Times Cryptic 27938

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 48 mins for what I managed without aids, but I required help with my last two answers.

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 Man on river for jolly old party (8)
FALSTAFF : FAL (river), STAFF (man). This was one of the two intersecting clues that baffled me to the end. I was missing the first A checker and although I had considered STAFF for ‘man’ I wasn’t sure what I was looking for by way of definition – it could possibly have been ‘man’ with TAFF as the river (it’s in Wales), or even an all-in-one definition. I tried to think of 3-letter rivers but never got further than Dee and Ure – not that there’s anything to indicate the choice would be limited to the British Isles. Previously I’d been thinking RM for ‘jolly’ and DO for ‘party’ but  checkers arrived to rule both out. In the end I gave up, and have to say the definition is horribly loose without anything to suggest ‘jolly old party’ might be a person, or in what context. The A checker would probably have made all the difference but there was no hope of my finding it. More about that at 2dn.
9 Unusual year in transformed capital (8)
ATYPICAL : Y (year) contained by [in] anagram [transformed] of CAPITAL
10 Whisky available here? Over bar (4)
OBAN : O (over), BAN (bar). For the purposes of the clue OBAN is nothing more than a random place in Scotland, but since whisky is available world-wide this was another unhelpful definition.
11 Sporty sort in form takes extraordinary run (6,6)
FIGURE SKATER : FIGURE (form), anagram [extraordinary] of TAKES, then R (run).  Here we have the whole world of sport to choose from but at least the wordplay was kind.
13 Green brought back for stuffing fish and chicken (6)
COWARD : RAW (green) reversed [brought back] contained by [stuffing] COD (fish)
14 Strategy to have piano used in Javanese orchestra (4,4)
GAME PLAN : P (piano) contained by [used in] GAMELAN (Javanese orchestra). This was easier to biff and then reverse engineer the wordplay. Later I remembered GAMELAN as a percussion orchestra, not that it’s limited to Java. ‘Indonesian’ would better cover its wider heritage but that’s being reserved for a clue further down the grid. I guess we have to be thankful we were not treated to a cross-reference.
15 Nuclear power source, unstable at core, on river (7)
REACTOR : Anagram [unstable] of AT CORE, then R (river)
16 Smoke from revolutionary base (7)
CHEROOT : CHE (revolutionary), ROOT (base)
20 Horse moves long time after groom (8)
DRESSAGE : DRESS (groom), AGE (long time). Excellent definition.
22 Director on trips took seat with truck swinging round (6)
SATNAV : SAT (took seat), then VAN (truck) reversed [swinging round]. Another good definition.
23 True love OK? (8,4)
ABSOLUTE ZERO : ABSOLUTE (true),  ZERO (love). The definition refers to zero on the Kelvin scale (0K) which is only one representation of absolute zero, hence the question mark.
25 Extinct language only Army and RAF used? (4)
NORN : NO RN – ( no Royal Navy, only Army and RAF). I didn’t know the language but eventually unravelled the wordplay.
26 Author in protest disowning books offers share (8)
DISPENSE : PEN (author) contained by [in] DISSE{nt} [disowning books – New Testament]
27 Onion ring one boy consumes (8)
SCALLION : SON (boy) contains [consumes] CALL (ring) + I (one)
Down
2 Fish from Scotland served with heart (8)
ALBACORE : ALBA (Scotland), CORE (heart). This is the other clue I gave up on. I had written in CORE for ‘heart’ but  I couldn’t think of anything to account for Scotland as the first part of the answer. Afterwards I realised I knew ALBA as the Gaelic for ‘Scotland’  (it’s the name of the BBC’s Gaelic TV service) but it didn’t come to mind.  Also I didn’t recognise the fish but I note it has come up a couple of times over the years including a Jumbo I solved in January.
3 City currency invested in crooked casinos (3,9)
SAN FRANCISCO : FRANC (currency) contained by [invested in] anagram [crooked] of CASINOS
4 Good eggs coming north on road rebuilt for scientist (8)
AVOGADRO : G (good) + OVA (eggs) reversed [coming north), anagram [rebuilt] of ROAD. Signor Av is not on my very limited list of scientists.
5 Mix of stuff from newspaper appearing in Portuguese resort (7)
FARRAGO : RAG (newspaper) contained by [appearing in] FARO (Portuguese resort). One of several words I learnt at an early age from the sayings of one Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock of 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam . What a farrago!
6 Adhesive binding agent revolutionary as building material (6)
GYPSUM : GUM (adhesive) containing [binding] SPY (agent) reversed [revolutionary]. An ingredient of plaster of Paris.
7 Second home in country — one located in 10? (4)
SCOT : S (second) COT (home in country – small cottage). For the definition we’re once again reliant on the vagaries of a random place-name only available after solving 10ac.
8 Pipe blown in cold loo — time to go finally (8)
CLARINET : C (cold),  LA{t}RINE (loo) with T (time) moved to the end [to go finally]. What is that surface about? Most amusing clue of the day.
12 Venomous reptile, one intelligent, hoping for success (12)
ASPIRATIONAL : ASP (venomous reptile), I (one), RATIONAL (intelligent)
15 Snake going without sleep upset forest creature (3,5)
RED PANDA : ADDER (snake) containing NAP (sleep) all reversed [upset]
17 Uncontrollable emotion this year erupting (8)
HYSTERIA : Anagram [erupting] of THIS YEAR
18 Men at old port finding work (8)
ORATORIO : OR (men), AT, O (old), RIO (port). ‘Work’ simply defining a piece of music.
19 Stars seen around eastern Indonesian island (7)
CELEBES : CELEBS (stars) containing [seen around] E (eastern). Also known as Sulawesi, but neither name was known to me.
21 Old-school type, abrasive, leaving India (6)
ALUMNA : ALUM{i}NA (abrasive} [leaving India – NATO alphabet]. The abrasive was unknown and I’m not sure I have met ‘alumna’ as the female equivalent of ‘alumnus’.
24 Son in covert reconnaissance unit displays nerve (4)
SASS : S (son) contained by [in] SAS (covert reconnaissance unit – Special Air Service)

