Times 27717 – bird watching.

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

A mostly straightforward puzzle, this, but with a few odd bits that caused me to slow down at the end. A bird I didn’t know but was clear from the wordplay, and another three letter bird I’d seen before in crosswordland but not in real life; an eighteenth century naughty painting which caused controversy in its day and looks anatomically strange to me. A definition at 12a I thought was just incorrect, but apparently in America it isn’t. What does it mean in Quebec, I wonder?

Across
1 Judge excessive, editor noted (6)
JOTTED – J (judge) OTT (over the top, excessive), ED(itor).
4 Celebrity outdoes returning long-distance traveller (8)
SPACEMAN – All reversed: NAME (celeb) CAPS (outdoes).
9 Altered damaged mechanism (7)
TREADLE – (ALTERED)*.
11 Stomach remedy that could be formic? (7)
ANTACID – ANT ACID could come from ants, as formic acid does.
12 Register point over US earthquake, not very impressive (5)
ENTER – Well the explanation of this is probably quite simple, but I can’t fathom it yet. ‘point over’ perhaps = NE reversed = EN, if you will. TER… ? Is earthquake an anagram indicator? When someone explains it, I’ll amend the blog and give credit to the commenter. EDIT:kudos to jackkt for explaining        this below, it’s EPIC dropped off EPICENTER with the American spelling. Not very impressive indeed.
13 Steak main course absorbing company time (9)
ENTRECOTE – ENTREE (main course?) absorbs CO and T. I didn’t quite get this, as in my life the main course is always the plat and the entrée is the starter. Sans doute, mon ami. But apparently it can be different in America. Zut alors, as I’ve never yet heard a Frenchman say.
14 Gory evidence no tabloids must get wrong (10)
BLOODSTAIN – (NO TABLOIDS).
16 Who might stock lazy Susan (a revolutionary female?) (4)
CHEF – CHE (Guevara), F(emale). A lazy Susan is one of those round things on a freely revolving base, with shaped dishes full of tasty bits; we’ve got two of them for some reason.
19 Petrol with lead in pump’s rapid air intake? (4)
GASP – GAS (petrol) P (lead in pump).
20 Cleaner trapping father over eavesdropper (10)
WIRETAPPER – WIPER (cleaner) has PATER reversed inserted.
22 Change of policy: you are to arrest visiting solicitor (9)
TURNABOUT – TOUT (solicitor) is visited by U, R and NAB = you, are, arrest.
23 Doctor with unit is a lazy person (5)
DRONE – DR (doctor) ONE (unit). Collins has this meaning, a parasite or loafer.
25 Scraping good assessment (7)
GRATING – G, RATING.
26 Search odd-looking magician (7)
RUMMAGE – RUM (odd looking) MAGE (magician).
27 Late, perhaps holding it back? (8)
RETICENT – RECENT (late) insert IT.
28 Like volunteers, give assistance after UN pressure (6)
UNPAID – UN, P for pressure, AID for assistance.

Down
1 Nervous person lowering head of beer in beer mug (9)
JITTERBUG – JUG = mug, BITTER = beer, lower the head > ITTERB, insert into JUG.
2 Something special English found in Italian restaurant (5)
TREAT – TRAT(toria) has E inserted.
3 Fuss after the Spanish note gold here? (8)
ELDORADO – EL (the Spanish) D (note) OR (gold) ADO (fuss).
5 Sole island with more spruce for a variety of bird (8-5)
PLANTAIN-EATER – PLANTA (sole of foot) I (island) NEATER (more spruce). Apparently the plantain-eater is an African bird of the turaco family, which sometimes eats plantains. See pic above. I’d never heard of it, nor seen it in a crossword before, but the word play left me in no doubt. And as a frequent sufferer from plantar fasciitis, until I discovered Fit-flop shoes, I know where my planta is.
6 Caught servant hiding key — one who sold the family silver? (6)
CUTLER – C (caught) BUTLER loses his “key” B.
7 Animal implant — note reptile with it (9)
MICROCHIP – MI (note) CROC (reptile) HIP (with it).
8 Elbow’s good in, eg, Goya’s Naked Maja (5)
NUDGE – Insert G into a NUDE painting such as the MAJA DESNUDA by Goya. I went for a sneaky look; her chesty parts don’t look quite right to me.
10 Sort of concert regal involving current? (8,5)
ELECTRIC ORGAN – (CONCERT REGAL I)*. I for current here.
15 With eyes open, he died needing help at home (9)
OBSERVANT – OB(it) = he died, SERVANT = help at home.
17 Make stuff for church, getting paid (5-4)
FORCE-FEED – FOR, CE (church) FEED = paid. Neat definition.
18 Days in bars with chap, brass player perhaps (8)
BANDSMAN – BANS (bars), insert D, add MAN a chap.
21 Madman trapping bird in raincoat (6)
MANIAC – MAC (raincoat) has ANI (a cuckoo-like bird I did know) inserted.
22 Row involving head of giant cat (5)
TIGER – insert G(iant) into TIER = row.
24 US city in Oklahoma? Hardly (5)
OMAHA – hidden city in OKLAH(OMA HA)RDLY. It’s in Nebraska, on the Missouri. Never been, and probably never will, now, unless Warren Buffet invites me.

