Times Cryptic 28244

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 39 minutes. This was a puzzle of two halves for me. The answers in the top half almost wrote themselves in at first glance, but then in the bottom half I saw the long answer at 28ac immediately (although I struggled a bit with its spelling) and then ground to a halt and struggled to complete the rest of the grid.

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.

Across

1 Eg motel‘s promise in connection with case (11,4)
PORTMANTEAU WORD
PORTMANTEAU (case), WORD (promise). The definition by example is a blend of motor and hotel. It’s a word possibly little known in the UK until the release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho in 1960 which introduced us to the infamous Bates Motel.
9 King Edward’s first upset brought about fine commotion! (9)
KERFUFFLE
K (King), E{dward’s} [first], then RUFFLE (upset) containing [brought about] F (fine). This was given new currency in the mid-noughties in the sketch show Little Britain in which Lou (of Lou & Andy) had the catchphrase “What a kerfuffle!”. Those who read Sunday Times crossword blogs may have been reminded of ‘kerfuffle’ last weekend when it was mentioned in comments by Matinp1 and Peter Biddlecombe.
10 Caribbean bishop joining union leader in jail (5)
CUBAN
U{nion} [leader] + B (bishop) contained by [in] CAN (jail)
11 Singer recalls decisive win at football? (6)
LINNET
TEN NIL (decisive win at football) reverses [recalls]
12 One entering pub by hotel in French resort (8)
BIARRITZ
I (one) contained by [entering] BAR (pub), RITZ (hotel)
13 Yankee concern adopted by heavyweight industrialist (6)
TYCOON
Y (Yankee – NATO) + CO (concern – company), contained [adopted] by TON (heavy weight)
15 Unusually snug tent head of Winchester may stand for? (8)
TUNGSTEN
Anagram [unusually] of SNUG TENT. In cryptic crossword-speak ‘Head of Winchester’ = W, the chemical symbol for wolfram aka tungsten.
18 Plantigrade mammals a speaker’s lad puts up with (3,5)
SUN BEARS
SUN sounds like [a speaker’s] “son” (lad), then BEARS (puts up with]. I assumed ‘plantigrade’ had something to do with diet but apparenly it means walking on the soles of one’s feet, like humans. I didn’t really know the creature either, but the wordplay was helpful.
19 Compulsion to line up carrying uniform (6)
DURESS
DRESS (line up – set in order) containing [carrying] U (uniform)
21 Like an old buffer‘s mistake involving uneven walk (8)
BLIMPISH
BISH (mistake) containing [involving] LIMP (uneven walk). This comes from ‘Colonel Blimp’, a character invented by the cartoonist David Low. The Colonel was an obese reactionary ex-officer, a pompous elderly diehard. (SOED)
23 Plant everyone installs at first with hesitation (6)
ALLIUM
ALL (everyone), I{nstalls} [at first], UM (hesitation). NHO this one and my first thought, though obvioulsy not correct, was ‘alyssum’ a plant I do know.
26 One that may be spotted laughing maniacally? (5)
HYENA
A barely cryptic definition
27 Female artist round back of Tate, one regulating courses (9)
DIETITIAN
DI (female) + TITIAN (artist) containing [round] {Tat}E [back]. But for the wordplay I might have been tempted to write ‘dietician’.
28 Agriculturist reportedly beheaded Green: it’s to do with drugs (15)
PHARMACOLOGICAL
PHARMA sounds like [reportedly] “farmer” (agriculturist), {e}COLOGOCAL (green) [beheaded]
Down
1 Character in Dad’s Army allowed to make yeast cake (7)
PIKELET
PIKE (character in Dad’s Army), LET (allowed).  Pte Frank Pike, the youngest member of the Dad’s Army platoon, was played by Ian Lavender. He’s the only one of the group still living.
2 Repeat lecturer unexpectedly shrunk somewhat (5)
RERUN
Hidden in [shrunk somewhat] { lectu}RER UN{expectedly}
3 Burrower crosses river, primarily heading for animal shelter (9)
MOUSEHOLE
MOLE (burrower) contains [crosses] OUSE (river) + H{eading} [primarily]. What a shame that the defintion didn’t refer to the Cornish village of this name, pronounced ‘Muzzle’. It might have been fun if set as a homophone!
4 Worthless supporter climbing on top of fence (4)
NAFF
FAN (supporter) reversed [climbing], F{ence} [top]
5 Sure time to travel, like some retired academics (8)
EMERITUS
Anagram [to travel] of SURE TIME
6 Left church in ancient city, being sore (5)
ULCER
L (left) + CE (church) contained by [in] UR (ancient city)
7 Bluetit sadly trapped in old European dungeon (9)
OUBLIETTE
Anagram [sadly] of BLUETIT contained by [trapped in] O (old) + E (European)
8 Resident needs study, principally investigating form of Buddhism (7)
DENIZEN
DEN (study), I{nvestigating} [principally], ZEN (form of Buddhism)
14 Song and English literature Glaswegian is unable mostly to take up (9)
CANTILENA
E (English) + LIT (literature) reversed [up] contained by [to take] CANNA{e} (Glaswegian ‘is unable’ – cannot) [mostly]. I didn’t know this word and I struggled to construct it from wordplay and checkers. I might have struggled even more with the parsing had I not come across ‘cannae’ in a puzzle very recently as I was reminded that it ends in E.
16 Arduous, setting about contact sport (9)
GRUELLING
GELLING (setting) containing RU (contact sport – Rugby Union). By another happy coincidence I also came across RU as ‘contact sport’ very recently so it was my first thought today.
17 Experts like certain poems — and like the study of versification (8)
PROSODIC
PROS (experts), ODIC (like certain poems). Not a word I use, but I vaguely knew of it.
18 Kids with one parent and one science graduate on voyage evidently? (7)
SIBSHIP
I (one) + BS (science graduate – Bachelor of Science in the USA) in SHIP (on voyage evidently). In the UK ‘Bachelor of Science’ is BSc and BS stands for ‘Bachelor of Surgery’ or something less savoury! Another word I didn’t know.  The definitions I’ve read suggest the kids have both parents in common but I assume that one parent in common might also apply as suggested in the clue.
20 Influential student group changing sides finally (7)
SEMINAL
SEMINA{r} (student group) becomes SEMINAL when the last letter [finally] changes sides – moves R (right) to L (left).
22 Quiet girl at museum finally finding David’s work (5)
PSALM
P (quiet), SAL (girl), {museu}M [finally]. In the Bible the Book of Psalms has been linked historically to the name David as author, but this has long since been discounted so a question mark might have been in order here.
24 Like certain bone‘s current deficiency largely restricting one (5)
ILIAC
I (current), LAC{k} (deficiency) [largely] containing [restricting] I (one). ‘Pertaining to the hip bone’ is one defintion of this.
25 Trade in timber in Kentish Town? (4)
DEAL
A triple definition to end with. Deal is a town in Kent.  Kentish Town is actually an area of north-west London.

