Times 27319 – Don’t Bogart that clue, my friend….

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time: 52 minutes
Music: Mingus Ah Um

I suspect this puzzle was a bit difficult.  I haven’t checked the NITCH yet, but the beautifully smooth clues and the well-hidden literals made it difficult to get a handle on things.  But in the end, there is no obscure vocabulary, and each clue works correctly and efficiently.   I would call this puzzle a minor masterpiece, not quite hard enough or clever enough to really rate, but a cut above the average Monday fare.

I don’t often talk policy here, but let me say this.   We have at this site twenty-two active bloggers, plus a couple of substitutes who can be called into action.   They are all volunteers, and they all show up on their assigned day and post their excellent blogs.    Since I took over this blog a little more than two years ago, I have made it a policy to give the bloggers as much freedom as possible, in return for their loyal service as volunteers.    There have been a few blogs that were not to my taste, but that is to be expected with such a varied cast of characters.    So before you take anything to heart, consider that you are getting same-day service from some of the sharpest minds in the solving world, at absolutely no cost to yourself.   EOR.

Across
1 Tree sounding rough, an old one (5,8)
HORSE CHESTNUT –  Sounds like HOARSE, plus CHESTNUT, which this clue is not!
9 After cheers, negative utterance forbidden (5)
TABOO – TA + BOO, a starter clue that I didn’t read until I had nearly finished the puzzle.
10 Water was filling empty bath, clean mind? (9)
r BRAINWASH – B(RAIN WAS)H, where ‘clean’ is a verb.   This is nearly the only clue whee the surface is a little awkward.
11 Quite some voice, good heavens! (10)
ALTOGETHER – ALTO + G + ETHER.
12 One’s hairy shoulder (4)
BEAR – double definition, referring to the creature in the bearskin.
14 Lie tenth, not last for a change, so qualify (7)
ENTITLE – anagram of LIE TENT[h].
16 Petrol splashed on back of hood, small amount of liquid (7)
DROPLET – [hoo]D + anagram of PETROL.
17 Taking trouble to break up fight, action rescuing business (7)
BAILOUT – B(AIL)OUT.
19 Greek character, attention-seeker captivating male friend, briefly (7)
OMICRON – O(M)I + CRON[y]. – I was going to biff this, but decided to work out the cryptic – it was quite tricky.
20 Each finally got to work, commute a drag (4)
TOKE – Last letters of GOT TO WORK, COMMUTE, with a beautifully hidden literal in the smooth surface.
21 In lesson, teacher not too serious? (10)
PARDONABLE –  PAR(DON)ABLE, my LOI, and I needed all the crossers.
24 Look sideways round cool street in English city (9)
LEICESTER – LE(ICE + ST)ER.   I’m not sure that ‘leer’ is ‘look sideways’ – I would describe it as a bold stare.
25 Spot on end of nose: kiss and turn! (5)
EXACT – [nos]E + X + ACT, where the trick is finding the literal.
26 Author who collected art coloured green, it eclipsing most blue (8,5)
GERTRUDE STEIN – GERT(RUDEST)EIN, where the enclosing letters are an anagram of GREEN, IT.
Down
1 Having trouble with face, one’s taken to one’s bed (3-5,6)
HOT-WATER BOTTLE – HOT WATER + BOTTLE, in entirely different senses from what the clue reads.
2 Capital, that of Russia, a hit (5)
RABAT – R[ussia] + A BAT.
3 Stretching across both ends of ottoman, a leg on it massaged (10)
ELONGATION – anagram of A LEG ON IT around O[ttoma]N.
4 Regular tone, slightly cutting? (7)
HABITUE -H(A BIT)UE, one we’ve seen before.
5 Plant what may grow to inspire wonderment (7)
SEAWEED – SE(AWE)ED
6 Relative idiot (4)
NANA – double definition, relatively srriaghtforward.
7 Tourist heading for Timbuktu, one getting into a tangle? (9)
TRAVELLER – T[imbuktu] + RAVELLER.
8 Carried by ferryman, then lost at sea, old player (8,6)
CHARLTON HESTON – CHAR(anagram of THEN LOST)ON.   I was very dull on this one, seeing it but thinking Oh, Charleston doesn’t fit.   But that’s not his name!
13 Still not proposing? (10)
MOTIONLESS – Double definition, another one we’ve seen before.
15 Second double fifty, man collects (9)
TWINKLING – TWIN + K(L)ING, the chess man, of course.
18 One trying to plug in old kitchen appliance (7)
TOASTER – T(O)ASTER, another one I was very slow on, thinking of ‘touter’.
19 Requested gold and scarlet to cover Duke’s case (7)
ORDERED – OR(D[uk]E)RED.   My FOI, as I realized this was not going to be a Monday doddle.
22 Strengthen a couple (5)
BRACE – Double definition, one I am always forgetting.
23 Bottom on a chair in the end (4)
REAR – Double definition, so simple it’s confusing….I think.   Maybe there’s something I’m not seeing? Yep, RE A [chai]R, that’s better.   Don’t know why I couldn’t see it.

71 comments on “Times 27319 – Don’t Bogart that clue, my friend….”

