Times 27,887: Bunfight at the O.K. Tea Rooms

Author   VerlainePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
This didn’t take long to polish off with a lot of answers being what I expected from a first glance at the clues, although honourable mention to the SW corner for being today’s trickiest, with 17dn and 24ac taking a good deal of time at the end to yield their secrets. Some of the surfaces were blatant crosswordese unlikely ever to crop up in real language, but I did like the literary flavours and the Tombstone clue. Thank you to the setter and apologies that this is a little later than usual. Time for me to get some sleep and hopefully wake up with a better parsing for 23ac in my head!

ACROSS
1 Lanky drunk crossing hotel? That’s unlikely (4,4)
LONG SHOT – LONG SOT “crossing” H

5 Novelist left under blankets (6)
BELLOW – L “blanketed” by BELOW [under]. Saul Bellow, 1915-2005

8 Sell iodine compound that keeps bats in good nick (7,3)
LINSEED OIL – (SELL IODINE*)

9 Leader of orchestra regularly broke wind (4)
OBOE – O{rchestra} B{r}O{k}E

10 NHS says a policy interfered with a shrink’s work (14)
PSYCHOANALYSIS – (NHS SAYS A POLICY*)

11 Saturated Republican put away bottles (7)
DROWNED – R “bottled” by DOWNED [put away]

13 Recoiling, cover heroine’s spot (7)
DILEMMA – reversed LID + EMMA

15 Like controversial verses as written about a function (7)
SATANIC – SIC [as written] about A TAN. Salman Rushdie reference

18 Marshal stealing Doc Holliday’s second adornment (7)
EARDROP – (Wyatt) EARP “stealing” DR {h}O{lliday}

21 Integrate lines mistakenly where colon is found (5,9)
LARGE INTESTINE – (INTEGRATE LINES*)

22 Star making a return appearance in Wigmore Hall (4)
HERO – hidden reversed in {wigm}ORE H{all}

23 Filling dish, not one intended for rabbits (4,6)
MAIN COURSE – I might be missing something here. The most substantial part of a meal, as distinct from the salad?

24 Fancy woman sacrificing main artery to put weight on! (6)
STRESS – {mi}STRESS, “sacrificing” the M1. As in “emphasise”

25 Delivered grass for planting round fields (8)
RELEASED – REED “planted” around LEAS

DOWN
1 Leaf initially changing daily, covering top of pond? (4,3)
LILY PAD – L{eaf} + (DAILY*) “covering” P{ond}, &lit

2 Spoil piece about old Billy’s mate (5,4)
NANNY GOAT – NANNY [spoil] + GAT [piece] “about” O

3 Martyr succeeded after that, retaining record (7)
STEPHEN – S + THEN “retaining” EP. Not just any martyr but the very first

4 Game individual tucks into out-of-date crackers (3,4)
OLD MAID – I “tucked into” OLD MAD [out-of-date | crackers]

5 It’s played first of all in dance at a milk bar regularly (9)
BALALAIKA – A{ll} in BALL + A {m}I{l}K {b}A{r}

6 Butcher’s place to go? Try lifting last of pork (4-3)
LOOK-SEE – LOO [place to got] + SEEK with the {por}K “lifted”

7 Surgery has problem restraining very big animal (7)
OPOSSUM – OP + SUM, “restraining” OS

12 English hairstyle I’d adopted is what protects us? (9)
EPIDERMIS – E PERMI “adopting” I’D, + IS

14 River shown in diagrams disrupted carnival (5,4)
MARDI GRAS – R in (DIAGRAMS*)

16 Complaint the German’s missing problem with train (7)
AILMENT – {der}AILMENT

17 You might pick bird up in this headlight? (7)
AUREOLE – homophone of ORIOLE

18 Medical speciality doubled European understanding (7)
ENTENTE – ENT * 2 + E

19 Bring back Danish bread after nap (7)
RESTORE – ORE [1/100 of a krone] after REST

20 Put on pressure dealing with nurse (7)
PRETEND – P RE TEND [pressure | dealing with | nurse]

73 comments on “Times 27,887: Bunfight at the O.K. Tea Rooms”

  1. …For Hero’s cheek, and smiles against her smile.

    20 mins left three in the SW. Another 5 on Ailment and Stress left the (for me) ungettable Headlight.
    Pity.
    Thanks setter and V.

