Times Quick Cryptic No 893 by Izetti

Author   TheRotterPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
A mostly excellent workout from Izetti which I predict will cause some new solvers a few problems.  I certainly struggled with some parts of this and took well over my target of 15 minutes.  There is a smattering of General Knowledge required (17a and 14d), unusual words for a crossword (e.g. 11a) and some fiddly surfaces and parsing.  However, it is all fair and above board, and for this solver at least, proved a satisfying challenge, with some additions to my (admittedly limited) knowledge.  Let’s hope that next time that perpetual canons raise their heads and sing that I’ll remember them from this outing.

CoD to 13 and WoD to INGROWING

Thanks Izetti.  Good luck Leicester City tomorrow against the Gunners.

ACROSS
1.            Walk is departing from heavenly garden (6)
PARADE – Paradise is reputed to be the Garden of Eden or Heaven.  Take out IS as instructed PARAD{is}E
4.            Material put in gap for astronaut (6)
SPACER – Double definition, the second one being a bit of a pun
8.            Vast region – it’s tricky for detectives maybe (13)
INVESTIGATORS – Anagram (indicated by ‘tricky’) of [VAST REGION IT’S]
10.          Little room with old instrument (5)
CELLO – A CELL could be a little room, with O{ld}
11.          Gosh – birds clipped animals in the paddock (3-4)
GEE-GEES – GEE is an informal interjection expressing surprise, as is gosh.  Birds clipped gives GEES{e}, clipped indicating to drop the final letter.  GEE-GEES are what a child might call horses, but is also slang for horse racing and betting, which is where you would find animals in the paddock.  This didn’t come naturally to me, but was all that I could see fitting the crossers.
12.          Nail that hurts when one old and cold enters makeshift bed (6,5)
STUDIO COUCH – STUD is a nail, OUCH is what one may say when it hurts, and I (one) O{ld} and C{old} are ‘entered’ to give the answer.  A STUDIO COUCH is a couch, often without a back, which can be converted into a bed.
16.          Good Greek character penning study about Italian food (7)
GNOCCHI – G{ood} CHI (Greek character) ‘penning’ or containing CON or study (reversed or about) to give the small dumplings often made of potatoes that are beloved by Italians.
17.          British statesman, a fool from what we hear (5)
BURKE – sounds like berk or burk (fool).  The statesman was probably Edmund BURKE from Dublin (so actually Irish), but referred to as British probably as a result of his many years in London and as a Whig member of the House of Commons. It is claimed that he was the one that said “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”.
18.          Rendering Frere Jacques say, or just messing about? (7,6)
PLAYING AROUND – I was unsure of what Frere Jacques had to do with PLAYING AROUND at first, but the answer is obvious from the definition.  I looked it up later to discover that songs like this one (Sur Le pont D’Avignon is another one) are sung ‘in the round’, where ‘round’ means a minimum of three voices singing the same words, but starting at different times.  This is also known as a perpetual canon.
19.          Adage remaining with time passing (6)
SAYING – remaining is S{t}AYING, with T{ime} omitted or passing
20.         Affair to be of consequence (6)
MATTER – Double definition

DOWN
1.            Image-promotion in church for resident at palace? (6)
PRINCE – Image promotion gives PR, IN (in) CE (church) as in C{hurch of} E{ngland}.  The question mark is to indicate that other residents of palaces are available, and PRINCE is just an example of the type.
2.            Cleric on trial you worked out to be subversive type (13)
REVOLUTIONARY – Cleric is REV{erend} with an anagram (worked out) of [ON TRIAL YOU]
3.            Party in Ireland is corrupt (5)
DISCO – hidden in {Irelan}D IS CO{rrupt}
5.            Location upset old boy – it’s of no medical benefit (7)
PLACEBO – Location gives PLACE and O{ld} B{oy} is ‘upset’ or overturned.
6.            Like some television critic could see, endlessly rattled (6-7)
CLOSED-CIRCUIT – For some reason it took me a long time to twig this, partly because I struggled with the surface.  This turns out to be a straight-forward anagram, indicated by ‘rattled’, of [CRITIC COULD SE{e}], with the last letter of ‘see’ dropped (endlessly).  Doh!
7.           Hold out against dire sister to some extent (6)
RESIST – Hidden answer in {di}RE SIST{er} (to some extent)
9.            One no good using an oar may be getting under one’s skin (9)
INGROWING – I (one) N{o} G{ood} and ROWING (using an oar)
13.          Speech words to be taken down?  No ta! (7)
DICTION – Words to be taken down could be dictation.  No ta means miss out the TA to give DIC{ta}TION
14.          Religious meals Georgia served up with mushy peas (6)
AGAPES – I had never heard of AGAPES, which are a feast in token of such love as that shown by early Christians, when contributions were made for the poor.  However, ignorance proved no block as the answer obviously results from GA (Georgia), reversed (served up) with an anagram of [PEAS].
15.          Boss in newspaper article (6)
LEADER – another double definition
17.          Rumba dancing in what is now Myanmar (5)
BURMA – Anagram of [RUMBA] (dancing) to give the former name of the state now known as Myanmar

