27610 Thursday, 12 March 2020 You remind me of the babe

Author   ZabadakPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I thought at first this was going to be tough, not getting 1 across straight away and treating the following clues with rather more suspicion than they warranted. Once I got going, though, I realised it was rather more straightforward, and completed in a little over 20 minutes, a good five minutes beyond the current average. There’s rather a lot of lopping off first or last letters to contend with, and by my count only two anagrams.
On a whim, I entered the middle column into Google, and got a Google Whack, the glory of such a discovery somewhat migrated by the fact that neither word is real, and the result is quite clearly a misprint. So no NINA, then
My workings, should you need them, are presented with clues, definitions and SOLUTIONS. Enjoy.
Across
1 Greatly enjoy describing driver well ahead of the competition? (3,2)
LAP UP More of a double definition than anything else, the second the putative case of, say, Lewis Hamilton having a dream race
4 Flower child initially wrapped in flannel (9)
BUTTERCUP In even my lexicon of flora. The first letter (initially) of Child within BUTTER UP, flannel here in the sense of flatter
9 Boy imprisoned by those people, say, makes regular complaint (5,4)
THEME SONG The wordplay is those people: THEM, say: EG, boy: SON inserted. I am indebted to Chambers for “a person’s characteristic, often repeated, complaint, etc” for confirmation that it is a thing beyond being “Suicide is painless” or “Stick a pony in me pocket”.
10 Unimaginative slogan of beer-minded Prohibitionist left unfinished (5)
BANAL One with an obsession about the negative effects of one of mankind’s greatest creations might want to BAN ALE. Lop the end off.
11 French are blocking the present item in argument (6)
THESIS I think the definition is just “argument”, leaving “the present article” to account for THIS, and the French art (2nd person singular present tense of the verb to be) providing the ES you need to insert
12 Much of hole is concealed by skill shown by tree expert (8)
ARBORIST Much of hole: BOR(e), IS both inserted into skill: ART
14 Year in party elected to take on most of the complex situation (9)
LABYRINTH The party is LAB(our), and if you can imagine it, being elected it is IN. Insert Y(ea)R and append TH(e) (most of)
16 Song line recalled rumour about island (5)
LYRIC Line gives you L, rumour recalled gives you YRC, and I(sland) fills the missing letter. Chambers comes up with cry….report or rumour, but I’m not sure I’d use it
17 Difficulties with English in school vacation (5)
HOLES School vacations being HOLS and English submitting its E
19 Material in small opening in marine growth (9)
CORPOREAL My last in, convinced I was looking for some sort of fabric. However, small hole is PORE and marine growth is the easy CORAL
21 Knight considering ignoring first sound from horse? (8)
NEIGHING (other horse sounds may be available especially from Mr Ed). In chess, the Knight is N so as not to confuse it with the King. Considering is WEIGHING, ignore the W
22 Amount of work in uniform adopted by soldiers (6)
CORPUS The body of work by an author and such. NATO’s Uniform absorbed by CORPS, your soldiers here.
25 Scout missing special river creature (5)
OTTER A scout, especially perhaps one seeing where artillery shells fall, is a SPOTTER. It’s missing SP(ecial)
26 Lively blackbird without tail seen around religious court (9)
MERCURIAL  MERLE may not be everyone’s version of blackbird, but it’s the one you’re looking for, minus its tail. The religious court is CURIA “the court of the Papal See”
27 Neat and chic, with varying length in a strict sense (9)
TECHNICAL Varying is your anagram indicator, to be applied to NEAT and CHIC. Finish with L(ength)
28 Fact corporation presented to US lawyer (5)
DATUM I trust everyone knows the American lawyer is a District Attorney. Corporation=stomach=TUM
Down
1 Rented one incredible resort to relax (3,2,3,4,3)
LET IT ALL HANG OUT You’ve got rented: LET, one: I, incredible: TALL, resort HANGOUT, Squish together and respace
2 A bit open, but not ultimately ajar (5)
PIECE Open is a verb here: being PIERCE “ultimately ajar” is just R, to be removed
3 Leader concerned with source of money provided in support (7)
PREMIER Concerned with: RE, source of money: M, support: PIER. Assemble
4 Gift sees expression of disapproval over note (4)
BOON Here the note is not random musical, just N. Expression of disapproval: BOO!
5 Rows around galleon’s bow to listen for giant fish (5,5)
TIGER SHARK Rows: TIERS, Galleon’s bow: G, listen: HARK. Squish together and respace
6 Involve the writer in upset over British fuel (7)
EMBROIL The writer is ME, to be “upset” and served with BR(itish) fuel OIL
7 Concentrated amount of work accepted by one European hotel employee (9)
CONCIERGE: A hall porter might well work in a hotel. I didn’t think about it at the tie, but CONC comes from concentrated, as seen on acid bottles in Stinks. One is once again I, amount of work ERG, European just the E
8 Aspiration of refugees capitalism foully mistreated, dispatching force (9,6)
POLITICAL ASYLUM An anagram (mistreated) of CAPITALISM FOULLY minus the F(orce)
13 A French funny man, keeping working, making no money (10)
UNECONOMIC A in French, blatantly ignoring the assumed gender, is UNE, the funny man a COMIC, and working is ON. Assemble.
15 Is enthralled by bullet movement, describing projectiles (9)
BALLISTIC Bullet here is BALL, as Richard Sharpe would recognise, is is IS, and (involuntary) movement is TIC. Assemble.
18 Surprised comments picked up and published regarding desert (7)
SAHARAN I guess you can have more than one AHA as your surprised comments, so reverse them and add RAN for published
20 Pompous nonsense suppressed by institute, not the first (7)
OROTUND Nonsense is ROT, and the rest to surround it is FOUND for institute (the verb) minus its first letter
23 Justification in blocking prize money (5)
POINT And your point is? Prize money is POT, and IN in plain sight is inserted
24 Ethical to deduct marks in exam (4)
ORAL Ethical is MORAL, lop off the M(arks)

