Times 27997 – Tantantara tzing boom and all that caper

Author   ulacaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
The tum-tiddly-dee light operatic reference did for me, in spite of the fact that I knew the work. Must have subconsciously blanked it out…

The notebook at, ‘ow you say, number three down may have caused a few problehms, but ‘ere I was luckier, given my fondness for [some of] ze work of ze likes of Éric Rohmer, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol and François Truffaut.

The dirges at 25 across likewise may have stumped one or two, but otherwise I thought this was a pretty straightforward yet elegant example of the genre albeit with a plethora of double definitions – and not a few anagrams.

Without further ado, tarumpty-thrumpty dum, trip we thither…

ACROSS

1 Dad, to irritate, gets into row about mending equipment (6,3)
REPAIR KIT – PA IRK in TIER reversed
6 Carbon copies for heads (5)
CAPES – C APES; geographical heads (promontories)
9 A full-bodied ale brewed by English moonlight? (4,1,6,4)
LEAD A DOUBLE LIFE – anagram* of A FULL BODIED ALE plus E; nice one, setter!
10 Bank employee hasn’t entered shillings in notebook (6)
CAHIER – CA[s]HIER; the French film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma is 70 years old this year, which some of you lot may well be able to say
11 Look back, working hard, and persevere (4,2,2)
KEEP AT IT – PEEK reversed AT IT (working hard)
13 Region where Lamb’s full of a singular flavour (4,6)
EAST ANGLIA – A S TANG in ELIA (pen name of Charles Lamb, essayist extraordinaire); I’m particularly fond of ‘New Year’s Eve’, where he writes, ‘I am naturally, beforehand, shy of novelties; new books, new faces, new years, from some mental twist which makes it difficult in me to face the prospective.’
14 Scrap old bank holiday (4)
WHIT – double definition (DD); Whit Monday was a holiday in Britain until 1971, when the last Monday in May replaced it. No matter, it still rains…
16 Key worker’s jargon (4)
CANT – C ANT
17 O for some romantic correspondence! (4,6)
LOVE LETTER – the letter O might be called the love (= nil) letter
19 Where striker stands for more pay? (8)
INCREASE – cricketing clue – the batsman typically stands inside the popping (or batting) crease, but need not if he’s brave enough to take the quicker bowlers on
20 Home of the brave, made of slate, and well heated? Not right! (6)
WIGWAM – WIG (wig as in criticise, or slate) WA[r]M; I recently read Little Big Man, by Thomas Berger, a tall tale about a 121-year-old man raised by the Cheyenne, which has better claims to being The Great American Novel than many of the usual suspects, in my opinion
23 Advanced pro imagines what statistician needs (1,4,3,7)
A HEAD FOR FIGURES – AHEAD (advanced) FOR (pro) FIGURES (imagines); slightly strange to see the space between the first two words (a bit Guardianesque)
24 A racket taking in head of mafia organisation (5)
ADMIN – M[afia] in A DIN
25 Lamentations of small groups touring biblical land (9)
THRENODES – NOD in THREES; the Biblical land of Nod (‘east of Eden’) was where Cain was exiled after murdering Abel

