Times Quick Cryptic No 227 by Izetti

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
I am standing in today for my friend Pip Kirby, who is recuperating after a difficult, but successful, operation in hospital last week. I’m sure you will all join me in wishing him a speedy and full recovery.

Izetti is Don Manley, discussed here before. This, I thought was very good. A couple of tricky clues (like 1dn) and overall a bit more than average difficulty, I reckon

Across

1 Suggest being like a bosom friend (8)
intimate – a double def.
5 Murders covered up by police station (4)
ices – hidden in polICE Station – slang for killing, bumping off; this is a fertile area for euphemisms
9 Crustacean found by unimportant man crossing river (5)
prawn – R(iver) in PAWN (unimportant person)
10 The thing being blocked by stone creates stir (7)
agitate – IT (the thing) in AGATE, a stone
11 Herb shows regret (3)
rue – a dd and a write-in, there being something of a shortage of 3-letter herbs
12 A plain lad going out in neoclassical style (9)
palladian – anagram of “A plain lad,” and also a write-in, at least for me as one of Britain’s finest examples is just down the road from where I live. Two of them in fact, since Mereworth Castle is as good
13 Criticise small cathedral city in a weak manner (6)
lamely – LAM (ie lambast, to criticise) + ELY, a small cathedral city in the fens, up the road from Cambridge
15 Berks town journalist made a beastly noise (6)
brayed – BRAY, the Berkshire town and ED(itor), the journalist. According to Wikipedia Bray is only a village, not a town. It is well known for the vicar of Bray and for having two of Britain’s four restaurants with three Michelin stars..
17 Painter of hay wain against farm building (9)
constable – CON (against, ie not PRO) + STABLE, a farm building. John Constable being the painter..
19 Tick attached to a bird now gone (3)
moa – MO(ment), a tick or second of time, + A. An early casualty of our ongoing efforts to wipe out most animal species
20 Areas with military units changing sides at the front (7)
regions – LEGIONS, with the L changed to R.. left to right, geddit? This clue took me longer than it should have, since you don’t come across legions much these days
21 Jolly good supporter opposing nothing (5)
bravo – BRA (supporter) + V (against, ie opposing) + O (nothing). Bra = supporter is standard crosswordese..
22 Opera given excellent notice when returning (4)
Aida – AI (excellent) + AD(vertisement), reversed. Another write-in, the only 4-letter opera I know
23 Poser being stupid in pub as a bodily presence (2,6)
in person – anagram of POSER in INN, or pub

Down

1 Sovereign not the first character to put at risk (7)
imperil – IMPERIAL, ie sovereign as an adjective eg “sovereign state,” with the A or “first character” removed. Needed some checkers to solve that!
2 Traffic in rush heading north, then east (5)
trade – DART, ie to rush, reversed + E(ast)
3 Dress I put on animal — careful handling results (12)
manipulation – anagram of “I put on animal.” A clever clue, with “dress” as a by-no-means-obvious anagrind (anagram indicator). But you can dress something, eg a window: “Arrange for an effective display” as Collins puts it
4 Dog in familiar territory rolling over (5)
trail – hidden, rev., in famiLIAR Territory. Dog, as in dog somebody’s footsteps etc.
6 Organisation not making money reluctant to embrace modern technology? (7)
charity – IT (modern technology) in CHARY, reluctant. Lots of charities make a great deal of money, of course. What they are not supposed to make is a profit
7 Not smiling back? (5)
stern – another double def. Back as in the back end of a boat
8 Getting confused, I’d see algebra as nasty (12)
disagreeable – anag. of “I’d see algebra.”
14 Fellow having got old coped (7)
managed – MAN (fellow) + AGED (old)
16 Fierce character protecting old soldier on horseback (7)
dragoon – O (old) in a DRAGON, historically a fierce character despite what some recent animated films may claim.. dragoons originally were infantry mounted on horses, and interestingly the French word for dragoon is dragon
17 Church court in old city besieged by spies (5)
curia – UR (old city) in CIA (spies). Ur is a handy regular in crosswordland. A curia is a general court or council, not specifically religious, except that the Pope has a well-known one.
18 Black boy traps one wild animal (5)
bison – I (one) in B(lack) + SON (boy).
19 Grumbles from head of army in place of battle (5)
moans – A (head of army) in MONS, a place of more than one battle, notably the first significant one of WW1

