Times Cryptic 27134 – Food, Glorious Food!

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 38 minutes and the second consecutive puzzle very much at the easier end of the spectrum*. I wondered if the setter was hungry when he compiled it as there seem to be a lot of food references one way or another. I’ve listed them in the hidden part of this intro, so if you haven’t yet solved the puzzle don’t venture further for now. *Having written that the puzzle was quite easy I neglected to mention there were two Down clues that had me scratching my head as to their parsing and it has since turned out that my best efforts to explain them were incorrect, so thanks to first commenter Paulmcl for putting me right.

Food words in clues and ANSWERS: Spice x 2, NUTMEG, Cheese x 2, FETA, Ate, Consumed, MEAT, LINGUINI, Fish, Pasta, TURMERIC, Food, AU GRATIN, Ration, PANINI, French Bread, Sandwiches, OIL, GUM. There’s a hint of ‘gin’ towards the end to wash it all down with but unfortunately it’s clued as ‘trap’.

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]

Across
1 Father’s put in lock — to prevent this? (8)
TRESPASS – PA’S (father’s) contained by [put in] TRESS (lock)
6 Ring not new? Bloke disheartened girl (6)
PHOEBE – PHO{n}E (ring) [not new], B{lok}E [disheartened]
9 Spice fanatic turned over excellent specimen (6)
NUTMEG – NUT (fanatic), GEM (excellent specimen) reversed [turned over]
10 Theater award involving a literary key (8)
TONALITY – TONY (theater award) containing [involving] A + LIT (literary). Well I’ve learned something today as despite being a huge fan of theatre I always assumed that TONY was an acronym standing for ‘Theatre(s) Of New York’, but apparently its official name is the ‘Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre’, and ‘Tony’ is not an acronym but simply short for ‘Antoinette’. The spelling ‘theater’ in the clue helpfully indicated the side of the Atlantic we needed to be thinking of .
11 Cheese — lot getting consumed a different way? (4)
FETA –  FATE (lot) with ATE (consumed) reversed [a different way]
12 Expert on land, dodgy at moorings (10)
AGRONOMIST – Anagram [dodgy] of AT MOORINGS. Soil managament and crop production is his area of expertise, so he’s associated indirectly with today’s food theme.
14 Lean on women’s organisation quietly to produce what’s hoped for? (4,4)
WISH LIST – WI (women’s organisation – Women’s Institute), SH (quietly), LIST (lean)
16 Comedian avoiding limits of strident mockery (4)
JEER – JE{st}ER (comedian] [avoiding limits of strident]
18 Satisfied about article providing essential material (4)
MEAT – MET (satisfied), containing [about] A (article). For the avoidance of controversy it’s perhaps best to take this as a figurative definition of ‘meat’ such as this one in the SOED: matter of importance or substance; the gist or main part (of a story, situation, etc.)
19 After switching components, escape epidemic (8)
OUTBREAK – BREAKOUT (escape) switches its components to supply the answer
21 Strangely no opening for cricket players getting out too often? (10)
NARCOLEPSY – Anagram [strangely] of NO C{ricket} [opening] PLAYERS.  Falling asleep rather too easily, usually at inappropriate places and/or times.
22 Go for no fine work on metal? (4)
ETCH – {f}ETCH (go for) [no fine]. Alternatively it may be on glass or  stone, for example, hence the question mark.
24 Finally you will tuck into fish in foremost of Italian pasta (8)
LINGUINI – {yo}U [finally] contained by [will tuck into] LING (fish) + IN, I{talian} [foremost]
26 Fancy a grand change will come about (6)
VAGARY – VARY (change) contains [will come about] A + G (grand – a thousand dollars or pounds)
27 Essence in article recalled acrimony (6)
ANIMUS – SUM (essence) + IN + A (article) reversed [recalled]
28 Reduced opportunity to get Central America spice (8)
TURMERIC – TUR{n} (opportunity) [reduced], {a}MERIC{a} [central]
Down
2 Course not permitted in religious studies (5)
ROUTE – OUT (not permitted) contained by [in] RE (religious studies – Religious Education)
3 Understanding town’s upset about the map being redrawn (11)
SYMPATHETIC – CITY’S (town’s) reversed [upset] containing [about] anagram [redrawn] of THE MAP
4 Food allowed in summer month excludes nothing served with cheese? (2,6)
AU GRATIN – AUG (summer month) RATI{o}N (food allowed) [excludes nothing]
5 Absolute limit wrongly put in trio sonata (10,5)
SATURATION POINT -Anagram [wrongly] of PUT IN TRIO SONATA
6 French bread I used when going about Northern Italian sandwiches (6)
PANINI – PAIN (French bread) + I containing [going about] N (Northern)
7 Fuel line is operating at first after set-up (3)
OIL – L{ine} + I{s} + O{perating} [at first] reversed [after set-up]
8 Biblical seductress has sneakily to ensnare Hebrew after flutter of eyelid (9)
BATHSHEBA – BAT (flutter of eyelid), anagram [sneakily] of HAS containing [to ensnare] HEB (Hebrew)
13 Officer left, not entirely keen about United in group of teams (5,6)
MAJOR LEAGUE – MAJOR  (officer), L (left), EAGE{r} (keen) [not entirely] containing [about] U (united)
15 Initial repetition, not all repetition (9)
ITERATION – {re}ITERATION (repetition) [not all].  I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here but this my best shot at it. I suspect it’s needs a technical brain to explain it properly in terms of mathematics or computer science.  {all}ITERATION (initial repetition) [not all]
Don’t go and stop some cricket (4,4)
STAY OVER – STAY (stop), OVER (some cricket)
20 Fixes to tour US city and Midwest feature (6)
PLAINS – PINS (fixes) contains [to tour] LA (US city). An opportunity missed for more French bread!
23 Exclamation over trap taking tail off dog (5)
CORGI – COR (exclamation), GI{n} (trap) [taking tail off]
25 Bit of latex taken from blue tree (3)
GUM – Another tricky one but I think it’s a sort of double defintion as latex is type of gum, and there is a species of Australian eucalyptus known as the blue gum tree G{l}UM (blue) [bit of latex taken]

