Times 26,651: Dive Bombers and Empire Down

Author   VerlainePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I’m at the third day of PHP UK Conference 2017 tomorrow morning, hanging with my fellow nerds, so I won’t have time to wax lyrical about the puzzle tomorrow morning, boo! But as luck would have it it’s one of the more straightforward puzzles we’ve had in a while, and I don’t think I’d have had an awful lot to say anyway, so hurrah! Not a bad puzzle I hasten to add, just pretty direct and to the point.

In and out in a little under 7 minutes here, Clue of the Day to 21ac for services to smut. I qualmed momentarily over 3dn as I hit the submit button but what other character could it be? And the penny didn’t take long to drop thereafter. Many thanks to the setter, and if I’m not free for too much chatter tomorrow, see the rest of you for a more typically verbose blog next week!

Across

1 Father cheeky before bar providing documentary evidence (5,5)
PAPER TRAIL – PA PERT [father | cheeky] before RAIL [bar]
7 Polish expert and enthusiast (4)
BUFF – Double def
9 Convened everyone in charge of copper, perhaps (8)
METALLIC – MET ALL IC [convened | everyone | in charge]
10 Farm animal ails after chewing wood-sorrel (6)
OXALIS – OX [farm animal] + (AILS*) [“after chewing”]
11 Gets prosecuted and released (6)
ISSUED – or IS SUED [gets prosecuted]
13 Sailor’s in the drink (8)
ABSINTHE – AB’S IN THE [sailor’s in the]
14 Flatter front to boat can spread badly (3,3,6)
BOW AND SCRAPE – BOW [front to boat] + (CAN SPREAD*) [“badly”]
17 Club certainly involving old politician’s agitation (12)
DISCOMPOSURE – DISCO SURE [club | certainly] involving O MP [old | politician]
20 Cart crashing behind car, one with lots of power (8)
AUTOCRAT – (CART*) [“crashing”] behind AUTO [car]
21 Just like some pyjamas to tear in a very dirty place (6)
STRIPY – RIP [to tear] in STY [a very dirty place]
22 A lot of sudden anxiety about home baker’s product (6)
PANINI – PANI{c} [“A lot of” sudden anxiety] about IN [home]
23 Tree one’s put in beside a motorway to the west (8)
MAGNOLIA – I [one] is put in ALONG A M [beside | a | motorway], the whole reversed [“to the west”]
25 Instrument running without current (4)
GONG – GO{i}NG [running] without its I [current]
26 Comfortable about having to hang around for fighter (10)
GUNSLINGER – SNUG reversed [comfortable “about”] + LINGER [to hang around]

Down

2 Dislike a particular form (8)
AVERSION – or A VERSION [a particular form]
3 Character that merits a place on railway board? (3)
ETA – or an E.T.A. on a railway display
4 Bound to grab fifty as the word game board ends up? (5)
TILED – TIED [bound] to grab L [fifty], and referring to the play of Scrabble
5 Old-fashioned tea served in a racing club (7)
ARCHAIC – CHA [tea] served in A RIC [the Racing Investors Club – I think]
6 Speed up appearances to play an instrument (4,5)
LOOK SHARP – LOOKS HARP [appearances | to play an instrument]
7 Puzzle sane arbiter’s sorted out (5-6)
BRAIN-TEASER – (SANE ARBITER’S*) [“sorted out”]
8 Queen in combat scare (6)
FRIGHT – R [queen] in FIGHT [combat]
12 Likely to be successful at university with arrival (2-3-6)
UP-AND-COMING – UP AND COMING [at university | with | arrival]
15 Meritorious second pair of cadets in the forces (9)
DESERVING – [“second pair of” (letters in the word)] ca{DE}ts + SERVING [in the forces]
16 Lead shot included in ammunition that scatters (8)
GRAPHITE – HIT [shot] included in GRAPE [ammunition that scatters]
18 Seat of empire? (7)
OTTOMAN – double def
19 Difficulty, a Tardis initially with zero time variation (6)
RUBATO – RUB A T{ardis} + 0
21 Sign is put up half covered in gold (5)
SIGIL – reverse of IS [is “put up”] + GIL{ded}
24 What’s now horribly personal (3)
OWN – (NOW*) [“horribly”]

