Quick Cryptic 2829 by Orpheus

ParkSolve time 34:30. (About 80% running, 20% solving)

Orpheus provides the goods today and I’m predicting the full gamut of responses.  The puzzle will test some vocabularies, but just like singing Subterranean Homesick Blues, it’s not too hard if you happen to know all the words.

Let us know how you went and what I missed.

(In the clues, definitions are underlined and anagram indicators are in bold italics.

In the explanations (ABC)* indicates an anagram of abc.  Deletions and other devices are indicated accordingly, I hope).

Across
6 Extremely fashionable woman’s soft brimmed hat (6)
FEDORA – FE (“extremes” of FashionablE) + DORA (woman)

I’m a trilby man myself.  My wife always objected to me wearing it because it “made me look like an old man”.  Now she doesn’t say anything.  Draw your own conclusions.

7 Source of old gear at home (6)
ORIGIN – O (old) + RIG (gear) + IN (at home)
9 Bar on cricket pitch sometimes jumped by miscreants? (4)
BAIL – Double definition

A couple of wildly divergent definitions of the word bail.  See also “kind” below.

10 Crucial-sounding team in dock area (8)
QUAYSIDE – QUAY [Homophone (-sounding) of KEY (crucial)] + SIDE (team)
11 Perfect films regularly shown around various parts of Wales (8)
FLAWLESS – FLS (FiLmS regularly shown) around (WALES)*
13 Cunning, avoiding start of demonstration (4)
ARCHMARCH (demonstration) with the first letter “avoided”.
15 Hired vehicle carrying last of popular seafood (4)
CRAB – CAB (hired vehicle) “carrying” R (last of populaR)
16 Girl scoffing second pudding (8)
SEMOLINA – SELINA (girl) “scoffing” MO (second)

You don’t meet many Selinas but it was the name of a legendary band venue at the Coogee Bay Hotel.  Those were the days.

18 Oddly, a shy male terrier (8)
SEALYHAM – (A SHY MALE)*

I’m not too good on dog breeds but this one sort of rang a bell.  Not sure we need so many types, why can’t everyone just have a golden retriever?

20 Youngster finally taken by supporter on course (4)
TEEN – N [last letter (finally) of takeN] by TEE (supporter on course)

Course meaning golf course, of course.

21 Sailor’s useless ankle or heel bone (6)
TARSUS – TARS (sailor’s) + US (useless)

US in this sense being a mainly military abbreviation for unserviceable.  Also “unfit for service” but it would be a little unkind to equate this with “useless”.  Could just be a nasty case of bone spurs.

Speaking of which, the tarsus is a cluster of seven articulating bones in each foot.

 

22 Like loofahs perhaps ultimately emitting unpleasant odour (6)
SPONGY – S [last letter (ultimately) of perhapS] + PONGY (emitting unpleasant odour)
Down
1 Tradesman possibly welcomed by the three blind mice? (8)
RETAILER – Referencing the mice of nursery rhyme fame.

Hadn’t given it much thought before, but how were they all blind?  And why run after the farmer’s wife?  And why the unhinged reaction from her?  I’ll wait for the Netflix series.

2 Dog reportedly moves unsteadily? It’s the tummy trouble (12)
COLLYWOBBLES – COLLY [homophone (reportedly) of collie (dog)] + WOBBLES (moves unsteadily)

In Australia the term is used to describe AFL club Collingwood’s penchant for falling at the last hurdle.  Particularly between their premiership winning years of 1958 and 1990 when they managed to lose eight grand finals.

But most solvers here will know it as meaning queasiness or anxiety.

3 Language used by Sheba’s queen? (6)
BASQUE – Hidden in sheBAS QUEen
4 Standards identified by exam in writing (6)
MORALS – ORAL (exam) in MS (writing)

That’s ms as in manuscript.  And oral (or viva voce which sounds much cooler) is a type of exam where the student is questioned verbally by the examiner.

5 Benevolent type (4)
KIND –  Double definition

English must be a very difficult language to learn.

