Times 27631 – Tiptoe, through the kitchen….

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time: 21 minutes
Music – Tchaikovsky – Pathetique Symphony, Abaddo/CSO

Another easy Monday today, with very little that will present much of a challenge to our regulars.   No outrageous vocabulary, no cleverly hidden literals, rather simple wordplay using stock cryptic elements – really nothing more than a jumped-up Quickie.   If I was a top solver I would have posted a sub-five-minute time, but I am no such, as most of you have probably figured out by now.

I’ll be inviting all the Quickie solvers to have a go at this one, so perhaps we will see some new avatars today.   It is quite doable, if you happen to have extra time on your hands for some reason.

Across
1 Book to go on coaches — one’s ignored deals (9)
TRANSACTS – TRA[i]NS + ACTS.
9 Sculpture etc. around building is vandalised (7)
TRASHED – ART backwards + SHED.
10 Something highway architect might be asked to design in contract (7)
ABRIDGE – A BRIDGE, of course. I don’t know why I didn’t see it instantly, but I am not a top solver.
11 The old man meeting the devil, said to bring terror (5)
PANIC – PA + NIC[k].
12 Crowd terribly idle is about to be sent on march? (9)
MOBILISED -MOB + anagram of IDLE IS.
13 Nut to leave boy sated, we hear? (7)
FILBERT – sounds like FILL BERT.
15 Gang showing purpose, about to capture a female (5)
MAFIA – AIM backwards around A F.
17 Good for Scots to have English adviser? (5)
GUIDE – GUID + E.
18 Detectives holding up character with bow and arrows? (5)
CUPID -C(UP)ID.
19 Fastener caught wedged in piece of wood (5)
LATCH – LAT(C)H.
20 Hearing about good person from the south (7)
AUSTRAL – AU(ST)RAL.
23 Big beast in union, a dog barking (9)
IGUANODON – Anagram of UNION, A DOG.  A dinosaur, shows you what I know.
25 Notice written by Irish politicians gets to make sense (3,2)
ADD UP – AD + D.U.P., that crucial part of May’s coalition, now forgot.
27 Stop to take in every second of big blue fish (7)
HALIBUT – HAL([b]I[g]B[l]U[e])T, which most solvers will biff.
28 Tiny fellow, almost 11, making contribution to orchestra (7)
TIMPANI -TIM + PANI[c], the most otiose cross-reference ever!
29 Transmitter never working at front of room (5,4)
NERVE CELL – Anagram of NEVER + CELL.
Down
1 A market set up outside university — it’s shocking (6)
TRAUMA – A MART backwards around U – the standard Greek word for ‘wound’, which means something different in English.
2 Basic actor in difficulty with dramatic movements (10)
ACROBATICS – Anagram of BASIC ACTOR.
3 Artist gets covered in an amount of mixed chemicals (4,4)
SODA LIME – SO(DALI)ME.
4 Said to pick items from Pick ‘n’ Mix? (5)
CHEWS – Sounds like CHOOSE.
5 Refuse to give up way and go on hunger strike? (5,4)
STAND FAST – ST AND FAST.
6 Vehicle left outside gym — a bit of a bloomer (6)
CARPEL – CAR(P.E.)L, a botantical reproductive organ, not the similar word describing the wrist that you might put in if you biff the answer.
7 Brood no end? That’s fine (4)
THIN – THIN[k].
8 New cadet, due to be this? (8)
EDUCATED – Anagram of CADET, DUE, a neat &lit.
14 Old writer, expert the French regarded as not worth keeping on (10)
EXPENDABLE – EX PEN + DAB + LE.
16 Agreeing with action on the parade ground (7,2)
FALLING IN – Double definition.
17 Pledge of bloke to suppress an outburst (8)
GUARANTY – GU(A RANT)Y, a spelling not usually used for this meaning.
18 Carpet material maybe getting female unwell in church (8)
CHENILLE -C(HEN ILL)E.
21 Bet agent will appear before second match? (6)
REPLAY – REP + LAY,  Probably a bit of terminology from some UK sport or other.
22 Gradually introduce calm briefly, supporting home (6)
INSTIL – IN + STIL[l].
24 Employer outside hospital who shows people right place? (5)
USHER – US(H)ER, a Quickie clue for sure.
26 Women entitled to dismiss English mothers (4)
DAMS – DAM[e]S

63 comments on “Times 27631 – Tiptoe, through the kitchen….”

