Times 28039 – “Come on down to my boat….

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time: 19 minutes
Music: Prokofiev, Symphony 5, Karajan/BPO

Well, another easy Monday, at least for me.   I didn’t even get to side 2 of the symphony during my quick solve, but then I went on to another puzzle and got exactly two answers during the third and fourth movements.

This puzzle was actually good for an easy one, and there were a lot of subtle touches that I didn’t notice as I put in the evident answers.    No special knowledge is required, although I struggled to get Comintern out of my brain – could that have been Cominterm?   No, it was not, and that was my last one in.   The other trick is that if you are biffing inamorata, check to make sure it’s not inamorato, as it can sometimes turn out to be.

Across
1 One who’s given pledge with complete ease, we hear? (9)
WARRANTEE – W + ARRANT plus EE sounds like EASE.
6 Lamb originally slaughtered for a Hebrew prophet (5)
ELIAS – ELIA, + S[laughtered], Charles Lamb again.
9 Part of hospital technology the French authorise (7)
ENTITLE – ENT + IT + LE, a compendium of crosswordese.
10 Society shunned by NE European scholar (7)
ETONIAN – E[s]TONIAN, a scholar in the sense of a schoolboy.
11 US politician defending one’s religious faith (5)
DEISM – DE(I’S)M, the most common abbreviation.
12 Group of universities that is vaguely organised centrally? (3,6)
IVY LEAGUE – anagram of I.E. + VAGUELY, and I have no idea why centrally is there either.
13 Beware entrance to such underground hollows (5)
CAVES – CAVE +   S[uch].   Cave caves!
14 Ringer’s appearance acolytes initially approve of (9)
LOOKALIKE – LOOK+ A[colytes] + LIKE.
17 African city reached by libertine in thirty-one days (9)
MARRAKECH – MAR(RAKE)CH, surprisingly, not a chestnut.
18 The cheek of some musicians! (5)
BRASS – Double definition.
19 Eg Henry’s report of labourer chased by dangerous reptile (9)
NAVIGATOR – Sounds like NAVVY + GATOR – that Portuguese king.
22 Figure of Greek character with medical degree (5)
RHOMB – RHO + M.B.
24 Men in company crossing over major river (7)
ORINOCO – OR IN (O) CO, more cryptic cliches.
25 Outward appearance of water sport champion (7)
SURFACE – SURF ACE.   Surfing is featured in the Olympic Games this year.
26 Saunter extremely meekly around old Kent area (5)
MOSEY – M(eekl O S.E.)Y.
27 Creepy type calls, mostly having nothing on! (4,5)
RING SNAKE – RINGS + NAKE[d].
Down
1 Brandish knife finally in outback (5)
WIELD – WI([knif]E)LD.   Wield usually means more than brandish.
2 When a sportsman’s shot he’s expected to make a recovery (9)
RETRIEVER – Cryptic definition of a bird shooter’s canine companion.
3 Plant given airtime as broadcast (9)
ARTEMISIA –  Anagram of AIRTIME AS.
4 Scattered glitter on oxherd, an unsophisticated neighbour (3,4,4-4)
THE GIRL NEXT-DOOR – Anagram of GLITTER ON OXHERD- that I’d like to see!
5 Each and all: though not all dads’ female offspring, do we infer? (5,7,3)
EVERY MOTHERS SON – Cryptic hint.
6 Raise fine collected by the first lady (5)
EVOKE – EV(OK)E.
7 Sugary coating unwelcome on aircraft (5)
ICING – Double definition.
8 Crazy old nurse’s point? Not so (9)
SENSELESS – SEN + SE + LESS.
13 Firm master’s first in class, a source of leftist propaganda once (9)
COMINFORM – CO + M[aster] + IN FORM.
15 Warning initially given by teacher over waxy secretion (9)
AMBERGRIS – AMBER + G[iven] + SIR upside-down.
16 Lover shortly taking time in Royal Academy area (9)
INAMORATA –  IN A  MO + RA(T)A.
20 Conveyors of blood belonging to relative in sanatorium (5)
VEINS – hidden in [relati]VE IN S[sanatorium].
21 Splendour of head of green parrot (5)
GLORY – G + LORY.
23 Note ultimately made after upsetting part of speech (5)
BREVE – VERB upside-down + [not]E.

