Pleasing puzzle as always from Izetti, not without some challenges for sure.
Across
| 1 | Unfortunate daughter falling over sink (5) |
| DROOP – D{aughter} + POOR (unfortunate) reversed [falling over]
First thought “Oh, this must be DROWN”, the OWNS of 2D confirms it, must go back and parse it as I’m blogging today. What, wait? NWOR, hang on… |
|
| 4 | Struck deals, about 2000, after comeback (7) |
| SLAMMED – DE^ALS containing MM (Roman for 2000) reversed [after comeback]
I remember in 1999 when copyright notices on the BBC changed over (while computer experts wrestled with Y2K) and there it was the glorious MM. Superbowl in 2016, (just about the only other widespread use of Roman Numerals) bottled it and didn’t call it Superbowl L. |
|
| 8 | Provide money for African party when it’s sunny outside (7) |
| FINANCE – ANC (African Party) contained in FIN^E (its sunny)
The African National Congress (ANC) is South Africa’s governing political party, which famously led the struggle against apartheid. |
|
| 9 | Wilfully reluctant to hear about cold coffee (5) |
| DECAF – DE^AF (Wilfully reluctant) contains C{old}
This is the metaphor “Deaf to the argument”. |
|
| 10 | Official approval for a church campaign? (10) |
| PERMISSION – PER (a) + MISSION (church campaign)
Per can equal “a” as in “16 miles a minute” or “£50 a head” |
|
| 14 | Some get remorseful and shake (6) |
| TREMOR – hidden in “get remorseful”
Hyper-correcting Americans might be tempted to write “tremour”, as in “Clamour” at 20a. Sorry, it just doesn’t work that way. |
|
| 15 | Buccaneer quiet, then angry (6) |
| PIRATE – P (quiet) + IRATE (angry)
The original buccaneers were French and English hunters on Hispaniola who earned their name from the boucan, a wooden rack used for smoking meat. All Buccaneers are pirates, not all pirates are buccaneers. |
|
| 17 | Top courier on the move in Caribbean island (6,4) |
| PUERTO RICO – (TOP COURIER)*
Struggled here, as I saw the Courier anagram, but tried to place it inside a Caribbean island (Cuba) |
|
| 20 | Clamour is evident in Christmas endlessly (5) |
| NOISE – IS contained in NO^E{l} (Christmas) | |
| 22 | Like many a bird, one releasing egg — smart! (7) |
| NESTING – {o}NE (delete the o=egg) + STING (smart)
Sting means smart as in, “ooh, that smarts/stings”. This was a tricky one to parse. |
|
| 23 | He painted pig and hart in motion (7) |
| HOGARTH – HOG (pig) + (HART)*
William Hogarth was a prolific 18th-century English painter and engraver best known for his “moral histories” which used satirical, sequential images to critique the social and political follies of London life. |
|
| 24 | Brown primates circling round island (5) |
| SEPIA – A^PES (primates) reversed containing I{sland}
The colour originally comes from the dark pigment found in the ink sacs of the cuttlefish (whose scientific name is Sepia officinalis). And the photograph thing, the sepia tint (a silver-sulphide compound) made the photographs much more chemically stable and resistant to fading, which is why so many Victorian photos still look great today. |
Down
| 1 | Craze given up over time — it’s crazy (4) |
| DAFT – FAD (Craze) reversed [given up] + T{ime}
Clever clue where craze/crazy is used differently at each end of the clue. |
|
| 2 | Has topless items of clothing (4) |
| OWNS – {g}OWNS (items of clothing) | |
| 3 | Writer questions entertaining company in Sunday feast (9) |
| PENTECOST – PEN (writer) + TE^ST (questions) containing CO{mpany}
Word comes from Greek for 50th, being the 50th day after Easter (7 weeks), Jewish tradition is to count start and end day, hence Jesus rising “on the Third Day”. Was called Whit Sunday in England (the priest wore white) In the 1970s some bureaucrat decided to fix it as the last Monday in May (they didn’t dare mess with Easter). And pleasingly this year Pentecost and Whit fall on the same weekend (May 24/25) |
|
| 4 | Second drink — gosh! — like sex on the beach? (6) |
| STEAMY – S{econd} + TEA (drink) + MY! (Gosh!)
