27910 Thursday, 25 February 2021 I still remember money!

Author   ZabadakPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
This looks like a not-too-taxing puzzle, which I thought I was doing even better at than my time of 15.44 indicates. No real holdups along the way, although I only worked out the Chinese biscuity thing by writing out the crossing letters I had horizontally, which sometimes helps.
There are a plethora of containment clues, where you are required to put part B into part A: it felt to me that there were more than usual, but I might be mistaken.
It helps if you know one of the more bizarre incidents in British history, the original Gangsta Granny case, and it also helps (a bit) if you can actually remember who appears on which British banknotes. I sympathise with those of you who are more familiar with the faces on dollars or the bridges and such on Euros, but if it helps, I struggle with the British ones anyway and so rarely see them in our almost cashless, Covid influenced society.
Clues are italicied, definitions also underlined, and SOLUTIONS thusly.

Across

1 Jewel thief to hold his horses? (10)
BLOODSTOCK  The jewel thief is the spectacular “Colonel” Thomas BLOOD, the jewels he (almost) got away with being the actual Crown ones. Translate hold into STOCK to complete “pedigree horses collectively” (Chambers). I can find no indication that “his” is in the clue other than to smooth the flow.
6 Ferret food (4)
GRUB Two definitions, the first not the albino polecat, but the rummaging around after rabbits they are employed to do.
9 Figure label required on front of case, nothing on bags (7)
OCTAGON The order of the  various elements is a bit ambiguous. The label TAG is on (immediately following) the front of C(ase), and then O (nothing plus ON “bags”or embraces both.
10 A number of evergreens in dry surroundings, initially (2,5)
AT FIRST The number of evergreens is just plural FIRS. A (in plain sight) plus TT (TeeTotal) for dry surrounds both.
12 Ship finding wave on the rocks (3-7)
ICE-BREAKER Wave is BREAKER, to be attached to ICE standing in for rocks. “Whiskey on the rocks”: (other beverages are available).
13 Cricketer’s run, so long (3)
BYE two definitions, the first a run taken in cricket where the batsman has not hit the ball but nonetheless can get safely to the other end.
15 Charity sporting official concealing untruth (6)
RELIEF Another containment, this time untruth: LIE in sporting official REF
16 Working with DIY turns nasty (8)
INDUSTRY An anagram (nasty) of DIY TURNS. I lost time trying to work out where the W of with went. Ignore.
18 Cross, head delivering corporal punishment (8)
SPANKING First attempt had smacking, but it’s cross: SPAN plus head: KING
20 Witness defending African party, spirited gathering? (6)
SÉANCE Witness is SEE, which defends (another containment) the A(frican) N(ational) C(ongress) of Mandela and South Africa
23 Trouble: every other part falling off rapidly (3)
AIL The first of our alternate letter clues: rApIdLy
24 Legit, speaking down to chairman? (5,5)
ABOVE BOARD If you find yourself (somehow) above the board of directors, you would be in a position to talk down to the chairman.
26 Retired player, demanding type? (7)
EXACTOR Not a reversal clue as suggested by “retired”, but a more simple “this is an EX ACTOR, he has ceased to – um – act”.
27 Are discerning what to do with cheque (4,3)
MAKE OUT Two expressions for the same words. You might be required to make out a cheque to participate in the Championships, though that’s increasingly unlikely. “Daddy, what was a cheque?”
28 Expression of disapproval about a job (4)
TASK The expression of disapproval is TSK – not in my edition of Chambers, but it is in Bugs Bunny. Surround A with it. Hands up if, like me, you initially tried to justify TAUT.
29 Had second thoughts about grass skirts Jenny? (10)
REASSESSED Yet another containment. This time, grass: REED  surrounds (skirts) ASSESS, whimsically a female ass or donkey, which a Jenny also is.
Down
1 Loud noise as heart ripped from chest (4)
BOOM Perhaps suggesting Aztec sacrifices, but here it’s just take the middle out of BOSOM for chest.
2 Current, with temperature dropping a little, is a type of illusion (7)
OPTICAL Drop the T(emperature) of current: TOPICAL down a couple of spaces.
3 With British cornered, sort of Dark Ages on the way — shambles! (4,9)
DOG’S BREAKFAST So it’s an anagram (sort) of OF DARK AGES plus B(ritish), all perch on way: ST(reet)
4 Where Dickens and Darwin once for example found a voice to be heard (6)
TENNER Dickens was on sterling £10 notes from 1992, and evolved to Darwin from 2000. Jane Austen took over in 2017. The voice to be heard is, of course a tenor.
5 Lovely working out (8)
CRACKING What you’ve been doing to these clues. Some of them are indeed cracking.
7 Hot dish, uncooked part (7)
RAREBIT A charade of uncooked: RARE and part: BIT. Also known as (Welsh) rabbit, basically cheese on toast.
8 Thereby ant disturbed layer (7,3)
BATTERY HEN Clearly enough an anagram (disturbed) of THEREBY ANT.
11 A lot of dough to prepare — that is a little dough containing a lot? (7,6)
FORTUNE COOKIE A  lot of dough is a FORTUNE, prepare is COOK, and get the IE from “that is”. The definition itself is also a bit cryptic.
14 Urge a fellow to provide publicist (5,5)
PRESS AGENT Urge: PRESS and a fellow: A GENT
17 Where student might be going in the right direction (2,6)
ON COURSE Two ways to the same phrase
19 Too short to grip old king keen on enlightenment? (3,4)
ALL EARS Start with too to give ALSO, shorten it, then contain (grip) LEAR as the old king.
21 Imperial sovereign claiming victory, America anxious (7)
NERVOUS It’s a particular imperial sovereign, NERO, claiming (containing(!)) V(ictory) and adding US for America
22 Deity: the disorder she caused is endless (6)
HERMES The disorder she caused is HER MESS, which you shorten for the (male) messenger of the gods
25 Gripping thing, is it buddy, where every second counts? (4)
STUD Unusually, a second alternate letter clue; iS iT bUdDy. Well, we don’t have a “hidden”.

