Times 26781 – food for thought and eye candy?

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Another rather off-beat but enjoyable puzzle, I thought, of typical ‘midweek’ medium difficulty, with no central theme but a good sprinkling of tasty foodie bits and some words to relish. I took me about 25 minutes to finish and sort out the reasons why; getting both long down clues at the sides made it much easier to fill in the gaps. There is nothing I had to look up, except to check my idea for the parsing of 3d was correct, at the end. No chemistry lessons, antelopes, plants or birds today.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Pole in American airspace (5)
SINUS – S (south pole), IN US. Nice definition.
4 Oxford grammarian and publisher offering course (5,4)
ONION SOUP – C.T.Onions, chap who edited the 4th edition of the OED; OUP = Oxford University Press.
9 Swimmer embarrassed by hairstyle (3,6)
RED MULLET – RED = embarrassed, MULLET = silly hairstyle.
10 Actress in Georgia with black men (5)
GABOR – GA = Georgia, B(lack), OR = men. Zsa Zsa Gabor, glamorous pre-war Hollywood actress from Hungary who had no less than 9 husbands.
11 Old Egyptian at that point holding sailor back (6)
THEBAN – THEN (at that point) holds BA = AB reversed. Chap from Thebes, Egypt. If you thought Thebes was in Greece, you were right, there are two of them.
12 Somewhat petty complaint rejected in break (8)
SMALLISH – ILL reversed inside SMASH.
14 Risky vehicle departs after diversion on boundary (5,4)
HEDGE FUND – HEDGE = boundary (well it could be EDGE but that doesn’t account for the H; a hedge can be like a fence). FUN = diversion, D(eparts). If you haven’t been watching BILLIONS on Sky Atlantic, get the DVD set, it’s brilliant. I’d give AXE Capital all my dosh to mind.
16 Stove cool for second time (5)
AGAIN – AGA = stove, IN = cool, with-it.
17 Country run by prominent Russian banker? (5)
RURAL – R(un), URAL = Russian river.
19 We go ninth after switch in wide position (2,3,4)
ON THE WING – (WE GO NINTH)*.
21 Delay allowed returning books about small snail (8)
ESCARGOT – GRACE = time allowed; reverse it, insert S = ESCARG: add OT for books.
22 Writer who’s posh leaving Bedfordshire town on M1 (6)
MILTON – MI = M1; LUTON = Bedfordshire town loses U = posh. We once had a long wait in transit at Luton Airport and we made the error of going into the town to shop; don’t do it. Posh, it ain’t.
25 Magistrate contributing to bizarre evening (5)
REEVE – Hidden word in BIZAR(RE EVE)NING.
26 Series from suicidal novel blocked by Universal (1,8)
I CLAUDIUS – (SUICIDAL)* (anagrind ‘novel’) with U inserted.
27 Salesman still has time to collar people for rebate (9)
REPAYMENT – REP (saleman) AY (still), T(ime), insert MEN = people.
28 English army getting back to front shows spirit (5)
ETHOS – E (English), HOST = army, bring the T to the front.

