Times 27603 – third TCC semi-final puzzle. Extra fruity?

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Well, the first semi-final puzzle I blogged was easy enough, last week’s was a stinker, and this one I thought was just a bit peculiar. As if set by someone not on our usual radar, or maybe it was just me not on the wavelength. I struggled, and would have failed miserably if I’d reached that stage of the TCC. I spent nearly 45 minutes getting to the point of finishing and understanding it all. Not helped by my stupidity at the simplest of clues, 26d. In retrospect, there’s nothing that hard and only one kind of jam I didn’t know about. For some reason, the clue at 11a gets my top vote.

Across
1 Preserve old pot in felt backing (5,3)
EXTRA JAM – Well this was not my FOI, far from it. I needed all the checkers to be sure it was ‘something JAM’ as I suspected, and then plump for EXTRA as fitting the letters. Afterwards I looked up EXTRA JAM to see if it is a Thing, as Wiki indeed confirms. Mandatory more fruit than your regular jam. To get there, you take EX = old, then reverse JAR = pot inside MAT= felt.
5 A wild animal died, being trained? (6)
ABOARD – A, BOAR, D(ied). On a train, so aboard, I presume.
10 A huge order for ships (5)
AVAST – A VAST = a huge. AVAST means stop in pirate speak.
11 What about increased charges for running water? (9)
EUPHRATES – I like this clue. EH? = what, about UP = increased, and RATES are charges.
12 Aggressive and fierce — any shocked? (2-3-4)
IN-YER-FACE – (FIERCE ANY)*.
13 Wartime saboteurs receiving medal for battle (5)
SOMME – OM (Order of Merit) inside SOE Special Operations Executive in WW II. EDIT as pointed out below, we need a MM (Military medal) not an order of merit, to get the necessary mix of Os and M&s with SOE.
14 In elevated post, it’s late in the day to tuck into some breakfast (7)
TOPMAST – PM (late in day) inside TOAST for some breakfast.
16 Sort of pin you find in numbers? (6)
SAFETY – Double definition, Safety pin, and safety in numbers being a well known phrase.
18 Good on minister, shortly leaving the board (6)
DIVING – DIVIN(E), G for good.
20 Short skirt that’s taken in very loud yellow (7)
SAFFRON – SARON(G) has FF = very loud inserted. A sarong is a lot more than a skirt, but I believe it can be worn as one.
22 American people who have time for the Oscars? (5)
OSAGE – I think O’s are Oscars here, and AGE = time. the Osage are an American Nation or tribe.
23 Go to pieces, some by Spanish composer (4,5)
FALL APART – Manuel de FALLA, he of ‘El Sombrero des Tres Picos’ ballet fame, and PART = some.
25 Old beast I noticed that could be heard on the way (9)
STEGOSAUR – ST (street), EGO (I) SAUR sounds like SAW = noticed. Old indeed, 155 million years or so. I’d never seen it without the final -US on its end, but I see it’s allowed, fitting along with the likes of DINOSAUR.
26 One bird eaten by another one (5)
HERON – How long did it take me to see this was a hidden word clue? Too long! I was busy putting a bird called a RO inside HEN and various other silly ideas. But here it is; ANOT(HER ON)E.
27 Delight, as it were, as rescue vessel breaks through earth (6)
DARKEN – ARK inside DEN (earth). DE-LIGHTEN = make darker. Groan.
28 Clapped-out drier beginning to erode on the bottom (8)
DERRIERE – (DRIER)*, E (beginning to erode), RE (on). First time I think seeing ‘clapped-out’ as an anagrind.

