Times 27217 – Race against the cloche?

Author   ulacaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I have said it before and no doubt I will say it again, but this was a very Mondayish type of puzzle, offering much to biffers and erudite personages alike. If a little too sciency for my taste, at least I had heard of the the supersonic Austrian and he was balanced by some nice ecclesiastical stuff. The award for oddest clue must go to 3 down, which seems to have been generated by machine. The ‘Obscure Word Being Clued by an Anagram’ brigade will have been sharpening their claws, ready to tear the setter’s vegetable patch to shreds, until…until they realised the letters could really go in no other order. Or could they? We shall surely find out.

I polished this off in less than 22 minutes, but I feel that some of the speed merchants may be hovering around the 5-minute mark.

ACROSS

1 Dodgy dealings exposed by astute medical centre (5,8)
SHARP PRACTICE – SHARP (astute) PRACTICE (as in ‘Peak’, where Sgt Lewis went after Morse’s moroseness finally got to him); this would have been my first biff if I started at 1a
9 Throw out slippery customer pinching 10p (5)
EXPEL – X P in EEL
10 Books turned out by peer knowing how sticky liquids flow? (9)
VISCOUSLY – VISCOU[nt] SLY (knowing)
11 Desert transport rejected by male supporter of Oxford Movement (10)
TRACTARIAN – reversal of RAT (desert) CART (transport) IAN (random male)
12 Jacob’s wife? Sounds like Cordelia’s father! (4)
LEAH – sounds like LEAR; you have to worry about Jacob. We are told that Leah (Laban’s elder daughter who was fobbed off on Jacob by her dad after he’d waited seven years for the comely younger daughter Rachel) had weak eyes. But if someone slips into your tent on your wedding night and you don’t realise it’s not the one you’ve been lusting after all those years, then I think you’re the one that needs the eye test, no?
14 Slaughter forest keeper ultimately associated with big cat (7)
TROUNCE – [fores]T [keep[e]R OUNCE; even if David Attenborough wouldn’t recognise an ‘ounce’ if it crept into his tent at night and said it wanted to marry him, there isn’t a cruciverbalist worth his or her salt who isn’t onto one of these things quicker than a Eurocrat can say ‘That’ll be 20 billion euros, merci/danke’.
16 Rebel leader locked up by some of the French for ages! (7)
DECADES – CADE (arguably the most famous crossword rebel) in DES (French for ‘some’)
17 Double-breasted jackets originally exhibited in adverts (7)
REEFERS – E[xhibited] in REFERS
19 Proposition boy soldiers misunderstood at first (7)
THEOREM – THEO (our second random male) RE (soldiers) M[isunderstood]
20 Place and time to strike on green (4)
PUTT – PUT T
21 Member involved in, say, Ulster disturbance a fellow-countryman (10)
COMPATRIOT – MP in COAT (Ulster is a type of coat) RIOT
24 Further issue mostly raised when lacking a hire contract (9)
RERELEASE – REARE[d] is mostly raised, subtract the A to give RERE, add LEASE (hire contract); slightly weird clue, but most will biff it, anyway
25 Dismal swimmer in river (5)
BLEAK – double definition; no, I’ve never heard of a bleak either [on edit: last Tuesday, Jack wrote against the clue for BLEAK HOUSE: ‘BLEAK (fish – a type of carp ), HOUSE (harbour – provide accommodation). An unbiffable clue’. Um, sorry, you were wrong, J!]
26 Battered by elements, survive at end of hike in mountain (7-6)
WEATHER-BEATEN – WEATHER (survive) AT [hik]E in BEN (mountain)

DOWN

1 Magazine proprietors finally left Rugby, say? (9,5)
SPECTATOR SPORT – SPECTATOR (magazine) [proprietor]S PORT (left)
2 For Greeks, a sacred river first of all (5)
ALPHA – ALPH (Coleridge’s sacred river, which ran through caverns measureless to man) A[ll]
3 Plant protector only Len put out (10)
POLYTUNNEL – anagram* of ONLY LEN PUT; a clochey thing made of polythene
4 Back minister introducing minority language (7)
REVERSE – REV ERSE
5 Celebrity dips into dictionary — it bears fruit (7)
COSTARD – STAR in COD (Concise Oxford Dictionary)
6 Smooth Federalist leaders symbolise it (4)
IRON – Iron has the chemical symbol FE, which are the first letters of FE[deralist]
7 London resident and European, equally soft-hearted (4,5)
EAST ENDER – a European who was not merely after the UK’s money but had more valorous feelings might (if he or she existed) be an E AS TENDER as, well, IAN and THEO for starters
8 Similarly, they beat monks, somehow touring east (2,3,4,5)
BY THE SAME TOKEN – E in THEY BEAT MONKS*
13 Current edible fungus served on board — it’s OK (10)
ACCEPTABLE – AS CEP TABLE (board)
15 Defeat the endless argument supporting deliveries (9)
OVERTHROW – TH[e] ROW on OVER (six balls in cricket)
18 Way Austrian physicist keeps old bear (7)
STOMACH – O in ST [Ernst] MACH
19 Principal girl’s initial attention engaged by speedy drivers? (3,4)
TOP GEAR – TOP (principal) G[irl’s] EAR; I’d have thought ‘engaged by any driver who didn’t want to blow his or her engine’ might be more apposite, but, then again, it doesn’t have quite the same ring to it
22 One clear about parking being awkward (5)
INEPT – I P in NET (clear)
23 Russian woman missing source of river (4)
OLGA – v[OLGA] gives our random devushka