67 comments on “Times 28039 – “Come on down to my boat….”

  1. I didn’t know that a lory was a parrot. Biffed IVY LEAGUE ((VAGUELY)* is at the center of I.E.) and SENSELESS. I liked the idea of glitter on an oxherd.

    Edited at 2021-07-26 12:46 am (UTC)

  2. I saw SENSELESS a while before I remembered the “old nurse” and felt justified in putting it in. Had COMINTERM—which didn’t seem quite right—until I got to the river. Like brnchn, I raised an eyebrow at the neighbor girl’s hyphen.
  4. … what I thought was the ‘C’ rather than ‘S’ ‘MARRAKECH’ Express, so this held me up for a while before the crossers were in place. I didn’t know who the ‘Henry’ in 19a was referring to and had never heard of the COMINFORM which I now see was a successor to the Comintern. I liked the cryptic def for our canine friend at 2d and the girl-boy thing going on at 4 and 5d.

    Reasonably happy to have just squeezed in under the half hour.

  5. Had the o-o checkers at the end of 24a, and pretty confidently biffed LIMPOPO for the river. After all, how many rivers could there be ending in this combination?
    One more than I’d thought became clear later!
    25:21
  6. 26 minutes. Another here who never heard of COMINFORM but the wordplay was clear. Nor ARTEMISIA for that matter where I hesitated over the arrangement of vowels but with reference to the goddess of the hunt I opted correctly. I didn’t know MARRAKECH with a C.
    1. I don’t think I’ve seen it with an S, but that’s how ODE has it, with C as an alternative; the French spell it with a C.
  7. It’s been a while since I’ve gone under 10 minutes but I was on the MARRAKECH Express today. As vinyl alluded to I was tempted to biff INAMORATO, particularly as I’ve seen it in another crossword somewhere very recently but I managed to resist. I didn’t know the word had male and female form until now. I also normally think of MARRAKECH as Marrakesh. Where would a crossword setter be without variant spellings, eh?
  8. 38 minutes here, and glad to get through without a pink square (figuratively-speaking; I still solve on paper.) Similar to Jack, my scant knowledge of Greek gods helped out when my even-scanter knowledge of plants let me down at 3d. It’s also useful that the BBC spell it MARRAKECH in a recipe I cook regularly. Don’t think I’ve ever heard of COMINFORM, but it seemed likely once I’d put it together.

    A quite old-fashioned feeling this morning, but then I quite often feel old-fashioned myself, so I can’t really complain! I enjoyed the “EEs” most.

    Edited at 2021-07-26 06:05 am (UTC)

  9. 14 minutes with LOI SENSELESS. I knew the plant and its spelling. I remembered a body called COMINTERN and then constructed COMINFORM. COD to NAVIGATOR but there were lots of nice clues in this enjoyable if easyish puzzle, ELIAS, AMBERGRIS and THE GIRL NEXT-DOOR standing out. I’ve always wondered how things turned out for Alice. Good stuff. Thank you V and setter.
  10. A panic qiute close to the end
    Was a parrot about to offend?
    But that’s not the story
    The answer was GLORY
    The setter can still be my friend
    1. And in 2d, the setter is referring to shooting down birds — even more for you to celebrate!
  11. Similar to others: COMINTERM/COMINFORM, MARRAKESH/MARRAKECH.

    NHO ELIAS as a prophet but clear once I got SENSELESS (remembering SEN = nurse). Pleased to get the plant spelling right – by analogy with ARTEMIS.

  12. Back from delayed celebration Somali breakfast, and set up for the day / week ahead. Slightly disappointed after obliterating my PB on the QC warm-up.

