A bit on the tricky side
I struggled with some of the GK. Or would have, had this been a concise crossword: the French painter, the bouquet, the bird of prey.. better known around these parts as our local magical blogger. My main hold-up was the too-troublesome-to-parse 2d: CONTRBANDING. An ugly non-word. With that untangled, I crept home around the nine minute mark. Neat wordplay aplenty, of course – many thanks to Izetti!
| Across | |
| 1 | Greek character and relations — about 100 — work together (4,2) |
| MUCK IN – MU (Greek character) and KIN (relations) about C (100) | |
| 4 | French painter of peasants in grass (6) |
| MILLET – double definition | |
| 8 | Meant not to be caught in act (7) |
| DENOTED – NOT caught in DEED (act) | |
| 10 | See copper, male officer standing in? (5) |
| LOCUM – LO (see) CU (copper) M(ale) | |
| 11 | Child in frivolous programme (5) |
| SPROG – “in” frivolouS PROGramme | |
| 12 | My sons get old bouquet (7) |
| CORSAGE – COR (my, gee, blimey, etc.) S (sons) AGE (get old). S for SONS, and D for DAUGHTERS can be seen in family trees and the like. | |
| 13 | City pub cold with no ale unfortunately (9) |
| BARCELONA – BAR (pub) C(old) with an anagram (unfortunately) of NO ALE | |
| 17 | Fruit and nuts (7) |
| BANANAS – lovely double definition, the second as in barmy | |
| 19 | Facial guard — it is taken from guest (5) |
| VISOR – IT is taken from VISITOR (guest) | |
| 20 | Weld in section of gun I tested (5) |
| UNITE – “in section of ” gUN ITEsted | |
| 21 | Terrible performances with no leader or rules (7) |
| DIRECTS – DIRE (terrible) |
|
| 22 | Tear sleeve of T-shirt off for rag (6) |
| TATTER -anagram (off) of TEAR and the “sleeve” of T-shirT | |
| 23 | Magician’s bird of prey (6) |
| MERLIN – double definition | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Smart little Maureen, good-looker? (6) |
| MODISH – MO (dimin. of Maureen) DISH (good-looker) | |
| 2 | Illegally trading criminal gang, one with external difference (13) |
| CONTRABANDIST – BAND (gang) I (one) with an external CONTRAST (difference) | |
| 3 | At home greet fantastic number (7) |
| INTEGER – IN (at home) anagram (fantastic) of GREET | |
| 5 | I had left with little sign of hesitation as one with no desire for work (5) |
| IDLER – I’D (I had) L(eft) with ER (little sign of hesitation) | |
| 6 | Careless kids — acacia all messed up (13) |
| LACKADAISICAL – anagram (messed up) of KIDS ACACIA ALL | |
| 7 | Maybe watch circling bird initially in wood (6) |
| TIMBER – TIMER (maybe watch) circling B (Bird “initially”) | |
| 9 | Went down river, having gone outside (9) |
| DECREASED – R(iver) having DECEASED (gone) outside | |
| 14 | Old boy with lines in face (moneyed type) (7) |
| OBVERSE -OB (old boy) with VERSE (lines). The heads of a coin, with the REVERSE being tails. | |
| 15 | Short brat struggling to keep up (6) |
| ABRUPT – anagram (struggling) of BRAT to keep UP | |
| 16 | No gentleman quietly set up in place of confinement (6) |
| PRISON – NO (SIR (gentleman) P (Piano = quietly) “set up” = reversed | |
| 18 | French city enthrals English relative (5) |
| NIECE – NICE (French city) enthrals E(nglish) | |
I never understand why there so many complaints when a puzzle is tricky! We are obviously all very different 😂 I found it challenging and never did work out LOI OBVERSE – thanks for explanation RT. I initially had contrabanding too, but it just didn’t parse so I went back and luckily saw ‘contrast’ for ‘difference’. I’d not heard of TATTER used in the singular either but I just assumed it was something I’d not come across before rather than something that shouldn’t be in the crossword at all… As for MILLET, I was unsure of the painter but knew millet = grass. I’ve now had a look at some of his paintings and would hopefully remember his name. I for one enjoyed learning some new stuff 😁 COD MODISH. Thanks Izetti.
