27634 Thursday, 9 April 2020 Uncle Bulgaria Remembers

Author   ZabadakPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Cop and robbers turn up in equal measure in this puzzle, and there’s also a barrister in attendance and a former criminal keeping us company. I rather breezed through this after a shaky start, with a minor panic setting in after the first few clues seemed opaque. As it turns out, they weren’t really, and I settled into a more confident pace which lasted right until the last clue.
There’s an alcoholic beverage making its second appearance in as many days, though I think today’s version was the rather easier one.
It shoudld be noted that there is considerable economy of cluing today, with almost half the offerings being of 5 words or less. Commendable restarint in a setter, if not necessarily matched by your blogger du jour. Sorry!
I’ve provided my considered reflections on the proceedings, with clues in italics, definitions therein also underlined, and solutions in BOLD.

Across
1 Man in play catching female criminal (10)
MALEFACTOR The first of two criminals, this one formed by man in play: MALE ACTOR catching F(emale)
6 Gathering, following complaint (4)
BEEF Once I discovered that the F(ollowing) came at the end of the word, I sussed where the definition was and stuck BEE for gathering, such as for sewing, in front of the F
10 See in lodge retired contestant (5)
RIVAL V is one of the possibilities for “see”, from the Latin vide. Take the lodge to be LAIR, “retire” it, and lodge the V in the centre
11 Going straight on for motorway in middle of night (9)
REFORMING It’s that “straight on” bit that throws the unwary solver, but you need on to provide the RE, FOR in plain sight, M(otorway), IN in plain sight, and the middle of niGht. Going Straight was the BBC’s vehicle for Ronnie Barker as the immor(t)al  Norman Stanley Fletcher when released from Porridge. Not that you need to know that to solve the clue.
12 Film barrister in French bar (5,9)
BRIEF ENCOUNTER Cue Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 2 as Laura meets Alec, falls wildly in love without ever, you know, actually, um, doing it. For our purpose, the barrister is a BRIEF, French in is EN, and bar is COUNTER. For Glenda Jackson and George Segal in “A Touch of Class”, watching Brief Encounter signals the realisation that their just-for-sex relationship is getting more complicated. You don’t need to know that either, but I thought I’d throw it in.
14 Clothes: a paper reviewed line (7)
APPAREL Our first anagram (“reviewed”) of A PAPER and L(ine)
15 End of year hold-up involved seasonal visitor? (7)
RUDOLPH And immediately our second (“involved”) of end of yeaR plus HOLD-UP
17 Section of government — it leaked name (7)
ENTITLE Today’s hidden, signalled by “section”: governmENT IT Leaked
19 Quite upset the Parisian spirit (7)
TEQUILA No anagrams for ages then three come along almost at once. This one (“upset”) of QUITE plus the lady version of “the” in Parisian (French)
20 At the back of this newspaper, out of date (6,3,5)
BEHIND THE TIMES One for the Womble fans, a sort of double definition, the first more prosaic
23 Tyrant not quite accepting challenge over reckless criminal (9)
DESPERADO The tyrant is a DESPOT (though here minus his T) and the “accepted” challenge is DARE, which being “over” is reversed. Our second criminal
24 Burrowing creature — assess length (5)
RATEL Or honey badger, though it’s not at all a badger. Assess: RATE plus L(ength)
25 Want work on radio (4)
NEED If you heard need on the radio, only context would tell you whether it was need, knead (to work dough) or, come to that kneed.
26 Generally lighter across outskirts of Yeovil? (2,3,5)
BY AND LARGE What are the outskirts of Yeovil? Why, Y AND L. Now find a lighter, realise it’s a BARGE, and conflate
Down
1 Further fabric I rejected (4)
MORE So the fabric would be MOIRE, the I then being rejected
2 Be on river and notice skin blemish (5,4)
LIVER SPOT Be: LIVE, on R(iver) plus notice: SPOT
3 Deceptive behaviour of bogus prelates breaking barriers (5,9)
FALSE PRETENCES I’ve only now worked out the wordplay here, thinking bogus supplied the FALSE and the rest could, well, be worked out later. But bogus is an anagram indicator, of PRELATES, which when suitably jumbled is/are breaking into FENCES, or barriers.
4 Zero service inside small room in US university (7)
CORNELL An Ivy League University in NY state, currently diverting itself to combating Covid-19 while more conventional Uni activity is off. In the clue, zero gives the 0/O, the service is the R(oyal) N(avy), and the small room that contains them is a CELL
5 Policeman in charge on board tender (7)
OFFICER Our first of two policemen, formed from I(n) C(harge) carried by tender: OFFER
7 Clubs in correct order (5)
EDICT C(lubs) (the cards) place inside EDIT for correct
8 Reckon fellow, a duke, is a leader in name only (10)
FIGUREHEAD So it’s reckon: FIGURE, plus fellow: HE, plus a: A, plus D(uke)
9 Rodent in field seen by gent circling right then left (6,8)
GROUND SQUIRREL Such as the chipmunk. The field is a GROUND, the gent is a SQUIRE, which “circles” R(ight). L(eft) then follows the assembly.
13 Book a quiet room, again in foreign town (5-5)
BADEN-BADEN I suppose a DEN is a quiet room, here tagged onto B(ook) plus A, the whole assembly repeated
16 Tudor queen’s favourite city? (9)
LEICESTER Elizabeth 1 is the Tudor queen who was chummy with Robert Dudley, latterly Earl of Leicester, throughout most of his life, though more Brief Encounter than A Touch of Class. The clue’s a double definition.
18 Form of English inlet (7)
ESTUARY …English is as she is spoke in the Thames estuary area and in quite a lot of the UK. An estuary is an inlet of the sea, innit.
19 Fix match? Sad (3,4)
TIE DOWN Match is TIE, and sad: DOWN
21 Rush hour measure, no parking round area (5)
HASTE Hour supplies its H, measure provides STEP, but without the P(arking). Insert the A(rea)
22 Moody policeman (4)
BLUE Is moody blue? I suppose so. But is a policeman (a) blue? I mean, yes if he has bottle tagged on, and he is one of the boys in blue. I hesitated for a while before putting this, my last in.

