Times Quick Cryptic No 1922 by Izetti

Author   plusjeremyPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic

Introduction

5:26. Delightful puzzle! Easy enough in the top half that I thought I’d race through, but the bottom half was sufficiently chewy to make it a puzzle of substance. Hope you enjoyed it.

Solutions

A brief summary of cryptic crosswords —feel free to skip— :

  • Each clue has at least one “definition”: an unbroken string of words which more-or-less straightforwardly indicates the answer. A definition can be as simple as a one-word synonym; but it can also be a descriptive phrase like ‘I’m used to wind’ for REEL or SPOOL. A definition by example must be indicated by a phrase like ‘for example’, or, more commonly, a question mark (?). Thus ‘color’ is a definition of RED, while ‘red, for example’ or ‘red?’ are definitions of COLOR. Punctuation is otherwise irrelevant. Proper nouns will appear capitalized, but otherwise capitalization is irrelevant as well.

  • Each clue may also have an unbroken string of words which indicates the answer through wordplay, such as: using abbreviations; reversing the order of letters; indicating particular letters (first, last, outer, middle, every other, etc); placing words inside other words; rearranging letters (anagrams); replacing words by words that sound alike (homophones); and combinations of the above. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but the general theme is to reinterpret ordinary words as referring to letters, so that for example ‘lion’s head’ indicates the first letter of LION: namely, L.

  • Definitions and wordplay cannot overlap. The only other words allowed in clues are linking words or phrases that combine these. Thus we may see, for example: “(definition) gives (wordplay)” or “(definition) and (definition)” or “(wordplay) is (definition)”.

  • The most common clues have either two definitions, or one definition plus wordplay, in either order. But a single, very misleading definition is not uncommon, and very occasionally a definition can also be interpreted as wordplay leading to the same answer. Triple definitions (and more) are also possible.

My conventions in the solutions below are to underline definitions (including a defining phrase); put linking words in [brackets]; and put all wordplay indicators in boldface. I also use a solidus (/) to help break up the clue where necessary, especially for double definitions without linking words.

After the solutions, I list all the wordplay indicators and abbreviations in a Glossary.

Across

1   Breaking cups, restless female artists (12)
SCULPTRESSES = anagram of CUPS RESTLESS

8   Friend getting millions — a reward for sporting achievement? (4)
PALM = PAL + M
A ceremonial branch. Can anyone let me know which sport(s) award a palm? (At first I thought this could be a reference to a handshake after a good game.)

9   Charm [with which] a religious dissertation is read out (7)
ATTRACT = homophone of A TRACT

11   Quiet / place associated with one of Henry’s wives — it’s ideal (7)
PARAGON = P + ARAGON
Catherine of Aragon.

12   Sing melody badly / apart from introduction (5)
YODEL = anagram of MELODY without the first letter

14   [What] this time without / water ultimately [brings]? (6)
THIRST = THIS + T around last letter of WATER
I do believe this is the first clue I’ve blogged where the definition can also be interpreted as wordplay leading to the same answer — sometimes called an “all in one” or “& lit” clue. The only slight inaccuracy is ‘this’, which should be all accounts refer to the answer (suggesting DROUGHT, for example).

15   English maiden full of energy is showing obsession with self maybe (6)
EGOISM = E + M around GO + IS

18   Musician‘s original / duet played with softened tone (5)
MUTED = first letter of MUSICIAN + anagram of DUET
I thought there might be other ways to parse this but I can’t think of them now.

20   Light [shows] a northern bird by lake (7)
LANTERN = A + N + TERN next to L

21   Brilliant colour [displayed by] vehicle left in group (7)
SCARLET = CAR + L in SET

23   Raucous cry of a member of parliament? (4)
HOOT = cryptic definition
Here ‘raucous cry’ is fine as a definition on its own, but we also get a bit of help (or hindrance!) from the cryptic reference to owls, which hoot and which are collectively called a ‘parliament’.

