Times Quick Cryptic No 1903 by Izetti

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A solidly professional puzzle from the ‘Don’ that took me 12 minutes to crack, so towards the easier end of the Rotterometer – for an Izetti.

STROBE was first one in (look away if you suffer from epilepsy!), closely followed by SLALOM, and then all but the two longest downs starting on the first line, to give an excellent start.  3d and 5d each needed a couple of checkers before revealing themselves, but everything else seemed to flow in nicely.

I am driving to Edinburgh later today where I will celebrate my 70th birthday with the ‘outlaws’ on Monday.  As a consequence, I may be slow to answer any comments whilst ‘on the road’, but I am sure that the other bloggers will step in to help any that need it.  I am really looking forward to a few days away from the routine of lockdown, but promise to remain careful and socially distanced.  You all stay safe, and I hope to see you in a couple of weeks.

Across

1  Saint has garment, something flashy (6)
STROBE – ST (saint) and ROBE (garment).  STROBE is short for a stroboscope or stroboscopic light source – something flashy.
4  Race with some not quite finishing, all collapsing (6)
SLALOM – Anagram (collapsing) of SOM{e} (not quite finishing) and ALL.  SLALOM has a Norwegian origin, and is usually applied to zigzag skiing or canoeing events against the clock.
8 Resinous substance in part of cricket field (5)
PITCH – Double definition.  In cricket, the pitch is defined as the ground between the wickets.
9  Time in good Beds town for one who indulges (7)
GLUTTON – G (good) and LUTON (Bedfordshire town, Beds town) into which has been inserted T{ime}.
10  Only first three characters in college getting pass (3)
COL – First three characters in COL{lege}.  A COL is usually a saddle-shaped pass in a mountain range, if I remember my ‘O’-level geography correctly.
11  Once again look at ornament at back of study (9)
READDRESS – DRESS (ornament) behind (at back of) READ (study).  We all remember contestants on University Challenge who were either READing or STUDYing PPE or similar subjects.  Is there a difference between reading and studying in this sense?
12  Band in street slightly indecent? (6)
STRIPE – ST (street) and RIPE (slightly indecent).  I wondered at first about RIPE = indecent, but it works perfectly well when applied to language!
13  Exclamation of surprise coming to distressed Indian City (6)
MYSORE – MY! (exclamation of surprise) and SORE (distressed).
16  Her co-star played in a musical group (9)
ORCHESTRA – Anagram (played) of [HER CO-STAR].  Nice surface.
18  Nothing in Times for young man (3)
BOY – BY (times, as in 4 by 2, or 4 x 2), containing O (nothing).
19  Skilled worker with visual representations is a knight (7)
ARTISAN – ART (visual representations) followed by IS A N (knight in chess notation).
20  Cat in pool (5)
KITTY – Double definition, the first a feline, the second as in a pool or fund of money held in common.
22 Traffic around India produces angry outburst (6)
TIRADE – TRADE (traffic) containing (around) I (india).
23  Stands tall when entering ship (6)
STALLS – TALL inside (entering) SS (ship).

Down

1  Dad’s knocked over fluid (3)
SAP – PA’S (dad’s) reversed (knocked over).
2  Chatterbox, not quiet – noisy type (7)
RATTLER – {p}RATTLER – noisy type, not quiet – remove the leading P (quiet).
3  Suffer in difficult situation and feel the squeeze? (2,4-7)
BE HARD-PRESSED – Cryptic hint at the answer – to be in a jam.
5  Domestic container absurdly taken all over the place (7,6)
LAUNDRY BASKET – Anagram (all over the place) of [ABSURDLY TAKEN].
6 Water underground comes from toilet here (5)
LETHE – Hidden in (comes from) {toi}LET HE{re}.  The Lethe is a river of the underworld causing forgetfulness in all who drink of it.
7  Star with money rebuilt religious community (9)
MONASTERY – Anagram (rebuilt) of [STAR] and [MONEY].
9  Girl secures ring in the end (4)
GOAL – GAL (girl) containing (securing) O (ring).
10  Russian who is out of this world (9)
COSMONAUT – Cryptic definition.
14  Like a revolution in space travel (7)
ORBITAL – Another cryptic definition
15  Crazy upset brings shock (4)
STUN – NUTS (crazy) reversed (upset).
17  Provide food and drink in broken crate (5)
CATER – Anagram (broken) of [CRATE].
21  Son’s taken after you for sure! (3)
YES – YE (you) and S{on}.

