Times 24774, god forgeve yow your trespas …

Author   mctextPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 17 minutes.

All straightforward, except that I couldn’t parse 18ac for a while: November Foxtrot India. Then the small coin fell. Now that I see it, a clear Charlie Oscar Delta.

Now holde your pees, my tale I wol beginne.

 

Across
 1 S,CREAM.
 5 TYPE,CAST. ‘Characters’ gives us TYPE and (acts)* gives us CAST.
 9 COORDINATE. Anagram of ‘decoration’. Now I find there’s also CAROTENOID and CORONADITE. (Thank you, Chambers Anagrams.)
10 I would prefer to omit this one.
11 IN CAMERA. Double def. (Makes me wonder parenthetically: where are films [rolls of film, celluloid] more often seen these days?)
12 SHRIKE. Exchange last two letters of ‘shriek’. The name of Christie Malry’s girlfriend in B.S. Johnson’s novel. She worked for a butcher.
13 TREK. A very tight and clever clue indeed. First letters of ‘The Red’; last letters of ‘thE blacK’.
15 GLOSS(AR)Y. The filler is A, plus the last letter of ‘writeR’.
18 PARDONER. Wrote this in right away with only the D and the R to go on. Had to suffer said Tale for A-level English. But then … why? A pardoner completely forgives a debt or sentence; as opposed to merely commuting (reducing) it.
19 BO(D)Y. The def is ‘person’.
21 APAC(H)E. The wrapper is from ‘with expedition’.
23 QUARTERS. That is, 25¢ pieces. Once had an interesting exchange about the pronunciation: |ˈkôrtər| or |ˈkwôrtər|? And why?
25 SIAM. S for small, then ‘I am’ (Latin: sum). Perhaps best known from the famous Cartesian saying, “I think they’re for one a.m.”. (Thank you, My Word.) Descartes, take that away from me!
26 DEALING OUT. I call these things reverse cryptics. The answer (‘dealing out’) could clue the word ‘aligned’. Very neat when, as here, they work.
27 STRANG(L)E. The wrapper is from ‘unfamiliar’; the def is ‘throttle or choke’.
28 HIDING. Double def.
Down
 2 CROW,N.
 3 EARMARKED. On the premiss that some animals have tags in their ears. Anagram of ‘are’; then ‘pronounced’ gives us MARKED.
 4 Down clue omitted. Ask if it bowls you over.
 5 TRAFALGAR SQUARE. Cryptic def. The National Gallery is there, sternward of Viscount Nelson, Duke of Bronte (1758–1805).
 6 PRESS BOX. ‘Crowd’ for PRESS and ‘fight’ for BOX.
 7 COWER. Double def; the second unlikely to be much used (a person who cows, intimidates). Add to the flow-er, butt-er, … list.
 8 SNOOKERED. Anagram of ‘needs rook’.
14 REAPPOINT. Anagram of ‘Part I open’.
16 SABOTAGED. Anagram of ‘boats’ + AGED.
17 UNDERDO,G.
20 PARIS,H.
22 COMMA. Double def.
24 ROUE,N.

 

44 comments on “Times 24774, god forgeve yow your trespas …”

  1. 35:21 on the club timer. Last to fall 18, 25 and 22. COD to PARDONER. Thanks to McT for the full parsing of 25 and 3. Just as well I didn’t bother myself too much with the spelling of SHRIEK (which I was picturing as ‘shreak’) and just bunged the bird in.
  2. My travelling companion in A level English was the Wife of Bath, so I didn’t see PARDONER quite as quickly as mctext. Good clue though – as I think sotira mentioned recently, we seem to be getting more and more of these lateral thinking clues now (COMMA falls into the same category). Congratulations to the setter for an enjoyable and inventive puzzle. 43 minutes for me.
  5. Another of those ‘sting in the tail’ puzzles. 29 minutes for all but two was very good going for me in view of recent performance but it took me another 14 minutes to sort out the SIAM/COMMA intersection.

    I had heard of the butterfly but couldn’t bring it to mind and I was misled into thinking I needed a word inside another word to make the whole. At 25 I wasted time trying to make MITE fit.

    There were some lovely clues here. I particularly liked TREK, WOOD and TRAFALGAR SQUARE because for a moment the clue made me wonder whether it had ever been a place of public execution.

  7. Almost identical experience to jackkt (I think I’ve said this before). Looking at C???A for the second day in a row made me wonder whether CHELA had made a quick reappearance.

