Times Cryptic No 29189 — Sorry, William

71 comments on “Times Cryptic No 29189 — Sorry, William”

1. Nethermost is a hidden. Section of.
   Another easy offering for a Friday which surprised me. Not complaining though as I was short on time as I have to mow two acres of grass before the rains come tomorrow.
   Really enjoyed this as much as yesterday with some clever and tricky clues combined with a few write-ins, OWED, EDIT, TATTOO, LORRY. Really liked WHEE. And I managed to see SONATA from ‘moonlight’ and then parse. I haven’t read JAMAICA INN but the anagrist was plain once a few checkers went in. DNK RECORDER for the judge. I think you’re right with the first explanation in TRUFFLE PIG, as in the pig is the money-maker. COD to cemetery.
   Thanks Jeremy.

   1. Well yes but then what’s the point of the reference to bacon?

      1. I don’t think ‘bacon’ can be taken in isolation. I read it as the forager (pig owner) takes the pig out truffle hunting, is successful and so earns money (brings home the bacon)

         1. Yes there’s no question that this is the literal meaning of the clue.

            But there are many expressions for making money. Surely it’s not a coincidence that this particular one involving bacon is being used in a clue for a pig…

            1. No, of course it’s not a coincidence. It’s intentional as it’s probably the only expression to mean earning money that would lead to ‘pig’. Without it you wouldn’t know what to look for.

2. The West Indies international cricket team that plays “test matches” against Australia, India etc is often affectionately called the Windies.

3. “Bring home the bacon” has nothing to do with pigs or bacon. It means triumph, succeed, earn a living, provide subsistence etc. There is no turning the pig into bacon. “Save someone’s bacon” similarly is about saving someone from danger or difficulty.
   A “baconer” is a pig to be made into bacon.

   1. Yes but there are many expressions that mean make a living. You think it’s a coincidence that ‘bacon’ is referenced in a clue whose answer is a pig?

      1. I agree with what I think is your reading – killing (“taking out”) the pig and thereby obtaining some bacon.

4. Got there without too much difficulty, having called into the trap of CxxxI with “island” as one of the obvious literals and filling in CAPRI, and CAP for “top”. Eventually I got RECORDER and filled in CARDI as my LOI. Nice and easy after last weeks Friday beast.

   A couple of years ago I had to go to my Dad’s funeral in Cornwall. I stayed in JAMAICA INN. It is a real place and has been for a long time (since 1750) and still exists today in the middle of Bodmin Moor. The book is about “wreckers” who used false lights to lure ships onto the rocks and steal the cargo.

   1. That’s amazing Paul. I travel up and down the A30 and see the sign but assumed it was more a tourist stop than a working Inn. Was it atmospheric? I loved the book as a child.

      1. It is great. Breakfast is included in the room-rate and were several of the best I’ve ever had (actually too much food, to be honest, definitely didn’t need lunch). I loved the book as a kid too, but I was much older before I discovered it was an actual real place that existed when Daphne du Maurier wrote it. When I needed somewhere to stay near Bodmin, I went for it and I didn’t regret it.

5. 43 minutes with the last 6 or 7 spent on 19dn and 21ac, two answers which should have been easy enough but as so often when the end is in sight I found myself stuck on intersecting answers. As soon as one of them fell the other went too.

   I’ve somehow managed to live my life to this day without ever coming across CARDI before, only ‘cardy’ or ‘cardie’ – my preferred spelling.

   CUTWORM, making its first appearance here, was also unknown but wordplay got me to it.

   I pondered the use of ‘travels’ in 29ac before realising my error in lifting and separating. So ‘One travels across snow’ = I SLED.

   1. Cardie, yes. Not that I’d ever wear one myself ..

      1. The thing is, it’s short for cardigan, and Chambers appears to accept that the preferred spelling just lops the bottom off it.

         1. I’m sure it’s a perfectly valid spelling. But I prefer my spelling because it is more comforting. More cardie-like.. 🙂
            Val Doonican definitely wore cardies.

            1. I doubt the singer Cardi+B wears one.

               Missed sonata. Thanks to setter and blogger.

   2. Cardi is also a term of (very slight) endearment used among the Welsh to refer to inhabitants of Cardiganshire (aka Ceredigion), who have a reputation for exceeding the proverbial Aberdonian in meanness. The vicar of a little Cardiganshire village once visited a parishioner. He found him kneeling by the fireplace, scraping off wallpaper. “Morning, Mr Jones! Redecorating, I see.” “No, Vicar- movin’ out.”