52 comments on “27610 Thursday, 12 March 2020 You remind me of the babe”

  1. Pretty straightforward, although I biffed 1d, discovering only after submission that it wasn’t some kind of anagram. Also biffed BANAL, LABYRINTH, and SAHARAN. I wondered about CRY, but it had to be LYRIC so I didn’t wonder long. Liked 8d.
  2. A nice steady solve, and then I got stuck for a bit at the end with MERCURIAL. Once I’d seen that it MARSUPIAL would fit, I just couldn’t see anything else. It didn’t help that I’d nho MERLE, but it couldn’t be anything else once I’d finally thought of MERCURIAL. I was another person who wondered about CRY but it had to be so I just moved on. I’ve never heard anyone use the word in the sense of reporting a rumor.
      1. Exactly. CRY WOLF is not the same as CRY. You wouldn’t use SEE to mean stunned just because of SEE STARS.
        1. You stated:-
          ‘I’ve never heard anyone use the word in the SENSE of reporting a rumor.’

          Cry wolf – uses that sense – though not the literal.

          Chambers has ‘cry’ – to report a rumour – sorry!

          Edited at 2020-03-12 08:35 pm (UTC)

  3. about sums it up. Never got going, even after 1dn LET IT ALL HANG OUT came quickly.

    Time 42 minutes.

    FOI 24dn ORAL

    LOI 20dn OROTUND

    COD 4ac BUTTERCUP

    WOD 16ac MERCURIAL

  4. Another distracted at 26(my LOI) by MARSUPIAL and unable to think beyond it although it clearly wasn’t going to be the correct answer.

    NHO conc. for ‘concentrated’ and missed the parsing of BALLISTIC. Still not entirely convinced by the definition at 9ac although as explained by z8 it rings the faintest of bells – but the wordplay was helpful so I didn’t waste time over it.