24   Means of identification [of] crop, we hear, more affected by cold? (6,6)
SERIAL NUMBER = homophone of CEREAL + NUMB-ER
As in ‘more numb’.

Down

2   Device to get one sitting up? (9)
CHAIRLIFT = cryptic definition
Not “device to get one [sitting up]”, but “device to get [one sitting] up”. Wonderful clue.

3   Go miles travelling around French city (7)
LIMOGES = anagram of GO MILES

4   Means of transport [for] schools (6)
TRAINS = double definition

5   Men not beginning / to attempt record (5)
ENTRY = MEN without first letter + TRY

6   A lot of water? Spot is heard (3)
SEA = homophone of SEE

7   Paying the bill [for] colony? (10)
SETTLEMENT = double definition

10   Is representative of pietism so troubled / about / source of evil? (10)
EPITOMISES = anagram of PIETISM SO around first letter of EVIL

13   Force acceptance of / what motorist must do after work? (5,4)
DRIVE HOME = double definition

16   Stuff in good meat — good for starter (7)
GINGHAM = IN + G + HAM with G at the beginning
I didn’t know this, but ‘stuff’ can mean ‘cotton cloth’.

17   Food component [gives] excess energy to any number (6)
GLUTEN = GLUT + E + N

19   Greek character was first to turn up / with word of gratitude (5)
DELTA = LED reversed + TA

22   A year on river somewhere in Scotland (3)
AYR = A + Y + R

Glossary

Wordplay indicators

about = containment
apart from = removal
badly = anagram
beginning = first letter
breaking = anagram
brings = linking word
by = next to
displayed by = linking word
for = linking word
for starter = at the beginning
full of = containment
getting = next to
gives = linking word
heard = homophone
in = containment
introduction = first letter
not = removal
of = linking word
on = next to
original = first letter
played = anagram
read out = homophone
shows = linking word
source = first letter
to = next to
to turn up = reversal (in down clue)
travelling around = anagram
troubled = anagram
ultimately = last letter
we hear = homophone
with = next to
with which = linking word
without = containment

Abbreviations and little bits

energy = E
energy = GO
English = E
good = G
lake = L
left = L
maiden = M
millions = M
northern = N
(any) number = N
quiet = P
river = R
time = T
word of gratitude = TA
year = Y

65 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 1922 by Izetti”

  2. 10 minutes minus a few seconds so I very nearly went over my target. I was distracted for a moment by the parsing at 11ac where I knew the answer was PARAGON but my first thought for the Henry reference was Catherine Parr, which wasn’t much help!

    I can’t help with the query re PALM and sporting events, though I dare say it’s used somewhere. The palm is an historical symbol of victory but as a prize I only know it in ‘Golden Palm’ awarded at the Cannes Film Festival, which being a French event is more properly called ‘Palme d’Or’.

    Edited at 2021-07-21 04:48 am (UTC)

    1. I got there from Palmarès in cycling but a quick look on the internet doesn’t seem to show a direct link!
  3. FOI: 1a. SCULPTRESSES
    LOI: 10d. EPITOMISES
    Time to Complete: 56 minutes (DNF)
    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 14
    Clues Answered with Aids: 7
    Clues Unanswered: 2
    Wrong Answers: 1
    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 21/24
    Aids Used: Chambers

    I rarely enjoy Izetti puzzles, and this one was no exception. Just too difficult for me, even though I relied heavily on aids. GINGHAM does not appear in my Bradford’s or Chambers crossword dictionaries under “stuff”.

    I surprised myself by answering SCULPTRESSES as my FOI, and I did like SETTLEMENT. Other than that, no, not an enjoyable one today.

    I am sure I will do better tomorrow.