40 comments on “Times 27217 – Race against the cloche?”

  2. Biffed TRACTARIAN & WEATHER-BEATEN, also SPECTATOR–I had SPORT early on, but needed checkers above. I suppose I would have got BLEAK from the checkers, but it helped that we had it last week. LOI POLYTUNNEL (NHO), which needed the checkers; and needed my correcting SMART to SHARP.
  3. 15:19 but failed to get TRACTARIAN (TRACTORMAN fits the checkers, but…) as I’d never heard of the word nor the Oxford movement. I didn’t know who Jack CADE was, so that’s something else I’ve learned today having read up post-solve. Otherwise quite Mondayish. COD to the triple definition ALPHA.
  4. 25 mins with croissant and home-made marmalade (hoorah).
    A gentle start to the week. I lost a little time trying unnecessarily to parse Bactrian into Tractarian.
    Mostly I liked: Stomach and Compatriot.
    Thanks setter and U.
  5. Had all but TRACTARIAN in about 31 minutes, then needed another five to convince myself that TRACTARMAN was silly, that I wasn’t looking for something related to a bactrian or some kind of nickname for a Monty-and-Rommel-era troop carrier, that the supporter of Oxford wasn’t a heel or a sole or something, and that “rat” could mean “desert”.

    Thanks for the Attenborough image!

    Edited at 2018-12-10 08:17 am (UTC)

  6. 14.39 with a few biffed. I was concerned about costard but it had to be (I was thinking of ‘custard apple’ but couldn’t think of a suitable dictionary with the letters CUD so in went costard).
    Forgot about the carp but it had to be ‘bleak’; overall pretty straightforward but thanks Ulaca for enlightenment in a couple of places.
  7. There is a feature known as “Jack Cade’s Hole” up on the North Downs, only a mile or two from my house. Apparently he hid there for a while. Plenty of polytunnels in these parts, too. Not to mention apples. Not seen a costard though, to my knowledge anyway

    Edited at 2018-12-10 09:05 am (UTC)

    1. A nearby village is called Cade Street and, until recently, the pub was called ” The Jack Cade “………in my youth in Sarf London the costard was known in local markets as a custard apple, the “co” being pronounced as “cu” ( cf the correct pronunciation of Lamb’s Conduit Street in the great wen ).
  8. Not alone I see in having all but the unknown TRACTARIAN in 18 minutes, had to go out then so came here with one short. Otherwise straightforward.
  9. LOI the unknown TRACTARIAN, where I had to resist a similar temptation as gothick_matt, thinking TRACTARMAN fitted the parsing but surely it must be TRACTORMAN. And maybe Oxford was a type of tractor? Anyhow, I managed to see sense in this instance.
  10. Flying today, 13’07”. Hasn’t John Henry Newman just been canonised? I must have missed one puzzle last week, hence BLEAK LOI with crossed fingers. I am curious as to whether 1ac is spelt differently across the pond, I note few posts so far.

    Thanks ulaca and setter.

    1. Apparently, a second “miracle” has been approved and he could be a saint early next year. If Bolton Wanderers escape relegation this season too, I’m putting my Dad forward for canonisation.
  11. 13.40 pleasantly spent, with only SPECTATOR SPORT taking a while to emerge, possibly because my family includes people for whom Rugby is a participation sport. I was briefly worried about the Austrian (not least because I automatically misread him as a psychiatrist) but am now educated as to the nationality of the speed man.
    CADE is the rebel known only from crosswords, and only as a rebel: perhaps I need to visit Jerry’s bit of the North Downs.
    Smashing commentary Ulacas, fun and informative. Cheers!
  12. … John Henry Newman’s explanation of the Oxford movement and his subsequent move to Rome, which I ploughed through as an earnest young man. At least I got TRACTARIAN quickly, though it took some parsing. I could have done with a kindly light to lead me through the encircling gloom, which caused a viscous drag for the rest of the puzzle. I was 34 minutes with LOI POLYTUNNEL, which took its time as I’d put in Smart Practice in error. COD to SPECTATOR SPORT, if rugby can be called that. Thank you U and setter.
  13. Time unknown thanks to a careless typo. Shame because it would have been a fast one. A couple of things at the outer edges of my GK universe but not polytunnel – must be a rural/urban thing.
  14. 8:26. I thought this was going to be super-easy but there were a few I had to chew over a bit. POLYTUNNEL took a while to emerge even though I knew the word, but the one that gave me the most trouble was REEFER. I’ve never heard of the jacket and ‘advert’ for ‘refer’ isn’t the easiest connection to make.
    1. Are you sure about that? If I kept a list of “things that you see a lot in crosswords but never in real life” it would certainly be on there.
      1. Well I should probably have qualified my statement with ‘as far as I remember’. A quick search doesn’t throw up many recent examples though: the last one appears to have been in 2013. On that occasion and at least one other it has appeared as a double definition in which the other definition is more within my ken.
  15. 27 mins. Not too much of a sweat. Jack Cade has a notoriety that extends beyond Crosswordland — the Bard’s Henry VI pt2, of course. Similarly, ounce is a gimme from Midsummer Night’s Dream (“Be it ounce or cat or bear/Pard or boar with bristled hair/In thy eye that shall appear/When thou wakest, it is thy dear” says Oberon as he sprinkles love-juice on the sleeping Titania’s eyes.)
    Nice puzzle. Nice blog. Thank you.

