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. Beg to differ – “True Grit” as Great A.Novel – rated as a masterpiece by Roal Dahl and
    Donna Tartt.
    1. Thanks for the recommendation. Wouldn’t have known it was a book, which, I suppose, a lot of people would say about Little Big Man.
  2. Unsure of THRENODE until all the crossers were in. Previously only knew the “threnody” variant (pl “threnodies”). Apparently in good company on that. Otherwise about as Monday as Monday gets. 10 mins.

    Edited at 2021-06-07 11:20 am (UTC)

  3. For a change decided to try the online version today. Wished I hadn’t, finished in 13.07 but hadn’t noticed thick fingers- or maybe it was all of me- decided to spell love letter with three Ts and one E. Aarggh.
    Pretty standard Monday fare but no less enjoyable for that. COD threnodes.
  4. …them were the days. Find myself only sluggishly drawn to these things (crosswords, apart from from the GK variety) these days. Ambled through this in 21’03. Unlikely to visit the site much more – it seems to have played itself out for me. Enjoyed the craic while contributing no more than would-be winged words in the dark. If I may I’d like people to know of my website: joewinter-poet.com on which I’m currently engaged on a kind of all-purpose poet’s blog. All the best.
    1. Happy to ‘unspam’ the link to your website, joe. I’m sorry to read this community is no longer for you but I’ve enjoyed your contributions. People move on! All the best.
  5. …but pleased to be able to get about 8 unaided before looking for answers and explanations here. DNK threnodes or capes, and NHO grandma Moses! A complete newbie to the 15×15 and only just starting to regularly finish the QC… The consensus seems to be that this was straightforward — will it be days or years before I can finish one of these?! 😆
  6. Pleased to close it out with LOI THRENODES, a word I had come across a couple of times in crosswords.

    DNK MOSES the artist, and could not parse EAST ANGLIA.

  7. ….insert an unwanted “I” into THRENODES. CAHIER was in the back of my mind as being a valid word, but I couldn’t have told you what it meant. I biffed WIGWAM without seeing how “slate” worked.

    FOI CAPES
    LOI I DARESAY
    COD LEAD A DOUBLE LIFE
    TIME 7:24

  8. 36 minutes; very fast for me on the 15×15 so I’m highly delighted! All this practice is paying off at last. There was a bit off biffing, mind….thanks blogger for post- solve parsing help.
  9. Three of the longest ones went in first, and the fourth one just a few clues later, so I was well on my way. LOI I DARESAY, as I was thinking it might be some “obscure” (to me!) character from a comic opera and not an expression I am wont to use myself.

    I like it, bien sûr, when French words pay a visit.

    Now I’ve got Beck’s “Peaches and Cream” (from Midnight Vultures) playing in my head.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i55TYUQsi9s

    Edited at 2021-06-07 02:40 pm (UTC)

  10. This was a pleasant enough start to the week. COD EAST ANGLIA – my neck of the woods, these days, although I was born in Boston MA: English mother.
  11. Nice and easy does it, which suited me fine after filling in my French tax form.

    Re WIGWAM – The film of Little Big Man is well worth hunting down.

    Thanks to Ulaca and the setter

  12. 7:55. I realise from the SNITCH that today’s puzzle was easy but it gave me a lot of pleasure — I seemed to pick up on the setter’s intention for every clue and the long anagrams gave up their secrets quickly which is not often the case.
    NHO of cahier but in the circumstances trusted the cryptic element.
    COD 9 ac, very concise and clever.
    Solved this after a 4 mile countryside walk and a bottle of Japanese beer but I doubt that combination will guarantee similar performances in future!
    Thanks to Ulaca for a witty blog and to setter
  13. 11.23 a brisk but satisfying solve. Thought 9ac was very good and enjoyed the misdirection in the surface cross-reference at 7dn.
  14. I did indeed fall into the embarrassing trap of the SPECTATER. Horrible when I type it out like that but I stuck in TATER without realising the homophone applied to both bits. Otherwise I DARESAY needed 3 minutes at the end. Was getting a bit confused with my operas and operettas and associated princesses but IDA came to mind eventually

    Thanks setter for an enjoyable 20 minutes and Mr U

  15. This came as a welcome relief from trying to find homes for all the stuff in my kitchen whilst we have a new one fitted. I enjoyed the distraction of the solve, especially since I eventually managed to complete it. I think it took me an hour or so. An hour pleasantly spent, especially compared to my other activity today. Thanks, U, and setter – and Jack for encouraging those of us who solve at a snail’s pace compared to some. GW.

  16. This one needed knowledge that I didn’t have — never heard of “Threnodes” — forgot the Land of Nod — never heard of Grannie Moses — and couldn’t spot Linen. Correctly guessed Cahier but NHO. Also DNK Elia.
    Something of a disaster for me today.
  17. The odd experience here of having finished it but without necessarily knowing how or why. A lot of biffing going on, so the blog will be studied at length to figure out quite how my brain was working! FOI 1ac REPAIR KIT, LOI 3D I DARESAY, with guesswork fir CAHIER and THRENODES. Liked the clue for AFAR. Neat. Done in about 40 minutes on paper.

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