Solving time: 7:06
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Pretty quick, but needed to double check my final answer (1d) which I did not know was an actual thing – I suspect I may not be the only one.
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I guess there may also be a few who are not quite sure of the wordplay at 6d.
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Other than that, I hope you found it an enjoyable solve!
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Let me know how you got on…
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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 | |
|---|---|
| 8 | Charge every individual backing mischief-maker (7) |
| IMPEACH – EACH (every individual) behind [backing] IMP (mischief-maker) | |
| 9 | Girl making Rachel envious to some extent (5) |
| HELEN – Hidden [to some extent] in Rachel envious | |
| 10 | Go after vehicle returning with king (5) |
| TRACK – CART (vehicle) reversed [returning] then K (king) | |
| 11 | Wise, misconstrued as “inept” (7) |
| SAPIENT – Anagram [misconstrued] of AS INEPT | |
| 12 | Time messenger comes with duck and fruit (7) |
| TANGELO – T (Time) ANGEL (messenger) O (duck) | |
| 14 | Man maybe at the east side of a passage (5) |
| AISLE – ISLE (Man maybe) to the right of [at the east side of] A | |
| 15 | Left work in the middle of week to go to Gretna Green? (5) |
| ELOPE – L (Left) OP (work) between [in] the middle letters of {w}E~E{k} | |
| 17 | German city worker cut short series of deliveries (7) |
| HANOVER – HAN{d} (worker) without its final letter [cut short] OVER (series of deliveries i.e. in cricket) | |
| 19 | One throwing large jug (7) |
| PITCHER – Double definition | |
| 20 | Under arch, offering accommodation for the Spanish (5) |
| BELOW – B~OW (arch) containing [offering accommodation for] EL (‘the’ in Spanish) | |
| 22 | Professional wearing an outer garment for protection (5) |
| APRON – PRO (Professional) inserted into [wearing] A~N | |
| 23 | Delighted editor backing requests (7) |
| PLEASED – ED (editor) following [backing] PLEAS (requests) | |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Order unhealthy food for one to tuck into? (4) |
| FIAT – I (one) inserted into [tucked into] F~AT (unhealthy food) . If something is done by FIAT, it is done because of an official order given by someone in authority – from Latin, meaning “Let it be done“. . Questionable perhaps whether FAT is always unhealthy food, hence the question mark at the end of the clue. |
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| 2 | Odds on wet weather bringing physical injury (6) |
| SPRAIN – SP (Odds i.e. betting abbreviation for Starting Prices) on RAIN (wet weather) . ‘on’ is apposite as this is a down clue |
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| 3 | Customer’s first request — quantity of beer? (4) |
| CASK – First letter of C{ustomer} ASK (request) | |
| 4 | Hippy so hearty after manipulation — treatment to improve movement? (13) |
| PHYSIOTHERAPY – Anagram [after manipulation] of HIPPY SO HEARTY | |
| 5 | Fellow at home entertaining the French minister (8) |
| CHAPLAIN – CHAP (Fellow) IN (at home) containing [entertaining] LA (‘the’ in French) | |
| 6 | Strangers beginning to assert legal rights (6) |
| ALIENS – First letter of [beginning to] A{ssert} LIENS (legal rights) . A LIEN is an official order that allows someone to keep the property of a person who owes them money until it has been paid. |
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| 7 | Clothes ink spoilt and water ruined (8) |
| KNITWEAR – Anagram [spoilt] of INK then anagram [ruined] of WATER | |
| 12 | The son, affectedly religious, an actor (8) |
| THESPIAN – THE S (son) PI (affectedly religious) AN . I sometimes like to look things up to verify definitions, but attempts to verify that PI means ‘affectedly religious’ (rather than merely ‘religious’) are swamped by references to mathematical PI, or references to the book/film ‘Life of PI’, so on this occasion, I’ll take it as read… |
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| 13 | Huge animal damaged a net — help! (8) |
| ELEPHANT – Anagram [damaged] of A NET HELP | |
| 16 | More than one mammal staggers with head hidden (6) |
| OTTERS – |
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| 18 | Bag is buried in valley (6) |
| VALISE – IS inserted into [buried in] VAL~E (valley) | |
| 20 | Sounding unhappy, exhaled forcefully (4) |
| BLEW – Homophone [Sounding] of BLUE (unhappy) | |
| 21 | Some new idea of great scope (4) |
| WIDE – Hidden [Some] in new idea | |
In his Quickies, Izetti uses standard cryptic elements with clear instructions, allowing experienced solvers to see the answer almost immediately. Even the long anagram was immediately obvious thanks to the explicit definition. Unlike our honorable blogger, I had no doubt what a fiat is, and it was in fact my FOI.
