Izetti on relatively gentle form today.
1ac was my biggest hold-up in all of this, and prevented an otherwise clean sweep of the acrosses – I ultimately needed all but one of the down checkers to unravel it. I’m glad my anagram skills were on better form elsewhere in the grid as there were quite a few of them, and I came home with EMAIL my LOI in a fairly breezy 5:49.
Many thanks to Izetti!
| Across | |
| 1 | Celeb, a co-star being silly in fun run (8,4) |
| OBSTACLE RACE – anagram (being silly) of CELEB A CO-STAR. From brief research, I can’t see much diffference between an obstacle race and an assault course, so I’m going to claim the word “fun” threw me off the scent a bit. | |
| 8 | A Parisian on stone floor (4) |
| STUN – UN (“A”, in Parisian/French) on ST(one). As in to KO. | |
| 9 | Publicity material taped, broadcast and modified (7) |
| ADAPTED – AD (publicity material) and an anagram (broadcast) of TAPED. | |
| 11 | Walking without sure step in short grass and heather (7) |
| REELING – REEd (“short” grass) and LING (heather). Ling and erica crop up a fair bit for heather. | |
| 12 | Both sides welcoming time for drink (5) |
| LAGER – L and R (both sides) welcoming AGE (time) | |
| 14 | Instant support (6) |
| SECOND – double definition, the, er, second as in to back. | |
| 15 | Get by with awkward dame, OK? (4,2) |
| MAKE DO – anagram (awkward) of DAME OK | |
| 18 | Destroy final message at university (3,2) |
| RIP UP – R.I.P. (final message) UP (at university). UP for AT UNI also crops up a fair bit. | |
| 20 | Somehow I daren’t get on the platform? (7) |
| DETRAIN – anagram (somehow) of I DARENT | |
| 21 | Examiner’s task is difficult (7) |
| TESTING – double definition | |
| 23 | Arrest slow mover abandoning leader (4) |
| NAIL – sNAIL (slow mover) abandoning leader | |
| 24 | Sore I treated inappropriately gets worse (12) |
| DETERIORATES – anagram (inappropriately) of SORE I TREATED | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Plant beginning to beat, say, competition (9) |
| BUTTERCUP – B (“beginning” to Beat) UTTER (say) CUP (competition) | |
| 3 | Anxiety is seen in group of nine, all retreating (7) |
| TENSION – IS seen in NONET (group of nine) all retreating/reversing | |
| 4 | Price demanded is a burden (6) |
| CHARGE – double definition | |
| 5 | Communication, the reverse of feeble, engaging one (5) |
| EMAIL – the reverse of LAME (feeble) engaging I (one) | |
| 6 | Skill of political group expelling extremists (3) |
| ART – pARTy (political group) expelling the extreme letters. | |
| 7 | Bedroom items now desired in new style (10) |
| EIDERDOWNS – anagram (in new style) of NOW DESIRED | |
| 10 | Thwarted female told off after game on street (10) |
| FRUSTRATED – F(emale) RATED (told off) after RU (Rugby Union = game) on ST(reet) | |
| 13 | Reddish-orange fabric somehow engrained (9) |
| GRENADINE – anagram (somehow) of ENGRAINED | |
| 16 | A new singer on the radio received here? (7) |
| ANTENNA – A N(ew) TENNA = sounds like TENOR (singer) “on the radio” | |
| 17 | Slow movement initially affecting soldier in bustling activity (6) |
| ADAGIO – A (“initially” Affecting) GI (soldier) in ADO (bustling activity) | |
| 19 | Earlier leader of religious community (5) |
| PRIOR – double definition | |
| 22 | Rested bottom having expended energy (3) |
| SAT – SEAT (bottom) expending E(nergy) | |
Had EAT UP at 18a seeing final messagE AT UP (at uni) before FRUSTRATED sorted things out. Liked DETRAIN.
Thanks R and setter.
I was very confident about EAT UP too, it fits the wordplay perfectly, and I have definitely used EAT UP synonymously with destroy before (when talking about a tasty dinner). It took 2 or 3 looks to convince myself it was actually not the right answer, and for a good while I thought it more likely that FRUSTRATED was wrong.
