Times 27777 – two and the Angel Number will look after us.

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
This was a fast solve and a not very exciting crossword for me, I can’t find much to say about it, except it was disappointing for a Wednesday. So I noticed it was #27777. I Googled 7777 and was transported to some weird websites which told me all about Angels, the Bible and Goodness and luck and that anything else I wished for could be coming my way. Who writes this stuff? Who believes it? Anyway here’s the blog.

Across
1 Communicate with bishop over satisfactory primer (8)
TEXTBOOK – TEXT (communicate) B (bishop) O(ver) OK.
6 Doddery old bachelors originally living in outskirts of Whitby (6)
WOBBLY – W(hitb)Y has O, B, B and L inserted.
9 Greek mountain’s huge appeal (4)
OSSA – OS (outsize) SA (appeal, sex appeal). Impressive 2000m mountain halfway up the right side of the Greek mainland.
10 Makes start, sadly, as scourge of workforce? (10)
TASKMASTER – (MAKES START)*
11 Wavering of ambassador initially inept in post (10)
HESITATION – H.E. (ambassador) STATION (post); insert I being initially inept.
13 Report of sludge in one of three rivers (4)
OUSE – Sounds like OOZE; one of at least three rivers so-called in the UK. Counting the Great Ouse and Little Ouse its tributary as two, there are four.
14 Ignorant, but not tight, do we hear? (8)
UNTAUGHT – Sounds like UN-TAUT.
16 Most balanced article written in small refuge (6)
SANEST – S(mall), NEST (refuge), insert A (article).
18 Italian poet’s heartless noble (6)
ARISTO – Ludovico ARIOSTO was an Italian poet. Take away his centre O.
20 Storyteller from Scottish island returning to centre of Kinross (8)
NARRATOR – Reverse ARRAN, add TO and R being the central letter of Kinross.
22 Fish deft anglers catch easily to begin with (4)
DACE – initial letters of D eft A nglers C atch E asily.
24 Half of them sketch vaguely from beginning to end (10)
THROUGHOUT – TH(em) ROUGH OUT (sketch vaguely).
26 Resident in Hampshire briefly entertaining a little (10)
INHABITANT – IN, HANT (presumably short for Hampshire, although believe it is more usual as HANTS) insert A BIT for a little.
28 Fellow keeping oxen at first for beef (4)
MOAN – O in MAN, beef as in complain.
29 Discharge former partner in robust health (6)
EXHALE – EX (former partner) HALE (in robust health).
30 Quiet, more colourful piece of office equipment (8)
SHREDDER – SH ! REDDER = more colourful.

Down
2 Maybe Chinese festival involving English sailors (9)
EASTERNER – EASTER has E(nglish) and RN (sailors) inserted.
3 Empress’s army once carrying nerve gas (7)
TSARINA – TA (Territorial Army) has SARIN a nerve gas inserted.
4 It thus set up a Roman port (5)
OSTIA – IT SO (thus) is reversed = OSTI add A.
5 Aegean island some seek ostentatiously (3)
KOS – hidden (not very) in SEE(K OS)TENTATIOUSLY.
6 Lothario, perhaps? More like Solomon crossing eastern state (9)
WOMANISER – WISER like Solomon has OMAN inserted.
7 Instrument produced by graduates thus performing (7)
BASSOON – BAS (graduates) SO (thus) ON (performing).
8 City came first, securing last of five goals ultimately (5)
LEEDS – LED has E (last of fivE) inserted then S (goals ultimately) added.
12 Fashionable cosmetic preparation for one vocalising in church (7)
INTONER – IN (fashionable) TONER (cosmetic).
15 Spooky entertainer left president following golf (9)
GHOSTLIKE – G (golf) HOST (entertainer) L (left) IKE (Eisenhower).
17 Finally he hangs out somehow in Japanese governor’s office (9)
SHOGUNATE – (E HANGS OUT)* the E being from finally hE.
19 Scorer’s stock stories about start of match (7)
SMETANA – SET ANA being stock stories, insert M for match.
21 Remorseful American hiding in an outhouse (7)
ASHAMED – AM in A SHED.
23 Join a former partner collecting news (5)
ANNEX – AN EX, a former partner, has N for news inserted.
25 Speak indistinctly, losing marks at first, say (5)
UTTER – MUTTER loses its M.
27 A second son, one behaving foolishly (3)
ASS – A, S(econd) S(on).

​

83 comments on “Times 27777 – two and the Angel Number will look after us.”

  1. Should have got under 10′ except that I couldn’t think past TASSO at 18ac. This is one for the QC crowd to sink their teeth into. Pip, you forgot the L in WOBBLY.
  2. This was the third day in a row where the puzzle felt harder to me than it’s SNITCH rating. Mind you I finished in a good time by my standards so it was just perception that made it seem harder.