Time: 4:53
Indeed, PHYSIOTHERAPY was my FOI!
Me too! (FIAT first in). Lovely, thoroughly enjoyable puzzle and swiftly completed ( for me) – 10 mins. Thankyou Mike and Izetti.
5:54
Whereas FIAT was my LOI; just wouldn’t come to me until I did an alphabet trawl, which fortunately came to a quick end. Took me a while to justify OTTERS.
8 minutes. Izetti in gentle form today. I liked the staggering mammals at 16d and the ‘Hippy so hearty after manipulation ‘ anagram and indicator for PHYSIOTHERAPY.
Thanks to Mike and Izetti
7.36 for me, FIAT not a problem but OTTERS fooled me because I was looking for something more complicated. There’s a Robert Johnson lyric about a woman having ‘a mortgage on my body [and] a LIEN on my soul’ which is probably the only time I’ve ever heard it used except when it comes up here. Thanks to Mike and Izetti.
8 minutes. The wordplay of THESPIAN delayed me for a moment although the answer had gone in straightaway.
4.22
Very similar thoughts to Vinyl. I thought there were a few potentially tricky bits and bobs here but the w/p was very clear.
14a – My solution was ALANE which my brain had worked out as either ALAN (a man) plus eastside (E) at the end of A LANE (passage). It fit the checking letters too – alas, it was very wrong and resulted in two errors at once.
A straightforward run from IMPEACH to WIDE in 5:29. Thanks Izetti and Mike.
I enjoyed this. Figured 1d had to be “fiat” but needed to check word! Completed in 14.20 which is good for me. Thanks Mike and Izetti
Eight on the first pass of acrosses and fast on the downs too – including barely reading the clue for ELEPHANT, I knew I had E-E-H and ‘huge animal’ was the definition. Held up a bit at the end by TRACK and finally SPRAIN. Really must do more gambling, I’ve been held up on such things before. All green in a very speedy 7.12.
3:42 with just a bit of hesitation before getting my LOI ELOPE. There were a few gimmes along the way, including the aforementioned ELEPHANT.
Thanks Mike and Izetti.
Like others have said, enjoyable without being too testing and all precisely clued.
Started with HELEN and finished with BLEW in 5.37.
Thanks to Mike and Izetti
If for some reason you’re not getting paragraph breaks with a linespace when you input a hard return but have to put in a linespace with a character to make a linespace, I’m pretty sure that you can use a defined html space there (en space, em space, nonbreaking space…) instead of a period. (I don’t know why you need a linespace between the parsing and your further explanatory comments; seems a soft return would do… but it’s a matter of taste, I guess. Old print typographer here.)
🙂
Thanks Guy – I’ll try something different next time. Seems a bit rum of the host to not use standard linespacing like the rest of the online world though…
The script works fine for me in that regard so why it doesn’t work for you is a mystery to me. I do like to have extra space between the clue/solution blocks, so I tweak the results for that (soft return & an enspace). But if I put in a hard return, I get a paragraph break with a linespace and if I shift-return the text drops down one line without an intervening linespace. There was one week in which things weren’t working this way in the Intro section and I had to add some extra code offered by the developer. But after that, it hasn’t been a problem. I run the script in Chrome on an iMac.
This was a very good puzzle so thanks Izetti and Mike. It’s a shame about 1d in my opinion. I don’t think obscure words have any place in a quickie. in my 70+ years I’ve only ever known a Fiat to be a car – when they first came out not a very good one 🙂
Fabricated Italiano a Turino or something like that isn’t it? I had a Fiat 125 which had the best sun visors I’ve ever seen in a car. Tinted perspex the pulled down from inside the head lining. It was a fast car for it’s day.
Indeed – Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino according to Wiki 🙂
My uncle had one of my uncles had a small fiat in the 60’s . On a rainy day like today it would splutter to a stop or not start at all .
I really enjoyed this puzzle, not something I have always said about an Izetti puzzle in the past. Perhaps I have changed and learnt more of his style, but I think he has also altered and recalibrated his approach to QCs and those who do them a bit. Whatever, this was an 8:12 solve with no hold-ups but enough to ponder over to be most satisfying. OTTERS took the most time to parse, and I needed to correct an initial Strain to SPRAIN, while KNITWEAR was an excellent clue with a very smooth surface and my COD.
