27730 Thursday, 30 July 2020 …is brought to you today by the letter J and the number 8

Author   ZabadakPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
A rather entertaining number which kept me scrabbling around for almost 26 minutes and sent me hunting more often than usual for the J key. In the end, there are only (only!) 5 in the grid, but it feels like more. You will see in my commentary that I credit Yoda with assistance in compiling the clues, there being quite a few with the “around A B you must place” sort of structure, which cunningly adds confusion around the business of what goes in where.
I imagine the two “foreign” place-names in the grid will be more familiar than the Scottish one; for the latter you may have to just trust the wordplay, as some of us will need to do for the satirist.
At least one of our number will be peeved that there’s yet another avian in the mix and no astronomy, though there is a bit of Star Trek pseudo astronomy in the lower reaches of the grid, from the movie When Jean Luc Met James Tiberius.
My ramblings are located below, accessed by pressing the Just Here button. Clues are in italics, definitions underlined as well, and solutions in BOLD CAPITALS

[Just Here]

ACROSS
1 Not right when there’s sauce for Cockney to go after sandwiches (6)
UNJUST One of those clues where some imaginary extra grammar can help. So: there’s SAUCE that GOes AFTER (for Cockney) sandwiches. Go after for the legendary Cockney would be ‘UNT, and that sandwiches JUS as a kind of sauce. Hello to J1
4 Flyer found in grate, next to something black (8)
NIGHTJAR I had J2, so naturally something black had to be JET. Wrong, It’s NIGHT, and grate is a verb, JAR
10 Offer made by barman in dramshop eagerly? (4,1,4)
LIKE A SHOT The first definition is whimsical, and our laconic barman ignores conventions by omitting “would you”
11 Disappointing outcome that must hold little girl back (2,3)
NO JOY The innocent and missable THAT translates to YON, the little girl is the random JO, inserted and the whole reversed. J3
12 Traveller left in vessel — set out early (7)
PREPLAN Set out as in map out rather than start out. Traveller is REP, left is L, put them both into (cooking) vessel PAN
13 National symbol, not that large, wrapped in note (7)
THISTLE I do like this. Split “not that large” into two: not that is THIS, Large is (also)L, which is “wrapped” in random sol-fa note TE
14 Method of counting back only partially useful at court (5)
OCTAL A reverse (back) hidden (only partially) in usefuL AT Court. Counting in base 8, but you knew that
15 Be specific about sabbatical? (5,3)
SPELL OUT A sabbatical is time away from your normal work, so (a) spell out
18 World of Don, Adam, Erica, somehow not close to sister (8)
ACADEMIA An anagram (somehow) of ADAM and ERICA, without the last letter of sisteR
20 City jobs bank has periodically cut (5)
OSAKA Cut every other letter in jObS bAnK hAs
23 Old satirist, easily bribed, going to jail briefly (7)
JUVENAL Solvers will be divided between those who see “old satirist” and biff the answer, and those who have to rely on the cryptic and crossers. Easily bribed is VENAL, and it’s attached to an incomplete (briefly) JUg for jail. J4
25 Feel being outside on vacation usually means stay at campsite (3,4)
GUY ROPE Another bit of Yoda grammar: GROPE for feel, is outside UsuallY when it’s been vacated.
26 Rock group backed number selected to play new recording? (5)
REMIX  The popular music combo is R.E.M, and the number selected (to play in a team) is 11, in Latin XI but here backed to become IX. Assuming a baseball team would shorten the clue.