  1. After last week’s travails, I was happy to come in at a healthy 13’09”. Would have been faster, but it took two or three minutes just to get off the mark. Getting head in gear. Really one should limber up before pressing the timer. Enjoyed the two personalities, both of whom fell quite quickly. Charon immediately triggered Charlton; and in the other the superlative ‘most blue’ meant the surname probably began with ST. Many thanks. I suppose Nana is pronounced two different ways. Nice clue.
  2. Mondayish for me at 9:55. No hiccups apart from at 24 biffing the non-city of Leinster and running out of letters before the end of the light. When solving ALTOGETHER I thought at the time that “get her!” was a bit loose for “good heavens!” but a post-solve look cleared that up.
  3. There’s a wonderful family called STEIN.
    There’s GERT and there’s EP and there’s EIN.
    GERT’s poems are bunk,
    EP’s sculptures are junk.
    And no-one can understand EIN.
  4. Reminded me of the best crossword clue i have experienced, Bust down reason? (9). Thanks blogger and setter.
    1. Brilliant, if more suited to our dear sister publication, the Sun. Some of us might be spluttering into our granola and gin marmalade!
  5. 30 mins. Left staring at a choice between NONG (idiot) or NANA (relative) Finally decided that I don’t have any close or even distant nongs, so must be NANA.
  6. As a man who is just starting out in the cryptic world, I’m finding this blog extremely helpful and amusing. Thank you to all the volunteer bloggers. I’d be lost without you.
    1. Many thanks for dropping by to say that. Get yourself an LJ handle when you feel ready and join the fun.
      1. I did sign up with a name a picture and a password a couple of years ago but then I didn’t find how to log in again. I’ve been looking at this site for some years and I’ve enjoyed it (apart from the occasional outbreak of smugness) and found it useful. I manage to finish the 15×15 sometimes, which gives me a good sense of achievement. Thanks and best wishes to all, RJ
  7. As an intermittent visitor to this blog, I would like to add my thanks to all those who contribute time/knowledge to create and maintain the site. It is much appreciated and enjoyed and I invariably learn something new at every visit. I cannot imagine complaining or criticising – but strike me down if ever I do.
    Smashed through the puzzle today, only to come to a screeching halt on Pardonable/Motionless/Omicron.
  8. 7:02 – I was bang on the wavelength of this one, though I biffed in CHARLTON HESTON and GERTRUDE STEIN, both of whom I encounter on a regular basis, the former having lived in Asheville for a while, and the latter being one I teach when allowed to teach a writing class.

    Much kudos to vinyl1 on his managing of this menagerie of blogunteers. I should add (in case anyone is reading comment 55), that he and I are in the same time zone, and when the big flurry of comments come in during the UK morning, it is the middle of the night here and it can be difficult to make changes to the blog… last Thursday being another prime example.

  9. Er, y’know 23 down? I think it’s….
    Just kidding 🙂
    Straightforward puzzle, steady solve – just over the half hour.
    Thanks, V.
  10. Was helped along by having been discussing GERTRUDE STEIN only the previous day. Apparently she was from Oakland, but we failed to realise that it was that place that she had described with the nice turn of phrase “there is no there there”, even though we were on a train heading to Oakland at the time.

    Once I saw the answer to 20ac I realised I had no choice but to complete this puzzle in 4m20, so I did.

    1. I just realized that TOKE was 4 letter word at 20 across! This is getting spooky.
  11. Ah.

    I came here expecting (and, in an evil sort of a way, hoping) that almost everyone would have found this at least half as tricky as I did. Either I was completely off-wavelength, or my third neuron is playing up again. I finished this in just over an hour, split over several sessions.

    I’d’ve enjoyed the challenge more if the puzzle had produced more “aha!” moments. Instead, I often found myself biffing (after much pre-biff pondering), and then spending almost as long again trying to parse. “Coloured” as an anagram indicator? A four-letter answered assembled from three parts? I agree with [napasai]’s comment – the last few days have been more of a slog than a rewarding challenge; my 60th is further away than his (or hers), so I’ll have to count as a young grump.

    1. I checked that ‘colour/ed’ isn’t in the long list of anagram indicators compiled for Chambers 12th edition but one of its meanings (figuratively) is to distort so I guess that covers it. Not sure I’ve ever seen it before today though!
      1. It’s reached the point where I view every past participle as a potential suspect.
  12. 24:22. I thought this was pretty Monday-ish but solved it tired this evening after a busy day at work and so my time felt slower than it could have been. Nice puzzle.
  13. Thanks setter and vinyl
    Completed this one over a long coffee and toastie on a Sunday afternoon, a long time after it was published here … and longer still over there. Started off with TABOO and quite quickly followed up with the Moroccan capital. Getting the long 1d / 1a soon after opened up the puzzle nicely.
    Had to have several looks at the BEAR definition before writing it in. REAR took just as long … but more from unravelling the cleverly disguised word play (and yes I also had to correct it from my initial SEAT).
    Smiled at the reference above to “My Old Man’s a Dustman” to put NANA back into British perspective – think that it was one of the first records that I owned.
    Agree with your comments on blogging – have practiced doing it on some very old Guardian puzzles that I do from time to time – it does put a whole different perspective on how one views a puzzle !

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