Down
1 One picking up litter from field (9-6)
STRETCHER-BEARER – Cryptic definition.
2 New Critic losing head gets push (5)
NUDGE – N(ew), Critic = JUDGE, loses head J.
3 Wurst from Brownshirts convention? (7)
SAUSAGE – I did know this was the German for sausage. The Brownshirts, the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party, were called in German ‘Sturmabteilung’ usually abbreviated to SA. And then, USAGE = convention.
4 Exclusively working with vergers in Ledbury (4)
ONLY – ON = working, LY = ‘vergers’ or outside letters of Ledbury.
5 Linda occasionally gets in close to cow (10)
INTIMIDATE – LINDA occasionally, i.e. alternate leters of LINDA, = I D. Insert into INTIMATE = close.
6 Endlessly making claims about woman (7)
NIGELLA – Making claims = ALLEGING, delete the end letter G then reverse. Does she actually cook, I wonder? Here’s one I (or my Home Economist) made earlier.
7 Get bag and boil it to prepare parts required (9)
OBBLIGATI – (BAG BOIL IT)*. Italian musical term for instrumental bits which mustn’t be omitted.
8 Reproduction Stonehenge assembled in capital (15)
PARTHENOGENESIS – Insert (STONEHENGE)* into PARIS, a capital city.
13 Transport gold to Alabamian settlement (10)
AUTOMOBILE – AU (Au, gold symbol), TO, MOBILE (port city in Alabama). I was surprised, on checking that Alabamian is the more usual adjective, preferred to Alabaman. I don’t know why I was surprised, really.
15 Involving muck but little brass? (4-5)
DIRT-CHEAP – Cryptic definition.
18 Clear criminal linked to New York theft (7)
LARCENY – (CLEAR)*, anagrind ‘criminal’, NY.
20 Irrational, copper being brought in before hedonist (7)
EPICURE – ERE = before; insert PI (pi, irrational number) and CU (Cu, copper). I think I am an epicure, but I don’t think I am a Hedonist. Perhaps I just need more practice.
23 Member’s part in Parliament ultimately wasted? (5)
THIGH – It took me annoyingly long to see this and 28a, my last 2 in. T = Parliament ultimately; HIGH = wasted, e.g. on drugs.
24 Map course in vessel circling lake (4)
PLOT – POT around L.

79 comments on “Times 26781 – food for thought and eye candy?”

  1. 12:36 … only real question mark was the SA bit of 3d. Thanks for the explanation, Pip.

    A misbiffed Garbo held up the northeast. Otherwise easy and enjoyable.

  2. I think I got OBBLIGATI wrong the last time we had it, which means I must be learning, as I vaguely remembered the unexpected (to me!) double-B this time around. Mind you, even though we’ve had PARTHENOGENESIS fairly recently too, and I knew what it meant before that, it still took me until I was near three-quarters done to throw it in…

    45 minutes all told. FOI 2d, LOsI the combination of ETHOS (I was being thick even though I could see how it worked and had thought of “host” immediately) and THIGH.

    WOD SAUSAGE, of course; always reminds me of the Blackadder episode where Samuel Johnson discovers he’s left that word out of the dictionary.

    Quite a few question marks along the way—I know neither my Onions nor my brownshirts—so thanks to blogger for the parsing and setter for the workout.

    1. I think we should all be grateful to him, if only for his inauguration of the SOED.

      BTW to Pip: he was the fourth editor, not the editor of the 4th edition. We’re currently up to the 3rd (electronic-only) edition.

      Or maybe C.T. had access to Jack’s TARDIS?

      Edited at 2017-07-19 09:06 am (UTC)

  3. … were at the bottom of the grid. Put in a kinda plausible PLAN at 24dn which left an impossibility at 27ac. (And I’m still not sure that a REPAYMENT is quite a “rebate”.) Then, over on the right, I needed the THIGH/ETHOS double to finish the puzzle. Took an overly long time to get there.

    It was pleasant to be reminded of I CLAVDIVS, surely one of the best TV serials ever? (By a short head from “The Glittering Prizes” perhaps?)

    1. Loved every moment of I CLAVDIVS, with special mention for Inspector Barlow in the role of Calpurnius Piso. I still believe Derek Jacobi always spoke that way, and admire him for conquering his stammer in other lesser parts.
        1. Ah, well, promotions do happen. But here’s his Wiki: Alan Edgar Stratford-Johns (22 September 1925 – 29 January 2002), known as Stratford Johns, was a popular South African-born British stage, film and television actor who is best remembered for his starring role as Detective Inspector Charlie Barlow in the innovative and long-running BBC police series Z-Cars. By the time he made it to Softly Softly, he was DCS Barlow, but clearly at that rank he was not best remembered by me.
    2. How good to be reminded of a stunning series I’d forgotten about. Enjoyed a slightly unusual trickiness in the puzzle today. – joekobi
  4. I completed the LH side with few problems and had a smattering of answers RH (mainly in the SE) but then hit a brick wall and gave up on the overnight struggle. On resumption this morning I made progress but still came unstuck for ages because (as I discoevred eventually) I had two misspellings at 8dn before eventually coming up with the right one, and that had made solving the remaining intersecting clues impossible. The final solving time got lost in all this but was truly off the scale after a very promising start.
  5. 30 mins over croissant and pink grapefruit marmalade. I really liked this one: brevity and neatness of cluing, good surfaces – and some wit. And no plants! From the off it looked like this would be a gift to the biffers – I mean, what else is Wurst? But biff and you miss the beauty of SA and ‘usage’ and the surface reading. Also loved the Stonehenge repro, Onions, I Clavdivs, muck and brass, red mullet. Lots to stop and savour. I spent a lot of time savouring T-I-H. Must improve my ‘spot from checker’ ability. Thanks clever setter and Pip.

