Times 27963 – carry on with The Times

63 comments on “Times 27963 – carry on with The Times”

1. More than a hint of vanilla, but that’s all right with me. DNK BAGATELLE, at least I didn’t know it was a ball game; if pressed, I’d probably have said it was a card game. DNK E-TYPE.
2. FOI JEWEL and SOI JOBCENTRE. I couldn’t see the wordplay and was going to come back, but since all the crossing clues went in correctly almost immediately, it couldn’t be anything else.

   But I messed up and put RANG A BELL without paying quite enough attention to the clue. So a pink square.

   The only unknown was that I’d forgotten what “napery” was so I needed a lot of checkers to remind me. Also, you need the British version of “table” an agenda item in a meeting, meaning bring it to be considered, as opposed to the American version that means to put it to one side for next time.

   1. Although bills introduced in Congress are “ordered to lie on the table and be printed”.
3. I was very much on the wavelength today, recording my ninth fastest time on the SNITCH. I liked the E Type though pretty sure we saw it somewhere quite recently. I did briefly wonder if there was an equivalent to the EMCEE called an EMBEE, with the medal being an MBE (not sure with hindsight that you can call it a medal). It didn’t occur to me at the time that there could be more than two of those pesky Europeans.
4. Home in 38 minutes with some exotic creatures here to brighten the day. I was held up by initially entering ‘woman’ for 26a, which I think is an equally valid answer. E-TYPE has made a few appearances in various places lately which helped with 28a. I couldn’t parse ORANGUTAN but everything else made sense.

   I’ve just looked it up and TR, admittedly with the all important following full stop, is in Chambers.

5. 26 minutes with at least 5 of those trying to parse TABLE LINEN before giving up on it. I see it now it has been pointed out but neither synonym element is the most obvious.

   TUBERCULAR as a person with tuberculosis was unknown to me. TR as trustee also.

   1. I think the definition of TUBERCULAR includes the ‘s, so it’s ‘relating to a person with tuberculosis’.
      1. Indeed, and that was my parsing as I finished the puzzle last night, however I later found:

         tubercular ► B noun. A person with tuberculosis. M20.

         That’s from SOED, and Collins has it too.

         1. Interesting, thanks. I was so sure of the parsing I didn’t even bother to check! I wonder which the setter intended — not that it matters of course.
            1. Although it works just about, I thought the ‘s thing was a bit desperate and the noun definition more satisfactory when confirmed it exists.
               1. Yes I agree – doesn’t meant that was what the setter intended though!
6. 13 minutes with LOI an unparsed PLATYPUS. I nearly didn’t recognise him without his duck bill. COD to ARCHETYPE even though it was a write-in. The couple of times I’ve been to Harley Street, finding the right DOORPLATE in all its polished brass glory has been a challenge, so today it came surprisingly easily. There’s nothing like the feeling of fresh white TABLE LINEN, which comes with a guarantee that you’ll spill your soup. A pleasant puzzle. Thank you Pip and setter.
7. Funnily enough I was watching an episode of “Pawn Stars” last night (yes, strictly highbrow viewing habits) and someone brought in an old BAGATELLE set. They talked a bit about its history which sounded very interesting and which prompted me to do some in-depth research (= looking at the Wikipedia article on the topic). Worth a look.

   You might also want to have a look at some pics of the E-TYPE (Jaguar). It’s a cliché, but it has been described as the most beautiful car ever made, with some justification IMHO.

8. 20 mins pre-brekker. Struggled to parse Jobcentre. Wasn’t sure Orangutan was one word or that Platypuses are mainly seen in Victoria.
   Thanks setter and Pip.
9. Not terribly excited by this one but liked STRAFE.
10. Another mug who blundered into the trap and threw in RANG A BELL without reading the clue properly 🙁
    Thanks, pip.
    1. Commiserations. It’s particularly frustrating to fall into a trap that isn’t really even there!
       1. Cheers k, I know, it’s really annoying! It was the past tense in the clue (along with my slapdash reading) that did for me 🙂
11. I was a little behind the pace today, but not far. And it was, as our blogger suggests, a pleasant solve.

    I had a MER with platypuses being “seen mainly in Victoria”. I’ve seen many in NSW and don’t think of them as primarily in Victoria. Most online information locates their habitat as all across the Eastern seaboard, including Tasmania. So I’m not sure why the setter singles out Victoria, other than to make the setting more ambiguous, or needs the word “mainly”.

    1. I wondered if that was a reference to water associated with their habitat, but it seems that’s more likely to be rivers and creeks whereas ‘main’ refers to the open sea.
12. Whistled through this in no time, under 10 anyway.
    I assumed there must be a medal called an MCE, now Pip has put me straight I rather like that clue .. original, no mean feat considering how often EMCEE pops up. You wonder if there is a good clue in there somewhere, where it is a homophone of its own interior.
    We have a bagatelle set, that comes out at Christmas usually ..

