28066 Thursday, 26 August 2021 Spurred on

Author   ZabadakPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Quite a gentle offering this one, which is just as well because I’m celebrating my (our) 48th wedding anniversary in a pleasant hotel in Wales with a thankfully robust internet connection. A certain quantity of libation has passed my lips this evening, plus I should pay tribute to a tolerant wife who lets me stay up after midnight to produce this thing. 12 minutes to do the crossword.
There are a couple of the long clues which might be trickier for those not well versed in British politics, but otherwise the obscurity level is down at the virtually non-existent level, though by all means feel free to disagree.
I put clues in italics, then underline the definitions, and present the solutions in BOLD CAPITALS.
Across
1 It’s another place to peer, for example (5,2,7)
HOUSE OF COMMONS A cryptic definition to start with. I was aware that the members of the UK House of Commons refer to the House of Lords as “the (or an) other place” as if naming it were as bad as saying Voldemort’s name out loud, but it would seem that the noble lords have the same euphemistic turn of phrase. So “to a peer” (amongst other denizens like bishops) our entry is “another place”.
9 Desperate stand by dump (4-5)
LAST DITCH  You might want to include stand in the definition, when it would do double duty. Stand gives LAST if you think of endure or continue to exist (Chambers) and dump more directly gives DITCH
10 Sponsor a northern set (5)
ANGEL As in supporter of the arts, especially theatre. A plus N(orthern) plus GEL for set. Interesting interplay of nouns and verbs.
11 X marks this first in English, zero in the three Rs (5)
ERROR The teacher’s mark, made up of (the first in) E(nglish) zero looking like O placed in three R’s, which rather duplicitously refer to reading, writing and arithmetic.
12 Immaculate story about extremely lousy trifle (4-5)
LILY-WHITE Obviously included to please this Spurs fan. Mind you, the new away kit is a bit of a Jackson Pollock contrast. Story is LIE, include the extremes of LousY and WHIT for trifle.
13 Kind acts somehow filling familiar role (8)
TYPECAST Kind give TYPE, and an anagram (somehow) of ACTS is tacked on.
15 Graduates collect ten grand for green fuel (6)
BIOGAS Graduates are BAS, collecting a lookalike 10 and G(rand)
17 Sign a posh wig should be returned by end of day (6)
AUGURY A in plain sight, U for posh (thank the Mitfords) RUG for wig (one of many slang terms) “returned” and the end of daY
19 Time fitted in to brush each scented plant (5,3)
SWEET PEA T(ime) inside SWEEP for brush and EA(ch)
22 Despicable type’s excessively large growth capped (9)
TOADSTOOL Like the definition. TOAD’S for despicable type’s, TOO for excessively plus L(arge)
23 One’s present part of course entertains Poles (5)
TENSE The definition should be read as “one such is present”. Part of a (Golf) course is the TEE, insert the N and S poles.
24 Oxford college or one the Spanish added (5)
ORIEL OR in plain sight, I or one, EL for the in Spanish.
25 Staunch Arab, back installing a place for sweaters (5,4)
STEAM ROOM Yesterday I enjoyed the one in the hotel I am currently living it up in. Staunch is STEM, and an Arab is a MOOR, which is reversed. Install A where it best fits.
26 Corpulent sags I reconstructed? (7,7)
PLASTIC SURGEON A good &lit. An anagram (reconstructed) of CORPULENT SAGS I gives the answer pretty well defined by the whole clue
Down
1 Smug head office tour in health resort (6-4-4)
HOLIER-THAN-THOU One of those anagrams (resort) where you have to pick out the fragments of the fodder. H(ead) O(ffice) TOUR IN HEALTH
2 Release Blue Berets with roles on way north (7)
UNSTRAP UN military wear blue berets, and roles are PARTS, which are reversed (on way north in a down clue)
3 It grows down river in Germany (5)
EIDER Double definition: Eider ducks grow down, and make a living selling it for duvets, and the Eider is the longest river in Schleswig Holstein.
4 Big boxer stumped believer in Murphy’s Law? (8)
FATALIST Murphy’s Law states that if a thing can go wrong, it will. We have a big, FAT boxer (ALI) plus ST(umped) standard cricked abbreviation.
5 Delayed using horse past its best? (2,4)
ON HOLD Using horse gives ON H(orse) plus OLD for past its best.
6 Base trickery takes in husband for now (9)
MEANWHILE Base is MEAN, trickery is WILE, insert H(usband) (me for the past 48 years).
7 Annoying hack working, missing nothing (7)
NAGGING Another horse, this time as hack giving NAG, working is GOING, but missing the 0, nothing
8 Attlee’s and Mr Eden’s revised appropriate appellation? (5,9)
ELDER STATESMEN My pick of the day, another &littish sort of clue. It’s an anagram (revised) of the letters of ATTLEE’S and MR EDEN’S. I wonder if the question mark is there to forestall dissenters not accepting that Clement Attlee and Anthony Eden deserved the appellation.
14 Temperature aside, glass is protecting hot young flyer (9)
CHRYSALIS Take CRYSTAL glass, set aside the T(emperature) add IS in plain sight and insert Hot). Of course, it doesn’t fly at this stage of life, but does when it emerges.
16 What occupant of 25 does, with mixture in vessel (8)
SWELTERS (I did, I did) We know 25 is a steam room. Mixture is WELTER, place in SS for vessel.
18 Baltic golf learners welcoming a bunch of spies (7)
GLACIAL Chambers says that without a capital, baltic is an informal expression for extremely cold. G(olf) (NATO) plus two L(earner)s include A in plain sigh plus CIA for a bunch of spies.
20 Two features in green type of camera (7)
PINHOLE A PIN and a HOLE are both elements of a (golf) green. An early simple form of camera.
21 A snooty sort erected current plant (6)
BONSAI A in plain sight (yet again!) plus SNOB for snooty sort reversed (erected) plus I for (electrical) current
23 Perhaps watch sphere from the south (5)
TIMER That’s REMIT reversed (from the south, it’s a down clue) I suppose a remit is an allocated sphere of interest or activity..