I was thinking of ‘it eats me up’ as in ‘it breaks me up to know’, but same same.
I was in the EAT-UP camp too. On reflection, I’m not sure the AT-UP part parses without the “at” in the clue doing double duty i.e. uni on its own doesn’t equal up, “at uni” does.
Yes you’re right, thankyou. I should know by now to never doubt Izetti!
Another one where I couldn’t get rolling. Well, at least adagio was obvious after the other day’s discussion, but I couldn’t see obstacle race until the very end. Since deteriorates was a write-in, I worked from the bottom up. The urge to biff moment instead of second was strong, but I resisted it. OTOH, I did biff buttercup and moved on quickly.
Time: 9:12
All done in 8.44, smooth sailing. I would have struggled with the clever WP for FRUSTRATED and TENSION if I hadn’t been able to b in from d. Thanks Izetti and roly.
10 minutes. I spotted RACE immediately at 1ac but lost a few moments writing out the remaining anagrist before coming up with obstacle. I remember having obstacle races at primary school which were definitely not like an assault course, but I can’t recall whether I took any pleasure from taking part.
EIDERDOWN appeared in a 15×15 last month and gave rise to a few comments. In view of that I thought the surface at 7dn was particularly apt and clever.
I could not parse FRUSTRATED (did not see rated = told off, still don’t really) and NHO GRENADINE (which to me is a syrupy drink one gets in France), but the checkers guided me home in both cases for a 10:11 completion.
A nice puzzle, and I agree Izetti in friendlier mode than sometimes, though I suspect those without their long anagram hat on may not entirely agree.
Many thanks Roly for the blog.
Started with —RACE and carried on from there in a random fashion, ending with FRUSTRATED. OBSTACLE jumped in after BUTTERCUP. 7:18. Thanks Izetti and Roly.
20:02 Didn’t detrain fast enough so ended up on the slow coach which is very comfortable thank you very much for asking.
Reeling after email and lager sums up my solve. I read the instructions correctly for almost all the constructions and had a fairly good idea about finished product I was trying to build but I couldn’t find the right parts to assemble. I was staring at …ling trying to think of a word for grass without the last letter, couldn’t find a feeble reverse word that would accept an I nor could I think of a time period between two sides that resulted in a drink…. Seran Werane anyone?
Thanks Roly.
Glad it was an Izetti that held me up and I had fun.
[Hello TC, Off topic, but if you feel up to doing the 15×15 by Bobcat (hint, hint) in today’s (01/05/2025) FT you may find something to interest you. The only problem is that you have to solve the puzzle first before you can see what I’m talking about! The Fifteensquared blog can help out if you’re stuck.]
Ta very much BR. Not sure my skills are up to the pink one yet. I might have a look
1a went straight in despite a slight MER at it being described as fun. After that it was a steady solve with no major issues (although I had no idea about the colour of GRENADINE) before finishing with the FRUSTRATED/REELING combo in 8.06.
Thanks to Rolytoly and Izetti
DNF. I found this tough and couldn’t get into it. Needed the blog.
Pi ❤️
There were some testing clues in there – I don’t think you’ll be alone. Some classic Izetti clueing which the better solvers on here are used to and answer quickly.
agree.
felt more cryptic than quick cryptic to me
even with the answers here
A bit over 10 minutes. I needed the crossers for ANTENNA and had a mental blank on the not very difficult CHARGE as my LOI. I know GRENADINE as a pomegranate cordial/syrup but not as a ‘Reddish-orange fabric’. Favourites were EIDERDOWNS, for the same reason as Jack above, and SAT for which the whole clue could also be seen as the def.
Thanks to Izetti and Roly
9:23
OBSTACLE RACE was my LOI. I don’t recall such races ever being fun.
Thanks Roly and Izetti
When I was at school we used to have an obstacle race on sports day. Walk along a bench, jump a hurdle, go through a hoop, carry a bean bag on your head – that sort of thing. Nothing too taxing for a 9-year and certainly not an assault course. I would say that qualifies as a bit of fun compared to the serious track and field events.
