I approached this puzzle by Izetti with some trepidation after my struggles with his previous one for us (QC 2753, 13 August), but, whether due to the degree of, um, “surprise” some posters expressed at the challenge of that one or not, his latest offering has mostly reverted to the more friendly style we have seen from him of late. In any event, it took me 12:38, which is about my par and certainly a good time for an Izetti.
That is not to say the puzzle was all plain sailing and for me, a few of the clues were very definitely “biff then parse”, and one indeed – 14D – was “biff and really struggled to parse”. I think I may have wrung some sort of explanation for it out of somewhere but I’m not very happy with it, so advice please from those more experienced than me!
I also note we have a repeat of one of the entries in QC 2754 by Lupa at 4D. Poor Lupa’s offering received a fair amount of comment; it is probably fair to say Izetti’s cluing of the same answer is more mainstream and much less likely to arouse adverse remarks.
Thank you Izetti for a gentler puzzle than last time, much enjoyed and fences well and truly mended! How did everyone get on with it?
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (abc)* indicates an anagram of abc, and strike-through-text shows deletions.
| Across | |
| 1 | Rub in talc freely — it can be soothing (9) |
| LUBRICANT – (rub in talc)*, with the anagram indicator being “freely”. | |
| 6 | Company learner getting pass (3) |
| COL – CO (company) + L (learner), with the definition pass as in mountain pass. My FOI. | |
| 8 | Worker by Queen about to be receiver of signal (7) |
| ANTENNA – ANT (worker) + ENNA (Anne, ie Queen Anne, backwards, ie “about”). I think the words “to be” are simply to make the surface read better; they are not part of either the wordplay or the definition. | |
| 9 | Famous? Not the paper’s decision-maker (5) |
| NOTED – NOT (from the clue) + ED (paper’s decision-maker). Clearly one of the few papers where the proprietor has a more hands-off approach and does not try to take every decision himself. | |
| 10 | Verbal rebuke comes from me when surrounded by terrible chattiness (12) |
| CHASTISEMENT – (chattiness)*, the anagram indicator being “terrible”, surrounding ME (from the clue).
Although it can be physical (it is not actually illegal yet in England and Northern Ireland for a parent to slap a child – unlike in Scotland and Wales and many other countries where it formally banned), chastisement is usually verbal, so I think Izetti is on safe enough ground with the clue. |
|
| 12 | Mother possibly, or father, torn apart (6) |
| PARENT – PA (father) + RENT (torn apart). The inclusion of “possibly” in the definition is because this is a DBE – a mother is an example of a parent. | |
| 13 | Spot some sharp implement (6) |
| PIMPLE – A hidden, in sharP IMPLEment, with the hidden indicator being “some”. | |
| 16 | Author in fancy gear entertaining actor who is poor and inexperienced (6,6) |
| GRAHAM GREENE – A complex clue, constructed by including HAM (a poor actor) and GREEN (inexperienced) in GRA…E (anagram of gear, the anagram indicator being “fancy”).
Graham Greene (1904-1991) was one of the most respected novelists of the 20th century, with a writing style that included serious works and lighter thrillers and ran to well over 40 titles. It is less well known that he worked for MI6 in the 2nd world war; his manager was a certain Kim Philby. |
|
| 19 | A chum returning to one Arabian port (5) |
| DUBAI – DUB A (a bud, or a chum, all reversed, ie “returning”) + I (one). It was generous of Izetti to give us that the port is in Arabia, though with the I checker the options were relatively limited. | |
| 20 | Eccentric old theologian leading dance (7) |
| ODDBALL – O (old) + DD (Doctor of Divinity, ie theologian) + BALL (dance). | |
| 22 | Title seen in libraries, I reckon (3) |
| SIR – Our second hidden, in librarieS I Reckon, the indicator being “seen in”. | |
| 23 | Shrubs that could be provided by dealer and son (9) |
| OLEANDERS – (dealer son)*, the anagram indicator being “provided by”. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | See a female offering bread (4) |
| LOAF – LO (see) + A F (a female).
Bread is one of the most basic of foods, and the word loaf, in Anglo-Saxon hlaf, is the basis of our modern words Lord and Lady. The man of the house was the Hlaford or Loaf-ward/Loaf-guard (ie bread keeper), and his other half was the Hlafdige, or loaf-kneader (ie bread maker – whether or not she made it herself or had servants to do it). The people who made and then controlled the supply of bread being the most important members of the household, their names Hlafdige and Hlaford became our words Lady and Lord. |
|
| 2 | Killer, nevertheless popular revolutionary, right? (7) |
| BUTCHER – BUT (nevertheless) + CHE (popular revolutionary) + R (right). I started by thinking “popular revolutionary” would be a word for popular, all reversed, but no, we are back with Crosswordland’s favourite rebel. | |
| 3 | One is charged nothing for entering home (3) |
| ION – O (nothing) inserted into (“entering”) IN (home). Nothing to do with felons, electric cars or errant rhinos here, as the definition refers to atoms or particles that carry an electric charge, and are thus charged. | |
| 4 | Female soldier joining love movement (6) |
| ADAGIO – ADA (random female name) + GI (soldier) + O (love).