62 comments on “27910 Thursday, 25 February 2021 I still remember money!”

  1. A combination of very easy and very difficult clues, for me. In the end I had to look up bits to get BLOODSTOCK, which I didn’t fully understand until coming here. TENNER took me ages — I should just have looked at the homophone part and been done with it.
  2. Another non-UKer with the same difficulties, but bloodstock was guessable even with no idea why a blood was a thief (Bloods & Crips? A bit arcane for the Times.) That left a couple of Charlies on a 10 quid note, seeming eminently feasible. The ESS in reassessed stumped me, saw the reed and the ass for Jenny, then… ? Oops. Overall quite straightforward, liked this version of boom better than the one a few days ago, and liked 3dn, evokes Boj(snip… politics not allowed. Ed.).

    Edited at 2021-02-25 03:28 am (UTC)

    1. Guessable perhaps. But other things guessable too without knowledge! I thought about BLOOD and BROOD as being relevant, and STICK and STOCK. Before I had the C, STONE also was a possibility. For a long time I thought the answer would be ‘jewel’, and was looking for a synonym of ‘thief’ around a synonym of ‘horses’.
      1. That horrible feeling, when you don’t know the answer and you don’t know the wordplay reference. I probably should have clarified that I knew bloodstock as horses, but like you was looking for a jewel at first, and certainly not for a person’s name. But once I guessed it was horses I saw the stock/hold equivalency, so only half the wordplay was unknown.
  3. I found this tricky but got there in the end. I got BLOODSTOCK from the checkers but had no idea who the jewel thief was. I had BLOODSTONE for a time, which I guessed was a sort of jewel, although the wordplay still didn’t work. I also got tied up on REASSESSED. I still don’t quite see how Jenny (singular) gets to ASSES plural, nor where the final S comes from to get to ASSESS being clued as Jenny.
    1. I paused on this one, too, but came to the conclusion that Z gives, viz. that it’s a female ass, or ass-ess.
  4. I had no idea what was going on in 1ac, but finally inferred that there was a jewel thief named BLOOD. I looked up and still couldn’t make sense of the clue, but typed in the as it turned out to be right answer. I also had trouble making sense of 29ac, which I have yet to parse grammatically, although I came to the right parsing cryptically. Similar problem with 4d, but I made the correct monetary inference. Biffed DOG’S B, hoping that what appeared to be the anagrist was the anagrist.
  5. 34 minutes. Took a while to remember “Captain” BLOOD and needed the C-checker to avoid making the answer BLOODSTONE.

