Times 27553 – It’s That Bird Again!

Author   ulacaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Pretty much where I left off in 2019, puzzle difficulty wise, with this pleasant offering doing nothing to disturb any swallow-like creatures who might be constructing their nests in soft cliff material and digging in for what looks likely to be the long haul in Crosswordland. 24 across was rather cunning and my last in.

12’52” for me, so presumably the real speedsters like Magoo, Verlaine, Aphis and Starstruck will be sniffing out PBs, with a disproportionate number of clues having the solution at the front.

ACROSS

1 Where you might see film star making first appearance? (5)
ONSET – ON SET
4 Magistrate perversely rejecting current plan (9)
STRATAGEM – anagram* of MAG[i]STRATE
9 Study by unit head is being prepared (9)
READINESS – READ I (unit) NESS (head)
10 Better sort of dash back — joiner’s outside (5)
AMEND – ME (EM reversed) in AND (conjunction, AKA joiner)
11 Arrogant yuppy regularly lacking compassion (6)
UPPITY – [y]U[p]P[y] (‘yuppy’ lacking letters in a regular fashion) PITY
12 Ideal citizen displaying love for autocratic leader (8)
NOTIONAL – NATIONAL with the A (initial letter of A[utocratic]) replaced by O (love)
14 Dodgy, being at the mercy of cards one’s dealt (9)
UNDERHAND – UNDER (being at mercy of) HAND
16 Jewellery I found in Scarlett’s place (5)
TIARA – I in TARA (Scarlett O’Hara’s pad down Atlanta away)
17 Flop as lover after heart transplant (5)
LOSER – LOVER with S for v
19 Monk’s date needing massage? I’ve no idea (4,3,2)
DONT ASK ME – MONKS DATE*
21 Protection from decay and drugs surrounding one (4,4)
RIOT GEAR – I in ROT (decay) GEAR (drugs); a lot of coppers in Hong Kong wear this these days, even if most of them seem to have lost their warrant cards
22 Make pretty sailor stick around (4,2)
TART UP – TAR PUT reversed
25 Raise embezzler’s case before European court (5)
ERECT – E[mbezzle]R E CT
26 End the heartless destruction of minaret (9)
TERMINATE – T[h]E MINARET*
27 Submission of monarch, held by resistance (9)
DEFERENCE – ER in DEFENCE
28 Mollified, stopped to let Charlie out (5)
EASED – [c]EASED

DOWN

1 Novel, one we both know well (3,6,6)
OUR MUTUAL FRIEND – double definition (DD)
2 Troublemaker pitches tent, moving south (5)
SCAMP – CAMPS with the S moved to the front
3 Laugh about women’s idle talk (7)
TWITTER – W in TITTER
4 Go after religious adherent in speech (4)
SEEK – Sounds something like ‘Sikh’
5 Returner of questionnaire gloomy after change at top (10)
RESPONDENT – DESPONDENT with R for D; there’s a pattern emerging here, I reckon
6 Asserts aristocrat is sheltering enemy of the revolution? (7)
TSARIST – hidden answer in [asser]TS ARIST[ocrat]
7 Environmentalist to sponsor bill in Washington (9)
GREENBACK – GREEN BACK; these are still legal tender in the US, even though they haven’t been issued since 1971. Best hold on to them for their rarity value, mind.
8 Corporation with origin in the forties? (6-3,6)
MIDDLE-AGE SPREAD – a fairly accessible cryptic definition
13 Son and another boy, summer visitor (4,6)
SAND MARTIN – S AND MARTIN; and winter…
15 Dump detective overturning rival’s operations (7,2)
DISPOSE OF – DI (detective inspector) FOES OPS reversed
18 Pen-pusher said to be one who corrects what’s wrong (7)
RIGHTER – sounds like ‘writer’ to most Brits at least
20 Greed, a weakness holding painter back (7)
AVARICE – RA reversed in A VICE
23 Backing rapid alternative to buses? (5)
TRAMS – SMART reversed; as in ‘She directed the show at a smart pace’
24 Sovereign with nothing on (4)
FREE – Our cunning DD, where ‘nothing on’ refers to appointments

70 comments on “Times 27553 – It’s That Bird Again!”

  2. A gentle Monday puzzle, done with wind-sore eyes after a cold, bracing game of golf on a reasonably dry course, in good humour after winning the money. The long ones at 1d and 8d went in quickly, making it easier. Held up at the end by a few in the SW corner, RIOT GEAR and FREE only got after looking at many options and rather disliking FREE = sovereign. Smells of Brexit to me.
    UPPITY my CoD, never heard of its ‘issues’ in America.
  3. A Good Day at 31 minutes, with a similar experience to others. Things fell into place quite easily, and I didn’t have any problems with the sound-alike identifiers for 4d and 19d.