8 Establishment in railway property everyone enters (12)
INSTALLATION – IN + ALL (everyone) “enters” STATION (railway property)
12 Prosecute university in the Home Counties (3)
SUE – U (university) in SE [South-East (Home Counties)]

The Home Counties are the counties of England that surround London, which places them in the south-east.

14 Meet first of chums on border (8)
CONVERGE – C (first of Chums) + ON + VERGE (border)
16 Break in school is marvellous to begin with (6)
SCHISM – SCH (school) + IS + M [first letter (to begin with) of Marvellous]
17 This person’s outstanding, cutting old woman’s shrub (6)
MIMOSA – IM (this person’s) + OS (outstanding) “cutting” MA (old woman)
19 Style and vigour a large antelope mostly shows (4)
ELAN – ELAND (a large antelope) without the last letter (mostly)

70 comments on “Quick Cryptic 2829 by Orpheus”

  1. DNK BAIL, of course, but one def was enough. Someone who’s jumped bail presumably hasn’t come to trial yet, so isn’t ‘miscreant’ a bit premature? 5:33.

    1. I think the question mark covers that point, but it might also be argued that the very act of jumping bail makes the accused a miscreant of sorts whether or not they are guilty of the offence with which they are charged.

      8 minutes for this. No issues. I have to go back to 18th October to find another solved as quickly.

    1. The internet tells us that Sealyham Terriers originated in Wales as a working dog, the breed being developed in the 19th century by a certain Captain John Edwardes of Sealyham House, Pembrokeshire.

    2. It’s an anagram of A SHY MALE which is what the (A SHY MALE)* notation is meant to indicate.

  2. 12 minutes but WOE, as I had SPONGe (which I couldn’t parse) for SPONGY (which I couldn’t see). Not the present I was hoping for on my birthday!

    Actually, Orpheus has delivered a very fine birthday present here, with lots to enjoy, several easier clues to get one started and a few requiring more thought. SEALYHAM was my LOI, popping out of very deep memory as I mulled over the anagram. CONVERGE also held me up as I was convinced for a long time that it ended with -EDGE. But COD to COLLYWOBBLES because it is such a splendid word to fit into a crossword grid.

    Many thanks Galspray for the blog and a good weekend to all.
    Cedric

  3. 8.34

    Thought this was quite tricky or at least I needed the w/p for quite a few that others might be biffing. Nice challenge.

  4. 13:54 so not particularly quick.
    It didn’t help that I know a loofah is a gourd, so “like loofahs” held me up first time round with G (ultimately emitting) plus an anagram (unpleasant) of ODOUR. But it wouldn’t make GOURDY and I refused to believe GOURDO.
    FLAWLESS was clever, and I liked RETAILER

  5. Made it but I did take a tiny peak at the internet to help me get to SEALYHAM. Didn’t know US for unserviceable and couldn’t recall MS for manuscript for writing. None of that mattered as I had ME for ‘this person’ carefully ignoring the ‘s part to get a deserved pink square for MeMOSA. Not all green in 21.50. No parkrun today, hilly 10k instead – might break 1.20 with a following wind!

  6. Found this tricky in places and was held up by a hopeful ‘confront’ at 14d. I only knew SEALYHAM having struggled with it once before on an old QC.
    Thought I’d finished in just under 10 minutes only to see two pink squares for ‘tree’ at 20a, which I remember caused me a MER at the time of typing it in but, as usual, forgot to go back and double check it.
    WOD to COLLYWOBBLES.
    Thanks to Galspray and Orpheus

  7. “Good job I know about dogs because this one’s quite obscure”, I thought, confidently writing in the AYLESHAM terrier. Ah. Thank heavens for the good old ELANd.

    I also got held up on FLAWLESS because I didn’t pick “various parts of” as an anagram indicator at first; thought it also meant taking every other letter.

    All done in 09:20 but then I was at my son’s regimental dinner last night; port was taken and no coffee has yet appeared, so I’ve been on better form. Lots of really good clues, I thought, especially SCHISM, TARSUS and COD SPONGY.