46 comments on “28066 Thursday, 26 August 2021 Spurred on”

  1. Many congratulations on your landmark, Zed, and best wishes for the future to you and your wife – whose contributions I still miss around here.

    I did the crossword online pretty much as soon as it became available and sliced through the first half dozen clues like Anderson going through the top order. After a crabby period, picking up ones and twos here and there like Rory Burns, I finished in a flourish worthy of a Haseeb Hameed square cut with CHRYSALIS, 28’.

  2. I had this done in just over 20′, but I couldn’t make sense of SWELTERS, S+W+ELTER+S, so I wasted 2′ trying to think of a 5-letter mixture. The light finally dawned. Biffed 1d (from H and enumeration) and 4d, only getting around to parsing them post-submission. I liked PLASTIC SURGEON.
  3. It has been 35°C-27°C in Shanghai all month – come rain or shine. Like Kevin, I also sweated over my LOI 16dn S+W+ELTER+S for several minutes. Time 35 minutes.

    But I did not like 26ac PLASTIC SURGEON, as the surface was somewhat lumpen. But as per Mr. Bloggs I did enjoy the anagram at 8dn ELDER STATESMEN which they decidedly were! So no need for the ‘?’. My COD

    FOI 1ac HOUSE OF COMMONS (or even Hose of Commons! Leggins!?) Sorry,couldn’t resist it.

    WOD 12ac LILY WHITE – pluralised was this not Spurs nickname between the wars?

    19ac SWEET PEAS – what a delightful fragrance!?

    Edited at 2021-08-26 02:15 am (UTC)

  4. Happy anniversary! Went pretty steadily through this, though I did not get the ELTER part of SWELTERS so I was happy to see an all-green grid at the end. 9:13.
  5. I found that a bit tricky. Amazing, my last one in was HOLIER THAN THOU since I couldn’t see anything to use up the letters, and I even had the right ones. Held up for a bit by putting BIOMAS instead of BIOGAS, only realizing later that it has two “S”s (and M for grand is a bit weak).
  6. …took 34 minutes. Fortunately, I did know the bit about the Commons and the Lords, so no problem there.

