Times 27723 – Stretched to the limit.

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I found this difficult, and rather frustrating. When I did get the answers to some of the clues, I was much more in ‘I suppose so’ mode than ‘of course, that’s clever’. In fact I thought several – 1a, 17a, 24a, 15d, for example – were a stretch too far, definition wise. Also, we had General Knowledge; the old name of an airport that few outside of Ireland may have heard of, a city requiring knowledge of F1 racing to identify, a fictional game, an obscure prewar artist, and a man’s name defined simply by ‘fellow’, another by ‘singer’. However, some of the clues were very good; I liked 1d when I eventually saw it, vague definition or not; likewise the constructions of 5d and 7d.
I’ll be interested to see what others made of it. Is this a setter we haven’t seen before? It felt like it.

Across
1 Understood what’s ahead of Daniel, heading off to join the navy? (2,2,3)
GO TO SEA – Well the Book of Hosea follows Daniel in the Protestant OT, so I suppose it can be considered “ahead of” as further into the text, rather than behind, in a convoluted way. GOT = understood, then HOSEA loses his H.
5 Bumming around, thank God, at home, before golf (7)
CADGING – CA (around), DG (Deo Gratia, thanks be to God), IN (at home) G for golf. I don’t know whether the same meanings apply in non-UK regions, but to ‘bum’ e.g. a cigarette is to ask for one with no immediate intention of returning the favour.
9 Lend, going crazy with a loan for everyone! (3,3,3)
ONE AND ALL – (LEND A LOAN)*.
10 This diary is not, oddly, about people (5)
IRISH – Reverse ‘this diary is’ and take alternate letters; s I y R a I d S i H t. Random ‘people’ or nationality for a definition.
11 City’s hotel in short somewhere for a chap to go (5)
GHENT – H for hotel in GENTS (somewhere for a chap to go) shortened.
12 In pilgrims’ airport, drink is cheap (9)
KNOCKDOWN – KNOCK being once an Irish airport, now properly named Ireland West, 20 km from the village of Knock and in the middle of not much else in County Mayo, where Catholic pilgrims go to visit a shrine in pilgrimage; DOWN meaning drink, as a verb.
13 Reputation state bank gets from customer (8,5)
STANDING ORDER – STANDING (reputation) ORDER (state, as in the state of untidiness or otherwise).
17 However classy my side’s boldness, say nothing! (6,4,3)
BUTTON YOUR LIP – BUT (however) TONY (classy?) OUR (my side’s) LIP (boldness). Does ton-y mean having tone, having class?
21 The English punt and scrap in seven-a-side game (9)
QUIDDITCH – QUID (English translation of the Irish PUNT), DITCH (scrap). Computer graphics generated game in the Harry Potter series of movies, based on the books.
24 Turnip chopped with one’s stuffing: what could be fresher? (5)
NEWIE – a NEEP is a Scottish turnip; chop the P and insert W(ith) I (one). I’ve never heard this word used for a fresher or indeed in a wider sense in place of ‘newbie’, but Webster’s says it was first used in 1832.
25 Where you’d have seen GP turning in referral, ominously (5)
IMOLA – hidden in REFERR(AL OMI)NOUSLY; small city in Italy where the San Marino F1 Grand Prix often takes place, as opposed to Monza where the Italian GP is usually held. I’ve only watched it on TV.
26 Not popular: as one penning trendy verse? (9)
UNINVITED – UNITED (as one) has IN V(erse) inserted.
27 Devices for shutting up after caging very loud woodpeckers (7)
YAFFLES – FF (very loud) goes into YALES as in Yale locks. Yaffles being woodpeckers appeared in another puzzle I blogged recently, and I was surprised then how few solvers knew it; should do better this time.
28 Artist, one overdoing it, placed on stretcher (7)
RACKHAM – RACK (stretcher) HAM (one overding it, over-acting). Arthur Rackham was a famous illustrator of children’s books in the 1930s.