Many thanks Izetti, and Mike for the blog.
Finished with a few bumps on the way:
Not knowing the abbreviation for odds I toyed with SPRAIN or STRAIN for 2d until IMPEACH sorted that out.
Considered RIOT for 1d but couldn’t link it with order and finally came up with FIAT after vaguely recalling Papal Fiat.
NHO TANGELO but the clueing from IZETTI was precise as always.
Pi for religious has been added to my crossword vocabulary.
Thanks Izetti and Mike.
4:24. Held up for 30 seconds at the end by my LOI FIAT, otherwise plain sailing. COD to CASK. Thank-you Izettit and Mike.
12:23 – one of my quickest solves ever. Only FIAT held me up a little. Biffed THESPIAN and still don’t get the wordplay, despite the blog.
For those of us who live in Hong Kong, FIAT is depressingly well known, as the draconian “National Security Law” was introduced in 2020 by fiat from Beijing, bypassing the local legislature.
Has somebody had a word? Not so long ago, seeing Izetti as the setter would lead to a difficult morning followed by reading a litany of complaints under the line here.
This, however, was relatively straightforward, but still satisfying to solve. And I think his last few have been too.
I prefer this to a morning of staring blankly at a barely half-completed grid!
Many thanks to Izetti & Mike
DNF
Very fast work of all the acrosses on track for a good time but made a poor guess at 1d where I put DIET. Didn’t really know what the Diet of Worms meant, and it could have been an order.
“More than one mammal” seems a weak definition. I considered OTTERY, as I was looking for something a bit cleverer.
Bloody PI again. But it didn’t hold up the easily biffed THESPIAN.
FIAT currency is often referred to as the opposite of Crypto currency.
COD KNITWEAR
Pi is one of my pet hates – it’s pretty well confined to crossword world imo
😭
Pi ❤️
Fiat currency isn’t exactly the opposite of Crypto. The distinction is between money which has intrinsic value (such as for example gold and silver coins), and money which has value only because the issuer says it does – in other words by the issuer’s fiat.
In the past, most currencies were based on gold (or sometimes silver): one could go to the Bank of England with (eg) a £10 note and ask for ten gold sovereigns in exchange. In other words, the £10 note, and sterling in general, had real or intrinsic value because you could turn it into gold. Nowadays, one cannot – although a £10 note still says “I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of £10”, if you went to the Bank with it and tried to hold them to this promise all you would get in exchange would be another £10 note, or possibly two fivers. In other words, Sterling bank notes, and sterling in general, only have value because the Bank (and hence the state) says that they do. That makes Sterling a Fiat currency.
The problem with a fiat currency is that it relies entirely on us all believing the fiat or order of the issuer. When one loses faith in the issuer, then a fiat currency can become effectively worthless, because it has no intrinsic value other than the word of the issuer.
Gold and diamonds as objects in olden days only had value because of hype. Today they have value because of their applications, just like other commodities. All the fuss over Greenland is because of the mineral rights. We could have quite a debate about the way the elite will manage the hoi poloi in the second half of this century.
Slight differ in that the state underwrites their currency, the exchange of notes isnt really relevent you dont have to go to the state to turn your banknotes into gold, you can just go to a bullion dealer. The crunch comes if a state can’t pay its due debts, then it “defaults” and will have extreme difficulty borrowing in the future. what happens if a non-sovereign debt defaults is regulated by the contract between lender and borrower. Crypto currencies can (an are) loaned and borrowed subject to contract in exactly the same way that non-sovereign loans are. The only real difference is that banks have to have a licence to borrow and lend from the public, and that licence only extends to the currency of the licencing state.
Thanks all…. but I still can’t claim to have heard of it before today 🙂
FIAT my LOI after a bit of thought. The rest of today’s puzzle was very straightforward. Not sure if Izetti’s QCs are getting easier or I’m getting more used to his wavelength.
A few interruptions but around 13 minutes – held up for too long by FIAT and OTTERS.
Another enjoyable solve. Have enjoyed all this week.
Thank you Izetti and Mike –
11:46 Nice Izetti. What’s occurring?
Ta MHAI
Or if you’re Garient Thomas Watts occuring…his podcast.
I know what a FIAT is (“fiat lux”, let there be light, being a famous example from the Latin Vulgate Bible), but it was still my LOI. Trying and failing to crack it first up, followed by trying and failing to crack IMPEACH, meant I had nothing solved with 90 seconds on the clock; I really must learn to move on more quickly.