    My LOI was ARISTO where I came close to convincing myself that there was an Italian poet called Cristo. No reason for it, I just have the ability to convince myself that something I made up is the right answer. Thankfully today I took time to think further, as although ARISTO went in unparsed I had at least not made it up.

  3. Who believed this stuff?- Aleister Crowley, Rudolf Hess, Erik Hannussen, Himmler, Dennis Wheatley and Ian Fleming relied on it.
    The latter used it to heavily disguise the fact that Bletchley Park had cracked German military and Abwher codes. Hess believe it without question and paid a heavy price. As did Hitler. It wasn’t just eating carrots that kept our airmen ahead.

    FOI 4dn OSTIA

    LOI 18ac ARISTO

    COD 19dn SMETANA

    WOD 19dn SHOGUNATE

    Time 27 mins.

    Edited at 2020-09-23 06:47 am (UTC)

  4. A rare sub-20 for me: a by-the-numbers puzzle consumed fast, with many biffs stepping straight over cryptics, and no sooner finished than forgotten. I always like the prawn crackers best anyway. Hopefully something more nutritious tomorrow.
      1. Ah, so much pastiche and inauthenticity in cross border food… chicken tikka masala (not in India), spaghetti bolognese (al ragu in Italy), beer brewed under license, strawberries in winter, pot noodles… perhaps McDonalds has some virtue in being completely consistent everywhere?
  5. NHO the poet, so ARISTO LOI with fingers crossed. Wondered briefly whether there was an empress named TRICINA, probably because of the substance recently sent to the orange stable genius (by someone from Quebec going postal?).
    14’17”
  7. …To follow a fair virgin of his blood.
    (Ariosto)
    20 mins of unsatisfactory fare.
    As Sawbill alludes to above, having two ‘former partners’ seems a bit much, especially as we have two ‘thus=so’s as well and plenty of: originally, initially, at first, last of, ultimately, finally, start of.
    Thanks setter and Pip.
  8. 11’59”, with ARISTO LOI, nho the poet. Dnk OSSA.

    Lots of easy clues today.

    Thanks pip and setter.

  9. Sailed through this (and the QC). Now might have to go for a long walk in the rain. To lose one wife, Mr Setter, may be regarded as misfortune; to lose two looks like laziness?
  10. 14 minutes with few pauses. It took a minute or two to remember ARIOSTO when ARISTO became obvious. I’ve never known Hampshire lose the s of Hants, so that caused a perhaps incorrect MER. I didn’t know the Greek mountain but the chestnuts growing either side marked the spot. COD to TSARINA for the surface reading. Thank you Pip and setter.
    1. Surely “Hampshire briefly” allows for the s being dropped from Hants? Seemed perfectly OK to me anyway.
  11. If I dip under 10, it’s definitely easy. So it’s definitely easy.
    ARISTO my last in because I half feared I was going to have to remember the poet.
    The setter was being curiously generous and stingy at the same time, giving us three OUSEs to choose from. Wiki says there’s four in England, the extra one being the Little Ouse.
    OSSA from the phrase “pile Pelion on Ossa”, another of those classical Greek references you need a Prime Minister to explain these days. Or not, of course.
  12. 09:17. DNK OSSA and struggled to remember the Italian poet, but otherwise, once I got going it all came came quite quickly. Very QC-ish.
  13. Well I could hardly write the clues in fast enough. 6 minutes which is almost certainly a PB for me, though I don’t keep records. Needless to say, V did it in 4m22, Mohn2 in 4.01 ..
  14. Richard Rogan has announced in the comments under this puzzle on the club site that this was our setter’s 2000th puzzle.
    Guess he/she was feeling in a generous mood.
    Know the composer (I do like his Ma Vlast) but never heard of ANA = stories even though Jerry says its practically a cliche these days.
    1. There’s a reference to this achievement in the grid (though it’s perhaps easier to spot in Pip’s blog).

      Edited at 2020-09-23 10:30 am (UTC)

        1. If I’m thinking of the right setter, there were also Ninas on the occasions of his 1000th puzzle, 40-years-of-setting anniversary puzzle, and 1500th puzzle. In which case his first puzzle appeared in the Times when I was 1.
  15. 5:56. Well I rather enjoyed this: it was easy but there was an interesting range of references.
    As jackkt says, Hampshire gives HANTS: it’s an abbreviation but there’s no need for the setter to indicate that explicitly. So ‘briefly’ is an instruction to remove the S.
    As for the 7s thing, we live in a golden age of credulity, supercharged by Facebook and YouTube, so we shouldn’t be surprised. I was treated only yesterday to a diatribe by a taxi driver who had been infected with anti-vaxitis.