    Many thanks Orpheus and gallers.

  8. Decided to try going through the across clues first and was pleased to get 6 in first pass, and after 7 minutes had most of the LHS and getting optimistic. Knew Sealyham from watching crufts for many years..

    The RHS was tougher and in the end finished in an enjoyable 24.33 with POI converge revealing the oh so obvious arch!

    Also went for unparsed sponge then tried spongs before the clang of the penny

    Thanks Orpheus and Galspray. Have never been a hat man myself but picked up a knitted thing in Estonia a few years back that Mrs RH calls my 10th century peasant hat😀

    Time for some final practice as I’m singing the Brahms German Requiem with my chamber choir this evening.

  9. After finishing yesterdays in quick time (for me!) I only had 1 in after 10 mins, so gave up. No fun at all. Orpheus is firmly in the non Q camp of setters!

  10. A gentle Saturday offering in which I only had three Across clues left over after my first pass – but that should not detract from the quality of the puzzle which is FLAWLESS.

    My friend’s grandfather had a SEALYHAM back in the 1960’s, and I’ve never seen another one in real life since. When people asked him what breed the dog was, he was wont to reply “Bessarabian Tripehound”.

    FOI FEDORA
    LOI SPONGY
    COD RETAILER *
    TIME 3:22

    There were only three blind mice, and the American electorate vastly outnumber them. If I were a political cartoonist The Orange One would have featured as a farmer’s wife with some speed.

    1. How about ‘detailer’ as a better answer than retailer, which is not the best synonym for a tradesman? A detailer is a tradesman who carries out detailed cleaning of cars, and de-tailing is what they did to the three blind mice?!!

  11. Not much to say but the thought of an impoverished Galspray spurs me on to comment…
    Came in a smidge too early to board the slow coach today but it was by a natter if seconds. Held up by gaps in my GK regarding dogs and flowers. Cocktails prevailed over Curries in my struggle to order the mimosa and it was trial and error in the ordering of a shy male. In the same vein as Galspray’s ‘knowing all the words’ I was like Eric Morecambe (responding to Andre Previn) with the all the right letters but not necessarily in the right order.
    Thanks Orpheus and Galspray (who most certainly earned his keep 😉)

  12. Smiled at COLLYWOBBLES and laughed aloud at PDM RETAILER (CsOD) , but stupidly put Tree instead of TEEN. So one error.
    Also liked SCHISM, QUAYSIDE, BAIL and LOI CONVERGE, among others.
    A difficult but enjoyable witty puzzle. I would take issue with Orpheus on one point: I solved 22a but a loofah is *not* SPONGY – it is the opposite, quite stiff.
    Thanks vm, Galspray.

    1. I agree. The clue does say ultimately to be fair. Does that imply what a mistreated loofah will become, not the last letter…

      I’f the setter’s loofah is spongy, they need to purchase a new one. 🙂

      1. As far as I remember a loofah isn’t spongy when wet or you couldn’t scrub your back with it, but I admit on t’internet loofah ‘sponges’ are mentioned, perhaps to explain they are used in the bathroom.

        1. I’ve fought a battle here more than once about ‘loofah’ being erroneously defined as ‘sponge’ and vice versa, but I have no problems with ‘like loofahs / SPONGY’. One of the definitions of SPONGY (this one’s from Collins) is simply ‘of or like a sponge in respect of its capacity to absorb fluid and yield it when compressed’, and that goes for loofahs too.

  13. DNF.
    Not on the wavelength today. Gave up after only two filled in after one pass ( I usually do better than that on 15×15.) Didn’t feel like a QC to me.

    They are the tarsus bones so the clue should be “bones” not “bone”, surely? You certainly would not want your tarsus bones fused into just one….. A typo perhaps.

    Thanks for blog.

    Having been through the helpful blog again, it seems so easy!!

