Times Quick Cryptic 2914 by Izetti – back to normality?

74 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2914 by Izetti – back to normality?”

1. Today is my idea of a perfectly pitched QC. What a great start to the week.

2. 12 minutes, taken over 10 by my LOI MIGHTY where needed all the checkers to find the answer and then missed the obvious parsing until after I had stopped the clock.

   How does INVEST mean sink, I wondered? But I suppose if you invest in a business you can be said to sink money into it. It still seems a bit of a stretch to me.

   1. I assumed the same as you about ‘sinking’ money so I suppose it does work. I find this kind of clue perverse though because for a quickie there is no need to rely on a tenuous definition. I’m still managing times remarkably similar to yours on these, but I’m not usually in your league for the main one!

3. Ooh, this took an age to get started then probably proceeded at a normal pace before being breeze blocked by Mares ???? and then elder where were were iceberged.

   Finally saw sent flying at 26.26, d’oh!!

   Thanks Izetti and Kitty for the parsing of elder

4. Yes, you can count on Don to throw in one obscure literal: sink = invest? Must be a habit from his days as a Mephisto setter, but if are solving from the cryptics, it won’t slow you down, Mighty was my LOI – I just couldn’t see it, and biffed it with a shrug.

   Time: 9:07

5. NHO MARES NEST, but I still got there in a semi-respectable time (for me).

   Happy Monday.

   Pi ♥️

6. Just under 6, nice puzzle, thanks Izetti and Kitty

7. I was in a MARES NEST (not that I had any idea what one was) when solving this.

   Needed most of the checkers to see MEDALLIST, which deprived me of lots of useful starting letters, was thinking Shakespeare for EDWARD and spent an age missing the hidden ELDER.
   No major issues with the rest of it and, as usual, the clueing was very precise.

   Finished in 9.05.
   Thanks to Kitty and Izetti

8. A delightful QC from Izetti taking 33:37.
   Joint COD to LED and AZALEAS
   Thanks both.

9. I DNF’d 8a/3d, I’d NHO Edward Lear and didn’t believe that a king’s name would be a definition. I also have never seen ZA for South Africa and assumed it was either an oversight/error or that ASALEAS was an acceptable alternate spelling (Izetti puzzles often have some ridiculous anachronism so I don’t think it’s beyond the realms of possibilities).

   1. .za is Internet/e-mail address country code as well as vehicle country identifier
      for South Africa.

      1. …. which, for clarity, are both abbreviations of the Afrikaans name for the country, Zuid Afrika.

   2. Have to admit I thought it was shorthand for Zimbabwe, which is above South Africa (kind of)

10. A bit of a think about whether AZALEAS should be spelt with a Z or an S, before reasoning that just maybe Z stood for ZUD in an alternative spelling of South Africa. Other than this conundrum I found it relatively straightforward, finishing in 8.09 for a reasonable start to the week.

    1. I vaguely remembered from my banking days that the currency code for the Rand was both ZAR and SAR. So that was good enough for my azaleas.

       1. Just ZAR, I think. SAR is the Saudi Riyal, (and SA is the Saudi internet country identifier) which explains perhaps why South Africa uses ZA, to distinguish itself. Not an obvious one, as the modern Afrikaans for South Africa is Suid-Afrika with an S. But the Boer Republic of 1852-1902 used the spelling Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek.

          1. Doh – thanks for the correction. Maybe that explains why I never got the money from that African prince who emailed me about some money he wanted to get out of the country 😉

11. 15:39 for the solve. Falling in the 15-17min range of the first two Izetti puzzles we had, so glad to get back on track there.

    Held up for last few mins by MARES-NEST / LAC (both NHO) and therefore a rather blank DETACHMENT. Was beginning to mutter oaths in Don’s direction for coming up with an obscure church official … until it wasn’t 😄

12. NH ZA for SA, or of AsALEAS but reckoned I should follow the cryptic, so like David spurned AZALEAS and got a pink square for my trouble. I was already over 20 when ELDER was an unparsed LOI – thanks Kitty!

    1. I did the same. I just switch my brain off when the answers a plant because there are so many and I have so little interest in learning their names. Turns out I have heard of this one so more fool me. I’d prefer if the editor outlawed random plants rather than random names!