62 comments on “Times Cryptic 27134 – Food, Glorious Food!”

  1. 15d is ALLITERATION without ALL (initial repetition is alliteration). Iteration is just repetition. Not much computer science needed.

    And I think 25d is GLUM (blue) without L (bit of latex). And it is a bit of latex in its own right. and it’s a tree.

    Edited at 2018-09-04 01:07 am (UTC)

  2. Biffed a couple, parsing post hoc, or not parsing at all, as with AU GRATIN (well, I got the AUG part) and NARCOLEPSY. (River Phoenix played a narcoleptic rent boy in the rather odd movie ‘My Own Private Idaho’. But I digress.) Thanks to Paul for explaining ITERATION. LOI and maybe COD VAGARY.
  3. Fooled by the surface and couldn’t see NARCOLEPSY until the very end.

    GUM was my favourite. I parsed it as did paulmcl above, but it’s a sort of double def and a cryptic def as well. Three clue types for just a three letter answer – not bad.

    47 minutes, so normal service has been resumed after yesterday.

    Thanks to setter and blogger

  4. 26 minutes, so useful for inching my NITCH down a bit. I had never encountered NARCOLEPSY until recently, when my wife appeared to develop quite a serious case when I was singing the praises of a particularly good crossword clue.
  5. Agreed, Jack, quite easy but failed to see how iteration worked.
    Have you got your blog working properly? In my browser it all (including poilers) shows all the time, unlike normally when you hide all the answers & explanations. What do others see?
      1. Having checked using my tablet and four different browsers (IE, firefox, chrome and opera) on my PC I can’t see a problem with the hidden spoilers. I’ve certainly done nothing different when setting it up – there’s very little to do anyway, just highlighting what’s to be hidden and clicking a button. We’ll see if anyone else reports anything.

        Edited at 2018-09-04 05:28 am (UTC)

        1. Sorry, my error. It is all hidden on the main TftT page, I’ve come to the puzzle’s page without noticing I’d done so, and confused myself into thinking it should be hidden on this page.
  6. after taking some care to check for typos, as I spoiled a PB yesterday with a simple wrong letter. For 25a I went down the Blue Gum route, as it’s a lovely tree here in Australia.

    Was BATHSHEBA really a seductress? I don’t think she was intending to lead David astray.

    Thanks, Jack, for the blog and to the setter.

