Times 26191 – A short dash after an easy day!

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 17 minutes

Music: Bach, Brandenburg Concertos, Britten/ECO

A very quick solve, and truly a biffer’s paradise. Once you get a few crossing letters, you can pretty much roll with the literals. I just got held up a bit at the end, since I had a very imperfect recollection of ‘orris root’ and had to puzzle it out. Even then, I was not sure and had to check after solving.

Some solvers may not do as well if they are a little constrained on the vocabulary side. I wrote in ‘inspissated’ and ‘epiglottis’ with aplomb. The only word I had had truly never heard of was ‘courgette’, but the cryptic hands it to you very nicely.

I am glad the puzzle was so easy, because I am a little behind and am having a difficult time with some of last week’s offerings. I did spend a whole week in a remote location with nothing but Guardian puzzles, though, so I may have just lost the knack of solving in the Times style.

Across
1 PRINCE CONSORT, PRI(N)CE CON + SORT, my FOI, and biffed from the literal and the definition.
8 TORY, T(O[pposition])RY.
9 UNGENEROUS, UN + anagram of ONE’S URGE. I did biff in ‘ungracious’ for a bit, but then erased it instinctively.
10 APOLOGIA, A + POLO + GI + A.
11 SISKIN, SI(SKI)N.
13 DOWNSTREAM, D(OWN ST)REAM.
16 OUST, [j]OUST.
17 PARR, double definition, a fish and the sixth wife of Henry VIII.
18 EPIGLOTTIS, anagram of PILOT I GETS.
20 MEKONG, ME KONG, the boast of a famous ape on the Empire State Building.
22 PRIMROSE, P(RIM)ROSE.
24 PALINDROME, PAL IN + D + ROME
26 FAT, FAT + E.
27 RIGHT REVEREND, RIGHT + R(EVER)END, another one most solvers probably biffed.
 
Down
1 PHOSPHORATE, anagram of SHOP + P.H. + o + RATE.
2 IDYLL, I’D + sounds like ILL.
3 COURGETTE, COUR(GET)T + [jun]E.
4 COGNATE, C(TANGO upside-down)E. ‘Tango’ was the second dance I tried, after ‘samba’.
5 NONES, hidden in [fictio]N ONE S[tudied], a very well-hidden hidden. I nearly bunged in ‘novel’, but couldn’t justify it.
6 ORRIS ROOT, sounds like ‘ORACE + ROOT. Why cockneys would be discussing a Roman poet is not indicated.
7 TAU, TAU[t].
12 INSPISSATED, INSP[ector] (IS) SATED.
14 NARROWING, RAN upside-down + ROWING.
15 MILLIPEDE, MILL I[m[anager]]PEDE.
19 IMPLORE, I.(MP) LORE.
21 GODOT, GO(DO)T. Not really a good clue, because ‘got’ is not exactly synonymous with ‘annoyed’; most speakers would say ‘got to’.
23 RIFLE, RI(F)LE.
23 AYR, sound like AIR.

51 comments on “Times 26191 – A short dash after an easy day!”

  1. Raced through this and then got to ORRIS ROOT, SISKIN and INSPISSATED, none of which I had ever heard of.

    The clues didn’t help that much. SIN and error don’t seem quite the same. Cockney bloke talked of seemed like it could be many things. And I got distracted since I was sure INSPISSATED was more subtle than it was since it had a query on the end. Why? It is completely normal clue.

    Edited at 2015-08-31 12:27 am (UTC)

    1. ‘Long lay the world, in sin and error pining,/
      Til he appeared, and the world I forget what, but the carol treats them as synonyms, or as near as damn it.
    2. I think the q.-mark is merely part of the literal, where I think it goes rather well.
  2. … the non-lit indication worked for INSPISSATED. Vaguely knew the word but suspect no one on this site has ever used it. (Awaits correction.) Much the same for PHOSPHORATE. Bit too steep for a Monday?