    Edited at 2017-07-19 07:19 am (UTC)

  6. A bad case of the dims today, leading me to biff several that a more clear-headed me would have spotted quickly, like MILTON (not that I knew Luton was in Beds, mind you) and NIGELLA; while at the same time holding off on SAUSAGE because I couldn’t see how it worked (a bit depressing to see that the infamous Brownshirts were unknown to some here). ‘Alabamian’ was new to me, but then I try to avoid any reference to the place. Liked ONION SOUP, but COD to PARTHENOGENESIS.
  7. I was held up a little by PLOT PLAN options, but I’d have to say, for me, PLOT is a far better match for the definition.

    Lovely puzzle, enjoyed the marriage of CT Onions and OUP, which published his works for ever… well, almost, among other amusing items.

    Thank you both very much, Pip Kirby and setter

    1. Best TV ever must include Edge of Darkness, featuring Clapton making his (yellow?) Telecaster weep. Dated, but not really dated – I watched it again only 2 or 3 years ago and it was just as good.

      The puzzle? A quickish 18 minutes, including wandering off to get a drink, so on the wavelength – (EVA) GABOR, ETHOS and THIGH went in on first read. Onions and Luton’s location unknown, but what else could they be?

      1. Never seen Eric with a Tele. He was a rusted-on strat man. And we don’t say “yellow”, we say “butterscotch”!! 🙂
  8. An enjoyable and clever puzzle. I too liked the neatness and economy of AGAIN. Thanks to setter and to Pip for an excellently clear and informative blog (and for explaining the parsing of EPICURE.

    A small point re 3D: I think SA stands for Sturmabteilung (literally “Storm Detachment”) rather than Sturmableitung. It was the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party in its early days, later superseded by the SS (Schutzstaffel or “Protection Squadron”).

  9. Had to biff the snail. 8D a favourite word and an architectural marriage there i’d love to see. In the interests of balance I have to say that Billions was one of most loathsome pieces of TV i’ve seen in recent times. I can remember only one sympathetic character and he was obliged to fall on his sword for trying to help someone out with a disability. I watched it in an attempt to understand the profit motive otherwise known as the love of money but if your looking for tips on how to shaft you fellow human then watch it . . and be disappointed on that score too. Personally i’m reading ‘Dethroning Mammon’ by Justin Welby no less for similar reasons but there are no car chases or kinky sex scenes . . bah
  10. 21.13 and would have been faster had I not needed to unpick the consequences of a couple of careless biffs. SNITCH seems to be confirming my immediate feeling that this was a fairly easy one.
  11. Very nice puzzle. Managed to be amusing without being silly, and a challenge without being daunting.

    Thanks Pip (brilliant blog) and clever setter.

  13. Another very good puzzle – the Times is on a roll at the moment. SA for Brownshirts is a bit Mephistoish but the definition is a giveaway

    Luton, once famous in modern times only for its airport and an advertisement, came to notice following the last census when along with Leicester and Slough it emerged as a town where the white British are in a minority.

    2. They made lots of tinny British cars there too at one time but the business is owned by the Germans now, I think.

      I took an unexpected holiday in Luton in April and was very well looked after.

      My main problem with the town is that although it’s the best part of an hour away by road I get LU in my postcode which immediatly bumps up my insurance premiums.