    TENNER was my LOI as I was convinced it was relevant that both people mentioned in the clue were Charlies.

    Other than the above it was all pretty smooth sailing.

  6. Have been struggling a bit recently with the QC so surprised to get my second ever sub-15 on the main crossword at 13.20!

    I’m usually around the 30 min mark so must have been on the wavelength today.

    NHO the jewel thief but know about horses!

  7. Using the new SNITCH page I was able to see this is my eighth best time, which is nice. I may have been a little quicker if I hadn’t hesitated over an unparsed BLOODSTOCK and a partially parsed REASSESSED — I’d seen the “ass” but couldn’t account for the “ess”.
    Anyone else have misgivings about “uncooked” for RARE? Chambers has “(of meat) underdone” and “(of eggs) lightly cooked (obsolete or dialect)”. Neither suggest uncooked to me.
      1. It’s accessible via the Neutrinos link at the top right. You’re there — I just checked out your page.
  8. from the setter today. Time 27 minutes GMT.

    FOI 1ac BLOODSTOCK Capn’Blood was Capn’Crunch! Bloodstock sales at Newmarket are an education.

    LOI 9dn ALL EARS – tell me about it!

    COD 4dn TENNER – ‘folding-like’ darn Peckham way. Commoners!

    WOD 3dn DOG’S BREAKFAST I never parsed it as it was a bit of a gimme!

    11dn FORTUNE COOKIES are not found in Mainland China – only in America and Gerrard Street.

    Edited at 2021-02-25 07:00 am (UTC)

  9. Thanks, Z, for BLOODSTOCK, OPTICAL, FORTUNE COOKIE and REASSESSED.
    I got the BLOOD bit but thought he was Captain Blood. That was someone else altogether.
    May I project a Nero-like thumbs down for ASS-ESS equalling a Jenny. It’s very clunky.
    FOI: GRUB LOI: BLOODSTOCK/TENNER
    COD: TENNER.
    I very rarely use cash these days and the last time I used a cheque was when we lived in France. We moved just over 3 years ago from there to NZ but back then cheques were still widely used, even in supermarkets.

    Edited at 2021-02-25 07:45 am (UTC)

    1. I also thought he was Captain Blood, from a remembered Boy’s Big Book of Adventures of my youth. I diligently checked with Wiki where “Colonel” was given, though as a false rank. He was a lieutenant in Cromwell’s army. His story is so fantastical, he may well have had almost any rank.
  10. 24 minutes with LOI and COD TENNER. Without my glasses, this last 20 years I haven’t been able to see whose mug is on the banknote, not that I’ve had reason even to touch one in the last year. I dredged up Captain Blood from the depths of memory, so liked BLOODSTOCK. I suppose lovely and CRACKING can be synonymous, but the latter somehow conveys more intensity, and it was only when I twigged the working out bit that I had the courage to put it in. A good puzzle. Thank you Z and setter.
  11. Alone and palely loitering?
    The sedge has withered from the lake,
    And no birds sing.

    After 20 mins pre-brekker I was left with Dickens and Darwin. Amazingly, I took a few more mins on that. I can’t remember the last time I was allowed to use cash.
    Thanks setter and Z.

  12. Was proud of my 13 minutes… less than 2 Jason’s. As for Verlaine’s 3 mins 49 seconds… I mean, what?? Must be on some sort of upper. Definitely calls for a urine test.
  13. A snooze half way through so no time – probably would have been between 45-50 minutes. I had no idea how BLOODSTOCK worked and had to take a not so risky punt on TENNER. Each to his/her own, but I liked ASSESS for ‘Jenny’ and ‘the disorder she caused is endless’ wordplay for HERMES.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  14. 08:40. Is it Monday? DNK the jewel thief, otherwise no difficulties. I liked the clue for TENNER. CRACKING stuff.
  15. 8:07. Brief but fun. If I ever knew about the jewel thief (I suspect I did) I had forgotten so 1ac went in on a bit of a wing and a prayer. As z8 notes the oeuvre of David Walliams is unfortunately more familiar to some of us these days.
  16. Knew Colonel Blood from Look and Learn, which went where cheques are going fifty years ago. Was HERMES a god?

    13′ 52″ thanks z and setter.