27 Schedule one can track after time (9)
ITINERARY One: I, can: TIN, track R(ailwa)Y, time: ERA. Rearrange slightly
28 American can celebrate with an encore (4,4)
SING SING Naughty: a different can for the definition. Celebrate is SING, with its own encore. Sing Sing is the fifth prison built by New York State and opened in 1826, and still functions as a maximum security prison. Possibly the only one in the world with a railway running through it.
29 British actor recalled ladies inside hotel, not outside (6)
O’TOOLE Peter of that family, who I once saw in a magnificently over the top performance as M***** in The Scottish Play in Bristol. Wordplay: ladies is LOO which is “recalled” and set inside HOTEL with its outside (letters) missing. Crosswords don’t care tuppence for apostrophes.
DOWN
1 Heading north, go round quite posh Scottish town (8)
ULLAPOOL Go round is LOOP, quite (here entirely) posh is ALL U, the whole lot reversed as indicated by “heading north”. Despite being rather small, with 1500 inhabitants, Ullapool counts as a town because there’s nothing bigger for miles around
2 Very full of cracks, is jet ok to fly? (7)
JOKIEST A kind anagram (to fly) of IS JET OK. J5 has already been counted as J1
3 Racing employee across lake, go direct (6,3)
STABLE LAD Go is STAB, direct is LEAD, and they “go across” (crossword speak for round) L(ake)
5 Too keen on profit, barristers generally admitted (4,3,7)
INTO THE BARGAIN A definition so short you could miss it. Keen on gives INTO, profit is GAIN into which pair THE BAR, barristers in general, is admitted
6 Capital hotel: what every pop star wants? (5)
HANOI  H(otel) plus what every pop star wants, A NO. 1
7 Jack and I getting sticks out as shield, united in selfdefence (7)
JUJITSU Jack is just J (as in the card), I is I, sticks out is JUTS which “shields” them both and the U comes from United
8 For which very long-term use results ultimately in wear and tear, say (6)
RHYMES The first six words’ lasts letters (ultimately) spell out our answer, which wear and tear exemplify.
9 Cheers a tallish monk in, wildly (6,1,7)
THANKS A MILLION Another anagram (wildly), of A TALLISH MONK IN
16 Trots out to lunch? (5,4)
LOONY LEFT A pejorative term coined by the more conservative sections of politics and the British Press to vilify socialists and the Labour party. Most of the stories were pure invention, not that that would happen today, dear me no. Our clue is just a cryptic definition
17 Work your English electrical engineer secures after a month (4,4)
JANE EYRE Be alert to that sneaky definition, a (literary) work. Yet another J (I’ve lost count, sorry). And another example of Yoda grammar: Y(ou)R is “secured” by E(nglish) E(lectrical) E(ngineer), the lot jotted down after JAN for out random month.
19 Climbing holiday at end of term for ancient art master? (7)
CAVEMAN Once I gave up on the idea of going through my list of Pre Raph artist, and settled on someone who, if he was an artist, was definitely ancient, I took NAME for “term” and put VAC for holiday on its end and then reversed both (climbing)
21 Eggs sent up: not exactly party food (7)
AVOCADO Eggs are OVA, which is reversed (sent up) followed by no exactly: CA (circa) and party: DO
22 Judge comes across cases familiar to Scandinavians? (6)
FJORDS Yet more Yoda grammar. Comes across is FORDS, which “cases” J(udge). Pined for by the Norwegian Blue
24 Link we’re to follow? There’s no time (5)
NEXUS If we’re to follow, it’s NEXT US. Drop the T(ime)