  1. I should have whizzed through this one, and pretty much did, but 4d and 7d slowed me down a bunch. Having never heard of Pick ‘n’ Mix, I hesitated over CHEWS (once I had thought of it); it was my POI. LOI was THIN; I first saw WHEN (that’s fine; say when) and proceeded to waste time thinking of how a truncated ‘brood’ would look. 9ac also fooled me; I took ‘around’ to indicate inclusion not reversal, until I finally thought it might be reversal not inclusion.
  2. I echo Lord Vinyl’s words, jump in today’s 15×15 – the water’s lovely.

    My time was slap on 20 minutes and only one problem at my LOI.

    FOI 11ac PANIC – with the grass cut

    LOI 7dn THIN but I could also see SHIN (SHINE with no end) and SHIN perhaps a Scottish brood of chicks without a mother and was probably contrarily thinking of WIDDERSHINS!

    COD 23ac IGUANODON with two ‘O’s

    WOD 17dn GUARANTY

    13ac FILBERT – takes me back to the days of Worthington, Birchenall, Banks, Shilton and Wallington!

    Edited at 2020-04-06 02:44 am (UTC)

  3. 28 minutes, plus only another 5 for the QC so I’m pleased to have the Saturday Jumbo in reserve to occupy me this morning.
      2. Thanks for confirming what I thought but wasn’t sufficiently confident to assume. Kind regards, Bob K
  4. I messed up and put IGUANADON. There is no real excuse since it’s an anagram. And to make it worse, I think I did the same thing last time it showed up in a crossword. Otherwise raced through it in about 15 minutes.

    At 29a you mean anagram of “never” not “nerve” (which is the answer)

    1. Snap Paul. Romped through almost all of this, came to a grinding halt at 7D by obsessing about fine meaning good or penalty, finally breasted the tape at a little over 20 minutes – only to discover this indefensible spello (the elective version of a typo).

      Very sad to see the passing of the great Bill Withers. What a songwriter, and what a man. Worth reading his obit in the Times today.

    3. Glad I wasn’t the only one.

      And it would have been a very fast time, for me. More haste, less speed, or something.

  5. As per vinyl, I found this a typical Monday offering. I was held up a little by FILBERT as on first reading I thought the boy was Phil and couldn’t think how Bert meant sated. And for IGUANODON I was glad to have the anagrist as I’m sure I’ve spelt it with 2 As instead of 2 Os more than once.
  6. 12 minutes, with LOI GUARANTY. It looks like a cross between guarantee and warranty, so let’s hope for double indemnity. I used the carpet fitting instructions for CHENILLE, a material I thought was used in clothing. I don’t recall hazelnuts falling on my head the first time I walked up to Leicester’s Filbert Street ground, but the thought has always stuck in my memory. COD to FALLING IN. We need a Monday puzzle to tell us what day it is, with every day otherwise the same. Thank you V and setter.
  7. Spelt it IGUANADON as I suspect a few will, should really have checked it. Other than that not a too taxing start to the week. Is the ‘maybe’ part of the definition in 18dn? For some reason I didn’t like ‘pick’ appearing twice in 4dn.

    COD 2dn ACROBATICS

    Friday’s answer: the tube station with platform 10 is Baker Street. OK, Moorgate also has a platform 10 but it isn’t a tube platform. Inspired by PADDINGTON (BEAR)

    Today’s question: I do like the way words have evolved away from their original meanings, like TRAUMA. What word now meaning subsidiary literally means ‘concerning maidservants’?

    Should you comment with the answer? Time for a convention here. Perhaps it allows others to have a go if you don’t, but feel free to comment in a way that demonstrates you have solved it without giving it away, if you can!

    1. Bung in the answer or we’ll never know if the first respondent was correct or otherwise. We all might be dead by tomorrow!
  8. …The winged boy I knew.
    25 mins with yoghurt, banana, granola, etc.
    No dramas, although I’m now wondering where I knew Filbert from.
    Thanks setter and Vinyl.
  9. Add me to the ranks of the careless IGAUANADONs this morning. Shame, as other than that blooper I was done in 23 minutes, helped by being propped up on a CHENILLE cushion on my sofa. Ah well. One for the Big List of Words, not that I’m revising it much these days, now I’ve got a proper job again…
  10. I spelt IGUANODON wrong. Again! I even checked and was very pleased with myself for doing so as I spotted my error. I put Iguanedon. Then before submitting I had another look. No “e” in “ Union a dog”. So it had to be Iguanadon. Nope.

