Welcome again, for my 3rd Quick Cryptic blog in a row, to our old friend Izetti. I expect that many, seeing the dreaded portcullis grid and Izetti’s name at the top thought this might be quite a struggle. But that wasn’t my experience. Rich in references, nearly all of which I knew, when I got to the Downs a had a clean sweep through them before mopping up the last of the Acrosses, finishing in 4:01. Thank-you Izetti. How did you all get on?
Fortnightly Weekend Quick Cryptic. This time it is my turn to provide the extra weekend entertainment. You can find the crossword, entitled “It’s Raining” (and news of a London get together in June) here. If anyone is interested in our previous offerings you can find an index to all 77 here.
Definitions underlined in bold italics , ( Abc )* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 8 | In which a Gallic artist is found (7) |
| CHAGALL – Hidden in whiCH A GALLic. Marc Chagall the long-lived. much travelled and prolific artist in multiple media was known as “the last surviving master of European modernism“. Another example of the definition being in the middle of a clue. We saw one as recently as yesterday, and AnstsInPants mentioned then that Izetti is a leading exponent. Prescient or what? | |
| 9 | Saw a little daughter taking long time (5) |
| ADAGE – A D (abbreviation for daughter; little daughter) AGE (long time). | |
| 10 | Athenian tiny boy getting on (5) |
| TIMON – TIM (tiny boy; Dickens character Tiny Tim) ON. A reference to the Shakespeare play Timon of Athens. | |
| 11 | Getting rid of a 19th century PM (7) |
| CANNING – Double definition. George Canning was Prime Minister for barely 5 months in 1827 before he died. I didn’t know that but looked him up post-solve. | |
| 12 | Old country fete to hold at one (7) |
| GALATIA – GALA (fete) outside AT I (one). Galatia (not to be confused with Galicia or Galatea)ย was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia, now part of modern day Turkey. | |
| 14 | Grimace, catching cold in Bordeaux perhaps (5) |
| WINCE – C (cold) in WINE (Bordeaux, perhaps). | |
| 15 | Working for international organisation backed by the German (5) |
| UNDER – UN (international organisation) DER (‘the’ in German). | |
| 17 | Get rid of faulty tyres, do! (7) |
| DESTROY -[faulty] ( tyres do )*. | |
| 19 | Target is hard โ and optimistic (7) |
| BULLISH – BULL (archery target) IS H (hard). | |
| 20 | Banker and bishop in row (5) |
| TIBER – B (bishop) in TIER (row, as in row of seating). The Tiber is the 3rd-longest river in Italy and passes through Rome. | |
| 22 | Message this writer sent back โ trouble (5) |
| EMAIL – ME (this writer) [sent back] -> EM, AIL (trouble). | |
| 23 | Cats wrecked site outside a B&B (7) |
| TABBIES -( site )* [wrecked] outside A B B (B&B). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Highlander maybe in this cottage (4) |
| SCOT -Hidden in thiS COTtage. | |
| 2 | Mount beast of burden to cross river (6) |
| CARMEL – CAMEL (beast of burden) across R (river). Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel, is the scene in the bible of Elijah’s confrontation with the false prophets of Baal. | |
| 3 | Chief having mother at home (4) |
| MAIN – MA (mother) IN (at home). | |
| 4 | Colourless opponents across the board (5-3-5) |
| BLACK-AND-WHITE – Double definition, the second a cryptic hint referring to chess. | |
| 5 | Vessels carrying a group of sailors and birds (4,4) |
| BARN OWLS – BOWLS (vessels) outside A RN (Royal Navy; group of sailors). | |
| 6 | Abysmal ignorance, hiding what is evil (6) |
| MALIGN – Hidden in AbysMAL IGNorance. | |
| 7 | Grey meal dished out sparingly (8) |
| MEAGRELY – (Grey meal)* [dished out]. | |
| 12 | Girl initially found out complained (8) |
| GRUMBLED – Girl [initially] RUMBLED (found out). | |
| 13 | Rubbish served up before work, a pancake (8) |
| TORTILLA – ROT (rubbish) [served up] -> TOR, TILL (work a patch of ground) A. | |
| 16 | Sarah and boy turned up in US city (6) |
| DALLAS – SAL (Sarah) LAD (boy) [turned up] -> DALLAS. | |
| 18 | Teacher taking time to talk effusively (6) |
| RABBIT – RABBI (teacher) T (time). | |
| 20 | This man’s a mug (4) |
| TOBY – Cryptic definition, referring to a Toby Jug, a type of mug. | |
| 21 | Explorer with gold standing up on ship (4) |
| ROSS – OR (gold) reversed -> RO on SS (ship). James Clark Ross the Antarctic explorer, after whom the Ross Dependency, Ross Island, Ross Ice Shelf and Ross sea are all named. | |
I flung in GALICIA at 12ac, though ICI looked dubious; corrected it once I saw TORTILLA. Which I biffed, never parsed beyond ROT->TOR. It took me a while to find the hidden CHAGALL; I was looking for something in ‘Gallic artist’. I don’t think Izetti is a proponent of defs in the middle, although evidently he is an exponent. 6:17.
