Times Quick Cryptic No 1912 by Izetti

Author   plusjeremyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Introduction

3:30 or so. Unfortunately my timer had a glitch so I didn’t get an exact time.

Solutions

A brief summary of cryptic crosswords —feel free to skip— :

  • Each clue has at least one “definition”: an unbroken string of words which more-or-less straightforwardly indicates the answer. A definition can be as simple as a one-word synonym; but it can also be a descriptive phrase like ‘I’m used to wind’ for REEL or SPOOL. A definition by example must be indicated by a phrase like ‘for example’, or, more commonly, a question mark (?). Thus ‘color’ is a definition of RED, while ‘red, for example’ or ‘red?’ are definitions of COLOR. Punctuation is otherwise irrelevant. Proper nouns will appear capitalized, but otherwise capitalization is irrelevant as well.

  • Each clue may also have an unbroken string of words which indicates the answer through wordplay, such as: using abbreviations; reversing the order of letters; indicating particular letters (first, last, outer, middle, every other, etc); placing words inside other words; rearranging letters (anagrams); replacing words by words that sound alike (homophones); and combinations of the above. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but the general theme is to reinterpret ordinary words as referring to letters, so that for example ‘lion’s head’ indicates the first letter of LION: namely, L.

  • Definitions and wordplay cannot overlap. The only other words allowed in clues are linking words or phrases that combine these. Thus we may see, for example: “(definition) gives (wordplay)” or “(definition) and (definition)” or “(wordplay) is (definition)”.

  • The most common clues have either two definitions, or one definition plus wordplay, in either order. But a single, very misleading definition is not uncommon, and very occasionally a definition can also be interpreted as wordplay leading to the same answer. Triple definitions (and more) are also possible.

My conventions in the solutions below are to underline definitions (including a defining phrase); put linking words in [brackets]; and put all wordplay indicators in boldface. I also use a solidus (/) to help break up the clue where necessary, especially for double definitions without linking words.

After the solutions, I list all the wordplay indicators and abbreviations in a Glossary.

Across

1   Cheat who may be responsible for a bad deal (4,5)
CARD SHARP = cryptic definition

6   What’s provided in lunch and tea (3)
CHA = hidden in LUNCH AND

8   Old country club by Yorkshire river (7)
MACEDON = MACE + DON

9   Artist, one allegedly blind, [in] the capital (5)
RABAT = R.A. + BAT

10   They may arrange accommodation at large non-English events abroad (6,6)
TRAVEL AGENTS = AT + LARGE without E + EVENTS anagrammed

12   Giving drug to pet? / What’s wrong in that? (6)
DOSING = DOG around SIN

13   Some fanatical vindictive churchman of yesteryear (6)
CALVIN = hidden in FANATICAL VINDICTIVE

16   Discerning / what an optician could help you to be (5-7)
CLEAR-SIGHTED = double definition

19   Assume exercise will be needed after a party (5)
ADOPT = P.T. after A + DO

20   Returning / minister taken in by American dishonesty? (7)
KNAVERY = reversal of REV in YANK

22   I’m scared [and] keep looking round endlessly (3)
EEK = KEEP without last letter, reversed

23   Unhappy journalists participating in action (9)
DEPRESSED = PRESS in DEED

Down

1   Arrive [with] funny performer half cut (4)
COME = COMEDIAN without the second half

2   Puts down on paper / remarkable sporting achievements? (7)
RECORDS = double definition

3   The German, / upset [and] miserable (3)
SAD = DAS (‘the’, in German) reversed

4   Landor could be an English poet (6)
ARNOLD = LANDOR anagrammed

5   Piece of text [provided by] soldier with diagram (9)
PARAGRAPH = PARA + GRAPH

6   Second man to entertain bishop [in] small room? (5)
CABIN = CAIN around B

7   Skilled worker [is] prejudiced, first to come out (7)
ARTISAN = PARTISAN without first letter

11   Respected veteran, unusual / person working on paper? (9)
VENERATED = VETERAN anagrammed + ED

12   Passing a month with effortlessness (7)
DECEASE = DEC + EASE

14   Spectators, mostly very wise, somehow (7)
VIEWERS = VERY without last letter + WISE anagrammed

15   Get better sort of truck (4-2)
PICK-UP = PICK UP

17   Publication [with] nothing to be / taken the wrong way, / all right? (1-4)
E-BOOK = O + BE reversed + OK

18   Composer[’s] lark, for example, heard (4)
BYRD = homophone of BIRD

21   Argue on and off [for] years? (3)
AGE = every other letter in ARGUE

Glossary

Wordplay indicators

‘s = linking word
abroad = anagram
and = linking word
by = next to
could be = anagram
endlessly = remove last letter
entertain = containment
first to come out = remove first letter
for = linking word
German = translate to German
half cut = remove half
heard = homophone
in = containment
in = linking word
is = linking word
looking round = reversal
mostly = all but last letter
needed after = next to
non = removal
on and off = every other letter
participating in = containment
provided in = hidden
returning = reversal
some = hidden
somehow = anagram
taken in = containment
taken the wrong way = reversal
to = next to
unusual = anagram
upset = reversed (in down clue)
with = linking word
with = next to

