Times 27135 – That dog again!

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I found this a straightforward job, lots of anagrams and ‘do what it says’ type wordplay, but overall I couldn’t get excited about it. Maybe I was just not in the mood, in the middle of moving house and not much time for relaxing with more than one quick coffee. In a word, for me, unmemorable. It took half an hour but would have been less if I was concentrating.

Across
1 Last part of race maybe sorted out (8)
STRAIGHT – Double definition; sorted out in the sense of ‘put straight’.
5 Epicurean opponent hosting current party in recession (6)
FOODIE – FOE = opponent, hosts I DO reversed, I = current, DO = party.
9 Latest of restrictions in force affected trees (8)
CONIFERS – (S IN FORCE)*, the S from end of restrictionS.
10 County with the very thing in accommodation (6)
BEDSIT – BEDS as in Bedfordshire, IT as in the very thing,
12 Supremacy accorded local lions? (5,2,5)
PRIDE OF PLACE – Cryptic definition, witty-ish.
15 The writer contributing to series that could be tripe (5)
RUMEN – RUN = series, insert ME the writer.
16 Haggard villain I caught crossing state (9)
CADAVERIC – CAD = villain, IC = I caught, insert AVER = state. Nothing to do with H. Rider Haggard,
18 Official staff previously rung several times (9)
SPOKESMAN – SPOKES = rung, several times, then MAN = staff.
19 Where we meet goddess, making final 90 degree turn (5)
VENUE – VENUS the goddess has her S turned from south to east for an E.
20 Deplorable teenage acts finally destroy business (6,6)
ESTATE AGENCY – (TEENAGE ACTS)*, Y. The Y from end of destroy. After the end of this month, with luck, I may NEVER have to deal with an estate agent again. Someone said, the world’s second oldest profession, just as bad as the oldest; I am inclined to agree. Apologies if any honest estate agents  (is that an oxymoron?) are readers of this.
24 Cats — over fifty disposed of by relatives (6)
OUNCES – O = over, UNCLES = relatives, lose their L.
25 Lawman from area still going round collecting rent (8)
ATTORNEY – A = area, YET = still, reversed = TEY, insert TORN = rent.
26 Decoration from Territorial Army without backing (6)
TASSEL – TA then LESS = without, reversed.
27 Disciplined horse moves a long time after groom (8)
DRESSAGE – DRESS = groom, AGE = a long time.

Down
1 Breakaway group declined to let Conservative in (4)
SECT – SET = declined, as in ‘set on not letting him in?’ Insert a C for Conservative. Not very convincing. Is a sect always a breakaway group? I thought, just a group.
2 Offensive superiors may pull it (4)
RANK – Double definition.
3 What was gathered at the wicket about to penetrate boundary? (9)
INFERENCE – IN = at the wicket, FENCE = boundary, insert RE = about.
4 Both comrades at sea out of action (4,2,6)
HORS DE COMBAT – (BOTH COMRADES)*
6 Rider cryptically having the advantage (3-2)
ONE-UP – Well, one up on a horse is a rider.
7 Hopeless days in Rome, one having left partnership (10)
DESPAIRING – DIES = Latin for days, I = one is removed; PAIRING = partnership.
8 Difficult to shift, as were troops on the Somme (10)
ENTRENCHED – Not very cryptic definition.
11 Breed of dog on street, unusually bearing right? (6,6)
GORDON SETTER – (DOG ON STREET R)*. I think I’ve seen the same clue recently, but can’t remember if in this esteemed organ or another beginning with G. Anyway I’d never heard of this kind of setter until the clue came up before.
13 Badly shod curate flopped spectacularly (7,3)
CRASHED OUT – (SHOD CURATE)*
14 Badgers bring in new disease, ultimately infecting us (10)
IMPORTUNES – IMPORT = bring in, then insert N = new, E = disease ultimately, into US.
17 Animated, like a thug casing V&A? (9)
VIVACIOUS – V A inside VICIOUS.
21 Some particular premises unfinished (5)
THESE – THESES plural of THESIS = premise(s).
22 S American coin cashier’s taken in (4)
INCA – not very hidden, in CO(IN CA)SHIER’S.
23 Build up healthily, filling out with exercise (4)
HYPE – HY = healthy with the ‘filling’ removed, PE = exercise.

44 comments on “Times 27135 – That dog again!”

