My first Izetti in a while, and tricky it was too.
DNF: off to a good start with the first four acrosses going in, but things went south fairly quickly from there. At the 10 minute mark I was left with 20ac and 1d, except a wrong answer at 18d required a bit of sorting out, by which time I had little energy for 1d. So I clicked on the answer around the 14 minute mark, and was glad I did, because I could have stared at it for another 10 minutes and not seen it.
Other than (sour grapes at) 1d, lots to 1ac – many thanks to Izetti!
Anagram indicators in italics.
| Across | |
| 1 | Like a daughter, maiden with anger (6) |
| ADMIRE – A D(aughter) M(aiden) IRE (anger) | |
| 4 | Bird at cove, flying (6) |
| AVOCET – AT COVE flying | |
| 8 | Grass carrying info turned and went back (7) |
| RENEGED – REED (grass) carrying GEN (info) turned/reversed | |
| 10 | Fish often changing in part (5) |
| TENCH – ofTEN CHanging “in part” | |
| 11 | It’s legal, getting rid of leader — and nasty (5) |
| AWFUL – LAWFUL = legal, ditch the leader | |
| 12 | Snake exhausted after cornering queen (7) |
| SERPENT -SPENT (exhausted) after cornering ER (queen) | |
| 13 | Bitter racist as horrible Conservative (9) |
| SARCASTIC – RACIST AS horrible, C(onservative) | |
| 17 | Firm by mountain — it is in place of mineral extraction (7) |
| COALPIT – CO. (firm) by ALP (mountain) IT | |
| 19 | Crooner joining love game (5) |
| BINGO – BING Crosby is our crooner, joins O (love) | |
| 20 | Rhubarb as food (5) |
| TRIPE – double definition, the second whimsical. Rhubarb = nonsense. | |
| 21 | Going wrong, stealing a personal decoration (7) |
| EARRING – ERRING (going wrong) stealing/taking A | |
| 22 | Husband with vexatious feeling finding something in wardrobe? (6) |
| HANGER – H(usband) with ANGER (vexatious feeling) | |
| 23 | Good person, mature, with yen that’s exaggerated (6) |
| STAGEY – ST. (saint = good person) AGE (mature) with Y(en) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | A sweet girl meets knight who takes flight? (6) |
| AIRMAN – A, IRMA (sweet girl) meets N (knight in chess). On checking Wikipedia for Irmas, famously sweet or otherwise, I see there is a 1963 film called Irma la Douce. Uh huh. | |
| 2 | Disclosure of fellow if leading English outpost? (13) |
| MANIFESTATION – MAN (fellow), IF, E(nglish), STATION (outpost). I wouldn’t previously have equated manifestation with disclosure, but it’s there. Chambers, for example, defines it as: “an act of disclosing what is dark or secret”, or simply also as a “display.” | |
| 3 | Like clockwork soldier? (7) |
| REGULAR – double definition | |
| 5 | One making mark after political campaign? (5) |
| VOTER – cryptic definition, the mark being an X on the ballot. | |
| 6 | Disdainful escaper from prison going down (13) |
| CONDESCENDING – CON (escaper from prison) DESCENDING (going down). I think the idea is of the CON escaping by a rope or the like. | |
| 7 | Cheers affected one island (6) |
| TAHITI – TA (cheers) HIT (affected) I (one) | |
| 9 | Take apart idlest man wandering around (9) |
| DISMANTLE – IDLEST MAN wandering around | |
| 14 | Material without embellishment — rubbish cast outside (7) |
| TABARET – BARE (without establishment) TAT (rubbish) cast outside | |
| 15 | Put an end to Highlander maybe and companion (6) |
| SCOTCH – SCOT (Highlander maybe) and CH = Companion of Honour | |
| 16 | Flabby guy who’d no wife unfortunately (6) |
| DOUGHY – GUY wHO’D (ditch the W for Wife) unfortunately | |
| 18 | Bit from bird landing on church (5) |
| PIECE – PIE (bird) landing on CE (Church of England). I had PEN for the bird, vaguely dissatisfied with PENCE = BIT, which was then quite hard to unsee. | |
13a. I’m not sure sarcastic = bitter but what a clue! An &lit?
If it was in Monday’s GK I’d have to trawl through 350 of the bastards. J
I always leave doing the QC until just before bedtime- so bedtime has been delayed tonight! A rare DNF due to the pesky Tabaret. An extra beer didn’t work.
TABARET and AIRMAN are just ludicrous clues for a QC – when the bloggers are getting DNFs then surely it’s a sign the puzzles are not being pitched at the right level for a QC, whatever Izetti’s ambitions to educate us on obscure wording and early 20th century culture?
Never heard of tabaret but the clueing was clear. If one was being pedantic ‘coal’ is not a mineral. Otherwise OK