Times 27003 – what kind of jackkt was it?

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I enjoyed this moderately straightforward puzzle. I think it has a nostalgic, Empire feel to it, you couldn’t call it a theme exactly but knowledge of subcontinent currencies and carriages was helpful. As was some acquaintance with a Greek judge, a medieval jacket more often known by other names and an obscure breed of horse. But I have no complaints, all those answers can be teased out from wordplay and dropped in with reasonable confidence. Unusually, there is only one anagram.

25 minutes. Definitions underlined, anagrinds in italics.

Across
1 Buzzer’s high-pitched sound, quietly ignored by beadle (9)
BUMBLEBEE – Mr Bumble was the nasty beadle in Oliver Twist. BEEP loses its P and follows.
6 Model backed by a fabulous writer (5)
AESOP – POSE, A, reversed. Fable writing chap.
9 Cancel regular payment, getting round creditor (5)
SCRUB – CR(editor) inside SUB.
10 Conspirator, one causing fascination? (9)
INTRIGUER – Double definition.
11 Part of Ulster a gouty Frenchman recollected (6,9)
COUNTY FERMANAGH – (A GOUTY FRENCHMAN)*. Beautiful part of the world, which I used to visit in the 1970s but not without some trepidation as there were chaps with guns around.
13 Emphasis placed on police officer’s affliction (8)
DISTRESS – DI = policeman, STRESS = emphasis.
14 Show-off taking problem round university (6)
POSEUR – Insert U into POSER = problem.
16 Return of fantastic regiment protecting one part of Nigeria (6)
BIAFRA – FAB returned = BAF, insert I (one) add RA (artillery regiment). After seceding in 1967 and then losing the horrendous civil war, Biafra is still part of Nigeria although a ‘government in exile’ apparently exists in London.
18 Support from beneath, needing identification (8)
UNDERPIN – UNDER = beneath, PIN as in Personal Identification Number for cash machines or online banking.
21 Reportedly talked round those having a row? That makes you merry! (3,4,3,5)
ONE OVER THE EIGHT – Sounds like ‘won over the eight’ i.e. persuaded the rowing crew. Apparently the phrase is of military origin, ca. 1925, based on 8 beers being ‘enough’. Beer was a bit weaker then, but all the same…
23 Second medal for one replacing old tree (6,3)
SILVER FIR – SILVER = second medal, not gold for first; FOR has its O replaced by I = one.
25 Suit Italian leader abandoned for old jacket (5)
ACTON – ACTION = (law) suit, Remove the I (Italian leader). Originally an anglicisation of arqueton or aketon worn under armour, I think an Acton jacket came to mean a short doublet type jacket, but I can’t find much else about it. Mrs K thought there was a chap (Lord Acton?) for whom it was named, but I think not.
26 Brief expression of contempt about a Mexican plant (5)
YUCCA – YUC(K), C (about) A.
27 Short article by cricketer in London area (9)
BATTERSEA – BATTER is a cricketer. SE, A..Where is the SE coming from? Battersea is SW11 so it’s not the ‘London area’. EDIT As ulaca was first to point out, I was fixated on BATTER, it’s BAT plus TERSE (short) plus A for area. Doh.
Down
1 Fundamental, thus to support rise of upper classes (5)
BASIC – B, A = AB (upper classes) reversed; SIC Latin for thus.
2 Position of noble son settled in large tent (11)
MARQUESSATE – Insert S(on) and SAT (settled) into MARQUEE.
3 Seafood bishop fed to confused monarch (7)
LOBSTER – B for bishop inserted into LOST ER confused monarch.
4 Least extensive celebration in Berlin, starting with cheese (8)
BRIEFEST – BRIE is cheese, FEST German for a celebration.
5 Forcefully acquire gold held by former abstainer (6)
EXTORT – Insert OR (gold) into EX TT = former abstainer.
6 A contemptible person at Oxford initially, notedly restless (7)
AGITATO – A, GIT, AT, O)xford). Musical term.
7 Individual forks out pounds for old French coin (3)
SOU – SOUL loses its L.
8 One in lofty position astride heavy horse (9)
PERCHERON – A PERCHER could be one in a lofty position, ON = astride. For a recent birthday Mrs K gave me a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle bought for £3 in a charity shop; its subject was 16 or so breeds of horses illustrated on a plain white background. Too much white space to be fun to do, but one of them was a Percheron, so it wasn’t a total waste of time as I didn’t know the word before.
12 Members of High Court live over it, surrounded by attendants (11)
AREOPAGITES – ARE = live, O = over, PAGES = attendants, insert IT. I had to look it up, but no doubt Verlaine won’t need to. All to do with a 1C Greek judge chap who was converted to Christianity.
13 Hesitantly name tinker with evidence of debt (9)
DUBIOUSLY – DUB = name, Christopher SLY the tinker chap in The Taming of the Shrew, insert IOU = evidence of debt.
15 Hermit’s tedious task, filling a set of books (8)
ANCHORET – A, NT (set of books), insert CHORE a tedious task.
17 German four in broadcast going over French holiday region (7)
RIVIERA – Reverse AIR and insert VIER as in eins, zwei, drei, vier.
19 Raise tax invested in European shelter (7)
ELEVATE – Insert VAT (UK value added tax) into E, LEE = shelter.
20 Judge in Pennsylvania with second-class house (6)
PREFAB – REF = judge, insert into PA, add B for second class. Prefabricated small house prevalent in UK after WWII.
22 Heavyweight finally driving a two-wheeled vehicle (5)
TONGA – TON = heavyweight, (drivin)G, A. A Tonga or Tanga is a horse drawn vehicle in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh.
24 Reportedly be short of 100,000 rupees (3)
LAC – Sounds like LACK = to be short of. LAC also spelt LAKH as in Indian currency.

