Times 27565 – Christopher Newport Meets Bo Peep

Author   ulacaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
A bit of a skeletal blog, I’m afraid, as I have to attend a hastily arranged meeting with Louisa, the scary head of our newly established Projects and Administration Department. This was a workaday Monday puzzle, I felt, no aspersions intended, which I completed in a sub-Nitchian (but possibly not sub-Witchian) 21:33. My last in was 10a, which I would usually expect with a hyphen.

ACROSS

1 Healthy? Congratulations! (4,3,3)
GOOD FOR YOU – Double definition
6 Very last sale (4)
VEND – V END
9 Easy victim called out for help (7)
SUCCOUR – sounds like ‘sucker’
10 Promise to train sportsman, maybe (7)
SEMIPRO – anagram* of PROMISE
12 Quickly produce ladder, going where? (3,2)
RUN UP – RUN UP; it’s a long time since I wore nylons, but my understanding is that they can run (i.e. tear) up as well as down in defiance of gravity
13 Clothing I adjusted for restaurant (9)
BRASSERIE – BRASSIERE with the I moved
14 Hunter conspires to rouse game (4,2,3,6)
PUSS IN THE CORNER – HUNTER CONSPIRES*; strangely, I heard this for the first time in an old Bette Davis movie the other day
17 Two ways to make a grab using perhaps dubious means (2,4,2,2,5)
BY HOOK OR BY CROOK – if you were a pirate, you would grab with a hook, but if you were a shepherd you would perform the operation with a crook
20 Daughter leaves serious drinker, a sign of things to come (9)
HARBINGER – HAR[d] BINGER
21 Tree roughly embraced by writer (5)
PECAN – CA in PEN
23 Figure initially crawling past into lair (7)
DECAGON -C[rawling] AGO in DEN
24 A large drink, so to speak, for girl (7)
ABIGAIL – A BIG ‘ale’
25 Proverbially smooth advocate? (4)
SILK – a sort of cryptic definition, I would suggest, milud
26 Sailor used weapon twisted round (4-6)
JACK-KNIFED – JACK KNIFED

DOWN

1 A grub stop, for cooking? (9)
GASTROPUB – A GRUB STOP*; an &lit
2 Nothing to read in old language (5)
OSCAN – O SCAN; Oscan is a dead sister language to Latin
3 Following good opinions, terrible getting this from 1 down? (4,9)
FOOD POISONING – F GOOD OPINIONS*
4 Snack as two Italian rivers rise (no falls) (7)
RAREBIT – reversal of TIBER and AR[no]
5 Performing with two legs (2,5)
ON STAGE – ON (leg side in cricket) STAGE (leg of a race)
7 Extraordinary sense finally awoken in one inspiring language (9)
ESPERANTO -ESP [awoke]N in ERATO (the best known muse)
8 Idle chap is leading medic? (5)
DRONE – DR ONE (the no. 1 doc)
11 Not manage to become pregnant, say? Bad idea (13)
MISCONCEPTION – I’d have thought ‘misconceive’ would be a bit more accurate, but what do I know about pregnancies?
15 All round sides of ship, unthinkable to chuck alien out (9)
SPHERICAL – S[hi]P HER[et]ICAL
16 Staying helpful, elder badly provoked again (9)
REKINDLED – KIND (helpful) in ELDER*
18 Part of body area includes unknown thin material (7)
ORGANZA – Z in ORGAN A(rea)
19 Loudly disapprove of incomplete accommodation (7)
BARRACK – BARRACK[s]
20 Such a destination includes Pluto (5)
HADES – hidden &lit
22 Bird an inch short? It’ll blow away (5)
CHAFF – CHAFF[inch]

57 comments on “Times 27565 – Christopher Newport Meets Bo Peep”

  1. 13’03”, DATE in NE. SEMIPRO LOI, and spent ages trying to justify ON STAGE, despite enjoying the cricket this morning.

    I once met a girl named Abigail on the overnight train from Paris to London, we fell asleep holding hands.

    Thanks ulaca and setter.

  2. ….GOOD FOR YOU. Maybe I should have consumed the bottle of 7.5% Export Strength from my beer stock before I tackled this, then I might not have written “well” in the first four squares and ground to an immediate halt. I dug myself a few more traps as I limped through the puzzle.

    I wondered if the game referred to the state of one’s eye when a stye bursts, but then there would be a redundant S. My LOI was solely due to expecting a hyphen – I blame the Yanks, who even pronounce it wrongly (see my pro).

    I have all week to improve in.

    FOI VEND
    LOI SEMIPRO
    COD RAREBIT
    TIME 10:09

  3. … many others, never heard of LOI the GAME but plonked it in from the anagram solve; OSCAN also a guess from wordplay. Easyish day otherwise, 20 minutes. Liked the gastropub and food poisoning combination; the anagram of A GRUB STOP wouldn’t unravel until I had a B at the end.
  4. Nothing too tricky, but tired today – hence slowish.
    Never played Puss in the Corner when I was a youngster.
  5. Rather late in the day finishing this. As usual a break did me good and I wrapped it up very quickly apart from the SILK which I nearly put in as SELL. Think I’ve seen A GRUB STOP somewhere before?
  6. 13:18 a gentle start to the week. I had to write out the anagrist for the unknown puss in the corner. I wasn’t familiar with the old language either. Fun puzzle.
  7. Finally an under 30 minute solve without having to resort to aids. Turned out the light and slept well.
  9. Finished – but I have no idea how long I took! I forgot to check the clock at the beginning and then just tootled along – sometimes it’s quite nice not to fuss about the time. Same as everyone else with the game and the language, and I forgot to parse a couple (Drone and Brasserie) but all OK.

    FOI Vend
    LOI Spherical
    COD Gastropub – I’m glad to say we’ve never had any problems with our local pub//restaurants!

  10. I’ve been pudding away on the quick cryptic for a couple of years, getting down to 20-30 mins there both days. I heard that Monday Cryptic was generally a bit easier.

    So very pleased with a solve today of 65 mins with no aids apart from checking OSCAN was indeed an archaic language.

    COD Harbinger

  11. A slowish but steady solve, brightened up by several pdms. I had to trust the cryptic for the unknown Oscan and Organza, and Puss in the Corner was also unknown, but it seemed plausible. Very enjoyable. Invariant
  12. Well, due to A Series of Unfortunate Events, my brain is not firing on all neurons and I am a day behind. This one took me about 40min (including a few distractions), although only PUSS IN THE CORNER and OSCAN were NHOs for me.
  14. 18mins, which represents a half-snitch. The same NHOs as others , but not a hindrance. By coincidence we’ve been reading and listening to the many different ways in which the tree at 21a is pronounced.

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