a tricky Izetti puzzle.

    Thankfully, I changed my made up Wimbledon champion “Osme” for Ashe when I suddenly remembered I hadn’t seen a hidden word — not a given I know, but I was never convinced about my first attempt.

    Didn’t get anywhere in in the NW corner on my first pass and inevitably it’s where I finished — spending a disproportionate amount of time on 9ac until it twigged I wasn’t looking for a “v”.

    Belvedere, GAM for school, Shy for launch and Comity were all fairly obscure to me — but were obtainable from the wordplay. For once, I wasn’t waylaid by the regular crossword “number” for 8dn.

    FOI — 4ac “Sago”
    LOI — 9ac “Martens”
    COD — 5dn “After a fashion” — tight and intricate wordplay.

    Thanks as usual!

  25. That was tough. NHO of either COMITY or GAM so they were guesses. There is a BELVEDERE castle in Central Park, New York which my son as a child insisted on seeing (Smurfs movie set) so that was a write in for me. I remember Arthur Ashe. I was young but I used to love watching tennis. I’m not that much of a fan now. I got delayed yet again with the alternative meaning of number in combination with theatre (my POI) and my LOI was MARTENS. I scraped in under my new target at 8:54. Thanks Chris and Izetti.

    Edited at 2021-04-06 10:52 am (UTC)

  26. FOI notch, seven on first pass, thought I was on for a DNF, then they dropped in all over the shop, but slowly. About twenty minutes to finish. Did not parse gamma, NHO gam for school of whales. Did not spot the reference to time in after a fashion. LOI anaesthetist, after realising what kind of theatre we were in, but did not see the numb indicator. Put comity in from the clueing, then looked it up in the OED as NHO. Difficult to choose a COD, I enjoyed them all. Thanks, Chris, for the blog and numerous clarifications, and to Izetti for a thoroughly entertaining puzzle. GW.
  27. Having awarded myself a pat on the back for remembering Belvedere (probably from a Michelin guide), I rather undid that piece of good fortune by entering Belvedeer. A mistake that 25 minutes later played havoc with loi Anaesthetist, where I thought Izetti was playing a double-bluff and a numeric answer was required. So, just north of 30mins in total, which given that the RHS was fairly blank at one point, doesn’t seem too bad. Invariant
  28. I gave up the struggle after 68 minutes with two clues unsolved (COMITY and ANAESTHETIST) and three clues written in faintly (BELVEDERE, ASININE and STONES). Also, I had never heard of GAM for a school of whales or STAFFS as the plural of staff (Shouldn’t it just be STAFF?). All in all, whilst the surface reading and ‘crypticness’ of the clues was very clever in places, the puzzle as a whole was a level or two above where I am at the moment.

    Mrs Random also found today’s puzzle hard, although she did successfully finish in 40 minutes. This was in spite of her not knowing COMITY or GAMma or BELVEDERE or why ANAESTHETIST was correct (she thought it was an anagram!) or … But, Mrs R is very good at guessing correctly! It’s one of her magic capabilities (as is her ability to predict when I’m about to do something silly).

    Many thanks to chrisw91 for the much-needed blog and to Izetti.

    1. A group of teachers in a school can be described as the staff – describing the staff of many schools could be staffs. There was a meeting of the staffs of all the different schools in the city.
      Collins has
      Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular present tense- staffs
  29. As I finished this, I wondered who was the lucky blogger today! Sorry – I still don’t always remember who blogs on which day. What a great puzzle to unravel for our benefit though. Five stars from me and, as others have said, hard to choose a COD. Quite tricky I thought, with some interesting vocab and brilliant surfaces. Only minor issue was with the gam / school bit.
    As I have been doing these for six years now, there are some chestnuts that I got quickly – ANAESTHETIST, AXES and OCHRE. Other clues though – SAGO and MARTENS – took longer, even though I could see what I was supposed to do!
    I am getting to grips with Izetti but still have a different target time for his crosswords (15 mins) but was pleased to come in at 12 minutes today.
    I did indeed show 2d to the non-runner (thanks for the new term Merlin) who did appreciate it! He was also pleased to get AXES without help – we’ll make a crossworder out of him yet 😊
    FOI Marilyn Monroe
    LOI Asinine
    COD Camp bed and New Jersey both made me smile. 2d was in a class of its own.
    Many thanks Izetti, for a fab crossword and Chris, for an equally great blog
  30. It took us a full 26 minutes to solve this excellent puzzle. Funnily enough we didn’t struggle with BELVEDERE – we had recently (well, a couple of years ago) appreciated a “belvedere” in Italy. Took us longer to recognise e.g. ANAESTHETIST and SAGO than it should have. NHO COMITY but worked it out – eventually.

    FOI: BELVEDERE
    LOI: COMITY
    COD: AFTER A FASHION

    Thanks to Izetti and Chris.