   3. If it’s any comfort, your last answers were also my last two. Not as easy as they look perhaps.

6. ‘My wife’s gone to the West Indies.’ ‘Jamaica?’

   I briefly wondered if there was a theme, à la Guardian.

   A PAWN can advance two squares on its first move.

   And in the CEMETERY clue, it relies on METER being a verb – otherwise it’s misspelt.

   14’36”, thanks jeremy and setter.

   1. My wife went to the East Indies.
      Jakarta?
      No, British Airways.

      1. My wife went to Italy!
         Genoa?
         I should do, I’ve been married to her for twenty years!

         1. I took my wife to a cathedral city in North Wales…

            (Sorry to lower the tone… I’ll get me coat)

            1. St Asaph?!

7. 6:26. A gentle Friday. Would have been a bit quicker had I not fallen into the CAPRI trap. Also a MER over CARDI, as like jackkt, I’d have said “cardie” or “cardy”.

8. That was one of my best first passes ever with only gaps in the NE and SW corner after my first pass. Thankfully, resisted the urge to put in CAPRI although it immediately came to mind.

   Managed to work out the gaps. LOI SONATA was a bit half hearted as I couldn’t parse it but didn’t have anything better.

   Clicked submit pretty confidently for what would have been a huge Friday PB only to see red squares. I had SECONDER and not RECORDER. Such a straight definition as well. A huge unforced error. Three in a row I was one off.

   Liked: CUTWORM & GELATINOUS

   I interpreted TRUFFLE PIG as if you took it out you would have to bring them (bacon) home afterwards but also ‘bring home the bacon’ as finding expensive truffles. I think it’s a great CD though because I can think of 2 or 3 other ways it could work and it’s clear when you’ve got it that it’s correct. No having to be on the setter’s wavelength.

   Thanks blogger and setter

9. At 5d I thought ‘top’–>CAP, ergo CAPRI, and then of course wasted a lot of time trying to get RI. As it was, I did finally get CARDI, a word I’ve never seen (like Jack, I would expect ‘cardie’), and thought, top club–>card 1. DNK WINDIES, DNK RECORDERs were part-time. Never parsed SONATA, MISLED (thought (miles)*, couldn’t account for the D).

10. Failed on WHEE so a DNF in 36.45, annoyingly. Not sure at all about CARDI and I suppose axe = hatchet but, as a police reporter long ago, there was always a careful distinction between the two as a murder weapon even though the result was the same. I feel sorry today for the non-cricket contingent trying to figure WINDIES. Thanks Jeremy.

    From Visions of Johanna:
    And Madonna, she still has not showed
    We see this empty cage now corrode
    Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
    The fiddler, he now steps to the road
    He writes everything’s been returned which was OWED
    On the back of the fish truck that loads
    While my conscience explodes
    The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
    And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain

11. 31.42

    Not so gentle for me. Thought PUT ON WEIGHT was a very neat clue, which completely did for me on the parsing and the literal for ages. Also liked TATTOO. However, TRUFFLE PIG went in with a huge shrug, and fingers crossed as didn’t even know it is a thing.

    Thanks Jeremy and setter

12. Like others, slowed down by having to untangle an over-hasty CAPRI.

    Laughing so much at the leaderboard – genius!

    1. Unfortunately the name turned out to be inappropriate, as Mark did CtC this week and he didn’t look at the leaderboard even once.

       1. That’s so unlucky!

          1. I have to say I’m delighted that the attention-seeking went unrecognised.

13. A tad under the half hour, but failed on 21a. Couldn’t see PAWN and gave up and stuck in a desperate IAIN. Thanks setter and Jeremy.

14. 42 minutes. This was a hard puzzle to finish, not knowing CUTWORM and having fallen in to the Isle of Capri trap, saddled with an ear worm from Gracie Fields .(You don’t get much less rock n roll than that. Or perhaps you do if you wear a CARDI.) And to complete my “square of the century” entry, Alexander came from that British Grenadier song and ADOBE came courtesy of Speedy Gonzales and Pat Boone. Still, it doesn’t matter how you get them, does it, although perhaps it’s better not to own up. COD to Ludwig Van and SONATA. Enjoyable. Thank you Jeremy and setter.

15. Innocuous, for a Friday..

16. DNF with a guessed OPEN instead of OWED. Didn’t understand it, should have thought harder but was on a fast time, 24 mins is good for me.
    Correctly guessed but disliked WHEE which could as easily have been WEEE. Why not? Its not a real word, just a sound effect.

