27982 Thursday, 20 May 2021 A robin…has very little time to rest.

Author   ZabadakPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Time was when you could be interested in everything, and develop your interests in whichever direction took your fancy. Our chemist today was one such. These days, we are inclined to be more narrow, specialised, and resent being expected to know science and arts and theology and French and birds and words from the mustier corners of the dictionary. Our setters (including today’s) rightly say “st*ff that for a game of soldiers” and whack in any words that take their fancy, especially if they fit a tricky space. This one took me just short of 20 minutes of concentrated effort, properly sorting out the clues either to confirm the solution guessed at, or to arrive at an unfamiliar word or chemist. I liked this well, smiled at several clues for their sly wit, and liked the insertion of  a couple of jabs at the very contemporary theme of – um – jabs.
Clues, definitions, SOLUTIONS plus strivings after truth.

Across

1 Weary judge heartlessly put on (5)
JADED J is conventionally short for judge, then put on is ADdED, without its heart.
4 Lift on the other side, with bishops aboard, stalled (6,3)
FOBBED OFF Leave DOFF for lift (one’s cap) until you’ve got the other side, FOE with two B(ishops) aboard.
9 Singular pong surrounding gardens out of place (9)
SKEWWHIFF  Authorities are split on whether it’s hyphenated: I think it looks slightly odd without. Anyway, it’s S(ingular) WHIFF for pong, outside KEW Gardens, world famous plant collection in SW London, claiming the “largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world”. 
10 Two actors both oddly refused a drink (5)
COCOA Clever. Take one aCtOr and “refuse” the odd letters. Then take another aCtOr and do the same, then add A.
11 Worthless comrade shot (6)
PALTRY Easy. PAL comrade, TRY shot.
12 Constant choler aroused involving mass burial site (8)
CROMLECH Constant gives C, an anagram (aroused) of CHOLER and M(ass) to be “involved”. Either a single dolmen as shown, or a stone circle like Stonehenge, which may or may not be a burial site.
14 Be taken in by bear (3,2,4)
PUT UP WITH Two definitions, the first referring to having a place to stay.
16 Looking for a queen’s wrapping paper (5)
AFTER As in in search of. A plus ER (long may she reign) wrapping the FT, Financial Times newspaper
17 Force left behind that is protecting politician (5)
IMPEL So, that is, IE protects MP the politician, with L(eft) behind
19 Limit those inside coach (9)
CONSTRAIN Those inside are CON(vict)S and coach is TRAIN. Technically that has to be the verbal form, as in my book a single coach is not a train.
21 Most unusual small carriage — it’s for madame (8)
SCARCEST S(mall) CAR for carriage, plus C’EST, which for any French Madame is their version of it’s.
22 Surplus from old church stores cleared out (6)
EXCESS EX for old, CE for church (of England)  and StoreS with their contents cleared out, which in my experience churches should often and rigorously, but don’t.
25 Pull out most of pages (5)
LEAVE Most of pages is LEAVEs
26 I clean out boils to protect against infection (9)
INOCULATE Curiously not the word we have used to describe the jab we’re all supposed to be receiving (I’ve had my two Phizers) to render us Covid proof. To concoct your dose, be sure to boil (anagram) I CLEAN OUT. Careful attention to the anagram fodder prevents infection with either too many Ns or Cs.
27 Desires profits by close of day (9)
YEARNINGS Place profits, in this case EARNINGS, by the close of daY. Smooth.
28 Conspicuous success of retro cape in story (5)
ÉCLAT Place C(ape) into TALE for story, and reverse (retro) the lot. Chambers: “a striking effect; showy splendour; distinction; applause” from the Old French for break, shine.
Down
1 Chemist treated others’ epilepsy, following Jenner’s lead (6,9)
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY Phenomenal polymath, discoverer of oxygen (possibly) and creator of fizzy drinks. Check him out on Wiki. Anagram (treated) of OTHERS’ EPILEPSY after the lead in Jenner (which, if you haven’t noticed, is J). Jenner and Priestley overlapped in time, but as far as I can see had no connection.
2 Live carefully, supporting daughter (5)
DWELL Search you thesaurus to find a meaning of carefully that gives WELL, and write it in supporting D(aughter)
3 Moisture finally dried with sprinkling of powder (7)
DEWDROP The last letter of drieD with an anagram (sprinkled) of POWDER. Redolent of talc and bottoms.
4 Pretty good rides to be had here (4)
FAIR Two indications, which together may or may not be true.
5 Be a frequent contributor to rally previously? (10)
BEFOREHAND BE plus FOREHAND, a frequent action in a rally in tennis. Took me ages to see how simple this was.
6 Carbon-capturing plan one set up brings accolades (7)
ENCOMIA Today’s not-terribly-familiar word.  Take AIM for plan, add ONE for – um – one, “capture” C(arbon) and reverse (set up) the lot.
7 Crate bound by stripped narrow raised band (9)
ORCHESTRA A possibly original clue, at least not involving a carthorse, in which CHEST for crate is “bound” in nARROw with its ends stripped off and reversed/raised.
8 Ensure personal comforts by settling down? (7,4,4)
FEATHER ONE’S NEST What birds do when they “settle” down on their bits of twine and twig, tee-hee.
13 Press introducing American backed no 1 sewing aid (10)
PINCUSHION Press is PINCH, insert US for American, add NO I reversed (backed).
15 Better articles penned by graduate for boss (3,6)
TOP BANANA That’s better as in TOP that, plus articles AN and – um – AN within BA fro graduate.
18 Lessons to be had from this large city bird? (7)
LECTERN From which the scripture lesson is read in Church, or in a lecture theatre etc. L(arge) EC for city (of London, its postal code) and the bird is TERN.
20 Writing certain to lose initial consistency (7)
TEXTURE Writing is TEXT, certain is sURE from which the initial is lost.
23 Message I put in flimsy cover returned (5)
EMAIL Flimsy is a lame excuse for LAME, which is reversed (returned) and has I inserted
24 Virtually hopeless wit (4)
NOUS Well, it’s almost NO USe.

