Times 27735 – carpe diem !

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I had posted this for timely display, then checked LJ had saved it, all was fine. Then later I checked again intending to do a tweak or two and it had vanished ! Carpe diem indeed, said 11a. So have re-created with slightly less fascinating chatty bits. Fairly straightforward crossword today, 24a and 12d might cause some difficulty, liked 15d best.

Across
1 Amongst pointed objects, men discover scissors (7,6)
PINKING SHEARS – KINGS (men in chess) HEAR (discover) inserted into PINS (pointed objects).
8 Almost all cheating to get European title (4)
FRAU – FRAUD, almost.
9 Out of bed and on one’s feet, honest (10)
UPSTANDING – UP (out of bed) STANDING (on one’s feet).
10 Fish struggle to stay afloat (8)
FLOUNDER – double definition.
11 Old poet in middle of school run (6)
HORACE – HO letters in middle of school, RACE = run.
13 Simple piece of music couple picked up in China? (10)
CHOPSTICKS – double definition, the second part alluding to Chinese eating equipment.
16 Catch that’s catchy? (4)
HOOK – double definition, two similar but separate meanings of hook. One a verb, one a noun.
17 Sample of crystal clear powder (4)
TALC – Hidden in CRYS(TAL C)LEAR.
18 A ton wasted with credit diminishing (10)
DETRACTION – (A TON CREDIT)*.
20 One of those on the fiddle — and bit of a racket? (6)
STRING – double definition for types of string; violin and tennis.
22 Figure of male grabbed by itinerant breaking free (8)
RHOMBOID – M (male) inside HOBO (itinerant) inside RID (free).
24 Raise a second monster (10)
COCKATRICE – COCK (raise, e.g. hat) A TRICE (a second). I had the trice bit from checkers then remembered the cock headed dragon then saw how cock could be raise.
26 A poem by Byron ultimately artless (4)
NAIF – N (end of Byron) A IF (a poem by Kipling voted the UK’s favourite). Masculine gender of adjective naïve.
27 Strict order of mail train so arranged (13)
FORMALISATION – (OF MAIL TRAIN SO)*.

Down
1 Medal Regius Professor initially suggested? (6,5) 
PURPLE HEART – U.S. military medal. The initials of Regius Professor being RP, are found in the ‘heart’ of the word PURPLE.
2 Island nation never accepted ultimatum, riling union leaders (5)
NAURU – initial letters of ‘never accepted ultimatum riling union’. Small Pacific island nation mostly covered in guano and disused phosphate mines, previously called ‘Pleasant Island’. I wisely omitted it from my Pacific diving tour in 1996.
3 Batting with no indication of time, completely overwhelmed (9)
INUNDATED – IN (batting in cricket) UNDATED (no time indicated).
4 Stomach device briefly placed under jaw (7)
GASTRIC – GAS (jaw, chat) TRIC(K) = device mostly.
5 PM in place less cultivated? (5)
HEATH – double definition, Ted and e.g. a blasted one.
6 Trees burning somewhere in Hampshire (9)
ALDERSHOT – ALDERS (trees) HOT (burning).
7 Lapse, not bad for sailor (3)
SIN – SINBAD the sailor has no BAD.
12 Fish in catch, one monster hauled up — snapper? (11)
CROCODILIAN – COD (fish) inserted into NAIL (catch) I, ORC (monster) being reversed. Not a great clue IMO.
14 Person taking photograph, you might say — one’s spread out? (9)
PICNICKER – A nicker of pics, say, and presumably a picnicker spreads out on his or her picnic rug.
15 Content of book appears to be skewed in TV programme (4,5)
SOAP OPERA – (OO APPEARS)*. OO being the ‘contents’ of bOOk. Clever.
19 Final points in remit resolved (7)
TERMINI – (IN REMIT)*. Easy anagram.
21 Try series of motorbike races, a must (5)
GOTTA – GO (try) TT (Isle of Man Festival of motorbikes and bikers) A. You must, you gotta, see that.
23 Stick this person in part of Sydney (5)
BONDI – BOND (stick), I (this person). Suburb of Sydney famous for overcrowded beach.
25 Rotten cricket side (3)
OFF – Double definition; gone off, and cricket side opposite to ON or LEG.

​

62 comments on “Times 27735 – carpe diem !”

  1. I finished with a little help today as when I had _O_ATRICE I asked my wife if she knew a monster that fitted as she is more expert in the monster department, being a keen reader of fantasy novels. Other than that my only hold up was CROCODILIAN which I was doubtful about until I managed to parse it. Nice to see a town local to me in ALDERSHOT get an outing.

    1. I grew up near ALDERSHOT, and later lived in the country where they award PURPLE HEARTS. I’m embarrassed about how long it took me to spot the latter, and failed to parse it, so thanks for the explanation Pip.
  2. 24 minutes with a bit of biffing along the way, so thanks for the parsings, especially of 1d PURPLE HEART, where I’d been trying to crowbar in GEORGE CROSS until the crossers appeared.