  11. 11:33. Very Mondayish. Held up only by THIN and SODA LIME. I liked CHEWS.
  12. happy days! a gentle stroll with the iguana trap avoided, partly because of the anagram, but mostly because I got it wrong last time and remembered.
    Some (but not much) hesitation over whether SODA LIME and GUARANTY were both things. Of course, I remember Lime Soda from when Corona was a lot safer and came round weekly on the lorry
    I have no idea why I remember Gilbert the Filbert, but I do.
  13. Pretty sure I know today’s but shall leave this space intentionally blank so as not to spoil the fun for later readers. One up for the smug classicists 🙂
    1. Yes I think I’ve figured it out too: I’m not a smug classicist but Chambers is quite good on etymology!
  14. I remembered from at least one previous failure that the IGUANODON must not be confused by association with the IGUANA, so pleased to get it right this time. If that first ‘O’ isn’t a checked letter, you can pretty much rely on it catching someone out every time… Otherwise, only briefly delayed by trying to work out how “FULGENT” could possibly be a nut, and realising that the answer is, of course, “it can’t”.
    1. Unfortunately I always remember that iguanodon is either spelled as per iguana or it’s not 😉
  15. As I said at the time, I think the way you worded the question was a bit ambiguous. Moorgate is undoubtedly a tube station, and it has 10 platforms. When I’ve had this question in quizzes it’s been phrased slightly differently: which station has 10 tube platforms, or something similar.
    I will have to think about today’s!
  16. 9:59. No real dramas, although I didn’t know FILBERT and I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what SODA LIME, CHENILLE or AUSTRAL meant. At least I have finally learned that it’s not spelled IGUANADON.
    1. SODA LIME is a chemical used in submarines to control the amount of carbon dioxide in the confined air space
        1. Thanks Jim ! It was my only NHO, and I think I’d prefer a lime’n’soda !
  17. Hugely annoyed because a typo while filling in online means a dreaded red square. Festina lente…
  18. A virtual stroll in the park. Not as pleasant as the real thing but a pleasant diversion whilst not allowed out of the house. Thank goodness we have a garden.
  19. Straightforward. Good start to the week which no longer has a start or end.
  20. 11:57 but I’m still struggling to get to grips with this online solving malarkey. For example, at 8d I carelessly biffed INDUCTED and because I had to look at the keyboard to do so I failed to notice that I’d overtyped the C of PANIC with a U. That wouldn’t have happened on paper.

    No problem with FILBERT (Mrs P is from Leicester and our first born’s name as a bump was Filbert) or IGUANODON (it was thanks to Neil Talbot getting that wrong that I bagged my place in the 2018 Grand Final of the TCC).

  21. A basic work-out exercise. More to savour in the surfaces than their solutions. 19’38.
  22. I got caught out last time IGUANODON appeared (sure someone will enlighten us? Not long ago methinks) so OK this time. The anagram helped. LOI AUSTRAL because I was looking the wrong literal.
  23. Well just got in under the 10 mins and with a WITCH of 98, so all just about according to plan. I did hesitate over SODA LIME, which I’d never heard of, and GUARANTY, which I’d never seen spelled that way. LOI was 7dn – I still think THINK is a bit of a stretch for BROOD…
  24. Another who fell into the dinosaur trap, biffing IGUANADON. Otherwise an enjoyable solve which began with a TRAUMA and ended with a lengthy brood over THIN. No problem with FILBERT, but GUARANTY and AUSTRAL were new to me. 16:49 WOE. Thanks setter and V.
  25. No problems, took care with IGUANODON to use the foder else might have plumped wrongly for the -ADON version. Liked CHEWS my LOI once I saw it. 20 minutes at leisure.
    Did think CHENILLE was more for bedspreads than carpets.
    Back to the Jumbo.
  26. ….having read Vinyl’s message of encouragement on the QC blog, but I got off to a poor start. This was due to trying to fit a book in front of “trans” rather than behind, and then trying to fit some kind of building inside “art”. Hence I was seven clues in before starting.

    Thereafter I plugged away steadily, returning to the NW corner last and finishing with my only biff.

    I’d never considered chenille as “carpet material”, and I thought the first “pick” in 4D should really have been “select”.