83 comments on “27634 Thursday, 9 April 2020 Uncle Bulgaria Remembers”

  1. This has to be a pb, some 16′ below my average. I did biff 11 and 12ac, and semi-biffed 23ac, spotting the DESPO and not bothering to look for more. A bit of time wasted in trying to remember FIGUREHEAD, and in wavering over 3d: C or S? FOI 1ac, 2dOI 6ac, POI 7d, LOI 11ac. As Z says, the clues are economical, but not particularly tricky.
    1. Fantastic time, Kevin. Congratulations on the PB!

      (If you’re interested, it’s the best time I’ve recorded for you since starting the SNITCH except for an entry of 4:37 on 9 August 2017. As you didn’t comment in the blog on the latter, I’m assuming it might not have been a real result.)

      1. I certainly have no recollection of that. I had just arrived in SF from Honolulu the night before, and was doing the puzzles on my brother’s laptop; it’s possible that with the time difference and the laptop being in his bedroom that I never had a chance to comment. Or it may have been my evil twin.
    2. Brilliant Kevin! Well done.

      I’ve never managed under 7 mins. I think I’ve done under 8 mins but not certain.

      More power to your elbow.

  2. Excellent time 6.39! But could you please follow convention and instead of banging in 11ac 12ac 23ac 3d 1ac 2d 6ac 7d 11ac etc put in the answers.
    Every one requires nine scrolls, up and down, to get your drift and life’s too short. If we all did this…..!?

    1. Sorry; it annoys me too, actually. I was in a hurry this morning, but I’ll try to remember in future.
  3. Back about par at 32 minutes.

    I would even encourage the JC Brigade to sign up.

    18dn ESTUARY English (Cockneyfied RP) named by David Rosewarne in 1984. It is sometimes referred to rather more adjectivally as ‘Estuarine English.’ – Jamie Oliver etc.

