Times 27775 – Vanilla city!

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Time: 27 miinutes
Music: Wagner, Tristan and Isolde Prelude, Klemperer

This was pretty much a typical Monday puzzle, well-clued but rather straightforward.   I would have been much faster, but I just could not come up with corners at the end, and began to doubt the crossing entries.  That destroyed my hope of a sub-20 time, which is good for me.   The end result is a bit on the dull side, as there is not a single interesting word or controversial clue to be found. 

Across
1 Rolling with laughter, as you may be after theatre trip (2,8)
IN STITCHES – Double definition….trip to an operating theatre, that is.
6 Display behind Low cartoon, at the back (4)
MOON – MOO + [cartoo}N
9 Sat beside old flame, defenceless (7)
EXPOSED – EX + POSED.
10 Confirm Mark is touring the States (7)
SUSTAIN – S(US)TAIN.
12 Hypocritical dictator’s evil instrument (6,4)
DOUBLE BASS –  DOUBLE + sounds like BASE.
13 Chap from Helsinki out of his head here? (3)
INN – [f]INN, a rather general literal, although yes, an inn is a place.
15 Wise, having name for male disposition (6)
NATURE – -m,+N ATURE, a simple letter substitution clue.
16 Rebelliousness of French chap bound for altar? (8)
DEFIANCE – DE + FIANCE.
18 Has pilot somehow made for Red Cross facility? (8)
HOSPITAL – Anagram of HAS PILOT.
20 Rubbish teacher has qualification returned (6)
DEBRIS – SIR, B.ED. backards.
23 Drink making you sardonic in speech? (3)
RYE – Sounds like WRY.
24 Sweet wine that might shake you up (10)
AFTERSHOCK – AFTERS + HOCK
26 Ticklish spots for hogs? (7)
CORNERS – A double definition that certainly should have been obvious.
27 Suggested paper fabricated report about backbencher? (7)
IMPLIED – I (M.P.) LIED, where the paper is the Independent, now just I.
28 Father and son put on payroll in Bow (4)
SIRE –  S + ‘IRE. 
29 Part sentimental English left out (10)
INSTALMENT – anagram of S[e]NTIMENTAL.
Down
1 Foreign woman, one drawn to Jean-Paul Sartre’s nose? (4)
INEZ – I + NEZ, a little more French than is usually required.
2 Two drinks to bring you comfort? (7)
SUPPORT – SUP + PORT.
3 Troublesome British trade union is condemned (13)
INSUBORDINATE – anagram of B TRADE UNION IS.
4 Club could occasionally upset member (6)
CUDGEL – C[o]U]l]D + LEG upside-down.
5 Trapped Yank nears end (8)
ENSNARED – anagram of NEARS END.   Yank is certainly a novel anagram indicator.
7 Address of old shop I must visit (7)
ORATION – O + RAT (I) ON.   Shop is rat on, not just rat.
8 Practical instruction limerick writer ignored? (2-8)
NO-NONSENSE – Double definition, one jocular.
11 Church in Palestine is remarkable place of worship (7,6)
SISTINE CHAPEL – CH in anagram of PALESTINE IS.   Another rather vague literal.
14 Whisky served in this way may be ruined? (2,3,5)
ON THE ROCKS –  Double definition.
17 Zealot engaged in pop art is antagonistic (8)
PARTISAN – hidden in [po]P ART IS AN[tagonistic].
19 One fleecing his subjects? (7)
SHEARER – Cryptic definition.
21 Lie about Chancellor’s initial position (7)
RECLINE – RE + C[hancellor] + LINE, as in the party line.
22 Actor perhaps at first welcoming resistance (6)
ARTIST –  A(R)T + 1ST.
25 Change course, heading north (4)
EDIT – TIDE upside-down, as in time and tide.

60 comments on “Times 27775 – Vanilla city!”