    1. Interesting one. Evening time, David walking around on his roof sees the beautiful Bathsheba bathing, sends some of his staff to ask her to come to him, she accedes and they have sex.
      1. Wouldn’t really wash today, would it? “Your honour, my client was just out for a gentle stroll, on his roof, as one does…”
          1. Mediterranean, yes, but also 10th century BCE in the Ancient Near East. It’s not like she would have had a choice. And, interestingly, the subsequent account of events puts all the blame on David
            1. Her hubby didn’t really have a choice about getting killed, either.
              Still, David came of age in the 10th century BCE, when all the rules about behavior were different. That was the culture then. No doubt he committed himself to a journey of personal learning to conquer his demons.
              1. I tend to see David as a latter-day stalker, who used his power and fame to take advantage of a married woman. Hence HE was the seducer, although Bathsheba was no better than she ought to be, as my late mother would have put it.
  7. 45 minutes. For me, this was one of those puzzles where the setter seems to have cast some kind of glamour over the easier ones such that I had to get the difficult answers first. This then allowed me to get enough letters to kick myself several times when writing the more obvious ones in…

    FOI 7d OIL, LOI 28a TURMERIC. COD 25d GUM.

  8. Easy. For once I wasn’t tripped up by the pitfall clues people tend to mention, and didn’t even consider the pseudo-multiple definition aspect of GUM. Incredible.

    Many thanks setter and jackkt.

  9. A quick solve this morning before venturing into the unknown. The VAGARY of GUM passed my by as I just typed it in. Didn’t quite get FETA either till coming here.
  10. Should have been 35 mins with yoghurt, blueberries, etc – but an extra 10 needed for Narcolepsy when I eventually twigged it was an anagram, doh!
    It reminded me of the story of the laziest man in the world who went to the docs because he was having trouble sleeping. The doc said “Take two of these pills last thing at night.” The man replied, “Oh, but I’m ok at night”.
    Mostly I liked: (All)iteration.
    Thanks setter and great blog J.

    Edited at 2018-09-04 07:19 am (UTC)

  12. 13:36. No hold-ups and getting SATURATION POINT quickly helped me to a well under par time. Like denisovan, and our bloggger initially, I just thought the GUM was a blue tree. I never managed to parse ITERATION, so thanks for that. NARCOLEPSY my COD. ANIMUS my LOI.
  13. Below 30 minutes. 9Across is the setter in today’s Guardian … what a co-incidence !! Like the supposedly misspelt drama-house in 10A. Never heard of panini and narcolepsy until today. Thank you setter and jackkt for an entertaining morning
  14. 25 minutes with LOI NARCOLEPSY after COD ITERATION opened the door to the anagram solve. I think I suffered a bout last night, not able to keep my eyes open during the 16 minute ballet stuck in the middle of The King and I like The Mousetrap in Hamlet. Mrs BW ( whose idea it was to go) loved it, and I’m told by those that know that it’s a brilliant piece of choreography. Mind you, I’ve always found ballet better with my eyes closed. Kelli O’Hara’s singing was fantastic btw. Nice amount of puzzlement in this. Thank you Jack and setter.
  15. First knew of BATHSHEBA from Hardy, then Cohen, and only afterwards from David’s original despicable behaviour. Didn’t the Elders try the same thing with Susannah?

    LOI NARCOLEPSY, and unparsed at that. GUM also unparsed, thinking of chewy stuff.

    24′, thanks jack and setter.

    1. Indeed: for that reason, Susanna is only marginally less popular with artists than Bathsheba.

      Edited at 2018-09-04 09:07 am (UTC)

  16. 16 minutes, stuttering over FETA and ITERATION, and mildly spluttering over BATHSHEBA the seductress,
    I thought FETA was find a word and make an anagram of it, which is a sending off offence, and ITERATION had just too much repetition knocking around to appreciate the proper working of the clue.
    BATHSHEBA’s alleged licentiousness has been admirably refuted by Starstruck et al above. Perhaps our setter has been seduced by other Bathshebas: “Marry Me” Everdene in FFTMC, or the 2 million depictions of her in art, where down the centuries she’s unwittingly provided the excuse for artists to persuade their models to get their kit off. More sinned against than sinning, for sure.
    1. On the other hand, what’s she doing bathing where any old lech can see her? Hm? And she did get their son Solomon promoted to King-Elect.

