Times Quick Cryptic No 423 by Izetti – Anagrammadon

Author   macavity123Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Morning all

It’s a gloomy Thursday here, the dog is curled up at my feet and the cat in front of the monitor and plonked on the keyboard, so apologies for any odd typos that appear.

The Don is with us today with a nice puzzle that seems to contain an awful lot of anagrams. I have had a bit of trouble with 12 down as I couldn’t square off part of the clue (see below) and I guess it will cause the newer solvers a bit of trouble, if it troubled an old fart like me. The answer is reasonably accessible, but the definition in the first part just doesn’t click with me. Maybe I have my dense head on this morning.

ACROSS
1 RESISTED – We start with a container clue. RESTED (was still) goes around (protecting) IS (island) with the remainder of the clue the definition.
5 STAT – Hidden (to conceal) inside ‘latest attempt’ is a word for a little piece of trivia.
8 CAMEL – A Wordsum. Arrived (CAME) + L (lake) = the name of an animal.
9 OFFHAND – And another OFF (just leaving) + HAND (worker) = lacking courtesy.
11 PERSECUTION – An anagram. ERIC SET UPON with suffering as the indicator gives a word meaning being put upon for religious reasons.
13 GERMAN _ This might be troublesome for some as well. GERMAN(E) – concise, to the point minus its last letter (briefly) gives the name of a European.
14 STATUE – Work of sculpture is the definition, STATE (say) around U (university).
16 SHAKESPEARE – A nice clue. The name of a famous writer is an anagram of SEEK A PHRASE.
18 EMERSON – The name of an (arguably) slightly less famous writer is an anagram of ME SNORE. Another clue to make you smile.
19 IVORY – Stuff that’s hard is the definition. OR (yellow, gold) inside IVY (plant)
20 LATE – This is quite a clever clue. It’s a sort of hidden answer, but the indicator suggests removing the outer letters. (PUPI)L AT E(TON).
21 MEANNESS – Lack of generosity is the definition. ANNE (Queen) inside MESS (muddle).

DOWN
1 ROCK – Double definition. A solid item or to sway back and forth.
2 SEMI-PERMANENT The explanation of this held me up longer than it should have done. I put the answer in from checkers and when I went back to it, thought it was an anagram of LONG-TERM PRIEST, which of course is complete rubbish. Long-term is the definition and it’s an unusual anagram where the words to be jumbled PRIEST and MEAN MEN are around the anagram indicator ‘working with’. Clever.
3 SOLAR PANELS An energy saving device is an anagram (excited) of A PERSON’S ALL.
4 EVOKES – One of the Don’s hallmarks is including a bit of religion to bash us heathens (after all, he does edit the Church Times Crossword, available on line if you want more!) and here’s today’s. EVE’S (The lady from the Garden of Eden’s) with OK (all right) inside (trapped).
6 TOAD IN THE HOLE – The name of a hot dish is an anagram (about) of I HAD HOTEL NOTE.
7 TV DINNERS – A cryptic definition, referring to food that was easy to prepare and could be eaten in front of the television, as opposed to at the table. Surprised PC dinners hasn’t taken off as a phrase.
10 FRUSTRATION – A wordsum. F (female) + RUST (dull) + RATION (part) = irritation at being thwarted.
12 EGGSHELL – And another wordsum. EGGS (Mine’s) + HELL (awful place) = something that is cracked with a spoon and is brittle. Can’t remember having encountered EGG = MINE but it’s a type of bond (a nickname for a hand grenade??). if you are keeping a dictionary of unusual words and meanings as I suggested a week or so ago, EGG (and OR) if you haven’t got them already, should be in there.
15 SPONGE – A double definition. The word for a scrounger and a type of cake.
17 BYES – And to finish, a double definition where one is a homophone (by the sound of it). Cricketing extras and a soundalike for purchases.

Thanks to Izetti for an enjoyable challenge. I’m off to tackle the puzzle’s bigger brother!

22 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 423 by Izetti – Anagrammadon”

  1. Too tough for me today and needed to use aids. Did not know EGG=MINE and also SEMI PERMAMENT eluded me. No complaints though with LATE my favourite.
  2. I also needed aids to finish this with 5ac and the first part of 7dn outstanding after a 15 minute solve.

