Times 27969 – here’s Archie Medes, the chap who brought screws to Greece.

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Four anagrams for you, and plenty of “put this into that” wordplay, all making for a mostly straightforward puzzle which took me about twenty minutes, and no problems with the parsing. I tried to spell the candle thing wrongly at first, and took longest over my LOI 22a in seeing it was that sort of “walkover”. If you’ve never had a tropical fish-tank, 23d could be guesswork from wordplay.

Across
1 Two insects circling horse that’s monstrous (8)
BEHEMOTH – BEE and MOTH are circling H for horse.
5 Package right put in place for sorting (6)
PARCEL – put R into (PLACE)*.
10 Limitation as art reworked in autocratic approach (15)
TOTALITARIANISM – (LIMITATION AS ART)*.
11 Mathematician once corresponded in a matter of law (10)
ARCHIMEDES – CHIMED (corresponded) inside A RES (a matter of law, Latin).
13 Hold meeting to involve king in satirical piece (4)
SKIT – put K into SIT.
15 Drunk goes around talking about this evening (7)
TONIGHT – ON (talking about) inside TIGHT (drunk).
17 Composer shown way outside having great knowledge (7)
LEARNED – insert ARNE the composer into LED = shown way.
18 Expert needing to make firm solvent (7)
ACETONE – ACE = expert, TONE = make firm, as in muscle tone.
19 Devil leaving Black Death region in London (4,3)
EAST END – BEAST (devil) loses B for black, END = death.
21 Bay tree lacking in width (4)
ROAN – the ROWAN tree loses W for width.
22 Pay for game that provides a walkover? (10)
FOOTBRIDGE – FOOT (pay for) BRIDGE (game). Nice misdirection of definition.
25 Maybe Iago’s characteristic Richardson exemplifies? (15)
HARDHEARTEDNESS – we find HARD at the “heart” of Richardson.
27 Mystery writer covering bananas in fragrant ointment (6)
POMADE – MAD (bananas) inside POE as in Edgar Allan Poe.
28 One put to bed happened to have a bad back (8)
CAMELLIA – CAME = happened to, A ILL reversed.

Down
1 Mouthpiece separate: might player want more than this? (3,4)
BIT PART – BIT = mouthpiece, PART = separate, as verb.
2 Track down missing note in cabin (3)
HUT – HUNT loses its N for note.
3 Crucible girl can put on good snooker shot (7,3)
MELTING POT – MEL (a girl) TIN (can) G (good) POT (snooker shot).
4 Money short then endlessly given in tax (5)
TITHE – TI(N) = money short, THE(N).
6 Analyst’s initial manner is remote (4)
AWAY – A (analyst’s initial letter) WAY (manner). I was thinking AFAR as being more like remote, but couldn’t make FAR out of the surface.
7 Elegantly smart acquaintance paid a pittance (11)
CHICKENFEED – CHIC (elegantly smart), KEN (acquaintance, as in beyond our ken), FEED (paid).
8 Small child stuck in helmet that’s narrow (7)
LIMITED – MITE (small child) inside LID = helmet.
9 Staunch supporter certain at heart to regret waste (4,4)
TRUE BLUE – T (“heart” of certain) RUE (regret) BLUE (waste, as verb).
12 Diabolical cur: damnable one made to support the wicked? (11)
CANDELABRUM – (CUR DAMNABLE)*. Not candleabrum, which was wrong and prevented 11a being correct.
14 Cardcastle collapsed in game (4,6)
CATS CRADLE – (CARDCASTLE)*. I suppose it’s a game, of sorts, more of a kid’s amusement.
16 Being dry, wild duck swallows energy drink (8)
TEETOTAL – TEAL (wild duck) swallows E TOT.
18 Hindenberg for example spreads with it (7)
AIRSHIP – AIRS (spreads) HIP (with it).
20 Bass note heard in the remotest ocean? (4-3)
DEEP-SEA – sounds like “deep C”.
23 Fish seen regularly in Trent area (5)
TETRA – small tropical fish, I had some once in an aquarium.
24 Ground outside hard, but provided with boots (4)
SHOD – insert H for hard into SOD = ground.
26 Measure height missed in the lower regions (3)
ELL – HELL loses H for height.

​

68 comments on “Times 27969 – here’s Archie Medes, the chap who brought screws to Greece.”

