Times Quick Cryptic No 929 by Izetti – I don’t

Author   JohninterredPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

A slightly quirky and not entirely straightforward teaser from Izetti today, taking me nearly 3 minutes over my average time. A few unknowns or only vaguely remembered words for me in IDO, DRILL, OSAGE and the “sort of railway”. But maybe I’m just ignorant. A fair test, though, with plenty of straightforward clues to let the dog see the rabbit and to give us some checkers to help our travels – or should that be travails? I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did. Thanks to our setter!

Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones].


Across

1 What helps one remember to snatch a rest (9)
REMAINDER – What helps one remember? That will be a REMINDER. And bung [snatch] A in the middle to get what’s left over.
6 Unhappy workers finally given notice (3)
SAD – {worker}S [finally] + AD (notice). Yep. That would make me feel blue too.
8 See someone who was once President (7)
LINCOLN – Double Definition. So here’s something you find often in crosswordland – the see here refers to a bishoprick. And a mighty fine cathedral it has too. The ex-president is, of course, our old friend Abe – not Barack.
9 Make a hole in fabric (5)
DRILL – Double definition again. I had to check this, although it vaguely rang a bell. “Drill is a stout durable cotton fabric with a strong bias (diagonal) in the weave.” I don’t think I have any in my wardrobe. Do you?
10 Local types I’d ordered around like a tyrant (12)
DESPOTICALLY – Anagram [ordered around] of (Local types I’d). Name your own tin pot dictator who acts like this. I’m not going to, in case it attracts an intercontinental ballistic missile… I’d better say no more.
12 Father meets Irish couple (4)
PAIR – PA (father) + (meets) IR (Irish). Was this an instant write-in for you too?
13 Distance achieved by bird, heading off (4)
INCH – {F}INCH is the decapitated [heading off] bird that doesn’t get far.
17 Lib ranter who upset one of the extended family (7-2-3)
BROTHER-IN-LAW – Anagram [upset] of LIB RANTER WHO. Mine is a prison warden. Don’t rant and upset him or he’ll lock you in a cell.
20 Country home to the east of health centre (5)
SPAIN – SPA (health centre) + IN (home) afterwards (to the east). Hands up if you thought the definition was ‘Country home’.
21 Numbers attached to equipment for small pets (7)
KITTENS – Another straightforward construction. KIT (equipments) + (attached to) TENS (numbers). Aw. Cute.
23 Something spotted in a game of chance? (3)
DIE – Neat. This is an “&lit” clue (literally so), where the whole clue is the (cryptic) definition. My favourite type, and thus my clue of the day. [Edit: Thanks to our compiler for stopping by and correcting me – it is a straight cryptic definition. You can see I’m still learning my trade as a blogger!].
24 State requirement for one with hole in jumper? (3,6)
NEW JERSEY – If you get a hole in your jersey you might need a new one. But if you’re like me, you’ll still keep the old one for gardening. And we all know the state in the NE of USA, don’t we?
Down
1 Character to go round in circles, we hear (4)
ROLE – What actors play. Sounds like (we hear) ROLL (what rotating wheels do).
2 Name inscribed in a medal, prepared for old statesman (7)
MANDELA – N{ame} inside anagram [prepared] of A MEDAL The South African president. “In my country we go to prison first and then become president”.
3 Artificial language I study (3)
IDO – I + DO (study) “…makes a constructed language, derived from Reformed Esperanto, created to be a universal second language for speakers of diverse backgrounds.”  I’d never heard of it, let alone knew how to speak it. “As of the year 2000, there were approximately 100–200 Ido speakers in the world.“ Now I don’t feel quite so uncultured.
4 Give university lecturer freshly made tea (6)
DONATE – DON (university lecturer) + anagram of [freshly made] TEA. A bit of a gimme.
5 A doctrine rewritten in new edition (9)
REDACTION – Anagram [rewritten] of A DOCTRINE. “A version of a text, such as a new edition or an abridged version.“. Often with bits censored.
6 Not moving yet (5)
STILL – Double definition. Another neat one.
7 Times in which one gets some sort of railway hold-ups (6)
DELAYS – DAYS (times) with EL (some sort of railway) inside. Is the E.L. referring to the East Lancashire railway or the Erie Lackawanna, I wonder? [Edit: Actually it is neither. Thanks to kevingregg and guy_du_sable for the pointer to EL as short for Elevated Railway, the most famous of which is in Chicago]..
11 Pagan god astride unusual throne in temple (9)
PARTHENON – PAN (Pagan god) including [astride] anagram [unusual] of THRONE, giving the former temple on the Athenian Acropolis.
14 Gossips outside the French holiday accommodation (7)
CHALETS – Another hide-one-word-inside-another clue. CHATS (gossips) [outside] LE (the french). More commonly assocaited with the Swiss alps than France.
15 Brought low and embarrassed? Not hard (6)
ABASED – ABAS{h}ED (embarrassed) without the H (hard).
16 Work set up around a king in Polish city (6)
KRAKOW – KROW (Work) [set up] (going upwards) with AK (a king) in the middle [around]. If you believe the legends, Kraków was founded on the defeat of a dragon.
18 Old person showing wisdom, native American (5)
OSAGE – O (Old) + SAGE (person showing wisdom). Another unknown for me got from the wordplay. “The Osage Nation  (“People of the Middle Waters”) is a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains who historically dominated much of present-day Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma.” So now I know – and so do you if you didn’t already.
19 Lacking skill is party game for children (1-3)
I-SPY – IS P{art}Y [lacking] skill (art). …with my little eye.
22 Period in which maiden’s removed link (3)
TIE – Another deletion to finish with. TI{m}E (period) without the M (maiden).

