++++++++++++++++++++++++++27574 Thursday, 30 January 2020 Daydream believer

Author   ZabadakPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
A small confession: my solving is currently spasmodic, and when I clicked on the crossword as the clock ticked over into Thursday, Wednesday’s grid occupied my solving attention until I submitted and found myself in an impossible 78th place.. A very fine crossword outclassing today’s still impressive, if somewhat easier version. I rolled this over in 16 minutes or so, with enough to enjoy along the way particularly some cutesy definitions. The perhaps less well known sage at 2d you’ll recognise if you mentally put Maha (“great”) in front of it.
I present my dissections with clues in italics, definitions also underlined, and solutions THUS though with different letters, duh.

Across

1 Detectives attending fight where vehicles broken (9)
SCRAPYARD Place (Scotland) YARD detectives in the immediate vicinity of a fight renamed as a SCRAP
6 Son opening unwanted mail in sudden attack (5)
SPASM Lovely SPAM, wonderful SPAM? Well no, obviously, because no-one wants it, but you won’t be able to resist the tune. Insert a S(on).
9 The Spanish sovereign defeated contender (5)
LOSER I wasted time with EL and REY, but it’s LOS and our own beloved sovereign ER
10 Part I for instance (9)
CHARACTER Playing the role of a part in a play. The sans serif font used for our clues doesn’t disclose whether it’s a number or a letter, but I prefer the letter I Anyway I is also a character
11 One sliding in card from most valued suit: hearts win (7)
TRIUMPH Not spades, then but a card in whatever suit has been declared TRUMPs slide in a I (one or I again) and add H(earts)
12 Pseudo intellectual’s beginning to reform incestuous king (7)
OEDIPUS An anagram (“to reform”) of PSEUDO and I(ntellectual) for Sophocles’ most famous and complex creation
13 Guide with current deals to include southern archipelago (7,7
CHANNEL ISLANDS Well they are a group of islands, so an archipelago, though I don’t think I’ve ever heard them so described. Anyway, CHANNEL for guide and then I think you have I for current (see 3d yesterday) LANDS to mean deals (though I think that’s a bit of a stretch) and an included S(outhern)
17 Daydream, perhaps, as France is divided (14)
DEPARTMENTALLY One of those whimsical, sideslip definitions introduces the more prosaic one. If you daydream, you could say you  DEPART MENTALLY, but probably wouldn’t, hence the “perhaps”. Caesar had a different take on France’s structure: “Gallia in tres partes divisa est” but you can’t make it fit
21 Local vessel that’s managed single-handedly? (7)
TANKARD Local because it’s in a pub. Just a cryptic definition, then.
23 Official exploited having had appeal turned down (7)
REFUSED The official is the B’stard in the black, the REF plus exploited: USED
25 Depression caused where shattering blow follows blow (5,4)
PUNCH BOWL A specific depression in Surrey rather than a generic feature. An anagram (“shattered”) of BLOW follows another word for blow, PUNCH
26 Roman censor to suppress new division in poem (5)
CANTO I mean, there must be other Roman Censors byut it’s usually CATO. “Suppress” N(ew)
27 One who’s stopped lying about knight from the east (5)
RISER A reverse (from the east)  of about: RE and knight: SIR
28 Command corrupt peers’ exit (9)
EXPERTISE “Corrupt” is as plain an anagram indicator as you could wish, apply to PEERS’ EXIT.  Perhaps not the meaning of command you were expecting
Down
1 Fish, holding shortened rod in biannual event (8)
SOLSTICE A shortened rod is a STICk the fish is a SOLE. Assemble
2 King is greeting seer or sage (5)
RISHI Trust the cryptic, or learn Sanskrit. King: R, is: IS )(obviously) and greeting: HI
3 Obsession that keeps one going to matches? (9)
PYROMANIA More cryptic definition.
4 Everyone catching salmon in the drink (7)
ALCOHOL The Pacific salmon or COHO turns up occasionally on these shores). ALL for everyone “catches” it
5 Inhale smoke from small flame-throwers? (7)
DRAGONS A whimsical definition derived from DRAG ON  for inhale smoke from plus S(mall)
6 Glass shattered in vertiginous building? (5)
SHARD a piece of broken glass and the building next door to the Times London office and venue for the champs
7 Not liking river, boy rising on opposite side (9)
ANTIPODAL  I can’t imagine why anyone would describe themselves as ANTI PO, but they would be not liking that particular river. LAD for boy “rising” completes our grid emtry
8 Bad-tempered beast devouring ram’s head (6)
MOROSE The beast is a MOOSE, the ram’s head R
14 Figures under a pound in extensive range (9)
APENNINES Nines are figures, A PEN the same as a pound
15 Answer terrific that’s muddled mechanic (9)
ARTIFICER Another generously signposted anagram, “MUDDLED”. Apply to TERRIFIC plus A(nswer)
16 Characteristic events on radio offended Vatican (8)
SYNDROME If heard on the radio, offended: sinned sounds like SYND, add in the Vatican’s ROME
18 This ultimately destined to leap, when developed (7)
TADPOLE A tricksy &lit, with destineD and TO LEAP being developed
19 Attention and fuss that protects listeners (7)
EARFLAP Attention: EAR and fuss: FLAP
20 Accommodates, as it were, men in drunken state? (6)
STUPOR Accommodated might be the same as PUTS up, and puts “up” gives you the stup bit. Men as so oten, are O(ther) R(anks)
22 Hate Sailor Short’s guts (5)
ABHOR Sailor is AB, the guts of Shorts is/are the HOR
24 Pharaohs in Aida retaining Egyptian land (5)
SINAI Today’s hidden, in pharaoS IN AIda