I fell for Izetti’s trap completely here and with the two A checkers in when I came to it, confidently wrote in AMAZON for female soldier, even though I could not parse it. It needed 10A, CHASTISEMENT, to put that right, at which point I realised that the definition is at the other end of the clue, ie movement. And then the clue makes sense: Adagio is the musical term for “play slowly” and the term is also used for the slow movement which typically forms part of a symphony. A rather different way of constructing the answer than the one Lupa used just under two weeks ago – no knowledge of obscure FX or bond market terminology required this time! |
|
| 5 | Fruit with spike — bad feeling being swallowed (9) |
| TANGERINE – TINE (spike, eg the prong of a fork or a pointed end of antlers) with ANGER (bad feeling) included in it, the inclusion indicator being “swallowed”.
Tangerines got their name from Tangier in Morocco; when they first appeared in England in the 19th century they were imported from Tangier, and called “tangerine oranges”, ie oranges from Tangier. |
|
| 6 | Fashion that is for darling girl? (5) |
| CUTIE – CUT (fashion) + IE (that is). I wasn’t entirely convinced that cut and fashion were particularly close synonyms at first, but one can cut or fashion an item of clothing (or a diamond), so I accepted it readily enough after reflection. | |
| 7 | Rowdy young woman, short character, hugging a duke (7) |
| LADETTE – LETTE (letter, ie character, “short”, ie with its end removed) surrounding A D (a duke).
A word coined as recently as 1995, which for Crosswordland is barely yesterday, despite the fact that young women having fun have always existed – 100 years ago they were called flappers. |
|
| 11 | Small country hospital to spoil one, no? (3,6) |
| SAN MARINO – SAN (hospital) + MAR (spoil) + I (one) + NO (from the clue).
For me this was a classic biff then parse; San Marino is not quite the only country whose name is (3,6), as The Gambia shares the same quality (and they do insist on the “The”), but at just 24 square miles it certainly ticks the box for “small”. |
|
| 12 | Temples being quiet, with an idol, a bit of silver? (7) |
| PAGODAS – P (quiet) + A GOD (an idol) + A (from the clue) + S (first letter of, ie “bit of”, silver).
Another biff then parse, and I made the parsing more difficult for myself because as soon as I saw the AG in the word I mentally ticked off the silver component of the wordplay. But that left ODAS as an idol, which clearly didn’t work, so a rethink was required. |
|
| 14 | One’s flat / lighting in a bad way? (7) |
| PANCAKE – Well, I think this is a DD. After much thought I persuaded myself that “one’s flat” could refer to a pancake, because pancakes are notoriously flat, and the best I could come up with for the second part is lighting = landing, and a poor landing for an aeroplane can be called a pancake. But neither half of the DD is put forward with any great confidence, so over to others to offer an opinion! | |
| 15 | Region suffering neglect (6) |
| IGNORE – (region)*, the anagram indicator being “suffering”. | |
| 17 | A respected member with hint of red and another colour (5) |
| AMBER – A (from the clue) + MBE (member, specifically a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) + R (hint of, ie first letter of, red), giving us AMBER, which is indeed another colour different from red. But as far as the definition is concerned, I’ve chosen to go with just “colour”, because to have “another colour” as the definition seems a little odd.
I don’t myself see what “respected” is doing in this clue. Not all holders of the MBE are respected and it adds nothing to the wordplay. |
|
| 18 | In the manner of son, sadly (4) |
| ALAS – A LA (ie à la, or in the manner of) + S (son). Accents are ignored in Crosswordland. | |
| 21 | Fellow’s finished? Not quite finished (3) |
| DON – DONE (ie finished) with the last letter deleted (ie “not quite finished”). A very clever clue to end with, and shades of Oink in its self-referencing! | |
I biffed GRAHAM GREENE on the basis of ‘author’ and the enumeration, since it always does seem to be him; never parsed. I was slowed down, a lot, first by trying to parse ADAGIO, and finally by trying to solve 14d. Finally came up with PANCAKE, which I parsed as Cedric does. 6:23.
PANCAKE was my LOI and left unparsed. Landing in a bad way would have been kinder in a QC.