Oops. Thanks. Corrected.
10:32 Lots of names-people, cities, rivers, mountains etc. I knew Galatia from St Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. Galatia, Galicia(one in Spain and one in Ukraine), Gaul, and Wales are all related names and seem to show where Celts lived- or still live.
5m
Almost failed – my first guess at the pm was CUTTING, and I almost didnโt notice that BARN OWLS turned it into a word more commonly associated with a recent US โpresidentโ
Funny!
This was not too tough for a Izetti, but I still had to think. Having the obvious black and white down the middle was a big help, and I was some of the answers that fed into fairly quickly – bullish, Galatia, destroy. Fortunately, here in Connecticut we have a Mount Carmel in Hamden, so no problem there. In fact, every geographical feature of the Bible can probably be found somewhere in the US.
Time: 9:59.
12โ7โ with a biffed CUTTING like Lou slowing down BARN OWLS and a misspelt โmeagrelyโ delaying WINCE, so can have no complaints.
Thanks Izetti and John
8 minutes, so I found this easier than most Izetti puzzles. I wasn’t sure of CARMEL but it rang a very faint bell and fitted the wordplay. Fortunately I knew the Prime Minister.
DNF, although probably threw the towel in too early, missing the hidden MALIGN. Did an alphabet search of ION, IAN words, but did not expect to see a G n there.
Some pretty tough GK needed, but satisfying when they dropped in.
COD BARN OWLS
โ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธ Ouch. This was hard, and not helped by spelling MEAGRELY as โmeagerlyโ early on, which made the otherwise straightforward NE corner impossible to solve for a long time. Doh! All green in just under 40 minutes made this a slow finish to what had otherwise been a good week.
BARN OWLS, ADAGE, GALATIA and CANNING all took an inordinate amount of time, and Iโd never heard of CHAGALL or TIMON.
I very much liked TORTILLA and GRUMBLED.
Happy Weekends All!
Three hiddens seemed a bit much. With Izetti’s tendency to include biblical clues, I saw Mount and thought CARMEL and saw old country and thought GALATIA. As long as the ball ends up in the net. Thanks John and Don.
Re: “in the net”
When a goal is scored, doesn’t the ball actually hit the front of the net?
Very true.
But one also says ยซย itโs in the back of the netย ยป no?
What I know about football (in fact, most things) can be written on the ball from a game of Subbuteo.
Yes. That’s the point I was getting at with my question. I think all football commentators should take note and adjust their exclamations accordingly.
Very true Mr Random.
On a similar note, as a part time wedding registrar it irks me hugely when people talk of walking the bride โdown the aisleโ, as the aisle is actually a side passage in a church. The main walkway is called The Nave, so the bride is walked โdown the naveโ. Tsssk.
โPedants unite,โ I say!
Steady going, but I had to keep reaching into the depths for some of the GK i.e. CANNING, CARMEL and GALATIA and CHAGALL needed all the checkers before the penny dropped. But as usual with Izetti all were fairly clued.
