Times 24,720 Deadwood’s Dora Dufran Rides Again

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time 25 minutes

It could be my imagination but I sense an American flavour to this lively and entertaining puzzle. I guess there are some cute definitions that I rather liked. No real obscurities and 22D is AOK – no really.

Across
1 FLIMFLAM – FL-IM-FL-AM; fluid=FL (as in fl oz in recipies); “drunk” is surrounds indicator; “take in” is definition;
6 RUSSET – RU-(boot)S-SET; football=RU (Rugby Union); box=TV=SET; slightly odd surface reading;
9 MASSACHUSETTS – (as much as)*-SETT’S; a badgers burrow=an earth=a SETT; The Bay State;
10 POLICY – POL(e)-ICY; short rod=POL(e); biting=ICY; “line” is the definition;
11 TALLBOYS – (pain)T-ALL-BOYS; “not mixed”=ALL BOYS; a high chest of draws in two pieces;
13 LONG,ISLAND – LONG(I)S-L-AND; trousers-LONGS; large=L; with=AND; “patch cut off in NY” is definition;
15 MIDI – hidden reversed (la)ID IM(properly);
16 deliberately omitted. If you can’t get it I hope you’re not incontinent;
18 XENOPHOBIA – (a phonebox + i=one)*; lovely definition;
21 LIFE,RAFT – LIFER-AFT; prisoner=LIFER; back=AFT;
22 MUSCAT – MUS(CA)T; about=CA; is obliged to=MUST; a variety of grape;
23 DICE,WITH,DEATH – (I watched hide + t=time)*; Evel Knievel presumably;
25 EGGIER – cryptic definition; “a soldier” is a piece of bread cut to dip into a soft boiled egg;
26 DEMISTER – DE-MISTER; “of” in French=DE; “Monsieur” in English=MISTER;
 
Down
2 LIMPOPO – LIM(POP)O; great gray-green greasy African river (=runner);
3 MASKING,TAPE – M-ASKING-TAPE; “I keep coat off” is excellent definition;
4 LEAFY – LE(A-F)Y; fine=F (on lead pencils); old power line=LEY;
5 MAHATMA – MA-HAT-MA; Gandhi for example, who gave the US its roots according to President Obama;
6 RUSTLED,UP – RU(S)T-LED-UP; light=LED=Light Emitting Diode; definition is “prepared quickly”;
7 SAT – two meanings;
8 ESSAYED – (a seedy + s=society)*;
12 BUMS,ON,SEATS – BUM-SON’S-EATS; to ask for=BUM; a full house;
14 SIX,DAY,WAR – (dry wax as + i=one)*; “fighting” is definition; the Arab-Israeli war of June 1967;
17 SHINDIG – SHIN-DIG; geddit? – the definition is “do”;
19 NOTATED – NOT-A-TED(dy Boy);
20 IVANHOE – I-VAN-HOE; front=VAN; garden=HOE; work=book by Sir Walter Scott;
22 MADAM – MAD-A(r)M(y); a madam is a brothel keeper=leader of house of congress; a gem of a clue;
24 deliberately omitted. If you can’t see it take your failure on it;

43 comments on “Times 24,720 Deadwood’s Dora Dufran Rides Again”

  1. Enjoyable puzzle which took me an hour and a half. Not helped by parsing monsieur as ‘sir’ for the longest time; also held up at 1ac by not knowing what FLIMFLAM meant. Originally had the unlikely ‘isophoe’ at 20dn before seeing the error of my ways. Joint CODS to that (IVANHOE) and BUMS ON SEATS.

    On review, make that MADAM – way above my head. Thanks for the explanation, Jim.

    1. We need some US input here. In the UK I would understand flimflam to mean idle chatter or even nonsense but in the back of my mind I recalled my old US colleagues using it to mean trickery of some sort.
      1. The US Oxford (on the Mac) has “a confidence game: flimflams perpetrated against us by our elected officials. It goes on to give same as a verb: “swindle (someone) with a confidence game”.
        1. I had vague memories of the film The Flim-Flam Man (though I can’t actually recall seeing it) which is definitely about a con artist, played by George C. Scott.
          1. Flim flam is to con, take to the cleaners, pull the wool over ones eyes, rip off etc.
  2. Brilliant crossword, excellent blog. Took me well over an hour to tease out all the answers but well worth every minute. Too many great clues to single out a COD but what about 22dn as COW (‘clue of week’)?
  3. Definitions concealed to the point of invisibility. Needed aids to get LEAFY which opened up POLICY. Figured out parsing for BUM post-solve. EGGIER in with little conviction. Something of a treasure trove today so a bit reluctant to nominate a COD but can’t resist Leader of House of Congress (although I’d guess older hands would have seen it before).
  4. 27:27 for one of those rare puzzles that was hard but rewarding, rather than simply impenetrable. Loads of great clues, but I especially liked the House of Congress, which I don’t remember seeing before, with honourable mentions to 11ac, 18ac, 25ac.

    One of those puzzles which makes me agree with PB’s suggestion that setters should perhaps be identified, if not necessarily at the time of solving, then 24 hours later along with the solution, so that one can give the accolades to the right individual. Whoever this was, thank you anyway…

  5. 59 minutes, so a slow solve but I was never actually stuck. Last in were LEAFY, FLIMFLAM and LIFE RAFT.