    At 13ac, I had a frisson of DOWNRIVER: the best novel ever written about London:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Sinclair

  3. I was all set to achieve my 30-minute target but then got stuck in the NE with ORRIS-ROOT, SISKIN and INSPISSATED missing, and between them they took me to 35 minutes. I knew the first two but the last one was unheard of and even having worked it out from wordplay I was extremely doubtful I would find it when I checked the dictionary as it just looks so unlikely.

    Before coming here and proclaiming my ignorance of the word I searched TftT for previous appearances of INSPISSATED and found one from 2007, and you might imagine my concern when I opened the link and found it was a puzzle I blogged myself (was I really blogging here that long ago?). Anyway I was relieved to find that it wasn’t a word in the puzzle but was mentioned in a passing remark by Tony S concerning a definition of “treacle” as “An inspissated saccharine juice obtained from various trees and plants”. I don’t think I could reasonably have expected to remember it from that.

    Edited at 2015-08-31 05:30 am (UTC)

    1. INSPISSATED was a favourite of authors of pharmacological books, whence presumably Dr Johnson’s definition of “opium” which I think was along the lines of “the sap of the opium poppy, sativer somniferum, inspissated by spontaneous evaporation”.

      Dereklam

      1. “the sap of the opium poppy, sativer somniferum, inspissated by spontaneous evaporation”… Ah, a more poetic age. Now we just cook meth.
        2. Walter White would probably have been able to say it, but I suspect it would have left Jesse Pinkman a gibbering wreck, yo.
        3. Apologies. Now that I have got home I have found the reference. It is in Partridge’s “Usage and Abusage” under “Johnsonese” but the quote is from a pharmacology book:

          “the milky exudation of papaver somniferum obtained by incision from unripe capsules and inspissated by spontaneous evaporation ”

          I guess we could still have ” ripe fruit of solanum lycopersicum obtained by abstraction and partially desiccated by spontaneous evaporation” .

          Derek

          1. Don’t apologise, though years from now internet searches will be attributing your phrase directly to Johnson. I really don’t think he’d mind.

            As for “the milky exudation of papaver somniferum obtained by incision from unripe capsules and inspissated by spontaneous evaporation”, I’m sure I’ve seen that on a Heston Blumenthal menu.

          2. Continuing the Johnsonian theme, the only reason I knew “inspissated” was from a memory of having read somewhere the great Doctor’s description of the nocturnal atmosphere of Shakespeare’s Macbeth as “inspissated gloom”.

            Edited at 2015-08-31 11:04 am (UTC)

  4. 14:17 so a gentle start to the week. Nice to see NONES rather than the more usual ides (Kalends to come?) and 21d reminded me of the shortest play in the repertoire (Act 1 Scene 1. ENTER Godot. Curtain)
      1. I didn’t but I do now so thank you. I would obviously travel a long way and pay top price to see this, especially if performed by acclaimed rubbish.
  5. 13:43 .. much biffing indeed, but there comes a time when the biffing has to stop. That time came for me with that serendipitous association of sibilance which was ORRIS, SISKIN and INSPISSATED for which some serious sinking was required.

    Edited at 2015-08-31 08:57 am (UTC)

  6. I’m the type of irritating person who can fairly confidently enter stuff like INSPISSATED, EPIGLOTTIS and ORRIS ROOT from definition and a couple of crossers, and fortunately the subsequent parsing didn’t lead to any nasty surprises today. Still not achieving my dream of a sub-5-minute solve, but this was another near-as-dammit, at 5:15.
    1. I’m a happy bunny as I was a whole 5 secs quicker than you. I have achieved sub 5 mins twice but not lately.

