Times 27727 – ” I saw yin o’ the travelin’ folk, along the open road….

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time: 31 minutes
Music: None, another outdoor solve

I found this one rather tough for a Monday.   There are some uncommon words and allusions that not everyone will know, meaning solvers may have to make a leap of faith and put in the most likely answer even if they’re not sure why. 

I normally use rather allusive blog titles, but tonight I’ll give you the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiBuINcv-Mo
This is a fairly recent song, but there’s quite a bit of Scots dialect in the lyrics.

Across
1 Phlegmatic type almost shut in thus (5)
STOIC – S(TO)IC, where the door is to.
4 Live at end of lake with beadle — a worker, possibly (9)
BUMBLEBEE – BUMBLE + BE + [lak]E.   Bumble was a beadle Oliver Twist – if you don’t know this, you’ll have to biff.
9 Infamous old port protected by other people? (9)
NOTORIOUS – NOT(O RIO)US, that is, NOT US. 
10 Woman’s contribution finally accepted by Times (5)
AGNES – AG([onctributio]N)ES, today’s random woman. 
11 Surprisingly their purser’s accepting a fund manager’s position (13)
TREASURERSHIP – Anagram of THEIR PURSER’S around A.
14 Genuine old Spanish coin (4)
REAL – Double definition, where the coin is pretty widely known.
15 Marine creature reportedly saw a taxi crossing river (6,4)
SPIDER CRAB – sounds like SPIED A + C(R)AB – if you are non-rhotic.
18 Degrading form of feuding overwhelming one in Scotland (10)
UNEDIFYING – Anagram of FEUDING around YIN. 
19 New Zealander’s answer you and I heard (4)
KIWI – sounds like KEY + sounds like WE.   A key would be a little booklet that has the answers. 
21 Key army corps almost crazy about hotel’s liqueur (5,2,6)
CREME DE MENTHE – C + REME + DEMENT(H)E[d].   Most solvers will probably biff here.
24 Work trapeze artistes are ill-advised to have (5)
NONET – NO NET, haha.
25 Hint from small Scouse singer inspiring in tango (9)
SCINTILLA – S C(IN T)ILLA.   Cilla Black, that is.
27 One who guides bullocks to west of island (9)
STEERSMAN – STREERS + MAN, the Isle of Man, that is. 
28 Manage to catch son in wood (5)
COPSE – COP(S)E.
Down
1 Hospital doctor originally operating in Sumatra (10)
SANATORIUM – anagram of O[perating] IN SUMATRA.   Many solvers will automatically go with hospital = san, but it’s the whole thing today.
2 Choose to put up around centre of Newport (3)
OPT – O([new]P[ort})T
3 Reddish church at top of hill (6)
CERISE – CE + RISE. 
4 Considerable criticism gathering round extreme parts of Henry’s life (9)
BIOGRAPHY – BI(O)G RAP + H[enr]Y.
5 Cheeseparer, one initially swimming in sea off Nice (5)
MISER – M(I + S[wimming])ER. 
6 Tough left restaurant, having consumed hot starter (8)
LEATHERY – L + EAT(H[ot])ERY. 
7 Good French painter capturing old man, an emperor’s supporter (11)
BONAPARTIST – BON A(PA)RTIST. 
8 Not entirely secure as top bridge-player (4)
EAST – [secur]E AS T[op]. 
12 Church body upset over spirit audibly fading away (11)
EVANESCENCE – NAVE upside-down + sounds like ESSENCE.
13 Remove monastic devotee adopting revised rite (10)
OBLITERATE – OBL(anagram of RITE)ATE. 
16 Bloomer made by teacher going round a new food shop (9)
DANDELION – D(A N DELI)ON, one that most solvers will biff.
17 Woman priest, one giving orders? (8)
DIRECTOR – DI + RECTOR, another random women.
20 Eg Welsh commander-in-chief welcoming English officer (6)
CELTIC – C(E LT)IC. 
22 Racecourse record thus misrepresented at first (5)
EPSOM – EP + SO + M[isrepresented]. 
23 Responsibility — and where ours lies (4)
ONUS – ON US, a chestnut.
26 Drink Scandinavian nomad left unfinished (3)
LAP – LAP[p]. 

66 comments on “Times 27727 – ” I saw yin o’ the travelin’ folk, along the open road….”

  1. Lots of stuff I just biffed and then when I thought about it, I didn’t see the correct wordplay. Like I assumed a DIRECTOR must be a woman priest, without thinking about it too much. And I didn’t spot CILLA but what else could it be. And so on. About the second clue I looked at was 1D and I was wondering what I was going to be expected to know about Sumatra. I guessed Bali must be there (it isn’t). Of course, turns out I don’t need any Indonesian geography once I realized I needed more than the usual SAN.
  2. If I had been working this on paper, I wouldn’t have been alerted that I didn’t have it quite right. Then it took me forever to see the misspelling of SANI… I mean, SANATORIUM. Not the first time I’ve done that.
    1. (Second attempt to post)
      Alas, that was my error (an overhasty biff). Chambers lists SANITARIUM as ‘imitation Latin; esp N American’, so it is a perfectly valid alternative. Except here.
      1. 4m 12 seconds here but another sloppy SANITARIUM. Particularly sneaky biff trap – the O in the anagram fodder is well-camouflaged.
        1. I was very tempted by SANITARIUM in large part by remembering the Metallica song of that name from my metal years. Luckily I paused for thought just long enough.
          1. 60 years ago I was placed in isolation at Baguley Sanatorium (later Wythenshawe Hospital’s doctors and nurses homes) with a particularly nasty virus, so the spelling is fortunately a given for me.
      3. Can anyone remind me what the word for a crossword with every letter of the alphabet in it? I think Sunday was one. How common are they?
        1. I don’t think they’re very frequent but occasionally there’s been a double pangram.