DOWN

1 Holy object oddly laid in playing field (5)
RELIC – L[a]I[d] in REC
2 Sweet complexion(7,3,5)
PEACHES AND CREAM – DD
3 G&S princess has years away, very probably! (1,7)
I DARESAY – IDA (as in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta Princess Ida) YEARS*
4 Wader‘s granny? (4)
KNOT – DD; bird and type of knot
5 Put up policy: new cover for board (5,5)
TABLE LINEN – TABLE (put up a motion – in the UK, at any rate) LINE (policy) N
6 Poor firm pockets a pile (6)
CHEAPO – HEAP in CO
7 Celebrate thirteen down — apt after a fashion (5,3,4,3)
PAINT THE TOWN RED – THIRTEEN DOWN APT*; not a Guardianesque cross-referencing clue
8 Heard of mark on potato publication (9)
SPECTATOR – sounds like SPECK on TATER; the mag where every other contributor must be named Johnson
12 A brick from ace with merchandise left (1,4,5)
A GOOD SPORT – A GOODS PORT; a bit weak
13 Woman cuddling baby, eating a hot snack (9)
ENCHILADA – A in CHILD in ENA (as in Sharples)
15 Lunges wildly round the West Indies, displaying weapon (5,3)
LEWIS GUN – WI in LUNGES*; machine gun often used on aircraft (designed in the US but produced in the UK) – most associated with the Great War, but used right up to the Korean debacle
18 Field study is dreary (6)
LEADEN – LEA DEN
21 Prophet’s artistic grandma (5)
MOSES – DD; artist Anna Mary Robertson Moses (AKA Grandma Moses) had a 23-year career that began at 78. Hope for us all…
22 Miles away from a ranch — miles away! (4)
AFAR – A FAR[m]

69 comments on “Times 27997 – Tantantara tzing boom and all that caper”

  1. Not much to say that ulaca and Jeremy didn’t cover: I had all the GK; I would have whined about the use of “away” as anagrind if 3D had been a trickier clue and had held me up, but it wasn’t and it didn’t; I liked the cute Thirteen Down anagram. Thx ulaca
    1. As much as anything else, it was the AWAY that did for me, so, with your permission, I’ll whine away for a while.
      1. I also looked at it twice but it’s listed as anagrind in Chambers Crossword Dictionary and the Wordgame Companion supplement to the 12th edition of their dictionary.
    2. I did wonder if it was yet another typo, and “awry”” was intended, but it doesn’t read well. I shrugged and moved on.
  2. This should have been easier I suppose, but I was held up by a lot of head-scratchers: MOSES, KNOT, WHIT, DARESAY, and the spelling of THRENOD*E*S, kept me from racing to a finish.

    The ‘moonlight’ anagram was very fooling and truly delightful when the penny finally dropped.

  3. I am always pleased to share whining and moaning duty and to get the chance to pick up some pointers. Welcome aboard!
  4. Just 22 minutes

    LOI 3dn I DARESAY – whine

    FOI 6ac CAPES

    COD 14ac WHIT

    WOD 25ac THRENODES

    9ac LEAD A DOUBLE LIFE – I wish!

    Edited at 2021-06-07 02:42 am (UTC)

  5. I forgot about the bird KNOT, and didn’t know it was a wader, but ‘granny’ sufficed. DNK CAHIER (as an English word). Biffed PAINT THE ETC. & ENCHILADA, forgot to double-check the former. I’ve never seen ‘threnody’ spelled with an E; neither has ODE. [ON EDIT: I see from Collins that THRENODES is a possible plural of ‘threnody’; so what I’ve never seen is ‘threnodies’ spelled without the I.] PEACHES and MOSES struck me as QCish, as did ‘G&S’; but then it’s Monday. COD to 9ac.

    Edited at 2021-06-07 05:49 am (UTC)

  6. 20 minutes is about as quick as it ever gets for me for a 15×15.

    CAHIER was one of the first French words I learned as my introduction to the language, before starting on grammar etc, was simply to learn the names of the things around us in the classroom where there were always plenty of exercise books. I therefore wrote it in with confidence, however it was news to me that it had found its way into the English language.

    Parsing WIG for ‘slate’ foxed me whilst solving but I went back to it afterwards.

    My first thought at 25ac was THRENADES with DAN as the biblical land but the lack of a reversal indicator made me think again and remember NOD.

    I thought the clue to LOVE LETTER was feeble and wondered if I’d missed something, but apparently not.

    At 26 minutes for both Monday puzzles I felt a bit cheated and hope that The Guardian has something a bit more challenging on offer.

