Times 26947 – They want to lose?

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Time: 43 minutes
Music: Beethoven, Symphony #6, Reiner/Chicago Symphony

Well, my time was not that good, and I fumbled over simple clues.   There were some difficult ones, but those were handled with aplomb.  I think I may have been a little tired, as I rather unwisely worked out in the gym for an hour and a half, and then played nine holes of golf.   However, I was not ‘off putting’, as we don’t use the greens during the winter here. 

There was some rather erudite material scattered in this puzzle, and solvers who are not steeped in Western culture may have to biff a bit, or put the letters in a hat and give them a good shake – very often, that does the trick. 

Across

1 Sit dejectedly, losing pounds in depression (4)
SUMP – S[l]UMP, most often associated with a sump pump nowadays.
3 Not inviting to be away at the golf course (3-7)
OFF-PUTTING – Double definition, where the surface glances at the unhappy situation of the player furthest from the hole.
10 Canvasser’s terms of reference: to place an indelible mark for one (9)
REMBRANDT – REM(-i,+BRAND)T, a rather farfetched substitution cryptic.
11 Pick up article in valley (5)
GLEAN – GLE(A)N, and not a homophone at all.
12 For a sort of bet, have echo start to reverberate out of vaulted passage (4,3)
EACH WAY – E + A[r]CHWAY, where ‘echo’ is from the NATO alphabet.
13 One part of carnival procession on the water (6)
AFLOAT – A FLOAT, perfectly simple, and my last one in!
15 Explain your intention as high bet waited for settlement (5,3,3,4)
WHATS THE BIG IDEA – anagram of AS HIGH BET WAITED.
18 International committee pledge advice may be listened to (8,7)
SECURITY COUNCIL – SECURITY + sounds like COUNSEL.
21 English bachelor turning on charm, providing cough sweet (6)
JUJUBE – JUJU + E[nglish[ B[achelor] backwards
23 Completely fill up brief diary account of weekend meal? (7)
SATIATE – SAT: I ATE….very clever.
26 Unfortunately knocked back, taking oxygen for cold — am I up a gum tree? (5)
KOALA – ALA(-c,+O)K backwards, as in ‘alas and alack’. 
27 What’s needed for repair? I will leave that, getting into quarrel (5,4)
SPARE PART – SPA(REPA[i]R)T, a curiously self-referential clue that most solvers will just biff.
28 In poll be tied, strangely, being visibly out in front (3-7)
POT-BELLIED – anagram of POLL BE TIED.
29 Turner’s short expression of excitement (4)
WHEE – WHEE[l].

Down
1 Cynical in respect of Downing, for one (10)
STREETWISE – STREET WISE, as in the street on which No 10 is located.  None of the people named ‘Downing’ are of any use here.
2 Parrot’s two-note call? That’s not all (5)
MIMIC – MI + MI + C[all].
4 Cyclist’s last to don elaborate headgear; whatever next? (5,4)
FANCY THAT – FANCY ([cyclis]T) HAT
5 Good article about dry bread (5)
PITTA – PI (TT) A, an alternate spelling.
6 Follow uninvited, dropping northern language … (7)
TAGALOG – TAG ALO[n]G, a bit of a chestnut.
7 … remarkable indelicacy almost in another (9)
ICELANDIC – Anagram of INDELICAC[y].   The language is basically spoken Old Norse, without any changes since 1000 AD.
8 Weapons bar lifted (4)
GUNS – SNUG upside-down. 
9 Fights brother with sharp tools (6)
BRAWLS – BR + AWLS, one from the Quickie
14 Al suggesting this department for customer service? (4,6)
CALL CENTRE – AL, the centre of CALL, a reverse cryptic.
16 Well up with extra emotion finally in a university quadrangle (2,7)
AU COURANT – A U COUR ([extr]A [emotio]N)T – very difficult to parse, but fortunately not too hard to biff.
17 Key part of Cambridge walk (9)
BACKSPACE – BACKS + PACE.  A bit of local knowledge about the Cambridge area is required here, but the answer is quite evident even for those who don’t have it.
19 About to introduce a loud, discordant musical turn (7)
ROULADE – R(anagram of A LOUD)E.   A musical term that might be obscure to some.
20 Removes restraint of classical drama rules — first one going (6)
UNTIES – UN[i]TIES.   It is helpful if you know what Aristotle said about playwriting, and how this was interpreted by the French dramatists of the 17th century.   But everybody knows that, right?
22 At which one may stand, at middle of atelier? (5)
EASEL – EASE + [ate]L[ier], a very clever &lit. 
24 Flooded, get wife into a tree (5)
AWASH – A(W)ASH, another Quickie clue.
25 You sleep soundly — we wanted to be out (4)
UKIP – sounds like ‘you kip’.