    1. ODE sv ‘stuff’ 3 (Brit)(dated) woollen fabric, especially as distinct from silk, cotton, and linen
      Not the best clue for a Quickie.
      2. Hence the expression “stuff(ed) shirt”, originally distinguishing ordinary lawyers from those who had taken silk.
        1. the term originated in the US, where ‘taking silk’ is meaningless.
          1. And the silk reference for King’s/Queen’s Counsel is to the gown, not the shirt [a QC writes]
  4. I think this may be a topical allusion to the (ancient) Olympics…

    Cardorojo

  5. For the second day running I stopped the clock on zero seconds to record an exact time. Yesterday, it was 13.00 (no time to comment on the blog) and two minutes under target, today two minutes over at 17.00. A good puzzle from the Don, which taught me something from GINGHAM / stuff / cotton cloth, which I couldn’t properly parse when answering — but the wordplay was very clear. I agree with Cardorojo above, I read the PALM clue as a reference to the Olympics. Thanks both.
  6. I’m getting slower as the week progresses! Today a couple of typos and a wrong answer caused me all sorts of problems. I had the French city beginning with a U, I had ENNRY for ENTRY, making ATTRACT tricky and I put down CROW for HOOT – I knew that parliament linked to a group of birds but picked the wrong one.
    As usual a high quality puzzle from Izetti but even without my mistakes there were some challenging clues. I eventually crossed the line with all green in 17.24 with LOI GINGHAM and COD to CHAIRLIFT.
    Thanks to Jeremy
    1. Ditto. Parliament can be crows as well (just verified this from ‘birdspot dot co dot uk’ and CROW is definitely raucous, whilst HOOT is melifluous.
      1. There’s nothing mellifluous about a screech owl, although in this case “raucous” was a tad misleading.
  7. I found the RHS easier than the LHS and it wasn’t until I revisited 1a where I had just put in _______ESSES that I began to flesh the LHS out. LIMOGES was the breakthrough and PARAGON followed, then CHAIRLIFT, EPITOMISES and THIRST finished the job. 9:02. Thanks Izetti and Jeremy.
  8. DNF I came unstuck at 23a biffing in CROW, thinking Parliament was collective noun for a group of corvids. Then could not find a G?N?H?M candidate word. So, 2 out of 3 so far this week.
    Hey ho. Back to the 15×15
    Nice blog
    A
  9. … as I often am with Izetti’s puzzles. But all entirely fair and all finally green in just over 13 minutes. LOI was 10D Epitomises, for which I needed all the checkers — sometimes anagrams just refuse to come, and this was one. 16D Gingham also needed chiselling out of the deep memory banks — I know the word exists, but I may quite possibly never have used it in earnest outside crosswordland.

    On the other hand, Number meaning more numb as in 24A (or sometimes for a change it means anaesthetist) is becoming a bit of a favourite of our setters: I think this is the third or fourth time that sense of numb-er has been used in recent months. Not quite at the Supporter = Bra level of cliché just yet, but getting there!

    A fine puzzle, much enjoyed. Many thanks to Jeremy for the blog
    Cedric

    Edited at 2021-07-21 08:54 am (UTC)

  10. I thought this was great – thanks setter and blogger. Not too convinced by palm but a minor blip for me!
  11. I struggled again today. FOI AYR then I travelled around the grid looking for the easier clues. Not many appeared. It didn’t help that I had a doubtful CHAIRBACK at 2d; probably best not to put these in unless parsed.
    I had two left after about 20 minutes. I eventually got LANTERN by putting the L at the right end of the answer. That left 17d which I assumed ended TON. I ended up with GLUTON and the computer said Unlucky.
    So one letter wrong after 23:45. A proper test for me which I enjoyed. COD to GINGHAM.
    David

    Edited at 2021-07-21 09:14 am (UTC)

  12. Today’s took me longer than Monday and Tuesday’s combined. This took me 24m with a huge share of that in the SE where GINGHAM, HOOT, GLUTEN and even SERIAL NUMBER just wouldn’t come. Biggest groan to HOOT — that was the breakthrough that let me in to the others. Spent a long time before that trying to get GLUTEN to fit but couldn’t parse even then — fell into place eventually. EPITOMISES took its time too — I tried to solve from the back and went for ‘mosis’ at first which was not helpful.
  13. Clearly the mysterious force that is “wavelength” was on my side today as I found this by and large quite easy. Failed to fully parse THIRST and GINGHAM (thanks for the explanations Jeremy) and took a while to recall a parliament of owls to mind. All finished in a reasonable (for me) 15 mins, possibly my fastest time for an Izetti.