Down
1 Lots of eggs eaten by just one revolting fellow (6)
GEORGE – One egg EGG has ROE lots of eggs inside, and all is reversed or revolting, to give our random chap.
2 Wealthy travellers, alien, descended on by NY gang (3,3,3)
THE JET SET – ET the alien is after THE JETS the NY gang along with the Sharks in West Side Story.
3 Singer, needing no introduction, recalled material from the Highlands and Islands (7)
SINATRA – Material from the Scottish Highlands is TARTAN; lose the first T (need no introduction), add IS for Islands, reverse it all. To get one of a few million singers our setter could have chosen to clue.
4 Regrettably, miss promotion after top grade, always (9)
ALACKADAY – A (top grade), LACK AD (miss promotion) AY (always). Not a word I’d really know, but I knew LACKADAY which means the same, and just added the A.
5 Little room, inside case, for musical instrument (5)
CELLO – CELL for little room and O being inside the “case” of FOR. I wanted LOO to come into it somehow, but the penny wasn’t to be spent.
6 Kid not prepared to eat last of sister’s toast (5,2)
DRINK TO – Insert R (last of sister) into (KID NOT)*. Toast as a verb.
7 Jones needing a single shot? (5)
INIGO – IN ONE GO or IN 1 GO would be a single shot. Mr Jones the early architect chap.
8 Bloodthirsty guards suspended fast (2,6)
GO HUNGRY – GORY (bloodthirsty, at a stretch) has HUNG (suspended) guarded inside. Surely gory means bloody, not bloodthirsty?
14 Argue hint could be more suggestive (9)
NAUGHTIER – At last a straightforward clue. (ARGUE HINT)*.
15 Thief’s a charmer, but less of a dazzler? (9)
DIPSWITCH – A thief is a dip, and a charmer is a witch, so a DIP’S A CHARMER = DIPSWITCH. It’s the dipped headlights which are less of a dazzler, not the switch which causes them to be dipped…
16 Resignation statement in University Times, it being all over (8)
UBIQUITY – I QUIT (resignation statement) goes inside U BY (times).
18 A great time is had with leftover rum (7)
ODDBALL – Have a BALL, have a great time; after ODD = leftover. As in ‘finished all but the odd drop’ perhaps.
19 Desire cleaner for the school holidays (4,3)
LONG VAC – LONG (for) = desire, VAC as in vacuum cleaner.
20 Uproar after daughter’s dropped old woman (6)
BELDAM – BEDLAM = uproar, place of such; the D moves down or is ‘dropped’. A beldam is an old lady as a belsire is an old man. From French, abbr. of belle dame. I knew that my belle mère or belmère was my French mother-in law so it followed I could see what a beldam was.
22 Pot mostly in the air: I refuse to fill it (2-3)
IN-OFF – An IN-OFF is one sort of scoring pot in billiards and an unwanted pot in snooker. My thought on this is NO (I refuse) going inside (R)IFF for ‘the air mostly’, or maybe IFF(Y) meaning up in the air?
23 Sort of square, man’s tie (5)
TRUSS – T square has RUSS a random chap as in Russ Conway (remember him?) added.

92 comments on “Times 27723 – Stretched to the limit.”

  1. Obviously on the harder end of the spectrum, and intentionally so, but I had a good time throughout, with successive PDMs bringing much delight.

    I couldn’t parse IN-OFF until afterwards, but I agree with the IFF{y} interpretation.

  2. I had difficulty parsing several of these – GEORGE, NEWIE and TRUSS in particular – which slowed me down as I’m loth to end the decent streak I’m on.

    I got YAFFLES from Professor Yaffle in Bagpuss. Does that count as a ninja turtle? I can’t remember if the answer has to be highbrow to count as one.

    1. I’m loath to give you any advice while you are on such a great streak pootle – but be careful with the spelling. 😀
      1. I’m loth to reply, but it’s also an accepted (if a bit antiquated) spelling.
  3. Pleased to have finished after staring at 5A and 5D for ages.

