Times 27832 – in which I may be asked to 14

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time taken: 13:08.  I was a little nervous about one entry when I submitted, more so that I now have to scrape up an explanation.

Celebrations all around – as many of you read this it will be Thanksgiving in the USA.  Hopefully celebrated without large gatherings and anyone else getting sick unnecessarily. I’m hiding out near a beach and many golf courses.  This is also my blogiversary – my first Thursday Times blog was on November 22, 2007 (jackkt started the day after me, and didn’t make a fuss about it on Tuesday, so happy late blogiversary to him).

Fairly tricky puzzle, I thought with very few write-ins, and one of my pet peeves, a foreign phrase clued as an anagram. As of now there are only five completions and they are all over 10 minutes, so for the early birds, this is a challenge.

Away we go…

Across
1 Dreadful chaos, mostly — very? (5)
HAVOC – anagram of CHAO(s) + V(very)
4 Winter landscape feature melting down first? (9)
SNOWDRIFT – anagram of DOWN,FIRST
9 Chased by colonist, consider looking back (9)
REGARDANT – ANT(colonist) after REGARD(consider)
10 All I give in return for watch? Not all (5)
VIGIL – hidden reversed in alL I GIVe
11 Fruit ice with wrong coatings removed (6)
CITRON – remove the outer letters of iCe wITh wRONg
12 Part of train bearing Victoria or Gladstone, say (8)
CARRIAGE – this was the clue giving me the most grief – I see three definitions (part of train, bearing, and Victoria is a type of carriage).  Gladstone is a bag, maybe a fourth definition in terms of luggage?  Edit: see comments – Gladstone is defined as a four-wheeled carriage in Collins
14 Stop going on, as one may if boot’s too big? (3,1,4,2,2)
PUT A SOCK IN IT – doble definition
17 Stubborn dope stopping on the way (12)
INTRANSIGENT – GEN(dope) inside IN TRANSIT(on the way)
20 Backsliding secretary disheartened by job in support group (8)
APOSTASY – the outer letters of SecretarY after POST(job) inside AA(alcoholics anonymous, support group)
21 Amount of liquid consumed’s endless, everyone being drunk (6)
GALLON – GONE(consumed) missing the last letter with ALL(everyone) inside
23 Asian language, second on distant island (5)
FARSI – S(second) after FAR(distant), I(island)
24 Modern images from one book backed by right-wingers (9)
EMOTICONS – I(one), TOME(book) reversed next to CONS(right-wingers).
25 Opposing players step round vacated tee, as requested (9)
ENTREATED – E and N(opposing players in bridge), then TREAD(step) surrounding the exterior letters in TeE
26 It‘s fine after love in New York (5)
NOOKY – OK(fine) after O(love) inside NY(New York)
Down
1 Printed output from PC grabbed by writer (4,4)
HARD COPY – COP(PC) inside Thomas HARDY(writer)
2 Idle surgeon worried nurses for instance (8)
VEGETATE – VET(surgeon), ATE(worried) containing EG(for instance)
3 Health precaution a rare condition’s brought about? (6,9)
CORDON SANITAIRE – anagram of A,RARE,CONDITION’S
4 Expelled for minor disagreement (4)
SPAT – double definition
5 Public prepared to wait for case that’s not admitted (10)
OUTPATIENT – OUT(public), PATIENT(prepared to wait)
6 Branching out, this writer had taken up poetry (15)
DIVERSIFICATION – I’D(this writer had) reversed then VERSIFICATION(poetry)
7 Dressed, ready to drive off? (2,4)
IN GEAR – double definition
8 £50 in bank that navigator gets hold of (6)
TILLER – L(fifty), L(pounds) inside TIER(bank)
13 Record of two sides getting under twenty? (10)
SCORESHEET – a SHEET has two sides, and is under SCORE(twenty)
15 Loaded spring not yet set in motion (4-2-2)
WELL-TO-DO – WELL(spring), TO DO(not yet set in motion)
16 Waits in the wings for champions (6,2)
STANDS BY – double definition
18 Rabbit food regularly impressed (6)
WAFFLE – double definition based on a waffle having a pattern
19 Investigator going up first round Olympic site (6)
POIROT – TOP(first) surrounding RIO(Olympic site) all reversed
22 Enterprising bachelor getting on (4)
BOLD – B(bachelor), OLD(getting on)