    2. Good grief, I had completely forgotten Look and Learn! I believe we took it from issue 1, and it’s possible that’s where my memory of Captain Blood was implanted.
  17. Straightforward today .. knew Col. (or Lt? Lt Col, maybe?) Blood, but not that effectively he got away with it. He sounds to have been quite the character.

    I thought of Deimos before Hermes, which also fits.. but won’t parse, of course

    Mention of battery hens brought to mind Battery Hen by the wonderful Pam ayres

  18. BLOODSTOCK gave me the most problems, as I didn’t know Thomas Blood or that pedigree horses can collectively be known as that. I originally put “press ahead” for 14d before realising that 28a had to be TASK and working out that it therefore had to be PRESS AGENT, and I didn’t understand the “assess” in REASSESSED, but it couldn’t have been anything else.

    FOI Bye
    LOI Bloodstock
    COD Hermes

  19. 30m today, no hold ups in a steady solve. Thanks for explaining 1ac, Z, as I had no idea about the blood bit, but biffed it from the checkers and horses. An enjoyable puzzle today, thank you, setter.
  20. …bunged in BLOODSTOCK with all the checkers though didn’t recall the jewel thief.

    Unfortunately had also bunged in SMACKING with a notion of going back to review, but I never did, so pink squares for me — rotten week so far!!

  21. A fun puzzle today. Went through smoothly until had only ALL EARS, TASK and 1a to do; eventually settled for TASK although like others was messing with A in TUT and not knowing TSK. With one to do, wrote in BLOODSTOCK without knowing why; I thought the Pink Panther was the jewel thief! Never heard of Cpt Blood.
  22. I started off with an OPTICAL ICE-BREAKER, then moved south with RELIEF and was ALL EARS to find out what TASK my PRESS AGENT was making a DOG’S BREAKFAST of. I thought about having RAREBIT for GRUB, but REASSESSED and decided that CRACKING the produce of a BATTERY HEN would be a SPANKING IDEA. I was now ON COURSE to MAKE OUT the STUD at 1a, which was the only way into the clue for me, as I’d forgotten about Thomas Blood, although blood diamonds influenced my thinking. I also considered DEIMOS at 22d but spotted HERMES(S) in time. Liked ASS-ESS. Fun puzzle. 25:53. Thanks setter and Z.
  23. Mostly very straightforward, other than brief waits for the penny to drop on the jewel thief (coincidentally, I was reading only yesterday about the still-missing Irish Crown Jewels) and the people on banknotes.

    Edited at 2021-02-25 10:49 am (UTC)

  24. Same as others with this. The only jewel thief I could think of was Raffles (I’d forgotten the Pink Panther). Then I got mixed up with Major Bloodknock from the Goons. I began to wonder if the setter had a train of thought with BLOODSTOCK and STUD so that the shambles in 3d would literally be some sort of knacker’s yard but it didn’t fit. DNK whose face other than the Queen or Jane Austen’s might be on the poor man’s credit card these days. Got sorted out at last and was glad to clock in at 15.52
    1. Gosh, Major Bloodnok. My dad was a huge fan of the Goon show, so despite being much too young to remember them, I listened to many of the taped broadcasts as a kid in the late 80’s. No more curried eggs for me!
    2. I had a bloodnok moment too. When I was at O I had a Canadian postgrad friend, I played him one of my Goon Show LPs (I think it was the batter pudding episode) and he was stony faced, could see nothing funny in it at all. But he was polite, as Canadians are.
      1. My husband, who used to laugh at the 3 Stooges, had the same reaction to the Goons as your Canadian friend, but it can’t just be the esoteric British humour because he loved Monty Python.
  25. Nice and easy till it wasn’t. Stuck on BLOODSTOCK, where I couldn’t get past BLOODSTONE which was wrong, TENNER where I was off by a mile and HERMES which took an age for the penny to drop.
    Also spent ages trying to justify SMACKING before another penny fell.
  26. 36:37 today. A good one. FOI GRUB which started me of from that corner. Liked ASSESS for Jenny. Put BLOODSTOCK in just because of the horses, and TENNER just because of the tenor. LOI ABOVE BOARD — I just couldn’t see it. COD FORTUNE COOKIE
  27. Happy with 14 mins for this. The jewel thief was unknown and I think ASSESS for a female ass is decidedly iffy, though there doesn’t seem to be any alternative parsing.
  28. I’m a little surprised about the adverse reaction re Jenny = ASS-ESS in the clue at 29ac. It’s not the definition of the answer, just part of the wordplay and intended humorously, hence the question mark. Puzzles would be deadly dull if everything had to be 100% literal the whole time.

