Times 26929 – If the animal doesn’t get you, the author will

67 comments on “Times 26929 – If the animal doesn’t get you, the author will”

1. I must confess (well, I suppose I could keep quiet about it) to not knowing of Borrow or LAVENGRO, and had to take some time to dither over where to put the leftover letters. I knew FIT from ‘Snark’. I didn’t know that the KINKAJOU was arboreal, but the J_U helped me to semi-biff–got the KINK (and ‘quirk’ didn’t bother me), didn’t bother about the rest. So that was one Random W less to worry about. I don’t think one can gripe about PHOEBE, though; she’s the solution, not part of the clue. Congrats, U, on the 150; I hope we’ll see at least 150 more.
2. I was delighted to see the li’l kinkajou here! And since when is the merely *fourth* definition considered “recondite” for a Times puzzle? Often, methinks, we have to rummage around for the eighth or tenth. I would even have guessed that “kink” was maybe the third or second for “quirk.” (By the way a recently retired colleague at the magazine thought she was giving a compliment by describing me, in one of her valedictory speeches, as “quirky.” Considering the source, I can live with that.)

   On the other hand, I knew I would only be guessing at the anagrammed novel title, so once I decided the answer must be a book by a fellow named Borrow, and when the missing letters for this one were the only blanks remaining in the puzzle, I resorted to Google before inking them in.

   Didn’t know the straight definition of “BUFFER” here, nor was I sure that I’ve ever heard of FIT as a part of an ancient poem, but the wordplay was clear enough (and I certainly have looked into the Carroll poem at some time).

   I just had to look up the woman who streaked in Twickenham (“Pictures, or it didn’t happen”), and it seems she spelled her name with a K (also, she was only topless).

   Edited at 2018-01-08 03:46 am (UTC)

   1. Ah yes, but what a top!
3. A pleasant enough puzzle, but the author got me – never heard of either Borrow or Lavengro, and Valengro sounded more likely to be a word. So yes, I’ll be railing about obscurities clued as anagrams 😉 Not even an English obscurity – Romanian Gypsy language, according to Wikipedia.
   I’d heard of the animal – the main character in L’il Abner is one, I thought to myself. But now half an hour later I realise I was trying to recall Kickapoo Joy Juice, a drink. Still, it helped me get the KINK which seemed adequate as a quirk.

   Edited at 2018-01-08 05:38 am (UTC)

4. Much of this went in on a wing and a prayer as I didn’t know some of the words or references, but I was pleased to get home all correct in 45 minutes although I’d had all but three answers in 27. The ones that held me up at the end were 20, 23 and 24. DK LEMAN despite its appearing in a puzzle I blogged in 2011.

   Might I recommend today’s Quick Cryptic to those who don’t usually bother with them? It’s officially the 1000th puzzle and there’s a rather fine NINA (of sorts) to enjoy.

   1. Forgot to say, congrats on your milestone, ulaca!
5. Ladies and Gentlemen,

   First I would like to congratulate Mr Garry Oldman for winning
   the Golden Globes Best Actor of 2017 for his portrayal of Winston C. Excellent.

   And now for the ‘The Lord Galspray Memorial TfTT Avatar of the Year Awards’.
   Book prizes for the top three – you lucky people!

   We had hundreds of entries with few cats and no Arsenal supporters in top fifty!

   10. Anonymous Bag over the Head – no name given – somewhere in Kenya!

   9. The Rotter – for his portrayal of SirTewwy Thomath – what a shower! (DD)

   8. Mr. Vinyl1 -for the Best Dog in Show – great consistency noted from The Master

   7. Our Jack (Tee Total) – for his portrayal of Jack Benny – silent comedy at its best

   6. Mr. Mytillus – for his ‘Fat Rascal from Betty’s of ‘Arrogate’ and bunging a Christmas Hat on it – a breakfast special!

   5. Mr. Martin for his ‘Earth Wind and Fire’ rendition/cover album – very stylish

   4. Mr. Penfold – ‘Crumbs!’ Always brings a smile – thank-you

   3. Lady Sotira for her ‘Failure cartoon character’ -which we don’t see that often! Prize Winner!

   2. Parliamentarian Pip Kirby for his many Owls! (Christmas noted) ‘Iconoclastic wisdom personified’. Prize Winner!

   and

   wait for it

   and wouldn’t you bloody know it…..

