Times 27031

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Time: 45 minutes
Music: O melhor de João Gilberto

I would call this a moderate puzzle for a Monday, but it seems like I was a little slow on some of the clues.   I wasn’t really in a hurry, anyway.   There are no obscure allusions or answers, so you can’t really complain.   If you’re looking for trouble, try Dean’s Sunday offering, and you’ll get all you can handle.   I found Mephisto much easier.

We have some small personnel changes in the works here at TfT, and I will probably make the official announcement in my next blog.   I would like to thank all our tireless bloggers, who manage to show up promptly at their appointed times and deliver entertaining and informative blogs.

Across
1 Superman’s girl is about to drop Italian dish (7)
LASAGNE – LA(SAG)NE, not LOIS, but LANE.
5 Rubbish plant used as dessert (7)
RHUBARB – double definition
9 Large tomb, parent bagging a posh one (9)
MAUSOLEUM – M(A U SOLE)UM
10 Fine no longer having clean teeth (5)
FLOSS – F + LOSS.   This doesn’t quite work, as the exact equivalent of ‘no longer having’ would be LOST.
11 Mink possibly, clothing slave? (7,6)
FASHION VICTIM – Double definition.
13 Ne’er-do-well has to settle a fight (8)
LAYABOUT – LAY A BOUT.
15 Several loons? (6)
DIVERS – Double defintion
17 Excellent advice corporation rejected (6)
TIPTOP – TIP + POT backwards, not TUM.
19 I issued new clasps good for mask (8)
DISGUISE – anagram of I ISSUED around G.
22 Silly Eccles thick, or a serious jerk? (8,5)
ELECTRIC SHOCK – anagram of ECCLES THICK, OR
25 Head of playwright missing, commit to the ground (5)
INTER – [p]INTER, one of the few playwrights generally used in puzzles.
26 Labouring we do in the beginning? (9)
SPADEWORK – Cryptic definition.  Actually, a very clever &lit, an anagram of WE DO inside SPARK. 
27 Material that’s checked poorly leaving Medway town (7)
GINGHAM – G[ill]INGHAM – a town I had never heard of, but presumed must exist.
28 Idiot with fanciful idea penning articles (7)
FATHEAD – FA(THE, A)D

Down
1 Green gunk, skimmed (4)
LIME – [s]LIME
2 Having had a few seconds, one brushed up on geometry in the end (7)
SQUIFFY – S +_ QUIFF + [geometr]Y
3 Entire amount, repellent (5)
GROSS – double definition
4 Flag yours truly raised, with America retaining title (8)
EMERITUS – TIRE ME upside down + US
5 Male feeding horses in book (6)
ROMANS – RO(M)ANS.
6 Fun unfortunately suffering for sure (9)
UNFAILING – anagram of FUN + AILING
7 Way to stuff a European champion (7)
APOSTLE -A PO(ST)LE
8 American man crushing queen like a snake (10)
BUSHMASTER – BUS(H.M, AS)TER.
12 Flexible parts to deliver, chattering away (10)
BLITHERING –  B(LITHE)RING
14 Wind light — it’s a scorcher? (9)
BLOWTORCH – BLOW + TORCH in different senses.
16 Lean man, legal official (8)
TIPSTAFF – TIP + STAFF
18 Fast approaching northern English city (7)
PRESTON – PRESTO + N, the musical direction.
20 Trying exotic Eskimo rolls, initially (7)
IRKSOME – anagram of ESKIMO R[olls]
21 Chinese food that’s totally stupid? (3,3)
DIM SUM – Double definition, one factitious.
23 Heart of stone, a shade open (5)
OVERT – [st]O[ne] + VERT, a heraldic shade.
24 Slip, small, on child (4)
SKID – S + KID, one from the Quickie.

52 comments on “Times 27031”

  1. A rather Mondayish puzzle. I was slowed down a bit by thinking of Lois rather than Lane, and by not being able to parse GINGHAM (V, shouldn’t the definition be ‘Material that’s checked’?), simply biffing. SQUIFFY I remember from a John Fortune/John Bird routine; I had to look it up then, and had never come across it since, until today. My main problem was 12d, my LOI and COD. On edit: Forgot to mention, for what it’s worth, that I’d never heard of FASHION VICTIM.