13. I didn’t know AZ for South Africa and so, like others, went for AsALEAS thinking it must be an alternative spelling. The rest was fine

14. Time: 15:01. LOI MARESNEST after DEBATE left little option, and after thinking ‘That’s MARES something-or-other for a while! 🙂 Thanks, Kitty and Izetti.

15. 7.28 WOE

    Yes that one. ZA was a new one on me.

    1. Ten reference solvers excluded with errors on the Quitch already … must be quite a common one

16. An enjoyable straightforward QC from Izetti this morning, although not quite convinced that SINK is a synonym of INVEST as to me it has a suggestion of being a poor financial move. Had never really thought about the origin of MARES NEST – interesting! Thanks Kitty.

    1. “I’ve decided to sink/invest my money into gold futures” – I think that works? That was how I thought of it anyway!

    2. Sinking money into something is quite common parlance in Financial Services. (I did hear of someone sinking their money in shipping, which is perhaps a somewhat unfortunate turn of phrase)

    3. I’d add that “sunk cost fallacy” is when you continue to put money into with a failing project because you have already invested so much money in it that you want to believe it can be turned around. Sunk/invested obviously being the past tenses.

17. Hooray – a reasonably friendly one today from the Don. Struggled most with the NW corner – couldn’t find enough vowels in “dames still” to fit – – – A-L-S-S, and failed to separate King from Lear – as was of course Izetti’s intention – but one led to the other, and eventually all went in. All stamp and coin collectors are familiar with Zuid-Afrika.

    1. Ah, thank you for explaining ZA. I was wondering.

18. Like New Driver, I must admit to muttering one of two uncomplimentary expressions in Izetti’s direction concerning yet another clever-clever ‘QC’. Thankfully, I persevered after a slow start and did, at least, finish it (but it took me 21 mins). I did not find it as ‘friendly’ and ‘straightforward’ as some posters above.
    Some characteristic Izetti quirks, some nice clues, a couple of biffs. GALLIUM clicked immediately I had the G in MIGHTY. I only got MARES NEST when I had some crossers to help; I then had to look up the definition because I couldn’t give a sensible one myself.
    I finished back in the NW corner. Once I had sorted out AZELEAS (nice clue), I completed a rather challenging start to the week with EDWARD, ELDER, and TREE (not the most difficult clues in the puzzle!!).
    Thanks, both.

19. 12:51, with the final two minutes spent on MARES NEST.
    Briefly wondered whether ASALEAS was an alternative spelling of AZALEAS before remembering Zuid Afrika.

    Thanks Izetti and Kitty

20. Quite straightforward, with just one NHO in GALLIUM. Luckily, the M, R and S were in for 11d, or I’d have had trouble with MARES NEST, which I’d forgotten about. I was confident enough of the spelling of AZALEAS to go with that and not be tempted by S. Nice puzzle!

21. Nice Monday puzzle, phew. I was amazed to come here and find that it’s an Izetti! He really can bowl at any pace he likes, can’t he?

    Loved EDWARD and GUARD, joint CODs from me.

    For people like me who’ve never heard of LAC, this is what Collins says: “a resinous substance secreted by certain lac insects, used in the manufacture of shellac.
    Word origin
    C16: from Dutch lak or French laque, from Hindi lākh resin, ultimately from Sanskrit lākshā”

    All done in 05:31 for an Excellent Day. Many thanks Don and Kitty.

    1. With Izetti, it isn’t a matter of pace – it’s more about spin.

       1. With the odd bouncer and (in my view) the inevitable wide – as in “wide of the mark for a QC”.

22. Found myself on the back foot for most of this one, but scraped in under my target eventually. From AIRING to HEADER in 9:55. MIGHTY took a while! Thanks Izetti and Kitty.

23. POI 2d Azalea, I initially has aSAleas, but decided it had to be wrong. It turns out that the ISO code for South Africa is ZA from Dutch. ZA is also the “FIPS 10-4 country code for Zambia” whatever that means, both from Wiki.