    Could we have a LONG VAC from the UNINVITED UBIQUITY of YAFFLES please?

  4. A 52-minute struggle with a lot of never- and barely-heard-ofs, with the question marks in the margin approaching double figures. I didn’t help myself having BUTTON ONE’S LIP in 17a for a while, either. FOI 1a GO TO SEA LOI 5a CADGING, not knowing DG as an abbreviation. Still, at least I got there in the end…

    Thanks for working your way through this one for us, Pip. I got 22 from “iffy”, myself, but I don’t know if it was luck or judgement.

    Edited at 2020-07-22 06:31 am (UTC)

  5. Far too much obscurity here for my liking, both in answers and bits of wordplay.

    I got within 4 of solving it without resorting to aids but the remainder were all concentrated in the SE corner and by that stage I already had several answers elsewhere that were either unparsed or I would have to look up bits of GK to check, and I rapidly lost patience with it all.

    NHO’s included RACKHAM and NEWIE.

    I can enjoy a puzzle that’s tough but scrupulously fair, but this one smacked of obscurity for its own sake.

    Edited at 2020-07-22 05:41 am (UTC)

  6. Congratulations Pip on wading your way through this loose and obscure nonsense and managing in your blog to express your feelings without being overtly rude to this setter. I would not have been quite so kind.
  7. …The years to come seemed waste of breath,
    A waste of breath the years behind
    In balance with this life, this death.

    30 mins to leave the (for me) ungettable two: Alackaday/Knockdown – so gave up and glad I did.
    Also NHO DG, thank God.
    Mostly I liked Drink To – great clue.
    Thanks setter and Pip.

  8. I stuck at this having failed to complete the last two days’ puzzles. I limped over the line in just less than an hour.

    I thought it was a bit of a Curate’s Egg, with one of its good parts, GEORGE, being made from nothing but eggs.

    I’m not sure I buy “inside case for” = O. I’d have thought, “Inside the case of for”, was needed?

    Quidditch was a recent word to clue in The Sunday Times Clue Writing contest. The prize winner will be declared next week, I think.

    COD: GEORGE.

  9. If you will accept OUR for my side, i think you might accept YOUR also, then classy is just TON. I would not be happy with either 😅, as i was not for a lot of clues here, too JUDE for me.
  10. A DNF. This crossword left me totally bewildered. I gave up after staring at 4d, 27ac and 12ac for more than 10 mins. So came here for some solace. Thank you Pip for the elucidations as a number on the clues I did get right were more guesses than properly worked out. I did quite like 8d though.
  11. Struggled through this but pleased to finish. Some iffy ones there IMO – ‘revolting’ meaning upwards? (GEORGE) I know up means in revolt, but. And ‘inside case, for’ for O is a bit dodge. NAUGHTIER was a relief to have a straightforward anagram.

    COD: QUIDDITCH – liked English punt (needed blog explanation though)

    Yesterday’s answer: Sadiq Khan had 1,148,716 people voting for him directly in 2016, which I think is the most ever.

    Today’s question: which 90-year-old composer and lyricist was also a cryptic crossword setter?

    1. He arranges change in dimes then phones (7,8)

      Edited at 2020-07-22 10:58 am (UTC)

