Times Quick Cryptic 695 by Izetti

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
This took me 9 minutes. A very enjoyable puzzle that may present a problem or two for the less experienced solver,  but we shall see. Here’s my blog…

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

Across
1 Six at home in cathedral town or area nearby (8)
VICINITY – VI (six), then IN (home) in CITY (cathedral town)
5 Cut good wood (4)
GASH – G (good), ASH (wood)
8 Sign of something missing? React violently (5)
CARET – Anagram [violently] of REACT. This here: ^
9 A street dog not the first to bring surprise (7)
ASTOUND – A, ST (street), {h}OUND (dog) [not the first]
11 Greek philosopher’s man I reached when perplexed (11)
ARCHIMEDEAN – Anagram [perplexed] of MAN I REACHED
13 Odd remarks from bad lads written on outside of one book (2-4)
AD-LIBS – Anagram [bad] of LADS containing [written on outside of] I (one) + B (book)
14 Fighting units that could become scared (6)
CADRES – Anagram [that could become] of SCARED
17 One sooty worker after a good wash / winning all the prizes (1,5,5)
A CLEAN SWEEP – A cryptic definition followed by one that’s more or less straight.
20 VIP enraged, having been messed about (7)
GRANDEE – Anagram [messed about] of ENRAGED
21 Little son touching green filth (5)
SLIME – S (little son), LIME (green)
22 Once given a first in Mathematics — must have sat this (4)
EXAM – EX (once), A, M{athematics) [first]
23 Work quietly in phase? Then standstill (8)
STOPPAGE – OP (work) + P (quietly) in STAGE (phase)
Down
1 Wickedness / that gets a grip (4)
VICE – A straight definition and a cryptic one
2 Nasty dog — dog to put a restriction on (7)
CURTAIL – CUR (nasty dog), TAIL (dog)
3 Observe directors providing facility for giving information (6,5)
NOTICE BOARD – NOTICE (observe), BOARD (directors)
4 Very sad time with smoke going up (6)
TRAGIC – T (time), CIGAR (smoke) reversed [going up]
6 Blue haze, nothing extreme, over river (5)
AZURE – {h}AZ{e} [nothing extreme], URE (river). A popular colour for Basildon Bond writing-paper when people used to write formal personal letters..
7 Crime involving academic pleasure-seeker (8)
HEDONIST – HEIST (crime) containing [involving] DON (academic)
10 Ducks are flying above shooters? All is revealed! (3,4,2,2)
THE GAME IS UP – A cryptic definition and a straight one
12 Hear a gun going off in attack (8)
HARANGUE – Anagram [going off] of HEAR A GUN
15 Real pic? It’s phoney copy (7)
REPLICA – Anagram [phoney] of REAL PIC
16 An aroma rising (6)
ASCENT – A (an), SCENT (aroma)
18 Buddhist priest reported animal in the wild (5)
LLAMA – Sounds like [reported] of  “Lama” (Buddhist priest)
19 The fellow gets about — but not there (4)
HERE – HE (the fellow), RE (about). A Baldrick-style definition!

25 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 695 by Izetti”

  1. 6dn AZURE redolent of Basildon Bond (Russ Abbott’s 007), Churston Deckle (MI6) and the Italian football team.

    7.54 for a relatively lite Monday offering.

    COD 10dn THE GAME IS UP WOD ARCHIMEDEAN

  2. Nothing to frighten the horses, although I did waste some time trying to get ‘bang’ into 12d. The setter was being helpful in specifying ‘Buddhist’ at 18d and ‘Greek’ at 11ac. 11 is one of those rare clues where the ‘s is part of the definition. 4:25.
  3. 66 minutes and quite tough. I seem to be getting slower.
    The turning point for me was getting 1a vicinity, until then I thought I wouldn’t finish.

    Had trace for 8a initially.
    Missed the anagram for 12 harangue which was LOI.

    Haven’t seen tail=dog before (2d).

    I thought 11a was a tough anagram as Archimedes didn’t fit.

    Really liked 7d hedonist.

