Times 26600

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
This took me a little over an hour but was a technical DNF as I resorted to aids for 3dn and 12ac. It then transpired that part of my problem at 12ac was caused by an incorrect answer at 2dn, a word I had never heard of which gave me an incorrect checker at the junction of the two clues.

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]

Across
1 Fancy work by Verdi more relaxed with volume dropped (10)
EMBROIDERY – Anagram [relaxed] of BY {v}ERDI MORE [with volume dropped]
6 Carbon-free load in mythical ship (4)
ARGO – {c}ARGO  (load) [carbon-free]
8 Airborne night flyer having to see slaughter here (8)
ABATTOIR – BAT (night flyer) + TO inside AIR [airborne]
9 Some shouting at Herod’s rally (6)
GATHER – Hidden in [some] {shoutin}G AT HER {od}
10 Cotton on / branch in tree (4)
TWIG – Two meanings. Firstly we have two slang expressions for “understand” then the second meaning is a literal. “Twig” for “branch” has come up before and raised queries, but it’s in the usual sources.
11 Unholy row with Lord about the Afterlife (10)
OTHERWORLD – Anagram [unholy] of ROW LORD containing [about] THE. I didn’t know this expression for a world inhabited after death.
12 Sage old lady, stern, embraces one upright character (9)
MAHARISHI – MA (old lady), HARSH (stern) contains [embraces] I (one), I (upright character). The last bit reminds me of Sir Humphrey’s “perpendicular pronoun”.
14 Female is not in swoon (5)
FAINT – F (female), AIN’T (is not)
17 Course available in religious studies (5)
ROUTE – OUT (available) inside RE (religious studies – Religious Education)
19 Dismissed by university with pressure to get paid (7,2)
STUMPED UP – STUMPED (dismissed – in cricket),  U (university), P (pressure)
22 Shield of eastern lad covering wounded revolutionary? (10)
ESCUTCHEON – E (eastern), SON ((lad) containing [covering] CUT (wounded) + CHE (revolutionary)
23 Man‘s one to deceive, not mad, outwardly (4)
ISLE – {m}ISLE{ad} (deceive) [not m~ad outwardly]. My portion of Christmas turkey regurgitated!
24 Today’s compiler slow to introduce universal method (6)
MEDIUM – ME (today’s compiler), DIM (slow) containing [to introduce] U (universal)
25 Lawyers missed start to meal, going by rail (5,3)
INNER BAR – {d}INNER (meal) [missed start], BAR (rail). This is the Queen’s Counsel collectively.
26 Typically long vessel — see one in Hamburg (4)
VEIN – V (see – vide), EIN (one, in Hamburg – German)
27 I get dinner prepared, using this? (10)
INGREDIENT – Anagram [prepared] of I GET DINNER
Down
1 Deal up to me on right stuff resuming shape (9)
ELASTOMER – SALE (deal) reversed [up], TO, ME, R (right). I have been caught out by this word more than once so I was pleased to remember it today.
2 Live as Mennonite with radiant smile (7)
BEAMISH – BE (live as),  AMISH (Mennonite). This archaic word meaning “smiling or radiant” was unknown to me. I also didn’t recognise the word “Mennonite” although I have probably met it before, and for that reason I plumped originally for “beaming”  which fits the definition. I deduced the wordplay as “be a Ming”, assuming incorrectly that “Mennonite” was something to do with the Chinese dynasty. This gave me a wrong checker for 12ac which led to my downfall as mentioned in my intro above.
3 Replacing fluids and salts is boost where egg’s eaten (8)
ISOTONIC – IS+TONIC (boost) containing 0 [egg’s eaten]. This unknown word also contributed to my failure to complete without aids.
4 What could give the RA a big shock? (5-10)
EARTH-SHATTERING – EARTH shattering could give the anagrist THE RA and also a big shock!
5 Cultured fare elevated spirit in Turkic abode (6)
YOGURT – GO (spirit) reversed [elevated] in YURT [Turkic abode]. Turkic is apparently a group of languages including Turkish, although according to the sources I consulted the Turkic version of this word is more likely to start with  J and it’s the English and original Russian words that have a Y. Anyway it’s a sort of tent that’s very popular these days with a certain type of holidaymaker. Yurts turn up occasionally in TV travel shows and followers of The Archers may be aware that one of the Aldridge offspring runs a yurt holiday business at Home Farm. This spelling of YOGURT raised some queries re yesterday’s QC but appears now to be the most common.
6 Instrument area with flashing light around LA (9)
ASTROLABE – A (area), STROBE (flashing light) around LA
7 Troublemaker good to replace leader in citadel (7)
GREMLIN – {k}REMLIN (citadel) has its leading letter replaced by G (good)
13 Legendary heretic seizes day (9)
ARTHURIAN – ARIAN (heretic) contains [seizes] THUR (day)
15 SPECTRE to supply such documents as Bond may see? (3-6)
TOP-SECRET – Anagram [supply] of SPECTRE TO
16 Cardinal taking the high ground? (8)
EMINENCE – two meanings
18 Disgusting incident follows outside broadcast (7)
OBSCENE – OB (outside broadcast), SCENE (incident)
20 Diminutive Diana Black put out of action (7)
DISABLE – DI (diminutive Diana), SABLE (black)
21 Prawns swindle very good indeed (6)
SCAMPI – SCAM (swindle), PI (very good indeed)

37 comments on “Times 26600”

  1. … as ever for the detailed blog, Jack.