    Edited at 2018-05-07 05:34 am (UTC)

  2. Is Buster a name, as in Keaton, or a generic, agressively rude form of address: Hey, buster? Either way I didn’t get it, not knowing or being able to guess the snake. Ho hum.
    Otherwise not at all moderate for me, trickily enjoyable. And I think you do the setter a disservice at 26 ac, where I had an &lit: (WE DO)* labouring in SPARK, for start.

    Edited at 2018-05-07 03:30 am (UTC)

  3. This took me 38mins but as with Lord Vinyl. I too was a little slow on some of the clues.

    FOI 24dn SKID – solved upside down from the printer.
    LOI 19ac DISGUISE

    WOD 11ac FASHION VICTIM – if you didn’t know this then I would hazard a guess that you shop exclusively at M&S HK.

    COD 8dn BUSHMASTER which is forever on the telly biting ‘wranglers’. Also enjoyed 21dn DIM SUM – yum-yum!

    The drum-roll continues………..

  4. A did-not-finish here, as I didn’t know BUSHMASTER (where I had BUSTER – via its generic use as ‘mate’ – but couldn’t work out the rest) and had to look up FASHION VICTIM, where the VICTIM was beyond me. Both good clues, though.

    There’s another GILLINGHAM in Dorset, pronounced with a hard G, while the one in Kent is pronounced with a soft G.

    Drum roll pending announcement

  5. Easy today. I knew bushmaster, and that you should avoid them whenever possible, though nothing of what they may look like etc.
    Gillingham just up the road from me, but I never go there, ’nuff said…
    Indeed, gingham is “material that’s checked”
  6. I completed all but two answers in my target 30 minutes, but this was a technical DNF as I had to look up BUSHMASTER. To be fair to myself I had considered both halves of the answer with BUSH (American – the Presidents are still alive, but Barbara just died!) and MASTER (man), but I didn’t recognise BUSHMASTER as a word, let alone a snake, and I had no idea how the rest of the wordplay might work. FWIW it seems this is the first appearance of BUSHMASTER in a 15×15 since TftT began although it came up once in a TLS puzzle in 2010.

    I think I’m okay with FLOSS. No longer having something is a state of loss, particularly for example in a case of bereavement.

    It might be worth mentioning that a loon is a bird aka diver.

    Nearly forgot to mention that I was held up for ages in the NE by having FASHION MARTYR at 11ac which I’d argue is a valid alternative answer to the clue if solving it ‘cold’ i.e. without the checkers that rule it out.

    Edited at 2018-05-07 05:25 am (UTC)

  7. 12:32 .. so no real problems.

    Briefly distracted by the eye-rhyming GROSS and FLOSS. And by DIVERS, which always leaves me with the same feeling as a suspended chord, like it hasn’t quite finished.

    LOI the BUSHMASTER, known as both the snake and the American gun manufacturer linked, as the company would no doubt prefer to forget, to the D.C. sniper attacks (16 years ago, believe it or not)

    COD to SPADEWORK, only fully appreciated post-solve and a very fine clue

    2. For some reason my choirmaster calls them open chords (which I know from guitar but they aren’t the same thing at all). Lots of them at the end of Lent anthems.
  8. 29:54, but I had FLUTTERING for 12d. No wonder I couldn’t parse it! I found this a bit tricky all over. I had to do a dictionary trawl to find the snake, my LOI. TIPSTAFF only known from a recent crossword and funny to find RHUBARB again, when we had it on Friday. We’ve got some coming on nicely in the garden. Maybe I should cook some for pudding.
  9. DNF in 40 mins. One wrong. I didn’t know Bushmaster. I finally went for Bestmaster. I didn’t consider HM for Queen. I had Buster and As and the M of victim but I couldn’t let go of ER for Queen.

    COD 21d Dim Sum

  10. 35 ish mins with toast and Gin&Lime marmalade. Hoorah.
    Bushmaster last one in – and unparsed.
    Today’s lyric is from ‘The Prince’ by madness – which interestingly only uses the title once in the lyric – at the very end. There are some other pop songs that have the same property… maybe you can think of some?
    Thanks setter and Vinyl.
    1. The ones I know off-hand are

      What’s her name? Virginia Plain

      and

      And so it’s my assumption I’m really Up the Junction.