    Edited at 2016-11-07 06:02 am (UTC)

  4. A bit on the slow side for me today, around the 30 min mark. Don’t know why, really. A few of the anagrams were unknown to me (CARET and CADRES) so had to check once put in. 10dn took me some time as well. I’m sure GASH (5ac) was in a very recent crossword. Gribb.
  5. Found this tough going today – 17mins. Caret was unknown and found some of the anagrams hard to decipher. Am feeling quite sleepy today so perhaps that was it!
  6. A good QC challenge for a Monday, not quite a sub-5. Archimedes was primarily a mathematician, also dabbled in inventions including the still-used Archimedean Screw. Cities are defined by royal charter, not cathedrals, and 1ac, though an entirely correct clue, may perpetuate this myth. COD 12d. Thanks jack and Izetti.
    1. Not all cities are Cathedral towns, but all (English) Cathedral towns are cities – except Rochester, which was a city until 1998. It seems, according to Wikipedia, that it simply forgot to claim the continuing status at the time of local government reorganization! Such are the fascinating titbits one picks up by doing the QC.

      JakartaJack

  7. Never mind the “less experienced”, it presented a problem or two for some of the more experienced ones too. It took me over 15 minutes, which is only some 8 minutes less than it took me to do today’s 15×15.
    I couldn’t parse 8d and got horribly stuck on the 20a/22a/12d combination. I must have an excuse but I can’t think of one other than sheer stupidity.
  8. Nice crossword today – 12 minutes, with VICINITY taking too long, and too much time spent looking for a homophone in 12d – I got the answer for that before I spotted the anagrist. LOI was AD LIBS. FOI was CARET closely followed by ARCHIMEDEAN – I like anagrams and often find them to be the way to crack open a puzzle, despite initially missing one at 12d.

    Thanks to Izetti and to Jack for a good blog.

  9. Took far too long over this – nearly an hour – by trying to do the anagrams without checkers, and being caught more than once by Izetti’s misdirection. Banging in Cross for 8ac didn’t help either. Having said that, there were some very nice clues, with 7 and 10d my favourites. Invariant
  10. 14 minutes here, LOI GRANDEE, probably the only word in the grid other than CADRES I’ve not used myself at some point in my life. No noticeable problems, apart from bunging in “trace” instead of CARET in my first run across. A trace of something might well be an indicator that something is now missing, after all. Quickly corrected when VICE went in.
    1. There’s quite a lot of talk in the press at the moment about Tory GRANDEES. Heseltine and Clarke are usually in the current mix but there have been many others in the past.
  11. 39 minutes today which is not too bad, but it was a good job I plumped for caret rather than cerat, both of which were completely unknown words to me, one of which because it’s not a word.
  12. I found this quite a challenge.. CARET is totally new to me. Struggled with ARCHIMEDIAN until I realised that the apostrophe was, unusually, part of the clue. Enjoyed 10dn.
    Good challenge.
    PlayupPompey
  13. A bit sticky today. Not a good sign when I couldn’t get 1ac straight away. Or perhaps it is a good sign – a bit more of a challenge.
  14. This is easy I thought until I hit the SW corner. LOI and COD HARANGUE, subtle misdirection, could I think of a word meaning attack with BANG in it and where were the other letters coming from I asked myself.
  15. I thought this was slightly harder than normal. QCers should try the main puzzle today as it is a nice Monday offering. There used to be a working Archimedean screw at Flatford Mill. Not sure if it is still there though. Thanks blogger and setter
    Alan
  16. Not at all quick today. Got completely stuck in NW corner because had BITE for 1d and TRACE for 8a both of which seemed to fit the clues OK. Unfortunately never heard of CARET so chalk that up on the 3d as a learning experience.
  17. This took some figuring out, mainly due to having difficulty spotting Izetti’s angram indicators e.g. in 14a (LOI) and 12d. Fortunately I guessed the correct vowel placement in 8a as it was unknown to me. Today’s favourites were 7 and 10d, completed in 26 minutes – well above average.
  18. An enjoyable and quite tough test today. I kept going steadily -liked Ad libs-and carelessly put Stagnate for 23d before the necessary correction -always hard when the wrong answer is written in. My last two were 6d and 9a. I am always calling my dog a hound but the word did not occur until late on. Had to guess 8a (unknown) but got it right. 20-30 minutes to solve-several interruptions. David
  19. An enjoyable and quite tough test today. I kept going steadily -liked Ad libs-and carelessly put Stagnate for 23d before the necessary correction -always hard when the wrong answer is written in. My last two were 6d and 9a. I am always calling my dog a hound but the word did not occur until late on. Had to guess 8a (unknown) but got it right. 20-30 minutes to solve-several interruptions. David
  20. I agree that today’s 15×15 is worth trying – it’s very similar to Izetti’s style – but watch out for the obscure horse race. Invariant

Comments are closed.