Well that wasn’t too difficult, was it? Comments welcome!

30 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 929 by Izetti – I don’t”

  1. EL in 7d could also be the elevated railway in Chicago, known as the El. This is, I believe, the third time this month where I’ve submitted with a square or two unfilled, although the others were concises. Today it was TIE. Ijjit. 5:24 otherwise.
      1. My wife is a Begley and my father-in-law looks EXACTLY like Ed Begley, not surprising as he’s his nephew or something. Sadly Ed Begley Jr is adopted so much less family resemblance there. Anyway, 12 Angry Men… what a film!
  2. The most famous ELevated train is the one in Chicago, but they are found in other cities and other countries and, most importantly, throughout the entire realm of Crosswordland, helping one to all sorts of destinations.

    Edited at 2017-09-29 06:09 am (UTC)

  3. I dodged a couple of beartraps for those solving at speed.

    At 3dn ‘language’ (3) – I?O would more usually be IBO but ‘artificial’ was the first warning that it wasn’t as simple as that. Additionally BO for ‘study’ seemed unlikely. Not that ‘DO’ for ‘study’ exactly leapt out either, although after some thought it’s common enough to say, for instance, that one is ‘doing’ various subjects for one’s school exams etc. IDO came up 6 times in the main puzzle between 2006 and 2015, but not since then. Its first outing in a Quickie.

    The other possible beartrap would have been writing ABUSED at 15dn. Not so tempting as IBO perhaps, but the definition almost fits and ’embarrassed’ made me consider ‘blushed’, although that would have been a bit of a stretch and would have involved removing an ‘l’ in addition to the ‘h’. It was probably for no more than a fleeting moment that I thought of this but it was still a distraction that having come into my mind had to be considered and rejected.

    9 minutes.

    Edited at 2017-09-29 05:36 am (UTC)

  4. Yes, quite unfriendly vocabulary (by Quickie standards), but I expect no less from the Teflon Don. I have such a soft spot for his particular brand of shenanigans…

  5. DNF. See=bishopric, sigh, another somewhat tired convention. Also was sure 1d was RUNE, and was trying all sorts of cod-Scottish accents for the sounds-like.

    As for IDO, a made-up language with 200 speakers isn’t going to show up on many radars.

    But loved NEW JERSEY clue. Seemed fresh and didn’t require tortuous explanation to my wife sitting next to me.

    1. Bishopric/See is not a convention, tired or otherwise, it’s one of the meanings of ‘see’: a city regarded as the seat of authority of a bishop or archbishop.
  6. My clue for DIE is a cryptic definition, not an & lit. An & lit is a clue where the wording offers a definition and a cryptic indication all in one, as in ‘No fellow for mixing’ for LONE WOLF. Still, I’m glad the clue was appreciated and thanks for other nice comments to spur me on my way. Izetti
  7. Very enjoyable – liked the die clue and the Lincoln as they both made me smile. Don’t like ‘do’ for study and though I put delays as it clearly fitted, remain unimpressed with EL
  8. Stand by your beds!

    Super puzzle. It’s going to be a GOOD DAY when you can do an Izetti without copious pen chewing.

    My favourite was I SPY – positive snort of pleasure when I finally saw how it worked (much harder than getting the answer!).

    Like John OSAGE was an unknown attained through wordplay and I was very dubious about DO = study; bunged it in (not knowing IDO) on the tenuous basis suggested by Jack of “I’m doing maths this year”.