   1. Lord Verlaine for ‘Verlaine’ – this is the mark of pedigree The Icon among Icons. Superb! Prize Winner.
   Also wins a night-out with Victor Meldrew and Joan Collins, when he’s in town next May/June.

   To claim your books Lady Sotira can provide the horryd email address allow 10 days delivery in UK: 60 days for France.

   A Happy new and Chinese New Year to all!

   1. I’m surprised and delighted that I wasn’t disqualified for repeated mucking around with divers Biblical prophets, jazzmen and hitmen! In the words of the greatest acceptance speech of all time, I’d like to thanks Jacques Cousteau, Soren Kierkegaard, Sonny Liston, the Leyton Orient strikers, the RSPB, St Francis of Assisi, the Planet Saturn and all of its rings, and last, but of course not least, God, for this great honour.
      1. You were fortunate on the disqualification front, as the brethalysers never turned up!
         Please send Sotira your email address, m’Lud!
         1. I might need to change my avatar to a picture of George Henry Borrow to annoy Keriothe this week, especially since the man looked exactly like a crossword setter….

            Edited at 2018-01-08 09:29 am (UTC)

            1. Be reasonable, v, it’s hard enough not learning new books of the bible. Not learning obscure Victorian novelists and their long-forgotten works is too much to ask!
         2. I am also chuffed to bits, twit twoo. and Lord V a worthy winner, to pip Pip the hibou man.
            N.B. Sotira I shall be squatting in England for 3 months from later this week, so will email you a UK address.
            Look forward to a re-match perhaps?
            I’ll pass on Joan Collins though.
      2. Whose speech? You reminded me of Melvyn Douglas accepting an Oscar, thanking the standard series of thankees, then adding “… and our President [Eisenhower], for keeping the enemy from our shores, …”
         1. This was John Cleese, accepting for a Fish Called Wanda.
   2. I demand an electoral enquiry.
      1. May, Trump and, now, Verlaine. What has happened to democracy? It all began with hanging chads in my opinion.
         1. This is what comes of giving people the vote; wait, no people were given the vote. This is what comes of giving horryd the vote.
   3. In 20 years when one of the top three is stripped of their prize for doping I shall look forward to receiving my book.
      1. Send Sotira your email address and I will send you a book too!
         If that will shut you up! I may well be asassinated shortly- CRIPES!
         1. Well, you will keep sticking your head above the parapet…. 🙂
   4. Well, good heavens. I picked the wrong day to be travelling and sans wi-fi. Got here in the end, though.

      It’s especially nice to win a prize in a competition I didn’t know I had entered. I didn’t enter this week’s national lottery, either, so I’m looking forward to the results of that.

      I feel a bit of a fraud as I created this avatar way back when I first joined the site, so I’m not sure it’s a contender for ‘Avatar of the Year’ (unless the year is 2008. And I copied the design from a T-shirt I bought in France, but this is the internet where theft is art and art is theft.

      Anyway, ‘umbled, I’m sure. And congratulations to a worthy winner (she says through gritted teeth, trying to remember to smile whenever the cameras pan across the audience)

6. Twenty-nine minutes for a typical Monday puzzle.

   FOI 3dn TAKE UMBRAGE an every day story of country-folk.

   LOI 11ac ROBUST

   COD 14ac BENNY GOODMAN

   WOD 9ac KINKAJOU

   22ac DURHAM is wher the Pink Panther hails from.

7. 9ac is a bit obscure, but at least it’s deductible from wordplay. I considered TICKAJOU, but rejected it on the not unreasonable grounds that TICK does not in any way mean ‘quirk’, whereas KINK does.
   20ac however is perhaps the worst clue I can remember seeing here. Suffice to say I managed to construct a perfectly plausible-looking answer in which ALL the unchecked letters were in the wrong place. Nul points from me for setter and editor today.
   1. Apparently, according to the author, LAVENGRO was the Romany word for “word master”. It may be a pretty shocking clue, at least for a Monday puzzle, but I do think that fact makes the irony of it irresistible!