          There’s also a word for one with all the letters but one, but I can’t remember it. [Jokingly, it ought to be a pangra]

          Bob

    2. Luckily I checked the anagrist after entering sanitarium, and managed to get the correct (but unlikely looking) answer.
      Not too hard – some of obscurity, but crossword obscurity, so vaguely remembered or guessable.
  3. I liked this better and better as I went along – I was off to a sour start because, while I got the drift, I think a Stoic is anything but phlegmatic, Treasurership just shouldn’t exist as a word, and I wouldn’t use Unedifying in that sense. But I liked having the beadle and the cheeseparer in, and as I progressed I found I was liking the constructions. Thanks for the Key in Kiwi, vinyl. Mthanks setter.
  4. Didn’t Myrtilus introduce a term for thinking of the solution and parsing it thereupon? As opposed to biffing. Anyway, I did that with BUMBLEBEE (from the beadle), DANDELION (DELI), SCINTILLA (CILLA), BONAPARTIST (good French). Biffed CREME DE MENTHE & SANATORIUM (where I was a bit worried about my spelling). Like Paul, I didn’t think ‘degrading’ was a very good def for UNEDIFYING; I also didn’t know YIN. Never knew bullocks were the same as steers.
    1. I think it was BAWB (maybe) for ‘Biff and work backwards’. It didn’t catch on.
      1. How about BARF? Biff and retrospectively fit.

        Not much to say about the crossword.

  5. 24 minutes, and luckily I remembered that there was something tricksy about SANATORIUM/SANITARIUM so used the anagram fodder to make sure. Didn’t know Mr Bumble, or what “cheeseparer” meant, but that didn’t slow me down for long. Certainly not as much as my LOI, 17d DIRECTOR, did, but I got there in the end.

    On the whole a nice breezy start to the week, just what I needed.

  7. I was delighted to see this one off in 30 minutes exactly, just achieving my target, which is more than I managed on today’s Quickie.

    I was aware that there are two versions of the hospital but wouldn’t have bet my life on how either of them was spelt so I trod carefully at 1dn and relied on wordplay and checkers to get me to the right answer first time.

    Harry Secombe is larger than life as Mr Bumble in the film ‘Oliver’ so I remembered the character’s name. My knowledge of all Dickens’ works comes entirely from film and TV adaptations as I tried reading one once and didn’t get past the first chapter.

    I didn’t parse UNEDIFYING completely, only noting that it involved an anagram of ‘feuding’ and I guessed a Scottish word for ‘one’ would form the rest of it. I’m quite good on Scottish dialect but this one has passed me by somehow. Yes, I do know that Billy Connolly is known as ‘The Big Yin’ but I was never interested enough to find out why or what it meant. Now I know, although I shall probably have forgotten it by next week.

    Edited at 2020-07-27 05:36 am (UTC)

  8. 15 mins pre-brekker. A breeze.
    I think this setter is the ‘letter indicator’ specialist again: end of, finally, originally, centre of, extreme parts of, initially, starter, at first.
    Thanks setter and Vinyl.
  9. 14 minutes with LOI DIRECTOR and everything parsed, V, no biffs. The big YIN saved me from that. COD to EVANESCENCE where the upside-down nave was also seen late. I thought this a good Monday puzzle. Mind you, I’ll be singing Cilla songs all day now. Easy question – who called her Cyril? Thank you V and setter.
  10. No problems with this. Steady top to bottom solve. No standout clues but no real turkeys either.
  11. This felt easy, except nho oblate in that context (13dn). For me oblate means portly as in an oblate spheroid, such as the Earth
  12. 45mins today for what I thought was quite a tricky one. As myrtilus says, all those bits of words to add/take away were very time consuming. Spent too much time on the LEATHERY-AGNES cross. Never did see YIN til I came Thank you vinyl1 and setter.
  13. A rare early solve and even rarer sub-20 at 18m today. I enjoyed the clear cluing and absence of obscure answers. Thank you, setter, and V for the blog.
  14. 8:22. Biffed a few and parsed later. Had to think a bit to find the SPIDER CRAB and finish with BIOGRAPHY. DNK OBLATE as monasatic devotee, so I learned something from the BAWBing of 13D.
  15. Well, I managed SANITORIUM which is neither one thing nor the other, so I claim a special prize.
    I was put off my checking stride by one of “those” phone calls, this one from Sky telling me my box was about to stop working, which kicked in my “Why Is This Not Illegal Something Must Be Done” mode. Extended (and rather spoiled) an otherwise pleasant solving experience to over 15 minutes.
  17. 8:28. A few unknowns in here but enough from the other bits of the clues to get through unscathed.
    I didn’t remember specifically that there were two versions of SANATORIUM but I did have a sense that the vowels and their locations might trip me up so I was careful with the anagrist.
    Like jackkt I have learned today why Billy Connolly is called that.
  18. Off to a good start with the stoic bumblebee, notorious Agnes and the unedifying Kiwi. Then biffed DECRESCENDO for “audibly fading away” at 12d , which caused a hold-up. MER at MER in 5d when expecting MED. Enjoyable 21’09”. Thanks to setter and blogger
  19. A steady solve, starting with STOIC and then SAN entered as a suspected part of the wordplay at 1d. No further progress was made with 1d until the very end, when I realised there was more to it. I also intitally put SANITORIUM, but was unsure enough to inspect the anagrist carefully. Liked EVANESCENCE and DANDELION. CRAB came quickly but I had to wait for SPIDER, to finally put the kibosh on HERMIT. Enjoyable puzzle. 20:56. Thanks setter and Vinyl.
  21. 43 minutes is about as fast as I get.
    I tend to get a bit excited when things are going well and lose concentration. I flit about the grid when i’ve a few checkers in. Is it better to read all the clues first?