Down
1 Waste last of the burger (big one!) I was consuming (8)
EMACIATE – E (last of thE) MAC (as in a Big Mac), I ATE. I think Big Macs should be challenged under the Trades Desription Act, they’re not nearly big enough to be called big. Just saying.
2 He grovels now as duke is coming down (5)
TOADY – TODAY has its D for duke moved down.
3 A tentative lover’s foolish ranking of preferences (11,4)
ALTERNATIVE VOTE – (A TENTATIVE LOVER)*.
4 One book stolen from church: worker suspended (7)
ABEYANT – ABBEY loses a B, then ANT for worker. More often used as IN ABEYANCE than abeyant, I think.
6 After stretch on couch, priest full of energy for flock (5,2,1,7)
BIRDS OF A FEATHER – BIRD (prison term, stretch), SOFA (couch) FATHER with E inserted.
7 Change round hour and position indicator (9)
ALTIMETER – ALTER around TIME. Position in terms of height, if not location.
8 Dredger expected river to be full of stone (6)
DUSTER – DUE, R, insert ST for stone. Took a while to see how these are synonyms, but I think it’s to do with ‘dredging’ or ‘dusting’ something e.g. with flour or sugar.
9 Short of money on these drugs (6)
UPPERS – double defintion; if you’re on your uppers, you’re broke.
15 Craft needing personal attention, you understand? (9)
PRIVATEER – sounds like ‘private ear’, i.e. personal attention. A privateer is a privately armed ship commandeered by a government, says Collins.
17 Succeeded in a resolution of ancient case (8)
INSTANCE – anagram of ANCIENT S, the S for succeeded.
19 Humbug attracting endless reverence? That’s a laugh (6)
GUFFAW – GUFF (humbug), AW(E) = endless reverence.
20 Scottish footballers once with demand for unrestrained expenditure (7)
SPLURGE – SPL (Scottish Premier League, abolished in 2013), URGE (demand).
21 Very experienced drunk (6)
SOUSED – SO (very), USED (experienced).
24 Jointly decide to get me off inadequate drug (5)
AGREE – Inadequate is MEAGRE, remove ME and add E the drug.

​

40 comments on “Times 27603 – third TCC semi-final puzzle. Extra fruity?”

  1. I’ve just tried to access the Crossword Club to print ours but the site was unavailable. Anybody else with the same problem?
  2. It took me a long time to remember the SOE, and remembering it I flung in SOMME; it just now struck me, How does OM in SOE lead to SOMME? I now–having looked it up–assume it’s the Military Medal (MM).

    Edited at 2020-03-04 07:19 am (UTC)

  3. After a valiant struggle I was finally up against a brick wall in the SW corner and used aids a couple of times to help me on my way. Annoyed, because I had considered STEGOSAUR but had been unable to parse it (missing I = EGO) so it didn’t go in until I’d looked up other -SAUR options. If I’d had all the checkers I would surely have accepted it even without the parsing.

    There was a very lengthy discussion here about EXTRA JAM on my watch about 18 months ago which went right down to looking up EU regulations and comparing the various brands available. If solvers really haven’t got anything better to do they can revisit it all here: https://times-xwd-times.livejournal.com/2024544.html?page=2

  4. I went offline at 37+, with 18ac left and pretty much resigned to a DNF; after lunch, took another look and twigged. I had no idea about 1ac, but the checkers suggested EXTRA, which suggested ex-, and so on. Still had no idea, but. It’s comforting to know that I’m not the only one who tried to stick the RO into HEN. I didn’t understand 20d, but BIFD. I’m always somewhat irritated by clues like 16ac: a safety pin is a sort of pin, safety isn’t. COD to EUPHRATES, with 6d (which I biffed and only parsed post-submission) a close second.
  5. I struggled with this, but now I look over it I don’t really we why. The only unknown was OSAGE but the wordplay didn’t really allow anything else. I also assumed the medal was OM in SOMME but had no ideas what the SME was, but there are so many military initials. If I’d thought of MM as the medal I wouldn’t have known was SOE was either. But “battle” and S-M-E can’t be anything else.
  6. 12:42. This seemed far more familiar than the first three championship puzzles that have appeared, but unless I’ve mixed up the order I hadn’t actually solved it before! The presence of EXTRA JAM and the memory of the incredibly fascinating discussion jackkt mentions above may have influenced me. Or perhaps I have done it before somehow.
    Anyway, for whatever reason I found it not too hard but fun to solve. The OSAGE are familiar mostly from the Meryl Streep movie I haven’t seen, which is a bit odd.
    1. I doubt you’d have got your prize without solving this K, as it was one of the three from the A/B/C part of proceedings.
      1. Was it? I’ve lost track. Anyway that’s good news: I’m used to not remembering puzzles I’ve already solved, remembering one I actually hadn’t solved would have been a worrying new development.
  7. So 20dn was SPLURGE and not SALTIRE which made my 25ac STEGOSARI (a female of the species found in India) a nonce. So a DNF in well over an hour.