58 comments on “++++++++++++++++++++++++++27574 Thursday, 30 January 2020 Daydream believer”

  1. I had SHARD (what else?), but I’d never heard of the building. LIkewise, the definition for PUNCH BOWL; near as I could figure, there’s a kind of “depression” glass that’s typical of these vessels… ha. Thanks!

    Edited at 2020-01-30 03:36 am (UTC)

    1. You would know it if you visited Times HQ – it’s right next door.

      Edited at 2020-01-30 08:16 am (UTC)

  2. I was happy to finish this in under 25 minutes, fully parsed. DNK RISHI but, as our blogger suggests, we can trust the cryptic.

    I did wonder whether Ninas were intended. The one at 3d is good advice for our current Australian summer. And did someone offend the setter (on the day of the Crossword Championships perhaps) to result in the one beginning at 21a. Of course, it could be my over-active imagination…

    Thanks, Z, for the usual high-standard blog. And I’m glad that you got to complete yesterday’s fine offering.

  3. I, too, had SHARD, but only after wasting a minute or two trawling the alphabet to see if there was something to explain the vertiginous building. There wasn’t. I wasted more time over 1d, because I thought that biannual was the same as biennial (I would say semi-annual rather than bi-, but the setter didn’t ask me what I’d say). Misspelled APENNINES at first, corrected by DEPARTMENTALLY, which I only understood post-submission. The only PUNCHBOWL I know is in Honolulu; an extinct volcano now a cemetery.
  4. is one of the most recognisable buildings in London. I guess it is time for our American friends to give London a visit and brush-up on their architecture and CRS.

    FOI 6ac SPASM not a building in London!

    LOI 16dn SYNDROME ugh!

    COD 18ac TADPOLE

    WOD 7dn ANTIPODAL – Shanghai is antipodal to Los Charrúas, Argentina

    Time 27 minutes.

    1. Maybe Ms. Chow could update the skyline at the top of this page; although I imagine the Shard wouldn’t fit.
      1. Good point! I see the NatWest Tower (as was) and The Gherkin, but no sign of The Shard, or the Walkie Talkie either …
      2. Don’t even think of it! The last time Peter changed the image it took months (iirc) to reinstate it. I forget now why he changed it and what to – something topical at the time, I expect – but I was very pleased to see the old one back.
    2. Prior to the Corona man delivering to Wuhan, Mrs BW and I had booked a May holiday in China, starting in Shanghai, followed by a cruise on the Yangtze starting at Wuhan itself, then the Terracotta Army and finally Beijing. The cruise company, Viking, are giving nothing out as to the chances of it still happening. Have you any inside track, H?
      1. That’s a tough one – it just depends on how quickly this all clears up. I would be reasonably optimistic as the Corona man notes that once the temp. gets up to 25C this virus becomes a gonner. Pray for an Aprilia Scorchio – no not the car! I have not as yet seen a Viking in Shangers!

