Entertaining, and educational too—seemed a bit harder than the last challenge from Bob. Some clues are surely going to be easier, though, for residents of the UK. There are two, for example, requiring some inside knowledge of a game that isn’t much played over here in the US of A—and which seems to be coyly alluded to in the answer to the first clue, which actually has nothing to do with it.
I indicate (Ars Magna)* like this, and words flagging such rearrangements are italicized in the clues.
| ACROSS | |
| 1 | Insects foremost in carrying disease (8) |
| CRICKETS C |
|
| 6 | Gets out puzzles (6) |
| STUMPS DD In the great game of cricket (Collins informs me), to STUMP, said “of a fielder, esp a wicketkeeper,” is “to dismiss (a batter) by breaking the wicket with the ball or with the ball in the hand while he or she is out of the crease.” …Funny, I had ST as “stumped by” in cricket notation in the last puzzle I blogged. I now have a slightly clearer idea of what it means. |
|
| 9 | Like some tea and cakes? (4) |
| ICED A CD that secretes a DD |
|
| 10 | Child stars travelling economy (5,5) |
| THIRD CLASS (child stars)* |
|
| 11 | Angel cake wrapper finally swallowed by fish (6) |
| CHERUB CHUB (“fish”) ingests the last letters of cakE and wrappeR. |
|
| 12 | Secret signal (8) |
| INTIMATE DD |
|
| 14 | Meat for hosts to cut is different (10) |
| PROSCIUTTO PRO, “for” accommodating (to cut is)* |
|
| 16 | Did jam start off as Bunter’s favourite? (4) |
| TUCK |
|
| 18 | Check old rule out (4) |
| VETO VET, “Check” + O(ld) |
|
| 19 | House a witty new Democrat enters, sure of success (4,3,3) |
| HOME AND DRY HOME (“house”) A(N)(D) DRY (“witty”) …Never heard, to my knowledge, this expression. Over here we say, “Home free!” HIGH AND DRY, my first guess, doesn’t fit the definition. |
|
| 21 | Bigheads putting in time for themselves? (8) |
| EGOTISTS EGO(T)ISTS You get another word meaning the same thing (or another version of the same word?) when the T is removed. |
|
| 23 | Lead-free inspection on power supply (6) |
| PURVEY P(ower) + |
|
| 25 | Pasta mostly effective in hoop shapes (10) |
| TORTELLINI TOR(TELLIN |
|
| 27 | Prematurely withdraw a bond (4) |
| BAIL DD The first definition is quite contemporary and not (yet) found in Collins, but Dictionary.com has “to give up on or abandon something, as to evade a responsibility (often followed by out): | My cousin volunteered to help but bailed at the last minute.” I’m sure we’ve all heard and/or used this expression. If you “bail,” it’s always after having made a commitment, so you’re quitting before it’s quitting time. |
|
| 28 | Watery spot surrounding dock (6) |
| SLOPPY SP(LOP)Y In Collins, definition 1 is “(esp of ground conditions, etc) wet; slushy” and 4, “ (of food or drink) watery and unappetizing .” …I mention that only because this word has always meant to me only (definition 2) “informal careless; untidy” or (3) “informal mawkishly sentimental.” Live and learn! |
|
| 29 | Work by The Third Man novelist (8) |
| FIELDING The satirist Henry F. was a pioneer of the novel in the first half of the eighteenth century. The cryptic hint refers to a FIELDING position in the noble game of cricket, which apparently (but don’t ask me) is more commonly these days called simply “third.” |
|
| DOWN | |
| 2 | Family husky, not a thoroughbred of course (9) |
| RACEHORSE RACE, “Family” + HO |
|
| 3 | Drink, maybe Coke, put out with name removed (5) |
| CIDER CI |
|
| 4 | Basil’s worked with these institutes (11) |
| ESTABLISHES (BASIL + THESE)* |
|
| 5 | Wearing small garment, provided it’s taken up (3,4) |
| SKI LIFT S(mall) + KILT clothes IF, “provided” |
|
| 6 | The odds of deals being turned down (3) |
| SAD DeAlS<=“being turned” |
|
| 7 | Football team eating fruit, almost without restraint (9) |
| UNLIMITED UN(LIM |
|
| 8 | A little gif{t is op}ened up in advance (5) |
| POSIT Hidden reversed |
|
| 13 | Article about Rome uncovered by a country pamphleteer (6,5) |
| THOMAS PAINE TH( |
|
| 15 | Sportsman with a glove, pants and cap (9) |
| SHORTSTOP SHORTS, “pants” + TOP, “cap” A player in the eponymous infield position in America’s national pastime of baseball. |
|
| 17 | Sectarian rambling of a philosopher (9) |
| CARTESIAN (Sectarian)* …“I solve, therefore I am.” |
|
| 20 | Text written about a pet dog (7) |
| MASTIFF M(A)S, “Text written about [A]” + TIFF, “pet” in the sense of (Collins) “a fit of sulkiness, esp at what is felt to be a slight; pique.” The second definition of TIFF in Collins is “a fit of ill humour.” …I’ve always only thought of TIFF as the first definition, “a petty quarrel,” which would take two, but apparently a person can have a TIFF all by themselves. |
|
| 22 | Ghost town in Yorkshire by the sound of it (5) |
| GHOUL “Goole” …Never heard of the place! |
|
| 24 | Frantic turnover of local papers (5) |
| RABID BAR<=turned over + ID, “papers” |
|
| 26 | Non-professional set (3) |
| LAY DD |
|
It seems cricket played a big part in this one, whether it was the insect (fascinating info on the temperature info, Guy), or the great game itself. As is usual on a Sunday, I’m always left with two or three at the end that hold me up but get there eventually. In this case Thomas Paine (NHO) and Purvey. Very enjoyable.