  1. The last 4 minutes spent on INSTALMENT and ARTIST. (I spell the former with 2 L’s, and indeed typed INSTALLMEN, not noticing until just as I was about to submit.) This is Monday, I realize, but e.g. ON THE ROCKS, HOSPITAL, & SHEARER belong in a QC.
  2. No problem with CORNERS here, LOI INSTALMENT. I put SISTINE CHAPEL in from the checkers I had at the time and “church” as the first word of the clue. Ironically, that is actually part of the worldplay thad I hadn’t bothered with!
  3. 18 minutes for all but CORNERS. After 15 minutes of head-scratching I started to use aids and still had no idea. Finally came to this blog for enlightenment. (Thanks vinyl!) A shame, as it was one of my fastest times yet.
  4. I think the reference in 13ac is to the idea that an INN is a place that a Finn, or indeed anyone else, might get rolling drunk, aka “out of one’s head”.
  5. ‘yank’ as an anagram indicator? We had ‘coached’ last week. These devices are stretching the bounds of credibility. Major eyebrow raise, at least botoxed, if not a complete face-lift.
    Enjoyed DEFIANCE and MOON. Thanks setter and Vinyl.
    15’41”
  6. I was somehow afraid that CORNERS wasn’t the answer, though it could hardly have been anything else. I did finally think of the hogs chowing down on corn. Ticklish spots are underarms, feet…
      1. I didn’t mean to give the impression that I didn’t eventually figure that out.
        My comment was for entertainment purposes only. The idiom is odd, if you think about it.
  7. Well I for one thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle and found it amusing and quite inventive in places, not least in some of the surface readings.

    For example the LOL moment provided by 6ac which also has a great surface with reference to Sir David Low, the genius cartoonist who whilst working for the London Evening Standard satirised the rise of the Nazi party in the 1930s and the war against Germany. Post-war he worked for the Daily Herald and the Manchester Guardian.

    1dn was also amusing with a great surface, helped a little in the solving by INEZ having come up as a woman’s name quite recently but the setter can’t be blamed for that. It’s an unusual name in crosswords and caught out several people last time round, including myself.

    Wot Bruce said about 13ac, also quite amusing if one get’s the intention behind the clue.

    CORNERS in the sense of ‘hogs’ caused some dissent last time it came up so some may remember it from that.

    I also liked FIANCE as ‘chap bound for altar’ which, if not quite another LOL moment, at least brought a smile.

    ‘Yank’ as anagram indicator is on the list of anagrinds in Chambers 12th edition published in 2011 so hardly ‘stretching the bounds of credibility’.

    34 very enjoyable moments and I shall be recommending it to the QC-ers when Don’s blog appears later.

    Edited at 2020-09-21 04:39 am (UTC)

    1. Hear, hear, Jackkt, some very amusing clues here. The reference to Sartre is particularly droll, as his looks were never what drew women to him… mais à chacune son goût, hein ? Ha

      Edited at 2020-09-21 05:29 am (UTC)

      1. Glad to read someone else appreciated it but sorry I can’t now remove the grocer’s apostrophe in paragraph 4!
    2. regarding anagrinds; surely they must, by definition, somehow indicate “rearrange these letters”. I would argue that this should be done in as natural a way as possible. The word ‘yank’ in no reasonable sense does this. Whether it is on a list of ‘approved anagrinds’ is a poor standard. It would mean a solver would need to be aware of all these, no matter how far-fetched, and would potentially make solutions available to the cognoscenti of the code, but out of reach for the general solver.
      I was surprised there was such a thing as ” an approved list of anagrinds”, so I googled it , and sure enough its a thing! I couldn’t find the Chambers list, but yank didn’t appear on the ones I found.
      This minor quibble certainly didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the puzzle.
      1. Yank: to pull, jerk, or move with a sharp movement. (Collins). If you move things you rearrange them.

        As for the list, it’s just there for guidance and I quoted it only because a previous comment seemed to be suggesting that the setter had made it up, and I wanted to make the point that it has been used before and enough times to have found its way onto a list.

    3. I agree. There was nothing spectacularly brilliant, but a lot of very smooth surfaces and not a little wit.
    4. The CORNERS dissent was over the use of ‘bags’ as a definition. I objected to that but I think ‘hogs’ is fine.
      1. Thanks. I couldn’t remember exactly and was unable to find it by searching CORNER as it’s used frequently in comments regarding areas of the grid.
  8. To me this felt a little harder in places than the SNITCH’s easy rating. In particular the SE corner gave me problems with ARTIST, INSTALMENT and RECLINE. Elsewhere I hesitated over DEFIANCE as I seemed to overthink it – I had Ian going to church (CE), so where did the F come from? Finally I came back to finish with INEZ where I had hesitated over the possibility of it being Ines. In the end I thought about the glasses, and was pretty sure they were pince nez and not pince nes, as proved correct.
  9. I managed to hold myself up by not realising that 11d was (7, 6) rather than (13). D’oh. Still, 31 minutes isn’t too bad for me. FOI 1d INEZ, who seems to come up rather a lot in crosswords, though I’ve never met one in real life; LOI 24 AFTERSHOCK. Took me a while to see the parsing there, especially as I’ve never drunk hock, but I have, regretfully, drunk the modern liqueur called Aftershock, which is neither sweet nor a wine. Enjoyed 16a DEFIANCE and 6a MOON along the way.