DNF. Threw in the towel at 25 minutes with CONTRABANDING still in place and not remotely parsed, other than “band can mean gang…”.
Thanks to Izetti and rolytoly.
My second DNF in a row which I don’t think has happened before. At my self-imposed 30 minute cut-off I was missing 21 & 22ac and 2 & 14 dn. I managed not to put contrabanding in as I couldn’t parse it but I couldn’t decide what the last two letters should be. That I was nowhere near getting 22ac didn’t help.
A bit obscure for a QC imo. Never heard of the painter, dredged corsage up from somewhere and a Merlin is hardly a well known bird of prey.
FOI – 10ac LOCUM
LOI – DNF
COD – 17ac BANANAS
Thanks to Izetti and especially to Rolytoly.
7:35
Got the grass rather than the painter. Like most people, had to change NG to ST after sorting out TATTER.
Tough but enjoyable.
Thanks all.
Dnf after 30 minutes so agree it was a tough one. But lots of fun along the way. I thought I had cracked 9d with REGRESSED – R for river and EGRESSED for having gone outside, but that gave me GARLAND instead of CORSAGE and 8a unsolved – hopeless! I don’t mind being taxed and defeated by Izetti because I do learn things: and another day will dawn!
Add my name to the list of DNFs.
I actually started rather well but then ground to a halt with the difficult ones mentioned above. Tried again this afternoon but had to start revealing answers to make any progress.
I like Izetti’s puzzles but this one was too hard for me. Well done to those who finished.
18m
Misjudged quickie again.
Meh.
DNF, only one at first cast, that’s not a quickie
Got there in about 20 minutes. I guess this qualifies as a QC since it has a smaller grid and therefore less clues and less squares to fill in than the 15×15….
LOI: CONTRABANDIST; I was sure from the start that CONTRABANDING could not be the answer – no such word basically – but wasn’t 100% sure about CONTRABANDIST since, apart from BAND, I didn’t see how it parsed; it was a bit of a biff really, but one with a better chance of being right than CONTRABANDING.
FAILED Quintagram 2/5
FAILED QC – 4 wrong/incomplete (50 mins)
FAILED 15 x 15 – got about two-thirds
2.5 hours of suffering and failure. All this had better be worth it one day because at the moment it most certainly isn’t!
No lectures please – I’m really not in the mood after that. I try so hard with these wretched puzzles and get nothing but frustration in return.
Well over 2 hours and 3 DNFs so far this week. Awful even by my miserably low standards. ☹️
Not really on my wavelength. Never heard of MILLET nor CORSAGE but should have got MODISH (put modest but knew it was dodgy)!
Could barely parse CONTRABANDIST even having read Roly’s explanation three times although I did get it right.
It was a clever puzzle but too clever for me.
Thanks Izetti and Roly. Every day’s a school day 😳
Definitely chewy, and took me just over 20 minutes. It’s a bit late (ok, it’s phenomenally late) for my croissant and coffee but they are never unwelcome. MUCK IN was new to me, and I had to convince myself that SPROG and CONTRABANDIST are proper words. Thank goodness I had TATTER already to help me avoid CONTRABANDISm. I know I’m dull today because BANANAS wasn’t a write-in. Those pesky peasants in 2A MILLET cost me quite a bit of time. Enjoyed quite a few, liked the short brat best.
Thanks to Izetti and rolytoly.
Took about 90mins over 3 sittings, used some aids but cracked it in the end, learning along the way. There was a time not too long ago where I would have not got close to finishing an Izetti. The mix of easier, moderate, and tougher workouts certainly helps me in terms of building confidence and honing my craft.
Very difficult.Only managed to get 6 or 7 clues in.The title Times Quick seems to be misleading to intermediate beginners like myself.