    1. Did you never come across bottles labelled Conc HCl, H2SO4 and HNO3 in the chemistry lab?
      1. It’s nearly 60 years since I set foot in a chemistry laboratory! I wan’t suggesting that conc was invalid or unfair, only that I never heard of it. All sorts of specialist abbreviations are in use but generally speaking there are those that appear in crossword puzzles and those that don’t, and I don’t recall this one turning up before. I’m happy to add it to my mental list in the hope that I shall remember it next time
        1. … and nearly 50 for me, but I still shudder at the memory of having to use a glass pippet to suck up a cyanide salt with the A + B antidote ready on the desk in case we overshot the mark! Needless to say I opted for physics.
  5. I had a similar experience to Z, starting slowly but then picking up once I had a few in. However, I got completely bogged down in the SE corner. With CORPOREAL I was convinced I was looking for either a type of material or a marine growth and not an adjective. When the penny finally dropped OROTUND and LOI CORPUS quickly followed.
  6. Enjoyed BUTTERCUP. I prefer several of the alternative clues for CONCIERGE proffered by the ST readers.
    1. Quite agree Sawbill. Penfold had a good one. Wild rice beginning to germinate in Form one behind desk.
  7. 25 mins pre-brekker with many a ? scribbled alongside and then, mostly, grudgingly scratched out.
    Remaining MERs were: rumour=cry and the dangling ‘A’ at the start of 2dn. ‘A bit’ is ‘A piece’.
    Also ‘in upset’ at 6dn doesn’t feel right.
    Thanks setter and Z, great blog.

    Edited at 2020-03-12 08:22 am (UTC)

      2. Angus, there’s a Glossary under “links” towards the top RHS of the page. The answer to this and many other questions can be found therein.
        1. Ah, delightful, thanks all! I will look out for opportunities to raise my eyebrows.

          Edited at 2020-03-12 02:12 pm (UTC)

      3. Minor eyebrow raise. There’s an excellent list of abbreviations in the “Glossary” link, at the top right corner of this webpage under “Links”.
        1. So 45 minutes later.. no replies… and in the 3 or so minutes it takes to write one two other people beat me to it. That’s the way it goes.
  8. 22 minutes, all parsed, so on wavelength today. LOI was PIECE. I can hear the phrase, “It’s his THEME SONG” about someone’s usual complaint. though it seems to mean more than that. We have moved a centimetre against a one dyne force rather a lot recently, but I always did prefer cgs to SI. My COD was BANAL, a clue that belied its name. Nice puzzle. Thank you Z and setter.
  9. Took a while to get going and had a slow SE corner, but solid progress otherwise.

    NHO: complaint as a meaning of THEME SONG
    COD: 21ac NEIGHING, heh.
    LOI: MERCURIAL, kept wanting it to be MARSUPIAL for some reason. Is there a word for the phenomenon where your mind keeps going to something you know to be wrong?

    Answer from yesterday – the only US state with no letters in common with its capital is South Dakota, whose capital is Pierre (pronounced ‘peer’, apparently). Inspired by Lincoln, Nebraska.

    Today’s question inspired by an answer: what is the ninth largest object in the solar system after the sun, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus and Mars?

    Edited at 2020-03-12 09:05 am (UTC)

    2. Choices are: Mercury, the moon, a moon (of maybe Jupiter or Saturn), Pluto, an asteroid or Donald Trump’s stupidity. I’d go for the last option.
      1. It’s Ganymede (I confess I looked this up). A related intriguing question is what’s the closest planet to Earth?
        1. Guessed Venus, then looked it up, and… it is intriguing. Venus is the planet that gets closest to Earth, but at any particular time Mercury, Venus or Mars might be closest depending on where they and we are in our orbits round the sun. Mercury spends the most time as closest planet… pick a date at random and Mercury has the highest probability of being closest planet to earth on that date. I’d never even considered that.
          1. Indeed, I guess the real answer to the question is ‘it depends’ but on average it’s Mercury.
  10. 13:09. A couple of oddities, cry for song and theme song for a regular complaint led me to put a ? on my copy, but didn’t put me off as I biffed a few and then went back to parse after I finished. LOI MERCURIAL. I liked PIECE best, being reminded of the old riddle “When is a door not a door?”.
  11. A bad day for me today with 1 error in both the QC and the 15×15. I should’ve thought more about our tree expert, but merrily followed the wordplay and shoved in ARHOLIST(missing out the SE). I also wasted time trying to justify MARSUPIAL. Otherwise 26:32, WOE. Thanks setter and Z.
  12. You know you’ve been spending too much of your life on these things when…..(fill in as appropriate). In this case I was trying for “pontiff” in 3d on the theory that “provided” in a clue always calls for “if” in the answer. I’m sure I’ve seen “rumour” used to mean “outcry” (Shakespeare probably) but I agree it’s a bit out of left field. Needed to get my Y and my I in the right order in LABYRINTH but no other hold-ups. 12.24 P.S. I spent a few seconds at the end looking for the submit button which had inexplicably dodged down to the bottom of the page when it’s usually in the top right hand corner.
    1. I’m intrigued. We had chrysalis (I think?) a week or two ago and I struggled to spell it correctly. It was a down clue, and I always find it harder to spot spelling errors in down clues than across clues. Is that a general feeling, or just me? Labyrinth being across I had no problems.
  13. ….the THEME SONG from “The ARBORIST” ?