    Very enjoyable. Lots of pleasing clues but my COD goes to SIAM: a real sense of satisfaction when the meaning of ‘sum, classically speaking’ finally dawned.

  8. An enjoyable 20 minutes with nothing too difficult. I liked “sum” as “I am” at 25A . Not keen on 5D. If you know where the Tate is the answer is obvious. If you don’t you end up guessing from checking letters.

    I was sorry to see 10A WOOD omitted because it’s a well crafted clue. I don’t really understand why we omit these clues. If a person isn’t aware of this blog they phone the help line. If they know of this blog they come here and ask. Why pretend any different?

        1. Not sure what you’re getting at. I’m sure Jimbo is fully aware that it’s the National and it was just a momentary slip of the mind.
    2. I agree with you about missing answers out. I wonder if we can change this under the new regime without upsetting anyone at the Times?
      1. Add my name to the petition for an end to clue omission. I’ve never seen the point of this, but as a relative newcomer to this excellent blog I hesitated to question what seemed to be a hallowed tradition, albeit one for which it was difficult to see any good reason. Now that Jimbo has said publicly that the emperor’s not wearing any clothes, why don’t we all stop pretending that he is?
  9. Another enjoyable solve, despite being stumped by the COMMA/SIAM pair (…and I did Latin A-level many moons ago, should’ve got that one!). Re A-levels, my chosen pilgrim was the Franklin, so took a little while to remember the PARDONER. The bird reminded me of when, a couple of years ago, our tiny Lincolnshire village was swamped as twitchers from all over the country flocked (as they would) to catch sight of the small grey songster – first time I’d met this word, but one I’ll not forget – ’twas the talk of the village for months!
  10. 13 minutes., my definition of straightforward. These days, I don’t get below that.
    More amusing than I thought it would be after spotting the distinctly average clues for TRAFALGAR SQ and SCREAM.
    I hesitated over SHRIKE because my iffy ornithology conjured up images of a raptor rather than a songbird.
    CoD to SIAM for a really nice penny drop, special commendations to UNDERDOG for the underdo bit, and PARDONER. Put me down for the vintage fortunate enough to have the gat-toothed Wyf of Bath (didn’t everybody?) for A level
  11. 24 minutes. Very pleasant start to this sunny day with a good mixture of clues of the type I enjoy. CHEYENNE yesterday, APACHE today, CROW hiding in 2 down: better circle the wagons.
  12. “If a person isn’t aware of this blog they phone the help line. If they know of this blog they come here and ask.”

    … or they use one of the various other sites which share none of this blog’s scruples, cheerfully providing answers even for prize crosswords before submission deadlines etc. (I’m not suggesting the site policy on prize crosswords should be changed.)

    As a relative newcomer, who has now learnt a lot from the site, I used to find ‘omits’ particularly frustrating: they were frequently the clues on which I was stumped. However, I got lots of help when I overcame my fear of looking stupid and asked ‘dumb’ questions. This, I think, is perhaps the strongest argument for retaining the ‘omits’. It has made it evident that this is not an experts-only, exclusive site but one which genuinely tries to “to help new (and sometimes experienced) solvers understand how the clues work” and hence get more enjoyment from tackling the crossword.

    Despite that, I think the ‘omits’ have probably passed their ‘use by’ date. The character of the site is now well-established and most ‘newbies’ would not, I think, feel intimidated (they should be put at ease by those of us who, on a daily basis, identify our own shortcomings).

  13. 17 minutes today. Very entertaining with SIAM and PARDONER (once understood!) being CODs. That said there were many fine clues that wood, so to speak, go on the shortlist. Thanks to the setter for the fun, if not overly taxing, challenge. It has been a long time since I wrote the first 6 across clues in.
      1. So did I. And quite unabashed. A truly ambiguous clue, though I grant you the blogged answer is a better established expression.
  14. Certainly one of the easiest puzzles in quite a while. 21 mins for me. That said, some very good and enjoyable clues/solutions – viz. DEALING OUT, PARDONER, SIAM and COMMA. Notwithstanding Jimbo’s comment above, I also liked 5dn, to which the solution was only “obvious” if you immediately twigged that “place for public hangings” was pointing you to a square with a picture gallery in it rather than a gibbet.

  15. 12:04 .. I very much enjoyed this and ticked five clues – a lot of smiles along the way, which is how I like it.

    So, thanks setter. And thanks mctext for a making me laugh with your intro, where the call signs also took a while to click over my first coffee of the day.