    An excellent and highly enjoyable puzzle but I would query “Packed auditoria” = BUMS ON SEATS. Firstly, without the usual dictionaries to hand I don’t know if the expression actually denotes that the place is packed and that it’s a full house as suggested in the blog. Secondly, it is not just applied to auditoria but also to sporting stadia so it needs a question mark or “perhaps” to avoid the DBE. I suppose we must be thankful that the U.S. influence that Jimbo detects did not extend to use of the American version of this expression.

    The definition at 20 is very loose.

    1. True, but it’s a very well-known book (+ films, TV series), and ‘non-Scottish Scott work’ would have given it away!
  6. Exactly one hour. A first-rate puzzle with some very witty definitions, not-so-obvious anagrams and well-hidden hiddens. Strangely enough, I got stuck on a couple of the easier clues at the end: the brain cells must have become exhausted after all that activity, I suppose.
    22 down was one of the best clues I’ve seen for a while. Anyone remember Cynthia Payne? I imagine she would be delighted to be described as “Leader of House of Congress”.
      1. Yeah, yeah. The politician’s defence: “I was assisting the young lady with her accounts and she realised she’d left her calculator in the bedroom… Officer. “

        We’ll believe you…

  7. 58 minutes, with the last 4 or 5 putting up a real struggle. I’ll add my voice to the compliments for MADAM, an excellent cheeky clue.

    Last in was CHI, which is slightly embarrassing given that this is Mrs N’s name. But I think it must win some sort of award for the most commonly occurring answer – I’d guess that’s three times in the past couple of weeks. Perhaps Peter can confirm.

  8. The OED says: “bums on seats: the members of a (large) audience, viewed as a source of income; paying customers collectively.”
    Chambers says something similar.. there does seem to be an implication of large or full houses involved, if not actually packed.
    1. My Chambers has “Audiences, good houses” which I suppose just about covers it. COED, SOED and Collins don’t offer anything, but Brewer’s has simply “A paying audience viewed as a source of income” which was exactly my understanding of the meaning prior to this discussion.
  10. A fun puzzle which seemed to start easy but which eventually bogged me down towards the end. DNF with one to go (LIFE RAFT) after an hour.
  11. I found this very difficult indeed. No time because I forgot to start the clock when I got on the train but well over an hour in three sessions. And then I realised on coming here I’d bunged in UGLIER at 25ac in desperation and forgotten to go back to it.
    A very impressive puzzle and I agree MADAM is particularly brilliant. I’m glad they’re not this hard every day though.
  12. 35 minutes (soup-handicapped).

    Lovely puzzle, like others I enjoyed the definition at 22d and honourable mentions also go to the def at 3 and the wordplay at 26.

    Policy was my last in, Ivanhoe, life raft and eggier also caused me problems. I also caused my own problems at 6a by having asseyed in at 8.

    Merci to the setter.

  13. 9:48 online. Not so straightforward, but I did not need to correct my typing today which often slows me down.

    Clever clues, which I appreciated more on a second reading.

  14. 35:27 .. brilliant stuff, greatly enjoyed.

    FLIMFLAM, for some reason, made me think of Mark Twain, but I can’t find a quote (except a typically witty reference to one of the more prevalent forms of flimflammery of his day: “A gold mine is a hole with a liar on top.”).

    Last in LIFE RAFT, which very nearly did for me.

  15. struggled with this…finished but two minor errors. must try harder!
    great blog thank you!
  16. Made a pig’s ear of the SE corner through trying to start 20d with ISOP. I even had HOE at the end and still didn’t see it. As an ex-English teacher I find that humiliating! Gave up at 48mins.
  17. Smashing puzzle, done on two trains and a bus in a total of around 30 minutes. Last in was EGGIER, trying to make e.g. GI and something the workings of the cryptic, before I realised it was just a CD. I did think the clue would have been extra brilliant if the ER was indicated. Otherwise, plenty of wonders, NOTATED being my CoD and MADAM a very close second for “House of Congress”- brilliant!
  18. Great puzzle, which took me an hour after I was held up in the SE area. Yes, FLIMFLAM as both a noun and a verb over here means to take someone in/con them. I had also thought ‘bum’, as to ask for something, was US slang, but apparently everyone recognizes it. And no, Jimbo, we don’t call the bread ‘soldiers’ over here, and I approached that the same way as vinyl, and just threw EGGIER in as the only thing that fit. The ‘Leader of House of Congress’ is priceless. As a small issue, I don’t get the ‘patch cut off’ part of the def. for LONG ISLAND. But thanks to the setter, regards to all.
    1. Now there’s interesting. “Patch” is slang for a piece of territory – “your on my patch” meaning you’ve got your tanks on my lawn – which I thought was more US slang – clearly not.

      I think UK folk would regard “bum” meaning a tramp, a beggar or to beg as US slang but would be very familiar with its meaning. We might say “cadge”

      1. Thanks Jimbo. We also use ‘patch’ as a piece of land, but ‘patch cut off in NY’ still feels a bit loose, and I guess just refers to it being an island, and thus cut off from the rest of NY? I was trying to make an anagram of ‘patch cut’ to find some other reference to LI. There is a town of Patchogue out there, but that’s the closest I could come. Apparently, ‘bum’ as ‘cadge’ is more widely known than I thought. Best.
        2. Just in case you don’t understand the ulaca comment, Kevin, a fag is a derogatory word for a homosexual man.
  19. Work constraints meant a rather broken up attempt. Probably 30 + 5 + 15 minutes. Very enjoyable with COD to BUM SONS EATS with IVANHOE a close second (my last two in).
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