49 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1903 by Izetti”

  1. I have no idea what shire a given town is in, but it never seems to matter, but seeing e.g. ‘Beds town’ still makes me nervous. I was rather sluggish today for some reason. 7:41.
    Happy Birthday, Rotter!
  2. Up very early today, but perhaps not fully awake as I struggled on a lot of these clues. I finally finished with GOAL in 21:44. An unparsed STRIPE went in shortly before that.
    I found LAUNDRY BASKET very hard to get as PACKET seemed to me to be the container. And I sympathise with those who blanched at the Beds town clue. MYSORE showed my lack of Indian geography.
    My favourite was LETHE which could catch a few people out.
    David

    Edited at 2021-06-24 05:30 am (UTC)

  4. All green in 13 today, six on the first pass which is about par but the early downs were more resistant than they have been lately and I found my self solving from bottom up and from east to west. I enjoyed the surface and anagrist for ORCHESTRA, My main hold ups were dithering about the hidden LETHE which I’d NHO and MYSORE which I wasn’t sure I’d heard of, no problem with Luton — where I have been, although I’ve been to Dunstable more often too — so GLUTTON went in quickly. I felt like I could do crosswords when following the instructions to solve STALLS but I did dither at LAUNDRY BASKET where I was sure ‘absurdly’ was the indicator rather than being part of the anagrist — and even once I suspected LAUNDRY BASKET, ‘absurdly taken’ didn’t look like it had the right letters — well played Izetti!
  5. 9 minutes. The ‘Indian city’ didn’t leap out at me and I’m always wary when I see that as I’m aware that many of them have changed their names from the ones I knew. It turned out this one hadn’t changed but I still didn’t know it so I was relying on wordplay.

    I arrived at GLUTTON fairly quickly as might be expected since Luton accounts for the first part of my postcode, but it’s another place I have never set foot in. The nearest I ever got was an enforced stay in its hospital 4 years ago, which is on the outskirts of the town and closer to Dunstable anyway.

    Edited at 2021-06-24 04:51 am (UTC)

  6. A solve of two halves for me with the LHS flying in and then coming to a grinding halt in the RHS. I didn’t help myself by misspelling monEstAry, which made the Indian city even more difficult. I thought the anagram for LAUNDRY BASKET was very well disguised, but was slow to spot SLALOM. Finished with LETHE and READDRESS in 14.21, with a tip of the hat to ORBITAL.
    Thanks to Rotter and happy birthday for Monday.
  8. Disaster. I was totally off wavelength today and was surprised to see some of the short times above. I finished with all correct but was well into the SCC again. Not a happy bunny so I’ll come back to it later and try to derive some pleasure from Izetti’s clues. In the meantime, I’ll sharpen my wits (if I can find any) on the latest Private Eye Cryptic.
    Thanks to rotter — have a guid Monday! John M.

    Edited at 2021-06-24 08:47 am (UTC)

  9. FOI: 1d – SAP
    LOI: 12a – STRIPE

    Typical of Izetti I found this one difficult, and needed the help from aids to complete this one.

    10a: COL – This actually took me a long as though I saw COL immediately, it seem too obvious to me, and so I delayed entering it. Same with 21d – YES.

    64 minutes only to find a misspelling at the end 7d – MON(e)STERY.