20:15 ADAGIO and PANCAKE especially took me a long time to unpack. Re CUT/fashion I wondered if the phrase “the cut of one’s jib”might be relevant?
Parkrun + Solve = 35 minutes.
FWIW Cedric I (eventually) parsed PANCAKE the same way you did and I’m sure that’s what was intended.
Just wanted to give a shout-out to IGNORE, a simple but perfect example of the craft.
Great blog Cedric. Thanks Izetti.
10 minutes with 14dn as the LOI. ‘Lighting’ meaning ‘landing’ took time to register.
‘Respected’ in 17ac is a nod to the fact that people awarded MBEs must have gained the respect of someone in order to be eligible. Maybe a better word could have been chosen (honoured?) but something more than just ‘A member’ was needed, I feel, especially in a Quick Cryptic clue.
Steady going until left with LOI PANCAKE which, after an alphabet trawl, went in with a shrug based on the first definition.
Finished in 8.08 with COD to ADAGIO for the PDM.
Thanks to Cedric
Found this at the tougher end for 31.30.
Biffed pancake as soon as the p appeared but could not parse even as the rest of the crossers arrived until eventually as LOI it seemingly had to be. Thanks Cedric for the parsing but we’re not fans of the clue!
DNK DD for theologian so was thinking of maybe Old Testament priests for a bit until ball popped in.
Thanks Izetti and Cedric for the late night blog 😀
I enjoyed this from FOI COL to LOI PANCAKE which went in without seeing the ‘lighting/landing’ bit on reflection I should have and I now think it is an excellent clue.
BIFD GRAHAM GREENE and then seeing the WP gets my smiley face along with ANTENNA.
15:18. I too arrived at ADAGIO via AMAZON, but the ones that took the longest time were OLEANDERS (where I had to write out the anagrist) and LOI PANCAKE (nice one). The self-referencing DON was neat; thank you Cedric for spotting it
NHO pancake landing and biffed PANCAKE LOI. Really don’t like random names as in 4D – they seem to be a slightly lazy way of clueing. I’ve noticed that ‘a bit of’ and ‘hint of’ have become more common recently to indicate the first letter of a word. Thanks Cedric for interesting blog.
Rather odd. Flew in at 6’11” with only PANCAKE fully unparsed (GRAHAM GREENE mostly so, I didn’t try very hard). I was on the right wavelength for a change.
Tougher than yesterday but doable for a novice. Biffed ODDBALL and needed to research DD to fully comprehend the clue. PANCAKE was LOI, biffed from crossers and “one’s flat”. Great blog Cedric.
After the first pass I only had four left to solve, and the first three went straight in…..
I think you’re right Cedric, but I just biffed the LOI. I see Izetti has clued himself at 21D.
FOI LUBRICANT
LOI PANCAKE
COD GRAHAM GREENE *
TIME 3:28 **
* I biffed this one as well, but on parsing it afterwards I almost applauded.
** At this moment I’m 4th on the leaderboard, the top 3 being Mohn, Aphis99, and Verlaine – none of whom I expect to beat (Mohn turned in an incredible 1:41!), so an excellent day by my standards.
🚀
I wondered about pinnate for 14D but it doesn’t really work. Crossword checker didn’t produce many options if you had all the checkers (apart from rarer words like pinnate) Our LOI and pleased that 1A was FOI.
Slow and dim this morning but got there in the end. Biffed a few like PAGODA and GRAHAM GREENE, and ODDBALL. Ah, did not think of Dr of Divinity. Must remember that one. (The Greene novel I reread most often is The Quiet American, by the way.)
Liked ALAS, ANTENNA, LOAF. I was slow on DUBAI because I failed to see Bud for friend at first. Luckily biffed ADAGIO due to its recent appearance.
FOI COL, LOsI SE corner.
Thanks for much needed blog, Cedric.
Later. Oh dear, I now see a DNF as I put Inn instead of ION.
LOAF and LUBRICANT were first 2 in. OLEANDER brought up the rear. Sadly I didn’t notice that my iffy DUD (dud(e) not quite) had morphed to DUN, so 8.12 WOE. Thanks Izetti and Cedric.
9:51
PANCAKE not parsed – thanks Cedric for making sense of it.
LOI was ADAGIO, which was a very good clue.
Thanks Cedric and Izetti
My bete noire ‘MAR’ pops up again for two days on the trot. I shall not misdirect @Curryowen again.
Struggled with PANCAKE and assumed this was a typo which should have been ‘/landing’ because ‘lighting’ just didn’t make sense at all. I bow to others’ liberal interpretation.
COD DUDE. Unfamiliar with LADETTE. Obviously must have been oblivious for a generation, or blessed with only sons perhaps.