    2dn: BEAMISH known to me from the Jabberwocky which I’ve just finished re-reading (with Gardner’s commentary) — though I thought it was one of Carroll’s made-up words:

    “And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
    Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
    O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
    He chortled in his joy.

    Strangely LOI was 26ac VEIN. Also wondered about 10ac TWIG; now reassured by the blog that it’s OK. As usual, fooled by the reverse anagram at 4dn.

    Edited at 2016-12-20 04:50 am (UTC)

  2. About 20 mins for all except 12a (with 2d wrong). Then about 20 minutes more to unravel it all.

    I too wondered what the Mennonites had to do with the Chinese, but was unable to think of anything else. When I finally decided I couldn’t justify MEGALITHS, the only word I could fit, I realized BE AMISH sounded more plausible, although since I knew it occurs in Jabberwocky it seemed likely that it was a word Lewis Carroll had made up (like chortle) but probably acceptable in a crossword even if so. That made 12a obvious.

    1. It’s also in the (later) Hunting of the Snark where, Gardner notes:

      “The word is not exactly nonsense: The Oxford English Dictionary traces it back to 1530 as a variant of beaming“.

      Good enough for me!

  3. Didn’t, of course, know the cricket meaning of STUMPED UP, but it seemed likely. I’m another who thought Carroll coined BEAMISH; in any case, the Mennonite connection was familiar. I had a senior moment trying to recall the word ABATTOIR, even with the BAT given. I’ve always associated yurts with the Mongols; had no idea they were being peddled in England.

    Edited at 2016-12-20 06:59 am (UTC)

    1. Kevin, it’s only STUMPED that’s the cricket expression here. It’s a means of being “out”, like “bowled” or “caught”.
  4. again caused a few stutters in my 50 minutes.

    FOI 14ac FAINT LOI 1dn ELASTOMER which I vaguely knew. 2dn BEAMISH was good enough. Initially I thought 13dn was RASPUTIAN but King Arthur won the day.

    I had to think twice about the spelling of 16dn EMINENCE and 3dn ISOTONIC or ISOTOPIC?

    Back to the LAP DANCING

  5. About an hour, but with ‘beaming’, and then a jumble of non-sensical letters at 12ac…
    1. Not knowing Mennonites my nonsensical jumble was Margaritha – the sage old ? queen of Austria ? perhaps. Otherwise all understood, but not particularly fast, in fits and starts with with many interruptions.
      Lewis Carroll neologisms would be acceptable in The Times, methinks? I wouldn’t bat an eyelid at Jabberwocky.
      1. … mine was actually ‘megalight’, which I assumed to be a technical term for one of those upright pillar-like illuminated advertisements. Ho hum…
  6. A gentle day sub 20. Of the two Cork based Stout producers I much prefer Murphy’s although on further investigation it seems they are both now owned by Heineken.
    As a former hobbyist distance runner, 3d was fairly easy, although I have to admit i didn’t actually parse it.
    LOI 13d and COD 4d.
  7. 14:23 … plenty of scope for deploying linxit’s excellent acronym FOWL (figured out wordplay later). Also a solve where a check-through actually paid off, spotting and correcting ’eminance’.
    1. Sotira: may have missed the relevant post, but do we know when His Eminence is due to post the Turkey blog?
      A.
  8. 16:47 but with a careless BEAMING and MEGALITHS with a shrug. I knew it couldn’t be right, so I had to look up Mennonite post-solve to get it right. It’s quite a while since I went there, but Beamish (https://www.beamish.org.uk/) in Co. Durham has a rather good open air museum.
    1. And an excellent golf course, as well as a fine old inn called Beamish Mary, as I recall.
  9. And a 24′ dnf, same as others, wrong BEAMING and MEGALITHE…..YOGURT two days running, and there’s a story in the paper this morning about Camelot, being in Yorkshire. Thanks jack and setter.
  10. Always struck me as a big mistake for the councils of Nicea and Constantinople to treat Arianism as heresy. Keep it as mystery, not dogma. But it was the first heresy to come to mind, which made ARTHURIAN a write-in. We had ELASTOMER recently enough for me to remember it. Those of us of a certain age will never forget the MAHARISHI, so no transcendental meditation required to spot that one either. BEAMING then became BEAMISH as I softly sang My Sweet Lord, or maybe it was He’s so fine. No, I’m not going to insult my favourite Beatle. He took religion seriously, was a keen gardener and became President of the George Formby Appreciation Society. He knew how to live. COD GREMLIN. Managed to finish in 55 minutes. I’m now feeling on the OTHER WORLDLY side.
  11. Zoomed through much of this one, getting a quick foothold in the NE before being slowed to my usual crawl, with the main hold up being caused by the BEAMING MEGAFIGHT. I eventually spotted MAHARISHI through the mists and corrected 2d to the unknown(apart from the local museum, where my daughter’s friend works in the bakery) but eminently fitting BEAMISH, thus completing in 31 minutes. FOI, ARGO. No trouble with ISOTONIC. Thanks Jack and setter.
  12. 22:40. I was miles from the setter’s wavelength today, and got completely stuck for ages in the NW corner. Eventually I saw what was going on with 1ac (not a particularly difficult clue) which unlocked the rest. I did biff BEAMING initially but fortunately realised quite quickly that it didn’t work. You could argue that the correct answer doesn’t really work either, since Mennonites and Amish are not the same, but they’re close enough for me.
  13. I had much the same problem as others, BEAMING causing me great trouble at 12A. I eventually decided BEAMING was probably wrong and managed to get MAHARISHI soon after which then gave me BEAMISH. I also took a long time to see VEIN.