63 comments on “Times 26947 – They want to lose?”

  1. Though I fancy myself a musician of sorts, I know ROULADE from seeing it here—most recently was January 18 of this year, #26937, blogged by Pip. Nevertheless, it was my LOI, right after JUJUBE. EASEL was a nice &lit. CALL CENTRE was very clever, I thought, despite my being held up by trying to think of something involving Artificial Intelligence.

    Edited at 2018-01-29 04:20 am (UTC)

    1. ROULADE was my LOI too, Guy. Like you, I think I know a fair bit about music but I have never heard of it in that connection, even missing the reference in January when I must have bunged in the answer and moved on without further thought. The only types of run I know in music are ‘scale’ (obviously) and ‘glissando’, but the musical definition of ‘roulade’ in SOED sounds more like what I would term ‘melisma’.

      The only ‘roulade’ I’ve been aware of until now is an item of food, usually a rolled cylindrical pastry or sponge with sweet or savoury filling.

      1. I don’t think we’ve ever seen MELISMA here! Wikipedia says a ROULADE “is distinguished from a melisma” by being “usually [sic] performed in a rhythmically free style, either by use of rubato or over a musical pause.”
        2. Funnily enough I made a similar comment about MELISMA last time ROULADE had an outing.
      2. They had PORTAMENTO as a cryptic definition (“glide through the air” or something) in the Telegraph Toughie this Friday, which I thought was borderline off, though keriothe is the final arbiter of such things of course.
        1. I haven’t heard of PORTAMENTO so I can confirm that indicating it with a cryptic definition is officially Unfair.

          Edited at 2018-01-29 09:20 am (UTC)

  2. Another technical DNF for me as I was unable to call JUJUBE to mind although it was on the tip of my tongue (most aptly!).

    I worked out the parsing at 20dn but didn’t actually know the ‘classical drama’ reference despite my interest in theatre generally. Nor did I know ROULADE in connection with music so I have to assume I didn’t fully understand ‘run’ = ROULADE in the puzzle in January which I note I didn’t mention at the time.

    Interesting to see the reverence to UKIP (UK Independence Party). Was this a first?

  3. I was happy to see this all correct after 35:09. DNK SNUG as a bar, but assumed it might be so. DNK UNITIES, so waited for all the crossers before completing UNTIES; my guess was that maybe “aunties” were involved. I crossed my fingers on JUJUBE, not knowing the charm or the cough sweet. I also assumed the Cambridge BACKS were part of the football team. Also happy with Guy that we’d had ROULADE not too long ago, which made that clue easy.

    Thanks for all the decoding, Vinyl, and thanks as always to the setter.

    Edited at 2018-01-29 06:05 am (UTC)

    1. The SNUG was a small bar, cut off from the rest of the pub and often better appointed, where people who did not wish to associate with the general clientele could hide away. The drinks were of course more expensive
      1. I think it was in the snug at the Rover’s Return where Ena Sharples, Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst used to hold court whilst drinking milk stout.
      2. When I was young many pubs did not allow women to sully the main bar. We were directed to use the snug bar where we could be served in isolation. It was often not a matter of choice. For us the “good old days” were not very good at all. Ann
  4. DNF for me. I’d never heard of either ROULADE (except in the cooking sense I suppose) and JUJUBE. Since they crossed I was defeated. Fun crossword until that annoying finale, with a nice mixture of clue types.
  5. 41 mins on IPad pre brecker.
    Au courant and jujube crossers were tricky.
    Blue skies in Ischgl.
    Thanks setter and Vinyl.
  6. Can I be today’s first to wonder aloud whether Mondays are the new Fridays? Very enjoyable and witty puzzle, with some tougher requirements of the solver. I am wryly amused that 10ac was my LOI given that he should have been so fresh in our minds from appearing in a recent puzzle.

