Solving time: 5:49
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The first thing that struck me when reviewing this puzzle was the use of 8a and 10a – I wondered whether a theme might become apparent, but there doesn’t seem to be any other related answer.
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Overall, I found this to be on the gentler side, and avoided the 11d spelling pitfall by sticking to the cryptic. To my relief, the plant at 5d was straightforward once several checkers were in place. And the unlikely word at 23a was well signposted as an anagram.
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How did you find it?
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Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones]. The tilde ~ indicates an insertion point in containment clues.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Location of oracle provided guidance for returning Greek character (6) |
| DELPHI – LED (provided guidance) reversed [for returning] gives DEL, then PHI (Greek character) . DELPHI (Greek: Δελφοί), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct in central Greece. It was the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. . Years ago, I was lucky (!) enough to holiday in Greece with my parents, which included a six-hour round trip from our base in Loutraki, to DELPHI. I’d like to say it was completely thrilling, but for a 12-year-old, it really was pretty dull. |
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| 5 | Fight unruly mob in violent act (6) |
| COMBAT – Anagram [unruly] of MOB inserted into anagram [violent] of ACT | |
| 8 | Exaggerate the merits of old poetry, line by line (8) |
| OVERSELL – O (old) VERSE (poetry) L (line) by L (line) | |
| 9 | Bucket of light colour, we hear (4) |
| PAIL – Homophone [we hear] of PALE (light colour) | |
| 10 | Sales promotion, one included by pushy person (4) |
| HYPE – Hidden [included by] pushy person . HYPE “excessive or misleading publicity or advertising,” (attested from 1937 American English), is probably a back-formation of hyperbole “obvious exaggeration in rhetoric“. . Both OVERSELL and HYPE in the same grid… |
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| 11 | After outburst of anger, editor softened (8) |
| TEMPERED – After TEMPER (outburst of anger), ED (editor) . Collins Online has it as American English “made less intense or violent, esp. by the influence of something good or benign“ |
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| 12 | Very fast northern city with any number getting lost (6) |
| PRESTO – PRESTO . PRESTO is a musical instruction, meaning to play “very fast (168–200 bpm)” |
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| 14 | Home team not out on the field? (6) |
| INSIDE – IN (Home) SIDE (team) . I am reminded of the following mirthful rules of cricket: . You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. . Each batter that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when they are out they come in and the next batter goes in until they are out.. When they are all out, the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. . Sometimes you get batters that are still in and not out. . When a batter goes out to go in, the fielders who are out try to get them out, and when they are out they go in and the next batter in goes out and goes in. . There are two officials called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the batters who are in are out. . When both sides have been in and all the batters have got out, and both sides have been out twice after all the batters have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game! |
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| 16 | Aversion revealed by some Methodist as “terrible” (8) |
| DISTASTE – Hidden [revealed by some] in Methodist as “terrible” . Ignore the punctuation. |
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| 18 | Snakes idiot hides quietly (4) |
| ASPS – AS~S (idiot) containing [hides] P (quietly i.e. musical notation for piano) | |
| 20 | Vituperate about deceitful person (4) |
| LIAR – RAIL (Vituperate) reversed [about] . Vituperate is ultimately descended from the Latin vituperare “disparage, find fault with”. |
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| 21 | Changing situation with noon approaching? (8) |
| AMENDING – AM (i.e. morning) is ENDING (situation with noon approaching) | |
| 23 | Terrible hog, sir — like a monster! (6) |
| OGRISH – Anagram [Terrible] of HOG SIR . It’s in Collins Online. |
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| 24 | See beyond end of pub? Just about (6) |
| BARELY – ELY (See) after [beyond end of] BAR (pub) . ELY is the crossword setter’s go-to word for see/bishopric. The name is thought to derive from Old Northumbrian ēlġē, meaning “district of eels”. Before the Fens were drained in the eighteenth century, Ely was very much an island surrounded by marshland in which there was an abundance of eels. |
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| Down | |
|---|---|
| 2 | Diplomat showing resentment, concealing nothing (5) |
