Times Quick Cryptic No 49 by Izetti

Posted on Categories Quick Cryptic
We are nearly at the half century of puzzles in the series; it’ll soon be time for the Times Book of Quick Cryptics, no doubt. And of course, today’s will be in there. The Don is here with a puzzle very much aimed at the entry level solvers. Nice friendly clues and nothing too demanding – everything a quick cryptic should be.

Solving time was at the quicker end of things of course, but with these puzzles I do feel we shoudln’t be concentrating on them. At the London knees-up yesterday, I did mention that it troubles me sometimes to see the quicker times published by the experienced solvers. After all, this is not aimed at you guys, but at the newbies of the solving world. Anyway, this should please all the newer solvers and it’s thanks to the Don for this challenge.

Across
1 DOWN – We start with a double definition clue. The name of a county in Northern ireland means the same as to be depressed or unhappy.
3 OBJECTS – Another two definitions with nice surface reading. If someone expresses disapproval about something, they do this and a description of items that are as described may be this.
8 CONGRATULATED – The first anagram of the day, indicated by ‘surprisingly’. An anagram of A GOD RELUCTANT gives a word meaning ‘to be praised’.
9 TAU – Greek character in a clue invariably means it’s a letter of their alphabet, and here is the case, the 19th to be precise. It’s also 3/4 of a word meaning tense or tight.
10 RABBI – A hidden answer. Inside the phrase ‘DRAB BISTRO’ goes the name for a teacher within one of the world’s religions.
12 TASTING – The name for the sort of event at your local wine circle is made up by what you mean when you say ‘cheers’ and a word meaning smart in the painful sense.
14 LINOCUT – A type of artistic design is revealed by making an anagram (unusual) of TUNIC, OLD with the last letter removed (the edge worn away).
15 ANGER – Something that means fury is another word for fisherman, minus L (line blocked off).
17 ALE – Another decapitated word clue. Something you consume in a pub is the name of a drink that is rather light in colour, minus it’s first letter (lacking a head).
20 POLICE STATION – Probably the clue that made me smile most today. This is a type of clue known as an ‘all-in-one’ or to give it a technical name , an ‘and lit’ clue, where the whole clue provides both the definition and indication. Hence, where you could find cops in a toilet is an anagram of the phrase (possibly is the indicator).
21 RAW DEAL – A phrase that refers to unfair teatment of someone can be broked down into two words, the first meaning unseasoned, or uncooked and the second a type of wood.
22 BETA – Another Greek character makes an appearance! This time it’s a word that means to help (think of the phrase ‘aid and ____’) with the first letter moved to the end.

Down
1 DOCTORAL – One of the more obscure words in today’s puzzle, though hardly as such.A description of what an honoroary degreee is in relation to what it awards it’s recipient is an anagram (excited) of OLD ACTOR.
2 WIND – A double definition clue with each leading to a different pronunciation of the word. Something that means to snake or twist is also an element of weather that cannot be seen.
3 OPT OUT – An expression that means to choose not to do something can be broken up into two words of 2 and 4 letters. The first meaning work and the second a rogue trader, especially associated with tickets.
4 JULIUS CAESAR – The name of one of the most famous Roman citizens is an anagram (slack) of CASUAL JURIES.
5 CATERING – C (Conservative) + something that means circle, put together with something referring to having eaten inside it. This gives you a word for the provision of this aforesaid food.
6 SIDE – Something that a square has four of is also the name for a team.
7 ARCTIC CIRCLE – A cryptic definition for a place, north of here that is an awful lot colder than we enjoy (usually!).
11 BUNGALOW – A type of dwelling is revealed by taking the slang name for a bribe (especially in football) and adding A and an adjective meaning menial.
13 GARDENIA – A type of shrub is revelaed by taking where you plant them and adding I (one) and A.
15 TASSEL – A type of ornamental decoration is an anagram (fancy) of SLATES. (
18 SPAR – A double definition. The name for a pole or length of wood is the same as a verb meaning to box.
19 NICE – We conclude today with a fairly old chestnut. The name for a place in the South of France is also a word meaning pleasant. And a cocnut-topped biscuit!

Thanks again to the setter, and I shall be back at the weekend with a review of a recent Jumbo puzzle!

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

  1. I had a bad feeling about this one at first, as nothing seemed to click until I came to RABBI. But I got there in the end, although 11d went in on checkers and definition, as I didn’t know ‘bung’ in that sense. 4d is worth noting for its anagram indicator; setters can be fairly loose with them. Liked 20ac. 7:45.(Me, I wanted to know the times of the experienced solvers when I first started looking at this blog; I’d be curious to know if newcomers here are put off by seeing them.)
  2. 15 minutes and, like Kevin, I had problems getting started until I spotted the RABBI hiding at 10ac. I also lost time at the end, for some reason thinking ‘Germania’ might be the name of a plant.