This seems pretty racy for a Times clue. Sex on the Beach is a cocktail: vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice, and cranberry juice together and serving it over ice. Variants include “up against the Wall” (with Galliano) and “With a pillow” (with whipped cream) |
|
| 5 | Attach a couple of diamonds (3) |
| ADD – A + D{iamonds} x 2 | |
| 6 | I’m aching to travel somewhere in America (8) |
| MICHIGAN – (IM ACHING)*
Very nice anagram. Best other ones I could find for US States are: LOOK A HAM, and INVITES RAW GIN. Maybe they’ll turn up soon. |
|
| 7 | Footballer put off letting goal in (8) |
| DEFENDER – DEF^ER (put off) contains END (goal)
Footballer=back is a common definition, so Backfire, Backstop, Backbone, etc all looked good. |
|
| 11 | Tricky issue with cats — they need to be packed for journeys (9) |
| SUITCASES – (ISSUE CATS)* | |
| 12 | A measure to install valve only if absolutely necessary (2,1,5) |
| AT A PINCH – A + INCH (measure) contains TAP (valve)
A valve is any device that “regulates, directs, or controls the flow of a fluid by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways.” So a tap is a valve. |
|
| 13 | Idolising criminal group, always getting taken in (8) |
| REVERING – R^ING (Criminal Group) contains EVER (always)
With a ending of ING looking likely I started out with GANG for my criminal group. |
|
| 16 | Jerky movement as bird lands on church (6) |
| WRENCH – WREN (bird) + CH{urch} | |
| 18 | Left little devil unable to function properly (4) |
| LIMP – L{eft} + IMP (Little Devil) | |
| 19 | A good artist in an Indian city (4) |
| AGRA – A + G{ood} + RA (artist) | |
| 21 | Sin admitted by Father Riley (3) |
| ERR – hidden in “Father Riley” |
A stop-start solve which took about 11.30, with PUERTO RICO (forgot all about the place as I tried making sense of top courier) and NESTING holding out the longest. Until I came here I didn’t appreciate the vg clues for PERMISSION (the old a = per trick eluded me again) and AT A PINCH. Thanks Merlin and Izetti.
I carelessly put in a pinch rather than at a pinch, and it did cause a delay at the end. I am pretty good with Izetti puzzles, but sometimes get a little too quick. The only thing that might give difficulty to some is Hogarth, but he was not a problem for me.
Time: 6:25
8:13
NHO the cocktail, which sounds pretty unappealing, but then most cocktails do (I’m aa dedicated Scotch drinker).
Surely if you are aa you shouldnt be having either?
17 minutes
Hard throughout. Only three on the first pass of acrosses and then a long time at the end on PERMISSION (fixated by ‘ref’ at the start and then trying to ram in ‘ormation’), STEAMY, NESTING and WRENCH. Also held up by 1a, I can see the D for daughter and ‘poor’ for unfortunate but if the whole lots falls over then it’s ‘roopd’, isn’t it? And if not how does the d get to the front. In my case because I had DAFT but otherwise? All green in a hard fought 20.27 – so a second over Merlin’s cut off.
EDIT: No, I get it. I just needed to write it out to see! Ignore me. I’m going to leave it up to own my ignorance!
Yes, my rule is that I throw in the towel when the time equals the year, so 20:26 now. The extra second per year is not really helping, to be honest.
Delayed by putting TWITCH for jerky movement and trying to make an anagram from PIG and HART. Thanks Izetti and Merlin.
One day per/a will stick in my memory, but I say that every time it comes up! Over all I thought this was quite tricky but, like yesterday, I never came to a complete halt.
Started with DAFT and finished with STEAMY in 8.48.
Thanks to Merlin and Izetti
I also have a blind spot for PER
15.16 we are not unhappy and we had fun. Slow start then moseyed through. Entirely pleasant.
Thank you Izetti and Merlin – as on most days, we leave better informed…. cocktail, Pentecost, Whit and are forewarned for more States/anagrams.
16 minutes with the top half being trickier than the bottom. The hiccups were DROOP (not ‘drown’) and PERMISSION (forgot per=a). Happily PENTECOST solved both issues.
As ever with Izetti the clueing was precise and very fair, a most enjoyable puzzle. Likewise an entertaining and informative blog from Merlin.
Thanks to both.
16 minutes. A complete brain fade at the end before the crossing WRENCH (like DramS I had TWITCH initially which wouldn’t shift) and then PUERTO RICO finally went in. I had no idea about the cocktail alluded to at 4d which was not only a bit naughty but, as Merlin has now explained it, very clever.