73 comments on “27730 Thursday, 30 July 2020 …is brought to you today by the letter J and the number 8”

  1. Things did not start off well, with a fruitless pass through the acrosses, my FOI being 2d. Things picked up, albeit slowly, and I biffed a number–STABLE LAD, JUJITSU, JANE EYRE–that I only parsed post-submission. Also biffed ULLAPOOL–don’t know how I knew that place–and JUVENAL, but saw how they worked once I’d typed them in. Like Z, I tried first to think of an artist, beginning with C yet; the V finally led me in the right direction. Never did figure out NO JOY (I remember when I first heard the expression: a London policeman telling me what to do after I’d had my handbag snatched), thinking JOY was the girl. COD to SING SING. on edit: Is ‘means’ part of the definition of GUY ROPE? he asked, expecting the answer ‘No’.

    Edited at 2020-07-30 05:33 am (UTC)

    1. I did actually ponder this for a while: on the surface of the clue “usually means” flows together very smoothly, but the wordplay stops at “usually”. “Means” is either just a filler, or part of the definition: (it) means stay at campsite. Given the interesting grammar employed by this setter, I think it can go either way.
      To cover the ambiguity, I have invented the dotted underline.
    1. Well, what do we call those things that have a strap to go around the wrist?
    2. Well, I’ve got one in manly stressed leather. Currently contains my hearing aid box, a bottle opener/corkscrew, a multi-purpose tool, my covid 19 neoprene mask in case I get caught without my trendy Spurs one, my hand gel, some bits of change (principally for supermarket trolleys), a set of keys that aren’t my car/house ones, and a (broken) sample radiator knob in case I ever find a shop that sells them. Every manly man should have something similar.
      1. I remember someone telling me he knew he was a real man when he acquired his own radiator bleed key. Needless to say, I have two

        Edited at 2020-07-30 08:52 am (UTC)

  3. Pleasantly stumped maybe 60-70% of the way through this one. Thanks to Zabadak for giving me a few hints to help me finish. I like puzzles that remind me I still have much to learn.
  4. My first longer-than-half-hour solve this week, at 41 minutes, but I’m perfectly happy to have had my streak broken by this one. Hard to get started and to finish, and middling difficult in between, it was very entertaining along the way.

    FOI 10a LIKE A SHOT, LOI 8d RHYMES, when I finally took the fact that there seemed to be too many words in the clue as the hint I needed. Enjoyed the missable definition at 5d, the No. 1 desire at 6d and the stay at 25a’s campsite, among others.

    I think I last saw Peter O’Toole in the BBC’s Casanova, playing the older version of the eponymous hero, where it was lucky for David Tenant that he was playing the younger version so never shared any scenes, because he’d have had them all stolen…

  5. 43 minutes. I was getting NO JOY and about to lose my religion about two thirds of the way through, but then I limped home on second wind. LOI FJORDS. I actually found ULLAPOOL the easiest of the place names once I had the U. I sat in the next box to Peter O’TOOLE at Lord’s once. Where else would a hell raiser spend his time? He was with his young son and very pleasant, clearly knowing his cricket. COD to REMIX. Quite hard today, but I had all the knowledge if not always the intelligence. Thank you Z and setter.
  6. 25 mins to leave the (for me) ungettable four in the SW.
    Excellent crossword. Some very neat stuff, especially ‘stay at campsite’.
    Kicking myself about Juvenal but ‘venal’ and ‘jug’ were too well hidden. I thought the unfinished jail would be at the end.
    Thanks setter and Z.
  7. A good time for me, I usually take much longer on these tricky ones. Eight answers with Js in is surely unusual.

    COD: INTO THE BARGAIN – subtle definition of ‘too’ and good surface.

    Yesterday’s answer: psi is contained in epsilon and upsilon.

    Today’s question: what is another name for the nightjar, after a folk tale from where its Latin name caprimulgus comes?

    1. Tom Brady, perhaps, to fool bird (10)

      Thank-you for one thing… was trying to think of an old satirist who also wrote Gulliver’s Travels, but couldn’t. Looked up nightjar and found it was a swift.

      1. Your entry has been forwarded to the Karl Jung Institute for Synchronicity!
    2. New Order to get a US rock singer (10)

      Edited at 2020-07-30 08:31 am (UTC)

  8. A minute over an hour for this one having started very well and completed all of the RH side without difficulty.

    The LH side with a few exceptions such as 1ac and 9dn proved to be more problematic and things might have been very different if I’d been able to think of the Scottish town beginning with U much earlier in the proceedings. That task wasn’t made any easier by having biffed TAKE A SHOT at 10ac.

    In the SW quarter I didn’t know JUVENAL, nor NEXUS as anything other than the brand of my very first tablet computer.

    I’ve always thought of PO’T as Irish, which I see he was by descent (not surprising with that surname of course) and there seems to be some doubt about whether he was born in Leeds or in Connemara – not that place of birth determines nationality anyway, but he may have had claims to dual nationality. I suspect he was Irish when it suited him.