    FOI 1dn MORE

    LOI 15ac RUDOLPH

    COD Ditto

    WOD 13dn BADEN BADEN which boasts a Fabergé Museum if one likes eggs and egg timers.

    More TEQUILA vicar!?

  4. Steady solve while doing other things. No holdups that I remember. My LOI was FIGUREHEAD for some reason. Not sure if I didn’t see it, or just that I didn’t look against while all the checkers dropped in.
  5. I must be the outlier, seeing Kevin’s 6-odd minutes. Mostly without troubles except the bottom right. Leicester? No idea, English history not being my thing. Thought maybe the ER on the end was the queen. Blue? Well I guess it had to be. By and large held me up unduly; I’d confidently entered ANY in the middle to put the Y and L together. And LOI estuary where I thought the E at the start would be English in the wordplay. Took me well past my average 20 minutes, so a 125 on the nitch.

    Edited at 2020-04-09 04:56 am (UTC)

  6. My LOI was LEICESTER, only word that fit the crossers, and I was confident enough that I didn’t look up the historical reference.
    This was fairly easy, and fun, and I was glad to have time to finish it, after a very busy day of télétravail, and to be still awake enough to go back to yesterday’s (wish me luck! ha).
  7. I spent 45 minutes on this but I nodded off part way through and I’m not sure for how long. I remember coming to a halt trying to think of a word to go in front of SQUIRREL other than ‘red’ or ‘grey’ or ‘secret’ and I think that was what temporarily did for me. I never heard of GROUND SQUIRREL.

    Semi-guess at MO{i}IRE as a fabric, which rang only the very faintest of bells.

    How superb to be reminded of the wonderful BRIEF ENCOUNTER written by Noel Coward from his one-act play ‘Still Life’ and directed by David Lean to the strains of Rachmaninov. Every moment of it is a joy and of the supporting cast so often overlooked, my favourite is Joyce Carey as the manageress of the refreshment room. Her working-class-striving-to-be-genteel accent is absolutely spot on for the time. And oh for the days when it was commonplace for English people to speak like Laura and Alec! In 1974 it was remade for US TV starring Richard Burton and Sophia Loren, and one has to ask simply why anyone thought that was a good idea?

    Edited at 2020-04-09 08:18 am (UTC)

  9. Well, the stars aligned for me this morning. A p.b. of 13 minutes, my first ever sub-quarter-hour solve.

    FOI 1a MALEFACTOR LOI 22d BLUE, once the E of BY AND LARGE had put to bed my thoughts of a fictional DC Glum and other stray coppers. COD 15a RUDOLPH, WOD 19a TEQUILA, though there’s none in the house to celebrate with, and it’s a bit early anyway…

    Edited at 2020-04-09 07:24 am (UTC)

    1. That’s a very decent time Matt – the sonic boom was registered out here is Shanghai. Congratters – slammers all round!
      1. Thanks. Sadly I didn’t think of booze when I did my last Ocado order, but I may have a dusty box of beers somewhere in the cellar. I’ll have to go a-hunting later…
      1. Thank you. I’m expecting to have the wind taken firmly out of my sails by tomorrow’s offering, mind…
      1. Thanks! Given that I shaved five solid minutes off my p.b., I imagine it’ll be a while before I do that again…
    4. From your posts it is clear that you are making major progress. It may be that your ‘list of words I should know’ is the way forward.
      1. Thanks!

        Going back into full-time work has created an interesting balance—I think I’ve got faster just because I’ve had to, to fit the crossword into my mornings or lunchtimes. Sadly, it’s also scuppered my regular revision of the ol’ Big List of Words. I’m still adding words to it, but at the moment I’m not studying it at all…

  10. Like z8b8d8k I couldn’t do the first few and felt a growing sense of panic but then conquered the bottom half fairly easily and found the top half wasn’t that hard after all. I almost think doing the Quick Cryptic beforehand is a bad way of preparing. It didn’t help that I put TRUCE instead of EDICT for 7dn at first. I’m sure I’ve seen TEQUILA somewhere recently.