Everything else fell in and then with checkers those two were easy enough. Grand total 06:05 but it can only be a Decent Day with such a low QUITCH rating. Loved the hippy.
Many thanks Izetti and Mike.
A slow start but I worked up from the bottom and soon settled into a clever, well-pitched puzzle which I finished in 12.35 after correcting a stupid typo from an accidental over-write (I have just moved to a new iPad and hadn’t checked all my crossword settings).
I really enjoyed this – I soon forgot the clock and admired the economy and skill of Izetti. An example of a real QC that many recent setters would do well to try to emulate.
Many thanks to Izetti and Mike.
DNF
I was heading to a quick finish, so did not spend as much time as I should have done on 1d. I knew DIET was wrong …
Otherwise no real problems. Plenty to enjoy. A brilliant QC.
Thanks to Mike and Izetti.
Yeah, I ended up guessing diet, though couldn’t make sense of it. Everything else was fine
I parted company with Latin after just a few terms at school, but for some reason the expression fiat justitia ruat caelum has always stuck in the mind, so I was fine with Fiat as my foi. That set the tone for a reasonably quick solve, with loi Otters parsed at 17mins.
Quite a few CoD candidates, but I think Sprain gets the prize for the smooth surface.
Invariant
I did Latin O level so I had no excuse …
Well done ! I lean more towards Churchill’s observation: And why would I want to talk to a table ? 😉
Marcus Tullius in tablino sedet. et al
I quite agree, I was told I needed Latin to study medicine. Obviously wrong. I did enjoy it though.
However, as a result I know absolutely no German which would have been a lot more useful.
Me too, but I also did German, French and Greek in case I didn’t get into medical school.
After yesterday’s shamble of a solve, I got back to a reasonable solving time finishing in 7.40. Fairly steady solve from start to finish, although my LOI FIAT took me thirty seconds or so, even though I new the word as being an ‘order’.
Disappointingly slow today (7.36), disappointing because maybe 2 minutes were spent on FIAT! Otherwise, I thought a fair and not too difficult puzzle.
Not too many of the acrosses on first pass but the downs seemed to flow much better. I couldn’t parse AISLE (because I always forget that man is an island) but apart from that all done in 13 minutes. No problem with fiat which was lingering in some forgotten recess of my brain.
FOI – 9ac HELEN
LOI – 12ac TANGELO
COD – such a number of smooth surfaces it’s impossible to pick out just one. I particularly liked the German city worker at 17ac and (looking out of the window) the likelihood of wet weather at 2dn.
Thanks to Izetti and Mike
. . .easily done, given that No Man is (also) an Island
(sorry, couldn’t resist)
Nice easy one. Thanks Izetti and Mike. I am always a little suprised at what is considered obscure, I knew both fiat and lien as normal words (I have no legal background) , but I have never knowingly eaten or seen on sale a tangelo (yes I do do the grocery shopping), fortunately easy from the wordplay. I had tangeno to start with but couldn’t parse it. The supermarkets say what the item is on the price label, but the greengrocer doesn’t, so next time I am there I will ask them if they have any.
My thanks to Izetti and Mike Harper.
Excellent blog, ditto Xword.
I thoroughly enjoyed that – a rare (for me) straight solve from left to right, finishing in 8:28. I’m starting to think that Izetti might be one of my favourite setters, which I would have deemed an outrageous notion a year ago. Is he getting easier, am I getting better or are we meeting somewhere in the middle?
Thank you for the blog!
6.21 My wonky eyes managed to see ELLEN as the hidden name, delaying CHAPLAIN, but this was straightforward otherwise. Thanks Mike and Izetti.
All correct and parsed with the cuppa still warm
FOI:ELOPE
LOI: ALIENS
COD: OTTERS
Thanks Don and Mike
11:52
Could not parse THESPIAN and SPRAIN (DNK ‘PI’ and ‘SP’ – thanks Mike).
Consequently, as others, biffed STRAIN until IMPEACH initiated a correction.
DNK FIAT but could not see what else it could be.
A nice puzzle with three new things learnt – but will they be retained? 🤞🙂
FOI: HELEN
LOI: BLEW
COD: KNITWEAR (because I needed all of the checkers)
Thanks to Mike and Izetti
Yes LOI FIAT was difficult but once the ABC trawl had reached it there was no doubt. Only parsing problem was (not ALIENS but) SPRAIN, seemed to remember something about (then NHO) starting prices in a recent QC. Thanks Mike, and Izetti for a friendly puzzle.