    1. Yes, Newbie, you’re quite right. I agree Orpheus has got this one wrong. I biffed TARSAL (I was never going to get US = useless), as it was the only logical answer to the straight definition. As you say, the TARSUS is the collection of seven bones in the ankle and heel (cuboid, 3 cuneiforms, navicular, talus and calcaneus). Each individual bone can be referred to as a TARSAL. My ‘error’ resulted in my failing to see SCHISM.

  14. 16:44
    Not sure why I was so slow to get going on this one, with only two across clues solved on first pass. FLAWLESS took a very long time to see, as did my LOI RETAILER, which immediately qualified as COD.

    Thanks Galspray and Orpheus

  15. Ultimately a DNF as had TREE for TEEN for some reason. Was 92% done in 6 minutes then spending a further 10 on the SEALYHAM MIMOSA junction to finish around the 16 minutes mark.

    Now turning my attention to the journey to Selhurst Park where I’ll be hoping to see a sharper performance than I managed – that said a look at the injury list has already triggered an early onset of the COLLYWOBBLES

  16. Dnf…

    A tale of two halves this. The top half went in fairly quickly and I thought I was going to be on for a good time, but I hit a brick wall with the bottom. I’ve seen 18ac “Sealyham” many moons ago, but wasn’t thinking of a dog. I ended up putting “Tree” for 20ac and then struggled with 21ac “Tarsus” (not convinced by the “Us” explanation) and the obscure bush of 17dn.

    You can get a nice pint of Collywobble” up here in the Lakes.

    FOI – 6ac “Fedora”
    LOI – Dnf
    COD – 1dn “Retailer”

    Thanks as usual!

    1. What would it take to convince you then? U/S is (or at least was) a very common term in military circles for something that was no longer of use.

      1. Please don’t take offence – I’m not disputing what you’ve written, just clumsy writing on my part. What I probably should have said was that I’ve never seen or come across this before – not even vaguely.

        1. Oh, no offence taken. Clumsy by me as well!
          Interesting that Merlin below has also never heard of this usage so it may not be as widespread as I’d imagined.

  17. Bit of a disaster, maybe doing the Jumbo first frazzled my crossword brain. So here are the errors I made:
    MYMOSA ; which uses the “this persons” to clue MY, them OS in MA.
    SPONGE ; careless
    And the following near misses
    YEALSHAM terrier, which I looked up
    TARSAL : I’ve never heard of US in the military for Unserviceable, I think they use SNAFU or FUBAR
    I thought 2d COLLYWOBBLES would start with FOLLOW (=dog) which fitted the checkers when not much else did
    CONVERGE just had to end in EDGE (=border), this was LOI

    FOI FEDORA, I have a wide selection, Borsalino make good ones.

    COD RETAILER

    1. Live report from the mess of the Scots Dragoon Guards – “ yes we all say US for unserviceable”

  18. 19:58 eventually. Two corrections – collIwobbles and seYlAham (NHO). TARSUS a lucky dredge to get the right ending. SPONGY just about passes. MIMOSA wasn’t springing to mind for a while even though I lived in a road called it until I was 8. Overall beginning to feel the QC is becoming a lost cause. Last Orpheus I did from the book of 2016 puzzles was completed in 9min45.

  19. A mixed bag today. Many went in quickly but there were enough that required more thinking (e.g. SCHISM, MORALS) to take us out to a slower than average 14:35. Loved RETAILER for its humour but it also terminated my disgruntlement at wondering why you would clue CARB as ‘(sea)food’. Doh! LOI was SEALYHAM, which I had heard of, but only became apparent when I realised ‘oddly’ a shy… didn’t mean ‘AH’. Double doh! Thanks Orpheus and Galspray.

  20. Challenging, but I got there.
    Time = Who cares? Not me (any more)!

    My final few in were:
    SEMOLINA (biffed before seeing MO for second)
    SEALYHAM (very late seeing this was an anagram and lucky we’ve had it before)
    MIMOSA (I’ve heard Mrs R mention it)
    CONVERGE (spent ages trying to accommodate EDGE or LEDGE).