Guy, I think you’ve missed the first ‘A’ from the parsing of Thomas Paine, the ‘H’ should be ‘R’ (from rOMe) and a strikethrough is missing from the ‘E’ of the same.
Thanks (again), Hawkeye!
Try (again), Radar!
Refresh your page!
I was going to call you “eagle eyes,” but opted for that, no allusion to M*A*S*H intended.
I don’t see any resemblance of myself to the young corporal.
19A: There is another expression, seemingly recognised on both sides of the Atlantic- “home and hosed”. Compared to “home and dry”, as puzzling as the transatlantic “could/couldn’t care less” difference.
Never heard it, in all my born days! (And it’s not in Merriam-Webster.) No idea what “hosed” would mean there, either!
sorry – apparently “esp Aus/NZ”. One source connected it with horse racing, so maybe “finished the race and cleaned up afterwards”
Quite a coincidence that 12a “Secret signal” for INTIMATE appeared in my Independent on Sunday crossword on the very same day – especially as there doesn’t appear to be any online evidence of it appearing anywhere before.
That’s amazing! Could it be a… secret signal?
I suppose double definitions are the most likely clue types to get inadvertently repeated, but it’s interesting that it appeared twice in one day when it isn’t an old chestnut.
And now it’s been harvested by an AI database as fodder for a future puzzle when the bots have taken over and all human compilers have been terminated with extreme prejudice. I think I’ll have another cup of coffee.
28:52
I was so pleased at knowing Goole that I bunged it in; it was only the prolonged difficulty in solving 28ac (LOI) that got me to read the clue more carefully. I didn’t understand the ‘third man’ allusion in 29ac, but assumed it was something crickety. DNK HOME AND DRY. I didn’t care much for -ian surviving intact in CARTESIAN. I liked PROSCIUTTO, TORTELLINI, PAINE, but COD to CIDER.
I did exactly the same on the Goole / ghoul clue!
I found this a bit difficult, but persevered and was rewarded. Home and dry was completely unknown, but the cryptic was kind. I often spell tortellini wrong, but here I had telling to guide me. My last one in was the Fielding clue, but I did know the position. I didn’t expect to find shortstop, but there he was in his usual attire.
Time: 40 minutes
Mostly straightforward. I am aware of the meaning of BAIL in the sense of quitting, as I work for an American company and hear it used a lot. I’ve never come across it in British use. But maybe it’s beginning to infiltrate the UK. It was difficult to find any dictionary that gave this meaning explicitly.
Indeed. The American source Merriam-Webster has it only as a variant of sense 2 (not literally parachuting) of “bail out”: “to abandon a harmful or difficult situation | also: LEAVE, DEPART,” which doesn’t include the connotation of an unfulfilled commitment (i.e., leaving “prematurely”).
And it’s not in Chambers at all.
I found thus hard, taking more than an hour although I was left with no queries other than checking later to see who THOMAS PAINE was. PROSCIUTTO needed several attempts to get the spelling right – something I can never remember for some reason.