    I sincerely hope we’re not planning to prohibit ‘experienced’ solvers from giving their solving times in case it discourages newcomers as that would rather defeat the object of this forum. It’s useful to have a target to aim for if one is that way inclined, and if not, then simply enjoy solving the puzzles without worrying what others are achieving.

    Does it discourage me when I have struggled to complete a 15×15 within an hour to come here and read that Tony S (for example) solved it, tired out after an exhausting day, in 5:21 and is disappointed with his performance? Not a bit of it! Those who are not interested in competing can simply ignore solving times, but if one wants to join in the fun, then find another contributor or contributors whose times are nearer to one’s own and use their results as a yardstick.

    If it’s of any interest, my average time for completing Quickies to date is 13:42. Not brilliant for someone who has been solving cryptics for many a decade and blogging the Times for nearly 7 years.

    Edited at 2014-05-15 05:55 am (UTC)

  3. Doing the crossword very early (for me anyway) while having a lie-in at a hotel in Cambridge and the Times pushed under the door.

    Like the two other early birds, took a little time to get going, but then worked through it steadily. I do the larger version, but don’t often finish without a cheat here and there – a lack of obscure GK lets me down. So I’m enjoying these quickies. Usually we’ll constructed, but very approachable. Congrats to the setters.

    I’m with Jackkt on times. I’m not really that interested in my time, as I usually do the crosswords in patches over the day. But I do enjoy seeing how the better solvers work things out, and enjoy the blogs.

    Nigel from Surrey

  4. Not heard of linocut so that took some working out and didn’t get 1ac for ages which made it an interesting challenge to get COD Wind. It’s harder to get double definitions which are pronounced differently and wind being hard to see was great.
    As for times – mine today was 14 minutes. We had a debate about showing whether the Quickie was easy/hard/fiendish ala sudoku and my conclusion was that only the times of regular contributors can give that indication for a crossword. As such, I give my time for the assistance of newer solvers – and hadn’t even thought that people of the 15×15 variety would be giving theirs for any other reason.
  5. 4 mins. Interesting comments about whether or not the more experienced solvers should be showing their times. As I’ve said before I was in awe of some of times being posted when I first found this site, but that didn’t put me off, and in fact it had the effect of making me determined to try and get as fast I possibly could. I remember that Peter Biddlecombe would often post incredible times but admit that he hadn’t bothered to parse all of the answers, and if that approach was good enough for him ………. Back in the early days of my solving I would very rarely complete a puzzle without resorting to aids, and it was only by reading the blogs that I became more comfortable with trusting the wordplay to find answers that I didn’t know. Anyway, back to this one, BUNGALOW was my LOI after RAW DEAL. I agree that the DD for 2dn was cunning because of the different pronunciation of the two meanings.
  6. An early start on the puzzle today and it was one of my quickest finishes. Perhaps I think better earlier in the day. Also my first time solving using my 7″ tablet. I tried yesterday using a PC but didn’t like it. The tablet was much better even though the letters sometimes seemed to get “stuck” – is that normal? I’d be interested to hear how other people do the puzzles? Pencil, biro, PC, iPad, 7,8 or 10″ tablet?

    Yesterday’s puzzle was hard for me whereas today’s was just lovely – hard enough to make me think but accessible enough to make it enjoyable. I couldn’t tell you how long it took because I do it in several sittings. I can perfectly understand why some of you post your (unimaginably short) times but it can be just a bit frustrating and off-putting when us newbies are happy to just get a few clues right, let alone finish the whole puzzle.

    Finally I’d like to congratulate today’s blogger on especially clear explanations of the answers. Sometimes, particularly with the very brief but elegant-looking explanations, I’m barely any wiser after I’ve read them! Today’s were really helpful wordy explanations perfectly aimed at the bumbling but ambitious newbie ie. me!

    1. Don’t ever be afraid to ask if there’s something you still don’t understand after reading a blog. It’s not possible to cover every angle and most of us are available for supplementaries later in the day – or another contributor will jump in to assist. I see blogs as a starting point for discussions rather than the be all and end all. Not taking anything away from macavitiy’s excellent blog of course, nor your praise of it.
    2. The on-screen touch keyboard isn’t brilliant. Technically speaking I think the developers have coded their own rather than using the one built into the device operating system. As a result, unless you tap very precisely, it sometimes interprets a slight finger move as a request to scroll the web page instead of a “key press” and the letter doesn’t go in. Personally I find it very frustrating indeed.