| ENVOY – ENV~Y (resentment) containing [concealing] O (nothing) . Ultimately, ENVOY comes from Vulgar Latin *inviare “send on one’s way,” from Latin in “on” + via “road” |
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| 3 | Agent upset south-east American group of stars (7) |
| PERSEUS – REP (Agent) reversed [upset], then SE (south-east) US (American) . In Greek mythology, PERSEUS slew the Gorgon, Medusa, then saved Andromeda from being sacrificed to Cetus, the sea monster. PERSEUS and Andromeda were married and had six children. The end. . In the sky, the constellation of PERSEUS lies near to the constellations of Andromeda, her mother Cassiopeia, her father Cepheus, the sea monster Cetus, and the winged horse Pegasus. Some nineteenth century depictions of the PERSEUS constellation include Medusa’s decapitated head. |
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| 4 | Anger evident in Israel regularly (3) |
| IRE – Alternate [regularly] letters of Israel | |
| 5 | Lion cub playing with me in plant (9) |
| COLUMBINE – Anagram [playing with] of LION CUB ME . AKA Aquilegia, the name COLUMBINE likely originates in the dove-like appearance of the sepals (columba being Latin for dove). |
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| 6 | Dad stuck in tree after climbing another one (5) |
| MAPLE – PA (Dad) inserted into [stuck in] EL~M (tree), all reversed [climbing] . The definition ‘another one’ refers back to the earlier use of ‘tree’ . The use of ‘climbing’ as a reversal indicator is apposite as this is a down clue. |
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| 7 | Flavouring, a requirement, is being included (7) |
| ANISEED – A N~EED (requirement) with IS being included | |
| 11 | Philosophical system briefly associated with every single Irish politician (9) |
| TAOISEACH – TAOIS{m} (Philosophical system) without its last letter [briefly] associated with EACH (every single) . TAOISEACH (pronounced ‘Tee-shukh’) is an Irish word meaning ‘chief’ or ‘leader’ and is the official title of the Prime Minister of Ireland. |
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| 13 | Attacking gang, having imported help (7) |
| RAIDING – R~ING (gang) with AID (help) inserted [having imported] | |
| 15 | Doctor snarled defamatory words (7) |
| SLANDER – Anagram [Doctor] of SNARLED | |
| 17 | Bones sailors found on island (5) |
| TARSI – TARS (sailors) I (island) . Plural of TARSUS – a cluster of seven articulating bones in each foot. |
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| 19 | Board left under piece of glass? (5) |
| PANEL – L (left) under PANE (piece of glass) | |
| 22 | Decline or end of the B&B? (3) |
| EBB – End of {th}E, then B and B | |
6:42
Collins sv ‘temper’ (British English) def. 6 has ‘moderate’. OGRISH looks a bit odd; I’d expect ‘ogreish’, which is how ODE has it.
“Temper your expectations” is how I thought of it.
That’s how I’d have spelt the word, too.
It was all easy except for the ones I didn’t get. I didn’t know the northern city for PRESTO and I don’t understand why ending means that noon is approaching?
Still easiest Izetti I’ve done though
It’s ’am ending’ as in morning is ending, so noon is approaching.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh thank you
“It was all easy except for the ones I didn’t get. ”
Just like every crossword I do 🤣
Ahaha I did think that when I was writing my comment but honestly sometimes there are clues I get that take quite a bit of nutting out.
Like Mike I was saved by a careful reading of the cryptic when contemplating TAOISEACH, which usually causes me (and many others) a lot of grief whenever it appears. Fortunately this time it was clued generously. LOI was DISTASTE when I belatedly realised it was a hidden (which I missed with HYPE, it was quite a mystery). 7.17, thanks to both.
TAOISEACH remembered from its inclusion in the biggie but thought it might be a bit much for the quickie. Didn’t see the HYPE hidden. Just as well PERSEUS had some helpful wordplay otherwise I wouldn’t have known it. Loved the cricket rules Mike, bit of a tragic here so it made perfect sense to me.
Thanks Mike and setter.
I started solving the puzzle, and noticed how logical all the clues were – aha, it’s Don Manley at work! Somehow, I was able to quickly get the anagram for columbine and see how taoiseach worked, and those were probably the two most difficult clues.
Time: 6:03
Now that you point it out, I realize it’s true about that logical style. I’m finally to the point where I’ve begun to discern different “feels” for different setters, and my affinity for Izetti certainly stems from the clear logic of the parsings.
Bit off the pace again today, mainly in the NW. Started well enough with six on the first pass but I was having to work hard at each clue. Ended up with HYPE where I didn’t see the hidden having previously found COMBAT and MAPLE tough. I was up early and working from home yesterday so I tried the big boy puzzle – got three. Did the Telegraph as usual at yesterday lunchtime in not much more than the 15.21 this took me – not sure how I manage to find the 15×15 so hard. Probably need more practice.
Today’s 15×15 is one of the championship puzzles – you’d expect it to be harder, I think!