  2. Under stricter conditions my time would have been far greater as I left the puzzle with AUREOLE unsolved while I went for a walk, during which the answer came to me. I had largely been thinking that the answer would begin with AIR, with bird perhaps being slang for a plane. When I’d spent time thinking of words that fitted I had come up with AUREOLE but I’d disregarded it having thought it was something to do with nipples (I was thinking of areola). Anyhow, nice not to see any pink squares and bring myself up to a 50% success rate for the last two weeks.
  3. But the last 4 minutes were spent on AUREOLE which was a 50/50 for me with AURIOLE after I got the right bird.
  4. For once, breezed through this in a hurry, as Mrs K was waiting to be taken for her vax. Took 15 minutes, with the longest time on 17d at the end; silly because it was a bird (sounded like) with which we were famiiliar, having seen and heard them often when we lived in SW France. Didn’t bother to unravel BALALAIKA but the rest was clear.
  5. I took 23a to be a golfing reference. A golf begginer is a rabbit who might not be welcome on the main (golf) course.
    2. I woke up this morning thinking “it’ll be a sports reference” and had even narrowed it down to “probably golf rather than horse racing”. The power of a night’s sleep!
  6. FOI 1D LILY PAD
    LOI 17D: AUREOLE

    COD: EARDROP

    Seemed relatively straightforward and enjoyable.

    Thank you, verlaine and the setter.

  7. Every now and then I try the 15×15 and today is one of those days. I managed to solve the majority of the puzzle while Steed slumbered. However, I really struggled in the SW corner and was grateful to Verlaine’s blog – especially for explaining 17D and 24A. Feeling very happy!

    1. Actually made better progress on this than on the QC today. Only 4 short after 40 mins, and gave up at the right time, as I would never have got em.
  8. Almost, if, nearly… two typos cost me a sub-10mins time. And 10mins is a once in a lifetime thing for me. Rather than the lifetime of time it is for those speed merchants that top the board each day…
  9. 11:46 I was all but finished, with 4 left in under 8 minutes, but BELLOW, AUREOLE and STRESS (my LOI) gave me more pause for thought. I came here to look for an explanation for MAIN COURSE and see our blogger was none the wiser on this either. COD to OBOE for the surface.

    Edited at 2021-01-29 09:55 am (UTC)

  10. A PB for me by nearly a minute and a half.

    Flew through this with the answer to almost every clue, the thing I first thought of. Only really held up with a pause for thought for AUREOLE and most of the NE corner where BALALAIKA and then with a couple of checkers LOOK SEE gave enough to finish off the rest.

    LOI BELLOW — also thought of BELLOC but the cryptic didn’t work.

  11. Another DNF but it was only one clue today that I failed on. Whilst with hindsight I was vaguely aware of the words ORIOLE and AUREOLE I couldn’t have said with any certainty what either of them means so they were never going to come to mind as homophones. Enjoyable enough apart from that.
  12. For a Friday this must have been a terrible disappointment for the late Lord Verliane. It wasn’t for me!

    FOI 2dn NANNY GOAT – it took a moment!

    LOI 23ac MAIN COURSE – poor clue IMHO and not….

    COD 8ac LINSEED OIL – crickit bats, lad!

    WOD 14dn MARDI GRAS

    Solomon Bellows the novelist, was born in Lachine Montreal Canada – whilst George Bellows the painter, was born in Columbus Ohio. I was muddled as the former took the name Saul Bellow – I have read his first book ‘The Dangling Man’ an age ago.

    Edited at 2021-01-29 10:32 am (UTC)

  13. …I’ll hold the coats. 24 minutes. I found the top easier than the bottom, including as it did my favourite novelist and the scarcely cryptic LINSEED OIL, the smell of early summer. Will we ever smell it again? I vaguely knew AUREOLE and did know the bird, leaving only the problem of was it i or e, and for once my mind’s eye was right. COD to AILMENT. EARDROP, which took some constructing, was a bit too complicated. Was it sponsored by that wretched ear wax removal company that advertises here? Good puzzle. Thank you V and setter.
  14. 13′, with AUREOLE LOI.

    One, or perhasps two, archaic references to women…..

    Still can’t use the iPad following software upgrade…

    Thanks verlaine and setter

  15. Just about the worst SNITCH number on the list; I suppose, if I were to explain my poor showing, I could say that I wasn’t on the wavelength. Or I could say I was slow. Anyway, although I join Johninterred in my appreciation of OBOE, I think I’ll give a COD to STRESS.
    The Satanic Verses are a part of the Koran, and not, so far as I know, controversial. “The Satanic Verses” is a novel by Salman Rushdie, and it is. But the clue doesn’t point to the novel, but to the verses.

    Edited at 2021-01-29 10:47 am (UTC)

    2. Do you mean that the clue should have been “Like THE controversial verses as writt…”?
      Andyf
  16. Like anon above, I thought this was a reference to those golfers who are very poor (rabbits — this word is used probably more often for golfers than for anyone else, although its use does extend beyond golf; not really quite sure here) not being fit for the main 18-hole course. A very weak CD in my opinion, which lowered the standard of the whole thing.