Thanks to Izetti and Merlin
Hard yards today and in the end a big fat DNF – failed on STEAMY, where the definition was too elliptical for me. Also massive struggles on DROOP/PENTECOST, and spent time trying to make an anagram of “pig hart”.
A Rubbish Day. Next!
Many thanks Izetti and Merlin.
Good puzzle – thank you. Second time in a week I’ve been caught out by needing to use a synonym and THEN anagram the result – spent an age trying to make an obscure artist out of pig and hart – fair enough – you got me !
No obscurities, and no “ out there” GK – just a nice puzzle
Thanks to both.
It feels like an indirect anagram —which is a synonym then an anagram —but these are not allowed in The Times. The HOG is not part of the anagram, that’s in plain text followed by the anagram of HART.
A testing but enjoyable puzzle, as ever from Izetti. I had to jump around and pick off a few gifts before slowly constructing a scaffold of crossers and filling in some of the gaps on a ‘bifd then parse’ basis. I finished off the NW corner late in my solve and finished with STEAMY and PERMISSION. Unfortunately, I had slipped into the SCC by a minute by then.
Always happy to successfully finish and (just about) parse an Izetti, though. My COD was HOGARTH.
Thanks to both.
Very slow, at 16:13, though on completing it (and especially on reading the blog) I am not sure why, as all now seems clear and fair enough. Well, almost all, as I still don’t really understand the definition for STEAMY – but then I am no expert on either cocktails or rumpy-pumpy on the sand.
Many thanks Merlin for the blog.
17:17
Needed pen and paper to get PUERTO RICO, and a very slow alphabet trawl to get WRENCH.
Thanks Merlin and Izetti
Is this the first time we have had an Izetti for ages, or have I missed one ? Either way, I made very heavy weather of this, compounded by writing the answer for 2d in the space for 1d. That made the NW corner quite tricky. . .
Like others, my loi was Permission (nothing to do with Faculties, then) which only made an appearance once I had convinced myself that 4d really was Steamy. By then, the 30min post was in plain sight.
CoD to Nesting, for the parsing. Invariant
17th March I reckon – not all that long ago? – depends on your expectations I suppose. How does that rate? All best wishes Martinů
Thanks – I thought it was longer than that
Nothing worse than writing the right answer in the wrong space. I find there is normally a period of a few minutes when you literally think you are going mad.
Exactly – your convinced the answer is correct because it parses, but then nothing else does!
17:11 – remarkably quick for me for an Izetti puzzle, although unable to parse a couple. A good start to the day!
I managed 16 with FoI permission…
For 3d I put PEN which prevented the drown misdirection.
For 16d I put in the CH but wrench for jerky movement?
oops start of online seminar on digital marketing…
Thanks both
Had to jump around the grid to get through this one after the first few in the NE corner. Also had to write out the anagrist for PUERTO RICO – actually, I admit I didn’t know it was part of the Caribbean! Also for MICHIGAN. COD to HOGARTH. Thanks for a nice morning challenge, Izetti, and for the cocktail ingredients, Merlin. I quite fancy the sound of that (the drink, that is… 🙂 ).
Another I looked at convinced I wouldn’t get anywhere, then the bottom half sorted itself, then the NW corner, finally the NE, LOI STEAMY (nice one) – all signs of a thoroughly good puzzle by the expert, thank you Don. CNP NESTING (smart?) but I’ve seen it now even before turning to the blog -very clever – so all good and thanks anyway, Merlin.
5:47
No major hold-ups until the last two in, which were NESTING and finally, WRENCH. Had briefly thought HOGARTH might have been an anagram of PIG HART, but spotted the likely answer with the first three checkers in place. Enjoyed PENTECOST and PERMISSION.
Thanks Merlin and Izetti
20 minutes
Tough one for sure but ultimately all gettable and I was quite pleased to finish in a slower than average 11:57. LOI Awas STEAMY.
Thanks Izetti and Merlin
I found this tough today, getting very few answers on first pass. Like others spent too long trying to make an anagram of pig and hart. In the end I staggered across the line with all correct and parsed in 13.49.
Tricky. Only finished with a hint and a reveal. Managed the bottom half but then stuck, apart from DROOP, DECAF, SLAMMED, DEFENDER and PENTECOST. Revealed DAFT which enabled me to complete NW then used hint for PERMISSION, enabling me to finish.