71 comments on “Times 27832 – in which I may be asked to 14”

  1. I wondered whether a Gladstone was also a type of carriage. Biffed CITRON, VEGETATE, semi-biffed EMOTICONS from the CONS. LOI WAFFLE; luckily my alphabet trawl didn’t go systematically from B. George, a couple of typos: TILLER is LL in TIER; ENTREATED, exterior letters in ‘tee’. I confess I liked NOOKY.
  2. Congrats on your blogiversary, George and thanks for the reference to mine. I hadn’t noticed it actually as I’ve lost track, but I keep count of blogs written and tend to mention when I reach a 50 or a 100.

    I ran out of steam on this one when I had most of it done, eventually looking up 3dn as I suspected it was a foreign anagram (I hate them too!) and having confirmed my suspicions I rather lost interest in the two or three remaining clues with WAFFLE and POIROT going unsolved. I thought the second bit of SCORESHEET was feeble and didn’t care much for CITRON, a fruit that I’ve never knowingly been offered or eaten.

    Collins confirms that ‘Gladstone’ is a light four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle.

    Edited at 2020-11-26 02:33 am (UTC)

    1. I looked it up in Collins to check, since it isn’t in Chambers, but I missed that it is there in the fourth definition!
    2. It’s not the foreignness I object to, it’s the obscurity. I sometimes find that something like the enumeration or the presence of a letter in an odd place can help me to eliminate English, thus narrowing the hypothesis space, as they say. That was the case the other day with DOLCE FAR NIENTE. Of course that turned out to be obscure to just about everyone else, but. (CORDON SANITAIRE wasn’t obscure to me, but I don’t know why it came to mind; I had S I in and a brief glance at the anagrist, and biffed.)
      1. I have sometimes wondered if the anagram bit comes because the letter arrangements in English words are often different to those in foreign words, which makes common clue constructions based on adding this word or letter to that less possible, and leaving anagram as the clue-style of choice. When that occurred to me, I was glad that we haven’t yet seen a dodgy hominym for a foreign word.
    3. I forgot to say earlier that I love the expression ‘PUT A SOCK IN IT’ meaning to be quiet. It has its origin in the days of wind-up gramophones when the only means of controlling the volume was to stuff a sock (or other suitable piece of cloth such as a duster) down the horn. It also worked with the later more compact ‘suitcase’ models.

      Our family gramophone was a more elaborate affair, a veritable piece of furniture. The horn was concealed behind a wooden latticed grille so inaccessible for sock-putting, but never fear, one could reduce the volume by closing one or both of the solid mahogany doors in front of the grille.

            1. Maybe. Unlike most of these things there doesn’t seem to be much in way of alternative theories. One I found was that it came from the military (a prime source for such sayings) where it might have had something to do with practising bugle calls. Still the same principle as the gramophone mute which I can testify from personal experience was common enough when wind-ups were in use though I’ve no idea whether anyone actually used a sock.
              1. There is a very obvious alternative theory. There are several English expressions meaning ‘shut up’ that imply blocking the mouth in some way: zip it, button it, put a cork in it, put a sock in it. The likelihood that the explanation for this particular example of a common linguistic trope is the practice of putting a piece of cloth (where a sock would usually be too small) into a piece of equipment that most people wouldn’t have owned anyway is surely small? Occam’s razor and all that.

                Edited at 2020-11-27 12:20 am (UTC)

  3. I failed at 3dn thinking it was CORONA some thing or other and thus the IKEAN 11ac CITRON never materialised (Doh!)

    FOI 14ac PUT A SOCK IN IT – sock it to me!

    (LOI) 9ac REGARDANT – the animal looking backwards is invariably a lion.

    COD 3dn CORDON SANITAIRE my less then heroic failure

    WOD as with Kevin 26ac NOOKY

    The answer to today’s question from Angus is PHAETON.