Thanks ‘zetti and Cedric
I noticed that as I was doing the blog and wondered briefly if you would be tweaked again. San Marrino doesn’t fit though, despite conjuring up delightful images of rhotic locals rolling their R’s all around the hilly little republic.
Incidentally San Marino is one of two places in the Italian peninsula to bear or have borne the nickname “La Serenissima Repubblica” or “the most serene republic”, the other being the medieval city state of Venice.
So, Cedric, PANCAKE had been bothering me.
I agree, ‘flat as a pancake’ is not contentious, but… lighting?
Then the penny dropped. We replaced many recessed ‘exposed can’ type ceiling lighting with ‘pancake’ ceiling flat, modern look, surface lighting which are more aesthetic and had low energy bulbs.
So, lighting I am convinced is reference to the large round flat ceiling lights, as named, and not referenced to aeroplanes! Perhaps the “bad way’ is because they are obscurely related?
Anyway, I am easier with that explanation. Google ‘pancake ceiling light’ for sure. I did wonder about ‘pancake’, the makeup used for actors faces particularly under the lights to avoid reflection but decided that was a step too far.
Collins: pancake Also called: pancake landing
an aircraft landing made by levelling out a few feet from the ground and then dropping onto it.
No argument at all about the meaning of pancake landing, except that it is not relevant to lighting, not alighting, or landing.
Beyond me, but I bow to your informed interpretation, but I will keep to pancake lighting which looks like a flat pancake on the ceiling.
27:09
Mostly ok but a couple of tough ones here. Since when was ADA a synonym for female? ADAGIO was LOI and needed an alphabet trawl. OLEANDERS also held me up as it’s not part of my everyday vocabulary and I didn’t see the anagram indicator, or where the first O came from. As for PANCAKE!?
QCPR double 59 minutes.
8:18, no problem with pancake landings having read Biggles as a child, LOI was CUTIE.
Thanks setter and blogger
PS 1:41 how is that even physically possible his fingers must be blurs!!!!!!
Some tricky ones here, but mostly a steady solve for 10.51. I had no idea about PANCAKE but the bad landing interpretation is obvious once explained. From memory Izetti’s puzzles are always an entertaining challenge and a special shout-out to Cedric for the fascinating dissertation (at LOAF) about the lord/lady origins. Good weekend to all.
Slow going initially, but got LUBRICANT at the start of my second pass and was then able to pick up speed. Time = 25 minutes.
Pleased to get GRAHAM GREENE (an author I have never read) and OLEANDERS (a plant I couldn’t identify), but had to rely on the definition only for PANCAKE – very strangely (and in my view, weakly) clued.
Many thanks to Izetti and Cedric.
Succeeded in printing this one off without any problems, so started in a good frame of mind and managed to finish 22mins later still feeling the same way. A classic Izetti, with a good mix of clues and (generally) detailed solving instructions. Loi 14d seemed atypical in that respect, but I thankfully resisted an early stab at Plateau with just the initial ‘P’ to go on. Parsing Pancake spoilt any chance of a sub-20, but at least reminded me that the traditional definition of a good landing was one where the pilot could walk away. . . Invariant
I have no idea how anyone could call this a gentle offering. It was a DNF and very typical Izetti, ie very hard for any of us less experienced solvers. Not complaining about the puzzle but definitely not a breeze
Seemed fairly gentle although needed all the checkers for PANCAKE. Didn’t know the ‘landing’ meaning so this was biffed from ‘One’s flat’. Also paused over ALAS (doh). Spotted ADAGIO straight away so this was biffed then parsed. Thanks for the highly informative blog Cedric, especially loaf – fascinating.
18.35 I started quickly but was bogged down in the SE, with 14 taking ages. Punt came to mind as a flat thing beginning with P but that didn’t help and I eventually biffed PANCAKE. Thanks Cedric and Izetti.
Seemed very easy at first but then given an edge by some harder Izetti clues.
I rather liked 14d though unfortunately my PIMPLEs were never hidden.
A very nice puzzle thanks, enhanced as always by Cedric’s blog.
Any Izetti completed is a success for me regardless of the time taken. Was hoping to be able to opt out of the SCC but ADAGIO and PANCAKE ensured I couldn’t.
DNF. Never saw ADAGIO. PANCAKE went in without any understanding and I’m still unconvinced. Ho hum, on to next week.
Thanks to Cedric – especially for the info about loaf/lord/lady – and Izetti.
Hmm…not convinced by Pancake clue – would make sense if ‘alighting’. Is there a typo/omission here?
FOI 1a Lubricant – ‘soothing’? really?
LOI 14d Pancake – for doubtful reasoning
COD 18d Alas.