65 comments on “27982 Thursday, 20 May 2021 A robin…has very little time to rest.”

  1. the Slowcoach Brigade will not enjoy this – due to heavy traffic at the CROMLECH – ENCOMIA itersection. I shot through the speed-cameras and was right on the wavelength, as is often said hereabouts. Fine!

    FOI 1ac JADED

    LOI 16ac AFTER

    COD 13dn PINCUSHION – I note one can purchase a Donald Trump sewing accessory, from ‘Pincushion Politics’! The Top Banana is needled anywayz, apparently!

    WOD SKEWWHIFF Double-U, double-U! Double-F!

    Friday looms!

    Edited at 2021-05-20 01:50 am (UTC)

  2. Breezed through most of this, and was pleased to see Priestley making an appearance (somewhere Jim is smiling down). I did grind to a head-scratching halt until NOUS finally fell. 7:47.
    1. Is this Dorsetjimbo? If that’s the case, I’m sorry to hear that he’s died. I used to enjoy his contributions very much.
  3. Quite pleased with my time, until I saw the pink square and realized that once again I failed to spot a typo; 7 of my 8 errors being of this sort, as I continue to plumb new depths on the leaderboard. I’d forgotten what SKEWWHIFF meant, but the wordplay sufficed. Biffed the chemist from the P and Y, but managed to spell it PRIESTLYY. I could make nothing of 4ac except for BB, which made it my LOI.
  4. Fine until the top right where I couldn’t remember exactly the ECNOMIA (or was it ECONMIA?) and I’d never heard of the graveyard, and COCOA was a bit too novel to see immediately. But I got there, phew.
  5. I forgot to note my starting time but I’d estimate completion as between 30 and 40 minutes.

    JOSEPH PRIESTLEY was obvious from the anagram (I already had the J to get me started) and the name seemed familiar though I couldn’t have said what he did other than being a chemist as stated in the clue. The main stumbling block could have been the unknown CROMLECH but again it was an anagram and with a couple of checkers in place the answer couldn’t have been much else.

    My very first childhood home was in Kew Gardens.