  10. As plett said the LHS flew in but the RHS caused all sorts of problems. I guessed at LETHE once the checkers were in place and biffed LAUNDRY BASKET as my penultimate solve. My LOI was the unknown Indian City which required at least 3 alphabet trawls…the first gave me MY and the third one SORE as the best of the available options. About 14 minutes. Have a happy birthday Rotter.
  12. McRotter a happy birthday. This ‘rooter’ took me all of 16 minutes today –

    FOI 1dn SAP

    LOI 6dn LETHE DNK

    COD 16ac ORCHESTRA nice anagram!

    WOD MYSORE **** as a result of Mr. Pootle’s phall, just yesterday!

    At 9ac I think our American Cousins should go to YouTube and watch my old friend Lorraine Chase in the Campari advertisement.

    71 year old Meldrew

  13. I’m another trendy lefty, like plett11 and desdeeloeste. Getting through the RHS was like pulling teeth.

    Not the most sparkling puzzle for once from Izetti. Thought COL and COSMONAUT were pretty weak clues.

    FOI PITCH, LOI MYSORE (nho), COD STROBE, time 11:17 which amazed me, it felt more like half an hour! 1.5K but I can only give this an OK Day.

    Thanks Izetti and happy birthday Rotter, lang may yer lum reek

    Templar

    Edited at 2021-06-24 09:11 am (UTC)

  14. 17:16. Pleased to see my employer at 1D, although not featured in the clue. Here’s a Triple Def:

    Dad knocked over fluid German Software company (3).

    LOI Was STRIPE, where I thought “In Street” meant ST surrounded the four letter word. Tried SCRIPT and STRIPT (poetic form of stripped?), before moving the T. STALLS was my Second-LOI, so that probably shaded my thinking, with the four letter word inside the two-letter abbreviation.

    ORCHESTRA anagram of “Her co-star” was well-clued for a nice surface. “Carthorse” for orchestra is my canonical example of an anagram : different first and last letters, most digraphs broken up, different syllable count.

    MYSORE was tough, they don’t play Test Matches there, which is how I learn the cities in Sri Lanka, India and New Zealand. LAHORE looked a good fit with “Lo”, “Lor”, “Ho” all plausible expressions of surprise.

    COD BE HARD-PRESSED

    Edited at 2021-06-24 09:17 am (UTC)

    1. Great clue, Merlin. But, if I’ve solved it correctly, shouldn’t it be “Dad’s knocked over …”?
  15. STROBE got me off to a quick start, but I had to concentrate to make progress. I managed to spot LAUNDRY BASKET without writing out the anagrist, and thought to myself “That’s an unlikely looking anagram!” Remembered LETHE, but SLALOM took a while to come, needing all the crossers. I’ve been to Luton a few times and flown to Cyprus from the airport there. As horryd mentions, the ad for Campari with Lorraine Chase is worth a watch if you haven’t already seen it. MYSORE was my LOI, constructed from wordplay. 8:50. Thanks Izetti and Rotter, and birthday felicitations for Monday.
    1. Mistake on one of the LOsI STRIPE. (Put Stript!) Other LOsI GOAL, READDRESS.
      On the other hand I got LETHE, SLALOM, STROBE and the long clues.
      GLUTTON made me smile.
      A bit of a struggle today.
      Happy birthday, Rotter, and thanks for much needed blog.
  16. Only six on first pass, but these were keys to lots of others. Unfolded the way a good crossword should. FOI col, LOI readdress, seen earlier but waiting for it to parse. Not sure of the time, but quite quick today. Thought the laundry basket was some kind of tanker for a while and this left buslady, but the attempt with the tanker somehow unravelled laundry for me. Tanker not being a domestic receptacle and all. COD to this one for the sheer fun of solving it. Should have seen goal earlier. Have been to Mysore, which probably helped. Enjoyed a walk through the palace, then had a heartrending encounter with a beggar outside. Unforgettable. Stayed at the lodge of the Maharani of Mysore and drove from there into Bandipur NP, where we saw lots of elephants and a few tigers among other wonderful creatures.

    Birthday wishes and thanks, Rotter. Thanks, Izetti, for a quick solve requiring a lot of thought. Lovely puzzle. GW.

