Times 28,157: Quaerere Verum, Ire XC Milia Passuum Occidens

Now this is the stuff! A really good Friday puzzle I thought, despite one piece of wilful obscurity – you know I’m usually all for wilful obscurity in everything, but one must draw the line at 7dn, and its inclusion of a little known university that even after much Googling I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of before. I jest of course. The two clues in the third row were my FOI and SOI, and 6dn crossing it my LOI as I saw it must be a fish and bunged it in unparsed like the hell-for-leather seat-of-the-pants solver I am.

I really liked: 15ac “being in the sun”; the “behind parking place” in 26ac; “was overpromoted in East End” at 16dn; 22dn and 23dn (so relevant to my interests); WOD to the lovely UMPTEENTH and COD to 21ac which was brilliant construction and also provoked fond memories of boozing it up under the aegis of Shane MacGowan on the Archway Road. A great puzzle with tons of things in it to enjoy, sadly to be my last when a petition from Fenland alumni outraged at my Oxonian cheek makes it untenable for vinyl1 to keep me on the (pay-free) payroll.

Definitions underlined, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Express plugs the most popular acts? (12)
SHOWSTOPPERS – SHOW [express] + STOPPERS [plugs]
9 Spaniard possibly with choice of exits? (5)
DIEGO – DIE and GO are two ways to “exit”. FOI
10 University disco due to move to shed? (9)
DECIDUOUS – (U DISCO DUE*). MER at the definition, but “deciduous teeth” are “teeth to shed” I guess
11 One at centre of singing group often affected by criticism (8)
CAMPFIRE – CAMP [affected] by FIRE [criticism]
12 UN chap in need of broadcasting corporation (6)
PAUNCH – (UN CHAP*). Corporation as in tum
13 Works to defend queries again? (8)
REDOUBTS – or RE-DOUBTS
15 Being in the sun before noon, and time around it (4-2)
AMEN-RA – A.M. [before noon] + ERA [time] around N(oon)
17 Doctor accepting criticism with a sort of spirit (6)
GRAPPA – G.P. accepting RAP with A
18 Party night in German province (8)
CONNACHT – CON(servative) NACHT [German for “night”] to get this Irish province
20 Masseur, one with several pairs of hands? (6)
RUBBER – or you have several hands of cards in a bridge rubber
21 Mistake, second bachelor turning to lass for dance (8)
BOOGALOO – BOO{b->GAL}OO
24 Moving little ceremony’s ending with celebrity touring garden (9)
SEDENTARY – {ceremon}Y, with STAR “touring” EDEN
25 I finished with an advantage (3-2)
ONE-UP – ONE [I] + UP [finished]
26 Behind parking place, see grassy area? (12)
CHESTERFIELD – CHESTER has a cathedral (in which I was regularly, though not enthusiastically, to be found during my teenage years) and is thus presumably an episcopal see; plus FIELD [grassy area]. A place for parking one’s behind
Down
1 Wolf chewed stuff up, with observer standing around (7)
SEDUCER – reversed CUD in the middle of SEER
2 Never do move Derby Day, somehow (4,2,4,4)
OVER MY DEAD BODY – (DO MOVE DERBY DAY*)
3 Make fun disc of flower shows (5)
SCOFF – hidden in {di}SC OF F{lower}
4 Stubborn, he died earlier than expected crossing desert (8)
OBDURATE – OB [short for “obiit”, he died], before DUE [expected] “crossing” RAT [desert, militarily]
5 Still time for old northerner (4)
PICT – PIC [still (image)] + T
6 Fish, after swallowing maiden, left people alone mostly (3,6)
RED SALMON – REDS [left people] + ALON{e}, “swallowing” M
7 Drinking with army officer on ecstasy in part of Cambridge (7,7)
DOWNING COLLEGE – DOWNING [drinking] + COL{onel} + LEG [on] + E(cstasy)
8 Since Thursday yours truly’s laid up — with this? (6)
ASTHMA – AS [since] + TH(ursday) + AM [yours truly is] reversed, semi-&lit. Not 100% sure that “yours truly’s” should be cluing AM as opposed to I AM, but it’s a charming clue anyway
14 Latest of many met up, then dispersed (9)
UMPTEENTH – (MET UP THEN*)
16 Emblem, behold, was overpromoted in East End? (8)
LOGOTYPE – LO! [behold!] + GOT ‘YPE
17 Loud flipping kid I order to be quiet (6)
GARISH – reversed RAG [kid] + I + SH! [be quiet!]
19 Marched from military store, rounding men up (7)
TROOPED – DEPOT “rounding” O.R., the whole reversed
22 Sound, perhaps, if no longer fancy? (2,3)
GO OFF – clever double def. As in “the alarm went off” and “I’ve really gone off her since I discovered she went to Downing College”
23 Yet fail with quiz question? (4)
PASS – cryptic def. “Pass” is the opposite of “fail”, but a pass is a failure to answer a quiz question, as I know from bitter experience dozens of times a week

