Time taken: 10:37.
Greetings all – you know how sometimes you say something that comes back to haunt you? I solved this at a friend’s place, and the movie we were watching finished while I was in the middle of it. I was invited to be a part of chosing what is the next form of entertainment, and I naturally said “pick whatever you want, I’ve got to finish the crossword and write it up”. So naturally I am writing this up while “The Care Bears Movie 2: A New Generation” plays in the background. What remains of my sanity tomorrow will be here to check in.
I’ll be back with a postscript in the morning to check on how you all did. I found this of medium difficulty and never got particulatly held up. Some of the wordplay is tricky, so there could be a fair bit of biffing.
Postscript: It seems most of the difficulty was around I SHOULD COCOA, which I think I remember as a regular phrase on The Goodies. I thought it sounded pretty funny and still use it regularly, especially as it brings strange looks from Americans.
Away we go…
Across | |
1 | Council disheartened by current measure for parking intervention (5) |
CLAMP – the outer letters of CounciL containing AMP(current measure). These are called boots in the USA | |
4 | American guy joining that chap in uninspiring opera (2,6) |
LA BOHEME – BO(American guy) and HE(that chap) inside LAME(uninspiring) for an opera that is anything but uninpsiring | |
8 | Twisted neck is amongst items for discussion, linked to small difficulty in travelling (6,8) |
MOTION SICKNESS – this is my tip for clue of the day, anagram of NECK,IS inside MOTIONS(items for discussion) and S(small) | |
10 | Carrying on without a particular pattern? (9) |
UNCHECKED – without a particular pattern couuld be UN CHECKED | |
11 | Is written in a document in error (5) |
AMISS – IS inside A, MS(manuscript, document) | |
12 | The writer recalled year in care of relative as starting-point (6) |
EMBRYO – ME(the writer) reversed, then Y(year) inside BRO(brother, relative) | |
14 | A few men returned bearing British headgear (8) |
SOMBRERO – SOME(a few), the OR(soldiers, men) reversed, containing BR(British) | |
17 | Cheers enveloping half of them in passing (2,3,3) |
BY THE BYE – BYE BYE(cheers) containing half of THem | |
18 | Large amount brought back by very good shooter (6) |
PISTOL – LOTS(large amount) reversed after PI(very good) | |
20 | Free to fail, securing nothing (5) |
LOOSE – LOSE(to fail) containing O(nothing) | |
22 | Encouraging discovery, this cure I developed (9) |
HEURISTIC – anagram of THIS,CURE,I | |
24 | Hire arrangement involving bill? It is roughly about property (14) |
CHARACTERISTIC – CHARTER(hire arrangement) containing AC(bill), then an anagram of IT,IS, then C(roughly) | |
25 | Vessels? Pour water into area, accommodating collection (8) |
FLOTILLA – FILL(pour water into), A(area) containing LOT(collection) | |
26 | King and Ace encapsulating power and fate (5) |
KARMA – K(king) and A(ace) containing ARM(power) |
Down | |
1 | One appearing to race to embrace corporation up in suburbia? (8,4) |
COMMUTER BELT – COMER(one appearing), BELT(race) containing TUM(corporation) reversed | |
2 | Getting here requires a few flights — starts on awfully tense trip in chopper (5) |
ATTIC – first letters of Awfully Tense Trip In Chopper | |
3 | Writing about cathedral beginning to tempt convert (9) |
PROSELYTE – PROSE(writing) containing ELY(cathedral) and the first letter of Tempt | |
4 | Thousand supporting America in the French location in Africa (6) |
LUSAKA – K(thousand) after USA(America) inside LA(the in French). Capital of Zambia | |
5 | Support doctor over operation in wider context (8) |
BACKDROP – BACK(support), DR(doctor) and OP(operation) | |
6 | Henry’s first English Queen picked up something of a colourful character (5) |
HENNA – first letter of Henry, then ANNE(English queen) reversed. I was wondering if this was meant to be the unit Henry (H) and that ANNE might have been the first queen, but it doesnt appear Anne was the first queen. Works any way. | |
7 | Steer badly, having awful consequences at the outset in fog (9) |
MISDIRECT – DIRE(awful) and the first letter of Consequences inside MIST(fog) | |
9 | Rather unusual oldish companies around University getting answer (1,6,5) |
I SHOULD COCOA – anagram of OLDISH, then CO and CO(companies) surrounding U(university), then A(answer) | |
13 | Appear as left-winger with following of not quite 50 per cent engagement (9) |
BETROTHAL – BE(appear as), TROT(left-winger) then most of HALf (50 per cent) | |
15 | Security I provided to Scottish town jurisdiction (9) |
BAILIWICK – BAIL(security), I then WICK(Scottish town) | |
16 | Untrue story I tell is curtailed, interrupted by sign of drunkenness (8) |
MYTHICAL – the story I tell is MY TALE. Remove the last letter, and insert HIC(sign of drunkenness) | |
19 | Potassium in European waste material: I found it (6) |
EUREKA – K(chemical formula for potassium) inside E(Eurpoean), UREA(waste material) | |
21 | Seabird’s cry in Aberdeen, repeated character to the fore (5) |
EGRET – GREET(cry in Aberdeen) with one of the two E’s moving to the front. GREET makes regular appearances in Mephisto, less common in the daily puzzle | |
23 | Teacher rejected elevating component of education? About time (5) |
TUTOR – OUT(rejected) reversed, then R(one of the three R’s of education) surrounding T(time) |
Edited at 2021-08-05 02:45 am (UTC)
Also, like Kevin I was saved by many a biff. The biffs giveth, and the biffs taketh away.
Edited at 2021-08-05 02:41 am (UTC)
COD to flotilla, should have been easy but needed all crossers.