    As Pip predicted, my last couple in were 12d CROCODILIAN, where I didn’t know the word, and 24a COCKATRICE, where luckily I did know the word but not that it was a monster. Having looked up pictures of them they seem to be from the more laughable end of the monster spectrum, but then it might be a different matter if one were in a confined space with one…

    Edited at 2020-08-05 05:58 am (UTC)

  3. I biffed a couple–PURPLE HEART, CROCODILIAN, SOAP OPERA–parsing post-submission, except for the medal. I saw RP, but couldn’t believe that was the sum of the wordplay. Didn’t care for HOOK; the two defs are for the same word, one being a slightly metaphorical extension of the other. I always get nervous when I see ‘place in Xshire’, but virtually always knowing the shire is not necessary, and I knew ALDERSHOT, a place Anthony Powell–or at least, Nick Jenkins, refers to as ‘that uniquely detestable town.’
  4. Apart from failing to parse PURPLE HEART (thanks to Pip for explaining it) this was going rather well until I came unstuck in the SE corner with five answers outstanding which I abandoned overnight.

    On resumption this morning, four of them came to mind with little delay but I gave up eventually on 12dn despite having thought of both ORC as the monster and COD as the most likely fish since I had two O-checkers in place. Even having looked up the answer I was unable to make sense of it as CROCODILIAN seems like an adjective to me, not a noun as needed to fit the definition, but SOED now informs me that it can also be a noun – something I’d never have guessed.

    Edited at 2020-08-05 06:16 am (UTC)

  5. And such joys as these she’ll bring.—
    Let the winged Fancy roam,
    Pleasure never is at home.

    25 mins pre-brekker.
    Another nicely put together crossword, except I had no idea how to parse 1dn.
    Thanks setter and Pip.

  6. 32 minutes with LOI CROCODILIAN, which doesn’t even look right in retrospect. I struggled for more than a trice with COCKATRICE too. COD to NAIF. And, which is more, I felt like a man when I solved it. CHOPSTICKS was good too. Overall, this was a bit clunky, but a decent challenge. Thank you Pip and setter.
  7. All done but two in about 20 mins. I wavered between Hook and a Haul for catch, finally going with Hook. But the croc eluded me even though I did consider that sort of snapper.

    COD: CHOPSTICKS.

    Edited at 2020-08-05 07:08 am (UTC)

  8. FOI Graf (graft). Ooops.
    Picnicker, cockatrice and crocodilian last three in. Slight MER at first at picknicker, but I suppose the ‘s represents has to make the clue/grammar work? A picknicker has their spread (food) outside? Similar MER, like Jack, at crocodilian (adjective) clued by snapper (noun). Didn’t look it up, so thanks for the elucidation.
    Cockatrice known but hard to recall… I seem to remember seeing Heston Blumenthal cook one on TV, how I knew the word.
    Decent puzzle, but I was slow, off the wavelength.

    Edited at 2020-08-05 07:43 am (UTC)

    1. That would have been interesting: only obtainable from Diagon Alley, I think. Though Chambers also suggests it’s slang for prostitute, or for a contemptible person, cooking either of which violates certain local conventions.
      1. Built his own (ie engaged a taxidermist to build one), from parts from 3 animals, from memory. With some added pyrotechnic exploding fur.
  9. Thanks, Pip, particularly for RHOMBOID which I didn’t parse.
    My FOI was GRAF for 8ac as I thought GRAFt could be considered a form of cheating. But I looked at 2d and realised my German nobleman was never going to work.
    PURPLE HEART was very clever but COD, for me, to PICNICKER.
  10. Well, a DNF for me today as ten minutes after my allotted 45m I was still staring at 24ac having no idea about what was going on. Thank you for the explanation Pip. Isn’t there a famous barracks in Aldershot? Thank you Pip and setter.
    1. Yes, not in the town of Aldershot but close by. It is the home of the British Army and properly called Aldershot Garrison. A huge site housing some thousands of people.
  11. 15:36. Held up at the end by COCKATRICE and CROCODILIAN. Failed to parse PURPLE HEART and RHOMBOID, so thanks for those Pip. I didn’t care much for HOOK. I liked SOAP OPERA best.
  12. Liked this, a bit quirky I thought.
    It skates a bit near the edge with CROCODILIAN but yes, it definitely is a noun too. Also cock = raise looked a bit iffy to me but yes, OED says: “To cause (something, esp. a part of the body) to stick up, esp. in an assertive, defiant, or jaunty way; to raise”
    .. so well done setter

  13. Found myself jumping around today but the time was OK.

    COD: CHOPSTICKS, was trying to get too in mate or something.

