Hi everybody. I haven’t encountered Izetti on blogging day for ages so this was a refreshing change. Perhaps a little stiffer than some Mondays, but I still completed in a typical QC time despite holding myself up slightly with a typo. No real favourites, but I quite liked Tom Dick and Harry (2d) and the whiskey drink at 23a. Cheers Izetti!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, I generally italicise indicators unless it seems clearer not to. Where the removed part is specified, [deletions] are in square brackets, and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER. I sometimes omit link words and juxtaposition indicators if it doesn’t feel necessary to explain them. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments section.
| Across | |
| 1a | Began to hug learner suffering from shock? (8) |
| STARTLED — STARTED (began) surrounding (to hug) L (learner) | |
| 6a | Bishop introducing a church composer of cantatas (4) |
| BACH — B (bishop) preceding (introducing) A + CH. (church) | |
| 8a | Artist crushed by a black horse (4) |
| ARAB — RA (Royal Academician, artist) between (crushed by) A and B (black) | |
| 9a | Set of characters needing help by mountain height (8) |
| ALPHABET — ABET (help) by ALP (mountain) and H (height) | |
| 10a | Beautiful fairy — she had died (8) |
| PERISHED — PERI (beautiful fairy) + SHE’D (she had) | |
| 11a | Garment left in sporting equipment? (4) |
| KILT — L (left) in KIT (sporting equipment?) | |
| 13a | Activity needing footwear with revolutionary elements (6,7) |
| ROLLER SKATING — A cryptic definition | |
| 16a | Provision for air conditioning in Coventry (4) |
| VENT — Hidden in coVENTry | |
| 17a | Old lady finally cut hair in bed (8) |
| MATTRESS — MA (old lady) + the last letter of (finally) cuT + TRESS (hair) | |
| 19a | Attractive person that’s wicked inside, very wicked (8) |
| DEVILISH — DISH (attractive person) that has EVIL (wicked) inside | |
| 21a | Thus a piano is provided for TV series (4) |
| SOAP — SO (thus) + A + P (piano) | |
| 22a | Lazy one worshipped, from what we hear (4) |
| IDLE — IDOL (one worshipped), soundalike (from what we hear) | |
| 23a | Cheers father having imbibed whiskey drink (3,5) |
| TAP WATER — TA (cheers) + PATER (father) having taken in (imbibed) W (whiskey) | |
| Down | |
| 2d | See mother out with Tom, Dick and Harry? (9) |
| THREESOME — SEE MOTHER anagrammed (out) | |
| 3d | Teacher, poor sportsman for the most part? (5) |
| RABBI — RABBIt (poor sportsman) except the last letter (for the most part) | |
| 4d | Shakespearean king swallowing the tough stuff (7) |
| LEATHER — LEAR (Shakespearean king) taking in (swallowing) THE | |
| 5d | Given drug, do physical exercise with first hint of drowsiness (5) |
| DOPED — DO + PE (physical exercise) with the beginning of (first hint of) Drowsiness | |
| 6d | Group together book and sporting implement (7) |
| BRACKET — B (book) and RACKET (sporting implement) | |
| 7d | Rod you found in church (3) |
| CUE — U (you) found in CE (church) | |
| 12d | Picture of place with sand blowing around (9) |
| LANDSCAPE — An anagram of (… blowing around) PLACE with SAND | |
| 14d | Top room protected by the Parisian framework (7) |
| LATTICE — ATTIC (top room) inside (protected by) LE (the, Parisian) | |
| 15d | Sauce in vessel, cup chipped on top (7) |
| KETCHUP — KETCH (vessel) + cUP missing its initial letter (chipped on top) | |
| 17d | Duck in fog is slightly damp (5) |
| MOIST — O (duck) in MIST (fog) | |
| 18d | Religious follower a celebrity that’s taken right to the top (5) |
| RASTA — A STAR (a celebrity) having moved R (right) to the beginning/top of the word (that’s taken right to the top) | |
| 20d | Put right, losing first and last (3) |
| END — Omitting its initial letter (… losing first), mEND (put right) | |
All done in a sprightly 14.16. Thanks Kitty for the parsing of perished, the fairy was NHO in these parts, but the crossers were helpful. Also enjoyed the threesome (!) and the misdirection looking for a whiskey drink.