69 comments on “Times 26,651: Dive Bombers and Empire Down”

  1. Never heard of a SIGIL and will never watch Game of T, saw a few trailers which suggested it was fantasy rubbish. Too tired and hungry to go and look it up. Apart from that, a speedy 15m solve late in day after driving 100 km each way to play disappointing golf. If I could read greens like I can solve crosswords I’d be winning the money every week.
    Perhaps a PHP conference would be more fun?
    1. I thought the same about GOT for many years: I normally have no tolerance at all for that sort of thing. Then I watched it, became a complete convert and binge-watched the whole thing in the space of a few months. It’s certainly not to everyone’s taste though, I’ll grant you that.

      Edited at 2017-02-17 05:53 pm (UTC)

      1. Glad someone’s sticking up for it. Having read the first couple of books about 15 years ago, I think the TV series is about as good as it gets. And yes, if you’d suggested something from the faux-medieval semi-fantasy genre with a heavy dose of bloodlust, I’d have politely declined, but of course it’s much more than that.

        Seems to be a lot of people that haven’t watched it taking a strange pride in being dismissive of it. Go figure. Imagine if we took that same approach to the works of Georgette Heyer (sorry Olivia!).

              1. Yeah, I think I was half-channeling Kenny. I was a big fan, and you’ve just prompted me to revisit his Barbra Streisand routine on youtube. I know it shouldn’t be funny, but it is.
  2. I got through this in 30 minutes.with no serious problems – although GRAPHITE took 5 minutes to spot. Cleverly hidden definition. I’m enjoying the comments today for the references to Terry Pratchett, Game of Thrones and my beloved Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’d read Game of Thrones before the TV series started so up to now there have been no surprises But now they’ve departed from the books so anything can happen. It’s fantasy for people who don’t normally like fantasy. Most of it is alternative mediaeval history. Worth a try even if you don’t usually like the genre.
    1. I’ve never read Terry Pratchett but if his work belongs in the same sentence as GOT and Buffy I’m going to have to give him a try one of these days.
      [Incidentally this flatters GOT quite a lot but I’m not going to wig out about it]
      1. I have learned a new phrase today. The opposite of keeping your hair on – naturally enough, I suppose.
        1. It’s an expression associated with Buffy, and may even have been coined by it. Much of the teenage argot invented by Joss Whedon for the show has passed into general usage.
      2. Somebody else who likes Buffy! That show is my not-so-secret passion. Btw, if you do get to read Terry Pratchett I’d advise not starting with the 1st book in the Discworld series. It’s a bit of a gagfest. Long on jokes but short on plot. Go for one of the later books.
        1. Absolutely. We recently introduced our kids to it, and they (especially 13yo daughter) love it, which is most gratifying.
          Thanks for the Pratchett tip, will remember if/when I get round to it.
        2. On the other hand the Colour of Magic is a good entry point for fantasy fans in general, as it’s a series of parodies of other books. Have to say I prefer the early, Rincewindy stuff to later instalments for the most part, though I seem to be in the minority on this one!

          Count me in as another massive Buffy (and Angel) fan though…

          1. I’m so far gone I have a photo of Joss Whedon (with me) on my bathroom wall! Haven’t commented before now because my mail link to livejournal has been down)
  3. 7:27 in a clean sweep for this pleasant, straightforward solve.

    I was held up most by SIGIL (which I came to with just the L in place and couldn’t at first see quite how half of GILT was going to fit in) and GRAPHITE (which fortunately I came to with all crossing letters in place, but which still gave me a relatively hard time).

  4. Not too hard, a forty-five minute solve for me (only six tonies, I see). My LOI was RUBATO and I’m glad I didn’t settle for BUGATO, which was my first intent. But it sounded too much like the name of a car (or the singular version of the name of a car, see “panini”) and I couldn’t remember ever having seen it in music — RUBATO just seemed more likely. SIGIL in from wordplay, but my German nearly enticed me into putting in SIGEL (Siegel being the German word for a seal). Half of GELDED? But that means something else, doesn’t it. COD to GRAPHITE.

    Edited at 2017-02-17 11:39 pm (UTC)

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