66 comments on “Times 27003 – what kind of jackkt was it?”

  1. The region of Nigeria that seceded and called itself Biafra of course claimed NOT to be a part of Nigeria. Is there now a part of Nigeria called Biafra? (Aside from the so-called government in exile.)
  2. Recourse to the dictionary to check that ANCHORET exists, but could at least claim to be familiar with PERCHERON, from a detective story, The Deadly Percheron, by John Franklin Bardin, who seems to have been forgotten.
  3. I found this relatively easy – relative to me, that is. My biggest hold-up was MARQUESSATE, which didn’t look like a word but which fitted the cryptic. Apart from that no unknown vocab. 15 minutes. Ann
  4. Having constructed my way through all the obscurities bar one(as usual defined as things I don’t know), I was left with 1 space in the grid unfilled: ARE_PAGITES, but having had the 2 minute warning from my daughter that breakfast(bacon, haggis, egg, fried potatoes and toast) was about to be served, I decided life was too short and Googled the remaining letter. We were also on a short leash to catch the ferry to Iona. The sun shone, but ee ba gum the wind were a bit chilly! 35 minutes on the nail, with a little bit of help. Thanks setter and Pip.
  5. Ouch here. The unusual vocab was too much for me, as I didn’t know of the Greek folks, or what you call the state of being a Marquis/Marquess, the old jacket, or the ANCHORET. I wordplayed the latter 2 into the puzzle, but I surrendered and looked up the others. Well beyond the ordinary for me. Regards.
  6. Late today as in Bootle on business. Did you know Bootle has many roads named after Oxford colleges? And Cambridge ones? And Shakespeare characters? Apparently it was Lord Derby in the 1850s.
    So no brekker at all, let alone haggis. Or marmalade.
    And two shifts on the crossword totalling about 40 mins. Tough vocabulary but do-able.
    Mostly I liked: won over the eight. But the homophone is very dodgy.
    Thanks setter and Pip.
    1. Bootle Oriel Road is a railway station I would use once upon a time.You could walk to Goodison or Anfield down Balliol Road. Bank Hall station was a bit nearer.
  7. I currently find myself in Malaya, and can therefore use tropical brainrot as an excuse for not finishing this one. I never stood a cat’s chance in hell of getting AREOPAGITES, though I might eventually have got MARQUESSATE had equatorial lassitude not set in. As for ACTON, I don’t think I’d’ve believed it was a type of jacket even if I was wearing one – I settled for “apron”. I did, however, dredge PERCHERON up from down the back of my memory’s sofa. Having been around horses quite a bit (thanks to my daughter), I would have said that all horses were heavy, particularly if you get your foot under one of them.
  8. 31m here and for once knew all the rarer words, though hesitated over set/sat for settled in 2d which held me up in Nigeria. I’m almost inspired to try the Mephisto after Jimbo’s encouraging explanation. Almost. (Predictive text changed that to Mephistopheles which probably says it all). Needless to say, but I will, I really enjoyed this puzzle. And I’m definitely in the won/one don’t rhyme category. I can’t think of a poem/poet who has used it either, but I’m sure I’ll be put right on that soon. Thanks for the blog; enlightening as ever.
  9. Made a pig’s ear of this one with marquessage instead of marquessate, lak instead of lac and consequently yukka instead of yucca. A bit annoying to get some of the trickier vocab only to make some avoidable errors. I always remember the phrase “one over the eight” from a biography of Peter Cook who apparently wrote sketches early on in his career for a Kenneth Williams revue on the West End Stage called “One over the eight”. I was unaware of its military / boozy derivation.

    Edited at 2018-04-04 08:54 pm (UTC)

  10. Despite this having taken an hour and twenty minutes, I seem to be very educated, because about half of my answers were just educated guesses and nevertheless were right. I don’t have to list which ones, because they were the same for almost everybody. My knowledge of northern Irish geography being nil, even COUNTY FERMANAGH was an educated guess (it just looked to be the most likely anagram). Whew!
  11. 30 mins, so quite tricky. Lots of unknown vocabulary, but generous clues. Great blog, thanks.
  12. Chambers has marquess as an alternative spelling for marquis but not marquessate for marquisate. Your word processor agrees and underlines marquess and marquessate in angry schoolteacher red.

Comments are closed.