24535 – not exactly L for leather

Author   petebiddlecombePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time 17:04, late last night. I think this is down to crafty clue-writing rather than late-night dimness but may be proved wrong …

Across
1 UNCOORDINATED – RD.=way, in (education, on)* – time wasted on ST.=way here
9 FOR=in order to get,AY=positive response – variant of aye
10 TOP BANANA – def. and cryptic def
11 ACIDULATES = A,(as ductile)* – to acidulate or make slightly acid lowers a pH value
12 CHIN=hit – to hit or punch on the chin, and half of “chin chin”, the old-fashioned toast
14 P=parking,LAY-B(O)Y – “by the roadside?” = “in lay-by” – this is transport, so the US (pull-out / turn-out) and British terms have to be different
16 S(TIP=reward)END – a stipend is a regular wage, esp. of the clergy
18 B,LOCKER = “two keys” – this puzzled me for a while, trying to see why a grade B locker should have a spare key. And trying to get BITONAL to fit before that.
19 CANASTA – hidden word and 1950s card-playing fad – I have some dim memory that the current Royal family like to play it
20 LUSH – 2 defs, with “boozer” a person rather than the pub in the surface reading
21 MAIN=sea,SPRING=water source – nicely written to make you try find some word for a marine well
24 TRI(LOB=launch,I)TE – “find on Lyme Regis beach?” is the def., Lyme Regis being the UK capital of fossil-hunting – it’s where Jurassic limestone is exposed in sea cliffs. I wasted time trying to work COBB into this – the Cobb is the harbour wall used in the film of The French Lieutenant’s Woman
25 NIGHT = “knight” = (chess) piece
26 SUBJECT = citizen, MATTER = be influential
 
Down
1 UNFLAPPABILITY – def and cryptic def
2 CARP=fish,I=island – this is a “double plural” as the carpus is a group of bones
3 ON YOUR BIKE – cryptic and plain defs in that order – really poor solving here, as I failed to see the range of application for “saddle” and tried to recognise something like “ON YOUR PONY” – a pay-off here for those who wait before writing in “ONE’S” in expressions like this, just in case YOUR is used instead – though “on one’s bike” would sound pretty daft
4 DITT(AN)Y – today’s plant or rather plants
5 NIPPERS – 2 defs
6 The one I’m leaving out today.
7 DEATHLESS = “he’s lasted” – an anagram which I must have seen before, though I didn’t spot it on first look
8 CANNED LAUGHTER – cryptic def based on its unspontaneity and drunk=canned
13 GIANT PANDA – AN in (adapting)*, with “divers” as the anagram indicator – that’s divers = diverse = various
15 A,CO((r)USTIC)S – another tricky one, with “country” being an adjective rather than an invitation to think of the right nation. A is just A in the clue, and Cos is the island (rather than a type of lettuce)
18 R(EA.,L)ISE – the rise=pay-hike settles the question of whether we spell this with an S (most Brits) or Z (most Americans, Oxford dictionaries) today
19 CON=blue,VERT=green – the blue is presumably from the colour of Conservative election rosettes, and the green is heraldic (and therefore in the dictionary) as well as French
22 IN=batting,GOT=caught – an ingot is usually bar-shaped
23 BOMB – 2 defs, “one set off” NOT meaning “someone started a journey”

The posting title is a brief mention (and let’s keep it brief) of me being 50 today.

35 comments on “24535 – not exactly L for leather”

  1. Congratulations young man. Your title reminds me of the alphabet-ditty A for Gardner, B for mutton etc. – it’s from it is it not? 27 minutes for me after a stalling start. Unfortunately put down ‘acidulated’ too. Entertaining and a little more testing than some.
    1. It is from the “Cockney Alphabet”, and I first came across at an athletics meeting at what was then East London Stadium, where my team was indicated by the letter L. When I suddenly realised I was in the wrong place to start the 5000m and hared across the infield just in time, I was greeted sardonically and appositely with “Here ‘e is – L – L for leather!”.
  2. This one of those entertaining puzzles. I didn’t find it particularly difficult as I tuned into the setter very quickly and finished in 20 minutes but it was great fun and interesting to solve.

    I thought CON=blue a bit obscure, particularly for overseas solvers but enjoyed the little bit of scientific “lowers the pH”. Lyme Regis is not far from me so I knew immediately we looking for a fossil of some sort and worked it out from wordplay.

    My thanks to the setter.

  3. Correct guesses for DITTANY and ACIDULATES. Here for explanations for BLOCKER, NIGHT and even worse CANASTA.
    Cheat for TRILOBITE (me too stuck in Fowles country).
    After racing (relatively) through yesterday’s “tricky” one it seems I am only allowed one day of smugness at a time. Enjoyed the fluid surface of GIANT PANDA but COD to CANNED LAUGHTER for the doh moment.
  4. Went down the wrong fossil route with my last in, 24ac, with TRIPOLITE (‘a fine particulate form of fossiliferous, opaline silica’), desperately trying to convince myself that a POL was a type of boat. Earlier had to cheat at 9ac, having got only ‘sally’ and ‘reply’. Felt somewhat better when I learned here that ‘ay’ is an alternative spelling of ‘aye’, as, to me, the words have always been distinct, ‘ay’ meaning ‘for ever’, as in ‘God’s great goodness ay endureth’.

