Times 26691 – out for a stroll

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Plenty of answers from the puzzle which I could borrow to write about it; the 7d of a gentle workout, even 20a at times. I tried not to be 1a but keep it 1d, with 12a pauses for thought, it was all done in 15 minutes. It has a matrimonial theme perhaps; I see a chap, a 16, 22d-ed by a 8d at a 14d, becoming an 2d, and making a 17d as 19d. Then a 10a to the ceremony,then all too soon, 24a 3d, a 1d divorce and a 18a.

If you can’t be bothered to trail through that, here’s the blog. I’m 29a at the moment as I over-indulged while we were hanging out in Spain.

Across
1 Hasty Scotch added to second round (8)
SLAPDASH – S = second, LAP = round, DASH = Scotch, as in dash one’s hopes.
5 Recalled moment amidst endless leisure or vacation (6)
RECESS – SEC = moment, recalled inside RES(T).
9 Article by the writer is demonstrating intent (3)
AIM – A, I’M = the writer is.
10 Ostentatious transport that could provoke closet mirth (7,4)
STRETCH LIMO – (CLOSET MIRTH)*.
12 Police raid disrupted magazine (10)
PERIODICAL – (POLICE RAID)*.
13 It may be recalled as number penned by G&S? (4)
SONG – G and S, insert NO, reverse all. &lit.
15 On radio, shout by cop with gun provides picture (6)
FRIEZE – sounds like what an (American?) cop would shout out; FREEZE!.
16 One strolls along street dressed in mink, perhaps (7)
FLANEUR – LANE = street, inside FUR = mink, perhaps; classic French word.
18 Harm, etc, done in later encounter (7)
REMATCH – (HARM ETC)*.
20 Sentimental place for Bishop, say, back in church cemetery finally (6)
CHEESY – SEE = place for bishop, reversed inside CH, (cemeter)Y.
23 Power and skill required for role (4)
PART – P(ower), ART = skill.
24 In our view adopting logic is subversive (10)
TREASONOUS – REASON = logic, inside TO US = in our view.
26 Expression of despair by pedestrian performer allowed no rehearsal? (5-6)
SIGHT-READER – SIGH = expression of depair, TREADER = pedestrian.
27 Poetry regularly presented by soldier (3)
ODE – Alternate letters of s O l D i E r.
28 Fired by one unspecified prayer (6)
LITANY – LIT = fired, ANY = one unspecified.
29 US agent pursuing European articles, having inadequate supply (8)
UNDERFED – UN, DER = French & German articles, FED = US agent (FBI man).

Down
1 Small garment for baby, rather smart (6)
SNAPPY – S(mall), NAPPY; as in snappy dresser.
2 One who likes a day on swamp and river (7)
ADMIRER – A, D(ay), MIRE = swamp, R(iver).
3 Crime attractive? Individual’s getting time inside (10)
DISHONESTY – DISHY = attractive, insert ONE’S, T.
4 People waiting to receive this payment (7,6)
SERVICE CHARGE – Cryptic &lit.
6 Italian writer interrupted by first entry of his imitator (4)
ECHO – Umberto ECO interrupted by H = first letter of His.
7 Summary chapter missing from very long book (7)
EPITOME – An EPIC TOME would be a very long book; drop the C(hapter); I thought an epitome was a good example, but I see summary is another meaning.
8 Broadcast equipment picked up line about ‘Hot woman dancing ‘? (8)
SHOWGIRL – SOW = broadcast, RIG = equipment, reverse that = GIR, insert H(ot), add L(ine).
11 Fine enforcer ultimately wanted if car wrongly placed? (7,6)
TRAFFIC WARDEN – I make this an anagram of (WANTED IF CAR F R)*, the F and R from fine and end of enforcer. Seems odd the F from fine would also be in the definition but I can’t see where else it might come from. So the definition is not ‘fine enforcer’, it’s the whole clue, i.e. &lit.
14 People getting some education in Exeter or Warwick, say (10)
RACECOURSE – RACE = people, COURSE = some education; Exeter and Warwick are, among other things, examples of racecourse locations.
17 One put forward pressure to block Australian animals being imported into China (8)
PROPOSAL – Insert P for pressure into ROOS = Australian animals, insert that ROPOS into PAL = China.
19 Power to engage Bishop as man suitable for wedding (2,5)
MR RIGHT – RR for bishop, inside MIGHT = power.
21 Boastful type very, very loud about the way things are done? (4-3)
SHOW-OFF – SO FF = very very loud, insert HOW = the way things are done.
22 Charlie filling a post to gain promotion (6)
ASCEND – Insert C for Charlie into A, SEND = post.
25 Shock publicity event curtailed (4)
STUN – STUNT = publicity event, is curtailed.