  1. Pretty straightforward until the end when I struggled with CAT’S CRADLE and FOOTBRIDGE (my LOI too). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a TETRA in an aquarium, only in crosswords. I wasn’t sure about Iago and HARDHEARTEDNESS. I mean that had to be the answer once I had some checkers and saw how the rest of the clue worked. It seems, according to Google, there is a quote where he mentions it, but I don’t remember it even though I’ve seen the NSC performing Othello in Stratford. The crosswordy thing I remember is that he is Othello’s “ancient” which has come up before.
  2. I found myself back on the wavelength today after two days well off it — TOTALITARIANISM went straight in and the rest flowed from there. For 12D I saw the anagram, thought to myself that it looked like CANDELABRUM, then dismissed it as it didn’t fit any possible definition. For that reason, when the penny dropped that was a definite COD for me.
  3. No problems in a bit over 12 minutes, almost as fast as I can go. Hardheartedness 2LOI, needed all the checkers bar one, then SHOD whose clue I hadn’t looked at yet. Slight MER at bay = roan – I’d always thought roan was a mixture e.g. bay and white, which in fact is the example Chambers gives. No unknowns, which is unusual. Even knew the res gestae as the facts of the matter.
    COD chickenfeed – great word. Thanks setter and blogger.
  5. 26 minutes with LOI AWAY, having finally rejected AFAR. COD to HARDHEARTEDNESS, though was this filched from a TLS crossword? CANDELABRUM raised a flicker of a smile. Enjoyable, apart from the long anagrams, which always faze me. Thank you Pip and setter.

    Edited at 2021-05-05 06:30 am (UTC)

  6. …Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
    But on the viewless wings of Poesy,

    20 mins left the plant with the ‘happened to’ which I couldn’t be bothered with.
    Some weak surfaces today, I mean why would Poe cover bananas in pomade? Bats yes, obviously, but bananas?
    Thanks setter and Pip.

    1. In terms of the surface, the ‘bananas’ are covered in ‘fragrant ointment’.

      Yes, bananas en pomade would be a dish I might choose to send back, or leave, but that’s not what’s offered.

  7. … a bit like today’s weather up here in the far north. Just 23:17, which is very fast for me but still almost eight Verlaines! COD for the wicked definition in 12D. I agonized for a long time over the obviously right but unparsable AFAR before finally seeing the less semantically appropriate but highly parsable AWAY. NHO blue as a verb or Arne, and biffed EAST END from crossers, confused by trying to remove devil from black instead of the other way around.

    Thanks Pip and setter.

  8. It was handy that we had both CANDELABRA and CANDELABRUM recently if not here then in the QC, and one if not both were on my blogging days.

    I had AFAR at 6dn quite sure that it was correct although the fact that I was unable to parse it should have alerted me to the error.

    24 minutes with one wrong answer.

  10. FOI: 1D BIT PART
    LOI: 26D ELL

    I was on the wavelength mostly, so several were biffed first time around in an attempt to maintain momentum before parsing at the end (AIRSHIP, EAST END, LEARNED and TRUE BLUE).

    Thank you, pipkirby and the setter

  11. Clearly everyone found this a bit of a breeze, as did I in 13.41, but I thought it was an elegant and witty piece as well.
    Two examples: take the long ones. The first is a fine and apposite anagram: the art of limitation is at the heart of totalitarian rule. And the second is a TLS cloned theatrical bit of cleverness: it helps that Ralph R has played Iago, and Ian R might well have done given his Francis Urquart masterpiece.
    MELTING POT is a brilliant themed clue (sorry, that’s three examples!).
    We’ve had TETRAs in the family alongside several other tropical exotics. The neon ones are TRUE BLUE with a dash of red.
  12. 12:46 after thinking again about AFAR and fixing it. Made a mess of the NW corner by trying MILITARISATION at 10A. Stupid boy. COD to MELTING POT but I liked FOOTBRIDGE too.
    1. Me too with militarisation. I chose to use the extra A and the extra space in a way that would have amused my fourth grade spelling teacher.
  13. 30 mins today so no obvious hold-ups. I too liked the « wicked » clue and was glad it came up the other day. Put In ARCHIMEDES on principle. Ooph. Never did parse EAST END so thanks for that pip. I always thought TETRA was some kind of milk carton. You learn something new every day. A pleasant romp. Thanks pip and setter.
    1. When we were kids Tetra Paks (sic) had sweet cordial in them, great to freeze and suck as ice blocks. With the added bonus that every so often you got a freebie – if the inside of the pack was imprinted (“One free” or something). And they really were tetrahedral (3-sided pyramid).