    Many thanks to Orpheus and Galspray.

    1. “Time, who cares – not me any more”. Mr Random, the blogsite may have started off as “Times for The Times”, and a site to compare times, but it has become so much more than that, and we value you for your comments and your presence here, so do stay with us even so.

      1. I will – and thank you for your kind words, Mr S (or Mr St A).
        I really enjoyed today’s (quite stiff) challenge without the tyranny of a stopwatch by my side. Deleting my spreadsheet and stopping timing myself is just my way of coping with the rough ride we’ve been subjected to recently. My enthusiasm for the daily QC and my enjoyment of the banter here remains undiminished.

        1. Solving times only matter if you want them to. I always enjoy your contributions to the banter on here and that’s far more important!

      2. Had a full-on day yesterday so didn’t see the QC until today. Had not realised the reason for the name Times for the Times, but like many clues, obvious! I just do the QC for pleasure, enjoying the mental workout and extending my GK, without worrying too much about time. However, the tftt blog is certainly an additional benefit.

  21. DNF, I too had TREE, and although I didn’t like it I couldn’t come up with anything better. Also failed on SEALYHAM which I’ve never heard of. I tried YEALSHAM which sounded just as plausible as SEALYHAM to me, I thought it could be either and picked the wrong one. FOI – FLAWLESS, LOI the incorrect YEALSHAM, COD – the brilliant RETAILER which brought a smile to my face. I seem to be off form lately, will hopefully improve next week… Thanks Orpheus and Galspray

  22. It felt a little quicker than my eventual 23mins, but then it’s quite hard to concentrate when you are still chuckling 10mins later over 1d Retailer. I was very lucky with Sealyham, as the breed was completely unknown to me: just a case of filling the blanks with the remaining letters in what seemed a plausible order, and fingers crossed. Talking of crossers, I also needed a few of those for Semolina, as Selina has yet to replace Anne as the default crossword female. Overall, an entertaining Saturday solve, with CoD to the stand-out Retailor. Invariant

  23. 11:28

    Completed on ‘phone due to cat sleeping on keyboard. Some less common stuff here e.g. SEALYHAM and the excellent COLLYWOBBLES.

    Thanks G and Orpheus

  24. 14:46. Flirted with Detailed, Tree, Rail, and Carb like others above but came around eventually to the right answers.

  25. All green in a slow 26:11 on a leisurely Saturday morning. Had an unparsed TARSAL at 21a for the longest time, which held up my progress on the whole lower half. Like some others, I’d never heard of US as an abbreviation for useless, I’ll try to remember that. COD to RETAILER 😀

    Thanks to Orpheus and Galspray.

  26. 14.10 With two errors. I was unsure of SEALYHAM but was undone by a careless SPONGE and, like several others, TREE instead of TEEN. Which would work as wordplay but lacks a definition. I liked RETAILER and COLLYWOBBLES. Thanks galspray and Orpheus.

  27. 4:41 so below target for the third time this week. Orpheus can always be relied on to provide a properly Quick Quick Crossword… well for me, at least. Thanks Orpheus and Gallers.

  28. Back in the SCC with 21:06, and that’s having got lucky with MIMOSA, which I bunged in unparsed on the flimsy grounds that it’s a cocktail so perhaps it’s also a shrub. Having read galspray’s explanation I think that the clue is misjudged in a QC. Also banged in TARSAL, which worked nicely until it didn’t. Fortunately I had my dog-friendly wife on hand to provide the required breed (I suspect that she may have used aids but have chosen not to probe the matter).

    RETAILER took a thousand years, and now I also can’t help wondering why the mice were blind and what the hell’s wrong with the farmer’s wife. Chilling stuff indeed.

    Thank you for the blog!

  29. Found this tricky and a slow DNF. Personally as a relative novice there were a fair few unfamiliar abbreviations…

    Can someone explain IM for ‘this person’?

    Thanks for the blog

  30. DNF

    Very late to this. NHO the terrier so assembled the anagram at random and crossed my fingers.

Comments are closed.