      Edited at 2017-07-19 09:09 am (UTC)

      1. Yes – Vauxhall. My first business assignment involving external customers was circa 1967 and concerned using our computer to better process their pension funds.

        I was struck back then at how more advanced we in financial services were compared with the operations in the factory and I put that down at the time to the strong presence of the trades unions in the industrial sector

  14. Not a bad week so far, but it’s always alarming when NIGELLA appears in the crossword. Always seems in excellent health to me!

    And you know you’ve been doing too many crosswords when OBBLIGATI is a write-in. Still enjoying it though, thanks setter and Pip.

  15. FOI was GARBO LOI was GABOR!!

    Nice xword puzzle which entertained me for a solid 45 minutes.

    A few chestnuts 25ac REEVE 7dn OBBLIGATI and 21ac ESCARGOT

    COD 8dn PARTHENOGENESIS

    WOD NIGELLA (she cooks – finger in all the pies!)

    There was a plant at 14ac HEDGE!

  16. FOI RED MULLET, perhaps as I used to sport a mullet, albeit not a red one. It’s best forgotten about. As with others I had a PLAN before I had a PLOT.

    BTW, in case any of you haven’t looked at it, I’d recommend Sunday’s crossword. I normally avoid it because the ipad interface is so bad (why it’s different on Sunday I have no idea), but someone mentioned it on here earlier in the week so I took a look yesterday and thought it a cracker.

  17. At the time of Lady Di’s funeral the mayor of Luton expressed his chagrin that her corsage was not to pass through the town..says it all.
    1. I hope you mean cortege, Toff! Anyway it passed near the town on the MI I think. It could hardly have been expected to make a diversion.
      2. Jack,that was the word he used and caused great amusement amongst our party golfing at Royal Lytham that weekend.
  18. Pleasant puzzle, in which I was first delayed by thinking the series was going to be something Italian I’d never heard of – I SUDUCALI or something else which sounds like an early Verdi opera; then by Mr Onions, which is a very clever clue, the elegance of which is wasted on people like me who weren’t already familiar with him. Similarly, baffled by the parsing of SAUSAGE until I came here, to discover that as usual, the deficit in understanding was situated squarely between chair and keyboard.
  19. Apparently, according to my grandchildren, COOL doesn’t mean IN any more – rather the opposite. I got very disapproving looks when I said how cool they were.

    Brought up not far from Luton, and it was always considered a Blott on the Landscape.
    As said previously, a biff-fest, for which several I had to come here for the explanations. At least I managed a respectable time of about 30 mins.

  20. 19:16. An enjoyable puzzle with some unparsed so thanks pip. Knew about wurst and avoided GARBO. Nice to be reminded of CLAVDIVS
  21. All done in 22, and good stuff. Inexplicably, and slightly embarrassingly, I can’t spell PARTHENOGENESIS – I’d rather not say where the error was for shame.
    I also thought PLAN was fine (it was) but made onion soup of the crossing REPAYMENT. It’s quite hard to change your mind about a clue entry that is so obviously right.
    Has there ever been another Nigella? If not, are we in contravention of the omit unless obit rule? There is a way round, of course because apparently it’s another name for wild fennel, but then those of us that blench at the thought of having to find another plant would struggle.
  22. 10m 11s, so nothing too scary today.

    I may be being obtuse, but I can’t see how complaint = ill in 12a. Illness, sure, but it’s pretty obscure to use ill as a noun in this context, isn’t it? I can’t think of a sentence where I might sub one for the other.