NHO Cocktail (!) I feel it would be indelicate to comment further on that one.
Liked HOGARTH, MICHIGAN, among others.
Many thanks, Merlin.
I found the bottom half of the grid much more straightforward than the top half. TREMOR, PIRATE and PUERTO RICO were my first clues in and I had to chip away at the crossword from the bottom up.
My last five clues (DROOP, DAFT, FINANCE, PENTECOST and PERMISSION) caused me real problems and added many minutes to my time, which I didn’t record today but was probably around the 40-minute mark. Well over my (unimpressive) average/target.
A game of two halves, as they say.
Thanks to Merlin and Izetti.
20:00
Does that mean I’m sitting on the bonnet of the SCC?
A slow start and many tours of the grid to build up the checkers.
WRENCH seemed to take forever with several alphabet trawls which led to me entering NESTING unparsed with fingers crossed followed by a PDM with my LOI.
FOI: PIRATE (It had to be, didn’t it?)
LOI: STEAMY
COD: AT A PINCH
Thanks to Izetti and Merlin
Ha, carrying the red flag, surely🙂
😁
My only real problem was in getting started. Perhaps I should have tried the Down clues first (he said for the umpteenth time!)
FOI TREMOR
LOI PERMISSION
COD STEAMY
TIME 4:11
Nothing much in the top half on first pass but more success at the bottom. Delayed slightly by trying to anagram pig and hart at 23ac but longer by deciding that the answer to 4dn was cocktail and entering it at 6dn. Definitely a senior moment. All finished in 19 minutes (seems to be my standard time at the moment) and all parsed except FINANCE.
FOI – 15ac PIRATE
LOI – 4dn STEAMY
COD – 22ac NESTING
Thanks to Izetti and Merlin
Merlin, you have got it slightly wrong with regard to Pentecost/Whit Sunday. They are synonyms for each other – it depends which denomination of the Christian religion you adhere to. So Whit Sunday and Pentecost will always fall on the same day (as you say, 50 days after Easter Day). The feast commemorates the day on which the disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirit and is celebrated as the birthday of the Christian church.
The thing that the bureaucrat in the 1970s changed was the date of the Spring Bank Holiday which used to fall on the day after Whit Sunday/Pentecost but is now the last Monday in May. As you say, the two dates happen to coincide this year but it isn’t always the case.
In days gone by children used to attend church on Whit Sunday in new clothes (often white) and then the entire church would parade around the area to proclaim their faith.
Some churches (including mine) still take part in the Whit Walks proudly walking behind the church banner and, if they are lucky, a brass band.
And on the Friday after Pentecost we have the world famous Saddleworth Band Contest when bands from around the world compete in 11 local villages in the Saddleworth hills. If you are ever in the area I can highly recommend it.
Ah, yes! When I lived in Lancashire as a child I well remember the Whit Walks.
Ah, fond memories of the Band Contest. I played the trombone there once – not as part of a formal band but in a glorified jam session as we awaited the next marchers. In Delph, as I recall, but it was some time ago.
I too had a slow start, with nothing in the NW corner. Then the eastern side started to yield and I got much faster. Overall I figure I finished in an average time for me. Liked STEAMY, HOGARTH, PENTECOST, NESTING (LOI).
Thanks Izetti and Merlin
A bit over my average at 15:58, but I enjoyed it a lot and was pleased to finish it – I think a year ago it would probably have been a DNF.
A few more American anagrams for Merlin:
Bear sank
Salsa veg
Thin wagons
Ensnare owl
Pale minions
Shun concerto request [good luck! I couldn’t decide between this one or “Scrunch queen’s tooter”]
Thank you for the blog!
OK I give up on your last one. Where or what is it?
I always enjoy an Izetti puzzle and this one was no exception taking an unhurried 40 minutes or so.
It turns out I didn’t parse AT A PINCH correctly – just assumed it was a double definition – or NESTLING where I thought the ‘ne’ referred to the use of the maiden name. Must remember O for Egg.
REVERED held me up due to the change in pronouncing ‘ever’
Thanks Izetti for an enjoyable tussle and Merlin for the very informative blog.
Very slow, I do know Hogarth but spent ages looking for an anagram of pighart, and even longer trying to fit ANC into fund. Knew of Pentecost but not that it was a Sunday feast (blog clears that up). Thanks to Izetty and Merlin.