    I think of an angel as someone who can put in $800,000 in return for 20% of the equity when you need it to keep going, but others may have lived different sorts of lives.

  7. I’m ignoring the one pink square on the grounds that even I’m not dumb enough to have written ELSER STATESMEN in real life.

    In the House of Reps here they refer to the Senate as “another place”, so it looks like yet another one you guys have stolen from us, along with all of those location names.

    Liked 3dn for bringing to mind that old Dad joke, “How do you get down from an elephant?”.

    Thanks setter, and congrats Z8.

  8. Congratulations Z!
    Very easy, until the last 2. Another W + ELTER here, glad to see I wasn’t alone in wondering what an elter was. Spent a long time before that hung up on sweaters, which was obviously wrong. LOI TOADSTOOL, and COD for the definition.
  9. 39 minutes. Not too hard for a Thursday. Bunged in 16d from the def, as WELTER for ‘mixture’ didn’t come to mind and I didn’t know ‘baltic’ could mean very cold. I liked the tummy tucking PLASTIC SURGEON and the ‘growth capped’ def for TOADSTOOL.
  10. 35 minutes with a lot of time lost over SWELTER and thinking that ‘resort’ would be the definition at 1dn. I needed most of the checkers before coming up with the answer and then realising that ‘head office’ was abbreviated to HO and did not form part of the anagrist.

    Edited at 2021-08-26 06:28 am (UTC)

  11. 42 mins, once again five mins spent on last two TOADSTOOL and BONSAI. Once the penny had dropped, I quite liked old toady and his stool. Did like too, the long anagrams. Wasn’t sure about the definition/wordplay for 1ac but I guess Z is right.

    Judging by the reports from my neck of the woods, Provence Rosé will be in short supply next year so I’d better fill my boots upon my return home! Rest assured I’ll still be here, fingers crossed…..

    Thanks Z and setter.

  13. Also held up wondering about S W ELTER S or S WELTER S. Finally went with it and pleased to see all green squares. Still not sure about WELTER = mixture (presumably a subsidiary definition somewhere).

    NHO BIOGAS but got by analogy with BIOMASS.

    Congratulations z and thank you setter.

  14. 17:07 DNK WELTER for mixture and stuck at the end on the 1D anagram. All good, though. I liked FATALIST ELDER STATESMEN and PINHOLE. Thanks Z and setter.
  15. Saw WIG thought RAG (both meaning scold my dictionary post “solve” tells me) and reversed. AUGARY didn’t look right but I trusted the w/p. Might be better to trust the spelling next time 😀

    Also had ELDER as “It grows” with D in the well known ELER river in Germany. There is so much wrong with that it’s embarrassing but hey ho once you’ve one pink square what’s another one?

    Liked the puzzle — also scratched head about SWELTERS but in it went

    Liked the two &lits/semi &lits

    Congrats and thanks Zed and setter

  16. Another delayed by SWELTERS, until the boxing weight came to mind.

    Really liked 1ac. Had to carefully check the anagram fodder for Attlee and Eden. Any significance in the three references to golf?

    16′ 15″, thanks (and congrats) z, and setter.

  17. 39 minutes with LOI GLACIAL. COD to TOADSTOOL. I seem to remember that Big Ears lived in one. There wasn’t much room inside. Murphy’s Law has passed all verification and falsification tests to my certain knowledge. I found this quite tough but fair. Thank you Z and setter. Congratulations on your anniversary.
  18. 16.45. Held up by toadstool and swelters. Pretty much guessed but once I was convinced toad was the despicable type the rest followed quickly. Very enjoyable puzzle I thought with pinhole my COD. Thx setter and blogger.
  19. Congratulations Mr and Mrs Z! I suspected HOUSE OF COMMONS for 1a from the start, but waited for checkers before typing it in. UNSTRAP was my first actual entry and HOLIER THAN THOU rapidly followed. Despite having spent the weekend golfing, I missed the references at 20d and biffed PINHOLE. CHRYSALIS was my LOI and I spent a minute or so proof reading, especially the number of Es and As in 8d. 25:26. Thanks setter and Z.
  20. I’m finding in my quest for speed that my error rate is increasing. Today is a prime example with two stupid typos! Still pleased with a sub-18 time but perhaps I should spend a bit longer checking things at the end.