On edit, sorry, I see you mean yesterday’s…
I’ve been doing the cryptic every day for many, many years. It has definitely got noticeably harder, this year…
I’m sure the spelling system of Irish, and how the letters are pronounced, has its own internal logic, but it is one of those great mysteries for me – many letters sound differently from how they do in most other languages and others are totally silent. So while I do know that the leader of the Irish government is the Teeshuck, when asked to spell it, it’s anyone’s guess what the correct ordering of the plethora of vowels is.
Fortunately the wordplay here was extremely helpful – thank you Izetti – and I got it right. No other hold-ups as this was the Don in friendly mode, and an 8:09 completion for a Good Day. PRESTO my LOI but not too obscure once I had the checkers.
Many thanks Mike for the blog and extended explanations – excellent extra info (and that I suddenly notice is four ex- words in a row).
I’d suspect anyone new to English would have similar issues with our variations of pronunciation, the easiest examples being through, though, bough, tough etc etc.
Very true, and native English speakers often forget it. But I think the prize for the loosest relationship between spelling and pronunciation, for a language using the Latin alphabet at least, must be Faroese, where even native Icelanders cannot make themselves understood despite the languages looking superficially very similar. To quote just one example from my “pocket guide to Faroese”, the letter Ð,ð “has no definitive pronunciation. It can be -v- or -g- or -y- or -j- or -h- or -w- or -r- or most often of all silent. The only sounds it never has are -th- (voiced or voiceless) or -d-“.
If in doubt, leave it out!
Agreed and, writing as an Irish person, taoiseach isn’t pronounced as some would have it here, with a k sound. It’s more tee-shugh.
10 in 20 minutes. Only one more after that.
Thanks M & I
Top quality and fairly gentle.
I’m grateful to the commenter who explained how they remembered to spell TAOISEACH last time it appeared as, for the first time, I wrote it straight in and it was backed up by the clear wordplay. (TAO IS EACH was the way that person remembered it).
Started with DELPHI and finished with HYPE in 5.49 with CsOD to COMBAT and AMENDING.
Thanks to Mike and Izetti.
Pretty sure that was New Driver. Great time!
👍
I have certainly said that is the way to remember it in the past.
Hoping therefore people believe me when I say today’s TAOsSEACH was a typo !!
Ouch
It’s certainly the way I remember it! That’s bad luck.
A nice satisfying romp to 18.30, thanks Izetti. Having not seen Plett’s previous commentator I’m pleased to have the option of remembering Taoism each as I know the word, and the pronunciation but am always at a total loss to spell it! No doubt when I need it again this will be a distant memory.
Lovely PDM a few minutes after Mrs RH saying what does B&B mean (apart from the obvious), realising it means B & B, clang 😀
Thanks Mike for a.m. ending, very clever, I don’t think we would ever have seen that.
When I hit the HOG I assumed this was an Oink, but no. DELPHI to BARELY in 06:22 for an Excellent Day. COD AMENDING, very good!
I needed the final O to see PRESTO, and was mightily relieved by the clarity of the instructions for TAOISEACH. Last time it appeared Doofers called it “an explosion in a Scrabble factory”, which I found more memorable than the correct spelling.
Many thanks Mike and Izetti.
Love the “explosion in a Scrabble factory”! Scots Gaelic is if anything even more baffling to a non-native: the Gaelic name for the island you and I called Skye is Sgitheanach, in which the last eight letters are pretty much silent.
An excellent puzzle – quite challenging but, as expected from the Don, impressively tight, fair clueing. A steady solve for me with a few answers jumping out at me (TAOISEACH, for example even though the spelling is beyond me without all the crossers and fingers crossed, too). I finished with AMENDING and my LOI EBB. A whisker under 15 mins; that is good enough for me.
Too many good clues to pick and choose. Many thanks to Izetti and Mike,
25 mins.
Last two in were the hiddens . They both slowed me down. Never saw HYPE as a hidden word, and only eventually saw DISTASTE which was my LOI.
FOI was 1ac – DELPHI. Not often I find 1ac a write in.
COD BARELY.
Nho TEMPERED as softened. I associate it with hardened materials – tempered glass and metals. It fitted so it went in.
After DELPHI and PERSEUS I did wonder if there was going to be a theme but nothing else transpired.
Thanks Mike and Izetti.
Easier than Izetti usually is. EBB was good and also liked AMENDING. 10:15.
15:15 which is good for me for a DM. I too might now remember how to spell the teashuck (Taoism has each but no em) I doubt my botanical knowledge will ever improve but I now know the Latin for dive and that columbine is dove-like
Ta MAD
Started well but eventually lapsed and looked up Softened in the CCD. TEMPERED gave me TAOISEACH. I had to check the spelling but thanks for hints above – Tao is each, genius!