    Monday’s answer (sorry, didn’t do yesterday’s until the afternoon): Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest book. The seven books contain just over a million words between them.

    Today’s question: the median length of tenure of UK Prime Ministers is a mere 3 years 229 days, slightly shorter than Edward Heath’s. Who had the shortest tenure?

      1. Got you’re clue immediately, looked it up to make sure, and noted he was the bloke after whom the “Highway to Hell” was named, here in Perth. Only one question: Why?
        1. Now I’ve looked that up. An interesting story of British funding, exploration and a river.
          Funny, I always picture you in Scotland (not necessarily Perth, Scotland).
          1. Isla with the S pronounced and a short I, almost like a long E, is a South American word and name. Spanish.
            Did you see why it was named “Highway to Hell?” In honour of Freo boy Bon Scott, legendary singer of AC/DC, who sang that song. A big festival on the highway this year with about 40 or 50 bands and 200,000 or more people, on the 40th anniversary of Bon Scott’s death.
  14. Not quite on the same frequency today, I floundered with the convolutions.
  15. Not difficult but quirky in places as identified by our esteemed blogger. HOOK is poor I think. Biffed PURPLE HEART from initial P before parsing. Liked the SOAP OPERA.
  16. 17.35, with CHOPSTICKS my last in mostly because I overcomplicated it, looking for a composite of music, couple and china (mate, etc) and failing to see the otherwise pleasantly obvious.
    I was too pleased to have worked from the wordplay on CROCODILIAN to worry about any grammatical niceties.
    I rather think the HOOK clue is better if you remember that a hook is a catchy bit of music/lyric such as “da doo ron ron” (thanks, wiki)
    Much to like: the PH in 1d and the Matryoshka RHOMBOID both took my fancy. Gotta to despise GOTTA.
    1. Definitely gotta agree withya. Hook is also what newspaper writers use with articles that begin, “When Harold Schmo woke up Tuesday morning, …”
  17. Stuffed by 12d – didn’t parse it at all, thought there might be some creature called a CROCODILION and put that in. Drat.

    Didn’t understand PURPLE HEART either, or know what kind of award it was, but put it in as from the checkers I didn’t see how it could be anything else. So thanks to Pip for the explanation.

    STRING took me longer than it should have done, and the double definition for CHOPSTICKS threw me for a while, but otherwise this wasn’t too bad.

    FOI Nauru
    LOI Cockatrice
    COD Soap opera

  18. A smooth solve, once I got Do(d)ge(y) for the European title out of my mind. Thanks, pip, especially for parsing Purple Heart
  19. In a rush today so pleased to finish all correctly but no time to parse. Thanks Pip. COD to 1d.
  20. 12:20. Not too hard, and another day with no unknowns, although the PINKING SHEARS were only vaguely familiar (and I couldn’t tell you what they’re for) and COCKATRICE wasn’t the first monster to come to mind.

    Edited at 2020-08-05 08:52 am (UTC)

      1. Well that’s not much use is it: as anyone who’s familiar with Chambers can tell you the word ‘pink’ can mean more or less anything.
        1. Scissors with a serrated edge rather than a strait edge blade. Used to cut fabric and limit fraying at the cut edges
        2. Oh, dear; I thought the facetiousness would have been clear. I have no idea what pinking shears are used for.
          1. Oh dear: I thought the facetiousness of my reply to your clearly facetious comment would have been clear.
            Of course I know perfectly well what pinking shears are used for, having looked the term up immediately.

            Edited at 2020-08-05 01:17 pm (UTC)

  21. 14D is stronger than suggested in today’s blog. The apostrophe in ‘one’s spread out’ is possessive so the definition is asking us to find ‘one who has a spread (of food) out(side)’.
  22. Took too long to see 8a was not so hard. A four-letter European title ending in U had me searching for what might be an obscure (Romanian?) land-owner.
    Thanks Pip for parsing PURPLE HEART. Like Matt the enumeration 6,5 brought George Cross to mind first, then Ritter Kreuz ( we’re watching the series Das Boot on TV currently!).
    All finally correct in 16:45
  23. 38 minutes. My time each day continues to double (almost). This is getting alarming. Held up for ages at the end in SE, having rejected rhomboid but finally seeing the parsing, then securing the others. With poetry beginning to fall away from the GCSE syllabus there’ll soon be only one poem left anyone’s ever heard of. joekobi
  24. Well, didn’t crack the hour barrier – 76 minutes – but at least I had everything in with only PURPLE HEART unparsed. I couldn’t have told you what a COCKATRICE is, but I must have heard of it somewhere and was relieved to finally work out CROCODILIAN. At least it wasn’t “eusuchian”.

    HOOK was my last in and I thought was pretty weak, but as pointed out by z8b8d8k, meaning number 12 for “hook” as a noun in Chambers is “In pop music, a catchy phrase”, so a better clue than it looked. I did wonder about GASTRIC, an adjective, for ‘Stomach’, which I thought of as only a noun or verb but which I see now can be an adjective as well.