    Edited at 2021-05-20 02:13 am (UTC)

    1. People who live in glasshouses……..my son Jack has lived in Kew fore many years.
      1. Which road? We were in Beechwood Avenue. The postal address was officially Kew Gardens I believe.
          1. I have cousins in Priory Road. There’s a nice walk we took (in pre-covid times) along the river past Syon House on the other side.
            1. I had digs in The Avenue for a while, and remember using the side entrance for 3d
    2. We’ve had CROMLECH before, although it’s been a while. I remember being surprised at how many people didn’t know the word, since Stonehenge is one.
      1. Cromlech isn’t English, it is Welsh! And Kevin is Celtic meaning handsome!
        1. ‘Comely birth’, specifically. I’ve always thought that ironic; when I was born, a nurse told my mother she thought I was hydrocephalic.
      2. There is a Cromlech in a field in Pembrokeshire. I went there early one morning to find two German students seriously cavorting under the stone. I asked them if they were there to witness the annual human sacrifice due to be held later that day. They didn’t hang around.
  6. Fast fast slow, held up by lots of the top right. Cromlech & encomia sort-of remembered from previous puzzles, unable to parse fobbed off – missed the significance of ‘on’.
    I parsed 4 dn as a triple: Pretty / good / rides here, though pretty good for fair works as well or better.
    Enjoyed beforehand most of all, minor MER at c’est for it’s from this non-French-speaker, until remembering c’est la guerre.
    1. ‘C’est la vie say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell!’
  8. I struggled mightily to see JOSEPH PRIESTLEY today, whereas I expected some solvers, like Jack, would get it straight off from the starting J. I was even still struggling when I had J_S_P_, thinking to myself that there wasn’t a name that fitted in there. Funny how sometimes you just can’t see what should be fairly obvious. Once the penny finally dropped I was able to finish quite quickly, albeit with an unparsed FOBBED OFF, so thanks to Z for that, as it was a tricky one. COD to SCARCEST — I thought “it’s for Madame” particularly pleasing.
  9. Knew all of the vocabulary. Liked ‘settling down’ as in putting feathers in one’s nest and ‘it’s for madame’. Thank you setter for the original clue of ORCHESTRA and avoiding Nice in SCARCEST.
  10. I can’t say I’d ever seen it like that before, but apparently that was its soubriquet in the days of Priestley . I’ve just read up about him. I’d previously only learnt about his range of activity from my Chemistry master in the days when digression from syllabus was a good thing. What a thinker, what a life! 26 minutes with LOI FOBBED OFF, which took some parsing. Worthy puzzle.Thank you Z and setter, and to H for the Chuck Berry.
    1. I’m from Warrington and I’ve never imagined it as the Athens of the North. Venice, possibly, given three canals and a river (one canal now filled in, sadly).
  11. …Sandals more interwoven and complete
    To fit the naked foot of poesy

    After 30 mins I was defeated by the Encomia/Cromlech combo.
    Mostly I liked Feather Ones Nest.
    The ‘two actors’ was a bit tricksy.
    Thanks setter and Z.

  12. Did we like this one? Oh yes we did
    With an EXCESS of answers well-hid
    We defy any setter
    To come up with much better
    So much ECLAT in one grid
  13. 6d ENCOMIA. I once came across the word encomium in, of all places, the Arab News in Riyadh in 1985. It was used to describe a photo of Bob Geldof being carried shoulder high across the Wembley stage at the conclusion of the London end of Live Aid by Pete Townshend and one other. The things one remembers.
  14. 11:32 It was the innocuous NOUS that held me up for a minute or so at the end. I even remembered ENCOMIA and CROMLECH were words. SKEWWHIFF without a hyphen looks to me, well, SKEW-WHIFF. I enjoyed the jab at 26A.
  15. HOW very nice to see Mr Priestley. Should have been a write-in for me, but somehow wasn’t till I got the P as well as the J.
    I think the down in 8dn is referring to feathers, rather than twine & twig .. can’t help suspecting that our blogger knows that and his comment is some sort of deep jest I can’t fathom.
    C’est la vie, which reminds me: COD to 21ac
    1. Sorry about this. Take my title, stick in “feathering his nest” where the dots are, add “while gathering his bit of twine and twig” and you’ll have Julie Andrews going round and round in your head all day. And it wasn’t even a proper robin.
      1. Ouch…
        For the fortunate uninitiated:
        “A robin feathering his nest
        Has very little time to rest
        While gathering his bits of twine and twig
        Though quite intent in his pursuit
        He has a merry tune to toot
        He knows a song will move the job along – for
        A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
        The medicine go down-wown
        The medicine go down….”
  16. Well, speaking as one of the slowcoaches, I can say I did enjoy this crossword and managed to finish in a respectable (for me) time of 30 mins. Of course JP and the ENCOMIA/CROMLECH crossing was a challenge but both bunged in with fingers crossed.