Thanks Izetti
Sprightly indeed! Well done – we so often echo your times… not today!
And we usually learn something most days – today’s lesson prompted by your comment. We find that whiskey (with an ‘e’) is usually American/Irish… whereas whisky (without) attaches to Canadian, Japanese and Scotch offerings…. so there we are. : )
Breezed though this in 15:39 which for me is good
Drew a blank in the NW but the rest of it went in without any problems. Once returning to the NW what had once looked intractable seemed a lot easier, mainly by realising that 1a didn’t start with an ‘h’ and THREESOME was an anagram 🤦♂️.
Started with BACH and finished with RABBI in a slightly sluggish 8.10.
Thanks to Kitty and Izetti
12 minutes. I knew PERI as fairies but wasn’t aware of their being particularly associated with beauty, however Wiki confirms this. Whilst checking I also learnt that ‘pari’ is a alternative spelling and apparently more authentic.
Authenticity is all very well, but Gilbert used “peri” in Iolanthe and as far as I’m concerned that’s definitive!
Iolanthe is the only time I have ever come across this word(peri) in the wild.
Moon network, the place where peri is found (8)
Rusty Bombazine of this parish will be having fifty fits at the number of people not knowing peri, given that Iolanthe’s alternative title is “The Peer and the Peri”!
Possibly thanks to missing a train and therefore having time for an espresso before catching the next one, I ripped through that in 04:39 for a sub-John and a Red Letter Day. Scenes! Could have been a PB if I hadn’t got stuck on LOI END – despite only needing one letter I just couldn’t see it. (I was looking for a word meaning “put”, which also meant “right” with its first and last letters removed.). DEVILISH also took a moment to see.
COD ROLLER SKATING. Many thanks Izetti and Kitty.
🔥🔥
That three letter one was hard. I liked BID from ABIDE.
No particular problems (I knew the fairy) in a 7.03 completion. Thanks Kitty and Izetti.
Quite quick today, though slowed in NW, despite FOI STARTLED. Amused by THREESOME when penny dropped. Decided it had to be PERISHED, though NHO Peri.
Then went back to 20d which I parsed in the END.
Liked TAP WATER, ARAB, ALPHABET and MATTRESS.
Many thanks, Kitty.
6:21. Held up by a feeble BALLET DANCING for 13A at first and thinking MATTRESS had only one T. Like our blogger I liked the THREESOME and non-alcoholic drink with whiskey in it. Thank-you Izetti and Kitty.
Ran in every direction bar the right one. NHO fairy Peri (spent too long working the non existent anagram), plumped for Mistress (unable to parse of course) in lieu of MATTRESS so sullied that area …and went for To Pa as cheers, thereby holding up matters in the SW corner. NHO Rabbit in context. That said, what a clever offering. Very much enjoyed doing it as it should have been done via the excellent blog.
Waving thanks to Izetti and Kitty from deep within the SCC.
20:16 – not a bad time for an Izetti puzzle. NHO PERI, but guessable. A couple of others unparsed, but answers clear once crossers in. A pleasant start to the week.
Hoped the good Don wouldn’t let me down and indeed just managed it though SE corner was hardest, TAP WATER Mrs M’s PDM, LOI RASTA. Thanks Don and Kitty. NHO RABBIt = poor sportsman?
RABBIt typically a number 11 batsman sent back to the hutch in short order.
Thanks! You’re very kind to try and rescue me, but unfortunately I have zero knowledge or understanding of any sport so DNK what hutch or “in short order” mean. No worries!