Abbreviations and little bits

a month = DEC
all right = OK
artist = RA
bishop = B
English = E
exercise = PT
minister = REV
nothing = O
party = DO
person working on paper = ED
soldier = PARA
the German = DAS

47 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1912 by Izetti”

  1. Biffed TRAVEL AGENTS, trusting the anagrist was there. A steadyish solve otherwise. Nice time, Jeremy! 6:13 here.
  2. Just to confirm that the setter’s name is missing from the on-line puzzle but the printed edition states that it’s by Izetti not Tracy. I think that on the two previous occasions this happened the setter WAS Tracy and that was put down to a glitch in the system so it was reasonable to assume the same thing had happened again.

    I completed the grid right on my target 10 minutes but I had two clues unparsed at that stage, E-BOOK and DOSING.

    Edited at 2021-07-07 05:25 am (UTC)

  3. All green in 15. I found this hard so I am very, very impressed with your time, Jeremy (even more than usual) — if you’d been commenting not blogging I’d have given you the fire emoji! Four on the first pass of acrosses before the early downs dropped in nicely. RABAT didn’t come easily, nor did CABIN but I liked it once I parsed it the main delay was DEPRESSED where I was trying to force ‘eds’ in for the journalists and KNAVERY where I took an age to realise more than ‘rev’ had to be reversed.

    Edited at 2021-07-07 05:47 am (UTC)

  4. I found it strangely disconcerting not to know who the setter was whilst solving what I thought was quite a tricky puzzle.
    Poets and composers are not among my strong suits so was relieved that they were kindly clued but I struggled with the definition of LOI passing/DECEASE, even though the wordplay was clear. COD goes to EEK and WOD to KNAVERY. Finished in 11.26
    Thanks to Jeremy
  5. A nice quick solve for me- less than half an hour over breakfast. SE corner last to fall. I know MACEDONIA, but not the shorter version.
    Thank you once again for the blog.
    On to the 15×15!
    A
  6. A fine Izetti puzzle …
    … which kept me busy and entertained for 13 minutes. All done and parsed, and much enjoyed.

    FOI would have been 1A Card sharp, but I didn’t really trust such an “obvious” answer, hardly cryptic at all.

    9A Rabat is possibly the most obscure capital to have featured in a crossword recently; I think if I had been put on the spot for the capital of Morocco I might have said Casablanca, Tangier or even Marrakesh before hitting on Rabat.

    COD 20A Knavery — like Mendesest it took me time to realise how much was being reversed.

    Many thanks to Jeremy for the blog — what a time!
    Cedric

  7. FOI: 13a. CALVIN
    LOI: 12d. DECEASED
    Time to Complete: 60 minutes
    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 19
    Clues Answered with Aids: 6
    Clues Unanswered: Nil
    Wrong Answers: 1
    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 25/26
    Aids Used: Chambers, Bradford’s

    The setter’s name was not present in the online version when I attempted this crossword. However, I quickly became suspicious that it was Izetti, not Tracy as per the title of this blog, as I found some of the clues very obscure and difficult, which I find typical of Izetti – -my least favourite of all the QC setters.

    8a. MACEDON – I wanted to squeeze Macedonia into here, but obviously it would not go. I then discovered that MACEDON was another name for Macedonia.

    21a. AGE – I initially had EON pencilled in as I could see it contained in the clue. However, something did not seem right as I could see no containment indicators. The alternating letters answer come to me shortly after.

    22a. EEK – I liked this clue.

    So, a 60-minute DNF due to a wrong answer at 12a. Even the wrong answer I put in had a typo.

  8. 12:48 marks three good times for the week

    A slow start, and like Cedric, I paused at CARD SHARP as seemed “too easy”. FOI SAD.

    LOI EBOOK, since just about any word can be prefixed by E, I had to discard E-mail, E-work and the parsing was tough. The little AGE proved awkward with B,C,L,P,R,T,V,W,X,Y all being possible middle letters.