      Edited at 2021-05-05 10:17 am (UTC)

          1. And UK. Was that Jubbly which gave rise to ‘lovely jubbly’? Or have I reached the stage at which I am making all this up inadvertently?
            1. Yup, Jubbly was the market leader, but in the North West we had Calypso which was made near Chester.
              1. I grew up in Manchester so I may be thinking of earlier times. 1960s.
  14. POMADE and CAMELLIA were unknowns constructed from wordplay. I hesitated for a long time over TRUE BLUE, not knowing the waste meaning of blue, and being helped in the end by figuring out that 19a was EAST END rather than the West End. The ‘a res’ in ARCHIMEDES was also unfamiliar, but with the checkers it couldn’t have been anything else. Now that I see how CANDELABRUM works I think it’s very clever, and MELTING POT is a neat, nicely timed clue.

    LOI was TEETOTAL – having got used to ‘dry’ cluing TT, it took me far too long to realise that the full version was in fact the answer and expand it.

    FOI Hut
    LOI Teetotal
    COD Candelabrum

  15. I made hard work of this. Took me ages to see CATS CRADLE.

    COD: The wicked supporter that ends up where I live. CANDELABRUM.

  16. 16:24
    My morning is now 10 mins longer than usual. Not sure what to do with the bonus time, but I expect I’ll think of something.
    Thanks pip.
  17. Must have had a clear head this morning, puzzle completed in 8′ 55″, possibly my best ever.

    Remembered BLUE as a verb, and the CANDELABRUM non-obvious spelling, and vaguely knew about Iago, answer going in unparsed. TEETOTAL LOI.

    Who remembers MELTING POT, an anti-racist song banned by some radio stations recently?

    Thanks Pip and setter.

  18. 10:36. I initially followed the anagrist to produce CANDELUMBRA, and moved on happy that it looked enough like a word. Sometimes my solving brain doesn’t connect with the rest.
  19. Only really held up at the end by CATS CRADLE — having entered FOOTBRIDGE, I couldn’t get BRIDGE out of my head for the second word even though I was sure it was an anagram.

    Fortunately, the flower was one of the few I knew.

    TRUE BLUE — vaguely recalled BLUE as a verb meaning waste from a previous grid some while back, though can’t say I’ve ever heard anyone use it.

    1. BLUE as a verb has come across quite a few times over the years. I know this because like you I’ve never come across it in any other context!
  20. Still hard going. Wondering if I shall once see a sub-fifteen again. A neat enough exercise however. 28 min.
  21. Not quite sure why this took as long as it did; it all seemed fairy straightforward in retrospect. There’s always an enjoyable “doh!” moment with clues like HARDHEARTEDENESS.

    I knew the composer from the music hall song “Any Old Arne”.

    Thanks to Pip and the setter.