After returning damply from shopping, I solved fast then stuck in NW. I should have been more patient as I know perfectly well that mischief-maker means Imp in Crosswordland, but I needed a hint from the CCD for IMPEACH. That helped with FIAT anyway, which I vaguely knew. Admit I also needed a hint for Angel, having forgotten a TANGELO.
FOI THESPIAN – did not notice the dread Pi.
Physio an easy anagram. Liked HANOVER, CHAPLAIN, VALISE, and ALIENS, among others.
Thanks vm, Mike.
Thanks Mike. You were certainly not the only one who was unfamiliar with FIAT. It was my LOI and I relied on the word play. Otherwise I solved pretty quickly with my favourites being KNITWEAR and THESPIAN! 6:33
Finished with 14 which I felt was about par for my abilities. Quick with the anagrams, not so good with the Ikea clues, those are usually bifd.
Thanks M & I
Unusually speedy and finished in 15 mins. COD SPRAIN which raised a smile, and PHYSIOTHERAPIST which unfortunately parses as PHYSIO THE RAPIST.
I had only a passing familiarity re LIEN until hurricane Ian wiped out many neighbourhood properties and the HOA warned delinquent Home Owners that liens would be placed on their properties if dues were not paid.
Thanks Mike and Izetti for a well clued puzzle. Definitely can’t be Friday.
I remember PHYSIO THE RAPIST being in a Benny Hill sketch where he was a sign maker. 🤣
Well, that certainly wouldn’t get made today.
Very gentle for an Izetti! Couldn’t parse ELOPE at the time (easy when you know how – thanks galspray) but this gets COD from me. Slow to solve LOI FIAT but it’s a word I’m familiar with and I did get there eventually. Will remember SP means starting prices. I only know it as state of play. Un-Izetti-like but enjoyable nonetheless. Many thanks both.
On edit: apologies to Mike for renaming you galspray!
I remember when I first started these crosswords that I always dreaded Izetti puzzles. Today I breezed this in quick (for me) time.
I doubted my answer for one down as I didn’t know it meant command. But it was my last answer and so in it went with crossed fingers.
First Lap: 10
Answered correctly: 24
Aided: Nil
DNF: Nil
Time: 21:58
I was pleased with myself for finishing in 13.01, which is fast for me, but see that was pretty slow compared with others. Never known Izetti to be so gentle with us. Most enjoyable.
Really enjoyed that. A mix of easy and moderate difficulty (for me), polished off over lunch.
16 mins…
Not too difficult from Izetti, although I dnk 1dn “Fiat” and 16dn “Otters” took longer than it should have. Agree that 4dn “Physiotherapy” was pretty much instantly identified due to the clear definition.
FOI – 3dn “Cask”
LOI – 16dn “Otters”
COD – 2dn “Sprain” – simple but effective.
Thanks as usual!
6 clues solved in 15 minutes! I would love to see a youtube video of anyone solving these crosswords in less than five minutes from a cold start (ie no previous inspection)!
Search youtube for “Solving the Quick Cryptic on 12th April”, for instance.
10:46, with some things that gave me pause but no big hold-ups, so I had a pleasant solve. Wow, I see some very fast times, kudos to you all. Izetti taking it easy on the ecclesiastical references, though we still have CHAPLAIN and the angel at 12a TANGELO. I could not parse SPRAIN and had to wait for IMPEACH to be sure. I loved the hearty hippy, very impressive although biffable. I knew FIAT but took a while to identify “fat” as possibly unhealthy.
Has anyone ever tried to calculate the proportion of QCs containing cricket references? Also are British people especially interested in betting? (Not casino gambling, which is rife here.)
Thanks Izetti and Mike.
My father used to bet occasionally on horse racing. I often went to the races as a young woman and, if you’re there, you have a wee bet. That’s how I knew SP. I don’t know anyone who goes to casinos but I guess all this online gambling has become a problem.
The most popular sport in Britain is football/soccer, but chaps also like cricket, golf, rugger, tennis etc. I imagine the setters as being traditional university gents, with wide interests. Cycling is kind of a new sport so fortunately doesn’t feature in the QC, but I am already shuddering snobbishly about the commentators’ pronunciation of aspects of the Tour de France, which is due to take place in England!
11:24 under my average but i never find Izetti as easy as the quitch says I should