56 comments on “Times Cryptic 28244”

  1. Threw in the towel after half an hour, not knowing BS for anything other than something unspeakable and not feeling that ‘subship’ really sounded like much of a word. My mood was not improved by checking SIBSHIP (ghastly word) in the dictionary and finding it related to both parents.

    Off to the Guardian to restore my equilibirium…

  2. Similar to our blogger, top half easy bottome half far less so.
    Sibship was hit-and-hope, not really believing it was a word. Cantilena unknown but buildable, after rejecting cantabile which wouldn’t parse. Plantigrade unknown, but should be known – plantar fasciitis generated a big discussion here recently. Knew cannae, knew ode/prosody so hardly a stretch for odic/prosodic, and knew alliums – onions and the like. I’ve spelt dietitian wrongly before, so didn’t need the precise instructions to get it right this time. Wrong age and country to know Dad’s Army, which I lifted and separated to have a word starting PA ending TA, thinking of paratha? Finally got it; though my mum made pikelets without yeast.

    Edited at 2022-03-22 02:45 am (UTC)

  3. 34 minutes, with a phone call interruption. All clear and free of obscurities apart from CANTILENA; it rang the vaguest of bells and I see I’d come across it before in an FT crossword in 2018! The parsing for SIBSHIP took a bit of working out. I would have put TUNGSTEN as my favourite, for the def, but I thought the surface was only fair.

    I know other actors have played him in the more recent film and Lost Episodes of ‘Dad’s Army’, (thanks Wikipedia), but the “original and the best” Private PIKE, Ian Lavender is, as you say, still with us. I suppose as it is the character being referred to in the clue, not the actor who played him, that’s OK.