    I liked SKEWWHIFF, not many words with a double w in them, and FEATHER ONES NEST.

    I think the setter was dreaming of his/her post lockdown hols. Car, coach, carriage, train, rides, aboard, and a drink. They must be feeling jaded!

    Thank you Z and setter.

  17. Great fun. Surprised myself by getting both ENCOMIA and CROMLECH fairly quickly. NOUS was LOI and COD.

    Thanks to Z and the setter.

  19. 14:13. No major dramas but I started slowly on this (only three or four short answers after my first pass through the acrosses) and got a bit stuck on a few. LOI SCARCEST, where it seemed unlikely there was a word meaning ‘unusual’ ending in C so I went down a few blind alleys until the penny dropped.
  20. Maybe this is what z is saying in the blog, but it seemed to me that the setter would appreciate having greater tightness attributed: put up = be taken in, with = by (I always associate them because in Latin you have ‘by, with or from’ as the ablative, which always used to suggest to me that the three words were equivalent. Of course they’re not, but no doubt there are two sentences where ‘with’ and ‘by’ are interchangeable).
    1. Under “put up”, Chambers has as first take “to accommodate with lodging; to take lodgings” One takes by, the other with. “I was taken in by the Dorchester Hotel” and “I was put up with the Dorchester Hotel”. I think that’s what I meant, I hope that’s what the setter meant.
  21. Carelessly submitted after 8m 55s with 24d unfilled. Having mused on it afterwards, I think it would have taken me several alphabet trawls to come up with NOUS.

    CROMLECH was unknown/forgotten for me, but deducible from the checkers and the anagram fodder.

  22. A few false starts with COCOA and wasn’t too keen on the double W in SKEWWHIFF. I don’t think I have ever seen it without a hyphen (and neither has my iPhone judging by the red underline). Otherwise an excellent workout in 20m.
  23. 46:05 that felt like quite a struggle. Although I know the word, I could not believe it when I wrote in SKEWWHIFF and looked at it. I sort of knew ENCOMIA which helped construct CROMLECH and then I felt I sort of knew that too. LOI NOUS unparsed. COD SCARCEST
  24. Have got my PC back up to speed which is a great relief (at least for the moment) so fair whizzed through this, even though I thought it’d’be tough when one of my first in was SKEWWHIFF (surely hyphenated? hyphened?. Did puzzles from Mon-Thur in one sitting, blessedly all correct, but am still tad surprised that this was my quickest time of the four. Multiple many thanks to bloggers and setters this week.
  25. Very enjoyable. JADED FOI, SCARCEST LOI.

    I have been stubbornly using ‘inoculate’ where others use ‘vaccinate’ for some months now.

  26. NOUS took the wind right out of my sails so I spent several minutes becalmed there. ENCOMIA are very Georgette Heyer. (This encomium almost unmans me). I was reminded of the famous DEWDROP Inn in 3d. Nice puzzle. 20.03
  28. Feel I’ve done pretty well enough crossword-type thinking but keep returning, maybe with a buried aversion-therapeutic wish. Enjoyed the wit of this one, though felt slow. 28’17.

    Edited at 2021-05-20 12:06 pm (UTC)

  29. Perhaps more of a struggle than it might have been. Some clues were straightforward while some were much less so.

    Worked out the NHO chemist from three checkers including the initial of both words, and all of the bottom half except for my LOI SCARCEST.

    Then ORCHESTRA and FAIR was enough to give the unparsed FOBBED OFF, simply from the two bishops.

    I had MOCHA stuck in my head for the drink for ages until I thought of other drinks ending __C_A.

    Which left six answers in the top half entered in the following order: DEWDROP, PUT UP WITH, SKEWWHIFF, BEFOREHAND, the unheard-of ENCOMIA, the unheard-of CROMLECH (the checkers meant that this was the only readable word that could be made with the remaining four letters).

