I don’t have much time, so please, even though I like his puzzles, anyone but a certain setter…, oh, no!
In the end I didn’t think this was unreasonably hard though it still took me nearly 13 minutes. There were four anagrams and three double definitions to help and the only unfamiliar word was my last in, our amphibian friend at 20d, which as a three-letter word was not difficult with crossers and wordplay. Favourite was 13d.
Definitions underlined in bold, strikethrough indicating deletions
| Across | |
| 1 | Seasonal visitor Rod repeatedly comes to a Californian location (5,7) |
| SANTA BARBARA – BAR BAR (‘Rod repeatedly’) contained in (‘comes to’) SANTA (‘Seasonal visitor’) | |
| 8 | Malice of archdeacon, old male (5) |
| VENOM – VEN (‘archdeacon’) O (‘old’) M (‘male’)
VEN is an abbreviation for “The Venerable”, a title for an archdeacon in the Anglican church |
|
| 9 | Fighter in crusade in awful scare, a knight (7) |
| SARACEN – Anagram (‘awful’) of SCARE A and N (‘knight’) | |
| 10 | Man offering bit of illumination (3) |
| RAY – Double definition, the first definition ‘Man’ either standing for our random man or as the first name (an abbreviation of Emmanuel) of the American surrealist painter and photographer | |
| 11 | Northern personality, note, had to bargain (9) |
| NEGOTIATE – N (‘Northern’) EGO (‘personality’) TI (‘note’) ATE (‘had’)
ATE for ‘had’ as in I had a meal = I ate a meal |
|
| 13 | Attempts to provide photographs (5) |
| SHOTS – Double definition | |
| 14 | Little female and I can go well together (3,2) |
| FIT IN – F (‘Little female’) I (‘I’) TIN (‘can’) | |
| 16 | Pray in Bury church with leaders of diocesan evangelism (9) |
| INTERCEDE – INTER (‘Bury’) CE (‘church’) DE (‘leaders’ = first letters of ‘diocesan evangelism’)
A bit of ecclesiastical wordplay for our consideration |
|
| 17 | Girl quiet in the morning (3) |
| PAM – P (‘quiet’) AM (‘in the morning’)
A random girl’s name this time On edit: As Kevin has pointed out, not the random girl’s name as part of the solution, but the solution itself. |
|
| 19 | A mister, extraordinary, may be in this group? (7) |
| MAESTRI – Anagram (‘extraordinary’) of A MISTER | |
| 21 | Playwright‘s nib’s broken around end of line (5) |
| IBSEN – Anagram (‘broken’) of NIBS containing (‘around’) E (‘end of’ = last letter of ‘line’) | |
| 22 | Beginning job that is on the racecourse (8,4) |
| STARTING POST – STARTING (‘Beginning’) POST (‘job’) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Cut not entirely drastic (5) |
| SEVER – SEVER |
|
| 2 | Butter with any tang? No, unfortunately (5,4) |
| NANNY GOAT – Anagram (‘unfortunately’) of ANY TANG? NO
Butter as in the sense of “one who buts”; a bit of a chestnut |
|
| 3 | Transmit radio broadcast as manager (13) |
| ADMINISTRATOR – Anagram (‘broadcast’) of TRANSMIT RADIO | |
| 4 | Appoint some jackass, ignorant (6) |
| ASSIGN – Hidden (‘some’) in ‘jackASS IGNorant’ | |
| 5 | Sacrifice for which Alfred was responsible? (5,8) |
| BURNT OFFERING – Double definition
The first definition refers to a form of sacrifice in Judaism. The second definition refers to this legend. I was aware of the story but had to look up the details |
|
| 6 | My ascending bird — fabulous (3) |
| ROC – Reversal (‘ascending’ in a down clue) of COR (‘My’)
My! as an exclamation. The definition, with the adjective following the noun, is in what I would have called Yoda speak (word reversal), but looking it up, I don’t know that it qualifies without a verb |
|
| 7 | An academic leader in the mountains (6) |
| ANDEAN – AN (‘An’) DEAN (‘academic leader’) | |
| 12 | A new hint regarding Italian food (9) |
| ANTIPASTO – A (‘A’) N (‘new’) TIP (‘hint’) AS TO (‘regarding’) | |
| 13 | Mark of saint, almost magic somehow? (6) |
| STIGMA – ST (‘saint’) and anagram (‘somehow’) of MAGI The whole clue can also be read as the definition which may be the reason for the question mark. This is the phenomenon being referred to |
|
| 15 | Stars, say, turning up with skimpy attire (6) |
| GEMINI – GE (‘say, turning up’ = reversal of EG for ‘say’) MINI (‘skimpy attire’)
MINI as in mini-skirt; RIP Mary Quant. Good surface |
|
| 18 | Artist married one student finally (5) |
| MONET – M (‘married’) ONE (‘one’) T (‘student finally’ = last letter of ‘student’) | |
| 20 | Creature not right without head (3) |
| EFT – The terrestrial juvenile stage of the eastern newt as I’m sure you knew |
|
I had MERITAS for 19a which gave me RAT for 20d (drat without the d) and then left an impossible 15d despite thinking GEMINI was probably the answer though I couldn’t parse it.
