Times Quick Cryptic 2061 by Izetti

Author   ChrisPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

After a slow start, I sped up considerably and had completed all bar 5dn in 8 minutes. The LOI bug then struck me down and I didn’t yield to treatment for 1.5 minutes. Having now gone through the blog, there seem to be a large number of gk authors/literary stuff/presidents which I may have normally struggled over – I think Izetti was in a generous mood when composing the cryptics (for which, thank you).

Philadelphia, cannon and surrendering point to a war theme but I haven’t any extra insight.

Definitions are underlined.

Across
7 Characters in the arts centre (5)
HEART – characters in t(HEART)s. At first I wondered why characters was the definition – given that the letters are the centre of the hearts.
8 How unpopular goods may be traded, making one puzzled (2,1,4)
AT A LOSS – unpopular goods may not make a profit so may be traded at a loss.
10 Subsequently not real somehow (5,2)
LATER ON – anagram (somehow) of NOT REAL.
11 Country with troubled reign (5)
NIGER – anagram (troubled) of REIGN.
12 Respect engineers in holding-off operation (9)
DEFERENCE – engineers (RE) inside holding-off operation (DEFENCE).
14 Notice for the diocese? (3)
SEE – double definition – the second being an example of a diocese of a bishop.
15 French article containing one thing not true (3)
LIE – French article (LE) containing one (I).
16 Be married, long having been captured and enchanted (9)
BEWITCHED – be (BE), married (WED) having captured long (ITCH).
18 List includes good philosopher (5)
HEGEL – list (of a boat- HEEL) includes good (G). Hegel’s view was that the human mind is the highest expression of the Absolute. My performance at 5dn does seem to go against that theory.
20 Drivel from one crying outside back of school (7)
SLOBBER – one crying (SOBBER) outside schoo(L). Collins confirms that drivel and dribble can be the same.
22 A transgression in Egypt’s capital is very silly (7)
ASININE – a (A), transgression (SIN) in (IN), (E)gypt.
23 Former president, human being without least bit of sense (5)
PERON – human being (PER)s(ON) without one letter of sense – in this case the first or fourth – take your pick. Peron was the president of Argentina and his wife Evita or Eva didn’t want anyone to get upset on her account.
Down
1 US city, being all hippie, had changed (12)
PHILADELPHIA – anagram (changed) of ALL HIPPIE HAD. A city famous for its cracked bell (amongst other things).
2 University female taken in by fatter drunk, a hypocrite (8)
TARTUFFE – University (U) and female (F) taken in by an anagram (drunk) of FATTER. The term comes from a character in Moliere’s comedy – I can only think that French A level (which was a frightening long time ago) held the door ajar to this one.
3 Celebrity gets scoundrels upset (4)
STAR – scoundrels – rats – upset (STAR).
4 Minister is big gun, from what we hear (6)
CANNON – hmm – this looks unusual (for a QC at least) to have the homophone indicator next to the definition rather than the homophone word (minister – canon). It looked so unusual that I’ve double checked the sources to make sure that cannon IS the gun and canon is the member of the clergy. Doubts over my ability to spell aside, the surface had to work that way round and it was hardly a tricky one.
5 Dimmest female in a tricky exam (8)
FAINTEST – female (F), anagram (tricky) of IN A, exam (TEST). I failed for 90 seconds to consider a vowel as the third letter of the answer – but then didn’t.
6 Boy with grand air (4)
SONG – boy (SON) with grand (G).
9 Rude grinners stupidly waving a white flag? (12)
SURRENDERING – anagram (stupidly) of RUDE GRINNERS.
13 Satirist, a sir able to be funny (8)
RABELAIS – anagram (to be funny) of A SIR ABLE. This chap was, apparently, known for his earthy wit, common sense and satire.
14 Composer disturbed brutes outside church (8)
SCHUBERT – anagram (disturbed) of BRUTES outside church (CH).
17 Wife, flowery type, who squanders things? (6)
WASTER – wife (W), flowery type (ASTER).
19 One of two story-telling brothers said to be gloomy (4)
GRIM – homophone of the brothers Grimm.
21 Word of apology and love repeatedly added to extra note (4)
OOPS – love repeatedly (O O), extra note (PS).

66 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2061 by Izetti”

  1. We thought this was quite tough — we finished in 19 minutes. Really enjoyed the long anagrams but we needed the checkers to confirm our answers to 2D and 13D.

    FOI: HEART
    LOI: TARTUFFE
    COD: AT A LOSS

    Thanks Chris and Izetti.