I’m not sure it works but I haven’t found another explanation. I had always thought it was an expression of disbelief rather than agreement -a variation on ‘Would you Adam and Eve it?’
Edited at 2021-08-05 06:33 am (UTC)
I had heard it but never suspected it was CRS. If it was real CRS it should be “I should coffee” which sounds terrible.
Andyf
My previous finding was trawled from the internet so not necessarily trustworthy, but I have now found this entry in Chambers Dictionary of Slang which I am inclined to treat as a very reliable source:
coffee and cocoa [rhy. sl.] [1930s+] say so, usu. as ‘I should cocoa’ below…
‘I should cocoa’ (also ‘I should coco’) [1930s+] you must be joking, don’t make me laugh [esp. popular in BBC Radio’s ‘Billy Cotton Band Show’ in the 1950s].
The last point accounts for my familiarity with it. I can just hear old Billy saying it.
Edited at 2021-08-05 10:41 am (UTC)
Thanks, George, for the helpful blog and I hope you survived Care Bears 2 – I’m thankful to say I’ve not seen it.
BTW, I think you have a missing C in your parsing of MISDIRECT. I had DIRE = awful, C = consequences at the outset, all in MIST.
I was surprised to see the crossing of heuristic and eureka, since they are basically the same Greek word.
LA Boheme.
Why is American guy BO?
informal US
Used as a friendly form of address.
Origin
Early 19th century perhaps an abbreviated form of boy.
I like LUSAKA for its use of USA rather than the more common US or AM, which held me up for a while.
I know the parsing doesn’t quite work, but I took ‘Henry’s first English queen picked up’ to be a reference to ANNE Boleyn.
The Heuristic, Characteristic, Sombrero, I should cocoa took the time. Don’t know why.
Nice one.
Thanks setter and G.
To report that we have an EGRET
So try as I might
I cannot PROSELYTE
Our setters are bird-lovers yet
George, do think your friend may be deliberately punishing you for ignoring them and doing the crossword instead?
Nice puzzle; steady solve. Thanks, g.
I never parsed TUTOR or MYTHICAL, which I initially thought would be ‘myth’ (story) + ‘I’ + ‘cal’ (tell (call) curtailed)… though of course that left no room for the rest of the clue. Even when I saw the ‘hic’ as a sign of drunkenness I still didn’t figure it out. Doesn’t matter I suppose. Thanks to the blogger and the setter.
FOI Clamp
LOI Lusaka
COD Sombrero
But if you study the logistics
And heuristics of the mystics
You will find that their minds rarely move in a line
So it’s much more realistic
To abandon such ballistics
And resign to be trapped on a leaf in the vine….
A very catchy song!
Another one here who started with BY THE WAY.
Thank you for FLOTILLA, TUTOR and EGRET, George, but I regard an Egret as a wading bird rather than a seabird.
FOI: ATTIC
LOI: FLOTILLA
COD to I SHOULD COCOA and MYTHICAL.
Thank you, George.
Didn’t know about Scots use of “greet”, but it had to be EGRET
Didn’t know or solve BAILIWICK
Didn’t solve KARMA (which the above made easy)
Realised COCOA was one of the very few words fitting C_C__, didn’t know the phrase or trust my wordplay interpretation enough.
Anyway, quite close to a finish, even for a SNITCH rating of 97 – so I’m happy to be heading in the right direction. Thanks George, setter, and everyone who posts here.
I agree that an EGRET is a type of heron, not a seabird.
Thanks george and setter, all together now: “Care Bears care a lot….”
Some of you may have Supertramp’s I SHOULD COCOa in your vinyl collection: I have persistent memories of Peter Sellers using the phrase in his Willium “Mate” Cobblers voice (think “Any Old Iron”) but I can’t find an example.
MYTHICAL is not necessarily untrue, of course, but I’ll let the setter off. Took me a while to parse, trying to untangle the myth story from the hic drunken bit.
I’m with astro nowt on CB2, the movie, George. The only reason I would ever think of putting it on would be as a hint that my guest should leave.
COD CHARACTERISTIC
Thanks to George and the setter
I mostly know the word HEURISTIC as a noun from reading Daniel Kahneman’s wonderful Thinking Fast and Slow. A book everyone should read.
Today was unusual for me in that my regular check at the end of the solve actually uncovered a mistake: I had typed CHARACTERSITIC. More often than not when I do have a mistake I fail to spot it, so I sometimes wonder why I bother.
6d must logically refer to Anne (Stuart). I was going to object on the grounds that she was queen of Great Britain and Ireland, but I see on checking that that title came in with the Act of Union, and that previously she was queen of England, Scotland and Ireland. Anyway, I think it likely that in a few years the present mob will revert to being monarchs of England and Wales.
Anyway, we’e splitting hairs.
I always picture Del Boy saying I SHOULD COCOA, but it doesn’t come up much in everyday life.
Loi MYTHICAL after filling in the BYE realising that the relevant half of THEM was not the EM. Totally misunderstood what was going on with MYTHICAL thinking “I tell is curtailed” was I CAL(L) and that the definition was to do with drunkenness. Probably shouldn’t be admitting that …😀
Thanks Setter and George
Thanks
FOI CLAMP
LOI MYTHICAL
COD MOTION SICKNESS
TIME 8:36
Parsed after the fact: COMMUTER BELT, I SHOULD COCOA.
Enjoyable though.
Liked 7 d “misdirect” but COD “I should cocoa” of which enough has been said already.
Somehow, expecting a stinker tomorrow!
Thanks to George for his blog in trying circumstances and to setter. and
LOI “Mythical”.
I am another who would not describe an Egret as a seabird. We would see them regularly on the nearby watermeadows (Itchen Valley) but haven’t seen one this year.