  12. Yep, I got GO TO SEA straightaway. HOSEA 6:6 if you’re wondering. Prophets 1 Priests 0. I was 38 minutes with LOI YAFFLES, which I didn’t know. I well remember Russ Conway and Side Saddle etc. He had a finger missing, didn’t he? I’m giving COD to KNOCKDOWN as that was the one that gave me most pleasure to solve. Fingers were crossed for BELDAM. I enjoyed this but I had the knowledge apart from the birds, where the cryptic and crossers left no doubt. Thank you Pip and setter.
    1. I remember: after a long absence from public life, Russ Conway made a comeback on one of those lunchtime shows a few years ago. He played Sidesaddle, of course, but the years had taken their toll and as he neared the end, his fingers tangled. Mortifying.
      1. I was amazed to find dear old Russ might still be alive.. but according to Wiki he died 20 years ago
  13. 30 minutes plus a couple of seconds, with CELLO and IN-OFF entered with fingers crossed, the latter because it was the only letter mix I could come up with which include the hyphen, the former with the O unaccounted for.
    BUTTON YOUR LIP without getting the TONY bit: Chambers give (sl) high-toned; fashionable, so that gives some confirmation.
    The England cricketers put -ie on the end of everyone: Stokesie, Rootie, and so on, so I suppose a neophyte would be NEWIE for a while, though I’ve not come across it without the B in before.
    Congratulations to Pip on unscrewing this lot: at least for once Wednesday has not been an embarrassing stroll. Be careful what you wish for!
  14. 27:38. That was like drawing teeth. LOI BELDAM, which I’d never heard of. dnk THE PILGRIMS’ AIRPORT EITHER, BUT IT HAD TO BE. I failed to parse several and still find some of the wordplay a little obscure after Pip’s helpful explanations. Thanks, and well untangled PIP. At least I remembered YAFFLeS once I saw the Y. For 22D I had {n}IFF for the air. Whatevs. I liked UBIQUITY best.

    Edited at 2020-07-22 07:15 am (UTC)

  15. As mentioned here perhaps as recently as last week,I’m not averse to having YOUR instead of ONE’S in well-known phrases as they appear, but is it a coincidence after years of accepting that it will always be ONE’S that we have had two examples of YOUR in such close proximity time-wise? I wonder if an executive decision been taken, is there a conspiracy of setters, or has one of them turned rogue?
    2. But it’s quite clear in this case from the definition that it’s an imperative, and so ‘button your lip’ is correct.
      1. True, but my point is that the context hasn’t stopped them in the past. In all the years I have been blogging I can’t recall seeing ‘your’ more than three or four times including the recent occasion and today so that we’d taken it pretty much as a convention. As stated above I have no objection to it at all, but it’s still enough of a novelty to merit comment.
        1. But here “your” is not an alternative to “one’s”. To be in the imperative mood, as indicated by the definition, it has to be “your”.

          Otherwise, I agree, we should go with the convention.

      2. >it’s quite clear in this case from the definition that it’s an imperative

        Not necessarily. E.g. “In these situations it’s best to say nothing / button ones lip”.

        1. How do you account then for the exclamation mark at the end of the definition, which I would suggest makes it clear that it is in this case an imperative?
          1. It’s conventional to ignore punctuation and even if that weren’t the case there’s no obligation to read the exclamation as specifically attached to ‘say nothing’ (rather than just indicating something unusual or humour out about the clue as a whole for instance).
            1. Yes, I do understand that it’s conventional to ignore punctuation when it would otherwise interfere with the smooth reading of the clue. In this case, however, the exclamation mark has been deliberately added, when it is not strictly necessary. (There is, as you will know, another convention about punctuation at the end of a clue.) Here it immediately follows the definition, so I think it reasonable to assume that it is part of it. (The separation of wordplay and definition by a comma would tend to reinforce this.) If intended to relate to the clue as a whole, it would add little if anything to the surface reading.
              1. There’s nothing In the clue to tell you that the exclamation mark must be attached to the definition. Even if it is, you can only know this retrospectively, so if (like me) you’ve got used to the previously firmly-applied convention that answers like this will always use ONES then it’s of no help.

