Times Quick Cryptic No 1779 by Izetti

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

A Happy New Year to all! To usher in the new year of Quick Cryptic crosswords we have our old friend Izetti.  An entertaining puzzle with smooth surfaces as we have come to expect. One or two trickier definitions and no less than two clues where, unusually, the definition isn’t exactly at the beginning or end add a little trickery. COD to the clever surface of 22A. 20A was my last one in taking me to just over 5 1/2 minutes. Thank-you Izetti! How did everyone else get on?

Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is Phil’s  turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the latest crossword here. Enjoy! And if anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to them here.

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.

Across
1 ID card’s not in order? That’s harsh (10)
DISCORDANT – (ID card’s not)* [in order].
8 Academic needs east-facing study, it’s assumed (6)
DONNED – DON (academic) DEN (study)  reversed [east-facing] -> NED. Assuming an academic gown, perhaps. [Edit: East-facing seems to be attracting some puzzlement. They way I see it, it means the word has it’s first letter at the East end (i.e. the word is facing to the right) – If I say my house is east-facing it means the front of the house is lit by the rising sun].
9 Flowing water about to invade street in the morning (6)
STREAM – RE (about) inside [to invade] ST (street) AM (in the morning). I hope you’ve avoided the winter floods. Fortunately I live on higher ground, but I don’t think I’ll be walking along the river Great Ouse or Gipping Valley for a while.
10 Pernickety person — kind inside (4)
TYPE – An unusual clue where the definition is not at the front or end. Hidden [inside] in PernickeTY PErson.
11 Fairy, cast off, died (8)
PERISHED – PERI (fairy) SHED (cast off).
12 Poor area to reach, going outside hotel (6)
GHETTO – GET TO (reach) [outside] H (Hotel in the NATO phonetic alphabet).
14 A Catholic, the female who may have a quiver? (6)
ARCHER – A RC (Roman Catholic) HER (female).
16 My virtue (8)
GOODNESS – Double definition, the first an exclamation of surprise.
18 Beast that is cross — bull initially confined (4)
IBEX – IE (id est; that is) X (a cross) outside [confined] Bull [initially].
20 Fret about wading bird seen by river (6)
REGRET –  EGRET (wading bird) after [seen by] R (river).
21 To deal with soldier takes time (6)
MANAGE – MAN (soldier) AGE (time).
22 People in limousines? You may see them at weddings (10)
CARNATIONS – Countries where people drive in limousines might be CAR (people) NATIONS (people). Neat surface. You might use a limousine to get to your wedding. Definition is a bit of a cryptic hint. [Edit: I see from coments there is a better parsing. It is more accurately NATION (people) [in] CARS (limousines). Thanks to those who pointed it out].
Down
2 Nothing right in girl? That’s hard! (5)
IVORY – O (Round letter looking like a 0; nothing) R (right) [in] IVY (girl). A bit of a vague definition and a random girl’s name make this a bit trickier, but the checkers help.
3 Prisoner given shelter is satisfied (7)
CONTENT – CON (prisoner) TENT (shelter).
4 Marxist maybe looking hot and bothered? (3)
RED – Double definition, the first a definition by example, hence the maybe.
5 For Europeans it’s a terrible strain to accommodate us (9)
AUSTRIANS – A second clue where the definition isn’t at the beginning or end. A (strain)* [terrible] outside [to accommodate] US.
6 Stipulations for academic periods (5)
TERMS – Double definition.
7 Some enter a cemetery: a bit of a bloomer (6)
RACEME – Today’s less common word for our education. Hidden in [some] enteR A CEMEtary. “A flower cluster with the separate flowers attached by short equal stalks at equal distances along a central stem. The flowers at the base of the central stem develop first.“. But we knew that, didn’t we? Well if you’re a botanist or keen gardener you might.
11 Harry eats rubbish? I object! (9)
PROTESTER – PESTER (harry – ignore the capital) outside [eats] ROT (rubbish).
13 Former President in small house, gone (6)
HOOVER – HO, abbreviation for [small] (house) OVER (gone).
15 Wine? Sing, drinking one — then get another one! (7)
CHIANTI – CHANT (sing) outside [drinking] I (one) then I (another one).
17 Greek party with wealth not half evident (5)
DORIC – DO (party) and the first half of [not half evident] RIChes (wealth).
19 The Spanish drink in Scottish city (5)
ELGIN – EL (the in Spanish) GIN (drink).
21 Bird once in trench, having lost tail (3)
MOA – MOAt (trench) without the last letter [having lost tail]. Extinct, hence the once.

62 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1779 by Izetti”

  1. tricky one which required two sittings, with a walk in the middle around Winchcombe. Maybe it was the result of last night.
    Last two protester and perished.
    COD Ghetto
  2. Well that should ensure that my average solving time in 2021 is going down for a while. A very chewy one as I thought it might be on the first day of the year. FOI was a tentative DONNED, after which it was a steadyish solve until I was left with about four in the SW corner plus 11a and 7d. At that point (some time after 30 minutes I would guess) I ground to a halt for quite a while, but eventually I worked my way back through the presidents until I found HOOVER. Had a bit of a PDM when I got the SHED bit of 11a and slowly I dragged the others out, including 11d which I was convinced must be an anagram of “HARRY EATS”. I wasted a couple of extra minutes at the end trying to work out an alternative to the unknown RACEME, but then decided that if a clue sounded like it was a hidden AND contained letters that fitted the checkers in the right place, it probably was. Stopped my watch on 72:47. Thanks to John, and Izetti for a good workout. Much more enjoyable than the New Year’s Day run I did afterwards.
  3. Finished in 7:09, thinking it had taken much longer. DONNED in first, CARNATIONS in last.
  4. Almost impossible for all but the good solvers I would say. Been doing the QC for 4 years and I couldn’t get half of these clues.
    1. If it’s any consolation I used to feel like that even after several years’ solving attempts. This blog helped me a lot… I hope it does for you too.
  5. The 4th consecutive 16 minute finish for me. I didn’t find it as difficult as some have done and I am at one with Plett11 in finding the top half harder than the bottom. Knew MOA and RACEME rang a faint bell (botany not being my strong suit). All in all a very enjoyable puzzle, so thanks to Izetti and also to John for his comprehensive explanations.

    FOI – 12ac GHETTO
    LOI – 7dn RACEME
    COD – 22ac CARNATIONS

    Happy New Year to all.

  6. If we all finished all the time tjen the qc would not be worth doing.
    I hate not finishing but learn from the blog
    Happy New Year to all cruciverbalists
  7. Despite heroic consumption of madeira last night I flew through this (well, for me …) in exactly 10. Very satisfying considering that when I started the QC I could hardly ever do more than half an Izetti.

    FOI DISCORDANT, LOI MOA, COD CARNATIONS (which I had parsed as per John’s pre-amendment blog but I see the correct parsing now which is much better), a Very Good Day.

    Many thanks Izetti and John, and a Happy New Year to all. Looking forward to the Saturday Special tomorrow!

    Templar

  8. I logged in here to check others’ reaction to REGRET and sure enough it’s a bit a MER, isn’t it? Like others I kept thinking of ferret and other variations, ending up resorting to a dictionary bash to get it – my LOI. Otherwise a lovely puzzle from (Don)Izetti!

    22 my COD, which like many others has a lovely smooth surface and good misdirections – clearly nothing to do with people or limousines!

    Happy New Year All!

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