Times Quick Cryptic No 678 by Izetti

Author   rolytolyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Another lovely puzzle from Izetti. Probably around par in terms of difficulty for this setter – I took a notch over 14 mins. I was delayed a bit by the NW, having a mental block at 1ac, 1d and 8ac, and falling for a bit of misdirection at 2d (and, less forgivably, 3d). Lots of very nice clues, my favourite being 11d for its double clueing potential, one of which provided an excellent all-in-one surface reading. I was also glad to learn the origin of 13ac: there’s some old folk etymology involving bells and graveyards and premature burials which I knew was nonsense, without knowing what it did come from. Anyway, all very enjoyable, definitions underlined, an many thanks to Izetti.

Across
1 Cumbrian lad as street trader
BARROW-BOY: A lad from Cumbria could be a boy from Barrow[-in-Furness].
6 Vessel overturns in this vehicle
BUS: SUB (vessel) overturns (or reverses). It would have been ambiguous had the clue read “Vessel overturns vehicle”, but the linkwords “in this” give distance between the overturning device and the definition to make it (fairly) clear which one reverses.
8 Policeman no longer operating — possibly hazard on road, right?
OFFICER: OFF (no longer operating) ICE (possibly hazard on road), R (right). Easy when you see it.
9 Little man introducing party music
RONDO: RON (little man – as in short for Ronald) DO (party).
10 Danger: foe set to move — go slow deliberately
DRAG ONES FEET: anagram (to move) of DANGER FOE SET.
12 Company admits a wicked activity in entertainment centre
CASINO: Co. (Company) admits A SIN (a wicked activity).
13 One in church tower who looks like someone else?
RINGER: double definition. For the first, it can either be the mechanism or the person causing the bell to ring. The second is more often known as “dead ringer”, with “dead” meaning “exact”, and a ringer originally (19C, US) being a horse substituted for another in a race to defraud a bookie, although the verb “to ring” meaning to substitute fraudulently was a good bit earlier.
16 Experts making terrible noise scorn us
CONNOISSEURS: Anagram (terrible) of NOISE SCORN US.
19 Haughty and heartless pair, couple making comeback
PROUD: PR (heartless pair – i.e., P[ai]R losing its centre letters); OUD = DUO reversing (making comeback).
20 It helps electrical engineers as a rule
OHM’S LAW: A straight, semi-cryptic definition, this clue, as far as I can work out. Further insights are welcome!
22 Unending row creating obligation
TIE: TIER = row, TIE[r] = row, unending. I’d happily bunged in DUE until 12d reared its head, but can a duel be called a row? It’s a bit loose.
23 Explanation making a relation look silly
RATIONALE:  anagram (look silly) of A RELATION.

Down
1 Blemish of British group
BLOT: B(ritish) LOT (group). I couldn’t get boil out of my head – to oil together, to group together? No, that is nonsense.
2 Changes in classes taking Religious Education
REFORMS: R.E. forms could be classes taking R.E. I kept thinking “classes” going around (or taking) RE, to give a _RES ending.
3 Soldiers caught a monster
ORC: O.R. (Soldiers – Other Ranks) C (caught). I was sure the “a” was caught, and so debated RAE, OAR, and the fearsome TAA as possible monsters.
4 Doing work with a drill is dull
BORING: double definition.
5 Rosy hiker wandering around northern county
YORKSHIRE: anagram (wandering) of ROSY HIKER.
6 Some grabbing edibles eat too much
BINGE: “Some” means it’s hidden in some of the letters of grabBING Edibles.
7 One speaking a lot has ridiculous posture
SPOUTER: anagram (ridiculous) of POSTURE. Reminded me of George Osborne’s wide-legged stance, which unbelivably was deemed to be suitably indicative of power to be copied by others.
11 Explosive power dung could provide!
GUNPOWDER: anagram of POWER DUNG. There two ways of reading this clue: the first it that the anagram is indicated by “could provide”; the second is the anagram indicator being “explosive”, giving an all-in-one clue, as you can indeed make gunpowder from dung. I much prefer the latter, and love the clue.
12 Conservative to pick out — there’s a place for a high-flyer
COCKPIT: C(onservative), and an anagram (“out”) of TO PICK. As i had “Due” bunged in for 22ac, and thus C_C_P_D, the definition made me briefly consider the ill-sounding “cockpad”.
14 Travel with artist carrying sick animal
GORILLA: GO (travel) with R.A. (artist – Royal Academician) holding / carrying ILL (sick).
15 Bodyguard, Eastern type protecting China’s leader
ESCORT:  E. SORT (Eastern type) protects / covers C (China’s leader)
17 Loop or ring inserted into part of face
NOOSE: O (ring) inserted into NOSE (part of face).
18 Ultimate character in ballet — small and too sentimental
TWEE: T (Ultimate character in ballet), WEE (small).
21 Sound of animal in desolate place with no river
MOO: Moor (desolate place – lose the R for river).

24 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 678 by Izetti”

  1. 38.44 today.