    I thought this was an excellent challenge with 1ac EXTRA JAM the keystone clue.

    FOI BIRDS OF A FEATHER (females of the species found in Liverpool)

    COD 27ac DARKEN

    WOD 22ac OSAGE which I managed to drag up from the depths.

    At 23ac I’d never heard of FALLA but he had to be.

    I notice that 3dn is playing a part in SUPER TUESDAY although it is almost Thursday here! (America Last!)

  8. ….after quite a struggle.
    I agree with Kevin as far as COD = EUPHRATES is concerned.
    There is no longer a Scottish Premier League? Who knew? What do they do now?
    I figured it had to be SPLURGE but was puzzled by “once”.
  9. 30:01, but 2 wrong. This did for me on the day. I don’t think I managed more than half of it. LOI a mombled OOAGE for 22A – NHO OSAGE and I had an uncomprehending DINING for 19A. Lots of clever stuff here. Thanks for explaining those I still didn’t understand (e.g. EXTRA JAM and DREDGER) Pip.
  10. This is why I would never enter the champs! 42m but with a cheat for DIVING which I would never have got. Still a bit confused about divine = minister and dredge = dust. NHO Osage. This all seemed even more lateral than normal to me. Agreed on the brilliant EUPHRATES clue. Well outside my target of 6 Verlaines even if I had finished – but then he had done it before!

    Thanks tough setter and Pip for untangling it all.

  11. 70 minutes with EXTRA JAM LOI and a total biff. OSAGE was sort of constructed but I’ve never heard of them. I’d no idea why a DUSTER was a dredger either. Not that I’d ever reach the semi-finals but I think I’d have failed totally in the room on this. I only know two Spanish composers so FALL APART was straightforward. SAFETY pin tickled my fancy, IN-YER-FACE spelling I have seen when reading The Sun at the barbers, BIRDS OF A FEATHER was good, and with others I’ll go for the EUPHRATES as flower of the day. Well done to all those who solved it in the room. Thank you Pip and setter.

    Edited at 2020-03-04 09:24 am (UTC)

    1. I’d forgotten all about that bloody song!

      I inherited a very nice porcelain and silver Carlton of Stoke (Meissen copy) sugar dredger from my mother. It only dusts the most refined of sugars!

      We used to have fruit on the sideboard we never ate, etc etc

      1. In Don’t Look Back, on Talking World War Three Blues, his Bobship sang, “I looked in the closet and there was Donovan.”
  12. Appropriately enough, three corners, even without a hat to help, weren’t too difficult, but having forgotten the erudite October 2018 discussion, a “what the…?” EXTRA JAM in the NW held me up and was my last in after 44 minutes.

    EUPHRATES was good as an original ‘running water’, but my highlight ‘Delight’ was, well, a delight.

  13. 39 mins. Tough but fair. Abeyant took me a while; also NHO extra jam.
    Thanks pip.

    Edited at 2020-03-04 10:26 am (UTC)

  14. ….as I solved it straight through in one go on the day – I suspect it was around 10 minutes.

