Times 24,062 Trivial Pursuits Anybody?

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time : 40 minutes

Not as tough as it could have been but a little harder than of late with some fairly obscure stuff tucked away. Edwardian hats; blood sucking eels; some cricket to confuse our US cousins as they queue to vote; a Dadaist; a football club; the use of the royal “we”; knowledge of the colour spectrum; lighthouse keepers; and a harvest festival.

There are a clutch of nice clues and then there’s 24D which I haven’t included in the blog. It’s not my favourite clue but 23A is helpful.

Across
1 SOBRIETY – SO-BRIE(f)-T-Y; Y=unknown (algebra); nice clue
5 OBERON – O-BE-RON; reference US President Ronnie Reagan; king of the fairies in Midsummer Night’s Dream;
11 ICELANDIC – IC-ELAND-IC; C=cold; ELAND=jumper; description of invested funds (joke)
12 VERSATILE – V-ERSAT(z)-ILE;
13 TOQUE – (quote)*; hat worn by Edwardian women
14 LAMPREY – LAM-PREY; an eel-like creature with a sucker as a mouth
18 HIPPOS – HIP-POS(t); HIP=invitation to cheer as in “hip, hip, hooray”
20 MOLIERE – MO-LIE-RE; Jean-Baptiste Poquelin 1622-1673
22 ADOPT – AD-O-PT; AD=bill; PT=point; nice clue
23 AMUSEMENT – A(MUSE-MEN)T; 24D=ERATO=Muse; online version has “twentyfour”
25 MIDWICKET – (dim reversed)-WICKET; gate=WICKET; cricket term for a fielding position
26 PRADO – (Arp reversed)-DO; reference Jean Arp 1886-1966; DO=make; famous art gallery in Madrid
27 STROKE – ST-(supersta)R-OKE; reference English football club Stoke City known as The Potters
28 WEREWOLF – WE-(flower reversed); speaking as king (royalty) I=WE; ignore the capital “R”
 
Down
1 SHRIVELS – SH-(silver)*; SH=quiet!
2 BLUER – two meanings; to blue is to waste (money); blue is opposite end of spectrum to red
3 INDIAN,ROPE,TRICK – weak cryptic definition
4 TRINITY – two meanings; Trinity House looks after lighthouses in UK; Christian term Holy Trinity for God
6 BEAUTIFUL,PEOPLE – (a feeble pupil out)*;
7 RED,SQUARE – QU=question in (readers)*; heart of Moscow
9 SEVERN – S-EVER-N; SN=tin; large UK river
15 MAIL,ORDER – MAIL-(w)ORD-ER; reference Norman Mailer 1923-2007
17 MEAT,LOAF – (oatmeal)*-F; porridge is anagrind; F=fine; nice clue
19 SWANKY – S-WAN-KY;
20 MOUNTIE – MOUN(d)-TIE; again, ignore the capital “B”
21 LAMMAS – LAM-M-AS; M=mass; August 1st harvest festival (loaf-mass day); nice clue

24 comments on “Times 24,062 Trivial Pursuits Anybody?”

  1. About 25 mins. I thought at first that this was going to be the expected nemesis, but it turned out to be quite straightforward.

    Generally quite nice with some good references, but as Jimbo says some weak clues.

    Henry 1 supposedly died of a surfeit of lampreys – I think “1066 and All That” must have something to say on the subject but I can’t remember it! My tutor at college was a world authority on Moliere – I must have been a great disappointment to him.

    2D was easy after yesterday!

  2. 30 minutes here, so I beat you today, Jimbo, probably for the first time ever! Mind you, I didn’t stop to worry about the wordplay in some of them and one or two (MAIL ORDER for example) were bunged in rather rashly.
    1. Well done Jack. Good stuff! Yes, I seemed to spend a lot of time checking references. For example the spelling of Arp and Lammas. You know what it’s like when you’re doing the blog.
      1. Never occurred to me Jack. Perhaps it’s only well known to we country bumpkins – like mangel-wurzel. It just shows how difficult it is to define “obscure”.

  3. Mostly good stuff.

    Pedant’s corner:

    I’ve not seen ‘…introducing’ used as a containment indicator before (the ‘at’ of 23ac) – wouldn’t one expect it to precede rather than envelop?

    1. I think “introducing” is fine. Chambers defines it as: to bring in; to add, insert or inject.
  4. I found this pretty straightforward, though with a solving time of 30 minutes I was slower than yesterday. I had to pause to ponder the wordplay after getting several of the answers, and at the time I didn’t understand 3 down, though I got it immediately with no letters to guide me; I suppose the successful magician does vanish into the sky as he climbs the rope. Nice clues, particularly 1a, 11, 23, 26.
  5. Fairly quick at 10 mins. No particular problems, apart from initially renaming Madrid’s fine gallery PRADA. Do they have a handbag section?
  6. 4D Just a quick correction of fact. Trinity House only looks after the lights in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar (apart from the one at Happisburg). Those in Scotland and the IOM are looked after by the Northern Lighthouse Board.