      On a hunch I just checked and sure enough, Lavengro was a former setter of cryptics for the Guardian! Must’ve been before our time though…

      1. It’s a shocking clue for any day of the week. According to Wikipedia it has ‘long been considered a classic of 19th-century English literature’, so it’s curious that no-one ever thought to mention it in the course of the three years I spent studying English literature at university. Not to mention the other 42 years of my life.
8. This was very TLS-y and therefore pretty much right up my street, taking 6m40, of which I’m ashamed to say up to a minute was spent failing to remember LAVENGRO. It did seem vaguely familiar in the end, but you can judge my actual literary level by the fact that my brain couldn’t get past Mary Norton’s tiny people in the wainscoting, the first five or six times I looked at the clue…
9. My hour timer ran out while I was still fooling about with 20a. Got everything else right, but this was definitely one of those puzzles where I was slowed down a lot by my lack of GK elsewhere. KINKAJOU, BENNY GOODMAN, the poetic FIT, TISANE, “leman” and probably a few others all unknown.

   Not sure I’d have put the letters of LAVENGRO in the right order anyway, not having heard of it (nor its author…)

   Just not my wavelength at all.

10. 35 mins with Prune yoghurt (no less), home-made granola and banana.
    Was this a good one? The answer’s a Leman.
    The Kinkajou was known to me, but Mr. Borrows has passed me by – as has Leman.
    Still – all doable if you don’t put Valengro.
    Thanks setter. Thanks Lord H for the 6th place and thanks Ulaca for 150, unravelling and breakfast notes.
    1. I’d hoped no one had noticed that I was slowly unravelling. No hiding place at TftT…
    2. I am not a Lord – Time Lord – one has to be a real quickie for that.
       Remember it’s the taking part etc. Next year perhaps?
11. All correct but not because the setter bothered to help me. I guessed LAVENGRO or VALENGRO correctly but pure luck.
12. Liked this, a better Monday test than usual. KINKAJOU was remembered once the J appeared, and after toying with the anagram fodder possibilities I vaguely remembered LAVENGRO as a work of said George B although never read it of course. Have not female ambassadors to be called ambassadors these days, like actresses are now actors? Liked 1a and the jazzman.
    23 minutes of which 20a took three or four at the end.
13. Decent enough puzzle spoiled by the awful LAVENGRO and the not much better KINKAJOU. I used Wiki to verify both answers. Enjoyed BENNY GOODMAN
14. 37 minutes. The SEMOLINA day was the only day when the school pudding was a disappointment. I knew KINKAJOU and dredged up LAVENGRO. I saw BENNY GOODMAN as soon as I had the B from TAKE UMBRAGE but it took me a while to get the anagram. I seem to remember a sketch about taking umbrage as a medicine in my youth, probably from the fifties, but Google hasn’t got it as far as I can tell. After watching Arsenal on the box last evening, WEAPONRY certainly wasn’t the first synonym that sprung to mind. Not that the ex-Wanderer in defence covered himself in glory. I enjoyed this puzzle. Thank you U and setter.
    1. Semolina was fine if it had a decent, virtually impenetrable skin and a large dollop of (red, so might be strawberry) jam .
       1. The jam was its redeeming feature, but ours had no skin. But compared with butterscotch tart, or jam roly-poly, or trifle, it was a disappointment
          1. Dear Bolton Wanderer,
             Bad Luck! Your Bugerigar came 11th in the Avatar Awards.
             The committee (particularly Dame Joan Collins) thought a bit of Nat Lofthousian iconography might
             put you on the podium next year. Personally, as a ManU fan with clear memories of 1958 Wembley, he’s not my
             cup of tea – but The Lion of Vienna would be good for Joan and you!
             1. I wasn’t aware that Tinker had put his name forward. Here’s a happy memory of that joyous occasion.

                Edited at 2018-01-08 05:35 pm (UTC)

             2. And here’s another one. Know who the other player is? Not a Wanderer but from the other end of the A675. He’s often said to be the greatest ever English player. Or should I concede that to Bobby Charlton?