                Edited at 2020-07-22 05:51 pm (UTC)

    3. Last time I went straight for YOUR (so I may have had a checking letter) but today I went with ONE’S (I couldn’t unravel the wordplay) and caused myself big problems with the two crossing answers.
    1. The airport was a concoction of the Catholic Church and the Irish Tourist Board. They saw jetloads of people zooming from all over the world to Lourdes and Santiago, and thought “We’ll have a bit of that.” They just didn’t take it into consideration that the shrine and the airport are in the middle of an otherwise empty boggy plain, where the daily rainfall is about 19 inches or so, the drink is stout rather than rioja, and the cuisine is definitely not a la gallega.
  18. Set by a good Irish Catholic, methinks. Knock, DG, Punt, Irish. No problem with ‘tony’ – been used before.
      1. Hi Phil. This American has never heard of either NEWIE or LONG VAC. Don’t blame us!
        1. Apparently LONG VAC is English Public School slang, so I was wrong on that one. NEWIE is a mystery.
  19. I got fed up with all the wilful obscurity in this and gave up. Things started badly with HOSEA in 1ac and then the ridiculously Mephistoish DG in 5ac and went rapidly down hill from there.
    One to forget.
  20. Ran out of time in the SE. Some good bits like DRINK TO but some ‘trying too hard’ bits. There will be much better clues to Quidditch in the competition. Thanks Pip.
  25. NHO the yaffle woodpecker, but got it from the raw material supplied. Very happy to finish in 59’30”. Loved the challenge. If I hadn’t finished I might have been in the carping camp.(The difference between a good crossword and a bad one is whether I can finish it ; a sentiment clearly shared by many of the commentariat) GEORGE was LOI , wondering if GEORGY could be the revolting boy , since he’d been kissing the girls and making them cry, but plumped for George as he had more eggs and Georgie wasn’t spelled the way I would have liked.
    Thanks Pip for the blog, and the setter for a fine duel.
  26. That was great fun, and mostly fair game, but I have a few basic semantic quibbles. On balance I don’t think you can say that Hosea is “ahead of” Daniel in the OT. It comes after it. I also don’t think “revolting” can indicate the reversal of GEORGE. Also, “inside case, for” can’t possibly suggest O. And finally, “bank gets from customer” can’t clue a noun. Three DNKs: ALACKADAY, IMOLA and DIPSWITCH, but they were all easy to get from the wordplay. COD QUIDDITCH.
    1. Possibly in the sense of ‘reading ahead’, which would always indicate deeper into the text?
  27. Thanks for explaining KNOCKDOWN and IMOLA Pip. I cranked out the answers but had no idea of the references. I knew “yaffingales” for some reason so YAFFLES wasn’t too much of a stretch. And I knew an IN-OFF from croquet and a nastyish shot it is – you carom your ball off your opponent’s knocking it off course and yours through the hoop. Probably much the same in billiards. Paused over ORDER=state in 13a but it had to be. So my 24.07 is quite respectable.
  29. A real struggle. This didn’t feel Timesy at all and felt like it had escaped from another paper. There were some nice touches (e.g. SINATRA and DIPSWITCH) but not enough to make the solve enjoyable overall.
  30. Hi All, sorry to write about something other than today’s fine crossword and blog. Has anyone had a 403: forbidden error when they go to times crossword club page and do any of you technical whizzes know what it is and how to resolve. Doesn’t happen on any other website. I’ve started getting this on my work computer when I try in internet explorer or chrome this week, not had this for 6 years. So annoyingly having to go back to pen and paper.

    Many Thanks
    Allan

    1. When I get a 403 error, I go back to the main website and sign in again: I then can go to the Puzzle club. Incidentally, I am always getting the ‘rotate to view’ message, so need to use f11 to see the puzzle in full-screen mode.
      1. Thanks – I signed out and signed in again and crossword club worked- nice to be back online again
    2. Try clearing the cookies in your browser and logging in again. This often fixes it for me.
    4. I’ve tried everything to fix this in Safari on my iPad and have now resorted to doing it on Chrome instead.
  31. Now there’s a 12” worth having as an earworm… I took almost an hour on this toughie, but didn’t get as energised as many posting cross words here (see what I did there?). If this was a new setter I hope s/he has a resilient ego and will take on board some of the more precise quibbles and come back for another go.