    Took a while to get my last 3:
    2d reforms because I was looking for a word for classes with RE inside (taking).
    For 13a ringer, I thought it was “I” inside a church spire or similar.
    And for 14d, I forgot travel was go and I put RA together at first.

    It took a few minutes to work out the parsing of boring = drilling

    Good puzzle, thanks.

  2. I distinctly recall a sense of slogging through this, but now can’t remember anything that stood out for its difficulty. 1ac may have been my LOI, as I had no idea where Barrow was (barely know where Cumbria is). GUNPOWDER is lovely. 7:25.
    1. Very good. Had totally missed that – thanks for raising. I shall try to be on the alert next time!
    2. The Times crossword editor has now confirmed that “Alfie” has previously set puzzles as “Noel”. I make that only twice, first rather fittingly on Christmas Day 2014 and then again in July 2015.

      The editor added that other setters sometimes use different pseudonyms!

      Edited at 2016-10-13 10:02 am (UTC)

      2. I seem to remember that the Xmas Noel puzzle was a near pangram without an L hence NO-EL, and now Alfie. Wonderful! What next?
        Brian
        1. I was tied up on Tuesday and didn’t get do any crossword – annoyed I missed it now (although I would doubtless have missed it). Love the No-el as well.
  4. An excellent puzzle from Izetti (as per) for which I just scraped home about 30 seconds under my target time (10 minutes). We had GUNPOWDER as a type of tea only two day’s ago (Alfie’s puzzle again!)

    Thanks to Roly too.

  5. 14 minutes being held up in SE mainly due to 20ac. Fascinating blogging for 13ac (thank you) which led me to check why the substitute horse was called a ringer. Whilst it may have been used earlier to mean ‘to substitute fraudulently’ as mentioned – I find it an interesting coincidence that the ring means the bookmakers – collectively – in one of the enclosures. I’m not sure which came first the cart, horse or bookies.
    1. I really like the coincidence – I’ve never heard of the ring for the bookmakers… I think the time is ripe for a fiendishly convoluted homage to The Sting called, er, The Ring.
  6. Steady solve for me – done in 12 mins including a break for a short phone call. Also interested in the parsing of 20a
  7. I was ready to call this a day with 1ac, 2dn and 3ac causing me all sorts of problems. Then the penny finally dropped with 2dn starting with RE and not surrounding it, and I remembered places in Cumbria. Like the blogger, I also put in DUE for 22ac. So glad I stuck with this to the end.
  8. As usual with Izetti I found this an enjoyable challenge. Got off to a flier with 1a, 3,4 and 5d going straight in but the rest proved a bit trickier. Was helped by the semmingly large number of anagrams which provided a lot of checkers. Not heard of 9a (LOI) or 20 a before but I thought they were fairly clued. Completed in 19 minutes.
    Thanks for the blog and the heads up about Alfie’s puzzle – would never have noticed that myself.
  9. It took me a short while to get started as all the clues in the NW required a second look.There were some easy clues like 5d but others needed hard work. I finished in 23 minutes.
    My last two were 15d and 20a. I needed 15d to convince that Ohms Law must be right- this was vaguely remembered from school. I think some solvers might have needed more help with this.
    As always an enjoyable challenge from Izetti. Favourite 12d. David
  10. I too found this a typical Izetti. Fairly straightforward and then a few clues out of left field. Ohm’s Law took me back 50 years to O levels. Never thought of a rondo as party music, I always thought that it was a musical theme that recurred (ie went round) throughout a longer piece. Overall, as always with Izetti, a good challenge.
    Oh, and thanks for the update on Alfie. Hadn’t noticed that. An impressive piece of cluing.
    PlayupPompey
    1. You’re better than dictionary perfect with your description of the rondo – I looked it up for the blog (despite practising the Turkish Rondo to death for grade 6 piano in my youth). I so often fall for the same mistake you made – it wasn’t party music: party = do, and music by itself = rondo.
  11. Surprised myself by writing 1ac straight in – the benefit of several working life trips to VSEL in Barrow – but sone of the others were a little harder to come by ! Ran out around 45 mins, which I consider ok for Izetti. I think 12d was my favourite today – fiendish and easy at the same time. Invariant
  12. I really enjoyed this crossword – getting Ohms Law instantly. I was pleased that we (my wife and I) completed it in three minutes under our target time of nine hours.
  13. I usually shudder when Izzeti appears and first read through was certainly discouraging. Eventually did manage to kick off with 1a and that provided 1d 3d 4d and 5d, and then it didn’t seem so daunting. I deduced 19a with the reverse DUO but only thanks to the blog realised how easy the PR was. Again, I see several answers that have appeared here before. Managed to complete this one in the end. Thought 15d ESCORT a bit contrived but an enjoyable puzzle.
  14. Our target time is lunch and supper combined! We usually manage it but this is the first this week when we didn’t need a bit of help.
  15. Our target time is lunch and supper combined! We usually manage it but this is the first this week when we didn’t need a bit of help.
  16. I was thinking ‘Boil’ too…but…my mind kept saying…’A boil is much more than a blemish’ having had one or two!

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