    If indeed that is the explanation. Since when have poor golfers been kept away from the large 18-hole course?

    1. When it comes to rabbits, I am Up(the)dike without a paddle! One to remember for next time.
      1. Soon enough we’ll see a similar clue matching Bunny and either Gentle Ski Slope or Apres-Ski Specialist
  17. This was going well until I hit the bird/headlight. I couldn’t decide if it was a cryptic definition (around bird = plane) or a homophone for a bird… which I’d misremembered as an ORIEL. Since I couldn’t get either to work – and had never heard of the answer – I just lumped in AIRHOLE without much hope.
  18. Game of 2 halves, with the 2 clues in SW being the 2nd half. This setter seems to like to chop bits off words so should have got STRESS earlier. I was similar, I thought AUREOLE was something to do with nipples. Must be me….
    Didn’t like the rabbit clue either, rabbits being usually associated with tennis. I am a golfer and have never heard the term used for golfers. Well I was a golfer until Mark Drakeford closed my course and the course being now half under water. The two are entirely unconnected of course.
    2. I am unsure about 23a and rabbits. I eat very little salad, and invariably refer to it as “rabbit food”, so I think the blogger is right and the clue is just a bit weak. Thanks to blogger and to setter for a pretty good puzzle.
      Andyf
  19. Deliberately bad line of poetry from Hamlet which I’ve muttered on many an occasion. Scooted through top half but slowed up thereafter. I opt for the whimsical salad line on 23, possibly with an added q.-mark. Liked the derailment construction. 23’51.
  20. Top half slotted in easily enough. Was puzzled by the rabbit reference in MAIN COURSE and find the golfing explanation a bit thin. I don’t play golf, but do many golf clubs have more than one course? 24 minutes, one raised eyebrow.
    1. Ours here in near Avignon has a nine hole par three which, they encourage the aspiring players to use, though they do not refuse them access to the “main” course.
  21. Morning walk delayed by heavy rain. This puzzle did not delay me for much longer than 35 minutes before getting to LOI 17d; I put AURIOLE, thinking of orioles and Baltimore.
    I was also thinking of Back in the USSR; let’s get those Bs out.
    My other hold-up was OPOSSUM. FOI LINSEED OIL which my father applied to my cricket bat.
    I struggled mightily with the QC earlier so I now have time to read carefully the blog about QC difficulty.
    David
  22. I approached this with trepidation having found the last 2 days tricky , but all good things … as they say.A surprise for a Friday, I was up for a PB but got mired in the SW. it’s good to hear the clues that the elites solve last are often the same as mine. Quite medical today, 10ac, 12ac, 12 dn. inevitably I tried to work aorta into 24ac. Rabbits sent me down the cricket track ( the tail enders) but I got 8ac despite ‘bats’ being frequently used as an anagrind.
    The NW frontier went in early. MER at eardrop. Maybe a Victorian version of earring?
    At least I feel part of this uplifting place again.

    Thanks to gracious blogger and setter.

    2. I would use eardrop for a single pendant pearl earring. So I would say it is a current usage.
      Andyf
  23. Sometime in the 80s, my uncle went on a business trip to Baltimore and brought me back an Orioles t- shirt bought at the airport. Finding, and spelling, the homophone was the tricky bit for my LOI.
  25. Happy today with my 35 mins. Some meaty moments which have already been mentioned. FOI LONG SHOT, LOI AILMENT. Nice clue. Not sure about the golf reference. COD NANNY GOAT.
  26. Must be the fastest I’ve ever done the cryptic, about 6-7 minutes. Can’t believe how quickly they all fell into place today. Solving times will all get worse from here on!
  27. I started off with LONG SHOT and made steady progress until I came to the SW where 17d held me up for ages and ultimately defeated me, as I put AURIOLE, being unfamiliar with the spelling. I then returned to 4d which was my LOI. 28:36 WOE. Thanks setter and V.
    1. Just when we’d made our peace with “obscure word clued by anagram”… “obscure word clued by homophone” is scarcely any better, is it? 🙂
  28. Only a few seconds longer than yesterday, chewed up by the bird/halo clue (headlight! Very droll!), and trying to work out why rabbits would skip dinner (I put in MEAT at first ‘cos it wasn’t lettuce, which would have been at least as good an answer). I concluded it was just a placeholder until the editor could squeeze something better out of the setter.
    1. I was with you, here. First I put in MAIN COURSE, but then after looking at the cryptic changed it to MEAT COURSE, and then back again, scratching my head. But I think the golf rookie explanation makes sense, and Chambers supports this understanding.
  29. DNF. A 16 minute top to bottom solve with no difficulties except for not being able to spell aureole (I had auriole). I remember thinking during the solve that this puzzle was unlikely to satisfy Verlaine. I assumed that the main course clue had something to do with hunting and may have been a particular feature of hare coursing which would seem to exclude rabbits. I don’t have any knowledge of such pursuits and since no one else has mentioned it, I guess not. On balance I just about prefer the salad / rabbit food explanation to the novice golfers one.
    1. I also thought it might be hunting related, as I now see Anonymous below did as well. As to what was actually intended I guess we’ll never know!
  30. Just over my benchmark time brings a close to a week in which I completed only 2 out of 5 puzzles. My performance on the 120 and 84 SNITCH puzzles was nearly identical, and I failed to complete puzzles with SNITCH ratings of 64, 90, and 105. No wonder I don’t align so well with the SNITCH yet! Still, I thought this was a nice week — felt a bit more challenging than the last few months have been.
  32. Quite easy, I thought, on the whole,
    Except for the clue AUREOLE
    An unusual word
    Sounding like a weird bird
    Is hardly a balm for the soul
  33. I had all but two done in about 9 mins. Stress and Aureole were the last ones to surrender with the latter taking over 3 minutes and entered more in hope than expectation of correctness.