    Edited at 2021-06-07 06:12 am (UTC)

  7. I found this quite tricky in parts, not least with my last two, the crossers of I DARESAY and CAHIER. For the former I initially thought I was looking for an operatic princess from whose name I needed to remove a Y and thus thought I was going to struggle. Eventually I thought of Princess Ida, though I couldn’t tell you she was from an opera, and things fell into place. I was nervous about CAHIER, which looked like a word I’d made up and thus fully expected to end up with egg on my face so the lack of pink squares was a pleasant surprise.
    1. … will not detain you for long today, I fear. Like you, I am going to find something else to fill the time. For me, unfortunately, that means weeding.
  8. 18 minutes. I didn’t know CAHIER but it was obvious. I too would have put an i in THRENODES if there had been space. COD to LEAD A DOUBLE LIFE for the PDM when it fell out of the anagram. Easyish but very enjoyable. Thank you U and setter.
    1. First Billy Wright and now the Andrews Sisters – did the Beverley Sisters record it too!?

      Edited at 2021-06-07 06:28 am (UTC)

      1. It was The Chordettes, H, later than the Andrews Sisters. And Emmylou, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt did a great version much later.
  9. …And Leaden-eyed despairs

    15 mins of gentle enjoyment (notwithstanding the NHO Cahiers) left me with the two impossible ones: I Daresay, Threnodes.
    I am ashamed to say I couldn’t even fathom what G&S stood for.
    Thanks setter an U.

  11. Relatively few birds of late
    Which obviously I think is great
    KNOT so happy today
    But I’d venture to say
    I’m dis”chough”ed more than irate
  12. Recklessly fast this morning, overwhelmed by knowing all the idioms and all the GK.

    Daughter#3 did G&S at school and at university, so I have sat through many productions, some of which were good.

    I have seen the film of ‘Little Big Man’, reminds me now of a rather serious Forrest Gump of the nineteenth century.

    This was very nearly a PB, thanks ulaca and setter.

  13. John – The Emmylou, Dolly, Linda ‘Mr. Sandman’ is terrific – but I wondered if you remembered that Billy Wright was married to Joy Beverley from ‘Befnal’ Green?
    1. Of course. I can even remember them singing the song Siesta the evening before the 1958 Final, with changed words. Babs and Teddie sang Bolton for the Cup, and then Joy sang Manchester. My avatar of course shows who was right.
  14. Couldn’t see 3D at all so used aids. The only answer I found had DARE SAY as two words, so that confounded me more. Came here to find that most people seem happy with one word so too bad for me. Oh well. CAHIER no problem and I liked the long anags. Thank you U as ever.
    1. Good point about DARESAY. I hadn’t actually noticed the enumeration but having checked, it’s in Collins and Lexico both as one word and two.
  15. A steady 13.51, with I DARESAY last in. Same issues as others have noted, though I don’t think I can readily recall a G&S princess other than Ida. Didn’t think the rest was an anagram, did think the answer was 3 words.
    SPECTATOR I got for the wrong reason. I couldn’t understand why it was hinted as a soundalike but some of my potatoes definitely are marked with eyes and an eye is….
    PAINT… I buffed, expecting to understand the wordplay when 13d fell. Didn’t happen, and I shrugged and moved on, a pity as that was a spectacular anagram.
    A gentle Monday puzzle, and a genteel blog, thanks U.
    1. Is your paint shiny, now that you’ve buffed it?
      I wondered what was going on there too, missing the anagram and not seeing a cross-reference.
        1. No, I reckon you’re onto something there: ‘to bung in from a smooth surface.’
  16. I was also a trifle surprised that DARESAY could be one word.

    Didn’t bother parsing REPAIR KIT nor TABLE LINEN and didn’t ‘get’ the WIG in WIGWAM.

    Otherwise, no problems apart from a momentary thought that the last vowel of SPECTATOR might be an ‘E’!

  17. Most of this went in easily, but a biffed TABLE CLOTH held me up with the region, where I invented EAST ASTELY until A GOOD SPORT helped me out. ANGLIA then corrected my CLOTH to LINEN, and LAST(omega) LETTER to LOVE LETTER. CAHIER went in reluctantly from WORDPLAY, and I belatedly remembered IDA and raised both eyebrows at the enumeration of DARESAY. Sorting out that 5 clue tangle probably took the best part of 10 minutes. I also wondered about the spelling of THRENODES, but followed the wordplay. 23:50. Thanks setter and U.