  1. With the long US holiday weekend (ersatz “Labor Day,” which mainly serves to make airbrush May 1 from the public historical memory), I’d fallen out of sync with the blog, but it’s been a pretty easy week so far. I was only mildly amused by this, but was glad to finish it, and the Quickie, quickly enough to have time to finish the book on the guillotine that I started after the Sunday entry with the “broken” one.

    Edited at 2018-09-05 04:50 am (UTC)

  2. Dictionaries define it as such (here’s Collins: “a group of people that has separated from a larger group and has a particular set of religious or political beliefs”), and I have always guessed the word was cognate with “section,” ”bisect,” etc., and so would indicate a part.

    But that was a rash assumption on my part.

    ”Section” according to Merriam-Webster, comes from “sectio, from secare to cut — more at saw.”
    “Sect” does indeed come from a word that meant “group, faction,” but which came from a word—secta—that merely meant, essentially, a church, which in turn came from a Latin word for a “way of life,” which, it seems likely, came from a root meaning “to follow.”

    (Merriam-Webster: “Middle English secte, from Anglo-French & Late Latin & Latin; Anglo-French, group, faction, from Late Latin secta organized ecclesiastical body, from Latin, course of action, way of life, probably from sectari to pursue, frequentative of sequi to follow

  4. I rather breezed through this in 16.38, only the dog giving paws for thought. I was pretty sure it had too be a GOLDEN something, but the wordplay would’t oblige and I settled on what turned out to be the right answer by accepting that the “dog” bit of the clue was doing something close to double duty. Unless of course the GORDON SETTER is a breed of Scottish country dance, which it might be.
    CADAVERIC has all the appearance of a word made up by Shakespeare because he needed word, four syllables, means looking like death badly warmed up, to fit the end of his iambic pentameter.
    Best wishes with the house purchase stress, Pip, and congratulations on producing a blog in the middle of it. I believe strangling estate agents is still (but only just) a crime, mitigated by their sins of commission.
    1. Thanks z8. Actually we are selling, and going to rent FOREVER (or until we run out of money). In a mix of France, Spain and UK, not sure yet which will predominate.
      I managed to negotiate the thieving agent down from 7% to approx 5.2% commission, which is itself outrageous as in UK it is less than 2% I believe and they do little these days except stick you on web sites, wait for punters and bring unsuitable people round to view just so it looks like they are on the ball.
  5. 45 mins with yoghurt, blueberries, banana, granola.
    I struggled in the NW: agonising over set=declined, not working out the anagrist in Conifers and forgetting my new ‘if there is a U try a Q’ which is ‘if there is an H try a G’ (not quite so catchy).
    I liked the clue non-ounce-based clue for Ounces.
    Mostly I liked: Hype and COD to the diseased badgers.
    Thanks setter and Pip.

    If there is a Hotel, try a G&T?

    Edited at 2018-09-05 07:16 am (UTC)

  6. An unconvincing 27:37 in part related to the distractions of the world passing by our waterside cottage in the sleepy Turkish fishing village that is home this week. Not the most sparkling puzzle but the surroundings made up for it.
  7. Well even in a remote corner of Mull I have 4G remarkably. Only problem was the setter which for once isn’t the setter. Maybe his name is Gordon?
  8. 44 minutes slowed down by some unfamiliar answers that needed to be worked out from wordplay e.g. CADAVERIC, RUMEN and the GORDON variety of setter. SPOKESMAN was my LOI although I had written in MAN for ‘staff’ immediately.

    BEDSIT also came late as for a long time I had thought the answer was a county with IT inside a word meaning ‘accommodation’. Egg-on-face time for me, as I live in BEDS!

    I wasn’t entirely sure of THESE, as to me a ‘premise’ is more the starting point of a theory or argument whereas a ‘thesis’ is the fully developed item, but I expect one or more of the usual sources supports the given definition.

  9. I had one of those strange crossword coincidences today – no sooner had I learned the expression HORS DE COMBAT in the novel I’ve been reading this week than it appeared in today’s puzzle! COD to DRESSAGE – I thought ‘Disciplined horse moves’ a great definition.
  10. Thanks for DESPAIRING, Pip. I should have twigged “days in Rome” but didn’t. Are you moving far? I’m sorry you have had a bad experience with a real estate agent. When we sold our house in Sydney 6 years ago we had a terrific agent who also happened to be a neighbour. She was wonderful and got us a then street record price.
    Ah, Bedforshire. I remember in my younger days being amused by the idea of Sandy, Beds.
      1. Good luck, Pip. I do hope your long-distance visits for medical treatment are over. We are STILL trying to sell our house on the Basse Normandie/Mayenne border to fund our renting retirement.
        That’s “trying’ as in 2 real estate agents and 2 websites with different agencies spread over 2 1/2 years.