My biggest hold up was with LOI MALIGN where I completely missed the hidden whilst alpha trawling the penultimate letter
Finished in a pleasing 8.52
Thanks to John
It makes such a difference when the GK is stuff one knows, and with Chagall, Canning, Timon, Carmel, Ross and the Tiber all familiar I fair rattled through this for a 7ยฝ minute finish, which I think is about as fast as I have ever completed an Izetti – and which helped me rescue a bad week in the first four days and sneak in just under my “60 minutes for the week” target. Not quite a comeback ร la Sheffield Wednesday but pleasing and surprising in equal measures even so.
Many thanks to John for the blog, and I look forward to the Saturday Special.
Cedric
Well done Cedric on both today’s excellent well-below-your-average day โก and the 60-mins for the week. I failed on my 60-mins in a day ๐คฃ
1hr 26sec corrected DNF on last two in NW having finally got the PM at 45mins. Reckon I would have finished it if my beasts of burden could have got beyond cow, oxen, mule, ass, jackal.
NHO TIMON, Mt CARMEL, ROSS, CANNING. Vaguely aware of CHAGALL, GALATIA and missed TIBER banker wordplay. Standard Izetti misjudged effort for the QC.
Two weeks ago said I’d had enough of trying his efforts but by the time this came around felt like giving it a go. Two weeks of relative enjoyment trashed and back at Funk Level Zero.
Anyway, have a good weekend everybody ๐
Iโm new to all this QCC nonsense. Iโm grateful that you (L-Plates) were honest in your comments, as you could have read my mind. Some clues were far too obscure, and knowledge requirements too un-general to be classified as quick, IMHO. Or maybe thatโs because I have a lot of learning to doโฆlike banker=river? Really? FFS!
Add “Flower” = “River” in that little subset as well.
I annoyingly missed banker for river but itโs quite a common crossword definition along with flower.
Iโve been attempting QCs for 3 years or so and this is the first time I can recall seeing banker for river. Flower however is a regular!
Donโt let one bad day get you down, L-Plates. I had a horrific time yesterday but, in part thanks to your recent advice, decided to forget it and move on. There was a lot of GK today that either you knew or you didnโt, so there was always the chance of a long slog.
Enjoy the weekend and return refreshed on Monday.
Thanks for your kind thoughts GA ๐
Unfortunately, it’s not one bad day, it’s one ‘bad’ setter. Three of my last four fails have been on Izetti QCs. He always seems to include 4-8NHOs; last time it was LLANO, OSBORNE, SCOTER, AMEER, BLACKTHORN. You will recall how you felt at the end of that one and I’m tiring of going through it every fortnight since mid-March. I recognise the stuff that interests him is the stuff I am never going to come into contact with or learn; so I’m screwed from ever putting together long strings of solves and feeling I’ve conquered the QC!
All very dramatic but I live my life wholeheartedly, while often being far too flippant and whimsical for most people. I’m ultimately a nihilist at heart. None of it really matters, so my philosophy is to make whatever you’re doing matter in the moment.
My feelings exactly. Build up some confidence only to have it crushed.
I live quite near a village in Kent called Tudeley. Its tiny church has the distinction of being the only church in the world with its windows by Marc CHAGALL. They are beautiful, especially on an early winter morning with a low sun. Read all about them (and the sad story of how they came to be commissioned) here – https://www.tudeley.org/Groups/363846/Chagall_Windows.aspx
Anyway. THREE hidden words! What luxury. Fortunately it wasn’t a full portcullis, and 1d and 12d gave lots of first letters. As always with Izetti, challenging, fair and elegantly constructed. I crossed the line in 08:26 (after chewing my pencil for a wee while over the CANNING/BARN OWLS crossers) for 1.3K and a Very Good Day. COD to GRUMBLED.
Many thanks Izetti and John.
Templar
I believe that Chagall produced other stained glass windows, and the ones here are stunning as well. If you find yourself in Zurich and are interested in churches I recommend a visit.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraum%C3%BCnster
I’ve never sung here, but its also got an excellent organ.
Tenor
Thanks for the tip – I may find myself in Zurich soon, and if so will look this up.