65 comments on “Times 28,157: Quaerere Verum, Ire XC Milia Passuum Occidens”

….and only when I grudgingly biffed GO OFF (thanks V !) did I manage to alpha-trawl my LOI.

I particularly liked CAMPFIRE and SEDENTARY, but my COD was a LOL when the PDM finally arrived.

FOI PAUNCH
LOI BOOGALOO
COD CHESTERFIELD
TIME 15:09

Phew. I’m glad I left that until after a late breakfast! SCOFF and DIEGO were first 2 in. ASTHMA and ????-RA were next, and AMEN arrived later from wordplay and RED SALMON which I biffed. CAMPFIRE, REDOUBTS and UMPTEENTH held me up for ages until they arrived like buses in a moment of inspiration. OVER MY DEAD BODY was very helpful, and allowed me to get SEDENTARY quite quickly, with a postulated EDEN for the garden. The SE caused me most trouble. I managed to parse the DOWNING and COL bit of 7d, but the rest of the college was biffed. My smattering of German helped with the unexpected spelling of CONNACHT. TROOPED and GO OFF provided the grassy bit of CHESTERFIELD(brilliant!) and a hesitant PASS, together with an alphabet trawl for the C, provided the, er, see. LOGOTYPE eventually surfaced and allowed me to get LOI, BOOGALOO. 53:05. Thanks setter and V.

That was a tester.

CHESTERFIELD the winner for me.

45:58

great stuff indeed, @Verlaine, and always worth a pop at that university in the village in the fens. If you are fired, I shall be too.
About 35 minutes of pleasure at leisure, and had to check AMEN-RA after a hopeful entry from the wordplay. Didn’t know AMEN and RA became one.

Connacht is closer to the Irish language name and therefore more often seen in Ireland, as I remember, but Connaught is also allowed.

PASS was clever, but the Behind parking place got my vote for CoD.

After my first spell looking at this, I had solved 12ac, paunch, and 8dn, asthma, but was convinced asthma must be wrong for the reasons everyone else has stated.
Had another go later which took me up to 45 minutes with less than half completed. This was feeling like I had stepped back several years in solving terms.
Settled down before cooking supper to have one more go, at which point the delightful chesterfield swam into view. That somehow got me onto the wavelength which enabled me to get close to a finish. Did not see boogaloo or campfire. Missed the hidden in 3dn because I was looking for something much more complicated like all the other clues.
In many of the clues, having the answer enabled the wordplay to be understood. I thought it was supposed to be the other way round!
It’s been a tough week. Let’s hope the setters are gentler with us until the holidays.
Thanks to the setter for a tough and original puzzle and to Verlaine for his explanations (and put downs of Fenland College).

A bit late I know, but I have just finished this without aids. LOI was PASS. POI was CHESTERFIELD -another vote for COD.
Lots of good stuff; worth the effort.
David

Completed in exactly an hour, lots to chew on in this. With a bit of dedication I did manage everything except for 26ac and 23, 16, and 22 down, for which I had NO ideas at all until I finally so that GO OFF would fit 22. Then LOGOTYPE (excellent clue!) and PASS followed, well, not too slowly and I finally biffed Chesterfield. Lots of super clues such as the ones for REDOUBTS, DIEGO and others. And yes, I love the word UMPTEENTH, too.

47.16. Very tough. I enjoyed the same nice touches as others but there was much torment along the way.

With SHOWSTOPPERS, this puzzle was class
There weRE DOUBTS that my solving would PASS
At my time, you would SCOFF
So I’m about to GO OFF
And kick my OBDURATE brain up the arse

Just getting around to Thursday and Friday’s puzzles as I’ve just finished my exams. Really lovely puzzle, and am indebted to Verlaine for helping me parse CHESTERFIELD.

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