  4. I too was tempted to put in DIETICIAN despite the artist’s name. And I did. So a pink square for me. Had no idea about the plantigrade mammals since I mixed it up with tardigrades, which are not mammals but weird micro-animals that seem to survive anything. The Israelis crash-landed some on the moon, so we will see.
  5. I’ve got ‘DNK’ written just about everywhere on my copy: SUN BEARS (had BEARS, figured out SUN), ALLIUM, PIKELET (& PIKE), NAFF (knew the word, not the meaning; so I really didn’t know the word, did I?), CANTILENA, and of course SIBSHIP. Looked up ‘plantigrade’, though didn’t need to. Biffed PORTMANTEAU WORD from the E_U, only bothered to parse post-submission..
  6. My experience was much like yours, Jack. The top half went in quick smart but the bottom half took much longer. Thank you for the parsing of CANTILENA (which I had heard of) and SIBSHIP (which I had not)
    Got myself mixed up with SUN BEARS. I thought that was another name for Ratel but I’ve discovered Ratel = Honey Badger.
    I liked your idea concerning MOUSEHOLE!
    COD to DIETITIAN. As with 28ac, I had to think twice about the spelling.
    Thanks for the name check in your intro, Jack. I’m hoping that there won’t be a KERFUFFLE over ST#5000 similar to the one that arose over a previous landmark S.T. cryptic (#4444).
    As for Pike, this may get spammed but I think it is one of the classic sketches in British comedy…..
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YMVPXmaKds
  7. Similar to yesterday’s experience in that I got bogged down in the SW, but much better because everything was quicker today and I managed to push through the recalcitrant corner and finish in 27m.

    NHO SUN BEARS (though I have heard of the tardigrade, “water bears”), SIBSHIP or CANTILENA, and LOI PSALM went in with rather a resigned shrug.

    There’s a host of ALLIUM triquetrum, the three-cornered leek (apparently an invasive variety of wild garlic, as opposed to our native ramsons, ALLIUM ursinum) growing along the corner of my road; I noticed it in vigorous flower just the other morning.

  8. Not sure why – but possibly:
    1) I was at a loose end yesterday, and did 3 or 4 practice puzzles from the history via the SNITCH page
    2) I’m off the booze

    I zoomed through this one (by my standards anyway) and came sooooo close to destroying my PB (currently 20:45). My fail was 18d – a NHO for me – where I entered SIBAHIB (1 BA aboard SHIP), wasn’t aware that BS for “science graduate” is a thing. Didn’t like the word I came up with, but I thought “trust the cryptic, Denise”

    Rather a stinging disappointment – but also a clear indication of the way ahead: stay sober, and do more practice. Thanks J and setter

    1. On reflection, BA sure isn’t anything to do with science. I was pushing it a bit too hard….
      1. I had the same problem trying to use BA. My degree in physics was a BA, so that is some excuse I suppose.
      2. If it’s any consolation, I think all undergraduate courses at Cambridge (and another place whose name escapes me) result in a BA, regardless of subject, but I’d be a tad cheesed off if such a niche bit of knowledge was ever required for a Times puzzle.
  9. 30:12
    Got through it. Sibship = same two parents, according to Lexico. And BSc, as this is ToL. Absolute shocker of a clue.
    Thanks, jack.
  10. Most of this was really quick but like others I had refusals at the hideous and IMO unfairly clued word SIBSHIP (US degrees have no place in a UK crossword) as well as NHO CANTILENA and SUN BEARS, though the cryptics were very fair there. Finally fell by entering DIETICIAN. A strange one, that T, given physician, mortician, beautician, politician, technician (I could go on). But of course careful checking of the cryptic instead of peremptory biffing would have seen me right. 25 minutes. Thanks setter and Jack.
  11. I think the thing about ‘one parent’ is actually quite subtle. To have SIBSHIP with someone a single common parent is a necessary but also sufficient condition, as a half brother or sister undeniably qualifies as a ‘SIB’. Only a HALF-SIB maybe, but a SIB for a’ that.

    That’s not to say that I like the word of course…

  12. That am not yet a glorious Denizen
    Of thy wide heaven

    25 mins pre-brekker. All fair but it felt like minimal effort had gone into the surface readings.
    I won’t be incorporating Sibship or Blimpish into my conversations today. But I may sneak in a Denizen.
    Thanks setter and J.