    Thanks Z (and congratulations)

  21. Funny how your mind works (or doesn’t). All went in quite easily — COD ‘toadstool’ — then utterly failed to see CHRYSALIS even though I had every other letter. Stared at it for ages. D’oh.
  22. ….I would have been celebrating our Golden Wedding last year, except for the intervening divorce, another marriage, and another divorce. “Tricky chaps, relationships”, as Jimmy (the excellent Geoffrey Palmer) observed in “The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin”. Congratulations to you and your good lady Z. I rather envy you.

    I found this an enjoyable puzzle, and only had a slight hold-up with my LOI.

    FOI HOUSE OF COMMONS
    LOI CHRYSALIS
    COD PINHOLE
    TIME 8:25

  23. I seem to be in some form, having printed and completed each 15×15 this week. Today’s flew in (a relative term to the regulars here) in around 35 mins with a hold up at LOI TOADSTOOL. I got fixated with OS for excessively large and b(OIL) for growth capped. Then toad for despicable type occurred and it all fell into place. This comment on form is probably asking for a fall with the fearsome Friday puzzle on the horizon.
  24. Apologies – the comment above was mine – I did the clear-the-cookies-out thing yesterday and was logged off.
  25. A witty puzzle which should have been finished quicker, but I got bogged down in the south-east – Sweat room? Sweaters?

    COD House of Commons

    Thanks to the setter and z. Congratulations to z for both 48 years and 12 minutes.

  26. Reasonably quick, but the last 3 had me ST. Couldn’t see past TRANS something for what turned out to be TOADSTOOL, and then of course like others the obscurity level was at 1 for WELTER. Which left the 10 of BIOGAS which I took ages to see.
  27. Lots of biffing today, ending with CHRYSALIS in 5m 18s. This was a lovely puzzle – not too tricky, but requiring a bit of thought and some clever clues including ELDER STATESMEN.

    You’ve got your anagram slightly wrong in the explanation of PLASTIC SURGEON… and I work with plenty of ‘corporate sags’!

  28. My times have improved since starting to do the Quick Cryptic to limber up for the main event. No problems here, despite the unknown WELTER
    and a temporary misstep with GREEN TEA (“bush” cluing “green”, sorta). Quite a few biffed, so I probably had a lucky escape, though I did have the presence of mind to count the As in the 8d anagram before going for STATESMEN. 11 mins.
  29. Congratulations Z on your anniversary.

    No real problems today although I stared at “P_n_o_e” for far too long until the golf ball dropped. Almost entered Pantone as something to do with the colour green and pan as in camera.

  30. Went through most of the West side like a hot knife through butter and then screeched to a halt when some sort of brain fog descended. Couldn’t see TIMER/remit for ages, was confused by GLACIAL/baltic and went looking for a bird in CHRYSALIS. Pretty good puzzle. 21.03. Happy Anniversary to M et Mme Z.
  31. Well all I can say z is that your ‘virtually non-existent level’ is different from mine. Welter = mixture was far from obvious (actually I shrugged and wondered about elter); remit = sphere looks a bit thin to me; the River Eider isn’t in the list I usually consult when I have to — Google says that it’s the longest river in Schleswig-Holstein, so …; using = on isn’t immediately obvious; and I didn’t know that a bonsai was a plant (thought it was some sort of shrinking process).

    Otherwise a nice crossword. I liked the plastic surgeon, also the elder statesmen (wasn’t the question mark because they weren’t elder statesmen when in their prime?).