    Pip I read 3d as a clever semi-&lit with the definition ‘singer who needs no introduction’ which narrows it down a bit from three million!

    Thanks setter for a fresh and challenging workout, and Pip for explaining those several that I biffed.

    1. You can’t have ‘needs no introduction’ as part of the def, as you use it to remove the T from TARTAN.
  32. 65 minutes. I enjoyed this a lot, and determined to finish, finding only ‘tony’ a severe eyebrow raise (but apparently it’s been used before). I can’t help wondering whether the editor’s flying a kite here, testing out a new approach. In my view it works, it’s valid, but it requires the mind to reset somewhat. E.g. ‘inside case, for’ which is unexpected but works perfectly well as a clue unit and as part of the whole. Good GK challenge also and not I thought unfair.
  33. “1a, 17a, 24a, 15d, for example – were a stretch too far, definition wise”

    “GO TO SEA” means “become a sailor” if you look in up, so “join the navy?” I’d say covers that.
    “BUTTON YOUR LIP” = say nothing
    “NEWIE” – the def I think is “what could be fresher” not just “fresher”
    “DIPSWITCH” – “don’t dazzle – “dip your headlights” 🙂

    HOSEA is either before or after DANIEL depending on how you look at it. It follows it in a list.

    “inside case, for” is a bit horrible, but accurate

    FGBP

  35. 20.47 but certainly not straightforward, Got bogged down in the SW without a cream tea. Fortunately, managed to crack ubiquity and – as per yesterday- remembered yaffles from earlier this year, otherwise I think I’d still be struggling to finish. Ubiquity was my COD.

    Got a few others via best guesses, George and newie being the best examples. I thought the latter had to involve neep but couldn’t quite figure how. Now I know.

  36. I struggled quite a bit with this, and even when completed I had reservations about several clues that I just couldn’t parse, especially “inside case, for.” Even as a left footer who well remembers the Latin Mass, I was unable to decode DG for Thank God. HOSEA passed me by and I biffed 1a. I struggled most in the SW corner, but I eventually remembered YAFFLES from a previous puzzle, and that opened up UBIQUITY and QUIDDITCH, allowing me to spot ODDBALL as my LOI. IMOLA was familiar to me as a regular GP fan. Tough going though. 55:16. Thanks to setter and Pip.

    Edited at 2020-07-22 01:15 pm (UTC)

    1. standard abbreviation on British coinage, along with ‘FD’ or ‘FID DEF’ for ‘Defender of the Faith’
  37. No idea about loads here – just biffed like crazy.

    (H)OSEA, RACKHAM, KNOCK, NEWIE, LONG VAC

    Failed to parse BUTTON YOUR LIP (didn’t even bother trying), CADGING, ALACKADAY

  38. Tough, and happy to see my LOI , the unremembered YAFFLES, finally go in. . The current SNITCH of 149 gives a good idea as to how difficult it was. Finished in 70 minutes with all in, but with 4, including KNOCKDOWN and GO TO SEA unparsed.

    Here’s hoping for a bit of relief tomorrow.

