Times Quick Cryptic No 628 by Izetti

Another lovely puzzle from Izetti, this. Unfortunately I made a complete hash of it: two non-entries and what turned out to be a mistake after 20 minutes. “Putech” for 1ac definitely didn’t look like a word, so I didn’t put it in, although I was convinced there was no other way to parse it. The correct answer is rather more recognisable, but I thought it was one of those satisfying Yiddish words for idiot. There’s evidently been a putsch in my memory banks and a power-hungry putz has made a puppet of it. Remaining convinced in the face of all the evidence is a fairly good yardstick for idiocy, while we’re on the subject, which in this instance was never questioning that the first letter of “shake” is “e”.

For 19ac I had a plausible answer, but no sensible parsing. “Got to” for “annoyed” was fair enough, clued by “go” for “journey”, and TTO for rubbish: “Total Tripe, Ok?”, perhaps, or something more convoluted, like “over the top, completely backwards”, both of which are indeed rubbish. The reason for this dead-end was a confidently bunged-in mistake at 16d. I should have questioned “to rest” as an answer for “still”, but the parsing was sound enough: “minimal runs in match” could only be “0 r” in “test”, right? Anyway, add a couple of very well hidden-in-the-letters clues, one of which contributed to the tricky SW corner and you have a thoroughly enjoyable challenge – many thanks to Izetti.

Across
1	Coup in place beginning to shake church PUTSCH: PUT (place), S (beginning to shake), CH (church).
4	Stroll as monarch preceded by symbol of authority WANDER: ER (monarch) preceded by WAND (symbol of authority).
8	Aimed to be instructed TRAINED: double definition.
10	Unsophisticated arts graduates in charge BASIC: BAs (Arts graduates), IC (in charge)
11	Good ramble in wood GROVE: G (good), ROVE (ramble). A glade is not a wood and a lade is not a ramble.
12	Old soldier supine ultimately in tavern, drunk VETERAN: E (supine ultimately) in anagram (drunk) of TAVERN.
13	Put an end to denials if rumbled FINALISED: anagram (rumbled) of DENIALS IF.
17	Like product stocked by shop — or coming soon? IN STORE: double definition.
19	Annoyed when there’s rubbish at end of journey GOT AT: TAT (rubbish) at end of GO (journey)
20	Winter season, not entirely short TERSE: hidden (not entirely) in winTER SEason. Very well hidden, rather – LOI.
21	Silly butler has squashed egg — bother! TROUBLE: anagram (silly) of BUTLER, goes around (squashes) O (egg).
22	Agent set for second match REPLAY: REP (agent), LAY (set).
23	The Parisian shelter out of sight LATENT: LA (the, in French), TENT (shelter).

Down
1	Kitchen container to get old soup POTAGE: POT (kitchen container), AGE (get old).
2	Severely criticise what buyer of multiple raffle tickets may do TEAR OFF A STRIP: double definition, second one semi-cryptic.
3	Anxiety in business CONCERN: another double definition.
5	Scope rather restricts maiden AMBIT: A BIT (rather) restricts M (maiden).
6	Shameful rebel is addict on the rampage DISCREDITABLE: anagram (on the rampage) of REBEL IS ADDICT.
7	New army corps with a bit of money RECENT: RE (royal engineers = army corps) with CENT (a bit of money).
9	Mischief and evil men therefore conceal DEVILMENT: concealed, with devilment, in the letters of anD EVIL MEN Therefore.
14	Notice gold on a lady in Italy SIGNORA: SIGN (notice), OR (gold), A.
15	Very cold beer BITTER: double definition. Of the few I managed to get correct, this was my 2nd-LOI, and a lovely clue it is too.
16	Minimal runs in an international match, still AT REST: R (“minimal” runs) goes in A TEST (an international match).
18	British honour, say, bestowed upon a Greek character OMEGA: OM (order of merit = British honour), e.g. (say), on A.

14 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 628 by Izetti”

As usual from Izetti fair and at the trickier end of the scale with the odd red herring thrown in. I nearly fell into the same traps as the blogger. COD 19a for having at least 3 potential misdirections, annoyed, rubbish and journey all possible anagram indicators and does the answer contain a Y from end of journey?. Thanks blogger and setter.

Fairly tricky today. I spent a lot of time trying to think of Italian places that fit 14dn. Also struggled with 1ac,5 dn & COD 19ac.

9.23 for a fairly simple task.

15dn BITTER happily reminded me of Frankie Howerd!

horryd Shanghai

9 minutes. 19ac might have been tricky to solve cold but fortunately I already had all its checkers in place when I read it for the first time.

I’m glad others struggled with this – I thought it was my early-morning befuddled brain that was giving me difficulty with the slowest time of the week by far. A tricky 20a and an ingenious 1a were my LOI.

A very good struggle today, 16′, much spent on 4ac. At 1d I am more familiar with the biblical spelling POTTAGE, and 15d caused a brain freeze. Thanks roly and Izetti.

Found this quite straightforward, but then spent almost 10 minutes puzzling over 15d / 20a combination.

Very enjoyable, thanks blogger and setter.

I found this was typical Izetti fare, it made me think a lot but all were gettable from the clueing. It eventually took me 24 minutes with the last couple of those spent on my LOI 16d – I was torn between ‘at best’ for the definition of minimal and ‘at rest’ for still. Fortunately the r from runs allowed me to go for the correct answer. Lots of excellent clues but my favourite today was 23a.

Oddly enough, despite some of the other comments this proved a fairly average solve for me. Steady rather than quick. Thought 15d was a very neat clue.
PlayupPompey

This was a really enjoyable 20 minutes – a bit longer than I like to be but for a tricky one I was happy with my time. Held up by 1 down initially as I spell it with two Ts. I thought the hidden at 9 down was beautifully concealed and it was only as I was trying to select letters for an anagram that I saw it sneaking there. Many thanks to blogger and setter.

I too found this tough and enjoyable. LOI was 11a; nearly put Groam relying on the remote possibility of an unknown wood.
The NW corner was where I struggled.
Favourite 15d -Bitter, so obvious …afterwards. Thanks to all. David

Not helped by several interruptions, but I doubt this was ever going to be a fast time. Some very nice clues across the board, including 9d, which I didn’t even spot until I read the blog ! Invariant

Tricky but eventually completed after much puzzling. The SE was my problem. Probably about 2 hours – if that’s any encouragement to anyone! Worth a stiff drink as a reward before bed. Cheers to Izetti and our blogger too.

Always pleased to finish an Izetti – time irrelevant (to me). Too often I’ve had 2 or 3 irritating gaps for a DNF! Pam

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