    Edited at 2018-01-29 07:39 am (UTC)

  7. Found the southern hemisphere harder than the north

    Put in BACKSPACE from “key” and checkers and struggled to remember “unities”. Liked EASEL

    I don’t recall seeing UKIP before so well done setter

  8. After 30 minutes still had JUJUBE and ROULADE to go. Guessed UNTIES and assumed it was AUNTIES with the ‘A’ removed. Thanks for the explanation. I will file away UNITIES for future use.
  9. Thought I was on for a PB with the top half almost straight in. Delayed then by the very clever UKIP, JUJUBE (had heard of the juju man), and UNTIES, which I didn’t want to biff but did eventually. BACKSPACE another lovely clue. 18’17” thanks vinyl and setter.
  10. 21 mins, and it definitely didn’t feel like a Monday puzzle. It took me longer than it should have done to get the two long across answers, I biffed UNTIES, and a vaguely remembered JUJUBE was my LOI after ROULADE (it took me a long time to realise that the middle of the answer was going to be an anagram of “a loud”). Despite it being on the trickier side for a Monday I really enjoyed it because of the humour in some of the clues, with “off putting” and the “fancy hat” raising a smile. I’m another who thinks the clue for EASEL was an excellent &lit.
  11. Well the top half just flew in, but then I stalled on the bottom half with plenty left to get for quite some time.

    Eventually I got 17d BACKSPACE, and that opened up 18a SECURITY COUNCIL and let me biff 14d CALL CENTRE—that bloody font again, just like guy_du_sable I was trying to think of things to do with artificial intelligence—then finally trust that 20d UNTIES was right, put in the vaguely-known AU COURANT, then dredge JUJUBE up from somewhere.

    43 minutes all told, though I’d say half an hour of that was spent on the bottom half. I wonder if our esteemed editors might consider a re-think on the typeface front? I hear there’s quite a popular one called Times New Roman that lets you tell a capital I from a lower-case L…

  12. 17:41. Tricky but very entertaining puzzle, this, with a nice range of references from the ancient to the very modern. Bit of a sense of déjà vu with some of these answers.
  13. 38 minutes with the north much easier than the south. I last watched Coronation Street in 1961 when Ida Barlow was run over by a bus. The Snug at the Rover’s Return was dominated back then by Ena Sharples, Martha Longhurst and Minnie Caldwell. It was a good job we had ROULADE recently. JUJUBE had me flawed for a while and I reached it through the spell, once I found I couldn’t use Fisherman’s Friend or lozenge. UNTIES was entered from the non-classical part of the clue. My wife has just bought some new bathroom scales which provide all sorts of extraneous information, including a visceral fat reading. I’m not prepared to reveal mine, but it was doubly cruel to have POT-BELLIED as an answer. It’s from far too many roulades. COD OFF-PUTTING. Thank you V and setter
  14. Glad to see Verlaine thought it hard for a Monday. Me too!!

    Worse – at 14dn, I misread Al (as in Alan) to be AI (as in artificial intelligence) and came up with “mail centre”. Can’t the Times Crossword Club use a serif font (like Times)?!

    1. It would seem a MAIL CENTRE is a thing, or at least the Royal mail claims it has a lot of them to process deliveries in large areas. I think you have a claim.
      1. I think they might claim a loophole on the basis of “customer service” and “Royal Mail” not often appearing together.
    2. I was going to comment on the typeface (again) as well. I was fortunate to at least think, Artificial Intelligence?, Motorway? Our gangster friend? right from the get-go, so wasn’t completely wrong-footed. Fortunately I didn’t think of aluminum too – that would have been too many possibilities and would have scrambled my brain.