    ARTISAN like SENATOR seems to be a frequent word in the QC.

    COD MACEDON

    Agree with others that KNAVERY is an excellent word.

  9. What an enjoyable puzzle. Took us 18 minutes to complete because we spent ages solving 18D and 20D.

    FOI: CARD SHARP
    LOI: KNAVERY
    COD: CARD SHARP

    Thanks to Izetti and Jeremy

  10. I found this fairly tricky, but got there eventually in 11:35. FOI was CARD SHARP, LOI, KNAVERY. Thanks Izetti and Jeremy.

  11. It took a bit of time to work out 12a DOSING, but I gave in eventually and accepted it.

    It also didn’t help that I initially thought that the soldier in 5d had a diaphragm…

    To my amazement I got 3/4 of the answers, very unusual as I find Izetti more challenging than most.

    Thank you, Don and Izetti.

    Diana

  12. Yes — it is my puzzle. Please could the blogger correct the heading. Apart from that, thanks for feedback. Izetti
    1. Thanks for confirming, Don. I see the omission has now been corrected at The Times.

      Edited at 2021-07-07 09:57 am (UTC)

  13. Izetti…that figures! Just under 20 with. COD Dosing for me; a left field cryptic…well what’s wrong in that! Great puzzle thanks Izetti and echo admiration for J’s time.
  14. GK is not my strong point but some of it I knew today i.e. MACEDON and CALVIN and the bits I didn’t ARNOLD and BYRD were generously clued. My FOI was CARD SHARK corrected with PARAGRAPH. I didn’t fully parse TRAVEL AGENTS and finished just within target at 8:45 with LOI DOSING. Thanks Izetti and superfast Jeremy. COD is a toss up between EEK and KNAVERY.
  15. … as Chas & Dave so memorably sang. I’d NHO it and hoped the blog would enlighten me; thank you Google. I’d decided it must be in Eastern Europe.

    Izetti puzzles tend to be wavelength affairs for me, where I either see the answer so fast that the clue seems barely cryptic, or I require extra coffee and two pencils to chew. Today was more the former than the latter.

    FOI CARD SHARP, LOI RABAT, COD KNAVERY, time 07:04 for 1.1K and an Excellent Day.

    Many thanks Don and Jeremy.

    Templar

  16. 10:13 for me with LOI E-BOOK which started as Email and was changed to Emoji. I had to find EEK (one of many clever clues) to get this final answer.
    FOI was CHA. I liked KNAVERY and RABAT but lots of good clues to choose from.
    Definitely an Izetti and it says so on The Times website.
    David
  17. Just inside target today at a few seconds inside 15 minutes, despite a slight delay with the arrival of an artisan! NHO BYRD or ARNOLD, but as stated above, very generously clued. I like it when an answer clicks firmly and definitely into place, like the magnetic catch on my iPad cover, and I felt that some of today’s answers didn’t quite click firmly enough. I think this is unusual for Izetti, who I usually find to be very precise, but I still loved the results of his craft. Thanks both.excellent time J.
  18. I just couldn’t see 1ac, Card Sharp, even with the initial C from foi Come, so moved across and made a good start in the NE for a clockwise solve. Travel Agents and Clear Sighted opened up the grid, but E-book and Eek did their best to hold things up along the way. By the time I got back to the NW corner my subconscious had solved Card Sharp, allowing the first few downs to fall into place. Stopped the clock at the 20min mark, with the parsing of 20ac, Knavery, incomplete — I had Rev reversed but was trying to use State postal codes for the rest… 🙄. CoD to the Geneva history lesson in 13ac, Calvin. Invariant
  19. Just missed membership of the SCC with this one. I could have been faster, I suppose, but I was enjoying the scenery.
    FOI was CARD SHARP, despite the fact that I couldn’t parse it. Having read the blog, I now see that there wasn’t really anything TO parse — it’s not really cryptic at all, is it? Unless I’m missing something? My LOI was NHO BYRD but it had to be. Embarrassingly, my first response to 4 down, ARNOLD, was trying to think of an English poet called Ronald. Didn’t last long. Very much liked RABAT and CLEAR SIGHTED.
    Thanks, Jeremy, for the blog and thanks, too, to izetti
    1. I think Card Sharp involves nothing more than a rather weak pun on “Deal”
  20. I expected a toughie when I saw Izetti’s name but I went straight through this in a few seconds under 10 mins (good for me and well under 2K). I liked EEK and DOSING. I left it later to start the QC today after a very busy morning preparing for a rather ambitious Wine Tasting at ours this afternoon (Rhones grapes including a fine Viognier — Condrieu). Maybe my brain needs time to begin to wake up properly (or maybe it is stimulated by the thought of 8 fine wines?). I need to experiment……
    A good day all round. Thanks to Izetti and well done Jeremy. John M.