      I mostly use an iPad, occasionally a Mac but that is only because there isn’t a print button. Call me a luddite but I prefer to use paper and a fountain pen or pencil. I can rarely do anagrams without writing the letters down randomly on a piece of paper.

      Like jackkt said, always ask if you don’t get something in a blog. I often get more from the discussion about a point of confusion than I do from the solution explanation itself.

      1. Yes I noticed they didn’t use the device’s default keyboard — and why no spacebar? I think the poor performance must be because the key presses are not handled locally by the device itself. Rather, the keypress must be sent through cyberspace directly to the Times Crossword Application which then sends back a message telling the device what to write on the screen. It all feels a bit clunky but I can put up with it as it meant I could do the crossword this morning without even having to get out of bed and get the paper!!

        Wrt anagrams, yes I have to write them down too. And I’m sorry I forgot fountain pens. I still prefer paper and personally like a nice smooth propelling pencil and the 0.7mm Faber Castell’s SuDoku pencil with the extra-long eraser is my favourite.

        1. Haha, I’m a fan of the Grip Plus too especially when loaded with B grade Uni Nano Dia leads.
        2. I favour Papermate Mechanical Pencils (labelled Non-Stop & Porte-Mine). They are disposable and come in packs of 10 for only a couple of pounds. The built-in rubbers are smooth clean and efficient. Absolutely perfect for Sudoku (I only do Killers) or Crosswords.
  7. Thought I’d done OK on this, with fairly straightforward and rapid solve, but then found to my chagrin that I’d got 22ac wrong (had Zeta rather than Beta). Had gone down the Beta road but for some reason missed the (obvious when it’s explained) parsing – and got carried away with “first to last” being something around A to Z. Sloppy!

    Thought “cops in a toilet” was an absolute cracker of an anagram.

    Thanks for an excellent blog macavity. Personally I can take or leave completion times. I love the process and challenge of doing the puzzles, and the transportation to another world far away from managing 40 half-crazed engineers that is my means of earning a crust. I don’t aspire to being a speedster – the journey is everything, the time in transit irrelevant.

    That said, the times logged by regulars are a good indicator of relative degree of difficulty, which can be a useful way of monitoring progress. They are certainly not intimidating (otherwise I’d have given up golf years ago when seeing scorecards of guys getting round in 3 over par!)

  8. Must be dense today, got everything including beta as a guess but still don’t understand the parsing here, help I’m really stupid.
  9. I’ve been doing this crossword for about 3 weeks now never having done cryptic crosswords before. My average time is about 2 hours 🙂 seeing the times of the experienced solvers doesn’t put me off, it just gives me something to aim for (granted, I can see it taking me quite some time to get there!)

    As a general comment, I find this blog invaluable especially when I’m fairly certain I’ve got the answer but haven’t a clue why. Thanks for the clear explanations – I don’t kick myself as often as I used to so I think I’m improving.

  10. Thanks, Macavity, super blog!
    I occasionally feel overawed by the ‘experts’ solving times but it’s not a deterrent.
    Satisfying crossword today, thanks Signor Don(izetti) – nice one, Macavity!
    LOI 2 dn clueing a tad iffy there, IMHNO. 20 ac was my COD – had me in stitches!

    Edited at 2014-05-15 02:58 pm (UTC)

  11. 11 minutes for me, which used to be 30 or more just a few weeks ago……the times do give something to aim at, so I have no objection at all. LOI BETA, but I too was considering Zeta and didn’t see the parsing so just luck!
  12. Izetti certainly sets some cracking puzzles. Quick for me today at 15 minutes. Stand out clues today were the anagrams at 4d (clever) and 20a (witty).

    I toyed with zeta before seeing how the clue worked. Last ones in were OPT OUT and OBJECTS.

  13. For some reason I found today’s a lot trickier than recent quick cryptics. No idea why!
    As a newbie I don’t really mind the times, but I do think it means people with longer times are reluctant to post their times. This means I never see anyone getting comparable times to me and so sometimes just feel slightly thick…
  14. Love this blog. I realize I am more than 3 years late to the party but I’m currently working my way through The Times QCC Book 1.

    This was one of the easiest for me. Probably took 15 minutes. The last Izetti one I did was the devil yet the one before that was one of the first I’ve ever completed unaided. Clearly they aren’t published in the book in the order they appeared. I wonder why?

    Anyway, what prompted me to finally comment: the puzzle in the book is identical to the one that you all completed, except for one clue. 1ac in the book is “Girl’s start to the day (4)” and the answer is DAWN. I see here that it was something different. Any idea why they would change it?

    Well, keep up the great blog!

    Berry

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