  4. Having come here via the SNITCH it seems I was on the wavelength today. The fact I’m able to even finish most of the time now is undoubtedly thanks to the bloggers so thanks as ever and congratulations to George and Jack on the anniversaries.

    I had been stuck near the end of this one when I decided that scrabbling around for pen and paper was called for to work out CORDON SANITAIRE. Indeed it yielded an instant result and enabled me to push on to the finish line. I’d like a way to work on such anagrams electronically but I’ve found nothing that comes near pen and paper to date.

      1. Thanks Andy, but I was looking for something lightweight to use on my iPad. It might be that an Apple pen is the way to go. Although undoubtedly I’ll then have the problem of forgetting where I left it.
        1. I use an app called ShowMe. Basically a white board on your iPad. I scribble on it using my forefinger (much cheaper than an Apple pen!).
      1. Thanks. I’ll give it a go for the Mephisto or The Listener. I need all the aids I can with those!
        1. Chambers Word Wizard is very good at unscrambling and unlike some apps it will find multiple words and short sayings too.
  5. Pre-brekker. No time as interrupted, but about 45 mins.
    Struggles were the NHO Regardant and the Apostasy/Poirot crossers.
    Thanks setter and G.
  6. 14:41. Tricky. DK REGARDANT, obviously, but figured it was probably a heraldry thing. Knew the French term fortunately.
    I think the SHEET in 13dn is a bit more precise than it’s being given credit for, since ‘side’ is a common and specific term for either face of a SHEET of paper, as in ‘print on both sides’ or ‘I wrote three sides of A4’.
    1. Sorry, but I have to object to the use of ‘obviously’ when e.g. ‘of course’ is meant. There’s nothing obvious about your not knowing that REGARDANT was a term from heraldry. I knew it (not obviously, but in fact), and, obviously, –well, nothing obvious seems to follow–I’ll stop here.
      1. ‘Obviously’ and ‘of course’ are used interchangeably by us kids, Kevin. Just be thankful I didn’t write ‘obvs’.
        1. That is in fact the gravamen of my complaint! You kids say ‘obviously’ when you mean ‘of course’. Young punk.
  7. DNF. Defeated by APOSTASY at the end, not knowing the word and guessing wrong. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to din it tricky. DNK REGARDANT either, but it had to be. COD to HARD COPY.
  8. REGARDANT, no “grey cells” IN GEAR
    I’m starting to VEGETATE here
    I was INTRANSIGENT
    Then POIROT, in it went
    T’was done, but it took me a year
  9. Same as others, I’m afraid stuck for the last 10 mins on 20ac and 19d so a DNF. NHO REGARDANT or APOSTASY. I have recorded and am in the process of watching a ton of POIROT episodes so am still kicking myself that I did not see the answer. Fixated on Olympic sites. Doh.
    Took me a while to see CORDON SANITAIRE too. Why, when Macron speaks of nothing else? Anyway, thanks G for the blog and congratulations, and well done setter.
  10. Found that fairly tough, especially the western edge. Didn’t like REGARDANT, the whole definition and the regard part are nearly the same thing.

    COD: CORDON SANITAIRE for the anagram, despite the hostility to a foreign phrase clued this way.

    Previous answer: a condor is four under par, and yes apologies for repeating a question!

    Today’s question: what was Hercule Poirot’s brother’s name? (Sorry, the answer isn’t Phaeton)

      1. I immediately thought of “my brother George”, then realised that I’m confusing Poirot and Liberace, which is an odd thing to do.
  11. Slowed myself down by spelling APOSTASY with a “C” even though I worked it out from the wordplay, but managed to biff CORDON SANITAIRE quite early—perhaps known from Outbreak or 28 Days Later.

    48 minutes all told, with POIROT last in. My recent crossword-inspired reading of a Ngaio Marsh Inspector Alleyn book was no help there, but I did greatly enjoy it, at least!