I only solved LOI EBB after COD AMENDING. Also liked COLUMBINE, PRESTO, BARELY, among others.
Thanks for erudite blog, Mike. Good rules of cricket.
COD – most of them. Lovely puzzle.
6.34
If you cut and paste what Templar said, that’s me too. Liked MAPLE.
3:52. A gentle warm-up before tacking the 15×15. LOI TEMPERED. No problem with TAOISEACH as I had all the checkers by the time I got to it and the wordplay was generous. 5D reminded me of the wonderful Flanders & Swann song Misalliance. Thank-you Izetti and Mike.
If you’re tacking the 15×15 I’m sure you’ll sail through it! 😀
Oh my darling, Columbine…
Yes indeed, it’s a classic. Sang it to an audience of Germans last year!
Clementine, even
Indeed the song quotes that tune, but with Columbine rather than Clementine. Mind you, that’s a bit of a liberty because AFAIK a Columbine (Aqualegia) is not a Bindweed (Convolvulus).
Of course the good Don knows exactly where to pitch it; this was a model QC. Especially liked the LOI pair of trees. I’m vague about all the tibia and fibia (sorry I now see it’s fibula) but TARSI had to be and so it proved. As you say, Mike, TAOISEACH is a beast to spell but sticking rigidly to the flawless cryptic was like being led safely through the thicket. Thanks to both.
Managed to spell TAOISEACH and the rest steadily went in with a few taking some more thought – e.g. PRESTO, EBB & BARELY .
11:22. Never built up a head of steam for this one and slowed down towards the end by TEMPERED and my LOI HYPE which I thought was a good hidden. I’m another disciple of the TAO IS EACH school of spelling – works every time.
Thanks to Mike – loved the rules of cricket – and to Izetti
16:05
Held up with LOI as I’d bunged in PALE for 9a.
NHO of COLUMBINE but pen and paper gave me reasonable confidence.
BARELY and TAOISEACH went in unparsed – need to try and remember Ely and the other meaning of see.
FOI:PALE/INSIDE
LOI: ANISEED
COD: AMENDING
Thanks to Izetti and Mike
Great puzzle and equally great blog. Thanks both.
16.45 Yay – the SCC is, well, not blurred, but at least some distance off.
What a delightful puzzle.
Love the ‘step through’ clues. Enjoyed it all…
He who mends the apparently not broken ‘ Reverse Osmosis water filter’ has been and gone. Apparently noise due to Government shutting the supply off (now on again). Life is full of such happy mysteries.
Excellent blog – will send cricket description to non native English speaking friends.
Thank you Izetti and Mike H
16 minutes, not quite all parsed (COMBAT only partially so). It’s the first time for what seems like ages that I have hit my normal 16-18 minutes.
FOI – 1ac DELPHI
LOI – 10ac HYPE (completely failed to see the hidden until I had entered it)
COD – 21ac AMENDING
Thanks to Izetti and Mike
Didn’t parse AMENDING, doh! And didn’t know Columbine was a plant.
Thanks both
16:53
Saw the Irish politician straightaway. Spelling it was another matter entirely. Took a couple of minutes over LOI AMENDING.
Nothing too tricky today apart from the Irish Question. It was my LOI not because I hadn’t come across it before, but that I invariably spell it incorrectly. Fortunately the cryptic direction helped me get there. A relatively speedy 8.00 on the nose for me.
40:51
Just reaching the point with the puzzles where I am regularly finishing (or at least getting one clue off… LINNET I’m looking at you from a couple of days back).
Thanks, as always, to the setter and solver!
If nothing else my vocabulary is doing well 🙂
👏
Well done!
It occurred to me recently that I’ve picked up a large amount of almost completely useless vocabulary since I started doing these puzzles a couple of years ago. I use the word “almost” because, well, they’re useful words for these puzzles…
Well done! All those old fashioned words for money / hats / drunkards – grist to the setter’s mill 😅
Very nice. Thanks to Izetti and Mike. I agree with Cedric about the vaguearies of gaelic languages, however we have our own. See Michael McIntyre’s view:
https://www.tiktok.com/@michaelmcintyre/video/7449423623930121505?lang=en
9:41 – inside my 10m target but outside the top 100
Another disciple of the TOA IS EACH School of Spelling here. As soon as I saw TEMPERED and Irish politician, in it went. DELPHI went in first without reading past oracle and Greek character. After that I resorted to reading the clues carefully. LOI was BARELY. 7:05. Thanks Izetti and Mike.
12:25. What a lovely smooth puzzle, thoroughly enjoyed.