62 comments on “Times 26691 – out for a stroll”

  1. It was all going so well until, required to spell FRIEZE, I froze. An S or a Z? An S would be my guess.
  2. 16:33 .. that was a lot of fun. Very nice grid, what with FLANEUR and MR RIGHT, STRETCH LIMO, Freeze! and the UNDERFED SHOWGIRL it’s all a bit Damon Runyon. And that’s a good thing.

    Last in DISHONESTY then RACECOURSE, both of which required re-rendering in the horizontal before light would dawn.

    1. Ah, Damon Runyon! Cannot beat his take on Ecclesiastes Ch9 v11
      The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.
      1. Heh. Yes. The companion piece of “I came to the conclusion long ago that all life is six to five against.”

        I am a big fan, more than somewhat.

        1. Haven’t read much of his (probably should), but the “ear full of cider” quote is one of my all-time favourites.
        2. I once looked through all the collected works looking for the one example of the past tense. Found it eventually but have forgotten where. I think it was actually in the Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown. My comfort reading – Damon Runyon and Georgette Heyer. Ann
  3. A very enjoyable puzzle completed in 42 minutes with at least the final 12 minutes spent on the intersecting 14dn and 24ac where I suffered brain-freeze. I just couldn’t think past “treacherous” at 24 which obviously didn’t fit. And I couldn’t spot a connection between Exeter and Warwick at 14. I may have heard of racing from Exeter on TV but I don’t recall Warwick in that context at all. Anyway neither place-name made me think immediately of horse-racing as, say, Newmarket or Epsom would.
  4. Needed to reveal answer for 1a, 6d, 8d, and 17d to enable me to finish.

    17d was easy in hindsight but probably wouldn’t have got the other 3.

    1a didn’t think of DASH = Scotch.
    Why does SOW = broadcast?

    COD 10a.

    1. DASH I think works both as Pip describes it (and I thought it) and as a “wee dash of scotch”, probably not to be taken literally as a request.
      SOW as in the (probaby now former) means of sowing seed by hand, throwing handfuls across the landscape, “broad casting”, the origin, as it happens of the BBC (etc) term
  5. A lot of fun, taking about 35 mins over a croissant and plum jam.
    I enjoyed Pip’s love story too. FLANEUR reminded me of Julian Barnes’s Metroland. I had intended to work hard today: now I might loaf.
  6. A glaring typo, which I spotted just as I pushed the button, allowed me to get under 20 minutes (just) but dashed my entire enterprise.
    SLAPDASH my last in: I was looking (with “second round” being SO) for a musical term I couldn’t remember. There seems to be a considerable supply of those. Something of a trap for the semi-seasoned crossword solver, perhaps.
    1. At least you didn’t bung in SOAPDISH on the basis of those first two letters.

  7. All done with nearly all parsed (“ah, so that’s where the ‘hot’ fitted in at 8d… wasn’t entirely convinced by broadcast=show!”), finishing with TREASONOUS. I too wanted it to be treacherous, but couldn’t make it fit. Took too long to get anagrams STRETCH LIMO and TRAFFIC WARDEN. Thanks for the preamble, Pip, funny how these things all fit together…

  8. O! Flaneur, cheesy show-off showgirl admirer;
    Think you’re Mr Right with that snappy proposal?
    A frieze of dishonesty and underfed slapdash song
    Surrounds your periodical aims like a litany.
    Epitome of Echo, ascend now; take your part.
    1. Brilliant! Thank you from a couple of amateur Australian Times learners. Simon and Jessi
  9. A stroll in the park this one. Nice steady leisurely solve of some entertaining clues. Liked TRAFFIC WARDEN
  10. McText said pretty much everything I was going to, but I’ll confess that I didn’t know what to do with DASH. DNK CHEESY in the sense of ‘sentimental’. I didn’t know how to link Exeter and Warwick, and thought maybe they both had castles; finally the checkers enlightened me.
    1. Both Exeter and Warwick have excellent castles Kevin – well worth visiting
      1. I was thinking along more Shakespearean lines: Exeter in Henry V; Warwick in several of the Henrys. Not sure which.