  25. What an enjoyable, eccentric puzzle. I savored every moment of my 35 minutes. Unlike the ‘racing demons’.

    I also had time to work out who the real Jack the Ripper was. Not the Duke of Clarence, nor Walt Sickert, but a famously unpleasant man of London, who has never ever been suspected! You heard it first here and will hear more anon.

    I am presently writing a book re- Albert Victor Duke of Clarence, which explains my general absence hereabouts.

    FOI 19dn TERMINI

    LOI 15dn SOAP OPERA

    COD 13ac CHOPSTICKS- so Chinese!

    WOD 1ac PINKING SHEARS- my mother spent a lifetime looking for her’s!
    Does you mother sew? (Razor gang-speak in Glasgie. (Sillitoe)’ Lord K?

    Edited at 2020-08-05 11:16 am (UTC)

    1. My mum did have some PINKING SHEARS when I was a kid (she may still have them for all I know) but I had no idea what they were called.
  26. and not a DNK among them. I particularly liked the misdirection of CHOPSTICKS (China is always mate or pal) and COCKATRICE which wasn’t gettable without all the helping letters. Had CROCODILION (maybe a hybrid?) until I parsed it.
  27. I accessed the wrong blog when I was going to comment on the QC, and so saw the words COCKATRICE and CROCODILIAN before I’d attempted the puzzle. When I did start, I fouled up by starting to write “cameraman” at 12D which would have made CROCODILIAN all the more difficult.

    I couldn’t parse 1A/D so thanks Pip. I shan’t be posting to the club site today in view of the foregoing.

    There are 9 C’s lurking in there today.

    FOI UPSTANDING
    LOI PURPLE HEART
    COD CHOPSTICKS
    TIME 12:14 (but would have been slower I suspect !)

  28. Same two held me up. Thought of CROCODILIAN seeing the COD early, but wasn’t sure how the rest worked.

    COCKATRICE – a vaguely remembered word punted in hopefully.

  29. 2 away
    would never have got purple heart, never ever
    and couldn’t get chopsticks either.
    get the impression this was very much a wavelength puzzle- one that i clearly wasn’t on, continuing my run of incorrect attempts.
    i’ll try again tomorrow
  30. DNF in 32 and a half mins. I made steady progress once I found somewhere to start (FOI inundated which I entered whilst checking to confirm my suspicion that upstanding was going to start with up). Got held up for a long time by chopsticks where I was trying to follow lots of wp instructions until I eventually twigged that there was none, it was just a DD. However, fell at the final hurdle on crocodilian which I only half-parsed, ending up with a crocodilion which doesn’t look right now I’ve typed it out. I liked working out the rhomboid and the pinking shears. The purple heart and the soap opera were good ones too.
  31. AS others have found, somewhat quirky – the vocabulary isn’t ridiculously obscure, just not the sort of thing you’d find yourself saying on a daily basis. Which is fine in Crosswordland.
  32. 19.57 with some tricky clues. Didn’t care much for hook, decidedly literal in my opinion. Got crocodilian as my LOI. On seeing the working out, I actually think that’s a pretty good clue.

    Highlights for me were chopsticks, purple heart and rhomboid. Cockatrice memorable too. A good challenge with lots to enjoy.

  33. 35:32, but with a misremembered and not quite parsed JOCKATRICE. And I did so well with the rest of it. Drat! Thanks setter and Pip.
  34. DNF with the purple heart chopsticks naif and crocodilian missing after my allotted 45 mins. Down to earth after my rapid 18 mins yesterday. Thought chopsticks was a good cryptic clue, the sort that often defeats me. Wanted my monster to be a roc and couldn’t get the letters to fit. Always forget about “If” the poem and wanted node somehow to mean artless. Knew purple heart but it just didn’t come to mind. Shame because pinking shears went straight in and with all those lovely starting letters I thought I was on for a good day. C’est la vie. Roll on tomorrow. Thanks blogger and setter.
  35. No problems today. When I was a child we used to use pinking shears to fashion gift tags from the previous year’s Christmas cards.

    And speaking of children, can Horryd confirm that the first song children in China learn to play on the piano is “knife and fork”?

  37. Wasn’t going to attempt today’s 15×15, but I thought I’d just have a look as I ate tea and to my surprise lots of answers in the NE came to me fairly easily so I thought I might as well continue. I ended up giving up with four to go after about an hour and a half. FRAU, RHOMBOID and BONDI were words I had heard of, while the unknown NAIF was the only one of the four which I had thought of, but rejected on the grounds that it couldn’t possibly be a word. I had no problems with CROCODILIAN (any of the 22 extant species in the order Crocodilia or numerous extinct ones), but then I was a biologist once.

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