Times 25,902: Roll Out The Bunting

Author   VerlainePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
More of an occasion for punting than bunting for me in this heartbreaker: after a speedy start from gimmes like FOI 22d, by ten minutes in I’d filled in all but three or four clues. And then twenty minutes in I’d filled in all but two clues. So what could have been a respectable result turned into a glum half-hour job. Ten minutes of 18a and then twenty of 8d!

I shall not recount my other woes during the latter twenty minutes, including a one-year old child pointedly dumping her bowl of Shreddies down her front and my laptop crashing (resulting in a need to hastily refill the whole grid and managing in the process to submit 3d as “KKALEIDOSCOPI”), except insofar as it gives me a golden opportunity not to bring up the marvellous word “praeteritio”. If anyone helped by today’s blog is a secret billionaire though, donations to the Verlaine household bibs and new computers fund are always appreciated.

Other than plunging me into crosswording hell this morning, this seemed like a great puzzle, very elegant and economical, with some real subtlety and cleverness about many of the clues. Some nice vocab: I was unfazed by 26a and 19d, presumably due to repeated past exposure as a solver, but 9a was more unfamiliar. Easy to work out from the wordplay fortunately, though the Chambers definition is all “with two embankments raised before the counterscarp” which leaves me little the wiser.

16A and 1D were the two clues that stymied me, by the way: I’d say 1D is a candidate for COD just because of having such a compelling surface, and I would assume that it’s that aesthetic appealingness that caused my brain to mysteriously shut down for a full quarter-hour. I would also give huge props to 27A… “revolutionary surrounded by” is brilliantly misleading, suggested RED or CHE or whatever inside something else, and the surface is completely convincing. Yeah, 27a for my COD I think. Right, children to dress and get to school! Same time next week?

Across
1 TRACK EVENT – “relay for example”: TRACT [pamphlet] “about” K EVEN [king, unwavering]
6 GAFF – home: amon{G AFF}ordable “houses”
9 RAVELIN – defensive work: RAVEL IN [composer not out]
10 FEMORAL – “of thigh”: MORAL [virtuous] after FARCE – ARC [“ignoring curve”]
12 ORDINATION – admission to ministry: ORATION [speech] “covering” DIN [racket]
13 DUB – double def (name, type of music)
15 OCELOT – cat: “turning” TO LO [to look] around CE [church]
16 PLAYLETS – dramatic works: LAY L [put line] “into” STEP [action] “backing”
18 CHOP-CHOP – quickly: P [quietly] “stopping” CHOC HOP [sweet dance]
20 TRIFLE – play: T [leader of treasure] + RIFLE [hunt]
23 SET – clique: S{l}E{u}T{h} “discounting even characters”
24 PROVERBIAL – famous: PL [place] “occupied by” ROVER + BIA{s} [traveller / influence, endlessly]
26 FELUCCA – boat: C CA [beginning to chug, about] after (FUEL*) [“changing”]
27 TRIGGER – cause: “revolutionary” GIRT [surrounded] + GE{a}R [equipment “wanting a”]
28 DENT – impressiong: TEND [nurse] “after change of tips”
29 CORRUGATED – crinkly: RUG ATE [blanket, put away] “secured by” CORD [string]

Down
1 TART – cutting: {s}TART [opening, “cutting opening”]
2 ADVERSE – hostile: ADVER{b} [part of speech “mostly”] “on” SE{ct} [sect, not half]
3 KALEIDOSCOPIC – constantly changing: (IDEALS COOK*) [“ruined”] + PIC [image]
4 VENIAL – minor: V [verse] + LINE [part of it (verse)] “elevated”, holding A [answer]
5 NO FRILLS – basic: N [name] + (FOR*) [for “unsettled”] + ILLS [problems]
7 ABRIDGE – contract: AGE [get old] “enthralling” B RID [book, free]
8 FILIBUSTER – delaying action: I BUS [one “supported by” coach] “amid” FILTER [strain]
11 MONEY-GRUBBING – greedy: ONE [individual] in GYM [health club] “raised” + RUBBING [friction]
14 VOUCHSAFED – allowed: V [see] + (CHAOS FEUD*) [“sadly”]
17 COLORADO – state: CO [business] + LOR [expression of dismay] + ADO [trouble]
19 ORTOLAN – bunting: LOT [quantity] “put up in” ORAN [N African port]
21 FRAUGHT – distressed: FOUGHT [clashed] with RA [artist] “for” O [nothing]
22 MENTOR – guide: MEN [people] + TOR [hill]
25 BRED – produced: R [resistance] “having lie-in”, i.e. in BED

29 comments on “Times 25,902: Roll Out The Bunting”

  1. 40 minutes for what I agree was another fine offering. I’ve been getting more into the habit of parsing those I solve by definition as I go, and was pleased today to avoid a potential pitfall of MONEY GRABBING at 11D. Damn, just noticed I put FEMURAL at 10A. So much for my improved ways!

    The ortolan was in the news again recently, another attempt to ban the cruel practice of drowning it in brandy before eating, if I remember correctly. I think I also read it was President Mitterand’s last meal.

    RAVELIN was unknown, but there is a Ravelin Close on the estate where I live. Can’t think why it’s called that though…

    1. Eating them is banned. They were in the news because French restaurateurs are trying to unban it!
  2. Another excellent puzzle to round off the week, a marriage of technique and invention if ever there was one. I ended up in the diagonal corner with the other fine four-letter word, BRED. COD to any of TART, VENIAL (because it might help me distinguish it from venal after all these years), BRED and TRIGGER.