    1. Just don’t cause a kerfuffle, M.
      I’m going to ask my grandchildren about plantigrade sun bears. They will be impressed ..
  13. “knew the word, not the meaning; so I really didn’t know the word, did I?”
    … you have just cut my vocabulary by half, Kevin
  14. And the BS thing doesn’t really bother me either. BSc is the normal Latin abbreviation but many institutions recognise that we mostly speak English nowadays and BS is presumably the degree offered by more ‘modern’ institutions. As pointed out, this is the normal abbreviation in the US but I would guess that some UK institutions now offer BS as the approved ‘letters after the name’ as well. I may be wrong and I don’t have the time to check but it seems reasonable as there are certainly UK medical schools that offer MB, BS as opposed to the classical MB, ChB so If S can stand for Surgery it can easily stand for Science as well in the modern world. And even if that is not the case, surely a Bachelor of Surgery can claim to be a type of science degree in itself?

    Again, not saying I like the resultant word SIBSHIP at all, but I do find the cryptic acceptable and even quite pleasing.

  15. Well I enjoyed this one .. I have no problem with sibship (except it is a horrid little word and the wordplay was BS). Is motel a dbe, if the clue starts with Eg?
    I agree with Myrtilus that surface readings were of variable quality, let us say
    1. Yes, it is, but not open to criticism by those who worry about such things (I do so less and less myself these days) because the setter has used ‘for example’ in mitigation.

      I was not seeking to criticise the clue, only to explain how it worked.

      Edited at 2022-03-22 10:46 am (UTC)

  16. 7:37 WOE. This was a mixture of the obviously biffable and the unfamiliar derived from wordplay. So I biffed the former merrily and focused on the latter. Unfortunately I put DIETICIAN in the wrong category.
    NAFF doesn’t mean worthless to me. Collins and Lexico agree with me but Chambers has it. A bit iffy but didn’t slow me down.
    I’ve always heard MOUSEHOLE pronounced ‘mowzle’ with the central sound as in ‘wow’, which would make a homophone tricky.
    SIBSHIP is very odd, isn’t it? Even squinting quite hard I struggle to see ‘with one parent’ as meaning ‘with at least one parent in common’.

    Edited at 2022-03-22 09:54 am (UTC)

  17. 48 minutes with LOI ILIAC. SIBSHIP was put in with a shrug, not knowing the word, but I had parsed it correctly. It doesn’t seem to mean what the clues suggested though which, coupled with the use of an American qualification, makes it WCOD (worst clue of the day). SUN BEARS were unknown and constructed from the cryptic plus crossers but I’m glad they have their feet on the ground. ‘Don’t tell him, Pike” and Del Boy falling through the bar always vie for the funniest moment in a sitcom. COD to MOUSEHOLE. Thank you Jack and setter.
  18. Just like Jack and some others, I started with a bang and finished with a whimper. 42 mins, held up by the crossers SIBSHIP (agree horrible word and NHO) and SUN BEARS (NHO), DURESS and SEMINAL, and PROSODIC and DIETITIAN.

    WOD KERFUFFLE. I had a friend once who’s surname was Caffel and I called him Kerfuffle. I also liked the W for TUNGSTEN and PORTMANTEAU WORD (FOI)

    For once I didn’t oublie OUBLIETTE.

    Thanks Jack and setter.

      1. Amazingly, yes. Funnily enough, we were on holiday in ‘68 in Cornwall and went to Mousehole (or Muzzle or Mowzle!) together. Beer was 1s10d a pint. Marvellous.
  19. I was almost done in about 18 minutes, but fell apart on the last two. Didn’t know BISH so was 50/50 on BLIMPISH and couldn’t make head nor tail of what type of SHIP it would be — I was blinkeredly focused on someone being on a ship rather than in one (which I think is a bit odd). Put this down as a did not finish.
  20. 16.06 after a slight interruption, with TYCOON my last in. I was certain about heavyweight being TON, but the Yankee concern bothered me, since that’s INC, and it didn’t work for me that this setter’s COncern stood in for COmpany.

    I decided to look up SIBSHIP after the solve, and found it only in dictionary pages and abstruse academic papers. I believe this may be the only time I use it.

    DIETICIANS might like to know that “Titian also used the forms Titiano, Tizian, Tician, Ticiano, Titianus and Ticianus in his signatures”. And he should know.

    Princess Anne either actually or reportedly gave currency to NAFF when she told reporters to “NAFF orf” at the Badminton Horse Trials. But I don’t think it meant “worthless” then.