    FOI – 1ac SCULPTRESSES
    LOI – 23ac HOOT
    COD – 2dn CHAIRLIFT

    Thanks to Izetti for an enjoyable morning coffee break.

  14. The palm has a long and distinguished history as a symbol of victory, starting with the Greeks and then the Romans (the Latin “palma” coming to mean “victory” as well as palm). I remember learning as a boy that victorious Roman generals got to wear the “toga palmata”, a special toga decorated with a palm motif.

    As to modern sports, I know that the designs for Olympic medals have featured palm leaves many times, and that “palmares” is a word used by cyclists in particular for their roll-call of victories.

    Like Jeremy the top half flew in but the bottom caused much pencil chewing. If only I’d been able to crack EPITOMISES in my head instead of having to write it out!

    Terrific fun puzzle, full of wit and sparkle. FOI SCULPTRESSES, LOI SERIAL NUMBER (needed the S), COD THIRST (tough!), time 09:32 for an estimated 1.5K and a Pretty Good day.

    Many thanks Izetti and Jeremy.

    Templar

      1. Ooo so near and yet so far … but I’ll take a sub-hopkin any day of the week (year more likely)!

        Edited at 2021-07-21 12:13 pm (UTC)

  15. Foiled again by the last three clues!

    Made my way sequentially down the grid from top to bottom, all but 3 entered in 7 minutes so on for a record time (for me) – then absolutely googlied by HOOT, SERIAL NUMBER, and GINGHAM. SERIAL NUMBER fell first with a groan, HOOT with a slap of the forehead, and GINGHAM took the longest requiring an alphabet trawl and a prayer.

    Thanks Izetti and Jeremy

  16. 4:40 this morning, not often I get under 5 mins for one of the Don’s QCs. Must have been a “wavelength thing”.
    A very well constructed puzzle as ever, with no remotely weak clues as far as I could see.
    COD 2d “chairlift”.
    Thanks to Jeremy and the Don
  17. 5:06 minutes – I started bottom-up and shaved 20 seconds off Jeremy. Are those word-play indicators etc. still necessary?
    COD CHAIRLIFT too!

    Edited at 2021-07-21 10:46 am (UTC)

  18. A slight improvement to 27mins, but still a struggle, although I feel happier given it’s one of Don’s. 1ac, Sculptresses, took a long time, but 10d Epitomises was the real time killer, especially as I wasn’t convinced I had the right combination of letters (Of vs So) to start with. Hoot was a classic pdm, and confirmed Gingham even though it remained unparsed (stuff?). CoD to 24ac, Serial Number, a rare enjoyable homophone. Invariant
  19. Should have tried harder as I thought of Ham and cloth – Brigitte Bardot wore a lot of checked gingham or in the case of a bikini, a little of it. And her wedding dress was pink gingham.
    Took a while to get 1a too.
    Good puzzle, thanks all, esp Jeremy.
    COD PARAGON.

    Edited at 2021-07-21 04:11 pm (UTC)

  20. Same as Monday, another DNF with several missed clues.

    Frustrated to not be able to winkle out EPITOMISES, even though I shuffled the letters around on paper, sometimes they just don’t fall into place.

    The odd use of “without” tricked me again (THIRST) when it means “with”, not “without”.

    NUMBER=’more cold’ is a chestnut that I got last time, but not today.

    Still, Holiday starts tomorrow.