    Last in: EARMARKED .. COD: PARDONER

  16. Like most others we enjoyed today’s puzzle and didn’t find it too taxing. Re Omits,they are fun when, as today, the blogger makes a witty link to the answer. Otherwise why bother? Although everone else has said so, we still want to award COD to pardoner, with 5d not too far behind.
    1. Full support of the board here for the Don and ?Donna?

      I was stumped by pardoner, well done to all the Chaucerian scholars. I nearly found “summoner” but it just kept eluding, and wouldn’t have worked anyway.

  17. Shrike is also the name of the editor in Nathaniel West’s “Miss Lonelyhearts”; given its habit of impaling insects on thorns it was not high on my list of songbirds.
  18. Half an hour today. Last two in PARDONER then TYPECAST. As a 9 handicapper I always enjoy the golf clues – TH(e)ROUGH last week, CADDIE yesterday and now WOOD. Good stuff!

    Was in London with work last month and saw “Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle” on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth – quite a spectacle.

  19. 18 minutes. They’ve all taken me more or less the same amount of time so far this week, but this was the most enjoyable. Lots of good clues, all noted by others, so my thanks to the setter.
    The SHRIKE was unfamiliar, but I’m sure I must have come across it before, and COMMA completely unknown but with the checking letters it couldn’t really be anything else.
    I very nearly put in NATIONAL GALLERY at 5dn. Fortunately I noticed that it didn’t fit the enumeration but I thought for a while this might be a mistake.
    Thanks to mctext for a very amusing blog and for explaining the reverse cryptic in 26ac, which I’d missed.
    COD to SIAM by a nose over PARDONER for a couple of lovely PDMs.
  20. 12:39 including a brief interruption so I found this very straightforawrd with only Siam not fully understood. As a young boy I had the I spy book of butterflies (and even ticked off ones I’d seen. Come to think of it I may even have sent off for a badge) so comma didn’t hold me up at all. In fact with that and Rouen I had C???? and R????, immediately thought of comma and Rouen (probably by sheer luck) and was delighted to see that the wordplay fitted.
  21. Another fine puzzle to cheer me up at the end of a long day with brain returned to Amundsen’s forwarding address. I’m with everybody on PARDONER.
  22. Like others here, I enjoyed this very much. Everything went in smoothly – with a few smiles along the way. I too remembered my A Level Chaucer but dithered for a while between PARDONER and SUMMONER until I got the A checking letter. The cryptic still eluded me. Finished in 27 minutes. Then had that great eureka moment when I remembered that sins can be commuted as well as pardoned. Great clue!
  23. Completed most of the crossword fairly quickly but had quite a few I couldn’t fully explain. I couldn’t work out 13 across and thought it was trip and therefore decided 3 down was some sort of grouping or animals ending in “pod” which led me even further up the garden path!!
    Louise
  24. 10.31 online. Last in SIAM which I just bunged in as I couldn’t see the wordplay so thanks for the explanation. 5d felt like an original clue to me. I did like the idea of commuter leading to pardoner.
    As for the omitted clues on the blog it seems revolutionary ferment is spreading – first Egpyt , yesterday Bahrain and now…….
  25. Romped through this one in 7:45. My A level Canterbury Pilgrim was the Franklin also, but we were encouraged to read the rest of them! (Or to know the titles, at least.) Was abandoned in Rouen for a so-called school exchange at the age of 13 – teachers took it as a chance to b***** off to the Riviera at our expense and my exchangee didn’t get on with anyone else (or me) so I have reason to remember it! Particularly paterfamilias sharing a tangerine with family of four when I had just eaten a whole one . .
  26. About 25 minutes, ending with SIAM and COMMA. Like many others, I found this fun and enjoyable, like yesterday’s. Yes, COD to PARDONER. I thought the hangings behind the Admiral were flags, not art, but it led me to the same place. I was there once, but don’t have a memory of anything there other than Horatio himself. Nicely done setter, and yesterday’s setter as well, since I wasn’t able to comment then. Regards to all.
  28. 6:45 for me – which I suppose is respectable but felt depressingly slow, with several pennies getting stuck in the machinery. Oh to be 30 years younger. (Deep sigh!)
  29. My first encounter with the shrike was Thurber’s fable about the chipmunks and the shrikes; never thought of it as a songbird. It’s the official bird (‘mozu’ モズ) of Osaka prefecture. The characters for ‘mozu’ (百舌鳥) read ‘100-tongue-bird’, which suggests something of a repertory.(It’s the only Japanese word I can think of that has more characters than syllables.)

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