    Three clues parsed after completion, otherwise a pleasant enough stroll.

    FOI LAP UP
    LOI CORPUS
    COD MERCURIAL
    TIME 9:04

  14. Yes, what does MER mean? I have been wanting to k now for some time, but too embarrassed to ask.
    Richard
  15. I just found the reference to the Glossary, so now know where to look in future.
    R
  16. 14:29 but I had a lot of QMs against clues where I didn’t fully understand things, so thanks to Z for the unravellage.
  17. 8:17. Another quite easy one: it’s been an easy week so far. I wonder if we’re in for a stinker tomorrow.
    This definition of CRY is a perfect example of why I think setters should be cautious about relying on Chambers alone. It doesn’t really matter here though: the answer is obvious and it’s not too much of a stretch to guess that this usage might exist.
  18. Held up for far too long by CORPOREAL, MERCURIAL and CORPUS but otherwise pretty straightforward. Certainly a lot better than yesterday, which I found pretty brutal, even having seen it once before. Always assumed OROTUND was just an old-fashioned version of “rotund” so I’m happy to have been put right.
  19. An odd solving experience. Foi was UNECONOMIC followed by Political Asylum. They opened the puzzle up.
    The clue for CONCIERGE was very like the clue I submitted to the Clue Writing competition ( ERG in the middle etc). In fact we have seen a lot of concierges recently . I wonder what the collective is – a diorama of concierges?
    I got MERCURIAL after Marsupial occurred to me- like others.
    Five or six held me up at the end but my last two were THESIS and PIECE.
    An enjoyable hour or so. David
  21. A gentle 20 minutes, once we were off with 1d, 6d and 8d, no hold ups. A MER at HOLES for difficulties, but can live with it. So orotund doesn’t mean round and rotund then.
  22. Enjoyed this puzzle a lot. Enough challenge and some lovely wordplay. Particularly liked labyrinth, corpus and corporeal. Mercurial a bit of a guess, hadn’t come across merle before. That probably explains why that was LOI just after realising 23 dn was point rather than pinot. Well it was getting to yardarm time.

    22.07

  23. There seemed to be a pattern to this with a lot of knocking letters off words to make other words. Setter seems to like this in particular. Held up by putting in CARRAGEEN, which actually helped with TIGER SHARK and CONCIERGE, but the lack of an N in the 8d anagram put paid to that. DNK THEME SONG with that meaning, OROTUND, CURIA but otherwise quite manageable.
    LOI MERCURIAL for which as above I could only see MARSUPIAL.
  24. 28:05. A bit of a ponderous solve on my part. I wasted time dithering over thesis, struggling to see corpus and piece, trying to see past marsupial for mercurial (didn’t know the blackbird but had heard of curia) and discarding the idea that 15dn involved an anagram of bullet. I couldn’t quite get 27ac to work either, the ‘with’ seemed to get in the way of the instruction to anagram. My first thought on seeing merle at 26ac was Oberon, then on seeing otter just before it in 25ac I thought of Merlene Ottey, queen of Jamaican sprinters (though apparently in later years she represented Slovenia), now I’m just feeling Haggard.
  25. A very late contribution! I did this mid-afternoon in about an hour. A slow but steady solve. I didn’t expect anyone to be around at this late hour and wasn’t going to post but noticed Jack has just been online, so at least one person is still up! Of course the early birds will be settling down to the next one shortly.

    I liked mercurial a lot – I remembered that merle is French for blackbird. Banal also made me smile.

    FOI Lap up
    LOI Corpus
    COD Buttercup

    Thanks setter and Z8 – goodnight all!

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