Times 27951 – I’m not going to hold back the waves…

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

A pleasant straightforward offering today, which I found almost as fast to complete as Monday’s this week. A handful of anagrams or compound anagrams (none of foreign words) will get you writing in circles perhaps. My CoD is 1d, of course.
We’ve escaped from home, for the first time for over a year, for a few days self-catering (well, on takeaways) in sunny Broadstairs by the sea, but it’s unseasonably chilly, so I shan’t be paddling.

Across
1 Get ready to show part of body (7)
FOREARM – double definition.
5 Head, looking embarrassed, jumped around (7)
CAPERED – CAPE = head, RED = looking embarrassed.
9 State of wife — is at home full of tricks (9)
WISCONSIN – W(ife) IS IN insert CONS.
10 Frenchman needing whiskey to get going again (5)
RENEW – RENE could be a Frenchman, W for whiskey; why Irish?
11 Ruined pasties: pantry faced with a tricky situation (2,1,6,4)
IN A PRETTY PASS – (PASTIES PANTRY)*.
13 Could they produce the ultimate in tailored items, so specially? (8)
MODISTES – (D ITEMS SO)*, the D from end of tailored.
15 Yellowish-brown paintings maybe recalled religious writings (6)
TANTRA – TAN, ART reversed.
17 Sport in dispute (6)
ROWING – double definition, different pronunciations.
19 One fast-moving girl, one with long strides (8)
GALLOPER – GAL = girl, LOPER = one with long strides.
22 See villager on ground getting fruit (7,6)
SEVILLE ORANGE – (SEE VILLAGER ON)*.
25 Game was first subjected to laws (5)
RULED – RU (rugby union) LED (was first).
26 Awkward pretence with what isn’t actually a diamond? (9)
SHAMBLING – Not real jewels could be SHAM BLING.
27 Most suitable gem for tiny fellow to wear (7)
OPTIMAL – OPAL a gem has TIM inserted; Tim as in Tiny Tim in the Dickens story.
28 Problem with novel after cover’s bent back (7)
DILEMMA – LID reversed, EMMA Jane Austen novel.

Down
1 Fine bird, and one that provides us with eggs (4)
FOWL – F(fine) OWL (the best bird around).
2 Set aside key with hard outer casing? (7)
RESCIND – RIND (hard outer casing) around ESC key.
3 Market space in circular form in 24 (5)
AGORA – O inserted into answer to 24d.
4 Sad people row — yours truly’s upset initially (8)
MISERIES – I’M (yours truly’s) reversed = MI; SERIES = row.
5 Vessel and vehicle needed by old king (6)
CANUTE – CAN (vessel) UTE (Australian pickup truck).
6 Sort of division in political group over idiot mostly (5,4)
PARTY WALL – PARTY (political group), WALL(Y).
7 Looking for approval, show sequence of old (3,4)
RUN PAST – RUN = sequence, PAST = of old.
8 Detective about to have good look, reportedly, closer to cellar? (10)
DOWNSTAIRS – DS (detective sergeant) into which put OWN (have) and STAIR which sounds like STARE (have a good look). Closer meaning nearer, not like a door which closes.
12 I promise somehow to engage upcoming artist? (10)
IMPRESARIO – &lit; RA (artist) reversed inside (I PROMISE)*.
14 One’s not wanting partner to be in such a state? (9)
SINGLEDOM – cryptic definition; not a common word, but in all the dictionaries.
16 Spooner’s exposed worker — one may get over the shock (8)
HAIRBAND – Dr. Spooner would have it as BARE HAND = exposed worker.
18 Ripple moving in wet vale (7)
WAVELET – (WET VALE)*
20 One enthralled by cat maybe is maiden showing excessive devotion (7)
PIETISM – PET (cat maybe) insert I (one), IS M (maiden).
21 Sly person with little support (6)
WEASEL – W (with) EASEL (little support).
23 Inventor — no American one from what we hear (5)
NOBEL – Alfred sounds like NO Alexander Graham BELL, I presume. Bell was Scottish-born but went to America to invent things.
24 Located in India, grand site of famous building (4)
AGRA – hidden as above, Indian city with the site of the Taj Mahal.

​

58 comments on “Times 27951 – I’m not going to hold back the waves…”

  1. Like isla, I got 3d before 24d, which latter struck me as a pretty QCish clue. Slowed myself down a bit by assuming -EST at 27ac and SUM at 28ac. I didn’t think of Alexander Graham until after submitting, and I didn’t see the OWN of 8d until I came here; I was wondering if there was another detective, named DOWNS, to give Morse a rest.
  2. Like Pip, I found this pleasantly straightforward, with everything fully parsed except 23d (which was easy to biff from the crossers). I got 24d from 3d, rather than the reverse, which helped to start the SE corner.