  17. Couldn’t unpick LAUNDRY BASKET, and no paper and pen to hand, eventually got it though, which helped with the rest of the grid over that side – SLALOM, MYSORE and STALLS.

    Last in was STRIPE, ripe being an unfamiliar definition of slightly indecent, though of course one can use ripe language to forcefully express an opinion.

    Doesn’t feel like the best of weeks for me.

    10:48.

  18. 5:34 today which for an Izetti QC is okay for me.
    Found the upper part a little sticky but made progress in the lower half and solving the main anagrams then helped.
    Managed to dig out 6 ac “Lethe” from the depths of my memory — I recalled the word from Keats “Ode to a Nightingale” studied 55 years ago! In fact by definition I shouldn’t have been able to remember it all really!
    COD 13 ac “Mysore” which I have always associated with a variant of Delhi Belly — best not to go there, although I see that Horryd already has, if I’ve picked him up correctly.
    Thanks to the Don and to the Rotter. I do hope you enjoy your birthday in Edinburgh — the forecast for the weekend is looking good, and it’s not too often I can say that.
  19. Being an izetti, it was never going to be a push over — and thus it came to pass (or COL). All fair and square, of course, but it took some head scratching, especially as I put in SEWER initially instead of LETHE for 6 down. My LOI was GOAL which I had assumed, wrongly, was going to be one of those pesky ‘pick a name, any name’ kind of answers. Really I was my own worst enemy today. My brain is currently a bit of a Thick-mobile as a result of an overly exuberant Book Club event last night. Oh, dear….

    Thanks for the blog, Rotter, and very many happy returns for Monday. I hope you have a splendid time. Thanks too to izetti.

  20. SS ‘s aren’t my sort of ship and I didn’t manage to work that one out, as well as one or two others.

    But an enjoyable day — birthday wishes and thanks to Rotter as well as to Izetti of course.

    Diana

  21. … plus a further 16 minutes to confirm it through an exhaustive alphabet trawl. All except the Indian city solved in 25 minutes (very fast for for me), but the requirement to check all possibilities for _Y_O_E, which I have never heard of, means today’s puzzle has to go down officially as a 42-minute completion. Shame, because I have never finished an Izetti in less than half an hour.

    I had also NHO LETHE, but didn’t really hesitate as the clueing was very precise. STALLS also made me slightly nervous, as I don’t really equate them with ‘stands’.

    Mrs Random had similar issues with the same clues and, in general, progressed more slowly than me. However, she had heard of MYSORE and ended up finishing in 39 minutes – ahead of me again.

    Many thanks to Izetti and therotter.

  22. Just dropping by to see if anyone had heard of the 51st most populous city in India – looks like several people have. Not me!
      1. Warrington has improved enormously over the 30 odd years I have known it, but has yet to achieve city status.
  23. A run of pink squares. Can anyone explain why I inserted STRIPY? No, me neither

    Incredible with so many years setting that Izetti can still fashion up an anagram like LAUNDRY BASKET. Totally lost on this biffer but v impressive nonetheless

    HB Rotter and thanks to Don

  24. Not “on song” today at all. In common with others I struggled with the RHS having more or less completed the western half in quite a fast time. RHS was not helped by entering TOT at 18ac. I wasn’t happy with it at the time and wasn’t surprised when MONASTERY finally revealed itself at 7dn, requiring a rethink. I was fairly certain that 5dn was an anagram but what of? It took most of the crossers for the penny to drop. Finally finished in a sluggish 26 mins. Thanks and happy birthday to Rotter for the blog and to Izetti for the half hour of entertainment.

    FOI – 1ac STROBE
    LOI – 13ac MYSORE
    COD – 16ac ORCHESTRA

  25. We too quickly completed the LHS but took an age to finish the RHS. NHO LETHE but the clueing was obvious and now, thanks to the Birthday Boy’s Blog, we understand it. We were au fait with MYSORE so that wasn’t a. Issue for us. Our week continues with slow completion times – 19 minutes today.

    FOI: STROBE
    LOI: STALLS
    COD: BE HARD PRESSED

    Thanks to Don and Rotter.