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

31 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 227 by Izetti”

  1. I didn’t know Izetti was Don Manley, but then the setter’s name is printed in such small type that I never notice it anyway. (One can enlarge the grid; I wish one could enlarge the clues.) Some nice clues; I liked 19ac, although of the 3-letter birds I could think of only the MOA is gone, and 1d,where it is comforting to see that Jerry also needed some checkers! Jerry, you’ve got a typo at LAMELY. 5:40.
    2. On a Mac you can enlarge/reduce everything on the page via Cmd+ and Cmd- and I’m sure there must be something similar for Windows (maybe Ctrl+ and Ctrl-, perhaps).
      1. I can’t believe I never tried this, since I do it all the time; thanks for reminding me!
  2. 11 enjoyable minutes with DISAGREEABLE and AGITATE as the two answers that resisted until the last moment and took me over my target of 10 minutes.

    ICE for ‘murder/kill’ is US slang that I learned here quite recently.

    Bray is also famous for its film studios still just about surviving, but in its heyday it was the original home of Hammer Films.

    Edited at 2015-01-21 05:00 am (UTC)

      1. I hadn’t forgotten him. I wrote “also” because the Blogger had already mentioned the Vicar and the restaurants!
  3. I think the comment that I am sociopathic is completely uncalled for and would like it deleted, not even crossed through. This is no place for personal and unsubstantiated insults. Is this the price for standing up to ill-informed bullies from time to time? An immediate apology please.
    1. Comments removed as requested. Indeed the word was inaccurately used, even with its modifiers “Occasionally” and “A touch,” and I apologise for that. What I had intended was something more along the lines of “Testy, not all that sociable.”

  4. Not good enough, sorry! Personal judgements on people are totally uncalled for, especially from people hiding behind anonymity who don’t really know me. If I AM touchy, do you wonder?!
    1. I do wonder Don, yes. The rest of us seem to get by OK. At present I am assuming you are just not very familiar with the Internet. For example, I am not hiding behind anything, you can send me a personal message at any time and there is a fairly full biog. on this site. Did you even realise the original comments, all now gone, were intended to be complimentary? Any misunderstanding over one word could easily have been resolved.
      I won’t put anything more here, this is not the place for a debate. Why not send me a PM so we can settle matters properly?
      1. With respect, the onus is not on me to creep privately to someone who follows up a big insult and then brushes it off with a minor one, especially a total stranger — and then follows up with a third comment suggesting that I might be some sort of Luddite who knows nothing of the Internet! I know enough to think that netiquette demands that one does not launch silly personal comments against people one doesn’t know. I find the arrogance of some bloggers quite breath-taking! Maybe the moderator could have a word with you. A decent apology would have been nice, but I shall leave you to reflect and hope your manners improve. Peace be with you.
          1. When, as rednim, I said I didn’t like ‘Jock’ being used for ‘Scot’ in a couple of Mephistos, Don Manley, cheered on by dorsetjimbo, called me a self-appointed politically correct arm twister. When I suggested that he might apologise he inferred that I was just another easily offended Australian. It’s rich for him now to complain of bullying and ‘silly personal comments against people one doesn’t know’.
  5. 20 minutes as I DNK rue (as a herb), Bray and Curia but enjoyed working them out. It disappoints me to come here and find another 8dn exchange. I feel like I’m stepping on eggshells to avoid extremist cruciverbalism.

    Edited at 2015-01-21 10:15 am (UTC)

  6. I really enjoyed today’s puzzle. A polite request – sometimes, people mention that the day’s 15×15 is particularly suitable for us novices. But I suspect that it’s arbitrary. It would be lovely if one of the regular 15×15 solvers could make a point of saying here whether it’s worth giving it a go or not.
    1. I would say that today’s main cryptic is worth a shot. Certainly, going by comments on the blog as well as solving times on the Crossword Club leaderboard, it’s at the easier end of the spectrum. I would think that the puzzles people find easiest are ones where i) they can spot the definition part of the clue quickly, and ii) some obvious synonyms of the definition suggest themselves, one of which happens to coincide with the wordplay. The ease of both of these steps (but especially the first) is the product of experience, so beginners should not be disheartened if a puzzle that the old hands all dismiss as a piece of cake turns out to seem rather harder!
      1. Agree it is worth a shot for anyone who has been building confidence on the Quick. Accessible clueing and language should make it less daunting for inexperienced solvers.
    2. Well, I do! Most recent example is here, also here.