    1. Merlin, I will avoid quoting the well known example. Instead, just think of ‘without’ as the opposite of ‘within’ — seems logical enough to me.
  21. but a very good puzzle indeed, looking back, there are excellent surfaces, and misdirection etc.

    GINGHAM last in by some distance, and DNK the definition “stuff”, but eventually put it together and was relieved that there was no pink square.

    10:01, but with at least 2 mins on GINGHAM.

  22. Slightly struggled to find the right toehold to get going but once I did it flowed reasonably smoothly until I slightly hit the bumpers with GLUTEN. Thought I was looking for a mineral/protein or such like I didn’t know (ALOTIN anyone? No I thought not). That added over a minute till the forehead was metaphorically slapped.

    Liked EPITOMISES and the usual bunch of fine surfaces.

    Not sure CHAIRLIFT was quite cryptic enough for my taste but I’ll whisper it quietly as no one else agrees and what do I know compared to the incomparable Don?

    Thanks Jeremy and Izetti

  23. Managed just under 20 mins which is my target but was also a bit puzzled by gingham. I’d always just thought it meant checked.

    1. Thanks for explaining your misgivings about these clues.

      16dn seems by general consent to be a bit of a stretch, but I’m not sure it qualifies as ‘ridiculous’.

      I’m less sympathetic to what you say about 17ac. Whatever the accuracy of the 7 components of food in scientific terms (and of that I have no knowledge one way or the other) it is impossible these days to avoid GLUTEN as something that’s in food, and therefore a component, which is either fashionable or clinically necessary to avoid.

      Edited at 2021-07-21 01:29 pm (UTC)

      1. I may be a little bit pedantic here but gluten is only a component of some food (i.e. some grain based food) and not all food. So I would have expected some hint of this in the clue whereas I was steered towards looking at the components of all food by the clue.
        1. To be expected to know something that is a component of all foods might be a bit much for a Quick Cryptic!
          1. The element carbon I reckon is present in all foods. Except salt. Dammit. 🙂
  24. DNF for me. Put in CROW for 23a even though I know the collective noun is a murder. I thought parliament might be an alternative having forgotten about the owls. Anyway, I’d like to think that I might just have got GINGHAM if I’d got HOOT, but if I had it would certainly have been unparsed. I liked the info about the origin of stuffed shirt though. I’d always assumed it was something to do with appearing to puff your chest out by stuffing something down your shirt. Not that I’ve ever given it much thought. Anyway, thanks Jeremy and Izetti.
  25. Took us a while to get our teeth into this one and we had to work reasonably hard to complete it. Neither of us was aware that “stuff” meant “cotton cloth” (thanks Jeremy) but I guessed GINGHAM from the checkers and then confirmed it from the clue. Took us 19 minutes to complete so a slow day today.

    FOI: PALM
    LOI: GINGHAM
    COD: SERIAL NUMBER

    Thanks Izetti and Jeremy.

    Edited at 2021-07-21 01:28 pm (UTC)

  26. I note that Mr. McBain is back! Keep him right here! He’s so jolly entertaining and getting faster! A refreshing change from all “Greyhounds” who hog the limelight hereabouts.

    FOI 1ac SCULPTRESSES

    LOI 2dn CHAIRLIFT

    COD 10dn EPITOMISES

    WOD 3dn LIMOGES

    MER at 16dn and 17dn.

  27. A very good puzzle but with a few wrinkles in the lower half that took it slightly beyond a Qc for me. I tried to do this with a very active granddaughter present (big mistake but I won’t get chance later). I didn’t like HOOT but felt it had to be when I had the crossers. A parliament of owls is too tangential in my experience. GLUTEN took a while to parse, too. I Iiked PARAGON and thought SERIAL NUMBER was pretty clever, even though I was rather slow on the uptake. No proper time, given interruptions, but I must have staggered into the SCC. That will teach me to try to do two things at once. Thanks, both. John M.