I tend to jump around the grid, and by the time I reached 23a I had already got AT A PINCH, so H_G_R_H was clearly going to be HOGARTH. I originally put TWITCH for jerky until I realised that the W wasn’t clued, then did an alphabet trawl. Biffed NESTING; couldn’t parse it at all. Must try to remember egg can be O.
Excellent puzzle from Izetti, and thanks Merlin for the blog.
19:35 Missed my seat in the SCC although troubled because Hogarth owns daft droop
TaMAI
Much like yesterday I couldn’t get on with this one. Far too many too tricky clues for me.
From DAFT to SEPIA in 7:49. No dramas. Thanks Izetti and Merlin.
Initially thought it a toughy as I couldn’t find anything in the first pass in the NW and NE but managed to get started in the S and worked up. Enjoyable in the end, although I have my doubts about WRENCH being a jerky movement. Thanks to blogger and Izetti.
17.18 One second slower than simjt with much the same experience. PUERTO RICO took ages and I finished with an alphabet trawl for WRENCH. Thanks Merlin and Izetti.
8 clues solved in 15 mins. Not a good week so far with two difficult puzzles, but maybe ‘quick’ doesn’t mean beginner! I still have issues with which words can be shortened to the first letter! Today it was daughter and diamonds- why? Also combining an anagram with a substituted word as in Hogarth means there’s so many more possible solutions to clues!
All 1-letter abbreviations have to be in the dictionary, and they usually come from specific areas of endeavor. D for daughter can be found in genealogies, and D for diamonds is from the bridge column.
Not only was STEAMY quite racy for the Times, I was very amused to see it was clued by Izetti 🤣 And as for Father Riley? I hope he had just been at the communion wine, or maybe the cocktail! But our setter made up for that naughtiness with PENTECOST. All in all, I thought this was a cracker – so many entertaining clues, including PUERTO RICO, HOGARTH, MICHIGAN and SUITCASES.
I couldn’t get started so followed Alan Connor’s* advice to start at the last down clue – that helped considerably, but the NW still took some time to fall. I was quite slow today – compared to 8 minutes yesterday – but it was worth the effort. The biggie only took me about the same again.
12:38 FOI Err LOI Pentecost COD Steamy (for the laughs)
Thanks to Izetti for the fun and to Merlin for the very interesting blog
* Puzzle expert and author of Two Girls, One on Each Knee – recommended reading for crossword buffs (if you haven’t come across it)
23:43, a reminder to me that when they are hard, they are very very hard. Of course looking back I wonder why they were so hard. My besetting sin today was grabbing the wrong end of the clue and not letting go. I failed to consider AT A PINCH, put IN A PINCH in hopes of eventually parsing it. If only I had looked at TREMOR first! In my defense, I never heard of the weird drink, and kept trying to find a synonym of gritty, abrasive, or just generally a terrible idea, or some other word for how sex on the beach would be. The clue still doesn’t work for me, ouch.
Oh well tomorrow…. I liked the journeying cats.
Thanks Izetti and Merlin, great blogging today.
11:13 with nesting unparsed
34 mins. A quick scan of the top clues led to me starting at the bottom and working back up. Made very hard work of the NW corner until finally rembering that tea is a three letter drink (gin, rum, sip, sup,tot, nip ….etc.etc.) which stpped me searching for obscure African currencies with “do” on the end.
FOI Err
LOI Finance
COD Nesting
Thanks Izetti and Merlin
18:06, with the last 8 or so minutes stuck on WREN / NESTING, the former of which required an alphabet trawl. spent ages trying to anagram pig + hart, too.
27 mins…
Was doing quite well until I hit 4dn “Steamy” and 10ac “Permission”, both of which added 10 minutes to my final time. I was convinced the former was a cocktail of some form and was raiding my knowledge of Negronis and Mojitos to try and get something to fit. Other than that, a good test.
FOI – 2dn “Owns”
LOI – 10ac “Permission”
COD – 12dn “At a Pinch”
Thanks as usual!
I found this one really hard and needed aids to limp over the line in 24:26. No complaints: just one of those days when I confidently grabbed the wrong end of every stick on offer.
Thanks to Izetti and Merlin.
A tough one. 29.07 on the app. All nicely clued I thought.
Thanks blogger and setter.
A pure Izetti.
FOI 14a Tremor
LOI 3d Pentecost
COD 23a Hogarth.