        Edited at 2018-09-06 09:22 am (UTC)

  11. ….after 12:48 as a result of not being able to parse 18A, and biffing “spokesmen” as LOI.

    FOI CONIFERS

    Knew cadaver, so it was a short step to CADAVERIC, though I’d seen “cadaverous” in various other places.

    COD RANK

    Edited at 2018-09-05 08:32 am (UTC)

    1. ‘cadaverous’ definitely sounds right for ‘haggard’, but I knew CADAVERIC from the heroic Ignaz Semelweiss and his research into childbed fever.
  12. I must have been dim this morning, taking 50 minutes on this. LOI IMPORTUNES having eventually twigged SPOKE for a rung to give me SPOKESMAN. Have never met a setter called Gordon either, as far as I know. I’ve always liked honeycomb tripe with vinegar and pepper, a delicacy of my youth, so at least I was prepared to accept RUMEN as legit. I thought CADAVERIC only referred to the dead and cadaverous to the hollow-cheeked, so gazed at my non-cadaverous navel on that for far too long. COD to HYPE. Thank you Pip and setter.
  13. Another wander along the beach

    You’ve heard of an Irish Setter and of an English Setter well a GORDON SETTER is a Scottish Setter – a gun dog

  14. Technically a DNF, since I was delayed significantly by the final crossers of S_O_E_MAN and _O_D_N and it turns out there is no ‘London Setter’ nor a ‘scoresman’. I poked the right letters into the slots eventually, at 32 mins. NHO a GORDON SETTER, CADAVERIC nor RUMEN.

    My COD to the TB-infected badgers, but it was a close-run thing with the disciplined horse moves. Lovely clues.

    Sorry you didn’t much like the puzzle today, Pip, but thanks for your dutiful blog. Will Brexit result in 7% estate agents’ commission in the UK, I wonder.

    Edited at 2018-09-05 09:27 am (UTC)

  15. Seeing RIDER and HAGGARD in the clues early on distracted me as I looked for a nina. I thought it had some deceptively good clues HORS DE COMBAT, DRESSAGE, IMPORTUNE etc. Thanks “Gordon” or whatever your name is.
  16. 23’52, steady enough. Spokes seem at a different angle to the universe from rungs somehow. An unremarkable puzzle (but for the hollow-faced archaism), but a decent enough one in its way; maybe all such should be deemed a Gordon.
  17. 35 min, but really DNF as I only found GORDON when checking 11dn to see whether there was such a breed as ‘golden setter’ before submitting. Was held up in SW for a while as I could only think of ‘pen’ for writer in 15ac – and RIPEN didn’t make sense.
  18. 9:53. A steady solve, slowed down a little bit by the slightly funny words: RUMEN and CADAVERIC. I knew of the dogs, although I’m not sure I’ve ever come across them in the flesh.
  19. I found this surprisingly tough, with even relatively straightforward clues like VIVACIOUS taking a long time to register. In fact, I failed to get SPOKESMAN – rungs & spokes didn’t coalesce in my mind, even though it was fairly clear how the clue would break down. Must be off the boil today: 18m+ with that error.
    1. You’re being far too charitable to the setter. A spoke clearly is not a rung. A spoke is a radial or radius emanating from a common centre with other spokes. Mr Grumpy (still unable to sign in-sorry about the anonymity)
  20. Just as well I took another look at the SETTER because I’d entered “golden” too. I think I knew the rather gruesome CADAVERIC spasm from Ruth Rendell or PD James. I have known the odd nice ESTATE agent but when I used to do the occasional house sale/purchase for other ATTORNEYs in my law firm I came to detest them as a group. Back then the usual “realtor’s” commission was 7% but I think it’s down to 5 or 6 now. Are you also renting in Rutland Pip? Moving house is incredibly stressful so your blog is much appreciated. 14.31

    Edited at 2018-09-05 11:19 am (UTC)

  21. 27:05 but with two wrong. Golden Setter and Pyre for Hype.

    I thought there were some clever clues here.

    CODs Spokesman, Inference, Importunes and Dressage. LOI Spokesman. I particularly liked “rung several times”.

