Times 28,193: Come-To-Bed Hs

Author   VerlainePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
No complaints about the Fridayishness of this. Lots of interesting words containing many Scrabble letters (though the puzzle is a nongram, for lack of an X), and a lot of clues requiring careful unteasing of double meanings and other cryptic jiggery-pokery before confident entry became possible.

I liked everything (though the unusual forename at 18ac had a slight whiff of “argh nothing else will fit in this spot, I guess it’ll do”) but my favourite was definitely the exceptionally meta 7dn.

Also it’s very attractive indeed that after obeying several subliminal injunctions to hit the sack contained within the clues, it is also possible to catch a well above average number of Zs during it. Primo stuff from the setter – thank you sir!

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

Across
1 Call judge, indeed, a conceited fellow (8)
POPINJAY – POP IN [call] + J(udge) + AY! [indeed!]
5 Note shortage of coffee in much of Europe: familiar experience? (4,2)
DEJA VU – D [note] + JAV{a} in E.U.
10 Do reasonably well trained Omega-1 staff do ok? (4,1,4,4,2)
MAKE A GOOD FIST OF – (OMEGA-I STAFF DO OK*)
11 Kind of permit blocked by regressive German veto (7)
LENIENT – LET [permit] “blocked by” reversed NEIN!
12 Female appearing in court is subdued (7)
QUASHED – SHE in QUAD
13 Some backing spectacular bet, revealing a bit of backbone (8)
VERTEBRA – hidden reversed in {spectacul}AR BET REV{ealing}
15 Are deprived of brief sanctuary (5)
HAVEN – HAVE N{o}
18 Fellow about to interrupt performance (5)
GREIG – RE in GIG
20 Having abseiled, curiously they’re slow to rise (3-5)
LIE-ABEDS – (ABSEILED*)
23 Prize given by leading organiser? (7)
PALMTOP – PALM [prize] by TOP [leading]
25 Go with style round course with sharp double bends (7)
PIZZAZZ – PIZZA [round course] with two Z bends
26 Popular stand-in making a minister revolt (15)
INSUBORDINATION – IN SUB ORDINATION [popular | stand-in | making a minister]
27 Oddly overlooked, unheard, US dean and poet (6)
NERUDA – {u}N{h}E{a}R{d} U{s} D{e}A{n}
28 Try to take too much leave that’s on offer at Christmas? (8)
GOODWILL – GO [try] + O.D. [take too much] + WILL [leave, as a bequest]
Down
1 Spotted hint at bottom of page (6)
PIMPLY – IMPLY [hint] beneath P(age)
2 Get set to rest feet after exercising family dog (9)
PEKINGESE – GE{t} SE{t} after P.E. KIN
3 Most mean, accommodating some seeds, to fit in another (7)
NEAREST – NEST [to fit in another, as in nesting tables] “accommodating” EAR [some seeds, e.g. of corn]
4 Going on to settle, following apprehension initially (5)
AFOOT – FOOT [to settle, as in a bill], following A{pprehension}
6 Passing comment in English, opening with a measure of acidity (7)
EPITAPH – E(nglish) + PIT + A pH
7 What’s dropped from hand, and the result (5)
AITCH – If you drop the aitch from HAND, AND, quite literally, is the result
8 When shot, find a gun fast! (8)
UNFADING – (FIND A GUN*). As in dye
9 Fair article, compared with its last at much higher level (8)
ADEQUATE – A [article] + EQUATED, moving its last letter to the very top
14 Rough plonk had after dance (4,4)
BALL PARK – PARK [plonk, as in plonk yourself down on a seat] after BALL [dance]
16 On ITV, a kid mixed cocktail (9)
VODKATINI – (ON ITV A KID*)
17 For one, a pity to confuse new and ancient language (8)
EGYPTIAN – E.G. + (A PITY*) + N(ew)
19 Was honoured daughter to retire? (2,2,3)
GO TO BED – GOT O.B.E. + D
21 Excitement on the way, chasing a bird (7)
BUZZARD – BUZZ, on RD “chasing” A
22 Missing segments, each removed from flower to seize on (6)
AZONAL – AZAL{ea} “seizing” ON
24 Runner-up maybe less tense after conceding round (5)
LOSER – LO{o}SER
25 One in pair leading second (5)
PRIMO – I, inside PR “leading” MO, &lit

74 comments on “Times 28,193: Come-To-Bed Hs”

  1. Slow but fair. Couldn’t get PALMTOP. Liked PIZZAZZ among much else. Had never heard of GREIG as a forename but the cryptic was generous enough.
  2. Another very nice puzzle and pretty tough. So I was pleased to complete the journey unscathed in less than 30 mins.

    COD: AITCH.

  4. Made a bit of a mess on the left hand side (EGLANTIN — EG plus N mixed up with LATIN) initially, and bunging in a hasty CHICANE for the course with double bends caused some upset too.

    Could have done with the long one at 10ac, but walking around, I didn’t have a pen and paper to write down the anag — got there eventually.

    Don’t really understand NEAREST = Most Mean — any ideas?

    PALMTOP last in after some thought — I too used to have a Palm Pilot — great little machine.

    1. To be near is to be tight-fisted — mean. My Yorkshire grandmother used this expression as did my mother but that was back in the day, Doncaster way.
  5. This was a puzzle with much Pizzazz and most regulars getting hung up on Greig. I offer up Dr. Louis Leisler Greig playing at Wimbledon, back in 1926, with his partner KGVI – way before he ascended the throne. Hewlett-Packard’s 1994 Palmtop was superseded by the smartphone. My COD Haitch, my WOD Lie-abeds and Nearest was indeed my LOI.

    Edited at 2022-01-21 04:23 pm (UTC)

  6. I have no beef with Greig — it was very clearly clued and it’s no more unusual than many of the “a woman” or “a girl” names we take without complaint.

    I didn’t think the brand-name Palm had ever made it to generic status, and I would have thought either two words or a hyphen if it had. My views are influenced by putting in Palmtip for a sole pink square.

    Thanks setter for a very nice Friday, and you too RR for putting him or her up to it.

      1. Palm was definitely a company; it make the Palm Pilot which is definitely a brand name.

        I’d personally never heard either the Palm Pilot or it’s generic kin referred to as palmtops or palm-tops or palm tops, only as PDAs (Personal Digital Assisstants)

        1. Snap. And I owned one, as I already mentioned. I got there by association with laptop but I also didn’t think of tip.
    2. …and I read here, “Greig is a surname and given name. The surname is of Scottish origin and is derived from a shortened form of the personal name Gregory and Greg.” Came right up. But I’d surely never seen it as a surname ere this.

      Edited at 2022-01-21 06:03 pm (UTC)

      1. It’s also in all the dictionaries. It’s possible that I did hear the term at the time but I don’t remember it. As Paul says above it was always PDA.
  7. 56.12. A fiendish puzzle, the solving of which featured a lot of me staring blankly at the largely empty grid, me scratching my head nonplussed and me swearing under my breath.

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