  32. Congrats to our blogger on your four dozenth wedding anniversary.

    COD:PLASTIC SURGEON

  33. No unknowns except the meaning of WELTER. Otherwise only really held by biffing SAUNA BATH for STEAM ROOM early doors then trying to reverse out of it for several mins Got there eventually.

    Congrats Z on your and Mrs Z’s achievement.

  34. Enjoyable puzzle. Nice to see my old college get a mention. Stared at 22ac for an age until I focused on ‘despicable type’ which became toad. Alas, I don’t know my German rivers so when I saw ‘elder’ as something that grows, I lazily didn’t account for ‘down’. Recognised ‘welter’ from the phrase ‘welter of emotions’. Not heard it in any other context.
    No time as solving was fitted in round other things today but probably under an hour in total.
    Enjoyed the long anagrams and definition of toadstool.
    Thanks to setter. Congratulations to our blogger and thanks to Mrs Z for being so understanding about a late blog on her anniversary.
    1. My old college too. It often appears in crosswords because of its convenient letter sequence.

      Now you mention it yes ‘welter of emotions’ is what I should have thought of. All I could think of was welterweight.

  35. Well, I just couldn’t get TOADSTOOL, and although I biffed in SWELTER, I couldn’t parse it. WELTER is a new word for me. All other clues went in fairly quickly and correctly.
    Thanks to blogger and setter
    BW
    Andrew
  36. Very well done Z on 48 years.. my 48 is due next month, so I know what you’ve gone through. We should meet up, so our wives can sympathise wih each other.
    I was going to say something about the crossword but I have to go and do the washing up, now ..
  37. Big Ears did live in a 22ac- see the YouTube ‘Noddy’ ad for Vymura! Time today 9:45 mins. COD to 9dn Elder Statesman – remarkable anagramming, unless it’s been done before!? Runner-up House of Commons – the other place.
  38. My brain stopped for a bit. Finally came to, saw HOUSE OF COMMONS, then HOLIER-THAN-THOU, then was able to finish. Had a similar problem to Kevin with the W+ELTER misparsing, and put in a few on faith.
  39. 7:29. Late to this after an early start and a long day on the beach. Thankfully not a difficult one: I was held up only by checking the Es and As in ELDER STATESMA/EN very carefully, and being convinced 1dn would be a health resort: something-upon-something, perhaps.
    I didn’t parse SWELTERING and I find I didn’t know what ‘welter’ means. I thought it just meant lots.
    Many congratulations on the anniversary, z8 and Mrs z8.
  40. 11:02 late this afternoon.
    Enjoyed this puzzle with many entertaining clues, and fortunately no repetition of my problems earlier with the QC.
    Solving 1ac and 1d with this type of grid provided a good set of crossers, followed by cracking the other two perimeter clues.
    LOI 14 d “Chrysalis” where I was distracted too long by thinking of fledglings as opposed to insects.
    COD 26 ac “plastic surgeons” — a clever and amusing surface.
    My posting was delayed by a slightly postponed celebration this evening of Mrs P’s birthday from earlier in the week, but worth waiting for, for her sea bass creation and a really nice Piper Heidsieck to go with it. So I can empathise for your own celebratory blog Z, congratulations — you are only a few months behind us. And thanks too to the setter for a satisfying puzzle.
  41. DNF in 26 mins with elder statesmAn instead of men. Kicking myself for a silly error. I struggled with this and it was something of a disjointed solve. Slow to see House of Commons. Had no idea what letters to throw into the mixing bowl to get Holier-than-thou. Took ages to find the definition in the clue for plastic surgeons. Couldn’t see what was going on with toadstool and although I had the external vessel I couldn’t work out the inner welters bit of swelters. This one had a bit of bite. Happy anniversary Z.
  42. Just got around to finishing this, a bit late to add anything… even that, but what a wonderful occasion. Congratulations! I guess I wasn’t around here yet when Mrs. Z8 was a contributor.

    Edited at 2021-08-26 09:35 pm (UTC)

  43. Never heard of the German river, so confidently put ELDER, which of course grows down if it’s ground elder.

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