Times 26031 – s’no easy ride

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I nearly forgot it was my day so I didn’t leap from my bed as early as I should have done, so apologies for a slightly late post. I then struggled for 45 minutes with this, more in the parsing than the answers, while fielding a couple of phone calls and watching UAE threatening to beat Ireland in the CWC. I am unconvinced on 25a, perhaps the 1p will drop…

Across
1 FAT CAT – FA (note), TCAT (diplomacy, reversed); def. influential politician.
5 CHOC ICES – CHOICES (options) has C inserted; def. treats from the freezer.
9 PETERSON – PERSON (somebody) has TE (a note) inserted; Oscar Peterson, 1925-2007, famous Canadian jazz pianist. I wasn’t impressed with this clue, as ‘jazz musician’ requires some specialist knowledge and several could fit the bill; I also toyed with PATERSON (Ottilie) before realising she had two T’s.
10 PATRON – Def. regular; PAT(H) = route finally barred, R (river) ON. I spent a while trying to parse RATRUN meaning regular route, then had a coffee and a re-think.
11 PAGANISM – PM = British leader, around SIN = evil, AGA = commander,all reversed; def. irreligious practices.
12 STROKE – Double def; a rower, and what you pull for a brilliant achievement.
13 SKIN TEST – Very droll. A medical procedure, and if you were the least wealthy you’d be the most skint, or skintest.
15 CEDE – Def. give up, hidden in RA(CE DE)FINITELY.
17 BLUE – First letters of Books Like Ulysses Extremely; def. coarse.
19 DRAG RACE – DR = drive, ACE = champion, around RAG = kid; def. motor event.
20 STRESS – (A)SSERTS = states, reversed, with the first letter removed; def. force.
21 ATTAINED – A TT (dry) A (area) IN ED (middle of swEDen); def. reached.
22 SET OUT – Double definition.
23 HOCKTIDE – Sounds like HOCK TIED; according to Wiki, Hocktide or Hock tide is a very old term used to denote the Monday and Tuesday in the week following the second Tuesday after Easter.
24 POLLSTER – POSTER (advertisement) around LL (Liberals); def. voting expert.
25 SLEIGH – Well it could be sledge, but the best explanation I can see so far is that SLEIGH sounds like SLAY and if you ‘wow’ someone you could be said to ‘slay’ them. But I’m not convinced.

Down
2 AMENABLE – NAB (cop) inside A MELE(E), a brief set-to; def. friendly.
3 CREVASSE – C (about) REV (churchman) ASSE(T) (blessing, with the T removed); def. crack. Took me a while to crack this one.
4 TESTIFIER – SET (determined) reversed, then IF inside TIER (row of seats); def. witness.
5 CINEMATOGRAPHER – (HAMPERING ACTOR)*; then the E = last letter of ROLE; def. film-maker. My first one in.
6 COAL TIT – (TAIL)* inside COT = shelter; def. bird.
7 CORPORAL – COR = my!, with P = promotion, initially, supported by ORAL = said; def. officer. Is an NCO an officer?
8 SENTENCE – SENT(I)ENCE means feeling, remove I = heartless; def. judge.
14 SPARTACUS – SPAR = fight, TAC(IT)US = historian, losing IT; def. slave.
15 CHASES UP – CHAP = fellow, around USES = exploits, reversed; def. investigates.
16 DECRETAL – DEC = end of year, LATER = subsequently, circulated > RETAL; def. papal edict. Derived from ‘decree’.
17 BELITTLE – BELLE = dish, holds I TT = one tart without filling; def. make small.
18 UNDERDOG – (GROUNDED)*; def. loser. Not that underdogs always lose.
19 DISCUSS – US = summit’s leaders, gone round, inside DISCS = circles; DISC(US)S; def. debate.

36 comments on “Times 26031 – s’no easy ride”

  1. 20 mins, but I failed the GK test at 23ac by guessing “Hochtide” rather than HOCKTIDE. I don’t like clues where the homophone indicator can refer to either one or two elements of the wordplay, but at least I got DECRETAL right because the wordplay wasn’t ambiguous. I also didn’t like UNDERDOG defined as “loser” for the reason Pip mentioned in his blog, so all in all not one of my favourite puzzles.

  2. About 45 mins, with a couple of wrong’uns…

    Hadn’t heard of PETERSON, couldn’t parse ratrun (10ac), spit test (13ac) or DRAG RACE, so thanks for those. HOCKTIDE (I too considered ‘hochtide’) went in with a shrug. Hesitated between sledge and SLEIGH, and opted for the wrong one (undparsed, natch), but on checking after, wondered about the slay=wow connection. Didn’t stop to parse CINEMATOGRAPHER, just bunged it in once I had the initial C. Threw in sparticus (sic), without taking time to look for Tacitus… doh! Should have taken longer, may have done better…

  3. Unlike our blogger, I didn’t spend any time at all trying to parse RATRUN ( an obvious write-in from def.).

    No problem with SLEIGH, but did raise an eyebrow at the UNDERDOG definition.

    AMENABLE and PETERSON last two in.

  4. Too many quibbles in this one after a long run of very good puzzles

    I’ll join in the UNDERDOG double take, the dislike of 23A as clued (I looked up both hochtide and HOCKTIDE, never having heard of the festival). Some puzzlement over SLEIGH/sledge – a poor clue I think.

    I think PATRON is rather a good clue and I like 21A and 19D. I don’t think of FAT CAT as being a politician – rather anybody who is wealthy but the cryptic was obvious so no solving problem

  5. 46 minute, particularly enjoyed STRESS and PATRON, but didn’t dig SLEIGH and had a Roger Moore moment at UNDERDOG. Even England sometimes win an ODI, after all.