    COD: 21d HASTE, for the smooth surface

    Yesterday’s answers: the three Bakerloo line songs I was thinking of were Waterloo by Abba, Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty and Warwick Avenue by Duffy. Inspired by WARWICK.

    Today’s questions: 1. Rio band 2. Yogi sidekick 3. Northants river 4. Sheffield Mayor 5. Madagascan lemur 6. Kennedy assassin 7. Tanzanian crater 8. Catch-22 character 9. Monday 22ac 10. Today 13dn

    1. Can guess the answer but only 6 of the answers: Yogi, lemur, assassin, (not-)Caleb, 2 recent clues.
      1. Yes, oh really. Oliver Kamm, sorry. Curiosity introduced by some religious person who had never read a book. Its actually ridiculous when you think about it, more or fewer.
        1. I agree, Anonymous. I’m with Oliver Kamm. The question with all of these so-called rules is “by whose authority?”. The fewer/less “rule” is totally bogus and invented by a self-proclaimed “expert”in 1770 with no logical basis in grammar then perpetuated by more self-proclaimed “experts”. If anything it’s idiomatic and so subject to style rather than anything else. If people want to use “less” with an item count then it’s entirely their choice.
          1. Beautifully put Deezzaa. Even the oh really link eventually comes round to this way of thinking. Keep safe and well.
          2. “If people want to use “less” with an item count then it’s entirely their choice.” So if people want to go against things that have evolved (from however dodgy a source) then it’s OK? Really? Is it OK to spell things according to how they sound? Is it OK to write “I done that”? Or “you was …”?

            I know language evolves and we don’t want to be too pedantic, but if people decide that the process of evolution must be hurried along then I think they must have a good reason for doing so.

            1. There is nothing – grammatically – wrong with ‘I done that’ or ‘you was’. It is just a different dialect form. Like the distinction between fewer/less it is a class marker but not a grammatical error.
              Spelling conventions are far more consistent these days, although they weren’t in the past of course.

              Edited at 2020-04-09 12:09 pm (UTC)

            2. Ah! But people have been using “less” in the so-called wrong sense for centuries. It was only when a single person, Robert Baker, arbitrarily decided that there should be a distinction between fewer and less that people got exercised about it. So by using “less” we are not hastening a change in the language, we are perpetuating a usage that has been used for an awfully long time and, dare I say, like it or not, will continue to be used for a long time to come.
              What is far more important than these random pronouncements by self-important grammarians is how the language is actually used and accepted in general by real people.
    2. Less/fewer distinction rubbished by Oliver Kant of this parish. Less is more.
      1. Mind you Oliver Kamm seems to rubbish all so-called rules. And if accepted rules do emerge it doesn’t matter how they started. The “rule” on less/fewer is one of those in the process of change and ‘less’ here as well as being clear is the more accepted and the more correct. What aint either is a two-dimensional busybody on the site.
        1. Kamm doesn’t rubbish all grammatical rules, he just understands what they are: the observed structures of the language that are instinctively observed by all native speakers. Less/fewer is not a grammatical rule at all: it’s a social one. It’s an invented and entirely arbitrary shibboleth, the observation of which marks you out as belonging to a certain class, like not holding your knife like a pen.
  12. 18 minutes. LOI MORE (I had heard of Moire) after RIVAL was understood. We went last year to Carnforth Railway Station and the Heritage Centre. It’s well worth a visit, genuinely atmospheric. Mrs BW watched the whole of BRIEF ENCOUNTER there while old trainspotter me studied the railway exhibits. This was a good sort of easyish puzzle with polished surfaces, just like the counters in the refreshment room. The moody BLUE also got me nostalgic for the days when a chap would write a love letter never meaning to send. But COD to the untimely appearance of RUDOLPH. Let’s hope he doesn’t get the virus and he’s fit and well this Christmas. Thank you Z and setter.
    1. Yes, how could I? Of course it was a ‘refreshment room’! I have edited ‘buffet’ out of my earlier comment and replaced it with the correct terminology of the day. I can hear Joyce Carey saying it as I write!
  13. 7:32. Held up at the end by MALEFACTOR, MORE and, LOI, RIVAL, otherwise it could have been close to a PB for me too. COD to RUDOLPH.
  14. 20 mins with yoghurt, etc.
    I really liked it, especially Brief Encounter and Rudolph (COD).
    But MERs at the not-really-doubleness of the DDs: Leicester (Earl named for the City) and Estuary (English named for the, er, estuary).
    Thanks setter and Z.
  16. I don’t normally comment on these because it seems to me that the main rule for the 15 by 15 is that anything goes, but policeman being a blue doesn’t really work for me. Maybe the setter was thinking of ‘boys in blue’ or ‘the thin blue line’ but moody rower would work better.
    1. I thought the same but Collins has ‘blue’ on its own as a slang term for a police officer, so to the extent we have a 6ac it is with them!
        1. Yeah I think I thought ‘boys in blue’ and ‘thin blue line’ but the word isn’t a noun in either of those expressions. I’m not sure what it is in NYPD Blue but Hill Street Blues is a good example.
            1. Yes that name is familiar to me. I went through an NYPD Blue phase many years ago but he seems to have been very prolific so I probably saw his name elsewhere.
  17. Relieved to manage this one after a complete failure yesterday. In fact I’m pretty sure it’s the quickest I’ve ever done one of these in the relatively short time I’ve been attempting them.