  23. 19m, which would have been faster if I hadn’t spent a while trying to find an answer for 19 ac which would fit into the crossers of 18 ac. Note to self: revise all the numbers between 10 and 20 for Thursday.
  24. Did anyone else find this a stretch? Admittedly in only a few seconds of hard thought I’m struggling to find a sentence in which CAME works in this sense. A nuisance, as I was on target for a PB but this last one beat me.
    2. It came upon the midnight clear that glorious song of old etc. Hymns A&M.
      1. Thanks, all. I think it was probably the “to” that threw me, but of course it’s needed to tie the component parts of the clue together. “Happened” = “CAME” is, of course, completely non-controversial.
  25. 27 minutes, and probably a PB for the 15 x 15. No particular problems, although the relevance of Richardson was lost on me until I came here, and I wanted 5a to be CARTON for a long time. I didn’t know BLUE for squander / waste, but it couldn’t be anything else. I thought FOOTBRIDGE was good. Thanks both.
  26. Interrupted solve today but about 40m I should think. I made heavy weather of some — liked the trick with Iago but not sure it’s particularly a characteristic of his. Thank you, Pip and setter today.
  27. Found this harder than most here. Just for once, I knew the composer as he is the most go to composer for setters. My problem was that I saw the TRUE bit but put it at the bottom instead of the top, which made LEARNED a bit hard.
    LOI BLUE, didn’t know that meaning.
  29. Anonymous is right. The only hold-up for me was the crucible girl – Mel tends to be a man’s name in the US short for Melvin or Melville. So I made a brief detour looking for Hester. 14.03
        1. I’ve never heard of them either, Jerry. Pop music ended with Queen and Dire Straits for me.
  30. HUT was my FOI. I then considered AFAR but discarded it and put in AWAY. …ARIANISM went in early at 10a but it took me ages to see the TOTALIT bit. In fact I didn’t see it until I got BIT PART, which gave me BEHEMOTH and confirmed MELTING POT. Some lovely clues and a very enjoyable puzzle. 21:52, which surprisingly put me outside of the top 100 on the Leaderboard, so excluded from the SNITCH too. Thanks setter and Pip.
  31. Another afar here even though I could see that it did not fit the wordplay. 56 minutes including preparing lunch and talking to the guy who is going to give us a quote for a new back door so I think that puts me into my fastest times – apart from not having finished correctly. Doh.
    What’s the convention on the wording ‘Devil leaving black’ which then takes B off a word for Devil? Surely devil has to be losing black or black leaving devil?
    Thanks to setter and blogger.
  32. bit of a MER with Hindenburg-gate .. otherwise fine though a few dodgy surface readings. And my usual hesitancy over spelling candelabrum .. I wonder if anyone ever has actually *said* that word? “Come this way, duchess .. but do mind out for the candelabrum” ..
  34. No complaints about this time, which is only my sixth best! But I had almost half the puzzle (top half) done after 3 minutes and thought I might finally crack the 10-minute barrier. Sadly it was not to be. Interestingly, I found this puzzle much easier than yesterday’s (where I felt I lucked into a good time), but the SNITCH has them dead even.
  35. I was on the road this morning so never really was able to concentrate in a proper fashion. Lunch was fabulous at a new Italian Brasserie (if that goes!)

    FOI 18dn AIRSHIP (Hindenberg!!)

    LOI TRUE BLUE I just saw BLUE as as a homophone for BLEW.
    fyi True Blue is a small village on Harbour Island, Bahamas – rare postmark, as displayed

    COD 1ac BEHEMOTH – no ANT involved

    WOD 7dn CHICKEN FEED

    COCK-UP at 6dn AFAR and not AWAY

    Edited at 2021-05-05 03:22 pm (UTC)

  36. … by entering “Afar”.
    It’s a pity because I really enjoyed this crossword.
    Never heard of “blue” as a verb for waste — got a bit confused thinking of “blew” as in wasted.
    Interestingly, “Behemoth” means “Hippopotamus” in Russian — I understand that it was originally a Hebrew word meaning a large river-dwelling monster, so fair enough.
  37. My CAMEALIA worked in every respect but one!

    Edited at 2021-05-05 04:48 pm (UTC)

  38. Straightforward enough, bar the unknowns but had to be Tetra and Blue/waste. Decoding of the latter wasn’t helped by West and Mile being early possibilities for the London region. I also don’t think I’ve come across Deep C in music — I’m sure lower C is the usual term. Quibbles apart, I thought this was a handy stepping stone up from the QC. Invariant
  39. I might struggle with double definitions, long Ikean clues and doing anagrams in my head but the memory hasn’t gone yet so as soon as I see “wicked” I think “candle”. Unfortunately I was a candleabrum which held up my LOI ACETONE. Otherwise enjoyed it. No one’s mention the smooth surface of PARCEL which I thought was rather good as was the Iago clue. Take Myrtilus’s point on one or two of the surfaces but what’s not to like about a smoothish 20 min solve?

    Thanks Pip and setter

  40. ….at lunchtime, I never noticed that the AIRSHIP was spelled incorrectly. I know three people called Mel, and all of them are blokes.

    FOI PARCEL
    LOI MELTING POT
    COD CANDELABRUM
    TIME 8:56

  41. Felt it should have been quicker, as it was all straightforward stuff. True Blue and East End were the last in. I had a wobble worrying that True Blow might be a variant of True Blue. It would make more sense (if you don’t know the other meaning of Blue) and ties in neatly with a possible West End. And I never parsed East End, so I could have gone for it! Happily I dredged up a vague memory of seeing the other meaning of Blue in a previous puzzle. All was saved.
  42. 63 mins, good recommendation on the QC blog that this was the easier end of the scale. NHO ARNE or TETRA. DNK BLUE=waste.

    I only get a true solve once a month or so, but pleased with this effort.

  43. 19.49. I was rattling along quite nicely until I got completely stumped by the clue for LOI candelabrum. Eventually twigged to wicked. Hats off to Mohn2, 2.45, an astonishing time.

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