  31. 14 minutes. I loved AFTER A FASHION. Didn’t know GAM but biffed GAMMA. SAGO revived memories of disgusting school dinners. But other than that, an enjoyable challenge — thanks, Izetti.
  32. Had a very easy time with this one, but spent 2 1/2 minutes trying to finish off the crossing of ANAESTHETIST and STONES. Couldn’t see the latter, and had ANAESTHE _ I _ _ but wasn’t sure whether we were going for a person or a drug and dithered the clock away. The TONE of STONES was beyond my sight and I was looking for particular gems.
    1. I assumed that this also references Stones which is the term jewellers use for diamonds.
        1. Far be it for me to provide direction to the cognoscenti. I am but a humble amateur in awe of the crossword elite.
          1. I’m hardly the crossword elite! I think beginners and more advanced solvers struggle in the same way: we just miss the intended meaning of the word.

            Edited at 2021-04-06 03:47 pm (UTC)

  33. Very tough today. Had to resort to aids for ANAESTHETIST, COMITY and MARTENS and couldn’t parse either ANAESTHETIST or GAMMA. Knew all the vocabulary except GAM for a school of whales but was unable to dredge COMITY up from memory without assistance. 38 minutes in total. Thanks to Izetti for a fine puzzle and to Chris for explaining my failings.

    FOI – 12ac RUE
    LOI – 9ac MARTENS
    COD – 17ac NEW JERSEY

  34. ….but entered “Marylin” when submitting online. The new version of the grid has distinct advantages, but the smaller keyboard is a pain in the proverbial.

    FOI COMITY
    LOI SHYNESS
    COD AFTER A FASHION
    TIME 3:50

  35. The Times QC on line on my Android phone does not show the name of the setter.
    Any ideas? Thanks.
      1. Yes. Sorry I should have been clearer. I meant at the time of loading the QC in the online version. Knowing the identity of the setter when solving can give some indication of likely difficulty and favoured ploys.
  36. Slow progress today, did not get the martens. Gam also unkown as school, but was obvious from the checkers. The use of numb we remembered eventually. Also got comity from the checkers. A tough workout but enjoyable.
  37. I finished in 12:37 feeling that I should have been quicker, but I now see from the comments that I seem to have surfed things that held others up. From previous puzzles, I knew number and even gam (which gave rise to enough comment before to make it stick). DNK COMITY, but was happy with it when it emerged from the wordplay. COD AFTER A FASHION which emerged so reluctantly.
    Like Steakcity, I don’t like not knowing who the setter is when I’m on my phone. And like philjordan I’m dismayed at the smaller keyboard we now have

  38. Very enjoyable but on the hard side for me and consequently around 40 mins and DNF – could not think of SAGO even though I’ve seen it before in these puzzles. Hey ho. Could not parse AFTER A FASHION so thanks Chris for showing how it’s done. The blog is always much appreciated so thanks to all of you for taking the time to do them.

  39. Knew everything so no hold ups. Not entirely sure I knew what COMITY means but the w/p was clear. Liked the MM clue as others.

    Numbers and theatres held me up when I started doing these things regularly a few years back but write in territory now.

    I never know the identity of the setter as I solve on my phone. Not sure I find certain setters more difficult but definitely find certain clues harder (double definitions: very long clues; usually long answers and not great at doing anagrams in my head. Apart from that…)

    Thanks Chris and Izetti

  40. Although today’s 15×15 has a couple of tricky answers, it’s easy enough to get started and definitely do able. Invariant
    1. Indeed it is and thank you for the tip off. Delivered a PB for me at 19 minutes. I’ve taken longer on some QCs recently!
      Cedric
  41. My new trick is to cover the paper so that I do not know the setters name when solving. And I managed to finishing this in 17 minutes.
    NHO Comity and forgotten Gam for school but all went in smoothly.
    Remembered number/theatre for once.
    Mixture of chestnuts and wavelength for once.
    FOI Sago
    LOI Belvedere and WOD

    Thanks all
    John George

  42. After an easy day yesterday, this was a tussle. Classic Izetti – all fair and clear ONCE you’ve got proper hold of the clue. 2D Norma fairly leapt off the page at me, but what a clever surface! I’m sure we’ve seen Belvedere, Gam, Asinine, Goo, Comity before. And of course Anaesthetist has had an outing enough times to be a chestnut (‘tho still took me a PDM). FOI 11a Belvedere. LOI 22a Stones once I was convinced by the checkers. COD has to be 5d After A Fashion – for the construction, with 2D M-M for cleverness. Grateful for Chris’ blog which helped me parse better. And congratulations to Izetti for his usual high standard of setting.
  43. Can’t believe I’d forgotten the old “number”, but we got there in the end. Belvedere went in quickly, thanks to recalling it as the title of one of those Escher drawings where the perspective does/doesn’t work. Bit like trying to decipher an Izetti surface!
    Tim (not that Tim)

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