      I too can offer courgettes (and the ones that eluded us until they became what are known in our house as ‘Cormarrows’) and in a week or so, tons and tons of peaches (and I’m not exaggerating)

  7. Same experience as most others although I knew the finch at 11A

    A bit puzzled by 6D and did wonder if (B)ORRIS was the intended but I guess it’s the H from (H)ORACE – a most unlikely name in the East End that would probably ensure the owner didn’t survive his childhood

    Dorset is currently disappearing under a glut of COURGETTES the size of marrows. I did wonder if zucchini or even squash might be better known as their name

    Loved INPISSATED and will use it frequently in future

  8. Whizzed along with all except 11a and 12d, in 10 minutes or so, then remembered ‘singer’ = bird, as often as not, got SISKIN, but had to check 12d existed as spelt, as had never seen or heard the word. And what a fine word it is, except the meaning is wrong. ‘Inspissated as a newt’ would be a better one.
    Vinyl1 I can offer you a barrow load of courgettes, as usual we are running out of ways to eat them, maybe you’d call them zucchini?
  9. 11:59, with a couple at the end constructing the unknown at 12dn and not quite believing it could be the answer. But I couldn’t think of anything else so eventually I bunged it in and submitted with my fingers crossed.
    I’m glad I’ve heard of SISKIN before, because SUSKIN was my first thought from the wordplay.

    Edited at 2015-08-31 08:42 am (UTC)

  10. Well, half-wondering about Horace being so out of place in the East End, I googled name and place and can recommend some wonderful snaps from 1912 that came up, from the recently published Spitalsfields Nippers collection taken by one Horace Warner. (Not much is known about him so he may have survived his childhood elsewhere.)
    Oh yes – 12.23. Fastest for a long time. Still hoping to break 10.

    Edited at 2015-08-31 09:46 am (UTC)

    1. I did a search for Horaces in Bethnal Green and come up with one on a missing persons search, one in a lunatic asylum, and one who died but on an unknown date. Maybe it really isn’t a good moniker to saddle your Cockney kid wiv.
  11. 20 mins – so very quick for me.
    Off to a barbecue in the rain where I intend to get inspissated.
  12. 10 mins. I thought I was on for a 7 or 8 minute solve at one stage but slowed down towards the end where it took me longer than it should have done to see COGNATE, UNGENEROUS and NONES. It was only after I’d got the latter that I saw SISKIN, and then INSPISSATED was my LOI from the wordplay.
  13. 11.22, not much more time than it takes me to type. For reasons unknown, I associate orris root with biscuits, perhaps some sort of inspissatory agent. I’m now trying to remember a biscuit that tastes of violets, and rather wishing I wasn’t.
    Left the dangerous inspissated ’til last, and entered on wordplay and very vague memory. Currently it’s inspissating it down here, so I might as well do the Jumbo.
      1. Quite possibly, though I think it may be one of those words you meet only in Scrabble and crosswords and assume you know what it means, never checking because it doesn’t really matter unless you’re going into business as a confectioner or perfumer, neither of which were suggested by my careers advisor.
  14. Since no-one seems to have mentioned it yet, I might as well comment on the brow-raising correspondence in this puzzle and the quickie:
    7d: Foreign character that’s tight, taking time off (3)
    21d: Foreign character all but tight (3)
    Coincidence? Somehow I think not. Teazel: are you on duty for both puzzles today?
    I was bowling along very nicely until I reached the NE corner where, like others 6d, 11a and 12d almost undid me. I’ve heard of ‘Enry Root before, but not ‘Orace Root.
    1. Yes, I noticed the coincidence (or otherwise) and mentioned it earlier in my contribution to the Quickie discussion.
  15. 8 minutes, another who didn’t know INSPISSATED but found the wordplay clear, and liked the word when I deduced what it was. As a friend who also solved this morning commented “You and I might have found a more earthy way to clue that one”.

    I remember my class at school being given a homework task of making a pomander (on reflection, this makes me wonder if I grew up in the Regency period), which required finding some orris root. Obviously these days there’s a specialist orris root shop on every High Street, but as I recall, it wasn’t an easy thing to lay your hands on in 1970s Coventry.