    I finished with the NW corner, not having heard of liver spot or moire so having to trust the wordplay.

    FOI Need
    LOI Liver spot
    COD Reforming

    An enjoyable solve – thanks to the setter and the blogger.

  18. Opposite extreme to yesterday. Easy but pleasant. No queries but two trips down memory lane. BRIEF ENCOUNTER like several others but also BADEN-BADEN very pretty spa town with a decent golf course.
  19. A pedestrian 18:23 compared to the speed merchants here today.

    COD: RUDOLPH

  20. After yesterday’s beast, a pleasant solve. Several banged in without parsing: GROUND SQUIRREL, DESPERADO, BY AND LARGE.

    I did wonder about the appearance of RUDOLPH – there is another ‘seasonal’ character in the QC.

    Thanks z and setter.

  21. I’d like to second that request. To be honest when people write comments like this I don’t bother trying to work out what they’re talking about.
    1. Ditto, with the proviso that bloggers are not supposed to put actual answers in their intro unless hiding them behind ‘Read more…’. Having said that, I’m sure I forget to do that myself from time to time.
      1. Indeed. I don’t worry about it too much with the Sunday puzzles but with the daily puzzles it’s easy to accidentally see an answer.
        [awaits comment on split infinitive from visiting misguided grammar pedant]
  22. I don’t remember seeing so much white space beneath the clues in my paper copy. A very brief encounter. Thanks setter.
  23. Another who found this quick but satisfying. Also wondered about BLUE, but thought of Hill Street Blues, and decided it was close enough.
  24. Slowish getting going then rolled along. 15’31. A brief encounter en route with ‘The Waste Land’.
    Elizabeth and Leicester
    Beating oars
    The stern was formed
    A gilded shell
    Red and gold
    The brisk swell
    Rippled both shores
    Southwest wind
    Carried down stream
    The peal of bells
    White towers

    Edited at 2020-04-09 09:40 am (UTC)

  25. 7:19. A quick but very pleasant solve. I was sitting in the warm morning sun in the garden at the time which may have contributed.
    I had the same thought as myrtilus about the non-double definitions. Somehow unsatisfactory.
    A grammar pedant turning up especially to be wrong is a reminder that we thankfully get very little of that sort of nonsense around here. Long may it continue.
    I haven’t seen BRIEF ENCOUNTER. Based on comments here I’m going to do so.

    Edited at 2020-04-09 08:43 am (UTC)

  26. 19:09, miles off wavelength today. Rochester, Maleficent, time wasted trying to justify REDPOLL…

  27. Brevity being the soul of wit, this setter is evidently the Oscar Wilde of cruciverbalism. I wonder if 12a is self-referential? Either way, a low bow to a masterly and economic construction that I thoroughly enjoyed in under the half hour. My only regret is that there wasn’t more of it – a Jumbo of this stuff would be cracking.