24. I found this quite gentle for an Izetti, and it was done in two passes – thanks Kitty and Don.

    FOI EDWARD
    LOI HEADER
    COD DETACHMENT
    TIME 3:52

25. Definitely not as challenging as recent offerings from Izetti. But not without the inevitable quirky clues (just to show he can?): today’s were ZA for South Africa and sink = invest, both of which fall into the category of “not actually wrong, but not mainstream by any means”. Those two pushed my time out to 13:25 – but compared to my times on his last two that’s a big improvement!

    Many thanks Kitty for the blog.

    1. The fact that ZA is both (a) their international vehicle registration code and (b) their internet country code has convinced me that this was my ignorance, not Izetti being obscure!

26. A slowish start, as I just couldn’t see Medallists until I had the offspring in place. Not too bad after that, though Mares Nest was an nho that needed crossers to decipher. Also, I fell into the Asaleas trap, despite being quite familiar with the plant – Wiki does in fact list a few examples with the S, so maybe half an excuse. Finished around the 25min mark, with CoD to 11ac, Maladies. Invariant

27. I have never seen AZALEAS with an S but Izetti’s instructions were I thought to use SA; I did not know ZA for South Africa. I crossed out the right answer!
    Another learning experience.
    11 minutes. LOI DEBATE.
    Mild and enjoyable QC.
    David

28. Quite fast until stuck on LOI EDWARD, then penny dropped. POI LED, very good. Smiled at INVEST, MALADIES.
    I knew AZALEAS couldn’t be spelt any other way but was puzzled about S Africa. Actually, chaps, this is a common shrub and appears quite often in crosswords.
    Thanks vm, Kitty.

    1. Does that qualify as “womansplaining”?

       1. Dunno. I shouldn’t really explain that Mansplaining means chaps explaining stuff we women already know, but today some chaps claim/explain they NHO AZALEAS. So, you non-gardening chaps, in the spring, Azaleas, like rhododendron, will be in bloom and a fine sight they are. Try a garden near you, unless you live on chalklands. (Azaleas don’t grow on chalky soil.)

29. 6:37

    Held up at the end only by HEADER and DEBATE – once I’d got one, the other went in very easily. Not sure I’d seen ZA for South Africa here before, but it wasn’t a difficult jump. GALLIUM and MARES NEST both held me up for a short time as well. INVEST = sink, I didn’t think that was too difficult a jump to make.

    Thanks Kitty and Izetti

30. 13 mins
    Wasn’t sure about sa/za.
    COD maladies.

31. NHO MARES NEST. Rat’s nest, Mares’s tail, Mares nest? Live and learn.
    Shellac familiar from having a sideboard French polished years ago and can still remember the smell, and Gallium is a tool of the trade in its form of Indium Gallium Arsenide so it popped out. Elder was cleverly concealed.
    More than 20 but less than 30 min.
    Thanks Izetti and Kitty.

32. LOI AZALEAS – the only flowers that fitted in, not knowing ZA is South Africa. NHO MARESNEST but worked it out from the clue. Steady solve for the rest.

33. A most enjoyable crossword. Got stuck on a few – inevitably with Izetti: notably DEBATE, which took me an extra three minutes. Finally finished in 18, but most of it flew in (for me).

34. 9 minutes. I found this on the gentler side for an Izetti puzzle with MARES NEST causing the most trouble. I’m pretty sure we’ve had ZA for ‘South Africa’ before and so AZALEAS went in confidently.

    One thing I wasn’t as confident about was seeing the first row of unchecked letters (the second row of the grid) spelling out LZETTI. Hello, I thought, here’s Izetti giving us an (unusual for him) Nina so 2d must be EIDER not ELDER. Try as I might though I couldn’t make a type of duck a ‘Church official’. Maybe next time.

    Thanks to Izetti and Kitty

35. A good start to the week. I didn’t know ZA for South Africa, but assumed it was from the Afrikaans (which was confirmed by Google) and made the same link between sink and INVEST as others, although – like them – found it a bit tenuous for the QC. But otherwise, this was a very nice crossword and I had a surprising time for an Izetti 😅 Interesting info about MARE’S NEST, which got a tick, as did LOITER – a terrific surface.
    8:42 FOI and COD Medallists (Dames Kelly, Jessica, Tanni and Denise spring to mind for starters) LOI Header
    Thanks Izetti and Kitty

36. I made it across the line safely in a little over half an hour, but I had real trouble getting started and felt off balance throughout.