    Edited at 2020-09-21 06:34 am (UTC)

  10. Very easy. Is the setter Oink? I saw CORNERS immediately but I can see it might cause some problems. Definitely one for the QC brigade.
  11. 20 mins pre-brekker.
    Most time spent pondering: does sustain really mean confirm, double mean hypocritical, and isn’t corner a ‘tight’ spot as opposed to ‘ticklish’?
    But I came down on the side of the setter. Thanks setter and Vinyl.
    PS Here is a clean limerick for you.

    I’m a man of superior station,
    I despise the young generation,
    The things they say,
    Cause me to display,
    Floccinaucinihilipilification.

    1. I finished this crossword quite soon,
      There are still several hours till noon,
      Some clues a bit cheesy
      And others too easy
      But of course i mostly liked MOON
    3. Agree with ‘double’ and ‘sustain’ but I think ‘ticklish’ is okay. ‘Spot’ by itself can mean an awkward situation, so ticklish = difficult isn’t out of place.
  12. A very fast and fun solve let down by brain fade as I entered INÉS. O level French failed me – inexcusably, since both my mother- and sister-in-law have INEZ as a middle name. A pink 22m.
  13. Yes, it was straightforward but, like Jack, I enjoyed it. NO NONSENSE got two ticks form me but AFTERSHOCK got three and was thus my COD.
    As Kevin said some clues were more suited to the QC, particularly HOSPITAL.
    INEZ reminded me of Cap Gris Nez in northern France. That seemed to be where cross-channel swimmers always aimed for. Then when I lived in France I discovered there is a Cap Blanc Nez as well!
  15. CORNERS went in after I’d thought of ‘cornering the market’.

    ‘Ticklish’ here is surely meant in the sense of ‘difficult’ e.g. to clean. That was my thinking.

    Rather liked AFTERSHOCK.

    12′ 16″, thanks vinyl and setter.

  16. Made good progress but got a bit stuck in the SE corner, INSTALMENT LOI.

    COD: AFTERSHOCK, although I suspect it isn’t that original.

    Friday’s answer: Simon Anderson invented the ‘Thruster’ skateboard.

    Today’s question: after which Pope is the Sistine Chapel named?

  17. 13:21 Held up in the end by INSTALMENT and PARTISAN, otherwise quite straightforward, but rather fun. I liked MOON and DEBRIS best.
  18. A game of two halves for me. LHS in less than 5 minutes, but total elapse time 22 minutes. LOI and COD to ARTIST. I liked NO NONSENSE, IN STITCHES and MOON too. Thank you V and setter.
  19. Not to have remembered INEZ this time round, so for once I didn’t. 45mins today so not the easiest xword for me. LOI DÉBRIS which took an age as I had misspelt NONSENSE and had an N at the end doh! Also took a while to see the hidden PARTISAN, thinking it was an anagram of pop art is. The first three checkers seemed to back this up. An enjoyable romp and COD to MOON. Thank you vinyl and setter.
  20. The top half went in quickly, but I was held up down below, especially the well hidden PARTISAN and my LOI, CORNERS, where I couldn’t see past CARTELS and eventually did an alphabet trawl as I couldn’t parse it. Like Myrtilus I struggled to equate DOUBLE with Hypocritical. 25:45. Thanks setter and Vinyl.
  21. 12.53. A steady start to the week held up by an inability to spell sistine until I saw the light, in this case defiance. FOI in stitches, LOI artist.
  22. 12.28, with the SE corner taking me beyond the single digit time, not least the terrific “hidden” PARTISAN which looked anything but.
    What is it about the mildly naughty clues that has such appeal? MOON made my day with its perfectly cheeky definition.
    I’d quite like to visit the SISTINE when it is just a place of worship. Always a place of wonder of course (not least “I wonder why I expected the Adam bit to be much bigger?”) but the milling crowds and the stewards calling out “silencio” at regular intervals don’t do much for the atmosphere. Ah well.

    Some quite entertaining paired clues today, “hospital debris”, “ensnared artist”, “no-nonsense edit” and that celebrated Velasquez “Inez on the rocks”. And for those of us that follow MotD, “support Shearer” in any argument with Lineker.

    1. I thought the professional Geordie was remarkably restrained in the face of Newcastle’s total capitulation yesterday !