55 comments on “Times Cryptic 27938”

  1. I didn’t have trouble with the ones that Jack did. OBAN once I had the N; ALBACORE from the B and E; AVOGADRO from the A and O. (I remember his number from high school chemistry, though I couldn’t tell you anything about it; he’s appeared here a couple of times.) I don’t think I actually knew that CELEBES was Sulawesi, and I think I thought it was more than one island. DNK NORN the language, only the (allegedly reboantic) goddesses. I did have trouble with POI DISPENSE & LOI SASS. I biffed ABSOLUTE ZERO, and had a PDM after submitting. My COD. Jack, you’ve got a typo: it’s gamelAn.
  2. A DNF in 56 minutes. Failed on NORN (NHO) and ALUMNA (NHO the ‘abrasive’) and wouldn’t have been able to solve this without using aids. Disappointing, but that’s how it is. I was more annoyed at missing the original parsing of the v. good CLARINET.

    Favourite was FARRAGO, the name of our old student newspaper, which was intentionally a bit of a ‘rag’. Funny, but it’s one those words which is almost invariably used in only one term – ‘a FARRAGO of nonsense’, which is presumably what Tony Hancock meant.

    Thanks to Jack and setter

  3. Falstaff: I would it were otherwise; I would my means were great and my waist slenderer.

    They don’t tell ’em like that any more.
    20 mins, plus another couple to unravel Dispense and remember Celebes is what we used to call Sulawesi.
    I liked this one (but I did know Albacore, which helped).
    Thanks setter and J.

  4. It’s always reassuring to come here and find I’m not the only one to have come unstuck. I wasn’t very familiar with ALUMNA and didn’t know “alumina” so ended up going with ALUMNI. As soon as I saw my error I thought to myself it must have been ALUMNA so I did have some vague knowledge of the word. My biggest hold up had been CELEBES which I was pleased to have teased out. I spent some time thinking that “seen” had to form some part of the cryptic otherwise it could be considered redundant in the clue. But it was there just to help the surface reading. Non-Ximinean? I prefer it in there for the surface.

    Congratulations to topicaltim on the Mastermind performance. I look forward to the semi-final.

    Edited at 2021-03-30 06:56 am (UTC)

  5. Didn’t bother with ALBACORE and NORN went in with a shrug. Not to my taste this one but COD to ABSOLUTE ZERO.
    On a brighter note, well done to Tim on Mastermind last night.
  6. 32 minutes, stuck on the DISPENSE/ CELEBES crosser for a long time. I liked NORN but COD to ABSOLUTE ZERO. At that temperature you could count the number of molecules in a mole given the time. Congratulations to Tim. Thank you Jack and setter.