    COD: OBOE.

  34. 45m but another DNF as thwarted by the almost a nipple clue. Doh! And I knew the bird too. No problem with main course or its cryptic meaning. Here in the NE part of the country, ‘rabbits’ are definitely a part of the golf scene, being the section for 18+ handicappers. They have interclub matches and an association — NERGA North East Rabbits Golf Association should you feel the need to look it up — which organises leagues, knockout matches and so on. I think it is also still true that on some ‘prestigious’ courses there are restrictions for high handicap players, though whether that coincides with the ‘rabbit’ definition, I know not. Thank you, setter and V for the explanations.
  35. ….linking this puzzle with the QC today. I was totally unable to parse NANNY GOAT (thanks V) but otherwise it was “just another day at the office”.

    FOI LONG SHOT
    LOI BELLOW
    COD STRESS
    TIME 6:17

  37. Just like Verlaine (but in slow motion) I beetled through this until held up by 17d Aureole and 24ac Stress — but did finish correctly.
    Never did parse “Main Course” or “Nanny Goat” — I’ll have to look up why “Gat” = “piece” — but both clues were shoe-ins.
    Out of interest, there is a Mount Aureol in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where I worked long ago.
    1. Gat/piece are words for guns brandished by gangsters in 1940s noir movies. Or thereabouts.
        1. Thanks, both, for the replies. It’s a little strange that “gat” is slang for a handgun or revolver (hence “piece”) whereas the original Gatling gun was set on a frame or carriage and hardly portable, I would say. Anyway, as ever with the Times crossword, live and learn!
  38. Slightly disappointed that Friday wasn’t as tough as I’ve come to expect. Was this the easiest of the week so far?
    Last to fall were AUREOLE and STRESS, like almost everyone.
    14’29”
  39. Another steady solve, a pleasent crossword in the main but with one or two lacunae like 23ac and a few strange surfaces.
    I read an article only the other day that said that properly, planets have halos and saints have aureolae. Not sure I altogether agree but at least it kept the word in my mind..
  40. Another who would have finished at a canter if it hadn’t been for 17/24.
    Makes a change for the bread to be Danish rather than Bulgarian.

    Thank you setter and blogger.

  41. Reasonable time for me but cannot say I found it straightforward. My struggles in the SW were compounded by having stupidly entered GREAT rather than LARGE. My LOI was AUREOLE. Thanks to V and setter.
  42. 17.53 with a strong start and middle before a struggle with the SW corner. FOI nanny goat LOI aureole. Nothing controversial as far as I’m concerned. A more amenable solve for a Friday than expected.
    Thanks blogger and setter. Enjoy the weekend all!
  43. It amuses me how some people are quite happy to accept a gap in their ‘proper’ general knowledge (a character in a Shakespeare play, for example), but can’t admit to not recognising a sporting term!
  44. 24 minutes including proofreading, so very easy for me. The answers just fell into place as I read through the puzzle (of course not all of them, but many more than usual). Not even AUREOLE was much of a problem, although I also had the salad explanation for MAIN COURSE, rather than the unknown to me golfing one. COD perhaps to STRESS.
  45. 24a, POI and 17d, LOI
    Otherwise, this didn’t seem very hard, though I took a break to sleep.
    Had no idea about the golf term, of course.

    Edited at 2021-01-29 09:04 pm (UTC)

  46. I wonder when was the last time anyone used linseed oil on a cricket bat – I would guess a very long time!

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