  26. Made hard work of this, put orbiter for 14d which caused problems with 23a stalls, which should have been very easy. Certainly we were not on song today.
  27. Very slow and DNF today. Missing were the following: STALLS (rookie mistake of insisting on trying to find a verb instead of noun — duh), DNK MYSORE, couldn’t parse READDRESS as didn’t know ornament = dress, and looking for a noun for ‘times’ so couldn’t parse BOY, although biffed. Many thanks for blog and many happy returns! Thanks Izetti, enjoyable but still a bit tricky for me!
  28. Found this one very hard and wasn’t helped by tiredness. Eventually DNFed (after 78) because I guessed MYPORE for the Indian city (I thought the exclamation bit might indicate a sounds like). I’ve never heard of MYSORE and I thought the “pore” might be close to the “pur” bit of Jaipur. Don’t think I’ve ever heard of the River Lethe either, but maybe I’ve just sampled it and forgotten. Sometimes it would help to have studied classics when doing these. Anyway, hopefully one lives and learns. Thanks Izetti and Rotter.
  29. Solved late in the day …
    … which means most of my comments have been already made by others. 12 minutes in all, and like others have found, the left hand side was much more accessible than the right.

    3D Be hard pressed and 5D Laundry basket needed all the checkers and were the last 2 in.

    Many thanks to Rotter for the blog and enjoy your time in Scotland
    Cedric

  30. Some good clues here, but I thought a couple were a bit of a stretch: sore/distressed and ripe/indecent. By coincidence they were also my last two… No accurate time as I started before going out for the day and completed on my return, but somewhere between 25 and 30mins. CoD to the well disguised Orchestra in 16ac. Invariant
  31. Late one for me, but a dnf after 30 mins. Didn’t get 1ac “Strobe” (was looking for something within “s” and “t”) nor the obscure Indian city.

    Probably just me, but would never think of Sap as fluid (ok, I know it is, but you know what I mean) and I also wasn’t sure about ripe for indecent and sore for distressed.

    A hard one from Izetti overall I thought.

    FOI — 10ac “Col”
    LOI — dnf
    COD — 4ac “Slalom” — nice surface

    Thanks as usual!

      1. Alas not, but you are in a select mini league of people that I’ve somehow mentally created to measure myself against.

        Although, based on recent results, I may soon be relegated 😀

  32. Thank you for many, indeed multifarious, contributions to this blogsite. All best.
  33. A sluggish 20 minutes today but due to flimsy concentration, I think, because the clues are very precisely constructed and gettable. FOI 1d SAP, LOI – which took ridiculously too long – COL at 10ac. I never think of it for “pass”.
    Happy birthday to blogger rotter – and apologies for the current rotten Scottish weather! Hope it’s not putting too much of a damper on things.
  34. An exceptionally late post today, mostly to wish the Rotter a very happy birthday 🎉
    Just for the record though:
    FOI Sap
    LOI Slalom
    COD Orchestra, closely followed by Laundry basket
    Time 14 mins

    Many thanks Izetti and Ay Oop Rotter!

  35. ….and missed my target.

    FOI GLUTTON
    LOI SLALOM
    COD BE HARD-PRESSED
    TIME 5:37

  36. By, Cross and Ages are good synonyms for Times, all the more so when italics are used in a cryptic.
    1. Many thanks invariant! I would certainly not have thought of ‘cross’, although of course now it’s explained it makes complete sense — thanks. I will look out for the italics too…
  38. Happy celebrations Mr Rotter, hope the spirit is with you in large measure(s) and the sun shines on your partying.
  39. DNF — half of this was not a QC but a full 15×15.
    And a poor one at that.
    SLALOM isn’t a race. SAP isn’t a fluid. STALLS aren’t stands. Dress isn’t ornament. By for times is tenuous. Never heard of Mysore or Lethe.
    Feel like I need a refund on my Times subscription.
    Nick
    Ps happy birthday and thanks for translating this nonsense!

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