    FOI MAFIA
    LOI SODA LIME
    COD REPLAY
    TIME 7:01

    1. Phil, it’s useful to know there’s a rule that ‘on’ in an Across clue means to place afterwards, so A on B = BA.
      1. It’s only taken 40 years for me to become aware of that particular rule ! Thanks Jack.
  27. There are a lot of us in the dinosaur trap, we must be sure to observe the correct social distancing.
  28. 31 mins. All but the THIN/TRASHED crossers complete in 20 mins. No idea why they then took so long to fall, but they did…maybe I wasn’t concentrating properly!

  29. Same as others having learned the hard way how to spell the dinosaur. And same as others wondering about CHENILLE which I thought was interchangeable with candlewick for a kind of bedspread. And ditto Kevin not knowing the sweetie mix. Trollope describes one of his characters (can’t remember which) as having FILBERT nails. Apparently this was a desirable attribute although it’s rather hard to picture. Felt (and was) sluggish this morning 12.56
    1. ‘Framley Parsonage’, which I think I read but don’t remember; I just now Googled ‘filbert nails’. Which refers to ‘a slightly pointed oval nail tip’. I actually had a chenille bedspread when I was a child; could be the only time I’ve ever seen chenille.
  31. Hello everyone – I’ve been reading this blog for a few months, having started with the QCs and now getting better at the 15x15s, and thought I would comment for the first time.

    For the most part I found this not too challenging, but then I messed it all up by not knowing “filbert” and putting in “fulgent” (thinking that boy = gent worked similarly to boy = chap from Friday). I did fall into the “iguanadon” trap, but quickly spotted the error, and I nearly put “standing to” for 16d, which to my mind sounded like it could almost mean “agreeing”, before 15a put paid to that. Had never heard of chenille but trusted the wordplay.

    No idea of a time, I’m afraid, It always takes at least two separate goes for me to get anywhere near completing these anyway.

    2. Welcome aboard. And I shouldn’t worry about time, especially as it doesn’t have any meaning for lots of us at the moment…
  32. After reading Vinyl’s words on the QC blog, I was expecting a walk in the park. But the government didn’t allow it as I’d already had my one form of exercise a day taking the dog out earlier.
    Most went in easily enough including FILBERT, the first football ground I visited having lived in Leicester as a young boy. Had to piece SODA LIME together which delayed MAFIA. After about an hour,last two were GUIDE (COD for me) and GUARANTY before coming here and finding that I too had fallen into the elephant trap -aka IGUANADON. David
  33. 13.20 but rushed the answer to 13 across and got it wrong. Impatience undoing me again. Enjoyed the crossword, started off quickly but got stuck in the NE corner which slowed me up considerably. COTD 13 across even though I blew it. Also liked 20 ac and 1 ac which was my FOI.
  34. Grrrr!!! Heading for a world record time of 30 mins and only 13a to fill (or full?) in.. Surely “sated“ = “full”, not “fill“. So it had to be “fulgent“, whatever that means – Grrr! (ok, I do realise that “gent” does not = “boy“, but I’m a novice)
    1. The cryptic indication is a homophone of “(to) leave boy sated” i.e. fill Bert. I suppose you could view “to leave” as the link between def and WP in which case “full Bert” would apply but I don’t recall seeing leave used in that way before. Either way there isn’t a nut called a fulgent unfortunately.
  36. Didn’t feel like I was particularly off the wavelength but guess I must have been.

    Took three visits to finish.

  37. DNF. I polished off this gentle offering in a smidge under 22 mins but apparently I (iguana)don’t know how to spell iguanodon. I’m sure I got it wrong the last time it came up. I’m off to write out 100 times: I must learn how to spell iguanodon correctly.
  38. Well, got there in the end so I suppose that means it was easy, but it certainly didn’t feel that easy along the way. Held up by a lack of appropriate GK for Filbert and Chenille, both of which I had to check with Google, and a very bleak NW corner (frontier) until I saw Trauma. Invariant
    1. Weren’t FILBERT & CHENILLE a 70’s band ? Ah, no, ’twas Captain and Tennille 🙂
  39. I’m plodding through Ulysses at the moment (for what feels more like punishment rather than pleasure) and chenille cropped up in some passage or other today, and I thought to myself, ‘best remember that word – it’ll pop up in the crossword at some point’.

    The world works in mysterious ways.

    Martin Hill

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