    Otherwise I enjoyed this. NHOs were fair and most clues nicely phrased, not overly verbose or convoluted.
    Thanks both.

17. Just under 15 minutes.

    – Didn’t know that a RECORDER is a part-time judge, but the cluing was kind
    – Slowed myself down by putting PHEW rather than WHEE, and only corrected once I figured out that 20d had to be WINDIES
    – Hadn’t heard of CUTWORM or that meaning of ADOBE, but again the cluing helped in both cases

    Thanks Jeremy and setter.

    FOI Nethermost
    LOI Adobe
    COD Capacity

    1. Recorders are barristers (and some solicitors) who sit part time as judges. But just to confuse matters, the senior full time judges in some cities are called the Recorder, or honorary Recorder, of that city.

18. 18:23
    A gentle end to the week but I’m not complaining as this is my first week in goodness knows how long that I’ve completed without making any mistakes.

    CUTWORM was the only unknown but the cluing was more than fair.

    Thanks to both.

    1. I’ve never had a perfect week: several 4/5 weeks, but never a 5/5. Well done!

       1. Thanks. I’d like to say I’m getting better at these things but maybe my typing is just improving.

19. Under 30′ for an easier Friday. Enjoyed JAMAICA INN once I remembered it was Ja and not Ya from my old Commando comics (Gott im Himmel!). Same issues as others re CARDI unless referring to the rapper (down with the kids here). Also enjoyed WINDIES and TATTOO. Thanks Jeremy and setter.

    1. Gott im Himmel! Der Teufel!

20. Right up my street in terms of difficultly, and much enjoyed. PAWN LOI. I also didn’t know that a recorder was part-time. 22:37.
    Jeremy, your musing for the alternative explanation of TRUFFLE PIG made me laugh – thank you!
    Thanks J and setter

21. Slow but finished, I thought, but I realise I had IAIN as the chap ‘cos I didn’t get the “single step” bit, or any of the clue really, but it is a man’s name and has an N at the end. Though I agree with RobR that pawns can move two squares on the first move, so not too accurate there!

    I liked WINDIES.

    Thanks William and setter. Oooops, apologies Jeremy, and thanks for the blog.

22. 9:20. Steady. I’m with Gerry in that CARDI is Belcalis Marlenis Cephus (née Almánzar) to me.

23. A couple of hold-outs in the SW took my time to 15:04. Nothing unknown or particularly memorable.

24. Quick, but wrong! Two careless errors, again unlikely if I’d used pen and paper. I had a Top and a Miskew (both bunged in quickly on the app.
    Thanks Jeremy and setter.

25. 17:40

    Good fun. No real problems despite never having hear of a CUTWORM. TRUFFLE PIG seems a bit loose but I liked WINDIES, WHEE, PUT ON WEIGHT and NETHERMOST.

    There’s an hilariously hammy Hitchcock version of JAMAICA INN (1939).

    Thanks to Jeremy and the setter

26. Clearly the message has got through that Almost Impossible Fridays are not to be imposed every week, but I liked this one and gave it a respectful 18.36.
    I was tempted to put a mischievous WEED and take the inevitable pink. After all, the wordplay had “you’d” which suggested a we’d sound, and we upright citizens would of course say that the consumption of weed should be regarded as a minimum of fun. Officer.
    I was a mite worried by the definition of DAD as a chap with an interest in his daughters: open to misunderstanding, don’t you think?
    I did like the impregnable TOM, though doubtless in some dodgy research lab somewhere they’re trying to disprove the assertion, like Arnie in Junior.

27. 28a Cemetery. I didn’t know how to spell this but the third E was already in and the wordplay showed me.
    5d Cardi. I was surprised to find this spelling in the Cheating Machine; maybe we’ve had it before. It has cardie and cardy as well, surprising. I didn’t need CM, just wanted to check it.
    18a Truffle pig. I found truffle hog in Wiktionary as a preferred option. Glad I didn’t know that at the time.
    20a Whee, tempted by weed but 17d speculate put me right.
    Thanks plusjeremy and setter.

28. No time, as I did this while doing other stuff.
    Decent puzzle – enjoyed it.
    Thanks, pj.

29. Nice not to have an almost impossible one on a Friday. Most of this went in easily enough, but there were a few problems: never knew a RECORDER was a part-time judge; TRUFFLE PIG quite a mystery; I don’t understand Jack’s justification for it being sled not sleds in 29ac as we still have ‘travels across snow’ = ‘sled’ and that’s wrong, unless there is some slightly obscure sense of sled as a journey, ie travels; re 4dn d = daughter not daughters (according to both Chambers and Collins, anyway) — it looks as if the setter had d at the beginning and end of the word, but then decided to introduce the ad. 44 minutes.