        Wuhan has a Bund and is where Mao had swimming lessons. ‘Er indoors’ old fellah was a Terracotta Warrior. That bit alone is worth the ticket. I was wed in Xi’an in 1998 it is terrific- great food – generally the worst food in China is sadly found in Shanghai.

        The good news for you is that I won’t be in Shanghai in May but in Germany and UK with gigs in Berlin, Hamburg, London, Oxford, Cambridge and Leighton Buzzard.

        Edited at 2020-01-30 09:47 am (UTC)

          1. Jack, I note you were born in Shanghai. If that is correct you might find that once the barricades go up, you may have a bit more paper work to attend to!

            1. I think you may have misread an earlier posting, H. It was my father who was raised in Shanghai having been born in Russia as was (chased out in one of the revolutions). I’m a Stanmorite and the furthest I’ve travelled from my roots is 34 miles up the A5!
              1. A White Russian? Stanmore gateway to Milton Keynes. I have to own up to the fact that I do have some Chinese blood in me, but my twin brother in LB does not! Strange but true.
                1. Eh? How can you have different ancestors than your twin? Or are you punning on having been in Shanghai hospital for surgery and had a trasnfusion?
                  One of my four bears was Chinese – Malaysian Chinese from Penang married to a Scotsman local administrator. We figured out our generation is 1/128 Chinese ancestry.
        2. On this evening’s news several major Japanese travel agencies have cancelled their various China tours.
    3. Thanks for the update on corona yesterday Horryd – coming soon to a Chinatown near the rest of us pretty soon I imagine. In fact it’s probably already on Canal Street downtown. No run on surgical masks as yet here. Hope you get back to normal soon.
  5. Quite a few things here went in with a shrug, CHANNEL ISLANDS as ‘archipelago’ for one, although having now looked them up on Wiki I note it’s the first word used to describe the grouping. One tends to think only of the 7 inhabited ones whereas there are at least 20 islands in all.

    Is there a typo at 14dn, z? I don’t understand the second bit although I get the parsing.

    I don’t often do a COD but it really liked 18dn

    Edited at 2020-01-30 06:36 am (UTC)

    1. Indeed, not one typo but a rather impressive four which I have now corrected to make sense. It was getting late….!
  6. Up a bit early as my wife had to go to London. Managed this in 18’12” after a very slow start.

    Really liked STUPOR, very clever. A smile at DEPARTMENTALLY too. Didn’t parse TANKARD as didn’t picture it mentally.

    Thanks z and setter.

  7. I’ve been doing quite well recently on avoiding stupid errors but I was back to my old ways today with an inexplicable EARCLIP. I’ve never heard of such a thing and it didn’t parse but two alphabet trawls only suggested that or EARSLIP to me. Doh!

    1. If I’d made such a mistake with my homework my Dad would’ve given me a clip round the ear.
      1. I wish someone would clip me round the ear when I make these aberrations. Though I’d probably just end up with a very sore ear.
  8. I’m reading William Gibson’s Agency at the moment, where even more Shard-like buildings have been added to London’s skyline, so 6d was a doddle. Even if you’ve not heard of the EU’s tallest building (for the moment), you might recognise it when you see it, as I think it’s been mandatory for every television programme and film set in London to feature a lingering shot of the thing in the opening scene since it was slung up…

    Anyway. The crossword, yes: at last something I could manage in less than an hour! 28 minutes, in fact, with 1a SCRAPYARD starting me off and 16d’s SYNDROME to finish. Along the way I enjoyed 17a DEPARTMENTALLY and 20d STUPOR and didn’t really get hung up anywhere for too long. Not hard, but fun, I thought.

