Times 24,947 of tight trousers and adulterous queens

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time 20 minutes

This is an entertaining puzzle containing a good mixture of clues of different type and degree of difficulty. A reasonable range of GK plus a small amount of slightly obscure vocab, such as 3D but overall – nice one setter.

Across
1 FLABBY – FLA(BB)Y;
4 SHRIMPER – S(HR)IMPER; HR from H(e)R(e); “one taking little food” = fishing boat catching shrimps;
9 LAGGARD – LAG-G(u)ARD; u-turn=about turn;
11 ROSTRUM – (sort)*-RUM;
12 BLEAK – two meanings;
13 SUBALTERN – SUB-A-L-TERN;
14 AUDIT,TRAIL – AU-DITT(o)-RAIL;
16 GUAM – GU(A)M; island in western Pacific, scene of terrible fighting in WWII;
19 DRAW – DRAW(l);
20 ANNE,BOLEYN – AN-(only been)*; Henry VIII’s supposedly adulterous second wife 1533-1536;
22 CANTONESE – CAN-TONES-E(ar);
23 TAGUS – TAG-US; Spanish-Portugese river;
25 ORINOCO – OR(I)NO-CO; gold=OR; business=CO; Venezualia-Colombian river;
26 GRIMACE – GR(IM)ACE;
27 TREATIES – TR(EAT)IES;
28 MEASLY – M-EAS(i)LY;
 
Down
1 FULL,BOARD – if the (notice) board is full…..;
2 ANGLE – (w)ANGLE(d);
3 BLANKETY – two meanings 1=a euphemism (in Collins); 2=like a (blanket) cover up;
5 HARD-BOILED,EGG – cryptic definition, soldiers are sticks of bread dipped into a soft boiled egg (used to feed small children);
6 INSOLE – IN-SOLE; also well known retired England cricketer;
7 PERSECUTE – (secure pet)*;
8 RUMEN – RU-ME(at)-N;
10 DR,STRANGELOVE – (engravers told)*; How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb starring Peter Sellers – brilliant film;
15 DRAIN-PIPE – (in a ripped)*; 1950s fashion statement that had to be worn with pumps;
17 MONASTERY – M(ON)ASTERY;
18 CONTRITE – CONT(RIT)E; story=CONTE; slow down (music)=RIT(ardando); reverse engineered from guessed solution to wordplay;
21 COHORT – COHO-R-T(he); statistical group having for example the same age;
22 CLOUT – C(LO)UT;
24 GRASS – GRAS(p)S;

32 comments on “Times 24,947 of tight trousers and adulterous queens”

  1. 23 minutes, so on the chewy side. NW corner not helped by believing without cause that it was HALF BOARD. ANGLE was last in because I waited ’til then to go through the alphabet, several letters fitting at the top end but not fitting the cryptic unless too severely stretched. The breakfast I was preparing on the basis of this grid very much 5d.
    Is BLANKETY without its blank still valid?
    CoD to the splendid anagram at 10d, D? having me guessing in Latin and French before the penny dropped.
  2. Fun, quirky puzzle, with some nice vocab – MEASLY, SHRIMPER, GRIMACE, LAGGARD – completed in 52 minutes after quite a battle in the NW. Once BLANKETY fell, BLEAK (displacing ‘bream’) and AUDIT-TRAIL followed soon after.

    ORINOCO was easy enough from the wordplay, but it was unusual to have a river described as a border. DR STRANGELOVE was a fine clue, but COD to BLANKETY – just for getting it in without mentioning Terry Wogan.

    Doug Insole is better known to my generation as an administrator, e.g. chairman of the England selectors in the 1960s, My late father knew him well, having played in the same side at Cambridge University in the post-war period. Not a bad side either, With John Dewes, Hubert Doggart and a certain Trevor Bailey.

  3. Finished my version in about 40 minutes (particularly dubious about BLEAK and BLANKETY) and did not understand full wordplay for CONTRITE (‘ritardando’ unknown and did not appreciate that ‘conte’ was in English usage). Pleasantly surprised to find that my version tallied with jimbo’s (thanks for the blog)! Held up by carelessly entering GRASP when I knew the answer was GRASS.
  4. 16 minutes.
    I agree, this was an entertaining puzzle. It was also a bit of an ego boost because it felt quite tricky so I was pleased with my time. A nice little birthday present: thanks setter!
    I was a bit worried about the NW because I didn’t know BLANKETY as a euphemism or that a BLEAK is a fish (although I have a feeling it’s come up before). Quite a fishy puzzle actually, with COHO (also unknown), sole, shrimps and angling.
    1. Many happy returns of a day I have a feeling you will celebrate with something red and from a little further into southern Europe than Canterbury!
  5. Thank you very much. You are quite right of course, although on the basis discussed yesterday Épernay and even Vosne are not that much further south!
      1. Many happy returns to both of you. Long time no hear Anax – trust you and yours all fit and well.
        1. Hi Jimbo, and thank you. All is well, but sadly I don’t get to solve/read blogs as often as I used to. Have reached the point where my time is 90% setting and 10% looking at bank statements thinking “That can’t be right”.
      2. Thank you. I’m in exalted company! Along with Roger Waters and both Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski.
        Happy birthday to you too.
  6. 25 minutes, so my second consecutive under 30. Didn’t know the required meaning of BLANKETY (it’s in Collins, btw)or GUAM. Nice puzzle.
    1. I knew you’d speed up once you retired. Makes you realise just what commuting does to you.
  8. 21:27, contrite from definition, cohort was a guess, only considered 3d as a word thanks to Les Dawson and Terry Wogan.
    1. “Conte” is a French word for (short) story or tale. I didn’t know it was used in English but it’s in ODE and Collins.
        1. It’s also in Collins. I learned it many years ago in the sense of an adventure, and always remembered it (along with ‘paladin’) because of its association with ‘Have Gun Will Travel’ – as discussed here very recently.
  10. Slowcoach here took just over an hour to finish. For a long time all I had was DRAW, INSOLE and GUAM. I should have spotted the helpful HARD-BOILED EGG sooner since the clue to that is becoming a bit of a chestnut. Obviously from others’ times it wasn’t seen as difficult, so I hope it was just an off day for me. Either that or I’m losing my grip.
  11. 32 minutes. No real hold-ups, except perhaps SHRIMPER, which was a new word for me. And I’ve just remembered how I came to know ORINOCO. It features rather grimly in I’ve Loved You So Long. COD to BLANKETY.
          1. I always think of it as the personage “Orinoco Flo”, about whom somebody has probably written a bawdy ballad.

            Down by the banks of the Orinoco
            A voluptuous wench with the given name Flo
            Would attract passing sailors by calling: “Yoo-hoo!
            Come over here boys I’ve got something for you…

  12. 31 minutes, slowed down by not realizing at first that 20ac was an anagram, never having heard of AUDIT TRAIL or BLEAK the fish or DRAINPIPE trousers (had to check those three). COD to 22ac.
  13. 8:04 here for an interesting and enjoyable puzzle.

    My mental image of a SHRIMPER was someone wielding a shrimping-net.

  14. I feel very humble when I see Tony’s time above. I’d puzzled for 10 minutes before putting in my first clue! Finished in 40 minutes with CANTONESE going in as the only word to fit the checkers. I had the CAN but the rest had me flummoxed. Last in SHRIMPER which I’d never heard in this context. I didn’t get a chance to get to this blog earlier – it’s now time to print Wednesday’s puzzle.

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