Hi Templar, Chagall windows are found in churches in France and Germany; there are 12 of his stained glass windows in a synagogue in Jerusalem.
Tudeley’s may be the only one in the UK, though.
Sorry, I didn’t make myself clear! Of course Chagall did other church windows, but Tudeley is the only church in the world with ALL its windows by Chagall.
To quote: “Despite some claims to the contrary, Tudeley really IS the only church in the world to have all its windows decorated by Chagall. The other contenders are the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem – but this is of course not a church, but a synagogue – and Le Saillant, Limousin, France, which is a chapel.”
See too on Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints_Church,_Tudeley
Interesting.
Love the stained glass. Thanks for sharing that.
There are also fantastic Chagall windows in the cathedral at Reims
Thought you might like to know that there is another church in the world that has stained glass windows by CHAGALL. The church is in Zurich and you can read about it here: https://www.zuerich.com/en/visit/attractions/chagalls-church-windows. Iโve seen them and they are beautiful!
Tough. I was in too much of a hurry to leave for an appointment and I didnโt have all the GK so had to work hard to deduce some answers. Last in were CANNING and the well-hidden CHAGALL.
Didnโt really enjoy this one and I tipped into the SCC.
Thanks, anyway. John M.
Left half ok, right half less so (though FOI WINCE). Failed TIBER (NHO “banker” = any river, but am learning), hence failed also TOBY. Biffed ADAGE but cannot see why this = “saw”; dictionary says it’s a saying. Curious that none of you comment on this? Agree COD BARN OWLS.
Collins: saw in British English
NOUN
a wise saying, maxim, or proverb
Thank you for answering. Please forgive me if I’m being slow, but I’m not there. My Collins has nothing about “saw”, only “NOUN: a traditional saying that is accepted by many as true or partially true; proverb”. You write “saw”; is this = past of “see”, or the saw (metal tool) with which you saw wood?
Thank you to hopkinb (below); NHO “saw = a wise saying”, but I have now!
Sorry, Templar, that I misunderstood the construction of your reply.
saw = a wise saying, proverb
adage = a wise saying, proverb
They are synonyms. Of course saw also has the other definitions you list, which are far more commonly used.
Biffed = BIFD = bunged in from definition. It’s not the same as guessing an answer that fits.
Is there a reverse to this? I often put in an answer that I’ve correctly parsed, but don’t know the definition.
Oh! Thank you for your kind instruction. Is there a convention for the reverse, i.e. I got ADAGE from the wordplay without reference to the definition?
I see JamesEd46 (above) and I have asked the same question at exactly the same time. However, he uses the word “parsed”. and I would have thought that for an answer to be “correctly parsed”, you would have to have solved both the wordplay and the definition. Arbitration, anyone?
You can deduce/solve an unknown answer by following the cryptic (in my own case today, Ross and Timon), sometimes with help from any crossers. Parsing is seeing how the cryptic works, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the answer is correct – we have seen quite a few examples of wrong answers being ‘justified’ by alternative parsings over the years. And, very occasionally, more than one way to parse a correct answer.
Third consecutive over target and fourth this week, making it my slowest this year by about 3 minutes – 41 mins and 9 seconds.
I liked CHAGALL, and thought it an excellent example of the hidden. I think, as with others, I struggled a bit with the GK, having to construct rather than semi-biff. As always, the puzzle was very good.
8:00
A bit over 8 minutes. After a real struggle yesterday, I found this much easier going. I took a while to get CARMEL for ‘Mount’ and missed that old chestnut of RABBI for ‘Teacher’ at 18d. I liked BARN OWLS.
A good way to finish the week.
Thanks to John and Izetti
This felt like a very different Izetti to me, with all of the GK required, the portcullis grid and slightly strange clueing. I completed in 16 minutes, just over target, but it definitely โfeltโ different. My thoughts were with our newbies and strugglers, where I expected to see a few complaints. No complaints here though – I really enjoyed the challenge. Thanks both.