    Thanks, Pip, for the very clear and timely blog. Great to hear that you’ve made it out of home.

    Edited at 2021-04-14 05:17 am (UTC)

  3. 30 mins pre-brekker, mostly wondering how the editor allowed Bell to be clued as American.
    Thanks setter and Pip.
    1. A couple of days ago over at the Guardian, TIBIA managed to slip through the editor as being part of an arm, which was rather less debatable than exactly when Bell became American.
  4. I’m another who got AGORA before AGRA. This suggested to me that it might be a straightforward solve but some later clues took more work. I was largely sure that the “little support” in 21D was going to be a TEE as it so often is but I did at least follow my recent good practice of not typing it in. DOWNSTAIRS also gave me pause when I’d thought that “Detective about to have” was DOWNS leaving TAIRS to somehow mean “good look”.

    I have a curiosity about the Crossword Club site. I’ve been solving some puzzles from 2010 and I see that there are typically only about 10 solvers. Is this because the site started later than that but included old puzzles?

    1. Not knowing, but sounds like a good guess.
      Did they delete all the old standings and statistics when they did the big upgrade in 2017 or so? If you try a random puzzle from say 2015 does it have 10 solvers, or hundreds?
      1. Thanks Isla. From a quick bit of research it looks to me like the site must have started (or standings were reset) in October 2010.
  5. No GALLOPER I, but resolved,
    No DILEMMAs as my answers evolved
    One down made me howl
    And of course I cry “FOWL”
    Who RULED avians must be involved?
  6. 44 minutes. I looked twice at IN A PRETTY PASS as it’s not quite the expression I was aware of. Things come TO a pretty pass and having arrived there one is AT a pretty pass – but I see Google has plenty of hits on ‘IN’ so I suppose people must say it.

    I also was not entirely happy with Bell being clued as an American inventor. It’s true he became an American citizen but not until he was 35. Prior to that he was born and raised in Scotland until his early 20’s and then emigrated to Canada where he remained a British subject.

    Edited at 2021-04-14 06:29 am (UTC)

    1. Totally agree on both issues, jack. It’s definitely ‘at a pretty pass’. And Bell, yep; what you said.
    2. I actually put in AT A PRETTY PASS, which caused me problems with 2dn. I haven’t found any dictionary support for either but as you say the usual expression is to ‘come to’ a pretty pass in which case ‘at’ is more natural and I think that’s the version I’ve encountered in the past.
      1. Exactly what I did too. Then held up by PIETISM – not a word I’ve come across before although once constructed it’s clear enough as a derivation from piety
      2. Brewer’s has just ‘A pretty pass’, not committing themselves to a preposition.
  7. 41:02
    ‘At a pretty pass’, not ‘in a pretty pass’.
    Bell = American. Whevs.
    1 down is clunky too: it seems to sort of imply that a fowl lays eggs as opposed to an owl… Would the clue have worked as just the two words ‘fine bird’?
    Thanks pip.
    1. To be fair, although both lay eggs only the fowl supplies us, at least on a regular basis.
      For a fair clue you would have to show there are two birds involved.. “fine bird and another one” or something
      1. I think ‘fine bird’ works as an &Lit, using ‘fine’ in the culinary sense and therefore distinguishing a FOWL — a bird used for food — from say a crow.
        1. I stand by what I wrote .. we are dealing with two birds here, and the clue to be fair, needs to say as much. IMO, obvs
          1. There are two birds: one in the wordplay (fine bird = F, OWL) and one in the definition (fine bird = FOWL). It so happens that both elements of the clue use the same words but this is no different to any other &Lit.
            1. Good luck defending “bird = two different birds,” if it ever turned up here on TfTT 🙂
              1. It’s just a conventional &Lit!
                Take another recent example:
                ‘Victorian perhaps linked with books primarily’ = BOZ
                I don’t remember anyone complaining the clue was unfair on the basis that ‘Victorian = two different Victorians’.
  8. I found this very straightforward, and coasted through in 13.35. IN A PRETTY PASS took a while, since as already remarked, it’s not that familiar a phrase and I was determined to find SPOT in the anagram fodder. Took a lot of staring. I see I failed to enter the A G Bell controversy by ignoring parsing.

    I think I can report progress of a sort. I have been sufficiently programmed now to think ESC as soon as I see key, instead of looking for the A-G varieties.