13. FOI: JEWEL
    LOI: SUGAR DADDY

    A strong start working NW then SW, with about 70% complete after 10 minutes and then slowed with 27A – DOORPLATE was pencilled in twice and rejected before ROOD for CROSS emerged.

    Thank you, pipkirby and the setter

14. 30m steady solve, though failed to parse the napery. Thank you to setter and blogger for the entertainment.
15. I struggled with TABLE LINEN until all the checkers were in, as I wasn’t sure what napery was. I wouldn’t have got DOORPLATE without the checkers either. JOBCENTRE or LITERARY went in unparsed, so thanks to the blogger for the explanations, and it took me a while to remember that ‘brilliant’ can be a noun to get JEWEL, but otherwise this wasn’t too tricky. I thought ORANGUTAN was a nice clue.

    FOI Franc
    LOI Doorplate
    COD Orangutan

16. I agree. I own a TR6 but the E-type is the car of my dreams.
    1. The MGB Roadster (chrome bumper obvs) will always be my true love but the E-Type is a thing of utter beauty, along with Concorde!
       30 minutes.

       Edited at 2021-04-28 12:55 pm (UTC)

17. 7:47, but with a very careless RANG A BELL. I’m not quite sure how that happened, given the very clear wording of the clue. There’s always tomorrow.
18. 31 mins today so I’m happy. Not too challenging, and, as bletchleyreject says, a nice array of exotic animals. FOI JEWEL, LOI DIALOGUE, which held me up for some odd reason. I thought SUGAR DADDY was a fun clue but COD to PLATYPUS. I have seen them in the wild, delightful creatures. Thanks pip and setter.
19. 18dn was a lousy obscurity of a clue, yuk!

    Napery was troublesome, nowt to do with necks? But I got here in the end my LOI TABLE LINEN

    FOI 29ac STALL

    COD 10ac although I had VILLA (VI-LL-A) originally which still looks good to me!

    WOD NAPERY – where’s my serviette?

20. Surely we are also missing a Q for a pangram?
    1. That too.
    2. I thought, hmm, only missing an x, eh .. should I check that? Nah .. someone even more pernickety than I am is bound to be along in due course 🙂
       So, thanks!
       1. now I know at least 2 people read the introductory drivel I churn out!
          1. You can only fool some of the people some of the time, Pip 🙂
21. Slow, but held up for ages at the end by sticking in WOMAN for 25a (W + 0 MAN) early on.

    As I couldn’t get any of the crossing words with that in place, had to rethink, then spotted the hidden NINJA and as if by magic, the rest fell into place.

22. Drat! Managed not to spot my typo during proofreading. ARCHEYPEE. Obviously didn’t hit the T hard enough. 17:54 with 2 errors as SUGAR DADDP became an error too. Off to sulk and get my second jab now. Thanks setter and Pip.
23. I had a bagatelle game as a child but these days the word seems only to used in its trinket/trivia sense (usually preceded by a lofty “mere”). A straightforward top-to-bottom solve in 15 mins.
24. but much time spent on PLATYPUS LOI which did not jump out at me from the available letters.
    It seemed that the SW was of a different level of difficulty from the rest, but as it turned out I had LITERATE instead of LITERARY, which then allowed TUBERCULAR (anagram, NHO). Once that was in, the BISHOPRIC and everything else flowed in.
25. Thanks for the parsing of JOBCENTRE, Pip.
    For 26a I initially had MADAM , being the random woman ADA ( Lovelace perhaps), having M at each end, i.e. a male with and without. Then I saw WOMAN parsed better, like Beaker 84801442, and was only forced to NORMA when the NINJA was spotted hiding in plain sight. 28’56”
26. Tr for trustee is in the Pocket Crossword Dictionary by B.J.Holmes from 2005.
    1. And which of us can say the same?
27. so my thanks to the blogger.
    My mum told me that Gat was short for Gatling Gun, but I found the below on Wiki which explains the “pistol” in the clue:
    The Gat Air Pistol was an air pistol of British origin. The pistol can fire .177 pellets, ball bearings, darts and also corks. The Gat pistol has also become popular in funfairs and arcade stalls.
    It was produced from the late 1930s to the mid 1990s by T J Harrington & Co Ltd. of Magda Works, Walton on Thames.
    I now realise that I’ve seen one, but I didn’t know its name at the time.
    Andyf
    1. Thanks Andy, I wonder if the setter knew that too. For me, GAT in some form is likely when pistol appears in a clue.
    2. The oldest quote for GAT in the OED dates from 1904 so I guess Messrs Harrington made use of the existing expression. The OED says it is indeed short for Gatling, so your mum was quite correct, as mums usually are ..
28. Add me to the swelling multitude who had no idea how the JOBCENTRE worked (no change there, then). Otherwise 14.36 with the right side more obdurate than the left.
    I was surprised to see ORANGUTAN without a space or a hyphen, which delayed that entry slightly. DOOPLATE is, I suppose, more common in Harley Street than on the average residential avenue, but I still expected there to be some sort of doctor involved in the answer, which I don#’t think there was.
    We had the ARCH E-TYPE a mere three weeks ago, slightly more deviously clued.
    A pleasant trundle, and thanks to Pip for staying behind after school to sort out JOBCENTRE.
29. JOBCENTRE without a hyphen looked odd to US-accustomed eyes but I think I recalled it from one of Ruth Rendell’s Wexford tales. Some pairs also caught the eye on the way – table and table, bell and belle, type and typ. SOFTLY SOFTLY catchee ORANGUTAN. 16.04
    1. Shouldn’t Americans be spelling it jobsenter?