  30. Thanks to the setter for marking my birthday by including my name (well, first name, full version.)
    Enjoyable puzzle. Many lovely surfaces. Cromlech was the only unknown but I was vaguely aware of having heard it somewhere. As Kevin says, it should be familiar because of the Stonehenge connection (presumably the context in which I had heard it before forgetting it.) Couldn’t parse beforehand. Like it now that it has been explained.
    Thanks to the blogger.
  31. From the dark recesses of my mind came …. Cremloch. Eventually saw Orchestra and realised that it was Cromlech.
  32. Knew all about CROMLECHS so this was an enjoyable but steady romp.
    Until I struck o.s that is. Was about to go through the 208 possibilities on my scrabble list when the answer hit me. Needed just that bit of NOUS.
  33. Very enjoyable half hour today, definitely improving my week and mood. NHO CROMLECH, which was my LOI, so that’s something learnt as a bonus. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even remember it.
  34. ….without pen being applied to paper at all ! Two minutes had elapsed before I got my FOI, then once I got started, I didn’t have too many problems, although I’m grateful to Z for parsing both FOBBED OFF and COCOA.

    FOI DWELL
    LOI NOUS
    COD INOCULATE
    TIME 10:02

  35. 11:18 but the dreaded pink square.
    When I got 1 ac and 1 d immediately, the whole puzzle opened up and I realised I had the chance of a good time (for me). Biffed 4 ac and 14 ac with a fair degree of confidence but got my comeuppance at LOI 24 d “Nous”.
    I had a choice of another biff or an alphabet trawl (not my strong suit I’m afraid) and decided to go for “Joss” which was rubbish since I was actually thinking of “josh” which was clearly wrong.
    One of the things I really like about TfTT is discovering that one may not be alone in struggling with a particular clue as was the case here – anyway I will approach Friday’s challenge with even more trepidation than normal now!
    I enjoyed the blog and the puzzle – thanks to both compilers.
  36. No he is alluding to James Priestley. However, Dorset Jimbo is no longer with us, I am reliably informed. He would certainly have had a field day with the aforementioned chemist’s isolation of oxygen.
    1. I remember that he was a great advocate for more science content in the crossword. I could see his point although I know very little science and am much happier with the literary/classical bias. Ann
  37. This took me fifty minutes but at least I completed it. FOI inoculate. Three whole clues on first pass; a bit disheartened at that point. And then in went 1 ac. The west of the grid unravelled leaving the east more or less blank. Texture seemed to open up the south-east, then feather ones nest was clear. I was left with cromlech, encomia and after. After went in first. Then I had cromlech rise from the deep recesses of memory – it needed checking in the dictionary and I was surprised it was right. I found encomia, LOI, in the dictionary. Thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment in this very clever puzzle, and the satisfaction of completing it. Did not parse fobbed off, constrain or nous, and did not see the tennis in beforehand. Thanks Z and setter. GW.
  38. 15 minutes, late in the day after a soaking in a golf match. Surprised no problems, getting 1d first helped.
  39. A late entry to the lists. 18.42. Good puzzle I thought and never felt in control but managed to get there in the end. Whole bunch of interconnected obstacles- encompass, orchestra, cromlech and cocoa but all well clued. Also found trouble with scarcest so plenty to keep me interested.
    Thanks setter and blogger .
  40. DNF. Solved in a little over 17 mins but a stupid typo in Priestlly left me with a pink square. I thought the clue for cocoa a welcome novelty. Fobbed off was a parse too far for me so I just bunged it in from definition and checkers and moved on.
  41. I can tell it’s Thursday as the crossword drifts out of reach….Managed 14 of the 30, but satisfied to have got some of the – to me, at least – trickier ones. FOI 27ac YEARNINGS, Went wrong on 25ac, thinking Pull out = extract, and taking most of that gives TRACT for pages. Oh well…
  42. I realise I’ve come to this puzzle long after it was published, but I was intrigued by the large numbers of double letters in the answers. JADED has two Ds; FOBBED OFF has double Fs (a triple F, actually), Bs and Os; SKEWWHIFF has two Ws and Fs; COCOA has two Cs and two Os. (There are many more examples.)

    I was surprised no-one seems to have commented on this, and wondered if there’s some sort of hidden message. If anyone sees this and can enlighten me, I’d be very grateful.

    Cardorojo

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