Edit: just seen that Jackkt said similar and gcook too
Couldn’t agree more – probably the only part of sports day that was in any way enjoyable for this very non-sporty person (then and now!)
What about the parent’s day races?!?!
I have to say this clip of Olympian Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce doing the rounds recently is fantastic … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uXNsn8ffWE
The competitive spirit, eh! Definitely a race for second place three.
We live in quite a sporty town, and some of the parents used to bring their running shoes to change into at our children’s primary school sports day 😅
I think we had the old egg and spoon included in that race as well – although it was a relay in mine.
I struggled a bit with this, taking 29 minutes to finish. NHO GRENADINE as a fabric and took a while unravelling some anagrams. LOI FRUSTRATED.
Wouldn’t berate rather than just rate be more accurate for to tell off?
My thoughts too.
Quite agree (as I’ve said below). Will someone come to its defence, I wonder? Or perhaps they have, and I’ve missed it?
SOED, Collins and Chambers all have RATE as: chide, scold, rebuke.-
You’re absolutely right – so they do. Well well well. So is that the extent of your defence (adequate by the rules of the game, we all agree), or can you honestly say you’ve ever heard it thus used?
I found it a bit of an obstacle race. The obstacles that slowed me down were EIDERDOWNS, DETRAIN, GRENADINE and FRUSTRATED (not parsed). Thanks Roly 8:02
“Gentle”, was it? Well, finished after a long struggle (four biffed or guessed), so can’t really complain. LOI STUN. But your blog is urgently needed, Roly, so thank you. Vaguely HO GRENADINE which seemed to fit, but DNK either of the two definitions. NHO told off = RATED; NHO DETRAIN but agree it’s in Collins – amazing. So also debus, decar?!
We’ve had debus and detrain before several times, at least in the 15×15. Both horrible words, but at least I expect them now.
Glad you agree they’re horrible; I was going to say something on those lines, but thought: aesthetics have never been a criterion for inclusion in a crossword! Thanks for warning of debus – those other two were meant as a joke, but perhaps the English language is becoming more and more of a joke (cf. helluva, innit etc.) …
Don’t forget demob, which is genuine 40s slang.
Oh yes, naturally there are several entirely valid and essential de- ‘s such as debunk, deconstruct, and so on – that’s clear.
Hurried over to leave car(5)
Love it! But forgive me: think you have to do something about “car” in the clue?
Yes, you are right, should be Hurried over to leave vehicle(5)
Yes, now you’ve nailed it – excellent. I’ll be ready and waiting when it appears!
12:55 for me. Was off to a flyer and maybe would have been helped had i reached for the pen and paper earlier for the anagram at 1ac. Ultimately was FRUSTRATED for a while before seeing it and getting LOI REELING. Thanks Roly for blog. Izetti continuing what has been a sensible week for the QC.
18:24 for the solve. About half of that caused by putting EAT-UP (as per Quadrophenia’s comment). Amazing how it blocked me from getting frustrated and buttercup, but I was also held up on prior and testing nearby.
Thanks to Izetti for a good puzzle – I particularly liked EMAIL and TENSION.
Thanks to Rolytoly for the blog.
I agree with jackkt. The obstacle ‘race’, along with sack race and egg and spoon race etc, were meant to be ‘fun’ events for younger children so the clue is fair. I think an ‘obstacle course’ might be the more challenging version.
Definitely gentler today but well pitched and very enjoyable – thanks Izetti and rolytoly!
You could say that 1A was an obstacle to your race then?
Had Eat Up and DNK Grenadine but otherwise plain sailing.
Thanks to both.
Definitely Izetti on the gentle side, but as usual, full of lovely surfaces.
Finished today’s, though had a few answers I couldn’t figure out the word play to. Really should remember to think of Rugby Union as a game, considering I watch it whenever I can! Really liked ADAGIO and BUTTERCUP. Thank you for the blog 😊
14:14
Quite tricky.
Thanks, rt.
I didn’t find this as easy as early posters. For me, Izetti just can’t quite tone it down to the point where middle-of-the-road solvers like me can finish reasonably quickly. I was tipped into the SCC by a few seconds and, whilst I was impressed by some of the clues (as ever with Izetti), my pleasure was limited by some of his quirks. My COD was TENSION.