  9. The top half took me 6 minutes. Enjoyed this. STUPOR, TADPOLE, TANKARD and DEPARTMENTALLY were clever. Thanks all.
  10. 27 minutes with LOI TANKARD. I didn’t know the COHO but it had to be ALCOHOL. RISHI was also constructed. I always think that the SHARD would have looked better if they’d finished it off at the top. Like others, I’ve never heard the CHANNEL ISLANDS described as an ARCHIPELAGO, but I guess so. Or is it a SARKy description? COD to DEPARTMENTALLY by a short head from PYROMANIA, two puns to brighten up the start to another day. Thank you Z and setter.

    Edited at 2020-01-30 09:17 am (UTC)

  11. 16:10. Rather fun, I thought. PUNCH BOWL familiar from a crossword not to be mentioned yet. Spelt APENNINES wrong to start with but otherwise no real difficulties, despite not knowing RISHI or COHO. I liked DRAGONS, STUPOR and TADPOLE.
  12. A good way to recover from yesterday and I finished in 41 minutes. I do like an &lit and TADPOLE was a good one, with other favourites being the ‘puts up’ trick for 20d and the ‘Daydream perhaps’ wordplay for 17a.

    Thanks for The Monkees reminder. Fifty-two years young this year.

  13. I started with RISHI, the Maha rising into my consciousness automatically, and then carried on without too much delay. SHARD was an early entry although SPASM took much longer to jerk into view, despite SPAM being on the menu from the start. Liked PYROMANIA and DEPARTMENTALLY. DRAGONS raised a chuckle. Nice puzzle. 23:14. Thanks setter and Z.
  14. “Oh it’s TANKARD that helps me excel, after one I do anything well !” This was the tagline to a series of 1970’s TV commercials for Whitbread’s flagship beer at the time. It was usually served under pressure and was pretty awful, but I did once have it served from the wood on the Isle of Wight and it was really good.

    Apart from carelessly entering “antipodes”, which was quickly altered when I saw DEPARTMENTALLY, I had little difficulty. An enjoyable puzzle.

    FOI SPASM
    LOI TRIUMPH
    COD STUPOR, also liked PYROMANIA
    TIME 10:38

  15. Nothing which delayed me much, but perfectly enjoyable. Only real hold-up involved attempting, and obviously failing, to justify RABBI.
  16. LOI SOLSTICE couldn’t remember if biannual was twice a year or every other year, so had to wait for all the help. Otherwise straightforward although took me a bit to remember COHO. RISHI easy as I did TM in my youth, unfortunately never learned how to fly…
    Yes COD DRAGONS
  17. Ditto Tim with “rabbi” and I sketched in “antipathy” at7d but couldn’t make it work obviously. And I’m another one getting biennial and biannual confused. We had a real PYROMANIAc at my prep school – she set fire to the art room there and then went on to Benenden where she tried something similar and was removed. I didn’t like her anyway. 14.33
  18. 12:13. A steady solve, helped by knowing words like COHO and RISHI from crosswords past. I liked TADPOLE too, but it’s a semi-&Lit rather than the full-fat variety: the word ‘this’ plays no part in the wordplay.
  19. 7m 59s with LOSER the LOI, as for some reason I couldn’t parse its fairly simple breakdown.

    COD DEPARTMENTALLY.

    Confusion of the day… how does ‘deals’ mean ‘lands’?

  20. Reckon deals or lands (a blow). A good spot that one I thought.

    Very enjoyable. I was mullered yesterday as others, so mucho happy.

    Edited at 2020-01-30 01:15 pm (UTC)

  21. I thought I was going well, the across clues falling like ninepins. Then came the downs and I came to a fullstop! Thing is, it could have all been so much better if I hadn’t (over)confidently put in a misspelled Marshal(l)Islands at 13ac. So the NW was impossible until the Kerching! of a PDM gave me Pyromania and rather than setting fire to my paper I pressed on with now corrected archipelago.

    FOI Scrapyard
    LOI Rishi
    COD Departmentally

    (I mean Marshal could mean to steer, couldn’t it?).

  22. 13:12 with a bit of trouble at the end in the Latin quarter with SYNDROME and CANTO.