    1. I half raised an eyebrow at this m’self. But thought of potions that cure all ills – and decided the plural could be singularised.
  23. I won’t repeat comments already made by others, but it was a very enjoyable outing. I was tempted by GARBO (could be clued as: Naked actress?), but quickly realised it had to be GABOR.
    LOI was HEDGE FUND, but I have no idea why it was so hard to get.
  24. I vote for EoD in the TV series stakes. Bloody wonderful stuff, with all that magic chucked in for free. Tinker Tailor too though. Puts the recent film version to shame.
  25. I can’t really keep up, but perhaps they would be happier to be SICK than COOL? Actually that gives me a brilliant idea to call in “sick” to work more often…
  26. 11:43. I started very quickly on this but then got a little bit bogged down. It took me an embarrassingly long time to 4ac, considering Onions’ Shakespeare Glossary was a constant companion for an entire term when I was at the university in question. I also took some time counting letters carefully to get the right spelling for OBBLIGATO and PARTHENOGENESIS.
    The whole point of a HEDGE FUND is supposed to be that it’s less risky than the alternative. It hasn’t always worked out like that of course.
    Thanks for explaining 3dn Pip. I biffed it, and had no idea about the SA part, even if I had of course heard of the Brownshirts.
    I remember One Clavdivs from my youth but the best TV series ever made is of course The Wire.

    Edited at 2017-07-19 10:58 am (UTC)

    1. If it’s better than Breaking Bad I’ll put it on my list. But it won’t be.
      1. I got bored of Breaking Bad and gave up after three or four episodes. I have heard from so many people whose opinion I generally respect (that is to say, share) that it is up there with The Wire that I am going to give it another go one of these days.
        1. And for the same reason I’ll have a look at The Wire. Need some long-distance travel so that I can “marathon” it (I believe that’s the expression the kids use these days).
          1. You should. You need to give it a bit of time: it takes four or five episodes before you can understand what anyone is saying. But it’s worth the effort.

            Edited at 2017-07-19 02:23 pm (UTC)

        1. I thought you were going to yell at me again for still not having watched / read Tinker Tailor.

          On edit: Which I now see you’ve mentioned below. Righto, which one first?

          Edited at 2017-07-20 08:54 am (UTC)

          1. Watch The Wire when you’re feeling sick and fed up with what’s on TV. It will restore your faith (in TV and possibly in humanity, despite its subject matter being often grim).

            Watch Tinker, Tailor any time. If the almost silent opening scene doesn’t grab you, nothing will (you can make it even more interesting by having a bet with family members at the end of episode 1 on which of the men in the opening scene is going to turn out to be the mole. It’s one of ’em, is all I’m saying).

    2. Breaking Bad (especially the first series) is brilliant. I gave up on The Wire after three episodes, but then I can’t abide gratuitous hand-held cameras. What’s the point of having all that gear if you just use your shoulder?
    3. When you’re right, you’re right, and The Wire is the best TV series ever made, just as long as you don’t count the final season (a few problems there, but a great finale). Weirdly, I see commonalities between The Wire and the original BBC Tinker Tailor (now No 2 on my list) — as different as two worlds could be but exploring some similar themes.

      Breaking Bad not far behind, though you need to reset your mental clock to ‘slow’ before watching. And enjoy the great cinematography.

      1. Great minds think alike. Yes The Wire loses its way a bit at the end, and more generally some of the seasons are better than others, but taken in the round it’s magnificent.
        I will remember the mental clock tip when I eventually get round to revisiting Breaking Bad.
  27. 9:37 – fun puzzle, though I biffed SAUSAGE. Glad that the town was LUTON as I don’t think I could name another place in Beds
      1. I’m pretty sure Bedford must be in the Shire in question, Unless the boundaries commission has had its way as they’ve done to my home town Notlob. Travelling from the North, Bedford is a positive delight before getting to Luton. Another excellent puzzle (based on the fact that I solved it). Three in a row this week. Thanks setter and thanks blogger for parsing.
    3. Leighton Buzzard has been an answer on at least 3 occasions whilst I have been blogging here, most recently in April 2014. Two smaller communities are on the tourist trail, Whipsnade, for its safari park and zoo, and Woburn, for its stately home.

      Edited at 2017-07-19 04:48 pm (UTC)

  28. An enjoyable puzzle that I romped through in 26:14. Didn’t know Mr Onions, but it’s a fine clue now I’ve been enlightened. Didn’t know the SA abbreviation for the Brownshirts, but the definition was obvious. Managed to get PLOT and GABOR correct at first reading. The double B in OBBLIGATI was remembered from its last outing. Thanks setter and Pip.
  29. I really didn’t like this. I finished in about 25 minutes but so often thinking, “really, is that right?” as opposed to the preferable “ah, so that’s it”. Anyone for tenuous?