  9. Might have to forgive the bird today, as it was a thoroughly fine crossword. Many great clues, of which my favourite was GUY ROPE. “To the setter be thanks”, as Yoda might have said.
    1. I’ve no idea what the other name for Nightjar is but which Elton John/Bernie Taupin song has the line:
      “While a cluster of nightjars sang some songs out of tune”?
  12. 21’45”, thought it’d be longer. SW LOsI. jack’s already made the point about O’Toole, confused me for a bit. PREPLAN is a non-word, like pre-order. I have been to ULLAPOOL, it really is tiny.

    Thanks z and setter.

    1. People often complain about pre-order but it has a precise and quite useful meaning. I’m not sure that pre-plan does though.
  13. …but I needed help with FJORDS, JANE EYRE and GUY ROPE.
    In 25ac I thought our setter might be being clever with “campsite” so I put GAY but then couldn’t come up with anything other than PORN!.
    With 17d, I thought the month might be MARch so I was working on MARY something-or-other for ages.
  14. Lovely crossword, much harder than recent days according to the ever-reliable Snitch. There is a sweet spot around 120 – 140 snitch that I like, and this is currently 128.
    Been to Ullapool, nice (small) town, a write-in once the U appeared.
  15. Ran out of patience looking for fjords, my loi, and gave up 🙁 So obvious.
  16. 18:22. I spent nearly half that time on 22dn FJORDS, which for some reason I just could not see. When I finally saw it I kicked myself hard, but it’s some consolation that if I had given up (which I very nearly did) I’d have kicked myself a lot harder.
    I had PREPLOT for a while, which seemed a perfectly good answer so it’s fortunate that 9dn THANKS A MILLION wasn’t a difficult clue.

    Edited at 2020-07-30 10:13 am (UTC)

  17. Well that was bloody marvelous wasn’t it? I’m prepared to forgive the setter for the odd bit of looseness given the clever wordplay on offer. Too many good clues to pick a favourite.
  18. ULLAPOOL took ages, and I carelessly put in JUVENIL so it’s NO JOY for me.

    ‘Ancient art master?’ for CAVEMAN was fun.

  19. Pining for the fjords of Ullapool. Helped by “plenty” O’Toole appearing in a recent TLS puzzle. Good fun, thanks setter.
  20. 29.06. Tough one for me . Missed out on fjords . That SW corner was my last piece to finish, caveman, remix and nexus taking a while. My wrong answer to fjords fortunately didn’t affect the outcome. I’m not going to embarrass myself by declaring what my wrong answer was.

    Good puzzle and thanks blogger.

    1. BJORNS? That was my first response, which lasted longer than I care to think.
      2. Never even considered that, but it’s one of the Times’ annoying habits, random non-English names: Sian, Ian, Ewen(?), Evan, Otto, Rene, Jean, etc. etc. English names are just as bad. BTW I think Jo above is not a name but a foreign word… Scotch for girl.
        Harumph.
        Not Mr. Grumpy
        1. Louisa May Alcott might just disagree, or at least advance the cause of the second March girl.
          1. jo (sic, uncapitalised) is in Chambers, but not in serious dictionaries, as “A beloved one”, and it’s appeared before as girlfriend or similar.
            But the clue mentions little girl, rather than girl, so almost certainly I was wrong. Oh well, sorry.
            But…
            In my list of particularly annoying names I forgot Dai. And why not American names? As someone who sometimes watches US sport, why aren’t these names included:
            Marshawn
            Zadarius
            De’Andre
            Kyler
            Venus
            Serena
            Brandi
            LeBron
            Kobe
            Rashard
            Rashod
            Donta
            Lavonte
            D’cota
            Jayvon
            Tayvon
            etc.etc.

            Sorry about that.

            1. I mentioned recently that I have become addicted to playing Scrabble on-line and one of the useful things I have learnt (considering the value of J if placed on a triple letter square is 30 points) is that both ‘jo’ and ‘joe’ are ‘Acceptable Scrabble Words’. It’s based on its being used as a generic name for the male of the species, like ‘guy’ which I don’t think anyone would question without a capital G.
      3. Quite tempting since BOURN might conceivably have an alternative spelling (BORN) and a verb form relating to crossing a boundary. I’m glad I didn’t think of it!
  21. A cracker of a puzzle, where I was only held up by the previously mentioned “jetlag”.