    Edited at 2018-12-10 10:07 am (UTC)

  16. Thank heavens for Bactrian which brought to mind the word TRACTARIAN though I didn’t know what it meant. NHO Cade before so one to remember. LOI ALPHA not having heard of the sacred river so took a punt on it….
  18. A rather disappointing 14.36 with a disproportionate amount of time spent on TRACTARIAN (last in) and COMPATRIOT, where it would probably have helped if I k ew the coat. Which, of course, I do now. Until the next time it turns up of course…
  19. Where’s that camel when you need it. The only hold-up was remembering to spell PRACTICE UK-style. The only LEAH I’ve ever known pronounced it “laya”. Good blog U. 12.29
  20. I was also led astray by immediate thoughts of the CUSTARD APPLE, not that I’ve ever eaten, or even seen one, to my knowledge. As a result, I didn’t even stop to think there might be another plausible (and more importantly, correct) answer. What about the dictionary, you say? Well, that’s obviously the…er, Cambridge University Dictionary. Yes, that’s it. Tsk.
  21. ….is not a SPECTATOR SPORT. I met a lass at a disco back in the 60’s, who was wearing those words on her T shirt. She demonstrated their accuracy later. Happy days !

    Struggled just a little with this, having tried to parse THEOREM under the false premise that the soldiers were OR, and that SF was the chemical symbol at 6D.

    Couldn’t parse TRACTARIAN, and it was a DNK, so finally biffed and hoped.

    FOI EXPEL
    LOI TRACTARIAN
    COD VISCOUSLY
    TIME 11:36

    Phil Jordan

  22. LEAH was my FOI, followed by __ THE SAME _____, which allowed me to shove in DECADES and THEOREM, and I was off. No trouble with POLYTUNNELS. I’ve seen loads of them. After 15 or so minutes I was left with R_E_E_S and T_A_T_R_A_N. REEFERS fell first and then having dispelled camels, trams, cars and vans, came up with TRACTARMAN, which seemed a bit unlikely, so I looked it up and was presented with IAN for MAN. Doh! 23:27 with 1 cheat. Thanks setter and U.

    Edited at 2018-12-10 12:58 pm (UTC)

  24. 10:31, with a bit of that fiddling over the letters to get POLYTUNNEL. I will admit to thinking “Hey, look, MACH made his way in”, but I like the hints of sciency stuff.
  25. BY THE SAME TOKEN, I can’t really add to the comments so far. LOI RERELEASE where the only word that fitted didn’t come to me for a wee while. Had to google LEAH to be sure…
  26. Dag nabbit! (I am feeling in a Western mood at the moment). All correct apart from PRACTICE, which I managed to spell with an S. I could kisk myself.

  27. I’m another one who failed on TRACTARIAN since I’d never heard of it and the cryptic wasn’t a gimme. I went for TRACTORTAR on the basis of having a rejected desert and a form of transport, but I was pretty sure it was wrong. Otherwise a nice Monday puzzle. As one more mo the science side, I like to see people like MACH show up to balance obscure poets and religious sects that we get more than enough of.
  28. 20 mins. A pleasant canter. I was a bit slow over the parsings of 21ac and 19ac. My last three took a bit of time to reveal themselves: Tractarian, reefers and rerelease. No real problems though.
  29. Well I thought this was tough – with Tractarian (NHO), Cade, Bleak, Reefer, Mach, Costard, Leah, Alpha, Erse, Ounce, Ulster Coats all high up on the Obscurity Spectrum for me. But principally I blew it by entering “Smart Practice” instead of “Sharp Practice” which gave me no chance of Polytunnel.

    Edited at 2018-12-10 07:25 pm (UTC)

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