Yes, CHAGALL an excellent hidden – I was expecting such and couldnโt see it for looking until I had nearly all the crossers. Another top to bottom solve for me – one is rare, two on consecutive days almost unheard of. Having most of the GK helps enormously so a Happy End of the Week for me. FOI SCOT, LOI ROSS, liked BARN OWLS but COD for me TIBER with the โbankerโ reference that I canโt remember seeing before but made me smile. All green in 16:07. Thanks Izetti and John.
4:35
Quick one to finish the week. Most of the not-so-well-knowns (TIMON, CANNING vaguely remembered, GALATIA) were guessable and verified by the cryptic. Needed all of the checkers for CHAGALL.
Fair number of answers with double letters today:
CHAGALL
CANNING
BULLISH
TABBIES
DALLAS
TORTILLA
RABBIT
ROSS
Thanks Izetti and John
I was very surprised to have been able to finish an Izetti puzzle so easily. Not that it was โeasyโ, but I certainly found it easier than he normally is.
I didnโt know that adage=saw. I put the answer in anyway and then looked it up in Chambers.
My first thought for answer for 4d was JACK DAWS, but it didnโt seem right, though did fit with the letters I already had in place. It wasnโt until I answered 14a that BARN OWLS shouted at me.
A nice end to the week. No aids used.
I knew all the GK today; in fact I saw a portrait of Canning yesterday. What held me up at the end were BARN OWLS and LOI MALIGN. That took me to 14 minutes.
Good stuff from Izetti.
I liked BULLISH and WINCE.
David
Having passed on the first clue, I then missed only one other (EMAIL) on my way from top to bottom. Certainly one of Don’s gentler offerings.
FOI ADAGE
LOI CHAGALL
COD CANNING
TIME 3:19
Raced through this then stalled with TIMON, CHAGALL and CARMEL all well outside my comfort zone. Thought of camel early but couldn’t find anything to parse. Needed the hidden artist for TIMON which was clearly right but I didn’t know what it meant. Made it to the line in 22 only to find a typo in GRUMBLES – phone keyboard to end in F. Should have checked. Four typos in a week for only one all green. Horrendous. Good week for me on the Telegraph though.
Yes, Iโve enjoyed The Telegraph puzzles too this week ๐
Decided rashly and erroneously that the river Camel must have two Ms so failed on the Mount.
Otherwise managed to trot/plod through, as I knew or biffed the GK.
Quite a few classical references today. TIMON, TIBER, GALATIA.
Liked CANNING, BLACK AND WHITE (FOI), TABBIES, BULLISH, WINCE.
Thanks vm, John.
Missed my target again, coming in at 21 mins all parsed. Really not a good week. I had most of the extensive GK required, hesitating only over GALATIA and ROSS but they just followed on from the cryptic. The hiddens at 8ac and 6dn were well and truly hidden – took me ages to see them. Also played around with ‘tomon’ at 10ac (tom as in Tom Thumb) until the pdm.
FOI – 9ac ADAGE
LOI – 6dn MALIGN
COD – 8ac CHAGALL for the smooth surface
Thanks to Izetti and John
Took a long time but got there in the end. Last in were TOBY/TIBER – not seeing the “banker” link to river and associating TOBY with JUG not MUG. Saw MALIGN late on and was pleased to remember George Canning as a PM.
Agree TOBY is a jug!
Online dictionary says for Toby Jug… “a beer jug or mug in the form of a stout old man wearing a three-cornered hat.”, so I think Izetti’s clue is OK.
Noted.
I see you can buy โPrime Ministerโ Toby Jugs from the Houses of Parliament Shop. Thereโs even one featuring Liz Truss!
I join others in thinking this was an easier offering from Izetti than norm. My finishing time of 6.58 would certainly suggest that. My only minor hold up was initially misspelling MEAGRELY with the e and r transposed, quite why I donโt know because I know perfectly well how to spell it. As a result 14ac WINCE was my LOI, as I was initially looking for a word ending in r.
My time today caps off a good week for me with a total time of 41.16, giving a daily average of 8.15.