        Edited at 2017-04-05 08:46 am (UTC)

  11. I initially put PARKING CHARGE instead of SERVICE CHARGE even though it didn’t seem to make sense. I did at least manage to avoid my habit of writing things in doubtfully then forgetting so was relatively quick to amend.
  13. 40minutes, never feeling on top of this one, but eventually it yielded with SHOWGIRL LOI. The unknown FLANEUR was biffed after I finally realised that successful more recent universities are sited next to RACECOURSEs, at least if Warwick and Coventry are treated as the same place. I think we had something similar before. Is this gathering on the 12th only for the elect or can anyone show up? If the latter, where and what time? I guess you’ll all be recognisable with your two brains needing two heads. Tricky but fair today, with no G & S knowledge necessary, as I feared when I saw 13a. Thank you Pip and setter.

    Edited at 2017-04-05 11:43 am (UTC)

    1. I managed to get a degree at Warwick University without once setting foot in Warwick, so I don’t think they’re the same place.

      Shame, otherwise I might have known that Warwick had a racecourse. Mind you, I didn’t know Exeter had one either, so it might not have helped.

      1. Exeter racecourse used to be Devon and Exeter . just as Edinburgh became Musselburgh. Odd
    2. Anyone can show up, of course. It’s at the George Inn, near London Bridge. I’m aiming to get there around 6.30.
  14. Should have channelled my inner Liza Minnelli. It’s FRIEZE with a Z not FRIESE with an S. Oh well.

    Not too many hold-ups otherwise, except for work-related ones. Thanks setter and Pip.

  15. About 25 mins working anti-clockwise and getting a bit stuck in the NE with LOI being SONG. DNK the stroller but easy enough to work out.
  16. Happy to complete this after a dismal run. My doctor has prescribed horse tranquilizers to numb the pain of yesterday’s horrorfest. Even today I was not exactly 1d but the clues were so much more fun that it was worth the effort (thank you setter). Got a bit stuck thinking NOUS = logic in 24a and then couldn’t think what the prefix was. Got there after the great trick of walking away and seeing immediately on returning (how does this work???). COD Flaneur just because it is such a briiliant definition. Thanks setter as always.
    1. See Phil Brown was so keen for us to win last night that he got himself sent to the stands.
      1. Good result but shame for Mr Brown as I like his passion. Oh for the days of Sam and Phil. I see no one has argued that either Exeter or Warwick/Coventry (and I mean either the university, racecourse or city) are better tham my alma mater York. Final plea to all to fully stop using Google until their ethics improve!
        1. Oh for the days of Bill Ridding! Or Charles Foweraker of my Dad’s time. Look him up if you don’t know him, not using Google of course! I know Warwick’s super good for Maths and Exeter gets the OK Yah! crowd for those who miss out on Oxbridge but as such is meant to be good. York is right up there, I agree. My daughter went to Lancaster which has zoomed up the league tables but suffers from the absence of a racecourse. Two sons and I were more traditional.

          Edited at 2017-04-05 01:12 pm (UTC)

  17. I must be suffering from brain frieze today as it took me 76 minutes to conquer this one. The synapses refused to jump from Shakespeare to horses for courses for Exeter and Warwick until I finally unravelled TREASONOUS. I didn’t know FLANEUR, but the wordplay was helpful. The NE held out for ever until STRETCH LIMO finally gave me the key. Didn’t know Umberto. FOI AIM, LOI SHOWGIRL. I need a dash of something after that! I think it’ll be caffeine based though. I think I tend towards Jack’s interpretation of dash/scotch as a dash is usually the addition to an alcoholic drink as in a dash of lime or a dash of soda in the scotch. Thanks setter and Pip.
    1. I think Jack’s interpretation of dash was same as mine. A dash of Scotch to drink is a silly idea, a large slug being the minimum permitted measure in my bailiwick.
      1. I have to admit to preferring my single malts in the larger doses:-) And having re-read the blog, I also admit I was distracted by Z’s musings and missed your parsing.

        Edited at 2017-04-05 11:33 am (UTC)

  18. I thought this was going to be in the region of 5 minutes for a while but I ground to a halt towards the end and spent what felt like a couple of minutes staring agonisingly at S_A_D_S_, not being able to see past -ISH.

    One week till crosswordy drinks in the George reminder! Come one, come all! Though I’m expecting “up to about half a dozen” to be more realistic than “all”.