The biggest holdup was my brain insisting on typing DISASTER rather than DISTASTE. The flower at 5d put me right and from then on it was plain sailing.
Like others I’m giving COD to the splendid AMENDING.
Thank you both.
15:54 for me, though I took a little while to get going. Overall an excellent and satisfying puzzle. Thanks Izetti and Mike.
I left TAOISEACH to the end, by which time it was plain sailing. LOI was HYPE, where I couldn’t see the hidden for ages. Liked AMENDING. Thanks to Mike for a most entertaining blog and to the Don for another great puzzle.
Not my quickest Izetti but there was plenty to enjoy. FOI COMBAT and LOI BARELY which along with AMENDING are my CsOD. I always struggle to spell TAOISEACH so TAOIS(m) and EACH is probably a good way of remembering the vowel order. 7:27 Thanks Mike
My thanks to Izetti and Mike Harper.
Not a doddle, but doable.
21a LOI Amending, clever.
Thanks Mike Harper for the cricket rules. Really useful, I now know what is going on….
11d Taoiseach. Good clue in that I am now able to spell this word. I hope this knowledge stays with me.
I enjoyed that. Ten minutes for everything except HYPE, which took me an additional four minutes.
Thank you for the blog!
16:46
Very fast start in NW, but slowed considerably, last two took an age, AMENDING and EBB. AMENDING is a great clue, but I was looking to insert an N into a word for “approaching”.
I thought I saw the hidden DISASTER, which held up that corner.
Taois. + each. This is a good way to remember how to spell it.
6.18 so about average for me, for this exemplary QC. Easier than many Izettis, but just right, I thought.
If you take a photograph at Delphi, is that a selphi?
😆
🤣🤣🤣
Done in 10 minutes, only hold up was in the bottom right. Ebb was a little tricky for me, wasn’t thinking of decline in the right way. I had barely in, but kept coming back to it because I couldn’t parse it. Would never have thought of that meaning of see, was my only unparsed clue. Amending went in after an alphabet trawl.
Perhaps Mike could explain what is vulgar about the Latin for envoy?
Overall a cultured QC, just right. Liked the Columbine , so much like concubine.
Enjoyed Mike’s hilarious ode to the cricket rules.
A note for the IT guys – yesterday and today when I logged in I got a dump of error messages about headers, although I did get logged in.
At 11:42 we were just a second faster than yesterday despite it feeling more straightforward. Like most others it seems we appreciated the clear instructions for spelling TAOISEACH which we shall try to remember. OGRISH just looks wrong without an E though again the wordplay was clear Our LOI was AMENDING where we hesitated somewhat because we couldn’t see how it parsed. Thank you for clearing that up, Mike.
No trouble with this one, apart from initially misreading the wordplay for HYPE (LOI) and taking way too long to spot that it was hidden in plain sight.
I was nervous too about TAOISEACH because I didn’t know how to spell it (and probably won’t know tomorrow) and I don’t allow myself to use any aids, not even checking spellings in a dictionary, so had to rely completely on wordplay (not my forte), which in this case was thankfully straightforward.
Overall, an enjoyable and fair challenge.
I love Izetti clues. You do what it says on the tin and the answer magically appears.
Precisely!
17 mins…
For a while I thought I wasn’t going to finish as I struggled with 1ac “Delphi”, but luckily it popped into my head just as I started gnashing my teeth in frustration. Thankfully 11dn “Taoiseach” and 5dn “Columbine” were easily obtained from the clueing.
FOI – 4dn “Ire”
LOI – 1ac “Delphi”
COD – 21ac “Amending”
Thanks as usual!
Agree with all the appreciative comments and scraped home in 18 minutes. Smiled and hummed the tune at Columbine and liked the straightforward approach to clueing. One spelling mistake – an O for an E in the Irish PM, but now I know how to parse it – thank you! And thanks to Izetti and to Mike for a superb blog!
Clementine?
In Misalliance Swann uses the tune for Oh my darling Clementine, but changes the words to darling Columbine (approx for bindweed). Listen to the song – it’s a classic!
Yes, I did vaguely remember the song and its tune, but not that F and S had inserted the Darling Clementine tune as well for a line or two.
A great act they were.
Having seen that 24a began with a B, I assumed that was the “end of pub” and so couldn’t see where “arely” came from when I had biffed it. Silly me! Otherwise a very enjoyable puzzle, completed over lunch (Mrs L is away).
6.31 Mostly straightforward. I remembered TAO IS EACH from previous outings. I had to come back to LOI HYPE. Thanks Mike and Izetti.