      If you look just at the intro or a few of the blog comments for any day’s main cryptic, you should get a decent idea of how hard the crossword was. A complicating factor is that a crossword might include a number of what long-standing solvers would call “cliches” but to someone less familiar with them they may not be at all… priest = Eli, banker = river, jolly = royal marine (RM), whatever.
      Just dive in every day, is my advice. Allow an hour or whatever is good for you and then look at the blog to see what you missed and remember it for the next time..

      1. Thanks also JerryWJ – as I said, I know some people do but a daily weather report – you know – worth a try, perhaps not or ON NO ACCOUNT UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE DEPRESSED would be really helpful! I expect the blog for the 15×15 says at the start how easy or not it was but I don’t like to look at it if I’m going to try it because, you know, I might see an answer…

        I suspect you are right about girding my loins and trying every day. but my confidence is fragile and it gets knocked more days than it gets boosted by the graun…but you’re right. I should try it. I *will* try it.

        1. Incidentally I didn’t know *any* of those cliches! Although I knew some of the bank/flower/river/brae type links. Sigh. I have a long way to go still, clearly!
  7. A bit more challenging today but I got there in the end. I hadn’t heard of ‘ices’ as a synonym for ‘murders’ but assumed it was an American expression, similarly ‘it’ for ‘the thing’. LOI was ‘stern’,a bit embarrassing for a sailor. Thanks to the setter for an enjoyable puzzle and the blogger for explaining 20a.
  8. I really enjoyed this one. Lots of clever clues but a few relatively straightforward ones to get started and help with the trickier ones. I completed in just under the half hour, which would indicate, contrary to the comments above, that this was a bit easier than average. However perhaps I was just on the setter’s wavelength and/or was helped by having heard of ‘curia’, ‘moa’ and ‘ices’ (and I don’t live very far from Bray). Thanks to Izetti and to Jerry for the blog (particularly the explanation of 20ac!) and best wishes to Pip.
  9. I had never come across Moa, so had to look that one up. Apart from that, a nice steady 2 hr solve. Certainly harder than the other 2 this week, but what I like about Izetti is that I am never left wondering how the clue fits the answer, even if only obtained with the help of checkers. Moans and Legions were my two favourites today. Invariant.

  10. Great fun today, with a puzzle that I found testing, and solutions both illuminating and entertaining to stumble upon. CURIA was my last, down to the unknown ecclesiastic reference, only shortly preceded by REGIONS. The latter was my favourite clue; I find the switching of L and R, H and C, N and S, etc. really pleasing.

    Thanks for the comments regarding the main. I have promised myself that after a year of solving the quickie, I’ll try the biggie each day too. Hopefully I can find enough time!

    Regards to setter, blogger, and Pip.

  11. Feel as though I have to be very careful so as not to upset our esteemed setter, but a few too many went in without needing parsing. On first read, 17ac was either very cunning or too obvious, in the end it was the latter. DRAGOON went in on definition with a couple of checkers. But a dragon as defined by a fierce character is usually associated with the female of the species, so I did find that clue a little unsatisfactory. But there you go…..
  12. A bit off topic… I usually access the blog using browser but have downloaded the Live journal app for iPad. How do I save times-xwd-times so that I don’t have to type in separately and search for it?
    1. Bookmark it. Tap icon third from right at top of screen (square with arrow). marguerite
  13. Always struggle with Izetti’s puzzles, I think I must be on a completely different wavelength to him as the answers always make sense when I read the blog. Today was a DNF but with only 3 answers missing at the end I wasn’t too displeased – although I couldn’t parse some of my answers e.g. 20ac and 11ac, so thanks for the explanations.
  14. Enjoyed this puzzle and the blog but not the testy exchange. Not feeling on top form today so not sure how difficult it was but having lived in Berkshire I had decided only Eton would be a town of sufficiently few letters to precede the obvious ed. Bray surely is never in a million years a town. Everyone would call it a village surely? So a arrived at the answer with reluctant sense of irritation as it was obviously what was meant.

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