    Edited at 2015-02-25 11:27 am (UTC)

  6. Most of an hour went on this one with major hold-ups at 10ac where RATRUN was too tempting and in the SW corner.

    Didn’t know the Papal edict or the festival but had no difficulty working them out. I rather like SLEIGH and can’t see what the problem’s supposed to be with it.

    But I looked twice at “politician” in 1ac as I’d never heard of that, however it’s sanctioned, alone among the usual sources, by COED who have “businessman or politician”.

  7. A number of slightly unsatisfactory clues here but rather than whinge, roll on tomorrow. Certainly in the UK though (and certainly in The Times cartoons) FAT CATs are invariably City bankers rather than politicians but I guess that if it is in a dictionary somewhere . . .
    1. I’m not keen on allowing words and meanings simply because they are in a dictionary somewhere but we’ve been led to believe in the past (though policy may have changed since)that the Times uses Collins and COED, and there’s obviously some input from Chambers, so if a word or meaning is in one of those then I reckon it’s fair game for inclusion.
  8. 1 error in DOSCUSS (sic). I is next to O, I suppose. Otherwise 26 minutes, 8 on my last two CREVASSE and SENTENCE, perhaps thrown by the minimalist “crack” definition for the first – one has to say it’s a pretty big crack. I thought CLEAVAGE for a while (it’s a crack in a diamond, boys, stop sniggering) but couldn’t parse.
    HOCK TIDE unknown even to me: my lot haven’t practised gender based bondage and extortion for simply ages, though it’s given me some good ideas for fundraising.
    Some pagans I know would be most affronted at having their religious practises negated. Nothing raises religious fervour like a good bit of gender related….
    Agree with Jim on FAT CAT and other woolly definitions. Both Rifkind and Straw have always been quite skinny.
  9. Thought SLEIGH was a pretty straightforward homophone, so no complaints there.

    Glad I never thought of HOCHTIDE.

    Raised an eyebrow at FAT CAT, which in Australia is generally reserved for overpaid public servants, not politicians.

    Still, all correct, so much more enjoyable than yesterday! Thanks setter and blogger.

  10. Pip, did you watch Ireland v UAE to its conclusion? What a game! And the rocket scientists at the ICC want to exclude these “minnows” from future World Cups!
    1. Yes I did, excellent stuff, although I don’t think either side has the bowling attack to contain a major team. But there again, nor does England, on current form…
  11. Not sure what this means in terms of the Big Tone theory of editorial toughness allocation, but it took me 16:40 with Tippex and quite a lot of muttering.

  12. Forgot to start the timer but I’d say somewhere around 15 to 20 minutes.

    To fat cat and underdog I’d add cot, chases up and sentence as being woollily defined.

    Didn’t know the edict or the festival. On the latter I think I just got lucky in assuming that only the second part was a soundee-likee.

    Edited at 2015-02-25 12:55 pm (UTC)

  13. I agree with the complaints about the loose (if not plain inaccurate) definitions – for FAT CATS, UNDERDOG and COT. No objection, however, to SLEIGH sounds like “slay” = “wow”. Had never heard of HOCKTIDE, and needed to check in the dictionary that such a word existed, but the parsing was clear enough. Alas, I carelessly fell for RATRUN rather than the correct PATRON at 10A, even though it is usually, I think, written as a two-word phrase and was completely unparsable. Doh!
  14. 13m, but with a careless SLEDGE. No problems with the clue: I understood it as soon as I thought about it. This is best done while solving, rather than afterwards.

    Edited at 2015-02-25 02:05 pm (UTC)

  15. I don’t understand the complaints about COT = shelter at 5dn as a cot can be a shelter (amongst other things) for birds, as in “dovecot”. Since the surface reading of the clue is about birds and the answer is the name of a bird I’d have said it was a rather clever clue. I know it can also be spelt with an E but both are perfectly valid alternatives.

    Edited at 2015-02-25 02:21 pm (UTC)

    1. I actually went with cot as small cottage, which would also qualify as a shelter, and thought no more of it. Not sure how well a coal tit would fare in a dovecot: vicious savages, doves are. Trust them I would not.
        1. That’s just my ignorance then Jack. I always thought it was spelled dovecote and only know cot as a bed / crib. Quibble withdrawn.
    2. Just to add to this little etymological curiosity, “cottage” is a home, a shelter, a place where one can be sheltered. C18th and C19th poets quite often used the form ‘cot’ to refer to a cottage.
  17. 61m today but all correct with some inspired (read lucky) guesses such as DECRETAL and also some shrugs, causes for which have already been mentioned. Not mine or the setter’s finest effort but a good blog at least so thanks for that.
  18. I did manage to finish this (with one error- RAT RUN) after an hour and ten minutes but I didn’t really enjoy it. It seemed much less fun than recent offerings. I had to guess PETERSON but was pleased to work out DECRETAL and HOCKTIDE from word play

    Edited at 2015-02-25 03:43 pm (UTC)

  19. When I used the spelling preview I found that it recognised neither DECRETAL nor HOCKTIDE so I felt even more pleased with myself!
  20. A 40 min DNF. Missing CORPORAL (officer?) and PATRON (didn’t even think of ratrun) with quite a few others BIFD. Did not really enjoy this for the reasons many have mentioned above.
      1. Thanks – I realise that now. Always thought officers started at lieutenant. Perhaps I should spend more time pacing the corridors of the MOD!
  21. In addition to the many other quibbles “force” doesn’t equate to “stress” in my O-level physics book!
    1. Collins has: STRESS (physics) a: force or system of forces producing deformation or strain, b: the force acting per unit area.

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