    For the former I got fixated with “on radio offended” leading to a homophone for dissed, and of course DYSD….would have been a possible letter combo (for the moment let’s just ignore the fact that no words begin that way). It was only when I worked on the Vatican end of the clue that the penny dropped.

    As for Canto, I never know who any of those stupid old Romans are. Cato, Cinna, Cassius, Cicero… the list of the blighters whose precise role I have absolutely no idea about is endless.

    1. Robert Harris’s Cicero trilogy: Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator are well worth a read for an entertaining account of the key figures and political skulduggery at the heart of the Roman Republic. They never do explain why Cato was always attacking Inspector Clouseau though….
  23. A pleasant workout. I particularly liked the whimsy of the wordplay in DEPARTMENTALLY and STUPOR. Good fun.
  24. The Channel Islands “archipelago” brings to mind the Minquiers – three (I think) unoccupied sandbanks which were the subject of an Anglo-French dispute in 1950 and also feature in Don’t Tell Alfred by Nancy Mitford.
    1. You reminded me. The crowd of kids were all screaming Yankee Fonzee (their teen idol) and the grown-ups thought they were yelling Minquiers Francais!
    2. They’re rocks, within moving sandbanks. Or rather one large rock surface with some nasty risers, most of which only just stand proud at high tide. A few stand higher and resemble the Farne Islands
  26. I rarely get to comment here as I usually attack the 15×15 with my bedtime cocoa. However, at a lose end this afternoon so got going early. Much to enjoy in this offering and nothing to scare the horses either. Completed bang on target time of 25’.

    The 16th hole at St Austell Golf Club in Cornwall has been called The Punchbowl for over 100 years. The green sits over a capped tin mine shaft and forms a deep bowl shape. At barely 100 yards long, it is just a flick with a wedge, hit the green and the ball always feeds to the hole side. I believe it holds the record for the most holes-in-one.

    For those not familiar with the Shard, it stands 1017 feet tall and is the tallest building in Western Europe. There are viewing decks on the 69th and 71st floors for which they charge an eye-watering £30 for the privilege. An alternative use for your hard-earned cash can be found in the cocktail bar of the Shangri La hotel on the 52nd floor – the view is just as good!

  27. Maybe 25 minutes, ending with DRAGONS which I theorized earlier, but couldn’t fully parse until everything else was done. DEAPRTMENTALLY and STUPOR drew smiles from me too. Cute. Regards.
  28. My time on this verged on the geological, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I enjoyed DEPARTMENTALLY, and was grateful for the clarity of RISHI’s clue. TADPOLE reminded me of Barry Crier’s definition on ISIHAC – “Slightly Eastern European”.
  29. Several biffs such as CHANNEL ISLANDS (guide = channel?), TRIUMPH (didn’t think of TRUMP), ALCOHOL (never heard of the fish), STUPOR (thought the first part was a bit flimsy) and ARTIFICER (never heard that word as an alternative for mechanic).
  30. Feeling relaxed after golf today I managed to finish this in under 45 minutes,maybe under 30 minutes as I took a break to watch the end of the antiques programme with Richard Coles.
    LOI was TANKARD. FOI SINAI.
    As it happens I have just been investigating the costs of going up The Shard. The cocktail bar in the hotel sounds a good alternative.
    David
  31. 52:46. Oh dear, I was way off the pace. Just one of those days I suppose. Kept making silly errors that cost me in the long run. I had antipodes not antipodal and Apennines with two Ps and one N, I refused to put in tankard because I couldn’t see how the wordplay worked, missed the perhaps in 17ac and kept trying to think of a fancy scientific name for daydreaming like somnambulism or something. Here’s hoping for better luck tomorrow.
    1. Nothing wrong with that- it took me 50m. I rarely manage to finish them at all. 30 mins is my target which I very occasionally achieve. I think 20 mins is my record. I don’t know how people are managing 6 and 7, it takes me longer than that to read the clues and fill in the grid!
  32. 25 mins. Particularly liked TADPOLE and STUPOR. Interesting to see the comments from the end of Jan regarding COVID 19 , which is now , of course, a pandemic . Horryd’s plans for May must have been dashed, and I hope Olivia remains safe in the Empire State.

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