    Edited at 2021-03-30 07:05 am (UTC)

  7. I was on track for a sub-20 time but then got stuck in the SW corner over ALUMNA, RED PANDA, DISPENSE and CELEBES as well as SCALLION. I know the CELEBES SEA but not that CELEBES is another name for SULAWESI, which I knew.
    In FARRAGO, back in the 70s I knew FARO just as the place you flew to to get to resorts further west and not as a resort itself.
    I’ve recently seen the movie Nomadland so I was familiar with GYPSUM. After the GYPSUM plant closes during the GFC, the whole town around it disappears off the map and the ZIP code is cancelled.
    Thank you, Jack, for explaining SCOT and ABSOLUTE ZERO.

    Edited at 2021-03-30 07:17 am (UTC)

  8. Our setter today i applaud
    For the technical content on-board
    Loved ABSOLUTE ZERO
    And knew AVOGADRO
    And when i saw SATNAV I roared!
  9. 11:47. A curious puzzle with quite a few funny words. Almost nothing I didn’t know though, even if I am unlikely to use words like gamelan or alumina on an average day. I have been using the word GYPSUM quite a lot recently, for somewhat convoluted professional reasons.
    I spent a couple of minutes at the end agonising over 19dn: I thought I was looking for a constellation I’d never heard of to deduce the name of an island I’d never heard of, and the three checking Es meant multiple options for the letter pattern. But eventually I twigged the required meaning of ‘stars’ and CELEBES looked perfectly likely as the name of an island.
    Well done to Tim: brilliant performance! And very good taste in movies.

    Edited at 2021-03-30 07:28 am (UTC)

  10. DNF as I also had ALUMNI. No idea what was going on with GAME PLAN, ABSOLUTE ZERO AND DISPENSE but somehow got them in. I did know ALBACORE (Alba from yesterday’s Times cartoon!) guessed at FALSTAFF. Liked SATNAV.

    Congrats to Tim on yesterday’s performance. Excellent stuff. Good luck for the next round.

    Thank you Jack and setter.

  12. A whisky tasting experience the other weekend, where we were sent 5 small bottles of ‘gold watch’, all sourced from Islay. The things one can get up to in lockdown.

    Headaches all round IIRC, though not with today’s puzzle which I found very good. COD 23ac, and without wishing to seem controversial, I didn’t find jakkt’s definitions all that loose.

    Missed Tim, but congratulations to him, and best for the next appearance.

    1. An Islay whisky tasting sounds divine. I’m a Laphroaig aficionado but I’ve got an Ardbeg on the go at the moment.
  13. Loved it, right up my street, for nearly 23 minutes. Quirky, sometimes downright weird clues, but all in my Slumdog Millionaire collection of known stuff.
    OK made me smile (what a definition!). So did the cold loo, and the device which produced NORN. So did the improbable sue of GAMELAN. And the horse moves.
    CELEBES my last in, after looking for the wrong kind of stars before realising I actually knew the island(s?) if not by their current name.
    I paused when checking to confirm ALUMNA, entered instead of ALUMNI because it wasn’t a plural and didn’t have an I(ndia) but sussed ALUM(I)NA before submitting just to be sure.
    FALSTAFF wins my accolade for most misleading clue of the day: almost every word a crossword staple (bloke, leg, R, replacing, marine, O, tory/do and lots more besides), and even then two rivers to chose from.
    I failed to recognise Tim last night, since I know him by sight as a pint and a puzzle, but congratulations on a stellar achievement. Mrs Z is the quizzist in this household, with a 15to1 trophy on display.

    Edited at 2021-03-30 09:00 am (UTC)

  14. 14:42 of which 4 minutes over my last 3 : ALUMNA, DISPENSE and (LOI) the unknown CELEBES. It’s a while since I had any OBAN whisky. As vinyl says it is a little on the expensive side. From what I remember, though, I quite liked it. COD to ABSOLUTE ZERO.
  15. Strangely I found this very easy, with only ALUMNA FALSTAFF and NORN holding me up at the end. I still didn’t understand ALUMNA when I came here, but it had to be singular from the clue.
    Was toying with SATRAP for a while till I realised my error.
    COD GAME PLAN. I like world music…

  16. I was pleased to have completed the top half of the grid in a decent time, but after an hour the RED PANDA had not emerged from the cerebral canopy; I had dispensed with DISPENSE (wrongly trying to parse SPENSER – but failing to consider PEN); and CELEBES was not known to me (although guessable from the wordplay). (And I had wrongly entered ALUMNI).

    Thanks to chrisw91 and the setter. And congratulations to Tim (including diptheria).