    Edited at 2021-06-07 08:41 am (UTC)

  18. 8:13 Rather Mondayish but I hesitated over I DARESAY thinking it should be (1,4,3) and THRENODES, expecting the plural of THRENODY to be THRENODIES. EAST ANGLIA and ENCHILADA parsed only after completion. I liked a HEAD FOR FIGURES best.
  19. FOI: 17a. LOVE LETTER
    LOI: 21d. MOSES

    Time to Complete: DNF

    Clues Answered Correctly without aids: 4

    Clues Answered with Aids: 6

    Clues Unanswered: 17

    Wrong Answers: 25a

    Total Correctly Answered (incl. aids): 10/28

    Aids Used: Chambers

    25a. THRENODES – A spelling error rendered this answer incorrect. I had put THERNODYS.

    20a. WIGWAM – An answer I got even though I was not sure how the “slate” part of it worked.

    Only 10 answered correctly today, with the help of aids.

  20. An increasingly rare sub-20 for me at 18m so I’m guessing this was an easier offering today. I was helped by having the necessary GK for MOSES, the snack and the exercise book. I enjoyed the solve, so thank you, setter, and U for the words of wisdom.
  21. 6:28. No problems this morning. Quite a lot of biffing but a few where I needed the wordplay. The unfamiliar form of THRENODIES being one, and 11ac (where I started with KEEP IT UP) another.
    I didn’t know this meaning of WIG. As a verb (with or without the addition of ‘out’) to me it means to freak out, go crazy, and reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
    MER at DARESAY as a single word.
    U you have a little HTML glitch at 14ac.
  22. I didn’t know the G&S princess, and I think it should be 1,4,3, and the Charles Lamb reference was a new one for me.
    Thanks for the blog explaining it all.
      1. doacajk. As you have a Live Journal account you can edit your posts to correct errors. There’s a pencil [edit] icon near your username – you may have to hover the mouse pointer or touch the screen depending on your device. You can’t edit when somebody has replied though, so too late for this one.
  23. A gentle start to the week with pretty much a top-to-bottom solve. I liked the attempted mis-direction with the “thirteen down” anagram, but I saw straight through it.
  24. Back from hols so time coming back down again, whew, thought I was losing it. LOI A GOOD SPORT for which I was too fixated on a spot for the L. A few DNKs but easily clued
    COD A HEAD FOR FIGURES
  25. What Lord Horryd said, easy Monday, 15 minutes ending with MOSES and THRENODES without knowing why it was NOD.
  26. Pleasant start to the week, which was over in short order, with minor pauses as already noted by plenty of others (wondering about the enumeration of I DARESAY and attempting to put in THRENODIES before realising there must be an alternative possibility). CAHIER also took me back to my first lessons in French avec Monsieur Vert when I had seven years or so.
  27. This would have been among my best times, but having raced through in about 12 minutes (with several unparsed),
    a perfunctory check for typos failed to spot one in 7d.
    FOI 9a, but had to write anagrist down, as LIVE was clearly not possible for first word.
    LOI 25a, as needed to fix error – THRENODIES is too long to go in
  28. I read the commentary but don’t often contribute because I’m not very good but managed to finish today’s unaided, after thinking initially that this one was beyond me. Truth be told a fair amount of biffing was involved, but still..
    Thanks to all for your helpful and interesting comments.
    1. Or welcome back, philbstoke! Solvers of all standards are welcome here and enjoyment is what counts above all else.

      Edited at 2021-06-07 01:16 pm (UTC)

  29. Ulaca there are quite a few stories (based on real life) about children of colonial settlers kidnapped by a local tribe and not wanting to go home again when rescued. No unknowns here but you know you’ve been spending too much time on these things when you think the “a” in 6d and the “the” in 15d may be superfluous. 14.03

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