    1. Though, crikey, no sub-5-minute times from Magoo or Jason makes me think that this was possibly a little harder than I was giving it credit for…
    2. We’re all welcome? What time and where? Seem to remember you mentioning The George near London Bridge.
      1. Yep, the George is the current plan, just because we’re sure everyone knows where it is! Maybe we’ll be more adventurous next time. I think the idea is after work, which realistically is towards 7pm for me, though I could perhaps find a way to arrive earlier…
          1. Thank you Sawbill. My wife has just informed me of a visitation that day of brother-in-law and family. If they clear in time, I’ll be with you about six thirty. Is there just the one bar at The George?
            1. No idea about the bars but I will be the guy with the glass of Sancerre staring at a copy of the Times with three answers yet to complete.
            2. Oops, see I replied a bit prematurely. I’ll be easy to spot in the George: I’ll be the bloke in a suit drinking beer.
  19. I wondered about a couple of the definitions which seemed a bit of a stretch, but on checking I see they’re fine. I always think of a FRIEZE as sculpture as in the Elgin Marbles. They are anything but CHEESY which I think of as fake or tacky rather than sentimental. The theme was very entertaining. 18.9

  21. I always fancied being a flaneur but the careers officer said that four years at university was about as close as I’d get……

    Does anyone still actually say ” My old China”? The potential for causing offence is virtually limitless – ageism, racism, cultural appropriation….

    Time: all correct in about 40 mins.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  22. was busy typing when my message posted for no apparent reason…

    anyway to continue they stumped me so I came here to discover that Epitome means something completely different and flaneur is DNK. Thanks all.

  23. A steady solve (while I was also on a conference call on mute!). LOI was RACECOURSE. I think it was a clever choice of cities since they both have universities, castles, Exeter has a cathedral but I don’t think Warwick does, and so on. I even had the “course” bit. I had the same problem with SHOWGIRL where I had the “girl” part. Got there without aids.

    As to Vinyl’s comment, I always wonder about breaks since I regularly have the same experience. I am stuck, I get a phone call for a couple of minutes, so 2 minutes off my time, right? But then I fill in 3 answers immediately I hang up (lovely anacrhonism that, when was the last time someone literally hung up a phone, 1930?). So despite being on the phone that time had some effect on my brain and can’t be fully discounted. I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of getting stuck late at night, then in the morning finishing the crossword off in one minute.

    1. I’m intrigued to know what noises you make while solving that necessitate the mute button. 😉
  24. 19 mins. For the second straight day I struggled a little. The LHS went in easily enough but the RHS proved far thornier. Having said that, in retrospect none of the answers should have presented too much of a problem. Like a few others I finished with RACECOURSE, in my case after CHEESY.
  25. A very disappointing DNF. Got stuck on 1ac, 8dn, 14dn and 28ac as I had Biffed Proposee at 17dn without seeing “china” at all. Oh dear. Some other very good clues though, all mentioned above. thank you setter and pipkirby.
  26. Took in the range of 20 minutes, ending with SLAPDASH, as I also had to banish an “ish” ending from my brain. Everything else OK, and I’ll point out that FLANEUR is a lovely word. Regards.
  27. I found this straightforward but enjoyable nonetheless. Did most of it in 28 mins on the train to work this morning then polished off the few remaining stragglers in 10 mins at lunch time. No real holdups but took a bit of time to unravel the showgirl at 8dn and to figure out the reversed bishopric in 20ac. FOI 9ac. LOI 14dn – not a horseracing fan so took a while to see that one. COD to 11dn, or possibly 10ac, which might well fall foul of 11dn if not careful. Thank you setter and thank you blogger.
  28. Just one wrong -at 7d I had Episode, which I wasn’t happy with.
    But I enjoyed this very much. My LOI was Frieze and I remembered how to spell it. David
  29. 13:36, becoming quite badly stuck with three left at the end. I can’t even remember which ones they were now (although SLAPDASH was one of them), let alone why they caused me problems.
  30. 10:20 for this pleasant, reasonably straightforward puzzle.

    FRIEZE has been on my list of difficult words for many years, probably an indication that I spelt it wrong sometime in the distant past.

    FLANEUR has also been familiar for many years, possibly from when I read Iris Murdoch’s Under the Net, which contains the famous sentence: “The fishermen were fishing, and the flâneurs were flaning.”

  31. I did this early but clean forgot to log-in – better late than never.
    Took me an hour byu ther was, in retrospect nothing too troubling except that I assumed, wrongly, that the second part of 4dn was CHEQUE – which made 24ac TREASONOUS a tad difficult.

    COD 13ac SONG WOD 16ac FLANEUR

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