You might (or might not) be surprised to learn that Thomas Paine was referenced here just this past June, in Times Cryptic 28937 —a Friday puzzle Jeremy blogged and you commented on.
https://timesforthetimes.co.uk/times-cryptic-no-28937-a-tough-finish-or-not
However, there the clue had “Tom Paine” as mere anagram fodder, with no historical knowledge required—though my comment, above yours, mentioned the American revolution, as well as the evocation of “Tom” Paine in the stark, vaguely allegoric song on Bob Dylan’s John Wesley Harding “As I Went Out One Morning.”
Thanks, but I’m not in the slightest bit surprised.
Tom Paine appeared twice in June. In the one I remembered – 28933 – he was clued as “revolutionary endlessly affected”. Jackkt – you put him in with fingers crossed
Sorry. That should be “afflicted”
23.15
More superb stuff from my favourite setter (Sorry everyone else though I like you too Oink 🙂).
Smooth; clever; and witty. But some pity for those non-Yorkshire folks who know nothing of cricket! Guy – you did a cracking job.
I was totally flummoxed by FIELDING but it was a v pleasant PDM when it came.
Thanks Robert and Guy
Didn’t know who THOMAS PAINE was but worked it out from wordplay. No major problems otherwise.
Thanks Guy and setter.
FOI Establishes
LOI Sloppy
COD Fielding
I’ve never heard of ‘third’ instead of ‘third man’, but it makes sense: there is a very wise move to make cricketing terms sexless. For years we have talked about batsmen. Now we call them batters.
(Yet today the new Master of the King’s Music has been announced: the female Errollyn Wallen.)
Master of the Monarch’s Music?
Not sure whether you’re suggesting this as a possible new name or whether you know something that I don’t know. The BBC News website says ‘King’s’.
But possibly Mster of the Monarch’s Music.
I was hoping not to be taken seriously, de-sexing ‘King’ while sidestepping ‘Master’.
Thank you for the blog – very interesting explanations.
15D: For me baseball’s the more unknown sport – I’d not realised that all the fielders wear gloves. But thanks to a YouTube video entitled “AMAZING 2022 Fielding Plays! These guys can flash the leather!”, I’ve now seen it and also learnt a new phrase.
16A: Jam (particularly Jam Tarts) was indeed one of Billy Bunter’s favourite delicacies:
— “Bunter was seated in an armchair, with a fat and satisfied expression on his plump countenance. There was a smear of jam round his large mouth, and his general aspect was sticky and shiny. He was eating—or rather toying with—a peach. It was quite a nice peach, which Bunter might have been expected to scoff in a split second. The slowness with which he was disposing of it indicated plainly that Bunter was already loaded to the Plimsoll line. Bunter, evidently, had been somewhere where there was tuck, and plenty of it.”
(Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School, Frank Richards, 1947).
DNF, 27a Bail wouldn’t occur to me without the “out”. Must have been too tired to get 24d Rabid (not hard) and Purvey (ditto). Otherwise good.
Knew Thomas Paine from of all things a locomotive. Must have looked him up after. I don’t think the Brits would generally regard him as someone to name things after.
Much enjoyed this, from one of my two favourite setters … even allowing for the Americanisms “bail,” without the out, and shortstop .. slightly on the harder side, or so it felt to me
Found this harder than I expected, with the clever sporting allusions completely passing me by. Didn’t know Thomas Paine, or that meaning of PURVEY. (So LOI). Took too long overall, but very much enjoyed SKI LIFT, FIELDING, GHOUL ( took a guess on Google); and MASTIFF. Usual high quality from Robert.
Thanks Robert and guy
Started off with just over a half hour in a cafe with only a dozen or so entries, followed by a longer session back at home which generated all but the last few in – POSIT (in which I didn’t see the reversed hidden – instead trying to wonder why POT was ‘a little gift’!), PURVEY and SKI LIFT. Sort of was familiar with the name of THOMAS PAINE, but wouldn’t have been able to give any details of the man. Was pleased to remember Goole was a place somewhere in England – would’ve needed a map to find it though ! HOME AND DRY is a common enough phrase here.
A tough puzzle , taking exactly the hour and a half, that was very satisfying to finally get finished.
MER at 3D. Surely coke and cinder are never synonymous. Took the c from Coke and then spent ages trying to find a word for put out from which I could delete an n.
Well remember life in the forties when coke was delivered to homes for use in a kitchen stove which was constantly alight.Ash and cinders were removed daily.
Cluing “cinder” here is not “Coke” alone but “maybe Coke, put out.”
Thanks Guy.Can just about follow the logic.I do find this blog invaluable .Chambers is also a great assistance.