    Edited at 2020-09-23 08:12 am (UTC)

  16. Over 30 mins for me so not so easy as most seem to have found it. Stuck at the end on ARISTO and SMETANA, which I had to look up. NHO Ana either. Oh well… Thank you Pip and setter.
    1. Remember ana = stories, it is practically a cliche these days. Ariosto is also one of only two Italian poets apparently, Dante being the other
  17. I looked at this before the QC and it seemed relatively straightforward so I kept going. FOI ASS and solved from the bottom up.
    LOI ARISTO -I’m sure I’ve seen something similar before. I had to guess at the order of the letters in 17d; Shonutage or Shonugate? Both wrong.
    24 minutes so very quick for me.COD to SHREDDER.
    David
    1. I hadn’t heard of SHOGUNATE either but surely you’ve come across SHOGUN before (whether that be the Japanese official himself, the TV series or the book it was based on or the Mitsubishi SUV)?
  19. Everyone seems to be damning this; it seems OK to me, just very easy and therefore lacking in any devilish clues.

    For ANNEX I had (a ex) with nn inserted. N is short for new, not news I think.

  20. Had to rely on wordplay for the classical references, and completed in 14:58, then spent 30 seconds proof reading before submitting, but missed my careless SHOGUNAGE to finish WOE in 15:38. Drat! Thanks setter and Pip.
  21. Crikey, that felt like an out-of-body experience. PB here, as well (and the sort of thing that is unlikely to be repeated). Congratulations to the setter on his indefatigability, and producing a puzzle which pretty much defines the phrase “on the wavelength” for me…
    3. Well played, sir. (I managed to invent a poet called CHRISTO and decided that that CRISTO might have been a nobleman. And I threw in a typo for good measure. Not my finest hour…)
  22. Glad to see I’m not alone in never having heard of the poet and having fingers crossed on ARISTO.

    And what this nonsense about “last of five goals” in the LEEDS clue? All our games are 7-goal thrillers these days

    1. Note to sub-editors: please find all refs to “dirty Leeds”, replace with “the great entertainers”.
  23. … millions of acres on us, till our ground,
    singeing his pate against the burning zone,
    make Ossa like a wart!

    Or at least give us something a bit more substantial than this. Got tangled up in the governor’s office through incorrectly writing the letters down, otherwise might have got near my pb. Still managed 11’50. But some of the clues really not what one comes here for. As a former teacher though I do like the pairing a ‘textbook wobbly’ – one has often thrown same…

    Edited at 2020-09-23 10:28 am (UTC)

  24. Somewhere near a PB but the NHO Italian poet held me up at the end. And even I, who knows nothing of classical music at all, had heard of Smetana, although I think I’d rather eat it.
  25. ….but they’ve never met in a corner with identical clueing. Didn’t care much for the puzzle as a whole.

    FOI WOBBLY
    LOI ARISTO
    COD MOAN
    TIME 9:18

  26. 5m 44s and the only MER was seeing EX clued as ‘former partner’ twice in the same grid (same X, in fact!).

    Congratulations to the setter for the milestone, and for sneaking it into the answers.

  28. … on the occasion of their 1999 and 2000th puzzles for The Times

    I’m not 6 ac (not yet anyway. But give it time!). When I was teaching and lecturing I wasn’t usually much of a 10, and if occasionally I was one it was only with some 11. I don’t think I’m 14, and I certainly could not claim to be the 16. Sometimes, like most people, I have a bit of a 28. I’m a musician, but I don’t play the 7, and I’m not, and never have been a 6 dn. If I had been I hope I would eventually have been 21 and begun to think of myself as a bit of a 27.

    1. Hooray for you and congrats! There’s often some MOANing around here about anonymous contributors but not this time. Thank you from me.
    2. Congratulations on an unbelievable milestone. If I was any good at Maths, I might speculate when you started setting for the Times? 48.5 years?

      Edited at 2020-09-23 11:39 am (UTC)

    3. Congratulations! And while I sometimes have a bit of a whinge I’m awed at the fantastic job you and your colleagues do day-in, day-out. Great Nina, too.
        1. Edit: Sorry, messed that up, try again… Look at the start letter of each across solution, in the blog above, you’ll see it.