After yesterday’s struggles, I wasn’t too optimistic about tackling an Izetti on a Friday, but a pleasingly quick 15min solve has done wonders for my confidence. A bifd crew (group of sailors), held up CoD Barn Owls until Canning came to mind – fortunately remembered because he was cited in a discussion about short lived PMs (for some reason) earlier this year. Ross as an explorer was unknown, but the cryptic was generous and I had at least heard of the ice shelf. Invariant
17 mins…
Some slightly obscure GK here, but fair play to Izetti as most of it was obtainable from either hidden words in the clues or from surrounding checkers.
I’ll have to check my stats, but I think this may be my best effort for one of his puzzles for quite a while.
It was quicker for me to work out the answer for 20ac “Tiber” than it was to twig that “banker” meant river bank. Similarly, I thought Carmel referred to that little place that Clint Eastwood was mayor once rather than the mountain range in Israel.
FOI – 1dn “Scot”
LOI – 2dn “Carmel”
COD – 5dn “Barn Owls”
Thanks as usual!
Despite not starting until nearly halfway down the across clues, everything suddenly fell into place and I was astonished to find that I’d finished in 7:40. I really thought I was going to be in for a long haul. However, I muddled my GALATEA and GALATIA, so an incorrect biff (pace L-P) put paid to one of the best times I’ve had with an Izetti ๐ญ
Despite that, I enjoyed this, and there are a few ticks along the way – I didn’t remember the PM CANNING until I saw the checkers, but enjoyed the clue in retrospect, the surface for TIBER made me smile, the destructive TABBIES made me laugh, and MEAGRELY made me think of Oliver Twist and the gruel. As I look through the clues again, I realise there are too many to list!
FOI Wince LOI Carmel COD Chagall (I’m off to my U3A art appreciation group shortly, so that was appropriate)
Thanks Izetti and John
Dear Penny,
I would be very interested to hear if someone in your U3A group could suggest an objective (and foolproof) way to judge the quality of an artwork. I have been on the lookout for such a measure for a few years now, but have not found any yet.
This isn’t really an answer to your question(I doubt if there is one!) but could possibly provide a useful way of framing the problem. In James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist the hero has some discussions on this topic. He says a successful beautiful work of art will satisfy three criteria -wholeness, harmony and radiance. Inasmuch as the artwork fails to demonstrate these three aspects it will be inferior overall. These concepts are from Thomas Aquinas (who maybe got them from Aristotle?) and he calls them Integritas, Consonantia and Claritas. I shared this my wife who was a painter decades ago and she and her fellow-artist friends found this theory a useful starting point for their discussions!
Hi Penny. Coincidentally, I had a great day just yesterday visiting Henry Moore’s House, Studios and garden in Hertfordshire, Hoglands with my local U3A group. A super place to visit for an art lover. I was fascinated by the collection of things in the house and how they were reflected in his sculptures. You can message me via my blog if you want to know more about how our trip was organised.
Hello Everyone! Thanks for your reactions to my passing comment. Our topic today was Virtuous Women, following on from Fallen Women a couple of months ago. Quite hard to find pictures of virtuous women who aren’t madonnas or Victorian ideals!
SRC – Your question is really thought provoking and I have already suggested to our group leader that it would make an interesting topic for discussion at a future meeting! I don’t know the answer, but don’t think it’s enough to say that you like it. I like a lot of things that aren’t necessarily top quality!
By the way, I was going to mention something to you that I saw in Private Eye this week, which amused me. There is a cartoon of two people looking at a couple of Dutch paintings of women with very shiny teeth. The caption is: ‘Ahhh, they’re veneers’. You came up with something very similar a few weeks ago when I said I was going to the Vermeer exhibition. Are you moonlighting as a cartoonist by any chance ๐
CO – your comment is really interesting, and I will definitely keep that in mind for future discussions. Thank you ๐
John – I’ve never been to the Henry Moore sculpture park, but it is on the list. There are a few good ones at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, of course. Thanks for reminding me.
Best wishes to all, Penny
11.33 Fairly quick at the bottom, slower at the top. WINCE was hindered by a misspelt MEAGERLY. I didn’t spot the hidden for LOI CHAGALL until after I submitted. Perhaps my subconscious registered it. This was an enjoyable end to a poor week, taking 91 minutes in total.