I found the anagrams straightforward (including the biffed GRENADINE) and delayed my decision on RIP UP until I had entered BUTTERCUP which confirmed RIP. I spent a lot of time on FRUSTRATED (my only unparsed answer) and only when I had the first R was I able to confirm my LOI REELING.
Thanks to Roly.
Thank you, Blighter! Your assessment of your own solving ability – “middle of the road” – has enabled me to categorise my own, as ‘third quartile’ (i.e. ~75%).
You are too modest, Random. Nice to have support, though; there are plenty of ‘non-whizz’ kids around. They just don’t always post, though!
And me, Mr Random.
A comfortable start to May and despite NHO GRENADINE the checkers made it straightforward. Liked DETRAIN, when training as a public order police officer we regularly had to debus rapidly. COD ADAGIO.
10 bit of a biff-fest to start with apart from 1ac – four letter word had to be race given fun run. There is a world of difference between a kids sports day obstacle race (fun) and a krypton factor or army assault course (not fun). I was pleased that I could parse 3d.
Thanks for the blog …and thanks setter.
Thanks for the blog 😉
15:53 but with one error. CHANGE for CHARGE.
Really struggled with EIDERDOWNS.
The Olympic Modern Pentathlon will feature an OBSTACLE RACE at the next Olympics, as the round with the horses was just too complex to stage and patently unfair. I was at Versailles for the final this year and the poor French girl’s horse (chosen by ballot, 30 mins before competition) was spooked by the huge crowds cheering and threw her off. Four years work over in a few seconds.
For the second day running I found this relatively tough when others who have posted so far suggest it wasn’t . I started slowly and never really looked as if I was going to achieve my ten minute target. In the end, REELING and FRUSTRATED, which coincidentally were my final two, I crossed the line in 12.23.
Started with 1ac and 20mins later was down to just the last few on the LHS. Rather aptly, one of those was loi Frustrated, which is the polite way of describing my feeling at the time taken to solve those last few clues. Nothing really wrong with any of them, (perhaps rated/told off is a stretch), more my difficulty in letting go of wrong answers. CoD to Tension, for the parsing. Invariant
15 minutes for me held up a lot by LOI OBSTACLE RACE; put off by the Fun bit, but also failed to solve the anagram quickly despite carefully writing out all the letters.
Also slow to get CHARGE.
But a good QC overall.
I too wondered about GRENADINE.
COD to LAGER; it’s the perfect day for one in London today.
David
Like others, long FRUSTRATED today as I was sure Eat Up was right. Final revelation solved LHS but I was held up for ages.
Anagram brain not working so I found this a difficult puzzle.
But thanks, Roly.
8.49
Great one for the anagram experts but that’s not me so a slightly below my par time.
Liked ANTENNA
Difficult to get going with the first few clues, so I solved from the bottom instead, leaving the NW corner to last. 10:54, which I think is quicker than usual with Izetti.
This was a testing one in which I certainly deteriorated and will have to make do with the SCC. One of many before me who have fallen prey to the illusion that my coffee would kick in during the solve, despite knowing full well that it would take 10 minutes as it always does. Today it seems to have taken 20.
Much like yesterday, where STUPID held me up, today’s LOI was equally ironic, leaving me just a bit FRUSTRATED.
Count me another victim of the alluring siren-call of EAT UP, along with its equally nefarious and really more embarrassing cousin BUTTERCUT, for which I have no excuse.
22 mins-ish DNF due to FRUSTRATED.
Very enjoyable. LOI was CHARGE. My mind scrambles the minute I detect a DD so knew I was going to need all the checkers. As others have mentioned wasn’t sure how rated = told off but the answer was clearly FRUSTRATED so just moved on. Liked DETRAIN (not necessarily as a word though). Didn’t know GRENADINE was that colour but it fitted. EIDERDOWNS jumped off the page but I suspect my age helped 😆 COD ANTENNA. Many thanks to RT and Izetti.
21:02. I thought AMBLING first for REELING and took the longest to realize say competition gave UTTER CUP. FRUSTRATED and TENSION held me up too.