    As a former lurker then Anonymous poster, I was kindly requested to sign my posts even before opening an account on LJ. We seem to be getting a lot of Anons posting negative or critical comments at the moment so in case they read this I’ll just pass on the advice I was given: please add your name, and join in the kindly, appreciative spirit of the forum.

    Edited at 2020-04-09 10:26 am (UTC)

  28. Another intriguing puzzle and, as almost with yesterday, I thought I’d come up short. Fortunately, I didn’t finishing in 17.05. The two I struggled with were reforming and rival. Didn’t get the – dare I say- obscure clueing on either but was confident the answers were right so bunged them in. FOI apparel,LOI rival. In between liked malefactor, blue, estuary and by and large.

    On to Friday. I wonder if it’s possible to construct a lockdown themed crossword? Then again maybe that would be too depressing for any words.

  29. I suppose it’s appropriate that mention of ‘The Waste Land’ should be followed by a visible example of one, but in case our readers think that’s the end of the blog it would be helpful if you deleted the blank rows, please, Joe.

    Edited at 2020-04-09 10:17 am (UTC)

  30. I was off to a flying start with MALEFACTOR and kept going until slowed slightly by ESTUARY, BLUE and BY AND LARGE. CORNELL was a late entry too. An enjoyable puzzle. 18:15. Thanks setter and Z.
  31. Surprised to find only 14 minutes, hardly one coffee, without trying to be in a hurry. Had to ask Mrs K if MOIRE was a fabric, I thought it was a interference pattern in physics. I have plenty of liver spots. Liked BEEF when I eventually saw why a bee is a gathering. Otherwise no issues.
  34. No pb (congrats Kevin) but smooth enough, once I realised Flying Squirrel wouldn’t, er, fly. I liked Ratel for the unusual animal, and Beef and By And Large for the Nice flying. ThanksZ, and setter.
  35. I seem to have found this harder than many on here. Maybe I spent too much time deliberating on whether BADEN-BADEN was Bath’s twin town, and wondering whether I preferred Johnny Cash’s “Desperado” to the Eagles’ original – although the “reprise” at the end of the Eagles’ album is superb.

    FOI BRIEF ENCOUNTER
    LOI RIVAL
    COD RUDOLPH
    TIME 9:19

  36. Nice and quick today, but unfortunately a boo-boo in typing BY ANY LARGE. I’d written the YN in already and forgot to change the Y for a D on discovery of the AND. Had been hoping for a record time too. Over hasty!
  37. I managed to finish this at 4.15pm sitting in the garden on a break from cleaning the patio. LOI was EDICT and the NE corner was where I was stuck. BEEF and FIGUREHEAD preceded the last two.
    I did not find this easy but managed to keep going. Shared doubts about BLUE. MORE and MALEFACTOR (I was toying with GOLDFINGER at the time) were my big breakthrough.
    The best version of Desperado has to be Linda Ronstadt’s.
    David

    Edited at 2020-04-09 04:03 pm (UTC)

  38. Keep thinking it’s Friday. Clearly not! That was fun. Possibly a PB (I’ve only recently been paying any kind of attention). A new benchmark, anyway. Happy Easter everyone.
  40. Just over half an hour, and it would have been just under if I hadn’t tried to explain ESTUARY to myself (and finally decided it could be the name of a dialect, though I wasn’t thinking of such a common one). LEICESTER was also just an educated guess, but a correct one, and with the correct parsing.
  41. 18:05 I think I could’ve gone a bit quicker but was lulled into thinking this was harder than it was by not getting anything going until Rudolph finally went in. I was also a bit hesitant over Leicester and ground squirrel. I liked the clues for reforming and brief encounter. Didn’t stop to parse by and large. The fabric at 1dn was an educated guess. A bit of a tonic after yesterday’s toughie.

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