  22. Gordon Lightfoot’s Railroad Trilogy came to my rescue at 1d, but the rest of the puzzle gave me a run for my money. Large areas stayed stubbornly blank as I wrestled with a clue, gave up and retried others ad nauseam. My BORDER SETTER morphed into a GOLDEN SETTER after I finally nailed SPOKESMAN, but the wordplay didn’t fit, so I had another look and saw the correct parsing. That was my LOI too. I used Myrtilus’ G&T rule at 1a. IMPORTUNES took ages to see, but was much appreciated along with DRESSAGE. CADAVERIC was a new word for me. ONE UP was my FOI. A struggle at 52:45. Thanks setter and Pip.
  23. This is the time taken by Mark Goodliffe to solve puzzle 27133. He explains his solve on Cracking the Cryptic on Youtube; an excellent and informative watch.
    https://youtu.be/X9F7W0dxvN4

    BTW I used to meet a Gordon Setter every day when walking my dog; sadly the Gordon’s no longer with us; a handsome breed.
    David

  24. …an hour – I blame having to work with one eye on the puzzle. The RHS was STRAIGHTforward enough, but ran into a few brick walls on the left. DNK OUNCES as cats – relied on parsing. IMPORTUNES, SPOKESMAN (LOI) and most of the NW took a while to drop. COD to HYPE for “healthily, filling out”
  25. DNF. I put golden for the dog, even though I knew it’d be wrong. Why I did that is a mystery.

    Spokes = rungs? Maybe. ‘Rung twice or more’ would be more accurate than ‘rung several times’, I would have thought.

    Anyway, decline = set:
    The pale moon was rising above the green mountain,
    The sun was declining beneath the blue sea,
    When I strayed with my love to the clear crystal fountain
    That stands in the beautiful vale of Tralee.

    Nice blog, pip, thanks.

  26. All done and dusted in a whisker over three quarters of an hour, so not as straightfoward (for me) as the last couple.

    All good, apart from 8d which I thought was rather a feeble clue. Enjoyed 23d and 18ac particularly.

    Wait a minute – did someone say someone had solved something in 2’54”???

    Edited at 2018-09-05 05:21 pm (UTC)

    1. You heard right Dr. Thud. It was Magoo and it was Monday’s cryptic – see page 2 of that day’s comments. Even the neutrinos would have a hard time beating that.
      1. Good lord. It takes me longer than that to get the newspaper turned the right way up.

  27. I’m a bit confused over 11d, the def. of which I had as ‘Breed of dog’.

    Got the setter bit but had no idea that ‘dog’ was included in the anagrist. Like others, I first guessed ‘Border’ then, assuming ‘Official’ at 18a had to end in ‘man’, thought ‘GOLDEN’. (DNK rung = spoke BTW).

    Surely ‘breed’ is such an amorphous word esp. when, as now, actually referring to a breed of dog? Or is this s’thing I just have to get used to with 15×15?

    COD goes to 24a (which I’ve since looked up) at which I just shrugged and thought maybe a ‘cat’ was a unit of measurement I’d not heard of before. How we can deceive ourselves when desperate for an answer to fit!
    Thanks to ‘Gordon’ and Pip

  28. Under 45 minutes. I went with IDES as the days in Rome. Wasn’t convinced about SPOKE for RUNG either. Failed to parse RUMEN, couldn’t get the writer. May eventually learn how not to be anonymous.
    1. You could just put your name, or if preferred your “nom de crossword”, on the end of your comment if you’re having trouble registering with the site – which I believe is quite easy but then it’s quite a while since I did it. Jackkt is really the expert, as is Vinyl.
  29. Originally 16ac was going to be the assistant to Blackadder, but lost out to Baldrick…..
  30. Hello Mr Grumpy. Isn’t it spoke as the past participle of speak and rung as the past participle of ring, not bicycles and ladders spokes and rungs?
  31. 40:26. I got a bit bogged down in parts of this, not too sure why. I agree with Pootle that “disciplined horse moves” is very nice. DNK rumen but not hard to guess. Cadaveric also uncommon but gettable. Couldn’t see set for decline in 1dn but sect had to be the answer. I think I have seen the setter before but Gordon wasn’t the first one to spring to mind.
    1. Thanks Keriothe. That meaning isn’t in my concise OED. I think the past participles reading works ok but I may have been overthinking it.
      1. ODO is based on the Oxford Dictionary of English, which has an avowedly more international approach than its stablemates, so it sometimes includes things they won’t Collins is a pretty standard reference though.

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