    Happy blogiversary all round 🙂

    Edited at 2020-11-26 06:12 pm (UTC)

  12. 44 minutes. The little grey cells couldn’t get going today. Indeed, my LOI was POIROT, and then only after ENTREATED gave me the final T. I’m not keen on clues when you’re still not sure having fully parsed it, and SCORESHEET was in that category. A tough puzzle, but all gettable. COD to HARD COPY, the way I still solve. Thank you setter and George. Happy anniversaries to you and Jack.
  13. 24 minutes for this, which reflected a lack of instant entries: several of the longer ones, like SCORESHEET and REGARDANT went in in two goes widely spaced.
    I’s have spelled NOOKY with an IE, but what do I know?
    Lost time trying the alternate letter (“regularly”) convention for WAFFLE, and worrying about how to fit my Gladstone BAG into the CARRIAGE. When I eventually submitted, I fully expected pink squares.
    Despite current conditions, CORDON SANITAIRE is more associated (by me, at least) with its historic/political usage. Pleased to get irt, because it unlocked a lot of clues.
    Congratulations George on your 13th anniversary, and on cracking this tricky offering. Happy Thanksgiving, and stay safe!
  14. Very nice – challenging, but nice. It goes without saying that my comment is based on nearly all the knowledge meeting my definition of “general”, which I appreciate isn’t the same for everybody. The only one where fingers were crossed was CARRIAGE, but I have been around the Georgette Heyer fans who live here for long enough to realise that just about any Georgian / Victorian person’s name you can think of normally turns out also to be a very specific sort of horse-drawn carriage (no, no, the Wellesley has one door and is pulled by two horses, but the Palmerston has two doors and a driver sitting in a special seat on the right-hand side…)

    P.S. Keep on keeping on, George.

    Edited at 2020-11-26 10:44 am (UTC)

  15. 41′, same struggles as nearly everyone else. SW corner particularly hard going. Thanks for the definitions re CARRIAGE.

    Thanks george and setter.

  16. Congratulations George and Happy Turkey Day! This took me a sluggish 25.18 which I’ll ascribe to being seriously under-caffeinated. Unable to make a cuppa this morning because what I thought was our spare propane tank turned out to be empty yesterday evening. The timing was impeccable because, today being Thanksgiving, I’m due to do some serious cooking later. Luckily, things being what they are, it’s just the 2 of us rather than the whole gang and I think I can cobble together most of it (except the roast bird) using the microwave when it’s light enough to go and find it in the barn. Luckily we’ve got plenty of puddings!

    Oh, the puzzle. “Tricky” is definitely le mot juste.

  17. …the Farsi emoticons, the havoc snowdrift…

    eventually emerged in over 50 minutes. In spite of the time a minor sense of triumph since was on the point of giving up more than once. Strewth. An excellent mind-trap.

  18. Started this just before bedtime when the SNITCH was still around 140 so was expecting a slow trudge.

    Surprised to get the right half in reasonably promptly, plus the odd clue on the left.

    Had WOFFLE rather than WAFFLE initially though, and only on changing it, finally saw APOSTASY which gave the final checker for SANITAIRE – hadn’t realised until then that the phrase looked for wasn’t English!

    LOI POIROT with only the RIO understood.

  19. I battled through this in 50:02, with CORDON SANITAIRE and OUTPATIENT my last 2 in, and most of my proofreading time spent trying to justify Victoria and Gladstone in 12a. In the end I submitted, fully expecting pink squares, which duly appeared, but not in CARRIAGE. Sadly I’d biffed APOSTATE at 20a without noticing it had messed up my SCORETHEET. Drat! Thanks setter and George. Congrats to you and Jack on your blogversaries.
  20. …after 15 minutes of staring at 19d and drawing a blank on a six-letter investigator or Olympic site. Generally a bit tricky I thought and not convinced by SCORESHEET.
  22. Congratulations to both George and Jack. Many thanks for all your respective input over such a long time. Kind regards, Bob K
  24. ….I was defeated at the Championship by not knowing APOSTASY, and having a DNF. Therefore I have no excuse for inventing “apostism”. I started badly by biffing “snowscape” and sledged downhill thereafter. Apart from my LOI, the major hold-ups were in the SW corner, and I’m grateful to George for parsing POIROT. Just under 13 minutes, but in vain.