​

59 comments on “Times 27717 – bird watching.”

  1. Fairly steady progress, although WIRETAPPER was a long time coming, as were POI FORCE-FEED (my COD), and for some reason LOI CHEF. DNK PLANTAIN-EATER, and biffed it, parsing post-submission; having once had a plantar wart as a child helped. ANI used to appear every other day in the NYT; they seem finally to have grown tired of it.
  2. I sympathise with you Pip, as my experience of plantar fasciitis also helped me in getting PLANTAIN EATER. I finished with an unparsed ENTER so thanks to Jack for sorting that one out. I’m glad I didn’t spend too long trying to parse it.
  3. 12a held me up for a few minutes at the end, so I’m glad to see I wasn’t the only one. Still, finished in a smidge under half an hour, so while it’s the hardest of the week so far it didn’t cause me much trouble.

    Other holdups were 4a, which I assumed would start with STAR…,, and the unknown 5d PLANTAIN EATER, though “luckily” I have also had plantar fasciitis (and had plantain for breakfast a few times), so it seemed plausible in the end.

    FOI 1a JOTTED LOI the aforementioned 12a ENTER, COD 11a ANTACID. I’d almost forgotten formic acid’s connection with ants; I mostly use it in the form of Kilrock when I’m descaling the kettle.

    1. Also Italian for ant. A favourite book of mine is Ender’s Game, in which the killer aliens were nicknamed “buggers”. They made a film of it and renamed them “formics”. I liked it but it was a major flop, even with Harrison Ford & Ben Kingsley.
  4. It’s {epic}ENTER (point over…earthquake – US spelling) [not very impressive].

    Edited at 2020-07-15 05:27 am (UTC)

  5. Slightly unsettling solve, answers that had to be, but with impenetrable wordplay e.g. ENTER, and the vaguely-remembered PLANTAIN-EATER. And a few that don’t quite work for me: RETICENT and ELECTRIC ORGAN as &lits. Also hung up on “Make” being meaningful in the 17 dn clue. Got there in the end, so the clueing must have been good enough. Liked CUTLER and MICROCHIP best.
      1. But a concert regal isn’t. According to Google and dictionaries.
        Sort of regal involving current would have been a brilliant clue, but throwing in a random clunky word in the middle ruins it for me.
  6. 42 minutes for this. I was slightly baffled by the unknown birds at 21dn and 5dn, the latter also containing the unknown word for ‘sole’ in wordplay, but I took the plunge in both cases and got away with it. I missed the wordplay completely at 20 ac so thanks to Pip for explaining it.
  7. I did most of this fairly quickly but got stuck on LOI which was WIRETAPPER. And I should have got there sooner as we have just started to watch “The Wire”.

    We are just two episodes into Season 1 – and so far so good. Though if we stick with it, it’s going to be quite a commitment of time. Which, as I approach the 7th decade of my life, gives me pause for thought. There will be a lot of roads not taken as a result of watching murders in Baltimore.

    COD: FORCE-FEED.

    Edited at 2020-07-15 07:07 am (UTC)

    2. I found it’s much easier to follow if you have subtitles on. First time I watched it, I didn’t really know what was going on, but second time around with subs on, I realised I had missed so much.
      2. Yes, others have advised this. Thanks. We get it through Now TV and there doesn’t appear to be a subtitles option. So far we think we are managing ….,
  8. This SPACEMAN wonders why we seem to frequently get a very long way down the list of extremely obscure birds, but seldom seem get off page one when it comes to stars, satellites, etc.

    Why the apparent bias in favour of ornithologists?

  9. 41 minutes. LOI and COD FORCE FEED. I also liked JITTERBUG, RETICENT, UNPAID and CUTLER. Penultimate WIRETAPPER was a good clue too, one I struggled with too much. In my 1950s train spotting years the Master Cutler was the train from Sheffield to London, variously to Marylebone, Kings Cross and St Pancras, my research has just revealed. Quite interesting? Well, I thought it was. I had no idea what was going on with ENTER, I’m pleased to say, and whereas I got CHEF quite quickly, the LAZY SUSAN stuff seemed over-complicated. Good puzzle though. Thank you Pip and setter.
  10. A bit of a curate’s egg for me: a fast(ish) time but ages spent on the very clunky 12a; some answers entered unparsed (I spent a long time trying to understand WIRETAPPER with just PA reversed); one very forced and unnatural definition in ELECTRIC ORGAN; one superb definition in FORCE FEED, my COD by several lengths. Thanks Pip and setter.