          Edited at 2020-10-02 09:07 am (UTC)

    4. Heartfelt congratulations from me. Just think both of the frustration you’ve caused (on harder days), and the pleasure you’ve given. A wonderful achievement.
    6. Well, all congratulations Mr Setter, from today’s humble blogger. Perhaps my comments were a little negative today in view of the occasion, if so, regrets or apologies. I can only write what I feel, we’re all at different levels of solving speeds and abilities and I look forward as blogger to a challenge and something to get the teeth into each Wednesday (for just the last six years.) Keep B*****ing on! (Borissing, is that a word yet?)
    7. thank you so much for such an enjoyable puzzle I particularly enjoyed 20A being from the west cost of Scotland with panoramic views over to the Isle of Arran!
  29. 8.39. A PB for me by quite some distance and a real thrill to get my first sub-10 minute completion. Definitely a puzzle at the easier end of the spectrum but I’m not complaining.
  30. I’m rarely under 10 and almost never under 9 so this was a blue moon one for me. Tim’s time is definitely spooky. If you’ve got crossword time left over Boatman’s got a brute over in that other paper. 8.58
    1. Thanks for the tip! I’ve got out of the habit of doing a second crossword at lunchtimes, but a Boatman’s probably worth printing off and trying on some spare evening…
  31. Did seem on the easier side though held up towards the end with INTONER – didn’t have the T checker until UNTAUGHT appeared.

    ARI(O)STO popped up from somewhere – perhaps here previously? SMETANA was a bolt from the blue – just the E and first A checker to get this.

    Had to do a bit of thinking to work out what sort of BOOK it was – communicate with = TEXT is still not an automatic connection for me, so EASTERNER/TEXTBOOK last in.

  33. Which is a personal best by a country mile, and not likely to be repeated. Nevertheless I was at the bottom of the leaderboard for a long time even with such a time. (As of writing I’m 83rd.)

    Incidentally this puzzle took me only 10 seconds longer than the quickie…

  34. One of the fastest times for me since recording them back in April, and correspondingly a very low SNITCH of 55 at present. Slightly held up at the end by ARISTO but otherwise it pretty much went straight in. MER at two former partners crossing in the bottom left hand corner.

    COD: LEEDS, nice football surface.

    Yesterday’s answer: a puzzle such as 2 P in a P (two peas in a pod) is sometimes known as a ‘ditloid’, an acronym for Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, i.e. One DITLOID. Not that easy to clue, thanks for trying!

    Today’s question (sorry it’s late, had early work meeting): which oath-maker was born in Kos?

  35. As QC regulars we rarely try the 15×15 but several people suggested giving it a go today and we’re glad we did. I have no idea of our time and we didn’t solve 5 of the clues but we got the rest of them! Feeling very pleased even though it was a DNF

    Edited at 2020-09-23 01:50 pm (UTC)

  36. nice nina, setter, and nice career. We’ll be holding our collective breath for 2,500. thanks for the blog, pip.
  37. … as we were advised this one was worth even the likes of me having a go. And all finished in just under half an hour. I don’t remember if that is my best effort at the 15×15 but as I have only ever finished about 4 or 5 it might well be.

    Not all parsed quite though, but clues like 18A Aristo were quite generously set and approachable from more than one direction, so even not having heard of the poet it was gettable.

    I notice Mrs S finished this in well under 10 minutes but with a most uncharacteristic error. A very rare day of bragging rights for me then … unless the poison gas at 3D can also be spelled Zarin?

    Thank you to Pip for the blog
    Cedric

    1. Welcome, Cedric. Nice hat!
      I would prefer TZARINA but you have to go with the wordplay and Collins is depressingly full of second-best options for spellings.
      1. “Tzarina” would be an uncommon variant. It’s normally Z with the C, in czar or czarina, and T with the S, in tsar or tsarina.
  38. Never heard of the Italian poet so went for CRISTO as being a heartless version of the (count of monte) CHRISTO although I don’t know if he has an H in to remove in reality.
  39. Like some others on here, I’m a QC regular but decided to give the ‘biggie’ another go today.
    Slow but steady would sum up my efforts and I was quite satisfied with my time of just over 30 minutes.
    Only a few biffs – ARISTO, TSARINA, SHOGUNATE and SMETANA – and I enjoyed UNTAUGHT, SHREDDER and ASHAMED. My COD goes to THROUGHOUT for its clever construction.
    Many thanks and congratulations to the setter – thanks also to Pip for the helpful blog.
  40. 13.10. Thought I was on for a PB as I raced through the majority of the clues. Unfortunately, brought down to earth by aristo and smetana , that took at least three minutes to work out. In retrospect, I think Smetana was probably the clue of the day.

    Very enjoyable, thanks setter and blogger.

  42. QC-er here, fell a couple of clues short. Different level of chestnuts here, ANA was a new one, and Scorer=composer another new one, I see SA for s-x appeal is still alive and well.
  44. Raced through this until made to think about the Greek mountain, the Italian poet, and the composer. DNK any of them but was able to work them out, thank goodness, unlike yesterday’s novel.
  45. Well having come back here and realized there was a brilliant Nina I take back my rather discourteous description and doff my cap to a venerable and prolific setter. Thank you (and all of you) for the pleasure you give us daily.

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