    I was doing reasonably well, but got bogged down in the NE corner with EVOKE / ELIAS / ETONIAN (took me ages to realise the obvious EVE for first lady / kept thinking FINN for NE European)

    One mistake / LOI correction – COMINFORM which I’d initially entered as COMINROOM, strongly suspecting it wasn’t right.

    Anyway, happy that I stuck it out to completion after being tempted to declare a DNF at about 34m. Now setting my sights on doing a full set of under-1h Mon – Fri completions – something I never imagined I could achieve only a couple of months ago.

    Best wishes, Denise

  13. Another one who is surprised at the necessity for a hyphen in 4d.
    We’ve had INAMORATO recently.
    My LOI was ETONIAN. Initially I was looking for a word for society from which to drop NE. When I had the E, I thought of Erasmus. Took a while to sort out.
    Thank you, vinyl.
    1. I wanted to put in ERASMUS too. It was quite a leap to move from him to an Etonian.
  14. 35:34
    That hyphen in next door is definitely wrong. You only need it if it’s before the noun it qualifies. Next-door neighbour; the girl next door.
    Thanks, v.
  15. Around 29 mins for this, never having heard of the Orwellian Cominform (or EVERY MOTHER’S SON and ARTEMISIA, for that matter). AMBERGRIS last in.
  16. 12:09. Quite a lot of biffing, including my last in WARRANTEE which I didn’t understand. I hesitated over ARTEMISIA but like others I eventually went with Artemis, and somehow I avoided the MARRAKESH elephant trap.
    The hyphen in NEXT-DOOR is very odd.
  17. Even though I’d parsed it, for some reason I reverted to MARRAKESH (never seen it with a C) – and, while making up a plant I failed to take proper account of the anagrind and went with ARTEMISSA. Poor work today.

    NHO COMINFORM but it was a kind cryptic.

    btw slight typo in the explanations, vinyl – ARTEMISIA anagram is of AIRTIME AS.

      1. Oh dear! Well spotted. I already had almost no excuse for getting it wrong, and now I definitely have none.
  18. Same same comments as above; liked excellent surface reading of RETRIEVER cryptic def. Some oddish words but all work-out-able (more extra hyphens!) … Thx to setter and blogger, as ever.
    1. You may have seen it elsewhere, but INAMORATA hasn’t appeared in a Times 15×15 for 2 years.

      Edited at 2021-07-26 03:48 pm (UTC)

  20. I never spell ARTEMISIA right even when I know I’m getting it wrong, so a spoiled grid in nearly 17 minutes and a disgruntled feeling to take into the rest of the day.
    Last in was RETRIEVER, as always fruitlessly looking for the wordplay in a CD, and unsurprisingly not finding it.
    Like Martin, I eruditely essayed ERASMUS for the scholar until it was stupid, and never did work out what was going on with SENSELESS apart from the nurse. Didn’t occur that it was that sort of point, or what it was you took the SO from.
    Next time I’ll turn of the Olympics before trying to solve.
    1. Navvy is the worker, homophone of Navi. The worker is the original name of the men who dug the canals, which were called “Navigations”, hence navvies. Gator is short for alligator, as reptiles go fairly dangerous.
      Andyf
      1. OOps, forgot to say Henry The Navigator is this one (from wiki)
        “Dom Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry the Navigator (Portuguese: Infante Dom Henrique, o Navegador), was a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire”
        Andyf
  22. 44:51, with one pink square. I was doing really well until getting thoroughly stuck in the North East corner. I still don’t like mad=senseless, I have no idea about ELIA (despite Vinyl’s helpful (?) reference to Charles Lamb), I couldn’t get ICING because I had MIG for the plane and, bafflingly, I just couldn’t see ETONIAN. And then, having sorted the corner, I got my pink square for spelling ARTEMESIA with an E. There seem to be a lot today with one error. Are we all ARTEMESIA? or are they all MARAKESH?
  23. 15.47. Steady if not spectacular. Made things a bit harder for myself with comintern going straight in before parsing the clue and last two in, senseless and etonian, made for a jittery last few moments.
    Nice introduction to the week.
  24. Didn’t find this particularly easy, with WARRANTEE and RETRIEVER particularly awkward, though I cannot really see why now. 34 mins.
  25. Nice crossword spoiled for me by the unknown plant as an anagram ARTIMESIA. Drat! 32:57 WOE. Thanks V
  26. as it reminded of a Xnmas turkey with lots of chestnut stuffing!