  17. First pink square in more than a month. Bunged in ALUMNI rather than ALUMNA.

    Having said that, there were too many unknowns near the bottom of this grid for comfort.

    NORN? CELEBES? Even SCALLION stuffed me for a while.

  18. Defeated by CELEBES, ALUMNA, DISPENSE. All the rest in about 18 minutes. NHO NORN as a language but the cryptic was clear. Thought the rest was good.

    Thanks Jack for the explanations.

  19. I knew the Celebes from Lawrence Durrell’s stories of the diplomatic life. A dapper Defence Attaché and Guardsman says “I suspect I once ate roast grandmother in the Celebes but it was never proved and anyway it was to save the regimental goat.”
    Loved Absolute Zero, but wasn’t OK queried because the O is supposed to be read as 0?
  20. Speedy going until it suddenly wasn’t. Gave up after 45m with a blank DISPENSE, snookered by by my desperate SCIA, which as any fool knows is obviously the nerve that gives you gypsum when you get sciatica.
  21. Started off slowly but picked up speed. Game Plan came to me early and I had to assume that Gamelan meant something. Norn too I guessed, and Celebes I only vaguely remembered. But it all came out right in the end.
    1. Gamelan is one of those crosswords words that lurks in the back of your mind. Indonesian orchestra? No chance of solving it, can’t remember it even though you know you’ve seen it before. Game Plan as Gamelan around a P? Instantly recognisable!
  22. 30 minutes except for CELEBES which I eventually looked up, but I’d tentatively put in ALUMNI, meaning to go back, but didn’t. 39:27 WOE and a look up. Thanks setter and Jack.
  23. Thanks for the parse on ALUMNA Jack. I took “alum” for the abrasive (although I don’t think that’s what it does) leaving a dangling NA, and yes I also looked at NI. Very slow start for me and some hiccups along the way. Some very good stuff here (DRESSAGE). Flanders and Swann described At The Drop Of A Hat as an “after-dinner FARRAGO”. 23.03
  24. Not a problem with this, ALBACORE was first one in, reminded of Alba by the name of Mr Salmond’s supposed new party. LOI was SASS which I nearly forgot to fill in, and not convinved that the SAS were a reconnaissance unit, thought they were a bit more proactive than that. NORN just from wordplay. 25 minutes. 23a my CoD.
    1. I was going to say exactly that in my blog but then looked at the second sentence on Wiki and decided not to bother. It maybe where the setter looked too!:

      The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, direct action and covert reconnaissance.

  25. Foiled by ALUMNA – I put “alumne”, thinking the abrasive was “alumine”. I need to stop defaulting to the masculine in these situations and consider the female equivalents. ALBACORE, AVOGADRO and CELEBES were all constructed from the wordplay, and RED PANDA took a long time to come as my mind struggled to associate pandas with forest creatures.
  26. 37.00 but went for alumni rather than alumna. Hey ho. For the last two days decided to complete the puzzle via the Crossword Club site. 18.00 yesterday and all correct then.
    However, for me I think I prefer to complete on paper. As an instance I almost allowed a misspelling of san francisco to sneak through which I would have seen much quicker on paper. Back to old technology for me tomorrow.

    Good puzzles both days. Annoyed not to get alumna . My reference actually quoted aluminium oxide as the abrasive. Never heard of aluminium the metal being one. thought it would be too fragile.

  27. Celebes is the old colonial name, like ‘Bombay’ for ‘Mumbai’. Most memorable, IMHO, for The Elephant Celebes, a remarkable early painting by Max Ernst. Look up the Wiki article on it for some amusing background.
  28. Enjoyed this. Didn’t have jackkt’s problem with Falstaff and Albacore, partly because Alba’s quite topical. I did have a lot of trouble with Dispense and Sass. Five answers ending in O, which seems rather a lot. Perhaps not.

    There’s a strange painting by Max Ernst called Celebes. It’s in the Tate, or it used to be. Had no idea it was a place.