    2. Not sold other than at base. But will order once I’m in UK at month’s end. It would be cheaper to buy a bottle of Gordon’s!
    3. From a time when I used to pore obsessively over lyrics:

      a-ha “Manhattan Skyline” (though sadly not “Train of Thought”, which is their only song with a crossword mention)
      Billy Bragg “St Swithin’s Day” (later covered by Dubstar)

    4. A bit late in the day, M but I had to think of a song from his Bobship for you. “Boots of Spanish Leather” is the one I’ve thought of. He does add another ‘Spanish’ before the phrase for good measure.
      1. Two more (if I’ve remembered correctly):

        The Smiths – ‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore’
        The Stone Roses – ‘Love Spreads’

        Martin Hill

        1. Not sure about these.
          But ‘Made of Stone’ by the Stone Roses is ok.
  11. ….since Bolton Wanderer won’t have to suffer his team going there next season after yesterday’s Great Escape. PRESTON is much better, and a damned sight closer for travelling fans !

    11:58 for this one, where my only real problem was parsing WOD BUSHMASTER (thanks Vinyl1). Fotunately I knew the snake, and it was my sole biff.

    Didn’t like (F)LOSS, and didn’t really see APOSTLE/champion as synonyms.

    FOI RHUBARB
    LOI EMERITUS
    COD SQUIFFY (but loved SPADEWORK)

    2. Blackburn and Wigan are back up too. It used to be like this in the top division, with the Scousers and the Mancs joining in to make it eight.
    3. APOSTLE equals “champion”????? philip jordan could have put his doubts even more strongly—it doesn’t.
  12. A pleasant. moderate Monday puzzle, done in 25 minutes but with a few not fully parsed, was thinking Presidents BUSH and ER at the end of 8d although did know the snake and the two Gillinghams. Liked FASHION VICTIM and SQUIFFY.
    Did get through yesterday’s fine Dean offering in less than an hour but got stuck on the Grauniad Prize job.
  13. 16 mins. I made heavy weather of parts of this puzzle but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I’m another who didn’t get 1ac quickly because of originally fixating on Lois rather than Lane. Like several others BUSHMASTER was my LOI, and the penny only dropped when I remembered HM/queen.
  14. This felt harder than the average Monday; lots of little things designed to lead one down the wrong track, such as thinking that the obvious ER ending of 8dn must be the queen, and the temptation to biff CHATHAM as the Medway town, or taking the I(talian) out of LOIS LANE and reversing it to get the well-known dish ENALSOL. Anyway, just the right level of brainwork for a Monday morning when I am looking forward to going out for a Bank Holiday lunch in the sun.
  15. Yes, add me to the “Fixated on Lois” club. A well-balanced puzzle, I thought, with a good mix of clue types: some easy-peasies ([P]INTER, S+KID, DISGUISE) to make me feel good and then some thornier ones. LOI the little-known snake, which I got simply by noting that AS = ‘like’, ER=’queen’, BUSH is a famous American and BUSHMASTER is a plausible-sounding name for a snake. Oh, so sign me up to the “Never Thought of HM for Queen” club, too.
    Yes, yes, I knew about loons.
    34 mins — absolutely average time for me for a Monday.
    Thanks, blogger.
  16. I have to disagree with our blogger on the ‘no obscure allusions or answers’ front! I got close to BUSHMASTER but gave up, probably a bit too soon. No complaints though, the wordplay is perfectly clear. Just difficult.
    I agree with jackkt on ‘no longer having’ for LOSS. If I hear the word FLOSS these days it’s more likely to refer to a silly dance than anything tooth-related.
    Are loons familiar to UK solvers? They are to me but only because I spend a lot of time in Canada, where they are a sort of unofficial national bird. The dollar coin has a picture of one on it and is known as a ‘loonie’ and their haunting call is a signature feature of Canadian cottage country.