    Odd puzzle with a lot of “likes”, and not of the ♥ variety, it seems.

    Edited at 2022-03-22 10:06 am (UTC)

  21. Bish for mistake is very Anthony Buckeridge so I liked that clue and as a kid I used to laugh like a HYENA at the Jennings books. I believe the word NAFF originated as an acronym meaning “no apparent function” which would seem to apply to SIBSHIP. 14.19
    1. … to the tune of ‘My Bonnie lies over the ocean’. I can still remember Jennings getting his head stuck in railings, and also the time he confused the schools inspector with the gasman. Did you ever read the Rex Milligan books, aimed by Buckeridge at state school pupils. They were excellent too.
      1. No I didn’t know that Milligan series BW but I’m intrigued. Norm0 infra also recalls “bish” from Molesworth and I’m sure he’s right (as any fule kno).
      2. Yup — I too was a big Jennings fan — chuckled all over again when introducing those books to my kids some years back.
        1. Oh and also did read Rex Milligan’s Busy Term — nice resolution to that one.
  22. Uncomfortable with SIBSHIP, but put it in and hoped for the best. Likewise one or two others. A bit unsure of the connection between David and Psalms. 29 minutes. Nearly had dietician: I suspect that the spelling with a t is rare.
      1. But jackkt’s scholarship is greater than mine (i.e. more than zero) and he says that has been discredited and therefore there should be a question mark. Sorry, hadn’t read the blog properly.
        1. I assure you there’s no scholarship on my part. I vaguely remembered that David was associated in some way with the Book of Psalms but when writing the blog I used Wiki and found this: The book is an anthology of individual Hebrew religious hymns, with 150 in the Jewish and Western Christian tradition and more in the Eastern Christian churches. Many are linked to the name of David, but modern scholarship rejects his authorship, instead placing the composition of the psalms to various authors writing between the 9th and 5th centuries BC.
          1. My OT knowledge dates back to boarding school days and compulsory chapel but I recall thinking at the time that David was a pretty busy guy. He slew Goliath, took Bathsheba from Uriah, danced energetically before the Ark of the Covenant, and wrote the psalms. Now it seems that it may have been several different guys.
  23. ….does not mean that it was easy. I biffed five answers, including the dreadful SIBSHIP, and was frankly pleased to see it off.

    FOI CUBAN
    LOI SIBSHIP
    COD KERFUFFLE (on parsing afterwards)
    TIME 7:41

  24. Like the blogger and others, I also struggled in the bottom half, especially the SW corner. I took a ridiculously long time to see PSALM; the setter fooled me into searching my mind for artistic works by the artist, David. CANTILENA and SIBSHIP were both unfamiliar, but just solvable from the wordplay. I suspected a trap at 26a, so didn’t enter HYENA for a long time. As Jackkt says above, “a barely cryptic definition.”
    41 minutes.
  25. 17:50 with one omission. Realised on review I hadn’t corrected 14d in which I had started to write CANTICLE before falling a letter short. Not entirely sure I would have got CANTILENA anyway, though I think I had the component parts worked out. Oh well, I can pretend I would have done.
  26. 12:32 LOI the unknown and strange word SIBSHIP puzzled by BS for science graduate. I was puzzled by the definition of PROSODIC too, but I did like LINNET.
    1. Too many birds – I’m agin it
      The problem today is the LINNET
      Like my PROSODIC rants
      All these tweeters are pants
      And it’s incredibly NAFF, innit?

      A new PORTMANTEAU WORD may seem dotty
      But our setters are simply bird-potty
      B for bird at the start
      Otty’s the other part
      And we find that our setter’s a botty.

  27. Like our blogger, I breezed through the top half, then slowed slightly in the SE before grinding to a complete halt in the SW. NHO PROSODIC, SIBSHIP and the only place I have ever seen BISH as a word meaning ‘mistake’ is in the autobiography of that grate wit and skolar Nigel Molesworth, the curse of St Custard’s cheers cheers cheers. DNF in about half an hour chiz.
  28. I’m another who found the top half straightforward and the bottom a lot less so. I managed to biff SIBSHIP and CANTILENA but then typed PROSIDIC which earned me the referee’s pink card. NAFF indeed.

    Still, the sun is shining and Spring is definitely in the air here.

    Thanks to Jack and the setter.

  29. Most of that spent on SIBSHIP and PSALM. We had DIETITIAN fairly recently, so I was able to get it right this time.

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