Despite this it was a perfectly fair QC puzzle from IZETTI and with more time I might have resolved it.
COD: Fit In.
Thanks both. The blog was very helpful especially in explaining Butter.
Pretty straightforward for an Izetti puzzle. LOI MAESTRI.
Steady progress today. Minor hold up over LOI FIT IN/BURNT OFFERING. Didn’t know the Alfred story. Pleased to remember EFT from a previous QC (I think). Liked ANTIPASTO and GEMINI. Easier than most Izetti offerings. Very enjoyable. Thanks for the links in the blog, very informative.
11.13 This was a really nice puzzle. The association between California, The Beach Boys and Bar-bar-bar, Bar-Barbara Ann helped 1a go straight in and most of the rest followed quickly. I was slowed down by GEMINI, EFT and NEGOTIATE at the end. Thanks to BR and Izetti.
Kicking self for missing that Beach Boys ref!
Got them all. About 40 mins. Always good to finish the Izetti puzzles because even when they are hard they are fair. The blog explained a good few questions I had such as Negotiate. Nanny Goat and Maestri. Glad I persevered. Thank you for the explanations.
Delighted to finish correctly in 24 minutes – fast for me, especially with Izetti. A moderately slow start, but picked up speed when I reached the down clues.
Had to tread carefully with ANTPASTO, MAESTRI and EFT. My LOsI were STARTING POST and GEMINI.
Many thanks to Izetti and BR.
Great time Mr R.
7/24. Would have been 8, but I put ANTIPASTI. I also put NAT rather than RAY. Don’t feel bad about that now, as several experts did the same thing. Also had most of the letters for Saracen, but I had K for knight, rather than N, so didn’t get it. I am quite pleased with this for an Izetti.
Chess notation – the King has pulled rank and already nabbed the K, so it’s just N for the knight
Enjoyed this. And whilst way back on the push me pull me behind the SCC I was very satisfied to get all bar Saracen, Gemini ( also couldn’t get bikini out of head) and EFT. Loved the explanation of where to find in zoo!
CoD Santa Barbara.
Thanks all for enjoyable puzzle, blog and comments.
4.06
Maybe a PB – pretty sure I’ve never ducked under 4 minutes before. Had a bit of a moan about Izetti’s last offering. This on the other hand was a masterpiece of precision, smoothness, subtlety ….
Thanks BR and the Don
Foiled by the sw corner, did not know maestri, not getting eft or Gemini did not help. Otherwise a fairly quick solve.
I tried to work on the puzzle before bed (my midnight is y’all’s 6am) and floundered, but was delighted to find that this morning most of the clues made sense. (I try the “sleep on it” trick a lot and that doesn’t always happen!)
The only real struggle I had was trying to remember if the correct spelling of 9a is SARACEN, SARECAN, or SERACAN — the vowels were all unchecked, all three fit the clue, and somehow they ALL look misspelled to me 🤣
This was the easiest Izetti I have done for some time. I got seven across answers on the first pass. It was still quite challenging, though – and I thought it was about the right level for me. I needed to look at the blog to understand Negotiate. Thanks Izetti and Bletchley Reject.
A little easier than average, and a lot easier than the average Izetti, though I was held up a little at the end by my last two in NEGOTIATE and ANDEAN. Still finished in 15:58 though, so pleased with that, especially after a long day. I don’t really understand why BURNT OFFERING is a double definition. I mean, Alfred wasn’t offering the cakes to anyone was he? Anyway, thanks Izetti and BR.
25mins with 2 corrected errors … put GUY for “Man offering …” and SAVAG. Have just got too used to Izetti including NHOs that I assumed the latter was one of those. Spent 5mins at the end trawling to get SHOTS otherwise would have been sub20 or thereabouts – but that’s on me, not him.
Biffed SANTA-BARBARA straight in after Monica wouldn’t fit. Followed by BURNT-OFFERINGS, IBSEN, MONET, PAM; ASSIGN, ROC, SARACEN all probably in first couple of minutes.
Grateful for what I found to be a relatively straightforward Izetti. The previous one also seemed easier so perhaps we are turning a corner with his setting.
Good time, well done!
Hey L-P, good to hear from you- and good that you are still “in the game”!
Another with NAT to start for 10A. Otherwise safely negotiated in 4:15. Thanks Izetti and BR.
Total nightmare as usual with Izetti. 40 thoroughly unenjoyable minutes. Thought I was making progress yesterday but back in doldrums today. Made even worse by seeing so many comments about how ‘easy’ it was. How anyone can find this straightforward is beyond me! What am I missing?
MAESTRI, GEMINI, FIT IN and ANDEAN all took ages. I just cannot see it with this setter, who never fails to destroy what little confidence I have. So many unparsed.
Already at 51 mins for the week.
Thanks for the blog.