                Edited at 2018-01-08 05:36 pm (UTC)

       2. When I was at school, bets were being taken on whether it was strawberry, raspberry or plum jam. Greatly daring, someone sneaked into the (strictly out of bounds) kitchen, and found that the wording on the tin was “red jam”.
          1. You didn’t go to the same school as me up Teesdale, by any chance? Semolina with red jam was one of the more delicious culinary delights emanating from the school kitchen. I preferred the shark-infested custard, though.
15. This was a bit of a strange one. My first pass yielded precious few but somehow I huffed and biffed my way to a 33 minute completion. Where on earth I dragged LAVENGRO up from I’ve no idea – it must be morphic resonances from Mrs Deezzaa, an English graduate.
    A 22a 23a? The blue cap with the bell fits me well.
16. I was going to comment but jimbo said it for me. 22.33 but with VALENGRO.
17. 19 minutes for this quirky offering, which fit my eclectic set of obscurities rather well. I read Lavengro when a mere slip of a boy, which might explain why I can remember nothing whatever of the plot.
    How clever of the setter to insert the entirely apposite A***nal clue on the day after their abject performance in the FA cup. I listened to the denouement on the coach home from Wembley after watching my lot (eventually) overcome the mighty AFC Wimbledon, and great was the mirth shared. At least Spurs had the decency to put out a team of familiar players to delight the (mostly) family spectators, with apparently thousands of kids getting their first taste of live football. Mrs Z and I got in for 7 quid: my woolly hat cost more than that. Sometimes this money mad industry gets it right.

    Edited at 2018-01-08 10:43 am (UTC)

18. Having studied mammals extensively at the age of 4, the KINKAJOU went in immediately on sight of the final U. VALENGRO was rejected as only being some bloke on Facebook so it had to be LAVENGRO. LOI ROBUST as I couldn’t quite connect it with ‘direct’, but the SUB gave it away. WOD OVERDAFT – we must be for doing this every day.
19. Well, count me as another victim of LAVENGRO. There are 24 possible answers here, of which at least eight are pronounceable and don’t contain “Ravel”. Twenty-nine minutes, with “Valergno”, sadly, my LOI.
    1. VALERGNO was my answer too. It still looks more feasible to me than the actual answer.
       1. Well, given that this Lavengro bloke didn’t have English as a first language, there’s no guarantee that he spelled his own name correctly. I think there’s grounds for appeal.
20. Short of time this morning but congratulations on the 150th Ulaca, and many happy returns!
21. 14 mins. It was originally 13 mins with SEMOLINA my LOI, which I eventually saw after I gave up trying to parse “sampling”. However, I’d put “duffer” at 23ac but I wasn’t happy with it so I spent another minute thinking about it and the penny dropped on the correct BUFFER.

    I didn’t know the other meaning of FIT but the answer was obvious enough, I’d thankfully heard of the KINKAJOU, and LAVENGRO rang a slightly louder distant bell than “valengro”. I’m with those who didn’t like the clue at all.

22. Lots of half-remembered things had to be dragged up from the lumber-room here, causing me to be put in mind of Butterbur the forgetful inn-keeper in Lord of the Rings (“one thing drives out another”). I knew there was a KINKAJOU, though I couldn’t have told you what sort of beast it is, possibly because it regularly gets confused with the KAKAPO in my mind. I also spent a long time trying to dredge up a musician called BONEY, which sounded suitably jazz-like as a sobriquet, while managing to avoid biffing DUFFER; and finally, just about recalled the existence of the novel, though if pressed to name the author, I’d have said Disraeli for no very good reason.

    Nice to see someone who isn’t Steve Smith reaching 150 this winter.

23. 17 min, but about 25 on leaderboard, as I forgot to confirm after clicking submit and making a cuppa. I have read at least part of Lavengro, but wasn’t convinced by Borrow’s account of Romany life.
24. I managed to outdo Keriothe by getting 50% of the unchecked letters of the book in the right order, which would probably have been close enough for B Goodman.

    Kinkajou, on he other hand, I biffed. It must have been in the Treasure Book of Animals I had as a child. Certainly the aye-aye was in there.

    Well done on the milestone U, keep ’em coming.

    Edit to add that I didn’t know the old poetry connection with FIT, but the original radio series of H2G2 was thus divided up, which was enough.