Just a bad batsman in cricket – the hutch being the pavilion.
My dad talked about a Lancashire batsman who was so bad he was known as a ferret, sent in after the rabbits.
Collins:
“rabbit
in British English
3. British informal
a novice or poor performer at a game or sport”
A good puzzle in that ultimately it was solvable – for me in a much slower than par 15:35. LOI was PERISHED – had not heard of the fairy so thank you Kitty for blog.
No problems today. Knew PERI from Iolanthe. Slight MER at MATTRESS = bed, but otherwise found this straightforward with the clever clueing expected from Izetti. COD THREESOME with DEVILISH a close second. Thanks Kitty.
Recent Izetti QCs have either been completed in low teens or SCC times for me and, sadly, after a good start this one turned into the latter. I biffed RABBI (NHO rabbit in cricket) and part-parsed a couple if I am honest.
I have been looking forward to approachable Monday puzzles recently but today’s offering didn’t fit the bill for me. Lots of good clues but I was really not on wavelength.
I fear this is the start of another tough week.
Thanks, both.
10:08, but with one error
Off to a bad start with 1a where I had “begin to hug” (h) + (LEARNER)* [suffering] looked like a typical QC clue.
Turns out I don’t know how to spell MATTRESS. (I had MATERESS)
COD THREESOME
NHO peri. Slowed down by putting in roller blading rather than skating. Thanks Izetti and Kitty
15 mins…
A good test from Izetti on a Monday morning. NHO of the term “Rabbit” for a bad sportsman – from above it seems like a cricket term, but it was a new one on me. Similarly, can’t recall “Peri”, although I’m sure it’s probably been used here before. Some good answer connections from reading the grid: Startled Bach, Perished Kilt, Devilish Soap and Idle Tapwater.
FOI – 6ac “Bach”
LOI – 23ac “Tap Water”
COD – 23ac “Tap Water”
Thanks as usual!
5:43 – not terrific for a Monday, but I actually thought this was rather hard, and quite a lot was not parsed in-flight. NHO PERI at all, and there were quite a few obscurities, like PATER and RABBIT.
COD to my LOI, ROLLER SKATING. A really fun puzzle, if not what I was expecting Monday AM.
DNK Peri or Rabbit, but both were gettable. Had to reveal Roller skating and Tap Water despite getting the drift of the parsing. Nothing unfair or unreasonable though and I gave up fairly early as I have things to get on with. Thanks Izetti and Kitty.
14:22
Progress was as slow as roller skating through ketchup.
Ta KAI
8:44, for a sprightly start to the week. PERISHED held me up as Peri was dragged out of the nether reaches of my memory, and I had a moment’s hesitation over whether a MATTRESS is actually a bed, but otherwise no problems. TAP WATER made me laugh as it was probably the last drink I was thinking of.
Many thanks Kitty for the blog.
5:44
Gentle Monday fare with plenty to enjoy. Knew of Peri only from these parts – never read Iolanthe.
Thanks Kitty and Izetti
10:29, which I’m happy with for an Izetti. Hadn’t heard of RABBIT in that context, vaguely heard of “peri” but only from crosswords. I gather from the comments above that it’s got something to do with “Iolanthe”, which I expect is probably a skin disease of some sort. My condolences to any sufferers amongst us.
Thank you for the blog!
A pretty swift start to the week finishing in 6.52. My finishing time was extended by the best part of a minute by my last two, STARTLED and finally THREESOME.
A strange solve. Good progress around the grid left me with four to go and an outside chance of a sub-20. At which point I became fixated on Blanket for 6d, which obviously didn’t parse, even though it successfully prompted Roller Skating, Ketchup and Devilish (every dark cloud, etc).
Bracket eventually came to the rescue, but I was forced to give up trying to ‘parse’ Roller Skating to preserve the chance of an aisle seat. Not my best effort.
CoD to the tricky End, just ahead of Tap Water. Invariant