    Edited at 2020-07-27 09:38 am (UTC)

    1. I find it’s better to find a way in without reading them all, then work with the clues where you have some checkers in,
      1. Thanks Pip, I think I should forget about times and just enjoy finishing all correct. Then award myself 10 out of 10.

        Edited at 2020-07-27 11:01 am (UTC)

  23. I hadn’t heard of SANITARIUM so my ignorance saved me there. Time was when capitals would have to be masked by being at the start of a clue (e.g. Times) but no longer. Knew OBLATE as a flattened sphere, like the Earth, but not a religious person.

    COD: SCINTILLA for the use of Ms Black (originally White).

    Friday’s answer: Equatorial Guinea has a tree on its flag. Some nice clues there. Actually Fiji has a small one too, on a shield.

    Today’s question: the first seven heaviest birds are all flightless, what is the heaviest bird that can fly (also a brand of bourbon)?

        1. I googled it and found a top ten of heavy birds in which the bourbon-related answer didn’t feature!
          1. Big Bird says “Hell, I can still outweigh any wild turkey if I lose a pound and get soft where I’m hard” (7)

            Edited at 2020-07-27 03:05 pm (UTC)

        2. Excellent.
          I’m glad you didn’t do:
          Ace bosom fronting topless fat bird (5,7)
          That would have been inappropriate.
          1. For Angus Walker’s intended answer, I did think of:
            Bird mad to have sex back on island (4,6)
            ….. but that would have been inappropriate, too.
  24. Decided to give this a go in a let’s declare before close of play and get them in for a few overs tonight fashion.
    And finished with NONET after EVANESCENCE in 28:21.Those last two took about four minutes.
    I did pause over the fodder for SANATORIUM.
    Not everything parsed. David
  25. …. it’s no wonder they carry him around in that chair !”
    The Big Yin’s take on CREME DE MENTHE. Very non-PC but absolutely hilarious.

    Quickly into my stride, and my second fastest solve of the year. My elevated performance on the leaderboard is slightly devalued by some eminent SANATORIUM victims though.

    FOI BUMBLEBEE
    LOI DIRECTOR
    COD STOIC
    TIME 5:51

  26. 16’20, after racing along and being held up by the last two, East (which I couldn’t justify for a time) and Agnes. Several only partly parsed on the way but enough to be certain. The bridge clue makes me wonder if I’ll ever play cards again other than on the screen which I find unsatisfactory. This whole lockdown nightmare has reminded me of E.M.Forster’s short story ‘The Machine Stops’ which I recommend.
  27. Found this a pleasant and easy solve, 16 minutes, LOI DIRECTOR, nothing controversial. Liked the Cilla clue.
  28. Slower than normal for me at 17:20, enjoyed the Creme de Menthe (no wonder they carry him around on a chair).
  29. Didn’t know YIN, had 3 letters left over and luckily yin was my 1st guess when I confirmed in the dictionary. Didn’t we have TWAE (not sure I spelled that right!) yesterday?
    Read Tale of 2 Cities when I was 10 and never read Dickens again as it was too much like hard work. So no idea about Bumble/Beadle.
    Missed the hidden in 7D EAST so never worked out where the T came from. I thought “not entirely secure” was EAS[y] and never looked at the “as Top” part. Doh!
    Andyf
  30. At the age of 14 I was sent to spend a couple of weeks with a French family to improve my conversation and one of the things I recall thinking bizarre was finding DANDELION leaves in the salad. The French name for them was a bit off-putting too but they tasted fine, a bit like arugula. Thanks to the setter’s clearly marked directions, no trouble with the hospital this time. 10.05

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