    Good to see a lengthy and considered reply by Peter B to the mini-uprising in Conciseland on Sunday. He just about convinces me.

  11. So far so good this week, nitches all below 80. I knew the US for verruca was plantar wart so was reasonably confident about the banana bird. Didn’t understand (epic)ENTER, thanks for the explanation. Is RETICENT a semi &lit clue?

    COD: TURNABOUT, lovely surface.

    Yesterday’s answer: XMASCARA is a dingbat for ‘kiss and make up’.

    Today’s question: banana is a six-letter word with every other letter a, can you think of a twelve-letter one?

    1. A time unfortunately before a revolutionary twist in Greek cuisine (12)
    4. I’ve altered my clue for AAAAAAA. I think it’s better than it was.

      Sadly a revolutionary withdraws thanks for Greek food (12)

  12. 30 mins with yoghurt, granola, banana, blueberry compote.
    The surfaces just felt a bit clunky.
    Thanks setter and Pip.
  13. 16.16 for this, some very easy clues – DRONE, RUMMAGE slowing me down because I couldn’t imagine they were THAT easy.
    I thought I’d parsed JITTERBUG in the moments before submission, remembering that it had been clued as a (for once) amusing Spooner contribution not so long ago, but of course that didn’t quite work, and Thanks are due to Pip for putting me straight.
    The ANI is useful as one of those late entry combinations in Scrabbly games. Good to know it’s a bird.
    Omaha indelibly linked to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Lady Fanny thereof.
  14. Hmmm. Quite a US-centric crossie today. ENTER (as in center) JITTERBUG, ENTREE, and OMAHA. Not too difficult though, all done and dusted in 30mins. Biffed ENTER, so thanks for the explanation Jackkt. Never heard of the bird either as others have said, it had to be. Loi FORCE-FEED. COD 13ac. Mmmmm.
  15. Thanks Pip for PLANTA. Not something I knew. nor did I know NIA. Also thanks for TURNABOUT which I couldn’t parse fully.
    Like you, Pip, I’m used to an ENTREE being at the beginning.
    COD to FORCE FEED. Feed = paid is very good.
    WCOD (Worst COD) to ENTER. As sawbill says, it’s too clunky.
  16. 8:51. Quite a lot of biffing in the face of impenetrable wordplay today. Plantar fasciitis hasn’t featured in the catalogue of running injuries I’ve sustained over the years, which is perhaps why I failed to make the connection and so hesitated over the bird.
    Several others I hadn’t parsed so thanks for the elucidations.

    Edited at 2020-07-15 07:39 am (UTC)

  17. As for others got there in the end but with some head scratching along the way. Couldn’t parse ENTER – well done Jack. Not the best of clues. ELECTRIC ORGAN clue is odd. No problem with the birds – both met before in crossword land. Liked FORCE FEED and ANTACID
  18. Not enjoyed even with the two bird mentions. Too clunky and too American. I biffed ENTER but really?
  19. 15:02 with last 5 minutes on the NE corner. NHO PLANTA or the bird at 5D and took ages to see the servant at 6D. Managed to parse ENTER and thought “What?”. COD to the chemically correct ANTACID.
  22. 20’27, as has been said a little unsettling here and there. However though I too didn’t parse ‘enter’ now I see it I think it’s a superb clue, entirely legitimate and outwitting any number along the way. Couldn’t have placed the planta but the bird itself seemed to cheep faintly. Having seen mentally challenged children being force-fed I find ‘make stuff’ not so wonderful somehow. But a commendably interesting puzzle.
  23. All correct, and after two days in a row of typos, carefully checked for potential errors. I even made sure I had a satisfactory explanation for ENTER, which was quite a tricky one. OMAHA immediately took me back to watching Peyton Manning play (American football fans will know what I mean).
  24. mostly held up by the bird, and the very easy clue which I inexplicably couldn’t fathom – CUTLER my LOI.
    BTW I am unable to solve on my Ipad at the moment, but all seems to be well on the computer. Is it just me?
  25. ….”Urban SPACEMAN” I had speed. But I didn’t quite have “everything I need” as I knew JITTERBUG only as a dance, and the PLANTAIN-EATER was a bird I’d never encountered. Fortunately I knew the word “plantigrade” and would have struggled without it.

    I had to come here to parse ENTER. Simply awful clue.