22 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 893 by Izetti”

  1. I found this on the tricky side too. It took me 14:15 to complete. FOI was PARADE and LOI SPACER. I was mainly held up by the long anagrams as I didn’t resort to pen and paper, but waited for crossers to give me inspiration. AGAPES was a word that rang a bell, but I couldn’t have given its meaning. I’d thought of SPACER early on but failed to lift and separate to get to the proper parsing, and was trying to fit material into a gap. Getting the CCTV finally convinced me, and I belatedly saw the parsing. A well crafted puzzle. Thanks Izetti and Rotter.
  2. 13 minutes for this harder than average offering. Very good and very fair though. I liked PLAYING AROUND

    Edited at 2017-08-10 12:13 am (UTC)

    1. Sorry Jack, I was editing – I had line spacing issues again and I think you saw an early verson. Hopefully it is OK for everyone now.
      1. No problem, old bean. I removed my comment about the lack of clue numbers when I saw it had been corrected.

        Now that I’m using a proper keyboard (I was on my tablet when I posted above) I’d add that I thought AGAPE(S) was going it a bit for a Quickie especially as the meaning required here (religious meal) is secondary in Collins (to Christian love) and doesn’t appear at all in Chambers on-line (although it’s tucked away in the printed edition). It has come up only once in the main puzzle in the past 10 years (in the singular then, and defined as ‘love for Christians’). The only other occurrence, again in the singular, was as part of the wordplay in a puzzle from 2012 by the same setter, defined as ‘feast’, but that was Mephisto level where its presence would not have been out of place like it is today.

        Edited at 2017-08-10 04:13 am (UTC)

  3. An hour, thought it was too hard.

    Had to go back to understand how to parse 4a, 2d, 13d and 6d.

    Still not convinced about playing around.

    Also thought 11a, 12a and 6d hard.

    dnk agapes or Burke but I’ll give COD to Burke.

    Edited at 2017-08-10 05:41 am (UTC)

    1. To play a round means you are either playing golf, or generally messing about, or in this case, singing (or playing) a perpetual canon like Frere Jacques
      2. It did occur to me later, after I praised the clue in my first comment, that a round as far as I’m aware is always sung and unaccompanied, so ‘play’ is perhaps not exactly appropriate, unless one is thinking of playing a recording of people singing a round. A ‘canon’ on the hand is very likely to be an instrumental piece, the most famously popular these days being the one by Pachelbel.
  4. I put in AGAPES but it could have been AGEPAS as I didn’t know the word. Poor clue.
      1. A nice alternative, but surely the only fair complaint about the original is that the answer may be too obscure. For once in life an education of sorts in classics comes to the rescue, agape being the Greek word for love. DM
        1. Yes; never knew the meal, but have known the more mainstream(!) “love” meaning since a discussion of eros versus agape in a Heinlein novel, since reinforced a bit by learning some modern Greek, as my parents live in Crete…

          Not exactly a classical education, but it got me there, even as my LOI.

          All done in 20, partly distracted by canteen conversations at work, so not too tough, but I agree there’s a rock or two to run a beginner aground here.

  5. DNK 14dn AGAPES LOI 15dn LEADER as I thought (mistakenly) it was initially HEADER.

    COD 11ac GEE-GEES. WOD BURKE

    I always feel one gets one’s money’s worth with the tireless Mr. Rotter!

    Edited at 2017-08-10 10:02 am (UTC)

  6. Just scraped in under a hour, and almost gave up on a couple of occasions. As I couldn’t get 12a and 6d for ages I was very held up on the RHS. Some very tricky clues today and I, like others, did not know Agapes.
  7. It felt like there were a lot of unknowns today, 12a, 14d, 4a and the 1st definition in 18a, making this a tough challenge. I was also slow to see the anagram in 6d and 11a (LOI & COD) had me baffled for a while.
    No time today as it took me three sittings. Thanks for the very thorough blog rotter
  8. Two sittings and at least an hours effort before falling at the last – 17ac. I knew of Burke and metaphorically joined him by being fixated on Barmé. . . I had playing truant for a long time as well. I’m not having a good week. Invariant
  9. My first DNF for a quickie in ages – didn’t get/know BURKE and biffed AGEPAS. the long clues gave a way in but this was definitely the hardest for some time. The main puzzle is also a doozy so I feel I’ve done a few rounds (ahem) with ‘Enry Cooper. Do children still sing rounds in primary schools? Thanks Rotter for excellent blog and thanks Izetti for a first class puzzle
  10. I have been struggling with the quickies this week, but today’s was impossible. I feel like I am going backwards! Either I have lost the plot altogether or these are getting MUCH more difficult. I hope it is the latter. MM
    1. If you look through the comments above, you will see that the non-experts have had a torrid week, so I’m pretty sure it’s the latter. Invariant
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