    1. You are obviously not solving crosswords in ‘other places’ as ORRIS appears to be setter’s word of the month.
      1. Sadly no leisure for more than one puzzle a day at the moment. Funny, isn’t it, though, how words appear to cluster sometimes, without any conscious effort from the collective setting hive mind.
  16. Those in the medical profession will have heard of inspissated mucus- no nice- so that was quickly solved. Didn’t know ORRIS ROOT.
    Don’t think Horace Rumpole was a Cockney, but he relied on many to keep him in Vin Ordinaire
  17. A couple of unusual words for a Monday puzzle, but none that were unfamiliar, though it’s a longtime since I saw inspissated. As so often, the hidden NONES was a late entry, and last was 24, where I thought I was looking for a celebrated Anna, real or fictional. 30 minutes of leisurely solving over a drink.
  18. I simply cannot believe that vinyl1 had never heard of courgette!
    Quite shocking!

    Too much Brandenburg Concerto methink – go to itunes and tune in to NY Bluegrass Band band King Courgette. Lighten up your repetoire,dude.

    horryd Shanghai

  19. Those in the medical profession will have heard of inspissated mucus- no nice- so that was quickly solved. Didn’t know ORRIS ROOT.
    Don’t think Horace Rumpole was a Cockney, but he relied on many to keep him in Vin Ordinaire
  20. Bottom half went in almost instantly, a little head scratching at the top ending with the new term to me, INSPISSATED, but thankfully very clear wordplay.
  21. About 20 minutes, held up by the unknown to me words COURGETTE and INSPISSATED. As vinyl has explained, we call the former zucchini, and yes, they are numerous and difficult to dispose of in quantity this time of year. I simply didn’t know of INSPISSATED. I did know of the SISKIN and ORRIS ROOT, but the parsing of ORRIS ROOT inspissated my brain, if that’s a means of using that word correctly. If so, it’s a first. Regards.
  22. About 35m here though I confess to a doze somewhere in the middle of it. 12d new to me as well but I was able to work it out from the cryptic, though again like others was unconvinced it was right so it was my LOI. SISKIN is such a lovely word for a beautiful little bird. Many of them can be seen in the summer at the Bow Leaze cafe and wild life centre near Low Force on the River Tees, a favourite spot in the Grestyman world.
  23. 8:13 for me – not a disastrous time, but I note that there were several familiar names of competitive solvers ahead of me on the Times Crossword Club’s leaderboard.

    No problem with INSPISSATED. I think I probably first came across it in Robert Graves’s Goodbye to All That where Chapter 28 contains several anecdotes about T.E. Lawrence, including:

    Professor Edgeworth, of All Souls’, avoided conversational English, persistently using words and phrases that one expects to meet only in books. One evening, Lawrence returned from a visit to London, and Edgeworth met him at the gate. ‘Was it very caliginous in the metropolis?’
       ‘Somewhat caliginous, but not altogether inspissated,’ Lawrence replied gravely.

    In the edition of Johnson’s Dictionary that my great great great grandfather edited, he replaced Johnson’s definition of “opium” with over half a column’s description of the drug and its properties, from which he sadly chose to omit the word “inspissated”. He did, however, make up for this to some extent by including the word “discutient”.

    1. Thank you, Tony, for the lovely story, which has encouraged me to move the Graves book from my “Must read one day” list to my bookshelf.

      And how nice that you have such distinguished lexicographical pedigree, although your forebear would, presumably, have said “And what precisely is a crossword?”

      1. It’s years since I read Goodbye to All That, and I suspect that (with the knowledge gained over the intervening years) I’d enjoy it even more now. However, even without the re-reads, the list of books I feel I really ought to read before I die keeps growing faster than I can keep up with it!
  24. New York is faithful to the Italian zucchini. whilst the Brits go for the French courgette. (Fiore di zucchine is simply delicious.)

    But then calabrese takes the importers family name Broccoli.

    Am I to take it that the Zucchini brothers (Zeppo and Chico) of Napoli are somehow involved?

    horryd Shanghai

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