    ISOTONIC is a word much used in Lucozade adverts. I particularly remember John Barnes advertising it.

  14. I didn’t bother to check BEAMING which made 12 impossible so I did what all good solvers do and gave up.
  15. Not too hard, except for the last few: 9ac, 12ac, 19ac, 24ac, 4dn, 13dn, 16dn. Luckily I spotted that “Ming” couldn’t equate to “Mennonite” but still couldn’t think of a word starting m-h- 🙁

    4dn was too clever for me.

    jackkt: “Turkic” refers to people as well as language so “yurt” spelling here is fine.

    1. Thanks, Adrian. I should have learnt long ago not to go on about something I know absolutely nothing about, but I looked it up and thought I had found a contradiction.
  16. 40m DNF. Grinding to a halt at 12a but with the popular BEAMING also in place I was going nowhere. I enjoyed 4d once I’d twigged what was going on (after much head scratching over Academies and Artilleries). Thank you for the excellent blog, Jack.
  18. 14:06 and I had to track back from having two incorrect answers originally entered in confidence – SETTLED UP and BEAMING. Eventually got there.

  19. I was happy to get this all correct in just under the hour.
    Tempted by BEAMING until the Amish/Mennonite connection popped up out of the mind-palace.
    ESCUTCHEON is one of those words which look wrong even when spelled correctly. There ought to be a word for this.

    Thank you to setter and blogger.

  20. Tackled this one late last night (or, if you insist, early this morning). Clearly, the cerebrolubricative effect of several G&Ts worked in my favour, because I blitzed through this one in a very fast (for me) 15:20.

    ISLE was my LOI, as neither the clue nor the checkers seemed to give any clear indication of which way to go, necessitating a very quick alphabet-trawl.

    1. I was intrigued by the concept of cerebrolubrication (I often use Newcastle Brown for the purpose)so I looked it up on Google and discovered there is an Album by a Chris Bottomly(I wonder if he also uses a perineal lubricant) with the title Cerebral Lubrication. One of the tracks is called “My Camel’s on Fire.” Another track is named “Trouble Makin’ Freakazoid.” I offer these observations without prejudice!
      1. He sounds as if he may have over-lubricated a little. And I wonder if he’s related to Virginia?
  21. I got in all correct under the hour, despite having fallen for the BEAMING trap. Did anyone else wonder what on earth MOGADISHU could have to do with it?
  22. About 20 minutes, no real problems. Over here in the Northeast US, the Amish/Mennonite connection is fairly well known, and there really isn’t any equivalent for Mennonite other than Amish, and vice versa. So due to having no problem there other than wondering why BEAMISH was a word, everything else went swimmingly. Except, of course, my LOI, STUMPED UP, with its combo of cricket and UK slang not being immediately apparent, but with all the checkers, it went in after some mind churning. Hadn’t known of the INNER BAR previously either, but wordplay pointed right at it. Regards.
  23. 22 mins. Well, it was actually 28 from start to finish but I had two separate interruptions that came to about 6 mins in total and broke my concentration in the process. I knew the Amish/Mennonite connection so I trusted the WP for 2dn. Without any checkers to help me I spent a little time wondering if 25ac could be “Upper Bar”. It fits the WP and immigration appeal tribunals have an Upper Tier and a Lower Tier, so it didn’t seem beyond the bounds of possibility that there may be an Upper Bar, but Inner Bar sounded more familiar so in it went. I finished in the SE with EMINENCE after STUMPED UP.
  24. Just under an hour for a DNF, but as my only mistake was STAMPED UP rather than STUMPED UP and I know almost nothing about cricket nor have I encountered STUMPing UP to denote payment, I can live with that. Not so much with the Christmas music blaring in the living room, but it seems to have been turned off now that my daughter’s baby has gone to sleep. How kind of her. I can join them now.

    Edited at 2016-12-20 09:08 pm (UTC)

  25. 7:05 in a clean sweep for me – much more on the setter’s wavelength than yesterday.

    I thought of BEAMING, but couldn’t justify (A)MING and luckily remembered AMISH (and Lewis Carroll) before moving on to the next clue.

  26. Concerning YOGURT: the Turkic languages are a branch of the Ural-Altaic family, which includes Mongolian. The yurt is a Mongolian tent and has no connection with Turkic languages and cultures.

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