  2. Quibbling but … is oops really a word of apology?

    To me, it’s an indicator a mistake has been made. An apology may, or may not, follow after.

    Edited at 2022-02-01 02:34 pm (UTC)

    1. I wondered about apology too but SOED mentions it before all other possibilities:

      oops interjection. M20.
      [ORIGIN Natural exclam.]

      Expr. apology, dismay, or surprise, esp. after an obvious mistake, a near miss, etc.

      Chambers and Collins have apology too but not as the first meaning.

      Edited at 2022-02-01 09:21 pm (UTC)

      1. Fair enough, thank-you for taking the time to look up and post it.

        It seems all Boris needed to do on Monday was stand up in Parliament and say “Oops I had a party at No. 10” 😉

  3. is what Izetti is probably thinking on reviewing 4dn

    I had the same issues with the OOPS/PERON crossing as Phil and HopkinB, but needless to say took longer to resolve those issues!

    FOI PHILADELPHIA, LOI PERON, COD HEGEL (whenever there’s a “philosopher” clue I solve it by singing the Monty Python “Bruces’ Drinking Song” in my head …), time 09:57 for 1.9K and a Decent Day.

    Thanks Izetti and Chris.

    Templar

  4. FOI 1dn PHILADELPHIA — Walnut Street

    LOI 21dn PERON after thinking of MORON — with President MOON of South Korea to the fore! Oops!

    COD OOPS! — a rhetorical apology perhaps?

    WOD 2dn TARTUFFE

    Vocab! Vocab! Vocab!

  5. As we don’t time ourselves – we finished in around 45 minutes — I was pleased to know Tartuffe, Rabelais, and Hegel from A level school days. It made me for the first time regret digging my toes in and refusing to try for University! Having watched BBC’s programme on Elaine Paige last weekend, Peron was easy, once I eliminated US presidents.
  6. TARTUFFE dredged from somewhere. RABELAIS in mind from a recent Great Lives podcast (recommended)

    Otherwise on the slightly trickier side of average for me

    Thanks Chris and Izetti

  7. Joined those who had trouble with Tartuffe and Rabelais. The two long anagrams gave us a quick start but it was tough going from thereon.
  8. … more than halfway within the first 10 minutes, but then I ground to a halt.

    I saw PHILADELPHIA instantly, and five of its six dependants also went in quickly. Some of the down clues were then solved and I (fleetingly) wondered if a PB or sub-20 finish was a possibility. However, no such luck!

    Totally flummoxed by BEWITCHED, SLOBBER, SCHUBERT (no idea why) and OOPS. Then there were three solutions I had NHO: RABELAIS (guessed because it sounded a bit like Roubaix in northern France), HEGEL (guessed because I think I remember the name from a Monty Python sketch) and TARTUFFE (guessed only because the other five alternatives looked even less likely). I am coming to realise that my education, GK or experience of life is seriously lacking.

    Despite all of this, I crossed the line, all correct, in 46 minutes (or 58 minutes, if I take into account the additional time spent trying – and failing – to find an alternative word to TARTUFFE). Which time should I record in my spreadsheet?

    Many thanks to Izetti and Chris.

  9. The ‘Portcullis’ grid is ever tiresome. Rabelais, Tartuffe and Hegel – my friend thought they might have been a seventies rock band. She’s very good at other things!
    COD 16ac Bewitched. WOD Oops-a-daisy! I sped along at 6:11 minutes

  10. Not heard that one before! Obviously quite different to a ‘Stancullis’grid!!

    Wanderer

    1. Bloomin’ high brow stuff … but I bet you never see Stan Cullis in The Times QC

      50s title winner has no defensive view of second half ‘castle defence

      Edited at 2022-02-01 07:45 pm (UTC)

  12. Tiredness and several unknown or barely known dead people got the better of me after half an hour today, but I was woken up by my son bursting in nearly 20 minutes later, and I was then able to get HEGEL and, somehow, TARTUFFE as well as FAINTEST and LOI PERON, though I never parsed it. Clueing obscure words or people with anagrams is definitely not kind wordplay in my book, however, and having stopped my watch on 66 minutes, I then found, not to my surprise, that the satirist I needed was not REBALSIA. Oh well, thanks anyway.
  13. 25 minutes but plenty of pink squares. Guessed the NHO TARTUFFE but no such luck with HEGEL and RABELAIS. Who!?
  14. Convinced myself that 23 ac was ‘moron’, having got the r and n (perhaps thinking of Trump?)! Kicking myself because I did originally see the double o for 21 dn but couldn’t see a word beginning with this. On the plus side got the hypocrite and satirist.

    Gary A

Comments are closed.