    FOI PREPLAN
    LOI FJORDS
    COD LOONY LEFT
    TIME 13:22


  22. Juvenal was a write-in for me – I studied a couple of his Satires for A Level Latin back in the mists of time. Some of the ones we didn’t study were quite explicit and further research in the City library revealed that the Loeb translation actually omitted a few lines here and there concerning activities which, even today, would raise an eyebrow or two.

    DNF with a couple missing in about 35 mins.

    Thank you to setter and blogger.

    Dvae.

  23. Held up by 2 false answers. TAKE A SHOT prevented ULLAPOOL from appearing, and the combination of something black and flyer had me convinced that there was a JET involved somewhere, especially as there was a J in it. However -I-H-JET didn’t work, so it wasn’t till the RHYMES was revealed that it became clear. All that took rather a long time at the end…
  24. Really enjoyed this, crawled to only 2 remaining clues 4a and 8d after 40 minutes and 2 coffees. Problem was I was convinced 4a MUST end in JET for something black and was searching for a grate (plane)JET for my flier. Stupidly refusing to reconsider, so 8d was impossible.
    The rest was excellent stuff. Hard to pick out a top clue, so many goodies. Thank you Mr Setter.
    Really only 5 Js? Felt like more.
    1. I actually entered “jet” before realising what the bird was, and then finally cracking 8D.
  25. For a while I didn’t think I was going to. SING SING is in Ossining NY and Z is quite right, the Metro North trains go right through it. Years ago the saying was that the convicts who were sent there were being sent “up the river” (Hudson). It’s rather heart-wrenching to see the small families with young children get off at that station to go and visit. 25.49
  27. 36:52. Bit of a disjointed solve picking at scraps here and there but lots of enjoyable puzzling and careful teasing out of answers. ‘Sauce for cockney to go after sandwiches’ is such a clever construction, and that was only 1ac. The ‘not that large’ bit of thistle was another highlight. As was ‘stay at campsite’. Great stuff.
  28. I must be improving as my mistakes are getting better. Had TAKE A SHOT and … JET;also realised that this was going to be tough to finish so came here.
    Also studied Juvenal at A level; at last that knowledge has been useful.
    David
  29. First thought at 8d was RUBBER (overuse would wear through and tear paper), so typo check before submission didn’t spot that I’d not put that last R right. About 45 min.
  30. JOKIEST was my FOI and I made steady progress until I guessed that 4a would end with JET after entering JUJITSU. That made NIGHTJAR one of my later entries when I finally decoded RHYMES. JANE EYRE had to wait for O’TOOLE. FJORDS didn’t hold me up for long, once JUVENAL went in, but the whole thing was rendered null and void by my misremembered LOOPY LEFT. Drat! 34:55 WOE. Thanks setter and Z.
  31. Much to learn still have I.

    Revealed FJORDS after 54 mins, which allowed me to fill in JUVENAL, REMIX and NEXUS.

    Reading the blog made me realise how much I had biffed, and much subtlety of cluing from the setter, so thanks for the enlightenment Z!

  32. Done in bits with considerable enjoyment; took a probably unmentionable time in all. Reminded of the lovely ‘John Anderson my jo, John…’. Loved the misdirection in nightjar clue. Grand puzzle altogether.
  34. 42:32. I spent over half that time on my last half dozen clues, finding the SW corner impenetrable at first. I had to look up the satirist, but even when I saw it, took ages to parse it. Eventually REMIX dawned on me and the rest followed. LOI FJORD. And I was doing so well as my target 20 minutes came and went. Oh well. At least I persevered and finished! And I actually enjoyed many of the clues. COD to AVOCADO.
  35. That was wonderful. But I fell at the last fence since I didn’t see FJORDS and put in BJORNS. It didn’t quite work but it nearly did. But what a wonderful workout.
  36. I’m a bit slow, how does rhymes ?rimes come to mean wear and tear, say
    Richard
  38. Hardest ever for us, taking 77mins. Refused to give up, and finally limped home without aids. LOI FJORDS, after weighing up the merits of BJORN and BJORG and rejecting both. Happy to post another clear round.

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