A slightly difficult puzzle of the type we’ve come to expect (and, I hope, enjoy) from Izetti. Very precise and misleading, with one or two answers that require complete confidence in having untangled the wordplay correctly. The dog breed did that for me today (my LOI, since I wanted all the checkers before guessing and then looking it up!). A nice balance of clues and devices, too, with one more homophone than usual.
My CsOD to the pair at 17.
Definitions underlined.
|
1 |
Brightness of girl embracing loveless idiot (8) |
|
LUCIDITY – LUCY (girl) surrounding (embracing) IDIoT (without the O, love-less). |
5 |
Injury sending member to hospital (4) |
|
HARM – ARM (member) next to H (hospital). |
9 |
Sound of large mammals in the country (5) |
|
WALES – homophone of (sound of) “whales” (large mammals). |
10 |
Dance with nothing on? That’s swell! (7) |
|
BALLOON – BALL (dance) with O (nothing) and ON. |
11 |
Little mischief selfish? Not entirely (3) |
|
ELF – hidden in (not entirely) sELFish. |
12 |
Shared communication system — a political policy? (5,4) |
|
PARTY LINE – double definition. |
13 |
Possible wearer of leather jacket in this chair? (6) |
|
ROCKER – double definition. |
15 |
Messengers set to put in half of answer (6) |
|
ANGELS – GEL (set) put inside half of ANSwer. |
17 |
Wide-ranging alarm when old male beast is trapped (9) |
|
PANORAMIC – PANIC (alarm), with O (old) and RAM (male beast) inside (trapped). |
19 |
Not a word from this parent? (3) |
|
MUM – double definition. |
20 |
Associate seen as ‘catch’ on reflection, right? (7) |
|
PARTNER – ENTRAP (catch) reversed (on reflection) and R (right). |
21 |
Toad’s friend is irritable (5) |
|
RATTY – double definition. |
22 |
Part to go round audibly (4) |
|
ROLE – homophone of (audibly) “roll” (to go round). |
23 |
Having lots of free time and terribly idle, certain to be hiding (8) |
|
LEISURED – anagram of (terribly) IDLE containing (hiding) SURE (certain). |
|
1 |
Vulgar attire that a motorist sets off in (3,4) |
|
LOW GEAR – LOW (vulgar) and GEAR (attire). |
2 |
Muslim leader in American state briefly (5) |
|
CALIF – shortened (briefly) CALIFornia (American state). |
3 |
Nasty spider in a gap — going down the plughole? (12) |
|
DISAPPEARING – anagram of (nasty) SPIDER IN GAP. |
4 |
Row around bend initially in river (5) |
|
TIBER – TIER (row) around first letter of (initially) Bend. |
6 |
Surprisingly, age is no worry (7) |
|
AGONISE – anagram of (surprisingly) AGE IS NO. |
7 |
Meat chopped up and cold, in pit (5) |
|
MINCE – C (cold) in MINE (pit). |
8 |
Sporting characters? Many are in suits (7,5) |
|
PLAYING CARDS – PLAYING (sporting) and CARDS (characters). |
14 |
Restraint of one opposing monster endlessly (7) |
|
CONTROL – CON (one opposing) and TROLl (monster) without the final letter (endlessly). |
16 |
Dog for breaking up demo, say (7) |
|
SAMOYED – anagram of (breaking up) DEMO SAY. |
17 |
Publication offers worthless writing with little hesitation (5) |
|
PAPER – PAP (worthless writing) with ER (little hesitation). |
18 |
Woman, one crushed by horse (5) |
|
MARIE – I (one) inside (crushed by) MARE (horse). |
19 |
19 across‘s half-hearted affair (5) |
|
MATER – MATtER (affair) losing one of its middle pair (half-hearted). The definition here refers to the answer at 19ac. |
I don’t know that there was anything here that, on reflection, was particularly difficult apart from 16dn if (like me) one didn’t happen to know the word, but more generally many of the answers failed to leap out at me so I kept hopping around the grid looking for new toe-holds, and that always eats up solving time. I suppose my ignorance the dog was my own problem but it’s yet another example of a less than familiar foreign word being clued as an anagram which I have mentioned before as something I don’t much care for. It’s no big deal though. I welcome the occasional Izetti challenge and long may it continue.
Edited at 2016-03-16 06:10 am (UTC)
Thanks for the comprehensive blog, William, but we are missing 23 across!
The blog’s updated for completeness.
Brian
But completed the 15×15 (for only the second time, I might add) so if any QC-ers are reading this, they might want to have a go.