Not a doddle. I was careless at 20a Detrain by biffing entrain (which is the opposite of what I wanted and I thought at the time it was odd. Doh!)
I also carelessly bunged in End Up at 18a for Rip Up.
Also LOI 10d Frustrated took an age, not helped by the wrong crosser from 19a.
So a slow and 10d solve.
I notice that grenadine is a dye, reddish like fuscia, or a material, no colour mentioned, as well as the drink.
Thanks rolytoly and Izetti.
Rated = told off! Really? NHO this. Who uses this word in this context – ever?!
No one nowadays. At least, Oxford (via Google) have it as archaic.
Not my favourite clue either.
Good old Izetti! Very precise clueing, as always, which helps the solver to arrive at NHO/DNK solutions without too much gnashing of teeth. 30 minutes or just under for me today, despite two NHOs (DETRAIN and GRENADINE) and one DNK (RATED for ‘told off’).
Unlike some above, I started with OBSTACLE RACE. Trouble was that I couldn’t then make much early headway with its dependent Down clues (apart from ART). Still, I got going further down the grid and returned later with more success. Technically, my LOI was GRENADINE, but it had been written in faintly for some time and was emboldened only once I’d solved my real LOI, NAIL.
Many thanks to Roly and Izetti.
Rated meaning Told off…. yeah I’m never going to guess that.
Rated- no;berated- yes, biffed FRUSTRATED, but couldn’t put it together; took ages to spot RIP
Found this like many here a gentler Izetti QC. Did need all the checkers to get Obstacle Race and Grenadine.
Very quick on the right-hand side but the left put up much more resistance, pushing me into the SCC with 21 minutes. I knew GRENADINE as a fabric but couldn’t have said what colour it is. Otherwise no problem with vocab or GK.
FOI – 1ac OBSTACLE RACE
LOI – 22dn SAT
COD – lots of good clues but nothing stood out for particular mention
Thanks to Izetti and Rolytoly
What everyone else has said, especially re GRENADINE and RATED. But I very much liked ANTENNA, OBSTACLE RACE and TESTING. MAKE DO and SAT both made me smile.
I forgot to turn the timer on today, but I think it was a bit under 10 minutes. FOI Stun LOI Charge COD Deteriorates
Thanks Izetti and Roly
29.14 After a run of good form I’m blaming the heat for this effort. I did about half and then stared at the rest. And then it all came together quite quickly. ADAPTED was last. Thanks rolytoly and Izetti.
We found this to be on the gentler side. FOI OBSTACLE RACE (definitely a school / fun day sort of thing.) It feels, too, like we’ve come across that meaning of ‘rated’ enough in other crosswords for that not to be an obstacle. Had NHO of GRENADINE as a fabric but checkers and the colour description made it an obvious choice. We’d also left … UP on the first pass and the helpful checkers then gave the first word. Rather liked the clue. Didn’t parse our LOI ADAGIO until after the event. 8:41. Thanks, Roly and Izetti.
16:43
Gentle indeed for an Izetti. That said, no idea GRENADINE was a fabric, failed to parse ADAGIO and wasn’t convinced LOI DETRAIN was even a word.
26 mins…
I found this challenging – although I had done my first long cycle ride of the year in the heat so my brain was a little foggy. Definitely anagram heavy, which helped on some clues. Only issue was around some of the definitions: Obstacle Race, Detrain, Reeling and the “rate” in Frustrated: all perfectly legitimate, but weren’t always the first thing that sprang to mind.
FOI – 9ac “Stun”
LOI – 4dn “Charge”
COD – 2dn “Buttercup”
Thanks as usual!
6:48
Pretty gentle though I did take my time coming up with a word to follow OBSTACLE. MAKE DO didn’t jump out until a couple of checkers were in place. Like most here, don’t know of GRENADINE other than the reddish syrup that goes into a Tequila Sunrise.
Thanks RT and Izetti
8.57, but the problem of page flipping on my iPad was even worse than usual today.
13:29, which is a bit below my average across all setters, and therefore way below my average for an Izetti. I enjoyed this one a lot.
Thank you for the blog!