Another cracker from The Don (Izetti) which took me two-minutes over target at 17 minutes. My favourite was 15d, with FOI 2d. Some very good clues here, as we usually expect from Izetti.
Across
1 Examine lads involved in naughty goings-on (8)
SCANDALS – SCAN (examine) and an anagram (involved) of [LADS]. My favourite definition in Chambers for SCANDAL is an ‘opprobrious censure’, but in this clue it takes the ‘disgraceful thing’ definition.
6 Some retrogressive monster (4)
OGRE – Hidden in (some) retrOGREssive. At first, I was looking for a reversible synonym for ‘some’.
8 Self-satisfied son, fool (4)
SMUG – S{on} and MUG (fool).
9 Victoria maybe in dishevelled raiment by lake (8)
TERMINAL – Anagram (dishevelled) of [RAIMENT] and L{ake}. Victoria here is referring to Victoria Station, one of the main line termini in London, which wont be very busy today due to a strike.
10 Mollusc trapped by insect once (8)
FORMERLY – ORMER (mollusc, it is found in the Channel Islands, and but for coming up in the last few months, I’m not sure I’d have remembered it), inside FLY (insect).
12 Opposing social worker going to India (4)
ANTI – ANT (social worker) and I{ndia} (phonetic alphabet).
13 Cakes in ice-cream container brought aboard ship (6)
SCONES – CONE (ice-cream container) inside SS (aboard ship).
16 Resolve of French repeatedly to capture Channel Islands 6)
DECIDE – DE (French for of) twice (repeatedly) with Channel Islands (CI) ‘captured’ in the middle.
17 Vital chemical – powder hidden in that (4)
TALC – Hidden answer inside viTAL Chemical.
18 Short special event? Certain to be something much appreciated (8)
TREASURE – TREA{t} (short special event) and SURE (certain).
21 Adult entertainer – one getting rid of the gloss? (8)
STRIPPER – It’s either a double definition, or definition and heavy cryptic hint referring to paint stripper.
22 Male animal at the front of English book (4)
TOME – TOM (male animal – think cat) and E{nglish}.
23 Rock in Conservative charity festival (4)
CRAG – C{onservative} and RAG (charity event / festival). RAG also came up recently and surprised a few non-British solvers – in the UK, most students’ unions call their charity fund-raising week ‘RAG week’.
24 Scandinavian with manner so awkward (8)
NORSEMAN – Anagram (awkward) of [MANNER SO].
Down
2 Small part arrived with ring attached (5)
CAMEO – CAME (arrived) and O (with ring).
3 Horse giving worry (3)
NAG – Double definition.
4 Plant expert cut on top (5)
ASTER – {m}ASTER (expert – Master – dropping first letter, cut on top).
5 Worshippers finally addressed God and dispersed (7)
SPRAYED – S (worshipperS finally) and PRAYED (addressed God).
6 Gal so rich upset a few rulers (9)
OLIGARCHS – Anagram (upset) of [GAL SO RICH].
7 Showed opposition – but put on another performance? (7)
REACTED – same as RE-ACTED (put on another performance). MER at the definition – a REACTION could also be enthusiastic support, but that maybe explains the question mark.
11 Restraining chap, a cold fish (9)
MANACLING – MAN (chap) A (a) C[old} and LING (the crossword Setters’ favourite fish).
14 Gossip with Charlie, mad man? (7)
CHATTER – C (Charlie – phonetic alphabet) and HATTER (mad man – the Alice in Wonderland mad hatter). It was only last week that we had a discussion about Humpty Dumpty and Lewis Carroll. Hatters were capable of madness before Lewis Carroll, and the attribution is apparently due to exposure to mercury in the hatting process.
15 Attack outspoken drunk? Not OK (3,4)
SET UPON – Anagram (drunk) of [OUTSPokEN} after OK is removed (Not OK). My COD today.
19 Hesitation to shout – not a mistake (5)
ERROR – ER (hesitation) and ROaR (shout – not a).
20 Drink with graduate after dance (5)
RUMBA – RUM (drink) followed by BA (graduate – after).
22 Cup match result before penalty shoot-out? (3)
TIE – Double definition, the second referring to the result of a cup match before a penalty shoot-out is invoked to decide a winner.
