Times 26281 – A Stink in the Tale

Author   ulacaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Looking at the early times posted on the Crossword Club, I have to say that this was a puzzle where a holiday taken in Bulgaria 35 years ago made all the difference between a Did Not Finish and a finish in an almost Verlainesque time of 12’44”. Every dog must have his day, as Tottenham found when the toon came up to town.

My memories of that holiday at the “Sunny Beach” resort on the Black Sea are vivid, not least because of the Borg-McEnroe tiebreaker we watched in the hotel lounge and even more so for the fact that I was head-butted in a restaurant down the road after being overcharged for a plate of chips I decided to order when I was feeling peckish late one evening.

I forget how much I was quibbling over, but it was likely to have been of the order of several of the little fellows at 17 down (stotinki, as they are pluralised in the Latin script). (A stotinka – a hundredth of a lev – is about half a euro cent.)

So Bulgaria is one of the nine EU countries which wisely opted out of the euro. Your starter for ten: which are the other eight? (Answer at the end of this entry.*)

ACROSS

1. CROW – C (‘about’ = Latin ‘circa’) + ROW.
3. CRISPBREAD – CRISP (‘fresh’ as in weather reports) + BREAD (‘dough’). My last in.
9. OLD MAID – barely cryptic and a write-in if you remember the card game.
11. MAGICAL – MAGI (as in the three wise men) + CAL[l].
12. SWITCH OFF – not tremenjously cryptic, either; the definition is ‘stop paying attention’ and ‘turn away’ the wordplay, which needs to be lifted and separated – if you’re really, well, paying attention.
13. NORMAL – NORMA[l]; the other day, in a Concise, I mixed up my Berlinis (the composer of the opera Norma) with my Berninis (the sculptor/architect). I’m better with music than art. On edit: …but not so good as I thought I was – the composer is Bellini! A nod of the head to my Monday confrère
14. ONE-HIT WONDER – forget your Nenas and Carl Douglases, for me there is only one of the breed, the marvellously named Randy Van Warmer. (Even if he doesn’t make any of the Wikipedia lists, and had other hits, he fits the bill for me.)
18. IN A COLD SWEAT – my original thought was ‘muck’, but maybe that is just a reflection on my mental state at a time when I’m wallowing in nostalgia by catching a few Carry Ons on YouTube. It’s an anagram* of NOW A CITADELS.
21. CLEAR – C (musical note) + [Edward] LEAR.
22. IMPRUDENT – IMPUDENT about R (Latin ‘rex’, of course).
24. OVERDUE – another refugee from Quickie land: OVER + DUE.
25. UNKNOWN – if I was asked to open a book on clue most likely to be biffed (‘bunged in from the definition’), I would give it to this one, using my actuarial skills to reckon that most solvers already have the K by the time they get to this one. For the record, it’s NUN* + OWN (‘at once’) around K (English ‘king’, naturellement). On edit: Or, to be precise, NUN* around K + NOW. Thanks to the sharp-eyed Galspray.
26. SILVERSIDE – long, in an easy (apart from one clue) puzzle, therefore also highly biffable: it’s LIVERS* in SIDE.
27. FETA – hidden there somewhere.

DOWNS

1. CROSSBOW – BOW below CROSS (‘bridge’ as a verb).
2. OLD-TIMER – a not especially challenging double definition. (I used to say that this type of clue was aimed at Australian solvers, before I was told off, so I will say that this type of clue is aimed at some Australian solvers.)
4. RODEO – another ‘Australian’ (note the use of inverted commas to show jocular intent) clue: RODE + O.
5. SEMIFINAL – IF in SEMINAL. Perhaps we should call this one ‘Antipodean’, lest I be thought to be ignoring my mother’s land across the Tasman.
6. BEGINNERS LUCK – IN + N[orthern] + GREEK + CLUBS*. The literal is ‘unexpected success for novice’. In case you are wondering, ODO (Oxford Dictionaries Online) has ‘North or Northern’ for ‘N’. On reflection, I probably lose a lot of money and have to give up my nascent actuarial career, as this one has ‘Biff me!’ written all over it.
7. ESCORT – C (‘chapter’) in E + SORT.
8. DOLLAR – ALL in ROD all reversed.
10. AUCTION BRIDGE – ‘a [card] game’; this time BRIDGE is wearing its ‘join’ hat (as in ‘bridge different cultures’), while ‘lots’ go to (and hopefully from) an AUCTION.
15. WACKINESS – WINE + CASKS*.
16. PENELOPE – a rather straightforward charade (i.e., A + B) of PEN + ELOPE.
17. STOTINKA – TIN (‘money’) in ST + OK + A.
19. ACTORS – [f]ACTORS.
20. REVEAL – ‘show’; A in REVEL. ODO has pushing the boat out as being lavish in one’s spending or celebrations.
23. POUND – double definition: Ezra and a place for containing or confining.

* Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden and the UK.

53 comments on “Times 26281 – A Stink in the Tale”

  1. Well, it seems I haven’t broken my losing streak (last week was so nice, though). GROSSBREAD? (never thought of CRISP…, which I might have recognised). And of course STATINIA (with A1 as “fair”) — the only time I’ve ever been in Bulgaria it was still Communist and I never got off the train to Istanbul, so I spent no money there.

    Edited at 2015-12-14 09:50 pm (UTC)

  2. I was on a train journey today. Got the paper out to do the QC as usual,this one being generally out of reach.But a quick look at the back page revealed a crossword with a lot of what I regard as QC type clues so after persisting I had everything bar 17d. And despite getting most of the bits (St,tin,a ) I couldn’t crack it -very frustrating; not fair in fact. David
  3. Much the same as others. Vague recollection of ‘stotinka’ and slow realisation of ‘crispbread’ but got there o.k. in a reasonable time by my standard.
  4. A sluggish 7:47 for me.

    Despite my usual ignorance of foodie matters, I’d actually heard of CRISPBREAD, since I recall a 1960s (?) TV advert in which the punchline was “We think you will be liking these crispbreads” (or something of the sort) delivered in a charming Scandinavian accent by an attractive blonde young Scandinavian woman.

    A pleasant, straightforward start to the week.

    1. I also had no problem with CRISPBREAD and I was surprised by some of the comments above. To me it was a no-brainer. The leading brand, which may have used the slogan you recall, is or was Ryvita which dates back to the mid-1920s I believe but was certainly heavily promoted as a healthy option to bread or traditional savoury biscuits in the 1950s and 1960s when commercial TV was in its infancy in the UK.
      1. I think the point of the advert was that the makers were actually Scandinavian, which would presumably rule out Ryvita.

        That could be the only time I’ve come across the word CRISPBREAD, but then, as I say, foodie matters are not my strong suit.

      2. I don’t think it was a lack of familiarity with crispbread, per se. It was the ‘certainty’ that a crispbread wasn’t a biscuit. The confusion for some of us came from having too narrow an idea of what a biscuit can be.

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