    Didn’t know DITTANY or CANNED = drunk, but that caused no problem. COD to ACOUSTICS.

    And that is ‘Happy Birthday’ in transliterated Cantonese …

  5. 84 minutes, in case anyone is tracking these things at the University of Buckingham ….
  6. 35 minutes for all but TRILOBITE and must have spent another 10 minutes trying to work it out. I spotted TRITE and the other I from the wordplay and then in desperation I bunged in COB as the Lymne Regis connection, conveniently overlooking that fact that it would need double B which I actually knew if I had thought about it properly. On finding the correct answer later using a solver I noticed I had written the incorrect C so sloppily that it looked like an L so in a competition I might just have got away with it!

    I can’t say I’m overjoyed about that clue especially as a search for TRILOBITE on the Lyme Regis Wiki page finds no match and vice versa.

    Other than that it was a very good puzzle though I didn’t know DITTANY.

  7. Excellent puzzle. Full of little tricks and one I felt very pleased to finish without any assistance.

    A minor point for the real pedants which probably answers Jack’s comment. You’d be very unlikely to find a tribolite at Lyme Regis. The fossil areas are from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. The last trilobites died out finally in the great Permian extinction. (I should stress that I only discovered that after finishing!)

    By the way, happy birthday Peter. 50, eh? Ah yes, I remember 50…

  8. 12:38 here, which puts it on the easier side of average for me. I also wasted a bit of time looking for ST rather than RD in 1A, but once that was sorted it was a pretty smooth solve all the way.
  9. Fair point about the fossils – though you can find plenty of trilobites in the umpteen fossil shops.
  10. I found this very difficult indeed. Loads of really clever clueing (“by the roadside”, “two keys”, “sea water source”, “country”…) of the sort that I’m sure more experienced solvers will enjoy enormously. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it but to pick up on a comment from yesterday it doesn’t feel much like leisure activity!
    I gave up after 70 minutes with 24ac unsolved. I was fully expecting to kick myself on checking here but I don’t think I’d have got it in the time it takes for a trilobite to fossilise.
  11. Found this tough but finished in 75 minutes…still dont understand Acoustics see the rustics less the r but not the a and cos…
    happy birthday Peter!
  13. The comment was rather tongue-in-cheek – it works for me as a crossword clue!
  14. Gave up after who knows how long with no idea about TRILOBITE/ACOUSTICS/PLAYBOY; then came back ten minutes later and wrote them straight in. Must try that more often. Like Barry, came here to get the full explanation of CANASTA; I knew it was a game, I couldn’t see the construction. I’m never leaving a hidden word out of a blog again. Apart from those moments of madness, I enjoyed it immensely. COD to GIANT PANDA.

    And a happy birthday to you, Peter. It’s all downhill from here, but that should be good news to cross-country runner.

  15. While we’re doing pedantry, I always thought that the British are subjects but the Americans and the French are citizens. Am I mistaken?
    (It was the last one I put in, so I have to find some excuse!)
    John A
  16. Happy Birthday Peter!

    I must have been on the setter’s wavelength today because I found this one straightforward. I was helped by:

    – remembering DITTANY from a puzzle several months ago
    – playing CANASTA on Saturday night
    – having been to Lyme Regis and seen a huge triblobite in a monument on a clifftop
    – solving 1D by surmising it ended …ABILITY and then getting the UNFLAPP part

    ON YOUR BIKE brought Norman Tebbit to mind:

    “In the aftermath of urban riots (Handsworth riots and the Brixton riot) in the summer of 1981, Tebbit responded to a suggestion by a Young Conservative (Iain Picton) that rioting was the natural reaction to unemployment:

    “I grew up in the ’30s with an unemployed father. He didn’t riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking ’til he found it.”

    This exchange was the origin of the attribution to Tebbit of the slogan On yer bike!.”
    (source: Wikipedia)

    1. Sloppy work by someone at Wikipedia if they think Tebbit actually invented the phrase – here are earlier citations from the OED:

      1967 Listener 2 Mar. 299/3 Next time we’ll have on your bike and choc-ice and other new mintings. 1980 J. GARDNER Garden of Weapons II. xi. 219 ‘On your bike then, son,’ one of the policemen told him…He couldn’t take any pictures of that particular building. 1981 Times 4 Feb. 14/1 ‘On your bike, Khomeini’, the crowd shouted outside the Iranian Embassy during the siege.