    Edited at 2018-05-07 09:26 am (UTC)

    1. Always on stamps from Canada in my boyhood! I know a loon when I see one!
  17. No, not the French President. I do think he should change his name to avoid confusion. I’m a late arrival at the crossword solvers’ ball today, not because I overcelebrated last night but because the papers weren’t delivered. I may have had the odd glass of Merlot too many, I admit and was a shade SQUIFFY as I went to bed. Major thanks to PRESTON North End and Derby County too. I’ve just done this sitting in the garden with the birds singing and, being a Bank Holiday, no contract gardeners to be heard with their industrial machinery. 38 minutes with everything parsed including SPADEWORK. COD to FASHION VICTIM. I didn’t think FLOSS worked properly either but neither did Fangs. LOI BUSHMASTER which I didn’t know as a snake but fortunately the cryptic side eventually dawned. Enjoyable. Thank you V and setter.
  18. The Medway is the traditional dividing line between Men of Kent (those born to the east of it) and Kentish Men (those born to the west). This is despite the fact that the Medway flows from West to East for much of its length
  19. I was just a whisker faster than our blogger (to whom thanks), after a very slow start. LASAGNE was my FOI, after which answers were a bit thin on the ground for a long time. The upper east corner was the most recalcitrant, with DIVERS, ROMANS and BUSHMASTER being my LOsI. ROMANS eventually went in unparsed – I was fixated on the male being MAN, leaving me to wonder what ROS were and assuming it must be some strange abbreviation from the world of horse racing.

    I agree that FLOSS doesn’t quite work, so much so that I saw it but decided it must be wrong.

  20. No paper for me either today, possibly because it’s Bank Holiday, so done on the iPad in the very sunny garden. A bit under 32′, but all done, with BUSHMASTER LOI unparsed until afterwards. Also held up by BLITHERING – btw isn’t the noun BLATHER? COD to FASHION VICTIM, a very neat clue. Thanks vinyl and setter.
  21. My heart is still recovering from The Great Escape (sympathies to Burton who had little luck all season apart from thrashing us twice). Found this very easy, aided by repeat of Rhubarb at 5a which gave me a good guess at the snake. Biffed Spadework without seeing the cryptic. All done in about 40 mins although it felt faster. Nice to recover from the Sunday horror crossword. I may be wrong but I think the sadly missed Sandy Denny only says Fotheringay once?? Thanks all
  22. Was inspired by the discussion to try to finish the Grauniad, flew through most of the rest but eventually gave up with one (impossible) clue left. Did the ST no worries though. Now to the Jumbo. It’s too hot in the garden (US: yard).
  23. This was so much easier than last Monday and all within my ken. SPADEWORK was nice – it reminded me of early Springsteen Dancing In The Dark (can’t start a fire without a spark). A less pleasant reminder came from BUSHMASTER which, as Sotira notes, gave its name to a manufacturer of assault rifles and similar hardware. The NRA had its annual prom recently and they all sounded more deranged than ever. An uncle of mine was HM of PRESTON Grammar School when I was a kid. At that age I also had a GINGHAM summer dress but if I wore one now I would most certainly be a FASHION VICTIM. Very entertaining puzzle this 17.07 P.S. I’ll be interested to hear the details of your re-shuffle Vinyl.

    Edited at 2018-05-07 11:26 am (UTC)

  24. DNF. Bah! Misbiffed roulade at 5ac and couldn’t get the snake at 8dn. In fairness I knew there was a good chance that roulade was wrong and ignored the initial E checker that it gave me. I managed to spot the “HM as” bit of the snake but the snake itself was unfamiliar and I lacked the patience and persistence to winkle it out. Poor old Eccles by the way!
    1. It’s the Sunday Times cryptic from yesterday with the by-line of Dean Mayer (sometimes known here as Anax). It’s good. His almost always are.
  26. A bit longer than the average Monday here. I knew of the BUSHMASTER which went in from the checkers despite my not getting the parsing all the way through. Thanks vinyl. My LOI was BLITHERING due to the deceptively straightforward ‘deliver’ which was pretty clever. Nice clue, that. Regards.
  27. I found this a challenge and 52:41 had elapsed before my penultimate, BUSHMASTER, was entered. I was about to give up on 12d and look it up, when I re-read the clue and noticed that “parts” could mean gets in between, and saw the light. I also dallied with LOIS for some time. Nice puzzle. Thanks setter and V.

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