    FOI AVAST
    LOI EXTRA JAM
    COD EUPHRATES

  15. The usual story, a puzzle which was solved with very faint bells tinkling occasionally in the background; once again, I remember discussion of the tougher clues afterwards, but had almost no recollection of them until I’d cracked them a second time. Anyway, pretty sure I was delayed just as long today on DIVING and DERRIERE as first time round, but got there in the end both times.
  16. At 24.57 not a whiff of a wavelength, this one had to be scoured out. I see from the contemporaneous TFTT that I didn’t seem to have trouble with EXTRA JAM last time but I did this time (thanks for the link Jack). Several states have OSAGE counties even if there are no actual Osages left in them. HERON must be one of the best hidden ones we’ve had in a while – no I didn’t see it either.
  17. This was on the trickier side for me, but I really enjoyed it. Lots of smiley moments and lols for DARKEN and EUPHRATES. TOADY and AVAST were my first 2 in. EXTRA JAM was a later entry as it took me a while to separate OLD from JAR, despite suspecting JAM from the start. I also found it difficult to equate DUSTER with dredger, but the wordplay was clear. DIVIN(e) as minister also seemed a stretch, but DIVING is definitely leaving a board. Liked TOPMAST, ALTIMETER and SAFETY too. Took me a minute to see the hidden HERON. OSAGE was unknown, but again the wordplay was helpful. Excellent puzzle! 38:14. Thanks setter and Pip.
  18. 5m 56s today and I can’t remember how long it took on the day itself – some of these rang bells and most didn’t (at least consciously).

    Thanks for explaining SOMME, I’ve never heard of SOE or MM, and it was news to me that the SPL had rebranded. Also never heard of EXTRA JAM, so that was my LOI of all the finals puzzles, raising my hand in hope.

    Fortunately I was aware of the film ‘August: Osage County’ (although I haven’t seen it) which helped with 22a.

  19. This ended, as mentioned, in 2013, when it combined with the lower divisions to form the Scottish Professional Football League of which the Premiership is the top Division. In practice little change visible to the naked eye.
  20. 21:54 taking an age to get splurge. I had QMs against mat/felt, SOE/SME, DIVINE, OSAGE, FALLA and dredger / duster.

    Pip, you appear to have made the wrong pick of the 50:50 across / down options in describing your problems with 26.

  21. Zero memory of solving this last time, as evidenced by the fact that I read about ten clues before I had an answer (DUSTER, which seemed locked in despite not making the culinary connection). I certainly didn’t finish it that time. Pleased to have done it in a OK time today.
  22. And I have to admit, I put it on pause and dozed for five minutes during which time I had inspiration, so the time is inaccurate. And to cap it all, I misspelled Altimeter (Altometer). A toughy, though for a short while I thought I’d make it under 20. Then the top left did it for me – especially the Extra Jam which I had to chip away at for ages. Osage and Diving were also late entrants.
  23. Rattled through this very quickly in less than 10 mins, until the west side seized me up. Ditto to most of the comments above, which were the cause of my seizure. Couldn’t see anything but BUCCANEER
  24. with the letters I had so PRIVATEER eventually had to be got from my helper. So obvious! Duh
  25. Mark Knopfler’s Privateering made that a write in. De-light never occurred to me as parsing of that one so thanks for the enlightenment. I’ve heard of Pearl Jam but not Extra Jam as I missed the debate, so that was a pure guess.
  26. Very pleased to have finished this one . Done in 30.46 and no mistakes, hurrah. Found it tough but some lovely clues, particularly liked darken and derriere. Last one in was soused. Took a while to grasp in yer face, isn’t that a bit slangy?

    After the struggles attempting the semi final puzzles last week, this was an uplifting experience. Respect to the solvers who got through this in competition conditions!

  27. Took a while to get started, but then I was right on the wavelength and finished in 33 minutes. It could have all gone wrong in a few places—like Horryd, I was tempted by a SALTIRE, for example—but even though I had a few unparsed I came here to find them all correct nonetheless. Another few years of practice and I might be tempted by the champs…
  28. 32:18. I’m pleased with a decent time on what felt like a tough puzzle. I might’ve been quicker had I remembered the type of vote at 3dn. The Euphrates clue was very nice. Knew of the Osage from reading Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. I never spotted the hidden at 26ac and assumed there was a bird called a ro. A very satisfying solve.
  29. I just got around to finishing this, and this setter is indeed transmitting on a little-used frequency. Which certainly added to the challenge and the thrill. I exclaimed “Aha!” aloud, in a room where a meeting was also going on, when I finally got EUPHRATES.

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