    Monday again – just got home in 29 minutes.

    FOI ARTEMISIA sweet wormwood whatever! Instead of Roman senators and the like – I concentrated on the flowers, shrubs and trees.

    LOI 8as ELIAS- I twigged it earlier but then missed it.

    COD 24ac ORINOCO – I too was half way up the green and greasy Limpopo before the COMINFORM arrived later at 13dn.

    WOD 26ac MOSEY on down

    We were in MARREKESCH recently – I thought this was the German rendition – Hotel Mamunia a favourite spot for both Churchill and Meldrew.

    Edited at 2021-07-26 11:22 am (UTC)

  27. Having seen the number of errors on the leaderboard, I now feel even more pleased to have picked my way through the MARRAKECH trap for the unwary biffer, if that was the cause of the undoing.
  28. Should have been quicker with this, but a quick nap halfway through…..
    Plus a stray finger.
  30. I can find ring-necked snakes, and I can find a snake ring (jewellery) but draw a blank on RING SNAKE in all sources so far.
    Andyf
    1. Chambers has:

      1 A common English snake, the grass-snake (also ringed snake)
      2 A harmless American snake with yellow collar

    3. Forgot to say the grass snake is sometimes known as the ringED snake.
      Andyf
  31. Good fun.

    SENSELESS and ETONIAN took longer than they should have. No problem with Marrakech but precious seconds wasted when suddenly picturing the Marrakesh Express making a guest appearance in one of W Awdry’s Engine books.
    Must be the heat.

    Thanks to v and the setter

  32. ….ELIAS, and he was accompanied by the Zig Zag Jive Flutes on the original instrumental of Tom Hark (the theme from “The Killing Stones”, an early ITV drama series about diamonds, starring Patrick Allen and Laya Raki). But my heathen ways are known to most regulars here by now.

    I enjoyed this, but needed Vinyl to parse SENSELESS for me.

    FOI ELIAS (I’m more in line with Charles Lamb than the OT prophets)
    LOI & COD ETONIAN
    TIME 7:53

  33. I messed up and put ARTIMESIA. Otherwise all straighforward. I don’t think I’ve seen MARRAKECH spelled like that but the wordplay was clear.
    1. See my reply to mauefw above — you have! Like me you were caught out by this spelling in January.
  34. 13:49 Needed LOOKALIKE to fix EVERY FATHERS SON. LOI AMBERGRIS. I’m another surprised to find the African city spelt with a KECH, but the wordplay was clear so I assumed it was an alkternative spelling. COD to the surface for RING SNAKE.
  35. Finally caught up to do a 15×15 on the right day, 50 minutes for a paper solve. Dnk Charles Lamb or his essays but got the answer from the definition/checkers. Otherwise a pleasant solve to enjoy in the sunshine.
  36. I think the only thing worse than falling a few short after a lengthy struggle is to find that ‘no special knowledge is required’. Invariant
  37. 22.31. Not too difficult but the lengthy downs of the girl next door and every mother’s son with all their crossing letters and opportunities to open up the rest of the puzzle took a while to arrive. There were also a couple where I got a bit snarled up, Etonian, senseless and comin-whatsit, which needed some unravelment.
  38. No serious problems but I failed to understand senseless until reading the blog. Likewise icing. After placing the g, was looking for a Mig for a time. Etonian went in last. Reminded me of a mildly anti-Semitic remark about Mrs Thatcher’s cabinet, quoted in Charles Moore’s biography. I can’t recall who said it.
  39. Like Keriothe, 1ac “Warrantee” was my LOI — frustrating when 1ac is LOI.
    Unlike Keriothe, I needed over 1 hour — not helped by entering “Father’s” instead of “Mother’s” and “Leauge” instead of “League” — but got there in the end.

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