    19a made me smile, but I did think: No – please – DON’T ask me! I was determined that 3d was Chatter, even though I couldn’t parse it, but Twitter finally revealed itself. I also liked Uppity, but will have a very different view of the word from hereon.

    I tentatively put in Free for 24a, so was relieved to find that it was correct. I’m not sure now why I was so hesitant.

    FOI Scamp
    LOI Free
    COD Middle age spread

    Earworms An Aztec Camera / Del Amitri mash-up after yesterday’s comments!

  4. No issues. I didn’t time it, but not long and no real quibbles. LOI was FREE, needing only a brief pause before it came to mind. Not much else to say. Regards.
  5. Started late today just after the cup draw.. Too much excitement with my team possibly entertaining Man U if we can dispose of Watford.Ooh er….

    Just under 13 minutes so a good start to the week. 4 down caused a jam as I originally put sikh rather than seek in as the answer but once I rectified that mistake it flowed pretty well.

  6. I was on track for a sub-5-minute time but then fell at the final hurdle, which proved to be the slightly trickier SW corner. By the time I’d picked myself up and dusted myself off, we were looking at more like 6.5 minutes.
  7. ..from the QC.
    29:58, with 3 minutes alphabet trawling for NOTIONAL. I’m blaming the trappist dubbel.
  8. Because of the word order, though, this clue is most logically read as asking for another word for “Returner of questionaire” and not for “gloomy.”
    1. You can read this clue two ways:
      – Returner of questionnaire the product of gloomy after change at top
      – Returner of questionnaire becomes gloomy after change at top
      The fact that one reading is more natural, logical, call it what you will, is beside the point as long as the other is not invalid: in a competition you’d have to allow both. I don’t think either version is invalid here so you need (in this case) the checking letter to be sure of the answer. As I’ve already said I don’t mind this!
      1. If the clue actually read
        Returner of questionnaire becomes gloomy after change at top
        I would still think it is asking for a word meaning “Returner of questionnaire” that happens to become a word meaning gloomy after changing the first letter, which is just an inverse way of saying “Returner of questionnaire[,] the product of gloomy after change at top.”

        “Returner of questionnaire” is the only part of the clue that is presented as if it could be the definition. The rest of the clue has to do with a process by which that word is obtained—either way it is read!

        Edited at 2020-01-10 05:07 pm (UTC)

        1. I really don’t agree. There is no rule that says the definition has to be at the beginning.
          If the clue read: ‘returner of questionnaire after change at the top: gloomy’ it would more clearly indicate a synonym for ‘gloomy’ as the answer. But grammatically I think you can read it that way with the word order as presented, even if it’s a bit more awkward.
          Perhaps we’ll just have to agree to disagree again!
          1. That the definition is at the beginning or the end is not my point here; it’s the grammar of the clue, which the positioning of the defintion is incidental to. I can’t read that clue as written and think that it’s asking for another word for “gloomy,” as I tried to explain. (Well, if it were an &lit, the definition might be a word for the process by which “despondent” becomes “respondent,” if there were such a word.)
            1. OK, so let’s agree to disagree. I can read the clue to indicate gloomy, rather like a newspaper headline: BEAST HANDSOME PRINCE AFTER BELLE’S KISS.
              1. The answer is JEAN MARAIS?
                Ha.

                Your reading could be done as below, changing nothing essential:
                “After change at top, returner of questionnaire becomes gloomy.”

                I have a strong preference for Ximenean clues, and don’t care for those which only and explicitly spell out the construction of a word, which rather obviates the need for real (more subtle) wordplay.

                In any case, and in principle, I think we can agree that it would be regrettable to force the least plausible or even least elegant interpretation (if this distinction can be made) by the contingencies of the grid.

                Edited at 2020-01-10 06:14 pm (UTC)

                1. Yes that clue would be clearer, for sure. I’m not arguing that the ‘gloomy’ interpretation is better, or more elegant, or the more natural reading: it isn’t, in fact it’s the opposite of all those things. But I still think it’s a valid interpretation.
                  1. That clue would be “clearer,” for sure, but it’s atrocious, with that “becomes” sticking out like a sore thumb.

                    I was going to delete or rewrite the middle part, but you had already replied.

                    Let’s keep our eyes peeled for another clue that works the same as your alternate reading of this one. But I don’t know why anyone would write one that way.

                    1. Yes I agree it would be atrocious, but if there was a valid answer that fitted the grid and meant ‘gloomy’ I don’t think you could say it was wrong, is all.
                      1. Well, I’d have to concede it was the right answer (the answer intended), but I’m afraid I would still fault the construction.

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