    FOI JOTTED
    LOI WIRETAPPER (wot, no hyphen ?)
    COD FORCE-FEED
    TIME 8:25

    Edited at 2020-07-15 11:11 am (UTC)

  26. It took a while but I did finally see [epic]ENTER. The word’s been endlessly in the news since early spring with the “epicenter” of the virus moving from NYC in April to Florida et al now. The entree is indeed the main course in even the poshest French restaurants here. When I was in post-op after having my knee replaced the phys. therapist helping me to get on my feet managed to dislodge the dressing with the result that there were BLOODSTAINs everywhere. When the head nurse came in I told her “the butler did it” and she was deeply unamused. 12.57
    1. Quelle horreur !
      I hardly ever go to NY French restaus (and certainly never the poshest), but the one I have been to several times (LE GAMIN) does not commit such a faux pas. (Gee, I wonder if they’re doing take-out…)

      Edited at 2020-07-15 09:41 pm (UTC)

  27. Like others I was baffled by ENTER and just biffed it. Also thought ELECTRIC ORGAN was a bit strange. Remembered the ANI, and the PLANTAIN EATER, but didn’t know what PLANTA was, so hesitated over that. FORCE FEED, CHEF and CUTLER were my last 3 in. TREAT went in first. 29:07. Thanks setter and Pip.
  28. Another frustrating day with two wrong – linetapper and specimen 😡 I know – don’t enter it if you can’t make it work! But sometimes (no often) I can’t parse answers, and they’re still right. ENTER was one such today, and I was confused by ELECTRIC ORGAN – it seemed unfinished somehow.

    Got PLANTAIN EATER without getting the planta part, and I too have had the horrid foot condition. Note that was in the past – two years of pain, physio and shoe inserts did the trick! Never had a problem since. Hope yours recover too.

    FOI Antacid
    LOI Not spaceman!
    COD Antacid
    DNF

    Thanks all

  29. Had all but 5d and 20a after 15 mins. Then proceeded to take another 24 mins to eventually scrape planta from my subconscious and limp home in 39.01. Not good.
  31. Not quite as pacy as the last two days. Held up by forgetting PLANTA until I got round to actually typing it in. Some nice defs today.
  32. Bit of a trial with some lucky guesses. 23.02. The winning guesses were Omaha, just stopped myself putting in Osaka, and plantain eater didn’t think it could be anything else but convinced when the p yielded spaceman. Never come across plants before.
    Good midweek test, will now look at other submissions to see where I line up.
  33. Like many others hadn’t a clue why enter was right and still only partially enlightened.
      1. Read the explanation, all makes sense. Now only need to comprehend the meaning of life…
  34. Not too bad for my 3rd cryptic of the day. 23:06. Biffed ENTER (as did many others), but also TURNABOUT, which went in with a shrug and a prayer!

    Thanks for the explanations on those clues.

  35. I really didn’t like this one today. Made me feel uncomfortable with clumsy surfaces and a US slant. I’m guessing it’s a new setter because it’s so different from what I have become used to. Didn’t really feel like a Times puzzle at all.
    1. Couldn’t agree more! New York Times perhaps, London Times definitely not. Stephen
  36. I would occasionally see Plantain Eaters when I lived in Sierra Leone a long time ago – beautiful birds – but never heard of the other bird “Ani/Nia’. Like many other comments above, I also thought “Enter” both obscure and clumsy. Wouldn’t “point of US earthquake” be more logical?
  37. Took nearly an hour today just lazing around, and I agree with everyone that this was not the best of puzzles. But after reading the blog it is a bit better than I thought it was, since originally I didn’t understand that the JUG in JITTERBUG was the coating for ITTER-B, so to speak, and that the clue was not a Spoonerism of BITTER JUG. I also saw DO as the note in ELDORADO and couldn’t see what business the R had being there. And of course I didn’t understand ENTER. At least ANTACID was amusing, and would be my COD.
  38. 15:36 I found this pretty straightforward delayed only by bothering to parse enter, needing to recall plantar fasciititis to give me the confidence to put in plantain-eater and operating for most of the puzzle with a 1dn inspired Wham! – Wake me up before you go-go – earworm.
  39. Late to the blog again, but this was done fairly quickly last night. Guessed at CUTLER, all else was clear.

    One day while on vacation in Paris some years ago, I suddenly couldn’t walk without intense pain in one foot. Hobbling to les Galeries Lafayette, I bought a pair of Mephistos and seemed instantly cured. However, the podiatrist I saw on returning to the states prescribed arch supports, and gave me to believe that I would have to rely on them for the rest of my life. Turned out not to be true, but I have stuck with Mephistos. Oh—the point is, the problem was my PLANTAR tendon, bien sûr.

    I’ll never cease to find the American usage of “entrée” annoying.

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