    Edited at 2018-01-08 01:53 pm (UTC)

25. 14 min 40 secs with one wrong. Tickajou for Kinkajou.
26. After 32 minutes I entered KINKAJOU having finally dredged up KINK for QUIRK. I was then left with _A_E_G_O, which after another 8 minutes or so I filled incorrectly(unlike my fellow 22a/23a) with random letters, never having heard of Borrows or his book. Disappointing to be beaten by an obscurity having successfully negotiated the rest of the puzzle in a reasonable time, but hey ho there’s always tomorrow. An enjoyable puzzle apart from that. I liked the Jazzman. Thanks setter and U, with special congratulations on your 150th blog!
27. It was a fix! Sorry Noddy!
28. And I did not waste it! Like most recently in the US of A Hush my mouth!
29. Congrats, Ulaca. Well played, sir.
    And thank you, horryd, for resolving the burning question of which is the best avatar.
    I liked the puzzle, and would have liked it even better if I’d been able to unwind Kinkajou or had known Lavengro at all.
    1. Thank-you Basil!
30. 18:20 .. though with a possible stewards’ enquiry as I Googled both KINKAJOU and the Borrow book before submitting (I did have them right but that was more luck than judgment). I don’t disagree with keriothe’s assessment of the Lavengro clue.

    Congrats to uluca, and thanks for another entertaining, and in parts characteristically baffling, blog (you don’t see sōphrosynē every day, least not in my world). And thanks for the Erico Roe reminder and the lovely story re your dad.

31. No problems with this. 26 minutes. I remember once having to make a detour to East Dereham in Norfolk because my late husband wanted to see where George Borrow was born. The town seemed to have forgotten him but when we went into the church we met the vicar who had written a monograph about Borrow and who was delighted that someone had tracked him down. My husband’s interest was because, as a Welsh speaker and a professional translator, he was fascinated by Borrow’s travel book, “Wild Wales”. Borrow had travelled to and around Wales on foot. He was an accomplished linguist and actually took the time and trouble to learn Welsh. I’d read “Lavengro” and “Romany Rye” many years before but was unaware of the Welsh connection.
32. Well, the book got me: LAVERGNO seemed a quite reasonable Italian word borrowing to me (though I couldn’t conceive what it might have to do with borrowing a book) and I had never heard of the author. But KINKAJOU was no problem and L****** was my only mistake. I don’t even feel bad about it.
33. Another English graduate here who cannot recall ever coming across 20ac, so a DNF. I could see what was required but one assemblage of the consonants around the checking vowels looked no more or less likely than another. Spoiled the puzzle a bit for me.
34. My FOI.
    What a wonderful book. As also Wild Wales, and everything written by George Borrow. Brought the romance of the Romany to my young mind.
    Peter P
35. TICKAJOU and VALENGRO.
    Whaddya gonna do?
36. I’ve absolutely no idea why I thought I’d heard of Lavengro, because I haven’t. As for Kinkajou… that must be one of the silliest names for a mammal there is. Can anyone “better” it. I’m afraid, after failing to sidestep from quirk to kink, I looked that one up leaving me with a bogus solving time of 14:37. Otherwise all quite straightforward. Congrats on the 150 Ulaca and I enjoyed the fellow contributor references. Did you mean Durham Biffer rather than Durham Buffer? If so, I know that man!

    Edited at 2018-01-09 01:35 pm (UTC)

37. About «24 Attack section of ancient poem (3) FIT – Okay, over to Encyclopædia Britannica: ‘Fit, in literature, a division of a poem or song, a canto, or a similar division. The word, which is archaic, is of Old English date and has an exact correspondent in Old Saxon fittea … Lewis Carroll revived this archaic poetic division (perhaps to lend gravity) in the composition of his 132-verse nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark, beginning with “Fit the First: The Landing” and ending with “Fit the Eighth: The Vanishing”.»

    Interestingly, Douglas Adams “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” also was delivered in “Fits” when it was first broadcasted by BBC as a radio drama. As far as I know, Douglas knew Lewis Carroll’s works well.

    Back to Snark (Lewis Carroll’s and Henry Holiday’s tragicomedy): As you like puzzles, “The Hunting of the Snark” not only is a textual but also a graphical puzzle. Henry Holiday inserted several references to artwork by other artists into his illustrations. One of them is a painting by Matthias Grünewald which is in a panel of the Isenheim Altarpiece, now permanently exhibited in the Musée Unterlinden in France. They liked and retweeted a comparison between details from a Snark illustration and that painting.

Comments are closed.