    2. Peter is correct – the usage goes back a long way. To the days when men didn’t swear in front of women and many men went to work on a push bike. Today the more earthy phrases have completely replaced it.
    3. There’s a track on the Black Eg CD called “Get a Job” that is just a bunch of Norman Tebbit samples over a dance track. That is one of them. Can’t seem to find it online sadly, and my CD has long since gone for a walk.
  17. Nothing too difficult, I thought. As to the specialised knowledge about fossils, I knew Lyme Regis was at the opposite end of the rock stratum to Whitby, where I was brought up and where there is an abundance of ammonites.

    Harry Shipley

  18. A rare Peter-beater time of 12:49. So sorry to mar the big birthday celebrations in such a crass manner. I guess I hit the right wavelength early doors, Brian. No mistakes today either. Whoopy-doo.

    Only acidulates was unfamiliar but the wordplay was clear enough. Fun puzzle as others have said but I raised an eyebrow at “your” being in both clue and answer for 3d. COD to playboy for love in the layby (Gillian Taylforth anyone?)

  19. Can I just take this birthday opportunity to thank peter for the work he does to maintain this excellent blog. I have read it thoroughly (never missed a day) for a few years now, and (to pick up on something mentioned yesterday) whilst I would love to contribute more, timing prevents this, so I am sure there are hundreds of un-noticed participants over and above those who post.

    Not that it would ever happen, but if blogs and postings were embargoed until say 6pm UK time when the varied lifestyles (and abilities) were all in a position to comment, then perhaps there would be more activity. I must admit that it feels strange chirping up at eg 8pm when everyone has finished for the day, even though Peter nearly always has a friendly reply or comment in return.

    To be honest I dont know whether I would even favour the above idea over the current set up, (I know the antipodean crowd would not!) but it is a thought nonetheless.

    1. I am sometimes late to contribute but agree lovely blog, I often look at it twice to see the later comments and fun ripostes. Thank you PB! (my b’d yesterday)
    2. My impression from past experience is that the earlier we get a report up, the more comments we get – though I appreciate there may be a substantial group left with little opportunity to comment after the early birds. On the assumption that our main task is to inform, the earlier we do so the better.
  20. Like Peter, did this in the wee small hours, and thought I was slowish at 21″. My excuse is that I was preparing for an interview: it’s nice to see that Peter still gets excited about his birthday! Congratulations: I’m old enough to remember 50, just not with any great clarity.
    Most clues flowed well, but I got slowed down in the Lyme Regis area, not with TRILOBITE, but unaccountably with ACOUSTICS and SUBJECT MATTER.
    Enjoyed UNFLAP etc and CONVERT, which would have been my apposite clue of the day if vert meant yellow. Or orange. Or just Liberal Democrat.
    1. I thought the apposite clue of the day was 15 – albeit overtaken by events!
  21. Peter, please keep turning 50 and solving at 4:23 am while election coverage blasts in each ear, because this one took me 13 minutes over a salad at lunch (maybe it is brain food!).

    Originally had PILE at 23 down and liked it better than BOMB, but BOMB it had to be. Had lots of amusing part answers in – UNFLAPPABsomething, SPRING before MAIN, MATTER before SUBJECT (probably because of PILE). Quite a few from definition before wordplay this time – UNCOORDINATED, GIANT PANDA, PLAYBOY, nothing from wordplay alone (I have used ACIDULATE in conversation before).

    Many happies and don’t forget to solve at 5:12 tomorrow!

  22. A tougher outing for me, especially in the SW, where I was delayed considerably by the TRILOBITE/ACOUSTICS/PLAYBOY/BLOCKER/SUBJECT tangle. Whew. Probably around 45 minutes when I limped home, with BLOCKER the last to fall. I knew ‘con’ for ‘blue’ from doing these puzzles, but the Lyme Regis reference was no help, nor DITTANY, nor ON YOUR BIKE. On that last one, I also considered ‘pony’ as a saddle site. Our US lay-by’s are a ‘pull off’ or a ‘rest area/rest stop’, at least in my part of the country.

    And regards and congrats to PB on joining what seems like most of the rest of us at the half century. I’d stand you a pint if we weren’t separated by an ocean. And so, if we ever meet in person, please remember that I owe you one. Best wishes of the day to you, and regards to everyone else.

  23. I was surprised not to see some sub 10 minute times because it all seemed pretty straightforward and I did it in about half an hour which is quick for me. I have only just twigged the two keys in 17 across (B = musical key, locker = something you lock things with). I sympathise with anyone who wrote in CAPRI for 2 down at first without thinking, as I did. Did some fossil hunting near Lyme Regis last year and couldn’t find much except belemnites, which I hope to see in a future puzzle.
  24. Just back from day out without paper so happy to do this in 20 m – from the middle outwards, first in 10, 11 last in 15 and 20. Much enjoyed it, especially the 19 pair and the long edges, and an “aha” for acoustics.
  25. Maybe should be pointed out that though referred to as the Jurassic coast the jurassic bit is confined a part of the Isle of Purbeck. The geology is ‘slanted’ and the Dorset coast covers some 350 Million years of different layers.

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