      Edited at 2018-01-29 01:28 pm (UTC)

  15. 46m and a lot of that on the JUJUBE and AUCOURANT crossing – nothing to add to previous comments, though I wasn’t a fan of this probably because of the advert for the looney right at 25d. Thanks for the blog.
  16. Struggled with this, tough for a Monday indeed. Took an age to see CALL CENTRE after thinking it was A I or something metallic. I had mis-decoded 15a for a start, had it ending in DEAL not IDEA so that delayed things. Didn’t get JUJUBE never heard of it and had to look up a word *U*UBE. ROULADE indeed I blogged recently. The rest was fun, 30 minutes for a DNF ending on 21a.
    Once again a plea to change to a serif typeface to avoid the rn /m and AI / Al issues.
  17. A very solid 28.43, with hold-ups all the way through. I think I’ve met JUJUBE at least once in reading one of the obscurer books of my childhood, offered by an eccentric professor, but I can’t pin it down. I thought it was weird then; now I discover its also a fruit of sorts, one of those with miraculous health giving properties found at the edges of social media and such.
    AI/AL was a mean distraction, though I see from the E-paper version it isn’t so in print.
    I thought this was an excellent challenge, and I’d like to add my appreciation for the &lit EASEL, and recommend REMBRANDT for Special Mention for that device of replacing a single letter with an entire word. Well blogged, Pip, and chapeau to setter.
    1. Not my blog today, z8, I’m the Wednesday man, just my comment. Hats off to vinyl1, playing golf with no greens can’t be very satisfying.
      1. I would be grateful suggestions as to who I owe the greater apology to and a cure for innocent (and endearing?) stupidity
  18. A tougher test than a man expects on a grey Monday morning in mid-winter, and an entertaining one. Ended in the same area as various other people, with ROULADE suddenly bringing forth JUJUBE from some corner of my memory (I strongly suspect from the same book as Z., whatever it is – my first thought was that it might be Molesworth, but now I’m pretty sure it isn’t). Likewise, went for quite a while thinking that 14dn had something to do with Artificial Intelligence. Apart from the typeface quibble, nice work all round.
      1. I was under the impression that dot-dot-dotting twixt clues is an inelegant and possibly even swinish Guardian type of thing. Pshaw etc!

  20. Enjoyable. Except for the last one, where I spent ages deliberating whether it was Al (Alan or aluminium) or A.I. But I guess that was maybe the big idea…

  22. Very tricky for a Monday, marred by not being able to bring the charm to mind and hence sucking on a LULUBE.
  23. Saturday was bad enough but Monday as well.
    Finished but time unprintable.

    LOI 14dn CALL CENTRE my SPARE PART 27ac really held me up.
    FOI 9dn BRAWLS
    COD 25dn UKIP! JUJUBE
    WOD 21ac JUJUBE – used it frequently in cosmetics copy in Singapore/Malaya – jujube beads -they’re now probably clogging up the oceans!

    Secret breakfast eh!? Mr. Myrtilus – do tell!
    I had ROULADE.

    1. The usual buffet offering here in the alps: cheeses, cold cuts, breads, pastries, eggs. No marmite, although my German isn’t up to asking for it. Mostly I have been sticking to cereal, including coco pops.
  24. Having also wasted time on the is it an i or an l? at 14d, I managed to solve all the parsing except for 20d, where I had never hear of UNITIES. I spoiled the whole thing by typing AU COUTANT and JUJUTE for my last 2 in, despite knowing exactly what was needed. Bah! Was under 30 minutes at 28:46 too. Thanks setter and Vinyl. Must train myself to proof read more.
  25. A steady hour here. Some of the ones that gave others difficulty popped right into my head – Au Courant, Unities – along with both of the long horizontals. I was slowed up just a little because I thought of Streetwise as clever more than cynical, and I thought Jujubes were spelt JuJuBee, and I thought they were a proper candy rather than a candy-like medicine. COD here to Rembrandt, both for the deceptive literal and for the clever substitution.
    I’m torn between agreeing with Janie that it’s fair for the setter to allow the typeface to make AI deceptive, and thinking that it’s a nuisance. I definitely think that the r-n combinations which look like ms are unfair.
  26. 29:06 an relieved not to need aids. Like others, I wondered if 14d was referring to Artificial Intelligence, but eventually found CALL CENTRE – my LOI. Quite chewy, but satisfying. UN(I)TIES the only unknown. I liked 17d, if only for its reference to where I work and occasionally walk at lunchtimes.