  9. 35mins so not too tough. I seem to be only one to solve 3d after getting 24 d. Perhaps because I didn’t know the word! I enjoyed this puzzle especially the anagrams aplenty and a Spoonerism always tickles me. LOI SINGLEDOM, odd word. COD MODISTES.

    Thanks Pip and setter.

  10. 15:18 Could have been a lot quicker, but I was stuck for quite a while in NW corner as I had, like others, AT A PRETTY PASS and a silly WINCONSIN which made 2D impossible. Stupid boy. MODISTES unknown but trusted to wordplay.COD to OPTIMAL for the surface, but I liked DOWNSTAIRS too.

    Edited at 2021-04-14 07:49 am (UTC)

  11. 21 minutes either side of a 75 mile round trip to Canary Wharf. LOI was MODISTES. As others. I’ve only ever had things come to A PRETTY PASS, an expression which may apply to some sections of the M25 but none of the A13! COD to SHAMBLING. Thank you Pip and setter.

    Edited at 2021-04-14 08:49 am (UTC)

  12. 7:23. Straightforward this morning and would have been even quicker if I hadn’t put in AT A PRETTY PASS (see above).
  14. Same gripes around the PRETTY PASS preposition.

    Failed to parse DOWNSTAIRS and thought for ages over PIETISM my LOI.

  15. Moderate in pace today, delayed by wondering like everyone else about the correct preposition to deploy around pretty passes; also by wrongly assuming that the fake diamond was some sort of RING rather than BLING. Not especially familiar with MODISTES but then again, I am one of England’s least fashionable gentlemen.
    1. Those who watched the recent Netflix series ‘Bridgerton’ should be familiar with ‘modiste’. Total nonsense, btw, but great fun.
      1. Bridgerton has passed me by so far, but during lockdown has been one of the things Mrs Topical has watched on evenings when I’m doing online quizzes. Her verdict was pretty much identical to yours…
        1. I gather at least two more series have been commissioned – maybe three. It was fine in itself within its limitations, but why flog a thing to death?
  16. We often discuss how an obscure word should’t be clued by an anagram, as yesterday. To my mind almost as cardinal a sin is to clue an obscure word by a CD, as in the SINGLEDOM clue. I hardly knew the word, so there was absolutely nothing to lead me there except the thought that it was probably a CD; perhaps that’s just my fault?
  17. Pretty much the same time as yesterday but much less to comment upon: PIETISM is a bit of an oddity and the PRETTY PASS has strange preposition .. but relatively coasting through today. IMPRESARIO was neat. Thx to setter and blogger.
  18. MODISTES familiar from Bridgerton (the perils of lockdown); the unfamiliar twist on [AT] A PRETTY PASS only from the anagram and apparently not alone in my surprise at seeing Bell clued as an American. I was similarly surprised to learn that James Joyce was not in fact an Irish citizen and held a British passport, having twice turned down the chance to take Irish citizenship. There’d be words if he was ever clued as a British author though. 15 mins.
  19. Yes very straightforward until a slight mare with SINGLEDOM, where I wanted SINGLETON but the RULE? didn’t allow it.
    Quite liked the Spoonerism for a change
  20. No exact time, but probably close to an hour for a stiff challenge. AGRA before AGORA, SINGLETON instead of SINGLEDOM (which I think is just as valid), and LOI HAIRBAND (I traditionally struggle with Spoonerisms, despite enjoying them). Thanks both.
  21. A gentle Wednesday, where the unusual IN A PRETTY PASS and the slightly known MODISTES were, like others, the ones that caused a bit of trouble. SINGLEDOM was my LOI and I must confess myself baffled by the CD – surely one *is* wanting (as in, lacking) a partner in such a state? I suppose the CD as it stands works as well, but it’s rather loose.

    I never like partial homophone clues, especially where the homophone is contained within other cryptic elements, so I wasn’t fond of DOWNSTAIRS either.

    Sorry, a lot of moaning for what I actually thought was a decent puzzle. 4m 48s.