    I knew the plant was spelt with a Z, but never having visited or had any dealings with South Africa I chose to write both letters into the grid – an advantage of solving on paper (no pink squares). Incidentally, I know a couple who holiday there every year – just one of their many long-haul jaunts. They can easily afford to do so and there’s no law against it, of course, but it rather makes a mockery of the efforts some of us are making to limit/reduce our personal carbon footprints. No shame or self-discipline.

    Also (and despite my slight bitterness, expressed above), I had NHO the element, the resin or the confused state. However, they all just had to be once their checkers were in place.

    Many thanks to Kitty and Izetti.

    1. Flying like there’s no tomorrow? Could be a self-fulfilling prophecy … 🙁

37. DNF, having never heard of ZA = South Africa I had to decide between a) an unlikely (to me) abbreviation, b) an equally unlikely alternate spelling of azalea or c) a different plant that I’d never heard of. As Izetti is known for throwing in the occasional obscurity, I wrongly chose “c)”. At least I’ll be ready if South Africa appears in a future clue.

38. 13 minutes for probably my fastest Izetti but wrote in Asaleas without a second thought even though like others I know the plant as an Azalea..
    Not familiar with Lac..and was loathe to put in Edward as it seemed too easy.
    Good puzzle though.
    Thanks all
    John

39. NHO: Gallium or Lac or Mare’s Nest. And was convinced that 9a was SOWING ( O for one in SWING
    band! ) Not a good day!

40. From MEDALLISTS to LAC in a more than acceptable 6:39. I would have been quicker if I hadn’t dithered over the parsing of EDWARD and AIRING. MARES NEST rang a faint bell and fitted the wordplay.

41. 10.57 Mostly a steady solve but DEBATE took two minutes at the end. Thanks Kitty and Izetti.

42. A long train journey to St Ives gave me time to really revel in this. A rare Izetti solve for me. Took a good hour but was distracted by the sea at Dawlish!

43. Enjoyable solve and a few new words/phrases/country identifiers to boot so all good. Biffed ELDER only to find it was a very well-hidden hidden. Liked EDWARD. Thanks all.

44. As 9:28 is a lot faster than normality for me, I feel a bit of whiplash this morning. No complaints of course! A very entertaining solve with typically smooth Izetti surfaces and without any frustrations. I thought 8a EDWARD was witty. 13d HEADER gave me pause as I thought “oh no, sports again!” so I was grateful for the explicit wordplay. And same goes for the seldom-seen GALLIUM.

    Many thanks to Izetti and Kitty.

45. DNF. Couldn’t get into this for some reason though eventually solved them all apart from Edward.
    Thanks for the blog Kitty.

46. 23 mins…

    I came up with a rather convoluted parsing for 2dn “Azaleas” (see above somewhere) which I don’t think is correct, but seemed to justify the answer. The rest went in steadily, although a good chunk of my last 5 minutes was taken up by 20ac “Debate”. NHO of Mares Nest for 11dn and was crossing my fingers for 15dn “Gallium”.

    FOI – 4dn “LED”
    LOI – 20ac “Debate”
    COD – 7dn “Invest” – only because I remember getting this once before and being stuck on it for ages, whereas this time it was a write in.

    Thanks as usual!

47. 11:55. Fairly smooth solve but hampered at the end by MALADIES and the NHO MARES NEST. Good fun and on the harder end of the scale for a QC. thank you both!

48. 10: 22 I stared at ZA for a while but figured it had to be. MARE’S NEST, INVEST, and MALADIES were favourites.

49. 16:05 here. I knew of .za for South African internet sites, so AZALEAS wasn’t an issue. GALLIUM, on the other hand…

    Very enjoyable, thanks to Izetti and Kitty.

50. 12:41. Late solve, but nothing too difficult. No problem with ZA for South Africa, in fact when setters use SA, it doesn’t seem right to me. That’s Saudi Arabia, or South America.

    Just abiut recalled MARES NEST, but thought it might be HARES NEST. It doesn’t make any sense either.

    COD GALLIUM

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