Took a long while to realise that EXPOSURE didn’t work and then it was easy. !
SMUG made me smile, and I had the same idea as The Scribbler when parsing REACTED. No negative reaction there! I struggle with SCONE as a cake, although I don’t know quite how else you’d describe it – it’s not bread (well, not yeasted anyway). Like L-P I wanted to put some sort of cake into a tub, and I was trying to shove IDE at the end of 11d, but of course it was the other useful fish 😅
All in all, though, despite my efforts to jeopardise myself, it went quite smoothly, and I finished in 10 minutes. Another happy day – PB v Izetti is usually much more of a tussle!
FOI and COD Scandals LOI Sprayed
Thanks Izetti and Rotter
I found the 15×15 quite approachable today – except for my last two, which resulted in a DNF. I suspect that the one I really couldn’t quite work out would be a biff for Rotter 😄 Anyway, maybe one for novices to try out, even if you don’t get to finish it?
Yes I tried the 15 x 15 too and only failed on 3 clues. The QC is definitely a useful springboard to the biggie.
Thanks for heads up – will try later!
Got there in 41 minutes, but I had to endure a 15-minute barren spell with three to go. Those clues were REACTED, TERMINAL and ASTER. I don’t like the clue for REACTED, but it was the one that yielded first, and I have a lot of sympathy for those above who plumped for AcToR instead of ASTER. It definitely parses, IMHO.
Many thanks to Izetti and Rotter.
2nd attempt at posting… into the SCC today. LOI CRAG, couldn’t parse FORMERLY or SET UPON, but did manage to get ASTER early on. I’m in the ‘sconne’ brigade (and jam precedes cream) but still appreciated the clue! Many thanks Rotter and Izetti.
Sconne- definitely! Jam, then cream – agreed! The jam slides off if you put it on the cream 😅 My daughter’s Cornish partner might never speak to us again if we did it any other way!
On Izetti’s wavelength for once. Finished in 13 minutes with all parsed except for SET UPON. Thanks to Rotter for the explanation on that one. No real hold-ups, just a steady solve throughout and probably a PB for an Izetti.
FOI – 6ac OGRE
LOI – 10ac FORMERLY
COD – 5dn SPRAYED (with 21ac STRIPPER a close second)
16 mins…
I thought this was a fairly reasonable offering from Izetti. Only issue I had was with parsing 15dn “Set Upon” and trying to find all the variants of Victoria (Falls? Queen? Sponge Cake?).
DNK “Ormer” but the clueing was reasonable, however I did have some trouble with 11dn “Manacling” which felt clunky as a word.
FOI – 1ac “Scandals”
LOI – 10ac “Formerly”
COD – 8ac “Smug” – nice surface
Thanks as usual!
Struggled a bit with this, 10a formerly and 11d manacling which put us over our target. Interesting puzzle, as ever, from Izetti.
Held up by MANACLING and FORMERLY (DNK “ORMER”, but guessed the word. ) A good tussle, as usual with Izetti.
Slow one today, NHO Ormer but suspect I’ll need to store that one away for future reference .. didn’t remember a “RAG week” at Glasgow University, maybe more an English thing …
To make matters even more confusing, here in the states, scones are referred to as biscuits .. popular with fried chicken in the South
Not quite a write in but remarkably gentle for the Don
14:00 with an error
Put ACTOR for 4dn, AC being expert (ACE) cut and TOR being a top with actor like a plant in an audience. Ok, so the definition is loose but the rest worked so never reconsidered when all the checkers fit.
ANT -social worker? Can someone explain please?
Ants live in colonies (and thus are “social”) and also have “workers” (Google “worker ant).
See also: bees.
I also had actor. If this had been correct, I would have been under 20 mins. A bit frustrating as it seems to parse and a number of better solvers than me came up with it.
Thank you for an excellent blog Rotter. I look forward to your blogs as they are both entertaining and informative.
Unlucky Gary. At least you know that sub20 is a possibility on the right day.
Thanks L-Plates. Yes, I’m putting a positive spin on it.
Seen in a tea shop in – I think – Happisburgh.
I asked the girl in honeyed tone
To order me a buttered scone
The silly girl has been and gone
And ordered me a buttered scone.
I quite enjoyed this puzzle but it pushed me into the SCC.
😂
😀