  29. I’m told I’ve been banned from commenting , I know others have had similar problems. Fingers crossed…
    I came unstuck on the clues others found tricky. Didn’t know NORN , and biffed in alumni although knew it really couldn’t be a plural. Kept thinking SOE but got SASS eventually. An odd word though?
    Liked scallion but think it’s probably more commonly used over the pond.
    COD 23ac.
    Congratulations Tim on a stellar performance and all the best for the next one.
    Thank you blogger & setter.
  30. … daftly mistyped ALBICORE and then discovered (later) that that is another spelling of ALBACORE but alas ALBI can’t really be said to be Scotland, or even part of it. Loved 0K, and liked NORN. SF was FOI. FALSTAFF seems like he is trying to be an all-in-one and I biffed him, but the crossing A only lead to my downfall … doh!
  31. My solving is getting worse. No idea of albacore, celebes, scallion. Didn’t like old school type as definition of alumna. Several others, I was disappointed not to see. Loved absolute zero. Didn’t get close to working it out. Thanks to setter and jackkt for the blog.
  32. Nice puzzle today with the unknowns generously clued — although I was desperately trying to remember my 42 years ago science degree for Avogadro, adrogavo, etc😊

    Thanks to Alex Salmond’s recent people’s front of Scotland project for giving me 2d with less pain than Jack.

    Thanks for the explanation of dispense- I couldn’t quite see that.

    Dressage and Absolute Zero joint COD for me.

    32:20 thanks Jack and setter

  33. Had to think about the island for a while. ALBA was prominent for the Salmond-related reason others have mentioned.

    Thank you for the messages of support…semi-final appearance, in which I tackle the band REM, will be promoted via the usual channels 🙂

    2. I watched this last night. Congratulations on an impressive performance and good luck in the next round. I noticed that none of the contestants interrupted questions part way through, even when there seemed to be scope to provide the answer much earlier rather than waiting for the question in full to be completed. Is that something contestants are asked to do – wait for the question to be completed in full before answering – in order to make sure everyone gets the same number of questions?
      1. You are spot on. No interruptions allowed, so that everyone gets theoretically the same number of questions (although it is a cause of some discussion whether that number of questions could and should be larger for everyone by making them shorter…)
        1. That’s interesting. Thank you. It does make sense to try and ensure everyone gets the same number of questions. I’d agree with upping the quota though if they could do it without changing the feel or atmosphere of the show. As a viewer you want to have a crack at as many questions as possible.
    3. I watched on catch-up last night. An impressive performance, especially on the GK! Well done Tim:-)
  34. Failed on norn. So it goes. Not sure I knew Alba as Scotland – it was the cafe round the corner when I was a student: L’Alba is The Dawn in Italian.
    1. And another with Farrago as my Alma Mater’s rag. Loved the amazingly surreal weekly installment of “Abbatoir Lads” back in about 1978.
  35. Never got Norn, and didn’t rethink Alumni/a. The unk to me Faro and Gamelan seemed reasonable to fill gaps between obvious answers and clear wordplay. I especially liked Absolute Zero, though I thought the ? was just there because the surface reading is set out in the form of a question.

    And, even in NY we are able to watch Mastermind, which I did. I too am looking forward to the semifinals. Well done, TIm. Very nice interview afterwards.

  36. ….when my patience wore thin. Didn’t get DISPENSE or ALUMNA (I thought of “alumni” but it’s plural and doesn’t parse).
  37. 23.24. Very enjoyable. A few sticky bits but nothing impossible. I particularly enjoyed Falstaff and Absolute Zero. Was very careful at the end over alumna / alumni. Pleased to have jumped the right way on that one.
  38. Finished up about half a dozen short, which surprisingly didn’t included Falstaff and Norn, though I did have to look up the fish. The SE corner was my real downfall , even once the elusive Red Panda had been caught. As a retired physicist, not getting Absolute Zero was very embarrassing: a brilliant clue, but I just couldn’t see what was going on. Celebes was unknown, but at least easy enough to remember for the next time. Invariant
  39. Somehow got over the line all correct. ALUMNA went in and out as didnt know the abrasive but eventually I plumped for it rejecting the plural as more likely to be wrong. That enabled DISPENSE and my LOI CELEBES which I knew from studying the maps in HMS Surprise and various other of the Aubrey/Maturin books. Which reminds me, maybe time to run through the series again…

    Thought it was quite tricky and enjoyed it.

    Thanks Setter and Jackkt

  40. I know Oban for SAMS, the Scottish Association for Marine Science, not the whisky, all varieties of which to me smell of Air-Fix glue. I could see Falstaff but not the river Fal which is sad as Falmouth is charming little town. I even guessed Celebes from the neighbouring sea. But I didn’t know alumna and couldn’t fit alumni to the clue, nor could I see how to obtain “dispense” from “offers share”. As ever when a crossword defeats me I started to doubt the setter but I do think that the almost-redundant “offers” should lead to some sort of deduction from the setter’s fee. Otherwise, an enjoyable crossword.

    Edited at 2021-04-01 07:11 pm (UTC)

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