    Edited at 2021-07-21 02:19 pm (UTC)

    1. I was rather surprised to see ‘SCC’ in The Glossary. I would like to nominate ‘Greyhound’ for entry, so that we speedy American solvers might also be recognized as another type of coach, in this ever vibrant QC world of ours.
  28. Could PALM refer to a high-five? Or related to a laurel wreath palm like they used to give for winning F1 etc
  29. For the record parliament is also s collective noun for crows along with a murder of crows
          1. Thank-you peebee.

            A peacock of Austin Tens.

            I believe my lapwings ought to be a deceit and not a deception – sorry to deceive.

            A mummeration of starlings, an exaltation of larks and a gulp of cormorants

            Edited at 2021-07-21 06:40 pm (UTC)

  30. Stop stirring. Any further goading will be deleted.

    Edited at 2021-07-21 01:54 pm (UTC)

    1. Pray allow me to be more positive and expand on my answers:

      SCULPTRESSES – the collective noun for these ladies is ‘a chiselle’

      CHAIRLIFT – the collective noun for these is ‘a stanner’

      EPITOMISES an epitome is the collective noun for field mice; house mice a mischief and dormice a demise

      LIMOGES the collective noun for which is a faience

      1. I note that edmcbain ‘loved’ your ‘Quite Good’ comment – I’m not sure if the irony-bypass is open or what!? Ed
  31. I did enjoy it, yes. No time as I did it in lots of bits in between interruptions. Thanks for the Parliament explanation. Light should have dawned without your help though!!
  32. ….but I got home within target

    FOI SCULPTRESSES
    LOI SERIAL NUMBER
    COD THIRST
    TIME 4:21

  33. After 30 mins, was struggling on 9ac “Attract” and 23ac “Hoot”. The former I should have got but didn’t, the latter I considered but hadn’t a clue why so left it blank.

    I thought this was a toughie from Izetti with quite a few unknowns. Whilst it was a DNF — at least it wasn’t a DNS.

    FOI — 12ac “Yodel”
    LOI — dnf
    COD — 16dn “Gingham”

    Thanks as usual!

  34. Just 12 minutes in and, with 9 clues left to solve, I was going well (for me, at least). A full hour later, and I threw in the towel, so a very frustrating DNF in 72 minutes.

    The last four clues I entered – SETTLEMENT, EPITOMISES, SERIAL NUMBER and ‘crow’ (instead of HOOT, which never occurred to me) – went in at the glacial rate of one every 13 minutes! However, ‘crow’ left me with G_N_C_N for 16d and I gave up at that point.

    Witnessing some of my travails, Mrs Random wisely decided to defer her attempt until sometime tomorrow. She’s wise as well as being clever, is Mrs R.

    Many thanks to Izetti and plusjeremy.

    1. If Mrs R is as wise as she is clever she shouldn’t have a problem with 23ac.
  35. I was quite happy with my time of 12 minutes — that is until I discovered I’d invented a new condition called EPITOMESIS. I think perhaps you have it if you come up with the correct answer, but mess up as a result of a different one – FFS 😅
    Quite a few ticks and smiles today, especially for PARAGON, MUTED and ENTRY.
    FOI Palm
    LOI Gluten
    COD Chairlift
    Thanks Izetti and Jeremy

    On edit: I will clarify that FFS is Fat Finger Syndrome and not what I may have said when I discovered my error 😉 Actually, I’m more likely to say FGS!

    Edited at 2021-07-21 06:03 pm (UTC)

  36. Enjoyable puzzle which we completed with no errors. Bunged in hoot, last clue, from the crossers. Thanks Izetti and for the blog.
  37. 16 mins and a PB for me. FOI sculptresses, LOI and COD gingham.
  38. Thanks very much for the explanations and elaboration of abbrevs — very helpful for us newcomers.
  39. Izetti’s puzzles are the best. For sure. He is so clear. But I didn’t get Gingham or Hoot. Thought Hoot was Rook. For some reason. Parliament of Rooks? Anyway it was a cool puzzle. Fred.

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