I would humbly suggest that that was a perfect example of how brilliant Izetti as a crossword setter. Neither I nor Mrs Random had heard of any of CHAGALL, TIMON, CANNING, GALATIA and ROSS, but Izetti’s cryptic wordplay skillfully steered both of us to successful conclusions. And in reasonable times – 28 minutes for Mrs R and 30 minutes for me. I can’t explain why neither of us had the required GK, but our deficiencies didn’t seem to matter.
My CoD was BLACK AND WHITE, partly because I had just been pondering over the daily chess puzzle immediately before starting the QC.
Many thanks to Izetti and Mr Interred.
hear, hear!
I agree. Today was, albeit not for everyone, Izetti at his best. Hope to see more of this in future. It does still help if you have the GK, but some fair clues.
Well done on the time Mr R!
Spelling of meagrely?
FOI CHAGALL. In addition to using Templar’s link to the stained glass windows I had to look up his artwork and I am still unsure why I have heard of him. I was relying on the generous wordplay for TIMON, GALATIA (as others, I tried Galicia first) and CANNING. My LOI was the hidden MALIGN and I crossed the line in the good company of PennyB in 7:40. There are so many lovely surfaces from Izetti that I can’t pick a winner today.
But you didn’t get any wrong, so well done for that!
I seem to be in the minority today: I struggled with this one and needed aids for multiple clues (including two of the hiddens, dโoh!). But given everyone elseโs comments, I think the problem today is me, not the puzzle.
Can anyone explain why Sarah = SAL?
Thanks to Izetti and John.
I think Sally is a nickname for Sarah and Sally can be shortened to Sal.
First DNF this week
Major annoyance ..
in archery the centre of the target is always a gold NOT a bull which is used in other sports.
Goes back in history to the Princes colours
Resolved to put my bad day on Thursday in the past and to approach this with optimism. It also helped that it was an Izetti as I knew there was no chance of getting inside 14 mins (for my goal of 2 hours for the week).
Then shocked myself by rattling through it and came to the last clue (BARN OWLS) with a minute to an achieve what I had thought was impossible. The bubble then burst and it took me a while to work out the answer.
I should be happy with an SCC escape (19 mins), but galling that, for the second week in a row, I came so close to my target. Last clue syndrome strikes again.
Thanks for the blog John, informative and entertaining as always.
I hope everyone has a great weekend. Looks like the โ๏ธ may be out for my hike from Ripon to Fountains Abbey.
Hi Gary. Enjoy your walk from Ripon to Fountains Abbey tomorrow. One to put on my to-do list, I think – sounds fab. I’ve been to both but never walked between them. I will be “beating the bounds” of Exning parish tomorrow as part of the Suffolk Walking Festival. It’s such a wonderful time of year to be out in the UK countryside, especially after the, for once, normal cool and damp spring has made everything so verdant. I’ve enjoyed the 4 days Wool Towns “Challenge walks” from Sunday going from Clare to Sudbury to Hadleigh to Lavenham to Clare and today been back-marking on one of my favourite Suffolk Walks Hawkedon Horizons (that was last year’s version of the same walk).
Thanks John. Iโm so fortunate to live in a part of the world that has so many great walking opportunities. The Yorkshire Dales, the North York Moors, the Wolds and the Yorkshire coast are all within an hour.
Suffolk sounds very appealing, particularly Hawkedon Horizons (thanks for the link – I enjoyed looking at the walk).
Well done GA. A great week for you other than Thursday. You have rebounded nicely as I always knew you would ๐ I’m sure you will enjoy your hike
Classic Izetti – the master of precise and deducible clues. Not that allowed me to escape the Galatia/Galatea error. I did rather console myself with thinking a ‘gala’ would be an ideal setting to have ‘tea’ – but that was just my whimsical rationalisation…. Just too many clues to be COD!
Really enjoyed this one. Finished in 2 sittings in approx 18 mins. Lots of interesting GK. Pleased to remember saw = adage (learned from crosswords). Tentative about CARMEL, but had to be. Biffed DALLAS – DNK โSalโ is short for Sarah. COD BARN OWLS. Many thanks all.