  39. DNF. Gave up after an hour with George and Ghent still to get. I found this a frustrating solve for the reasons others have given and didn’t much enjoy it.
  40. Certainly some general knowledge needed, but as has been said many times before, whether something is truly obscure rather depends upon the solver’s knowledge and experience. Knock down a write in for someone of my persuasion for instance.
    I have an unreasonable dislike of random names being used, and certainly Russ is in that category. However, when it is as clever as George I am more than happy to tip my hat to the setter. Thanks Pip.
    1. Is it not possible that “TRUSS” is something a man might use to tie bits up, or a hernia in, making 23d a double def, and hence avoiding the Random Man?
  41. One of the worst puzzles recently to appear in the Times. No surface, clunky wordplay, devoid of wit. Was it by McKenna by any chance?
    1. I suspect it’s a new setter. I did wonder whether it might be the QC setter “Des”, since I find his puzzles, like this one, have a tendency to try to show how “clever” he is with little thought for the enjoyment level of his “victims”.
      1. As I’ve being arguing for some time on here, in ‘brick-wall‘ fashion alas, sometimes these setters need to be called out for the nonsenses they perpetrate. And in no meaning can Hosea be said to be ahead of Daniel. Mr Grumpy
  42. This wasn’t very enjoyable. I thought IN-OFF and TRUSS were very badly clued. I hate random names – although GEORGE at 1d was quite nicely done. I toyed with HOPSCOTCH for a while until the penny (or the pound)dropped. I knew DG and KNOCK from somewhere – not bad for someone brought up as an atheist. I’ve never heard of IN-OFF or NEWIE in the context of “fresher” (My Bangladeshi neighbours use the term for a recently arrived immigrant) Thanks to the blogger for uncrambling this awkward puzzle – though I would quarrel with his belief that Arthur RACKHAM is obscure. One man’s “obscure” is another man’s “bleeding obvious”. 38 minutes. Ann
    1. Quarrel away, I didn’t know it and it rang no bells when I looked him up. Too far back in time for my interest era. But we’re soon to have a zoom lecture in our branch of the Arts Society about illustrators of children’s books, so I may become enlightened and Arthur R may be reclassified.
      1. I don’t think there’s a real quarrel here! I did actually know RACKHAM, remembered no doubt from some book that was probably already old when I picked it up as a child. Even if I didn’t, if this had been the only obscure reference in this crossword I would have welcomed it: part of the joy of these puzzles is learning about things you’ve never heard of because you can deduce them from wordplay. This one was just obscurity (and looseness) overload.

        Edited at 2020-07-22 10:42 pm (UTC)

      2. We often seem to have the debate on TftT as to what constitutes GK as opposed to specialist knowledge. My pub-quiz colleague is fond of saying that a hard question is one to which you do not know the answer. The definition of “obscure” is a bit like that. One of the nice things about the Times cryptic is that it frequently takes us out of our comfort zone. Cricket is my blind spot but, over the years of attempting the puzzle, I’ve actually learned a few new words that must have been blindingly obvious to most solvers.
  43. Interesting that so many regulars listed this as harder than of late, as my own thought was quite the reverse. I don’t have a time as I did it in two shifts, but I’d say much more quickly than usual. That said, I agree with the bloggers comments about some of the clues, which are not quite up to snuff (1D being a clear exception to that comment).
  44. Rare DNF for me. Think we had YAFFLES a while back, at least it rang a bell. RACKHAM, BELDAM and UBIQUITY were my blockers. At least once I had UBIQUITY the rest of the SW fell into place.
  45. Re DC Crooks comments, it was widely speculated at the tome of construction that Knock Airport was part funded by Nato to ensure an alternative runway to Shannon which was well known to the Russians.
  46. As poor a crossword as there’s been this year. Yesterday’s was a bit eccentric too. Mr Grumpy
  47. I din’t start this until very, very late, fell asleep and finished off over breakfast.

    Oh!Dear!Sleeply finds Grumpy rather grumpy! Not poor at all!
    I agree with Ann, that Arthur Rackham is hardly obscure. When reading old copies of Alice in Wonderland etc have a look at the pictures too. He was prolific.

    In snooker/pool there is a Cockney phrase at the start of a game after one has lost and moves onto another game – ‘Arfur.. Rackham!’ My WOD.

    FOI 7dn INIGO

    LOI 1dn GEORGE that was IKEAN tat! IMHO

    COD 21ac QUIDDITCH

    Time Immemorium

  48. “Does ton-y mean having tone, having class?”

    Yes, actually
    Don’t you have a dictionary?

  49. Reading through the blog and comments, I’m glad that I missed this puzzle – would never have finished it.

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