    FOI SPAT (first correct one anyway !)
    LOI OUTPATIENT (I’ve no idea why)
    COD CORDON SANITAIRE (very topical with the new tiers being announced)

  25. Pretty hopeless today. Gave up after an hour with vegetate, regardant, poirot and citron proving impossible to crack. Worst effort for weeks. Never mind , tomorrow is another day.

    Thanks blogger for showing me where I erred.

  26. Hauled myself over the finish line in just under the hour only to find that a careless VEGITATE dashed the cup of victory from my lips. This was tough I thought. Is Rio now officially Olympic site not port any more? Or maybe just until next year… thanks setter and happy Thanksgiving George, even though that Murcan festival raises national abandonment issues over here!
  27. 4a called for a wintery anagram. Windfrost worked well, and it took a while to realise that Snowdrift used the same anagrist!
    A disappointing 31:47, as the aim is now under 30mins to achieve the three in 90min target set by the recently enjoyed 2020 championship.
  28. A disappointing 36’22” but then I’m working from home in the same room as the missus and she keeps having to talk on the phone. Outrageous.
  29. The wordplay in 9ac is confusing me. As far as I’m aware, ‘chased by’ means ‘followed by’, so if it is ‘chased by colonist, consider…’, then to me that would suggest ‘ANT, followed by REGARD’ rather than ‘REGARD, followed by ANT’. Clearly I’m misinterpreting something, so any help would be much appreciated.
  30. ‘Consider’ is being chased by ‘colonist’ – a slightly confusing word-order in the clue.
    1. Ah yes, I understand now. I feel like “consider chased by colonist…” would be a better word order. Regardless, I can parse the clue now. Thanks!
  31. I was defeated by this yesterday evening, but Thanksgiving morning and a cup of coffee and I finished off the difficult SW corner. Wasn’t totally sure about POIROT since I didn’t see how to parse it. Made things more difficult by a SCOREBOARD detour before something showed me the error of my ways.
  32. Scoresheet and Regardant went in with crossed fingers, and I really liked Citron. I knew enough of the Cordon and what the clue was looking for to stick it in without problem. Thanks, george
  33. To me the sheet / side bit really only works in one direction – if it is clear that you are dealing with paper then either can do, and one could lead to the other. But out of the blue, which this clue was, getting from sheet to side would be a big step (I would think of the paper version of sheet) and getting from side to sheet seems like a very big stretch.
    Talk to the hand
    1. Bovvered.
      My second example is the one that clinches it for me: it’s so common to talk about writing four or five ‘sides’. A sheet of paper is two of those.
      I fully accept though that the distinction between witty novelty (side) and egregious abuse of the language (hold) is in the eye of the solver. May we continue to have polite disagreements on such weighty matters.

      Edited at 2020-11-27 01:59 am (UTC)

  34. Another curates egg today. I had the NE done in minutes, but then having completed the NW and SE fairly quickly, (including the CORDON SANITAIRE) I seized up. As it turned out, I wasn’t too keen on many of the clues there, especially backsliding for APOSTASY, but there again maybe it has a more general meaning that I don’t know. Also thought two sides for SHEET was rather poor.
    Slightly disgruntled.
  35. Also did the last four QCs this morning, so I’m ready for Friday!
    I wondered about Gladstone, but didn’t look in Collins.
    Maybe I’ll have WAFFLEs for my solitary Thanksgiving meal…
    I’m wondering when the three contest puzzles be available (under SPECIALIST, we were told). Barring a earthshaking national or world event, I will have no work till Monday.
    1. Since the whole competitive element was lost in weekend debacle I’m sort of assuming the puzzles will now appear only as regular Wednesday puzzles, perhaps starting next Wednesday.
      1. Oh, thanks. We’ll see then. I’d like that, as I’ve found the vintage substitute puzzles difficult to get into.
        I don’t know exactly what went down over the weekend, but have gathered that it didn’t come off as planned.
  36. 39.35. I found this hard going. Regardant, Poirot and apostasy all took a long time to fall at the end.

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