    Edited at 2021-02-25 01:01 pm (UTC)

  29. Good time for me today — probably top 10 solves.

    Same as everyone else on 1ac. TENNER was my LOI — a note floating to the ground rather than a dropping penny perhaps

    Reference an earlier comment about RARE my late Father-in-Law always had a ready answer when asked how he liked his steaks. “Cooked” (He wasn’t keen on too much of the red stuff 🙂)

    Thanks all

  31. 12.55 with FOI Optical and LOI Make Out. Everything well clued and a nice mix of subject matter. Bloodstock took a while but partly due to a fixation with bloodstone which never looked right for obvious reasons.

    Liked tenner and Hermes which was my COD.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

  32. LOI was the unparsed BLOODSTOCK, after guessing that the two Charlies would be on a banknote. I’ve come to this site to ‘Look and Learn’, and have had dim memories of Colonel Blood and the childrens’ magazine reawakened by reading the comments above. Liked Jenny’s ass.
    21’59”
  33. Straightforward enough. I was another Bloodstone who had for a while.
    I suppose someone has to be the Icebreaker at a Seance.

  34. Straightforward. Knew the jewel thief but did not get to him till late as I started with GRUB and thence went in a generally clockwise direction. My LOI was TENNER.
  36. These are either getting easier, or I have finally got the hang of it (I suspect the former). That makes four solves in a row, whereas I was lucky to finish one in ten a few months back. No doubt Friday’s will restore normality. As for the puzzle itself, All Ears was a welcome pdm, after a Taut diversion, as was Fortune Cookie after far too long staring at F*r*u*e. Col Blood was married at Winwick Church, not 5miles from where I live – as was Capt Smith of RMS Titanic. Invariant
  37. ….while trying to parse “smacking”, and trying to fit a female deity into my LOI before the penny dropped.

    FOI GRUB
    LOI HERMES
    COD TENNER
    TIME 7:52

  38. I seem to be on a roll.

    13:42 – with TENNER being my LOI and also a CRACKING clue – at least for Brits who remember what cash looks like.

  39. FOI octagon, LOI tenner. Hopped about the grid getting quite a few on the first pass – a lot more than the three that mean it will be too much like hard work to carry on. Good to do it on line with word checking, I thought the ship was some kind of steamer but the word check put me right on that. Check, not reveal. I use reveal in the last, last resort, and didn’t need it for this. I did, however, need disinterested husband for a tenner. Didn’t parse bloodstock but guessed it from the clueing. COD battery hen, but lots of other candidates. Really enjoyed the puzzle, and finishing, as a team. A split time for me as I had three goes at this. Thanks blogger and setter. GW.
  40. A late entry today after an amazing day’s cricket followed by the statutory walk. Reasonably easy puzzle apart from bloodstock and reassessed. Had no idea how either worked other than that the former had something to do with horses and the latter had grass round the outside.
    Perhaps commenting has sharpened my game because this is the first time I can remember ever having solved all four puzzles correctly by Thursday. Tomorrow the pressure will be on.
    Had forgotten about Look and Learn but loved it as a kid.

    Edited at 2021-02-25 05:23 pm (UTC)

  41. I nearly broke the Ten Minute Barrier but I was held up by Make out, Hermes and what proved to be necessary checking.
  42. Quick run through the first half, then almost ground to a halt. Loved HERMES and LOI TENNER after 53 mins. Never heard of the Colonel but understood the Stock bit and the rest fitted. DNK Jenny was a donkey. Wasn’t sure about King for Head ?

    Edited at 2021-02-25 07:42 pm (UTC)

  44. 26.27. I really struggled with this and didn’t much enjoy it if I’m being honest. Never got into the groove with it. A too literal approach to parsing meant I was foxed by his in 1ac, was looking for a specific number not a plural in 10ac, couldn’t make sense of make out, bewildered by the ass-ess, didn’t even try to work out dog’s breakfast, fortune cookie and all ears took ages to arrive and I kept trying to shoehorn Tethys into Hermes, so to speak.

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