    Edited at 2018-01-29 02:22 pm (UTC)

  28. 19:54 … phew! a real scramble to squeak in under the 20-minute mark on this one. LOI (or IOL, as The Times would have it) the CALL CENTRE, where I had the same problem as others with the typeface.

    And I thought JUJUBEs were a brand name, which it turns out they are in certain places.

    Very tricky, great fun. Thanks, vinyl, a properly informed man of letters, for explaining the Unities. I’d probably come across the term but had long forgotten it.

    COD to the slightly mind-boggling &lit of EASEL

    1. In the States they are particularly favoured by 8 to 10 year olds at the Saturday matinee for putting sticky spots on movie theatre floors and, more frequently, directly onto the theatre seats.
      1. Heh, you make it sound like a sort of chemical warfare waged by the under-10s with weaponised candy 🙂
        1. I can’t wait (10 years?) until the millennials learn that they aren’t the most destructive younger generation.
  29. A needed for this one, held up like many by the typeface thing. DNK the unities either but I did remember the JUJUBE. The LOI’s for me were 3 of the short 4 letter ones: UKIP, SNUG and SUMP. Thanks for the blog vinyl, but I think it’s absolutely too cold to play golf around here. Regards.
  30. Possibly jujubes might be a cure for the dreaded lurgy. I enjoyed researching this after Keriothe’s comments on Saturday, which some may have missed. Lurgee looks like another acceptable spelling. The derivation is from a Goon show written by Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes – “Lurgi strikes Britain”. Apparently it was a fictitious disease but I think most people now regard it at least as the equivalent of man-flu.
    And I finished today’s puzzle with a lot of guesses. LOI was Jujube after narrowly rejecting Lulube. david

    UPDATE It was in Sunday’s blog.

    Edited at 2018-01-29 06:47 pm (UTC)

    1. I think the lurgi may be capable of spreading via the web, given that I’ve now gone down with it 🙁 Maybe I should take advantage of my sick-day to dig out a few Goon Shows… I think the Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler of Bexhill on Sea was my favourite!

      PS: Send Lemsip and Jujubes!

      Edited at 2018-01-29 07:01 pm (UTC)

  31. DNF. Bah! Top half went in relatively smoothly. Nothing smooth in the bottom half apart from ukip, koala and pot-bellied. All the others were a struggle to get and my efforts finally ran aground on the roulade and jujube crossing. I didn’t know the Backs as a part of Cambridge. A quick Google brings up some very picturesque images.
  32. What’s the advice? If you can’t parse it it’s probably wrong.
    The Cambridge is a theatre, ain’t it, and people importantly walk backstage don’t they?
    Botheration.
    Better luck tomorrow, and memo to self – remember ‘key can relate to keyboard’ you’ve met it loads of times before.
  33. I really love it when the last pound or so of pennies drop after taking a longish break before being able to complete the puzzle. Today’s late-dropping pennies were REMBRANDT, EACH WAY, STREETWISE (I was saying to myself, well, there’s a Downing Street, of course, but who was Downing?), ICELANDIC, GLEAN, AFLOAT, ROULADE and JUJUBE. My parents had a so-called stationery store (what they mostly sold were newspapers and cigarettes) until 1964 and that is the last place I can remember seeing jujubes as sweets (or rather candy, as the store was on Long Island, NY). Surprised I even came up with the word. And of course I technically DNF, because of the Times’s very artificial intelligence.

  34. Took me several goes, but got there in the end. I had DEAL instead of IDEA for a long time, which held me back. I also had that well known classical drama NOH in my head, even after I knew it couldn’t fit.
    Didn’t know in these senses ROULADE or UNITIES, but the kind setter made these both biffable.
    COD: 22D a beautiful & lit, extremely atmospheric and satisfying.
    Thanks all

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