    Harry Shipley

  7. 13 minutes, this was a fun solve, and a few went in partially at the start (5 ac was always going to be —RON). LAMMAS and SEVERN were new to me, going in from wordplay, you might have had to add BLUER to that list if it weren’t for yesterday! My COD tip would go to 19, partly for the image and mostly because I would have clued that one in Private Eye style.
  8. 25:40, probably too much obscurity for one puzzle but nothing too unfair.

    Didn’t know nicker=neigh which made 8 tricky, especially as I plumped for Icelander at 11 before unravelling the wordplay.

    Was looking for a cricketing extra in 20 but as there is no playwright called Wiliede I changed tack and Moliere popped out – too slowly really as I did Le Tartuffe for French A-level.

    Q-0, E-6, D-6.5 COD 5 (if I’m not being politically incorrect)

  10. 11.49. When I first looked at 15d I had just acquired the M at the start, and seeing “US author… (4,5)”, beginning M, it was so tempting just to stick in Mark Twain without reading the clue. Luckily I resisted. Had never heard of ARP, and paused over that for a while as it seemed quite an unlikely name,and also because, if he existed, it seemed such a useful name from the point of view of a crossword setter that it would surely have come up before. (It probably has, but I don’t remember it.)
  11. 11:23 – one mistake. Very annoyed with myself at the time for not seeing 24D first time, as all the crossing answers would have benefited from another checker. Annoyed now for putting PRATO, using the “to” rather than “to make”.
  12. 14:35 and the same mistake as Pete – I was really pleased with myself for remembering ARP from a few weeks back as well!
    Agree with others that there was some pretty obscure stuff, but the wordplay made everything gettable so no complaints from me.
    Last in PRATO ! COD nod 12a – ERSATZ always reminds me of when I was young (about 300 years ago) and was hooked on the Colditz books/tv series. They always had ersatz coffee (was it made from acorns?) and the word has stuck with me ever since.
  13. Having spent 50+ years being blissfully unaware of the blue= waste money meaning two examples come along in a matter of days! (was it yesterday?) Never heard of Arp but guessed it had to be PRADO. I remember having visited the annual Lammas fair/street market in Kirkcaldy many years ago. 11.32 today.
    Held up a little by wanting to put SLINKY in instead of SWANKY.
    JohnPMarshall
  14. Took about 40 pleasurable minutes last night. I thought much of it was very clever and entertaining, i.e. ‘oatmeal porridge’, ‘speaking as king’, and others. But, alas, ignorant of UK football teams, I entered ‘strike’, not ‘stroke’, which I see here is wrong. Didn’t know of ‘Lammas’ or ‘midwicket’ either, but got those. Well, I forgive myself, better luck tomorrow. Very fine effort by the setter, in my view. COD: 12. Regards.
  15. Made a right pig’s ear out of this one, and after a first pass which yielded only 4 tentative (1 wrong) answers, convinced myself that this was the much prophesied Armageddon. At this stage did what all determined solvers with a lack of sleep and a bad hangover would do: went back to bed.

    On returning a couple of hours later, started to make progress, but was still convinced that this was The End, and nearly gave up with gaping holes in the SE. The timely intervention of Moliere then saved the day. Had never heard of Hans Arp, and was tossing up between Piano (as a backing instrument), and el Prado before finding guidance on-line.

    Have never followed roundball, so made an embarrassing wrong guess for 27 Ac – Stike City anyone?

    Over all a most uncomfortable hour plus, but on looking back find by mind-set was my worst enemy.

  16. 60 minutes for me though I didn’t get PRADO. Sixty minutes is also the length of my train journey so I’d better not any better at this or I’ll have to stare out of the window for the remainder of the journey (or turn to Su Doku).
  17. The online version did not have a clue for 11a so I was very happy to have guessed ICELANDIC from all the checkers. I have not tried entering I?C?A?D?C into OneLook to see if it comes up with anything else?

    There are just the two omissions from the blog that had a clue in my copy:

    10a Description of Tweedledum’s purchase of drinks (5)
    ROUND. Presumably Tweedledee got the last one in?

    24a Operator reveals inspiration (5)
    ERATO. Hidden in op ERATO r. 23a references her (the Muse of lyric poetry and hymns): 23a Pleasure at introducing twentyfour people (9)
    A MUSE MENT T.

    As Jimbo says at the top – a nice mix of subject matter to make an entertaining one. Thanks setter & Jimbo.

Comments are closed.