    Edited at 2021-07-07 10:22 am (UTC)

    1. The only way to find out is to arrange another 8-wine tasting and note the effect on that day’s solving. And if still inconclusive, repeat until satisfied!
      Cedric
      1. Very good advice, Cedric. I’ll let you know the outcome (if I can remember).
        Today’s session was extremely successful. John
  21. Trotted steadily round the grid but stuck on LOI KNAVERY – I lazily looked up Dishonesty.
    Biffed quite a few like ARTISAN, CABIN (never thought of Cain!), E BOOK.
    Liked RABAT, MACEDON, DECEASE, ADOPT, EEK, CLEAR SIGHTED and COD PARAGRAPH.
    DOSING a weird clue, but had to be.
    Sometimes surprised by what you clever chaps have NHO! Works both ways, I dare say.
    Thanks for helpful blog, as ever, Jeremy.

    Edited at 2021-07-07 11:18 am (UTC)

  22. Decent time — knew all the GK more or less and was able to biff a couple when I’d got a few checkers.

    DOSING was excellent I thought and TRAVEL AGENTS was clever too

    Thanks Izetti and speedster Jeremy — impressed!

  23. Back to more prosaic territory for me today – which is no bad thing – I do like to have a bit of a think.

    Lots to like – RABAT, KNAVERY, MACEDON, DEPRESSED, DOSING. A top end puzzle really.

    6:12 for me, so a smidgen over target.

    Edited at 2021-07-07 12:18 pm (UTC)

  24. 4:48 this morning. I’m seldom under 5 minutes for an Izetti QC so I assume this is at the easier end of Don’s spectrum.
    I found the top half went in just about straightaway although 22 ac “Eek” (my COD) and 20 ac “Knavery” required a little more legwork.
    18 d — had to be “Byrd”, since there was no chance of squeezing in Vaughan-Williams!
    Thanks for a very concise blog Jeremy and congratulations on a fine time and to Don for an enjoyable puzzle as ever.
  25. 23 mins for me, with a good 5 mins debating about 12ac “Dosing” — I never did parse it but couldn’t see what else it could be.

    A few bits of GK that I had to work out including “Macedon”, “Calvin”, “Knavery”, but the clueing just about got me there.

    FOI — 1dn “Come”
    LOI — 12ac “Dosing”
    COD — 9ac “Rabat” — liked the bat comment

    Thanks as usual!

  26. Done in just under 21 minutes today whilst again splitting attention between QC and conference call, so quite please.

    FOI CARD SHARP went straight in, must have seen this answer about 10 times since I started trying QCs out in January

    LOI MACEDON, on the other hand, had to wait until all crossers were available. My knowledge of obscure English rivers is definitely a weak point.

    ARNOLD and RABAT went in with a shrug – NHO either (always assumed the capital of Morocco was Marrakesh, so I’m glad that’s been cleared up before I go next year!), but couldn’t see another anagram answer for the one and the wordplay was kind for the other.

    Particularly liked CAIN for “Second Man”, which I smiled at when it clicked.

    Edited at 2021-07-07 01:14 pm (UTC)

  27. FOI Sad
    LOI E-Book

    Just hung in there with lots of GK on the edge — but all clicked with most time spent on Eek and E-Book (which I suppose I hadn’t really heard of).
    Macedon had to be but was unsure cf Macedonia.
    Pleased to see Knavery quickly after generous clues such as Pick-up, Viewers and Byrd

    I certainly enjoyed this one.

    Thanks all,
    John George

  28. I really struggled to get going today, and had solved only 7-8 clues by the time Mrs Random put down her pencil (after 23 minutes). She warned me that I may not know some of the words/GK, but that it was possible to work them out. So, I stuck at it and, bit by bit, the grid started to fill up.

    My LOsI were EEK, E-BOOK and BYRD, whom I had NHO. Nor had I heard of ARNOLD (I initially guessed ‘Ronald’), MACEDON or CARD SHARP (I had CARD SHARK).

    I am learning to appreciate Izetti’s precise clueing, but today’s offering didn’t really gel with me in that way, for some unknown reason.

    Many thanks to Izetti and plujeremy (astonishing time!).

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