    I think I have been caught out by TV as an abbreviation on a previous occasion so I only have myself to blame for that, but I take issue with 5ac which in my view has no place in a Quick Cryptic puzzle (or possibly any other) as the required meaning does not appear in any of Collins, Chambers, COED, OED, ODE, SOED or even the American dictionary.com. It’s not down to nuance of interpretation, it simply isn’t there.

    Edited at 2015-10-22 10:01 am (UTC)

    1. STAT for STATISTIC is in Chambers and STATISTIC is defined therein as a numerical fact from a table, etc. Which in popular usage might be regarded as a piece of trivia. So perfectly justifiable I think

      FGBP

      1. Well I’m glad it makes sense to you but it still doesn’t to me. That none of the above mentioned dictionaries makes any association whatever between statistics (assuming that is what STAT is referring to) and trivia says it all as far as I’m concerned. I can’t see any possible connection with ‘statim’ meaning ‘immediately’ either.

        Edited at 2015-10-22 01:54 pm (UTC)

        1. I accept it’s not perfect, but given that a) it was a hidden word and b) obscure facts and figures (stats) are sometimes regarded as trivia (eg the game Trivial Pursuits), I think this is just about ok as a clue. Invariant
        2. I agree. I got stat but think it a poor clue.

          Overall this puzzle was too difficult for me

        3. I agree. I got stat but think it a poor clue.

          Overall this puzzle was too difficult for me

  3. Oh thanks for the explanation of egg. I had buffed it as fairly obvious with the def and crossers but really had no idea why. To be a terrible pedant I think the TV dinner must be singular not plural
  4. I found this hard. I missed the TV set.. I thought that EGGS meant MiNE. Another form of EGO ME in response to QUIZ.
  5. Finally gave up after far more time spent looking at the remaining unsolved clues than I usually spend doing the whole thing. The ones which defeated me were 1a and 1d (which I should have got), 5a, 1st part of 7d and 4d (where I was trying to get Eden into the answer but forgot about the lady who lived there).
    Oh well better luck tomorrow hopefully.
  6. If you look up egg laying submarines, you will find a WW1 story that explains egg = mine in 12d. Apart from that, I thought the NE corner was quite difficult as well. Invariant
  7. I have NEVER come across – nor can I find any such definition of – ‘stat’ meaning ‘trivia’
    To my mind , ‘stat’ is an abbreviation for either ‘statistic’ or ‘statim ( the latter being Latin for ‘immediately’)
    L.
  8. Stat for trivia

    I think you could argue that this is another cricketty clue. People often talk about cricket stats and they become increasingly trivial. Eg only the second time a leg spinner has taken 0 wickets in the first innings and five in the second on his overseas debut or some such obscurity.

    Hard today.

  9. There used to be a column in one of the newspapers by someone nicknamed Statto. As I recall, this contained gambling-related sports trivia. Sports anoraks love to quite stats. This would seem to be where it comes from/
  10. I always enjoy Izetti’s puzzles and I thought I’d finished this one correctly despite some parsing problems.Eggshell has been fully discussed.I couldn’t quite resolve 10d but could see no other answer.
    I was quite happy with Stat although might have preferred it in the plural.
    My downfall I now see was 19a; I put IRONY which was a parsing problem but plant in a factory can be irony (e.g the ones being closed currently).I thought Y for yellow would probably work in Crosswordland.
    Anyway, one wrong but an enjoyable challenge as ever. David
  11. Quick this was not. The egg/german(e) crossing was tough but the stat/tv dinner crossing was left for an hour or two. Coming back to it, I finally made myself believe in stat enough in order to work hard enough on t_,d_n_e_. When I finally got it this LOI 7dn proved to be COD.
  12. The first “quick” cryptic I have not finished for weeks (maybe months). I thought I was having an off day but am glad to see I am not alone. I think 5 ac refers to sporting statistics which are often referred to as trivia but I am still not happy with it. As for EGGS meaning MINES that was completely lost on me. Hopefully tomorrow normal service will be resumed,
  13. Phew! Maybe my brain has not decayed overnight, seeing other responses here. Hardest ‘quickie’ for a while, I think. TV DINNER did for me. Must remember some abbreviations like TV and ST can come up as words. I dodn’t have a problem with STAT as a common reference to a statistic, but frowned at ‘some trivia’ as the definition.
  14. Tat for trivia, s for some= stat??
    I actually finished this one which as a novice I don’t manage very often!
  15. I did 12 down and still dont understand why iis right. Meanness was more difficult and ivory truly nasty. Am new to this and find it hard.

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