  22. I don’t have a time since I was doing other things and solving this from time to time when I passed my computer. But it seemed straightforward. My only hold up was the same as several others, not checking the anagrind closely enough and putting AT A PRETTY PASS. My loi RESCIND sorted that out but was my only delay. I’m still far to slow to think of keyboard keys when I see “key” in the clue.
  23. 15.55. A generally straightforward top-to-bottom solve with just enough unknotting required here and there to keep me interested. I was slow to work out modistes from the anagrist and needed to change my singleton to singledom when optimal went in.
  24. With 10 (!) minutes spent on the crossing of PARTY WALL and GALLOPER. Nearly gave up, which would have been my fourth DNF in a row, each due to just a few letters missing.
  25. I was feeling a bit battered by the time I got round to this puzzle, with Microsoft having commandeered my laptop to install several updates at the same time, and thus rendering it unusable for a couple of hours, so I found this harder than I might have done under more benign circumstances. That said, I wasn’t much over my average time when I entered my LOI, CANUTE. Appropriate I suppose, as I might as well have been telling the tide not to come in as shouting at my computer to bl**dy well respond! RENEW was my FOI. I began 11a by postulating IN A PRETTY ____ (pickle perhaps?) so wasn’t sidetracked there as only PASS was then left of the anagrist. I solved from the bottom up with the NE yielding last. 34:03. Thanks setter and Pip.
  26. DNF Due 11ac and 6dn PARTY WALL – it never dawned on me to look for a non-political answer. Party Line etc! Was this the same setter as yesterday? I reckon we have an Oz
    hereabouts – 5dn canUTE! He/she needs a spell in the naughty chair for 11ac. IN A PRETTY PASS – mon arse!

    FOI 9ac WISCONSIN I nearly changed it to WISCONSAT!

    (LOI) PARTY WALL

    COD 8dn DOWNSTAIRS

    WOD 25ac RULES – I made it Aussie ‘RULES’ = laws a DD with some nonsense in the middle and having tackled 6dn I went into ‘Mode Melbourne’!

    Let’s ignore 2dn and 14dn shall we?

    Edited at 2021-04-14 01:12 pm (UTC)

      1. I thought Cnut was the proper spelling, and Canute an “aka”? Obviously if you misspell Canute, you’re much less likely to cause offence.
        1. CANUTE was good enough for decades of schoolchildren before revisionist ‘experts’ came along. Same sort of thing as how to pronounce the Queen of the Iceni.
          1. Boudica you mean? (insert wink emoji).

            revisionist ‘experts’

            Or are you Michael Gove? If so, I claim my £5. (insert smiley emoji)

        2. Never mind that new-fanglo-saxoned nonsense. What’s wrong with good old-fashioned Old Norse Knútr?
  27. easy ones (per snitch) yesterday (Monday’s and last Tuesday’s), in 9 something and 10 something, so was feeling confident.

    Saw blogger pipkirby’s description of a “straightforward” crossword, so dived in.

    Bit of a slog for me – 34:09. Top half OK, then SE reasonable, then SW took a while. Chucking in a random SINGLETON and RIVULET didn’t really help, and shows that I really need to concentrate more to make sure I’ve parsed properly!

    ROWING was LOI, after I had finally put in WAVELET. Really need to make time for these if I’m going to improve on the harder ones (which this was not really, I made it difficult).

    Edited at 2021-04-14 01:21 pm (UTC)

  28. Pleasant crossword but with a couple of clues I didn’t like. “In a pretty pass” is just wrong, unless we are talking tourism. And Singledom is not necessarily anything at all to do with not wanting a partner, the poor person may be desperate to shack up and just unable. You may just as well say someone in need of a partner.

    Edited at 2021-04-14 01:27 pm (UTC)

  29. A lot of Bell’s work was devoted to the deaf; also the National Geographic Society, aviation (The Silver Dart), hydrofoils and more; much of it done on Cape Breton Island, where he is buried.
  30. Decent puzzle. I suppose someone whose car had broken down in the Gap of Dunloe might say they were IN a pretty pass but Pyramus and Thisbe, with their party wall, were definitely AT a pretty pass.
  31. 27.00 exactly, so a bit of a stodgy effort. FOI Wisconsin and LOI downstairs which was basically a guess though I did recognise the homophone of stairs. COD hairband.

    Got Impresario but apart from recognising the anagram didn’t really get why that was the answer. Still a finish is a finish and at least there was no nahuatl to despair over.

  32. 45:38. A bit slow but a comfortable solve with some good clues, except perhaps IMPRESARIO and SINGLEDOM which didn’t slot in with the fIrm click you like to get. For the latter, the clue had me looking for the opposite — a word for married or in a pairing of some kind — but perhaps that was the trap. LOI MODISTES and COD SHAMBLING
  33. I’m amused by how so many of you were able to describe this as easy and simple. Not for this beginner! Managed the north-east corner in ten minutes then stalled completely. And, sadly, never got restarted. Not knowing the devices is a handicap. You know key = esc. Me, I’m in music and doorlocks and keying surfaces…. So many options. And that’s just one clue! Onward.

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