      1. Some commentators suggest she was only brushing her teeth and was certainly not naked, dear me no. Others would suggest it was miqvah, ritual bathing required of any woman at certain times. Then again, she had to be something special to compete against David’s “40,000 concubines and 30,000 wives”.

  18. 19:31.

    From Wikipedia. In 1931 English writer Arnold Bennett dies of typhoid in London shortly after returning from a visit to Paris, where he drank local water to prove it was safe.

    I suppose he helped advanced scientific knowledge in the process. And as we all know, you can’t make an omelette without cracking eggs.

    COD Turmeric.

    1. Obviously the tree’s OK as a definition, but I’m not clear how the wordplay works: take the L (first bit of latex) from Lash works but how is lash blue? Make-up, perhaps?
        1. I thought ‘blue’ was a spending spree rather than drinking, but who knows, as there are so many expressions for going out on the lash.
  20. 13:38. A steady solve, but I didn’t find it particularly easy. I didn’t understand FETA or ITERATION, so thanks for those. Now I’m hungry!
  21. 30 mins with some casual biffing of FETA, ITERATION and TURMERIC. No problem with ‘glum’ to GUM. Two MERs. At ‘essence’ defining SUM in 27a: the semantics of ‘sum’ and ‘essence’ are diametrically opposed — summation is all about aggregation and the essence is an iterated reduction. Bah. The other at ‘opportunity’ = TURN.

    Thanks, jackkt, for your detailed and explanatory blog.

    1. I agree on sum/essence but Collins has ‘the essence or gist of a matter (esp in the phrases in sum, in sum and substance)’ so we’ll have to take it up with them.
      The other one seems OK to me: there’s often a sense of opportunity beyond just sequencing in the phrase ‘now it’s my turn’. Again Collins: ‘the right or opportunity to do something in an agreed order or succession’.

      Edited at 2018-09-04 10:56 am (UTC)

      1. Yeah, I recognise that both can be justified. I was raising a minor eyebrow at the way the setter has used loose definition as a means of creating a puzzle element in the clue. Definitions are good, I think, when they are incontrovertible but not obvious: yesterday’s “Picture which involves work” = TOP HAT is a fair example.
  22. ….was much preferred to a FETA PANINI, and I cruised home in 12:32, despite needing to come here to parse FETA (COD), NARCOLEPSY, and TURMERIC. I also went along Jack’s route of (re)ITERATION. Thanks for the usual quality blog.

    FOI TRESPASS
    LOI LINGUINI

  23. Found this hard going, and nearly knocked out by narcolepsy, but got there in the end. 49’25. As a friend of mine seriously said, when for the only time I defeated him in a general knowledge quiz, it had all the things I didn’t know.
  24. A more flowing effort from me today, coming in at 21:19, including a minute or so to proof read. I managed to parse GUM correctly, but couldn’t account for the eFfin’ FETA, despite spotting the reversed EAT. ITERATION was biffed, but now I would give it COD. Took a while to see NARCOLEPSY, another great clue. TRESPASS went straight in when I opened the puzzle. BATHSHEBA and PHOEBE brought up the rear. Fun puzzle. Thanks setter and Jack.
  25. Like others I found this one mostly easy, with a bit of biffing along the way. I thought I might be on for a record time, but with 4 minutes something on the clock I hit the SW corner which I found by far the hardest. NARCOLEPSY, ANIMUS, PLAINS & ITERATION (which I wrote, removed because I couldn’t parse it, and then re-entered) proving tricky. 7m 10s.
  26. No don’t panic! Not my time but the time it took Magoo to do yesterday’s. I’ve just read his reply to Olivia posted late yesterday. Amazing.
  27. …could be narcolepsy! Not much to add, except an unusual Tuesday completion for me (about 25 mins). My COD to 12a for it’s surface. Thanks all
  28. 10:34. Two fairly straightforward ones in a row… look out those of us on duty the next few days (bugger). A few went in without looking at the wordplay, FETA, BATHSHEBA, ITERATION. My last in, and my favorite clue at the end was the cunning clue and surface for NARCOLEPSY
  29. Fairly straightforward, taking about 32 minutes. Correcting for latitude (well south of the UK), altitude (sea level), lassitude and blood alcohol, that equates to about 20 minutes.

    Several were unparsed, namely FETA, ITERATION, GUM and NARCOLEPSY, my LOI.

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