      Edited at 2020-09-21 11:52 am (UTC)

    1. Close enough for humour, surely, which is at least part of the process.
      Mind you, your theatre trip might have been for Twelfth Night: “If you desire the spleen, and will laugh yourself into stitches, follow me.”
  24. I agree with most, a Monday job without anything special. I liked MOON especially as Low was a real chap. Bunged in CORNERS as it made sense with the ‘hogs’ idea, but I don’t get the ticklish bit. Still, it was a better option than the other 18 words fitting C*R*E*S.
  25. 6:43. Easy but fun. I was a bit concerned about CORNERS, having failed to make the required ticklish connection. I particularly liked MOON.
  26. endowed by the ruined millionaire …

    Pleasantly Mondayish. Certainly some good pairings, my favourite the ensnared artist with Support Shearer a good T-shirt second and the icy Inez up there on the podium. What a crew. 13’57.

  27. Because I bunged in “Notary” for “Nature”. Thought I had done well.
    Who remembers Rod Stewart and the Faces singing “Debris”?
  28. Not on any sort of wavelength this morning so I failed to cut any CORNERS – and that along with DOUBLE=hypocritical gave me a fair bit of head-scratching. To continue Z’s pairings, there was MOON and EXPOSED and DEFIANCE with INSUBORDINATE. 15.17. P.S. There’s a tribe in the pacific Northwest called the Nez Perce which 1d reminded me of.

    Edited at 2020-09-21 11:00 am (UTC)

  29. Serving whisky ON THE ROCKS absolutely guarantees ruin ! On the subject of alcohol, AFTERSHOCK is neither sweet, nor a wine, when these foolish youngsters are knocking back shots. I reached the SE corner in 7 minutes, but then laboured just a little. My LOI testifies to some kind of brain freeze.

    FOI IN STITCHES
    LOI INSTALMENT
    COD ORATION
    TIME 9:37

  30. I found this quite tricky in places – in fact, it took me twice as long as Saturday’s prize cryptic. I didn’t find it particularly vanilla – there was some fun to be had, although I agree that a few of the clues were very easy – IN STITCHES went in before I’d finished reading the clue! But there were a few that I made far more difficult than I needed to – DEFIANCE, PARTISAN and SISTINE CHAPEL in particular. I’d got TEMPLE in my mind for the second part of the clue, despite there being no M in the anagrist, so it was a real PDM when I suddenly saw SISTINE! I’m really annoyed with myself for not seeing AFTERSHOCK – I was convinced it started with ASTI and was something sweet, like aspartamine. How the mind plays tricks on us!

    FOI In stitches
    CsOD Debris just pips MOON to the post – super surfaces
    DNF in 50 minutes with one to go

    Thanks setter and Vinyl

    Edited at 2020-09-21 12:00 pm (UTC)

  31. First puzzle for a week after a modest holiday, and enjoyed it: as others have suggested, mild and faintly vanilla, though MOON was a superior clue. Also, on solving 19dn, I ran to the corner of the room and raised one arm high in the air in triumph, to the cheers of the non-existent crowd in the Gallowgate.
  32. 11.42. Very easy. I ran through this writing in the answers about as quickly as I could read the clues with very little requirement to engage the brain. Hopes of a sub-10 minute finish were dashed though when I got to the SE corner and instalment and the upside down tide refused to yield until the 10 minute barrier had long passed. Nice to have a confidence booster like this once in a while, though I generally prefer something with a bit more meat on the bones.
  33. I was shockingly slow at 41 mins.

    FOI 1ac IN STITCHES

    LOI 12ac DOUBLE BASS

    COD 24ac AFTERSHOCK

    WOD 11dn SISTINE CHAPEL

    Nuff said.

  34. 38 minutes and I found it very easy, but solved it after an at least temporally longish walk with a 2-year old and a 4-year old (who managed 3 miles on their own two feet, at least the 4-year old did), which left me dead tired. So I spent about 10 minutes convincing myself that CORNER really was the right answer (no problem with the hogs, more with the ticklish bit), on a normal day I would have finished in a comfortable half hour.

    Edited at 2020-09-21 06:25 pm (UTC)

  35. Well, I did eventually manage to finish, so by definition it must have been easy, but it didn’t seem that easy in places. In particular, Artist, Instalment and Corners took a long time to work out, with Corners going in with fingers crossed. I’m also still at a loss to see how Double relates to Hypocritical, but the crossers fortunately left no doubt. Invariant
  37. Hated that clue. Still do. I think ‘curlers’ is just as fitting:
    You curl up when tickled and pigs have curly tails.

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