    Anyway – terrific fun. Done well before London Bridge.

    Templar

    PS I have several pairs of cotton drill trousers. Just saying.

    1. I work in a school – and I don’t find ‘I’m doing Math’ at all tenous – people say it all the time!
  9. I really enjoyed this one, which I found a tad harder than average. That said, it took me 14:49 which is a bit on the slow side for me – I blame the large and plentiful gin and tonics of last night.
  10. subject to dELays! 11.35 was a veritable dawdle TGIF!

    It’s been a tough week all round although I didn’t attempt yesterday’s QC due to being behind on my reading schedule.

    COD 8ac LINCOLN the Cathedral is indeed mighty fine – if not magnificent! It was used for Westminster Abbey in the film -‘The King’s Speech’.

    WOD OSAGE

    Edited at 2017-09-29 04:00 pm (UTC)

  11. Either I am getting better or Izetti is getting kinder (or both). Loved New Jersey (COD). LOI Spain (having tried Sudan!) and Osage – real doh! moment when they clicked! Thanks setter and blogger.

    Edited at 2017-09-29 10:45 am (UTC)

  12. I’m no speed typist so this took my usual 8 1/2 minutes, with most answers going in immediately. After 24ac had to look up the rest of the lyric for ‘What did Della Wear?’.
  13. That was a toughie, as usual with this setter. Never heard of EL for a railway, or IDO, and still don’t like “do” for study despite all the worthy attempts above to justify it. I had heard of the OSAGE so was happy with that.
    Mind you my mind has not yet recovered from the trauma of enduring Hampshire’s great escape yesterday.
    PlayUpPompey
  14. 35 mins got me to LOI Abused for 15d, which sort of worked, but not convincingly enough. Another couple of minutes to think of Abased. Ido and Osage were completely unknown, so just had to take the cryptic on trust. I thought 1ac was going to be my CoD, but the eventual parsing of the simple to guess 19d makes it too good for second place. Invariant
  15. This boiled down to a case of guessing the unknowns for me -like others it seems.
    I had 4 left after 15 minutes- 3d, 18d, 19d and 8a (I was assuming Role = Character for 1d). For 8a I wanted it to start Lo .. which held me up.
    Anyway I managed to guess them all correctly in about another 5 minutes.
    Was not able to see parsing of Delay or I Spy or Lincoln until coming here. Thanks the to blogger and also to Izetti for an enjoyable challenge.
    COD to 20a.
    At the start of each University challenge I always listen to how candidates introduce themselves. Some only give a first name (a bit modern in my view) and then there is the verb attaching to their subject. Some are reading etc but I think quite a lot are “doing” their subjects. David
  16. 29 minutes, 10 spent on Lincoln, couldn’t see see for too long, roll and the unknown IDO, but with I_O it had to be do for study.

    EL and See have come up a few times.
    Dnk osage.
    Also glad to get kittens as I had IDE for 22d, maIDEn with link somehow = man!

    COD Parthenon.

  17. Had to pause this with 1d, 3d and 8a undone as it was time for breakfast and a trip to Bamburgh Castle. On my return, I still couldn’t see my way forward so I looked up 1d. That allowed me to see Lincoln and guess IDO for 3d. 16:39 with a cheat. An ignominious effort. Let’s hope I fare better with the 15×15. Thanks setter and John.
    1. Mr. Dun – you are indeed undone! Return to Bamburgh Castle (do not pass GO! do not collect two-hundred pounds!) for a half-day session in the naughty chair!!- Judge Meldrew (Shanghai Bench)

      Edited at 2017-09-29 04:08 pm (UTC)

        1. It’s well worth a visit, though. I’m reminded of a great holiday we had a couple of years ago staying at the Harbourmaster’s cottage in Craster, which included a trip to Bamburgh. We had a magnificent view along the coast to Dunstanburgh Castle and a supply of kippers for breakfast from just across the road. Yum.
          1. It’s a beautiful area with so much to see and do. We stayed in a B&B in Seahouses. We had a great boat trip to the Farne Islands. Loads of seals and birds:-)
  18. A tough end to the week. I got most of it done in 20 minutes but had to take a break before working out the NW corner. Annoyingly I completely forgot about this definition of See (despite having come across it several times in my QC career), so it went in unparsed.
    As usual with Izetti there were plenty of contenders for COD but I’ll go with 24a. No exact time but around 25 minutes
  20. Re 9 across, older punters may recall “khaki drill”, a colour and material used by British forces in tropical climes.

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