Times 27769 – Mad as a Hatter in Wensleydale

Author   ulacaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I am now three-quarters of the way through my peregrination around Dublin with Mr Joyce. I must say I am enjoying the bits I don’t understand almost as much as the bits I do – which is probably a good thing. Readingitforasecondtimelater is unlikely, however. Other books have yet. To read. Ilea iacta est. Sic. Sick.

As for the puzzle (the cruciverbal one), I found this very pleasant, romping home in 23 minutes and change. AILERON, LITOTES and DE RIGUEUR (which I can finally spell since the last time it came up) are all excellent words, and KEDGEREE is something I have about once a decade and always rather enjoy.

ACROSS

1 As hands go to strike, sensible to get behind! (9)
CLOCKWISE – CLOCK (to strike) before WISE
9 Plan for a stack in Perth to be withdrawn (7)
FORMULA – A LUM (Scotch word for chimney) FOR (to)
10 Rug and anorak more than enough to cover African (7)
UGANDAN – hidden in first 3 words
11 Gather fuel blanketing heart of Ireland (5)
PLEAT – [ire]L[and] in PEAT; visions of David Pleat cavorting across the turf after avoiding relegation with Luton Town at the expense of hosts Man City
12 Going by live data, microbe mutates with it (9)
BIOMETRIC – anagram* of MICROBE IT
13 Count 150 bare pens on island (7)
INCLUDE – NUDE (bare) around CL (150) – AKA ‘bare pens’ – after I (island)
15 Heroine Jane securing current high-rise retreat (5)
EYRIE – I in EYRE
17 Concealed stock ready for auditor (5)
CACHE – sounds like ‘cash’
18 Worry about troops governed by D-notice (5)
DREAD – RE (troops) in (governed by: held by? in the grasp of?) D AD (notice)
19 Immoderate posh officer joins gunners (5)
ULTRA – U LT RA
20 Trouble with English sailors netting duck’s wing part (7)
AILERON – AIL O in E RN
23 River Ure guide undergoes training, as is proper (2,7)
DE RIGUEUR – R + URE GUIDE*
25 Carp, the sixth to be found in shrunken state (5)
CAVIL – VI (six) CAL (California)
27 Kid in stories not exactly well-behaved, for example (7)
LITOTES – TOT in LIES
28 Asian, one chasing a lover around Grand Hotel (7)
AFGHANI – GH (Grand Hotel) in A FAN + I
29 Separate trip taking in golf game (9)
PARTRIDGE – PART G in RIDE

DOWN

1 I’m surprised US broadcaster limits alcohol (6)
CRUMBS – RUM in CBS
2 Actor coached with one in test of speech (10)
ORATORICAL – ACTOR I* in ORAL; as pointed out below, ‘coach’ as anagram indicator is a bit of a stretch. Are we intended to make a three-point turn via the ‘transport’ sense, I wonder?
3 Finally struck margin on European food (8)
KEDGEREE – K EDGE RE (on) E
4 Victor’s wife leaving ring circling bull (5)
INNER – [w]INNER
5 Smart little Euphemia collects just over 100 books (9)
EFFICIENT – CI (just over 100)in EFFIE (presumably abbreviation of Euphemia) NT
6 Left revolutionary in charge of hot line? (6)
TROPIC – PORT reversed IC
7 Nice way to host knight, ancient character (4)
RUNE – N in RUE (French street)
8 Small articles breach crazy paper’s title (8)
MASTHEAD – S THE A in MAD
14 Blue Berets’ former muscle man not bargained for (10)
UNEXPECTED – UN (the military wing of this organisation sports blue headgear) EX (former) PEC (muscle) TED (today’s random man – perhaps married to Euphorbia, or whatever)
16 Complete journey on bullet train? (5,4)
ROUND TRIP – I think the idea is that, if you are that way inclined, you might whimsically refer to a bullet train as a round trip on the account of the ammunitional link between bullets and rounds. Or am I missing something?
17 Daily column includes a drawing (8)
CHARCOAL – CHAR (daily AKA cleaning lady) A in COL
18 Child departs, giggling, scratching head (8)
DAUGHTER – D [l]AUGHTER
21 Insert another cartridge left over in study (6)
RELOAD – L O in READ
22 Fish with twit on banks (6)
WRASSE – W (with) ASS (twit) in RE (on)
24 One who regrets maybe taking in Liberal leader (5)
RULER – L in RUER
26 Star, say, visiting Virginia (4)
VEGA – EG in VA

52 comments on “Times 27769 – Mad as a Hatter in Wensleydale”

  1. CRUMBS I see Penfold hasn’t clocked in yet. CLOCKWISE reminded me of a favourite movie of my children when they were small – the one where John Cleese says it’s not the despair, it’s the hope that’s so unbearable. Same as others a bit puzzled by ROUND TRIP. And PARTRIDGE reminded me that when I was a little kid I thought the Twelve Days of Christmas had a particular kind of tree called a “partry-chinnapair”. The seamstress in me quibbles that a PLEAT and a gather are not one and the same. 16.29
  2. Didn’t get too hung up on anything today, so a good time to start the week.

    COD: PARTRIDGE, nicely hidden definition.

    Friday’s answer: Zorro inhabited Los Angeles, OK it was a pueblo rather than a city back then.

    Today’s question: can you think of a word other than kedgeree where the syllables have the same rhythm as the Morse Code for K? And yes, I once created a whole alphabet of such things, which has helped me learn them all.

  4. I can’t see any problem with the clue for Round Trip. If we take ‘complete journey’ as the definition, then ‘bullet train’ with the question mark is just a clever bit of punning. No need to over-complicate things.

    Edited at 2020-09-14 12:29 pm (UTC)

    1. Could “complete journey” be the definition AND the wordplay, with the bullet train as a kicker? Complete=round (off) journey=trip
      1. I remain convinced that the setter intended (a) complete journey to be the definition. Like I said, let’s not over-complicate things.
  5. It’s Monday but this puzzle had bits of Tuesday and Wednesday in it. I started with VEGA and then could not progress much beyond the SW. But a coffee after lunch helped and using a lot of crossword knowledge (e.g. LUM came to mind immediately and the various Eyrie words) I got down to my last two PARTRIDGE and the fish. I had noted WRASSE as a possible but hadn’t seen the parsing till a final look.
    Good fun. I tried GIN in the American TV broadcasters before rum. I liked CLOCKWISE amongst others. Just over an hour. David
  6. 33 minutes, but DNF, as I also had FORTUNA, my LOI after an obviously too peremptory alphabet trawl. Annoying, since as soon as I saw the pink squares I knew what the right answer would have been. But I was thinking FORTUNA = FORTUNE, which is something like one’s life’s plan, and I was thinking of the wrong Perth and convinced myself NUT must be Aussie slang and so could be right. But I do know LUM, mostly from devouring Jean Redpath songs, so quite annoying.
  7. 20:34. An engaging puzzle. Nothing in the top half on a first pass, fortunately the bottom half was more forgiving. Ex pec Ted made me laugh. I’ve come across a Napoleon wrasse while diving before.

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