       Edited at 2021-04-28 12:42 pm (UTC)

       1. Now that looks really strange Jerry!
30. Fairly straightforward which is fine by me as I appear to have mislaid my brain. Grateful to Pip for explaining Norma as I was hung up on Norman and couldn’t make it work. I liked Strafe, Jobcentre, OrangUtan and the well-worded Ninja.

    Thanks to Pip and setter.

31. Post-lunch, if I don’t complete in 10 or 15 I drift off, and that’s what happened. Luckily switched off clock first. But the snooze slows everything. So my last few clues, all in the bottom half, took an annoying ten minutes. Never did see why it was jobcentre. Parsing still seems a touch obscure. Nearly put in nyama, but realised Alan was my man. Sugar Daddy makes me think of the Hot Chocolate song. Maybe not one of their best, but it sure works as an ear-worm! (The estimable Robert Christgau gives HC high billing, and I think he’s right!)
32. In 36 minutes, including a break for tea making without stopping the clock unfortunately or I could have been looking at a personal best. Enjoyed an unspectacular puzzle. NHO nyala but the wordplay was clear. Thought jobcentre and orangutan were two words each. No idea of parsing of jobcentre. Can’t say I knew the word napery either.
    After failing to finish several puzzles, it was a pleasure to reach a confident finish.
    Thanks to the setter and blogger.
33. Some nice touches here, without being massively tough. I took a long time to see what was going on with 27ac – I became somewhat fixated on IR_____ATE but was pretty sure there was nothing real which fitted…IRONPLATE? No. Got there in the end.
34. 9:09 Pretty easy going, starting with the first 5 acrosses beforfe having to skip on. LOI STRAFE. COD to 2D – yes I will carry on with The Times.
35. 38 minutes, the last few of which spent trying unsuccessfully to parse JOBCENTRE, but it really couldn’t be anything else, could it. I did finally understand the wordplay for everything else (ARCHETYPE only on second reading, since it does have an anagram of THE CAR in it, followed by Y and PE for sports. But when I relaxed a bit, I saw the ARCH and the E-TYPE). Otherwise quite easy and relaxing, while my grandchildren were dancing upstairs and I was not to disturb them.
36. I cannot spell TUBERCULAR to save my life and did not here. Oh well, better luck tomorrow.
37. 24.52 with a real struggle in the SW corner. Couldn’t believe 26 was so easy, obviously the answer was woman
    W(ith) 0 man! Unfortunately, it wasn’t. Took me ages to get Norma, only because I belatedly realised ninja was a hidden word.
    Bishopric slotted in nicely and then a final hold up before getting the anagram bit of 21 dn.

    Enjoyed the exercise so thanks setter and blogger for subsequent confirmation.

38. …and all the clues concerned were parsed on completion : JOBCENTRE, ORANGUTAN, BISHOPRIC, and PLATYPUS. Not my favourite puzzle of the month. I was surprised to see the first two of those as single words, and didn’t know TR as an abbreviation, though it was obvious.

    FOI JEWEL
    LOI JOBCENTRE
    COD STRAFE
    TIME 8:35

39. A disappointing DNF in 16-ish minutes. I had doorplace instead of doorplate and didn’t pause to consider whether it was (a) a word or (b) whether there was a better alternative. I was satisfied with the reversed rood and thought place a satisfactory synonym for prize – he took first place – say, and didn’t dwell on it any further. That aside I liked the cousin under threat definition of orangutan and also the construction of the rest of that clue, as well as after tanks in the clue for strafe. Oh, and I had no idea how jobcentre broke down until coming here.
40. Steady solve. Good middle of the road stuff

    A PLATYPUS has a key role in the denouement of one of the later Aubrey/Maturin books and as it happens I think they were in NSW not Victoria. Ramble over.

    Just 5 minutes slower than the QC 🤔

    Thanks setter and Pip

41. Started (relatively) quickly in the NW, and before too long the top half of the grid (bar Orangutan) was complete. The lower half was a different story altogether (26ac Woman didn’t help) and I almost gave up on Doorplate and Platypus, but got there eventually, albeit with Jobcentre, Literary and Table Linen unparsed. Invariant
42. Stone me! Thanks for that.
    Andyf
43. I assume that a grid with three 5-letter solutions of the form NxxxA doesn’t happen accidentally
    1. it’d be stranger if it didn’t

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