    It is always moving to hear of the travails of the Verlaine household. The trouble is, with you user pic, I can’t get my head around laptops and Shreddies. In my imaginative world, you will always be in the nursery, sitting on an over-stuffed armchair with bits of padding leaking out of the sides surrounded by one-eyed teddies and innumerable toddlers in pinafores eating porridge with wooden spoons.

    Edited at 2014-09-26 07:41 am (UTC)

  4. Every day this week except Monday has been a battle for me, but I found this one more satisfying than some earlier ones and I managed to get through it unaided though I admit to picking up the dictionary on two occasions intending to give in, but then suddenly having a flash of inspiration as the correct answer sprang to mind. It’s as though I needed the break in the thought process to clear the jam. DK FELUCCA or DUB as music. Hardly a day seems to go past at the moment without mention of tarts of one sort or another.

    Edited at 2014-09-26 07:58 am (UTC)

  5. 23:10 but how much longer it would have taken me to unravel all the parsings is anyone’s guess. Some very intricate work moulded into convincing surfaces. Spotted the significance of friction just as I was about to enter GRABBING. Apart from being correct in this instance GRUBBING somehow conjures up a lower form of avarice. Can’t stop thinking of Tesco now.

    Edited at 2014-09-26 09:27 am (UTC)

  6. 28:18. Another stiff but highly enjoyable challenge. Numerous unknowns, but they weren’t the really tough ones. I slowed myself down by putting in MONEY-GRASPING, which isn’t really a thing, but I couldn’t see how MONEY-GRABBING could fit the wordplay. This made 24ac difficult until I thought again. My last in, and favourite clue today, was 1dn.
  7. As others have said, this has been a week of struggle, but this was perhaps the most satisfying of them. 1dn is a minor classic – so many possibilities present themselves until the checkers are in place.
  8. 33 min, with several unparsed. LOI was 27 got from definition, where I was trying to make something from equipment=RIG.
    I had heard of RAVELIN – from Major-General Stanley, who didn’t know the meaning, either.
  9. 23 mins. I agree that this was another quality puzzle. The DUB/ABRIDGE crossers were my first ones in, quickly followed by OCELOT. I then decided to look at the clue for 14dn, I remembered see=v which helped me get VOUCHSAFED immediately, and its helpful checkers meant that the SW was completed quickly and I was able to build out from there.

    For some reason it took me ages to see TRACK EVENT even though I knew what the first word was going to be, and it was only once I got it that I was able to get VENIAL, my LOI. However, I confess that PLAYLETS went in from definition alone because I didn’t get past thinking that “put x into” rather than just “into” was the insertion indicator.

    1. Mm, yes, that’s exactly why it took me forever, even though I thought of “PLAY” early on… I was thinking that the second-letter-L had to be the “line”, and completely missed the inconspicuous and unassuming “put”!
  10. 35 minutes, but a few queries en route where I didn’t get the wordplay or didn’t know the word or particular meaning. The former consisted of 16 and 27; the latter included RAVELIN, FELUCCA, GAFF and DUB (the music bit). Fortunately I opted for FELUCCA, which looked more likely than FULECCA. Most useful answer was 8, which confirmed my suspicion that 6 might be GAFF, and 13 DUB; it also gave me 16, where I had been toying with PLAYLIST.
    1. I also felt that FELU was more likely than FULE, so I felt reasonably confident with my initial FELUCRE.
  11. Very enjoyable 40 minute solve after a week of great puzzles. FOI GAFF which was a common expression in London where I grew up, and one which I still often use. DNK RAVELIN, but what else could it be?
    1. I think Harry Revel (musical theatre), Sebastian Raval (Renaissance), Rudi Revil (French traditional), and Robert Rival (assorted orchestral) would all be insulted that you hadn’t considered them (not that I’d heard of any of them …)
  12. Wow, I must have been on the setter’s wavelength today – 11 minutes, though GAFF, RAVELIN and FELUCCA went in from wordplay alone, and I was relieved to come here and find out the boat wasn’t FULECCA.
  13. And had to look up FELUCCA and ORTOLAN.

    For the second day in a row, being Australian was an advantage, GIRT being a word that has surely never been uttered outside our national anthem.

    Still too hard for me though. Had a really compelling reason for entering CAVE at 1dn, which looks less compelling now, and that held me up for a long time.

    Anyway, none of this matters. The Rabbitohs are in the Grand Final for the first time in 43 years. Glory, glory to South Sydney.

  14. 7.49.54, last of the faultless entries. I hope regular followers will assume that was a piecemeal solve, as indeed it was, and I think all I can really say is that I started hoping to compete in short order, found I couldn’t just before the interruptions started, and finished during teatime doziness. So instead I’ll report a glorious morning collecting conkers with youngest grandson, complete with the long-unpractised art of throwing a stick into the tree. Again, granddad, again!
  15. About 30 minutes for a very nice puzzle, with some compelling moments, especially 1D. LOI was PLAYLETS, and FILIBUSTER was quite clever. And the setter deserves applause for fitting KALEIDOSCOPIC into the grid. Thanks much to Verlaine for persisting in the face of domestic adventure. Regards.
  16. 33:12 but a technical DNF as I cannot spell CORRUGATED (well, I can now). Having spent a week on a felucca in the 80s (Aswan to Luxor) this was fine but I did have to guess DUB of which I have never heard in the musical context.

    Some crunchy and enjoyable puzzles this week.

  17. Oh dear. DNF after 2 hours, lacking VENIAL, ABRIDGE, GAFF (neatly hidden), PLAYLETS and FILIBUSTER. Kicking myself over FILIBUSTER, because I know the word and it crossed my mind briefly (it’s only a short journey, after all).

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