    1. If you take “one travels across snow” as a single phrase, you could also say “I sled” (using ‘one’ as a formal personal pronoun) to mean the same thing.

    2. Yes OK on the sled matter, I hadn’t twigged that Jack was telling us to read it as one phrase. But nobody has said anything about d = daughters, and surely that’s wrong.

       1. You’re right that it’s not listed in any of the usual sources so it looks like somebody has slipped up in allowing it.

30. 34:19. I liked CARDI, despite the spelling, and WINDIES. Nice crossword

31. Enjoyed this a lot, especially as it was a relief after last Friday’s horror. All done in 24 minutes over my lunchtime pinta. Good to exercise one’s minimal knowledge of three European languages. A MER (not for the first time) about the elevation of tattooing to an art form. Having got the crossers for 5dn early doors, I expected the answer to be CORGI but I was brought up short when I actually read the clue. Never seen CARDI spelt this way, but it had to be right. Agree with Zabadak about the dodgy DAD.
    FOI – CAPACITY
    LOI – WHEE
    COD – FANFARE
    Thanks to jeremy and other contributors.

32. To add to the gripes about PAWN, it also can move diagonally by one square when capturing en passant. Still a good clue though despite the nitpicking. A tricky one overall I found, I was 9 answers short of finishing with the LHS being harder than the right.

33. 19:01

    A good day where plenty went in without too much fuss. I liked CARDI (having initially pencilled in CAPRI) once the penny dropped – no issues with the spelling; FANFARE and RATTIGAN were also much enjoyed. Not specifically heard of a TRUFFLE PIG, though am aware that pigs are used to hunt for truffles. CUTWORM was also new to me. Last two in were SONATA once I’d realised what Moonlight was doing there, and finally ADOBE – know the word from the PDF reader, but didn’t know that that was what it meant.

    Thanks PJ and setter

34. Once I’d realised that my biffed “Capri” couldn’t possibly be correct, my main problem was trying to justify “weed” for my LOI. I suppose smoking it might be fun for some, but my one experience of it was anything but. Common sense eventually prevailed (despite my late first wife claiming that I was behind the door when it was handed out).

    FOI CAPACITY
    LOI WHEE
    COD JAMAICA INN
    TIME 10:11

35. 24:00
    I always assumed that jokes about Cardi B being named after an item of knitware involved a pun on CARDIE or CARDY, but I am happy to learn that CARDI is an acceptable spelling.
    Liked TRUFFLE PIG.
    LOI was PAWN.

    Thanks Jeremy and setter

36. 27’30”
    Not quite involved in the SnitchaWitch blanket finish, but only a couple of lengths behind.

    With the LINCOLN Handicap tomorrow I see the Snitchmeister has set the hadicapping bar high here with a very small blanket covering many of TftT regulars.
    Shortly after the start I spotted a stray pig to be negotiated, but a mentally pencilled F forestalled any problems in the closing stages.
    The testing mile made a pleasant change from the expected Queen Alexandra Stakes Friday fare.
    Thank you setter, and well done Jeremy for negotiating the Cornish/Caribbean heffalump-traps.

37. Back to sanity after last Friday’s nonsense.

38. 20:55. COD TATTOO

39. Not on the wavelength at all – they all fell, but they all took their own good time to do it. I’m with Astonvilla – “art one suffers for” was nice.

40. 15.11, enjoyed it.

    Cardi was good, I like deceptive clues. Jamaica Inn is a bit of a bodice-ripper as I recall. An evil vicar is behind the wrecking gang.

41. With time to spare on a lovely day and the QC finished, I had a go at this and, eventually and with a bit of checking and biffing, managed to finish. It must be very much on the easy side for you experts. Still not sure about CARDI, however.

42. 30:08 – quite a straightforward Friday for a change! nice puzzle to round off the week.

43. No, no, no!!!! WEED and OPEN! Two mistakes! I was going to make learned comments about JAMAICA INN and Terence RATTIGAN, but have lost the urge! Well, go on then. J.I. great film. Charles Laughton fantastic villain. RATTIGAN plays-to-films I have watched recently and enjoyed: The BROWNING VERSION, THE WILMSLOW BOY and SEPARATE TABLES. David Niven brilliant in the last. RATTIGAN went out of fashion, but these works are great. 19’04”, but for the errors.

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