    Edited at 2017-07-19 02:26 pm (UTC)

  30. Same pesky last ones as Pip, otherwise I’d have had a rare sub-20. As it was, 22 minutes, so, as Meldrew might say, mustn’t grumble.

    What, I wonder would setters do without Ancient Greek/ Egyptian Thebes and its cognates?

    A very nice Pasquale in today’s Guardian, by the way. And not too tough. We leave that to JH…

  31. Not much to say today, except I agree with the questions raised about ‘ill’ as complaint. I went through in 15 minutes, no real problems. Regards.
  32. .. myself standing outside a shop in Keswick called White Stuff. I was banned from entering as Mrs BW says I put her off when she’s shopping. Well I’ve tried to but I’ve never succeeded. Keswick was our port of call after Dove Cottage, the Wordsworth Museum and a delicious lunch in Grasmere. Before the shopping, we did get a pleasant walk in to Friar’s Crag to view the loveliest square mile in Lakeland, as Wainwright had it, and I did again manage to buy The Times. In vacant or in pensive mood I’ve done the crossword this evening, the Irish Sea now as still as it can only be after a storm. I’ve known the SA were the brownshirts only since my children did their GCSE History, aka Hitler for today’s youth. I didn’t know any Mr Onions other than the Durham fast bowler, but it was the obvious biff. I assumed incorrectly that ‘knowing one’s onions” must be in the Oxford man’s honour. Nice puzzle taking about 40 minutes. LOIs ETHOs and THIGH. COD MILTON on this day of poetry when paradise was regained. Thank you Pip and setter.
  33. A quick, smooth solve all done in 26 mins this morning on the commute. FOI 1ac. LOI 13dn. A minor delay putting in the plausible “plan” instead of “plot” but it didn’t take long to resolve once I saw “repayment”. I dnk the Oxford grammarian so thank you blogger but everything else known and parsed ok. Nothing too difficult but a nice puzzle. COD 14ac which had me hunting in various wrong directions for an expression like “wild card” (car for vehicle and d for departs sounded convincing), also thought the boundary might be a four rather than a hedge but twigged what was going on eventually.
  34. SOED has:
    ill – a disease, a sickness
    complaint – a bodily ailment

    Collins has:
    ill – a mild disease
    complaint – a mild ailment

    Edited at 2017-07-19 08:54 pm (UTC)

  35. For some reason, this puzzle just put me in a bad mood in much the same way that, for instance, an unfindable end of a roll of Sellotape can. This probably reflects my disposition rather than the puzzle, though. There was quite a lot of biffing, and a lot of “well, if that’s how he wants it, I’m not b****y going to parse it”-ing as well.

    I was hoping that this blog would be filled with fellow outragees stumped by unparseable clues, so I was disappointed to find that Pip had parsed everything straighforwardly and elegantly.

    Grudgingly and grumpily, therefore, I shall have to admit that this was a fine and well-built puzzle.

  36. 8:47 for me, slowed by a succession of senior moments starting with ONIONS in 1ac.

    In fact I felt slow off the mark on most clues, including 26ac, where it took me several seconds to work out why on earth Robert Graves’s novel should be described as a “series”. (Could it be that Claudius the God is sometimes included under its predecessor’s title? Hm! That would still only be a series of two. Doesn’t seem quite right. Perhaps it’s because they were combined in the TV …? Oh! D’oh!)

    Nice puzzle, though.

  37. While we’re on the subject of TV series, I think my favourite is probably Heimat. But I also have a soft spot for an earlier Pride and Prejudice with Elizabeth Garvie perfectly cast as Lizzy Bennet. (For my money, David Rintoul was much better than Colin Firth as Mr Darcy, but it’s the casting of Lizzy that’s all important, and Jennifer Ehle was not in the same league as Garvie!)

Comments are closed.