Times 28204 – rise and rinse

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time taken: 10:32.

Spent a few minutes near the end trying to figure out if my last few entries were actually words, but it turned out I could trust the wordplay, which is a good thing! I looked up a number of definitions afterwards.

There is a particularly sneaky trap at 24 down which I fell into and held up the bottom half for a while, wonder if I was the only one?

Postscript: I originally had 1 across parsed as EAST, WARD, ‘S and changed it after a comment. I think it works either way. I also had no idea there were four entities possibly known as Inns that held court at court, the only one that seems to pop up in crosswords often is Gray’s.

Away we go…

Across
1 Maybe wing of hospital is facing the early sun (9)
EASTWARDS – a wing of a hospital could be the EAST WARDS
6 Quarrel about right fish (5)
SPRAT – SPAT(quarrel) surrounding R(right)
9 Two people taking month for construction in Italy (5)
DUOMO – DUO(two people) and MO(month)
10 Physicist holding out to get Rutherford’s head designer (9)
COUTURIER – Marie or Pierre CURIE(physicist) surrounding OUT, then the first letter of Rutherford
11 Popular jazz style introducing a prelude (7)
INTRADA – IN(popular), TRAD(jazz style), A
12 Terminated agent having taken a lot in (7)
OVERFED – OVER(terminated), FED(agent)
13 Inn may have done this ordering a red table-cloth (6,2,3,3)
CALLED TO THE BAR – anagram of A,RED,TABLE-CLOTH. Referring to Gray’s Inn
17 Tense and concise statement of Pollyanna’s views? (7,7)
PRESENT PERFECT – double definition, the second more cryptic
21 Scenery material overturned — the cause of Hamlet’s death (7)
LAERTES – SET(scenery) and REAL(material) all reversed. Hope you brushed up on your Shakespeare
23 What’s bad for PC behaviour? Pray we and society reform (7)
SPYWARE – anagram of PRAY,WE and S(society)
25 Joys people mostly somehow got in casual wear (6,3)
SLOPPY JOE – anagram of JOYS and PEOPLE missing the last letter. Here it is an unappealing dish, but Collins confirms the definition
26 A day in the last month of age (5)
ADULT – A, D(day) and ULT is the last month
27 Reliable? It doesn’t start, impaired by neglect (5)
RUSTY – TRUSTY(reliable) missing the first letter
28 Large bottle’s risk after spicy dish? Finish off both (9)
BALTHAZAR – HAZARD(risk) and BALTI(spicy dish) both missing the last letters
Down
1 Uncanny, the Spanish doctor suppressing skin irritation (8)
ELDRITCH – EL(the in Spanish), DR(doctor), on top of ITCH(skin irritation)
2 Rabbit taking vegetable — not rabbit’s first (5)
SPOUT – SPROUT(vegetable) missing the first letter in Rabbit
3 Herb goes courting, embracing David North (4,5)
WOOD AVENS – WOOS(goes courting) containing DAVE(David) and N(North). Got this from wordplay
4 Are singers in Queen film to get back in Top Twenty? (7)
RECHART – CHAR(are singers, as in singe something) inside R(queen), ET(film)
5 Bar quite regularly brought in offer to buy a round (4,3)
SHUT OUT – alternating letters in qUiTe inside SHOUT(offer to buy a round of drinks)
6 Thus regularly take to cook in marinade (5)
SOUSE – SO(thus), USE(regularly take)
7 Control plane over top of errant balloon again (9)
REINFLATE – REIN(control), FLAT(plane) and the first letter of Errant
8 Angry speech one used in exchange (6)
TIRADE – I(one) in TRADE(exchange)
14 Nature of theft is so unclear, unfortunately (9)
LARCENOUS – anagram of SO,UNCLEAR
15 One’s sent off for this description of Aquae Sulis? (5,4)
EARLY BATH – double definition – Aquae Sulis being the Roman name for the city of Bath. This was essentially a guess, it made sense that the Latin name would be early something to do with water. I didn’t know the football term for getting sent off.
16 Witness a time trial with stripped-down Ford (8)
ATTESTOR – A, T(time), TEST(trial) and the middle letters of fORd
18 Sweetheart’s in resetting bones for some cosmetic surgery (4,3)
NOSE JOB – JO(sweetheart) inside an anagram of BONES
19 Solo dance is out of fashion you feel at the end (3,4)
PAS SEUL – PASSE(out of fashion) and the last letters of yoU feeL
20 More immediate Conservative failure (6)
CLOSER – C(conservative), LOSER(me, usually)
22 Ends with boy finally drunk (5)
TIPSY – TIPS(ends) and the last letter of boY
24 Italian region mostly down by river is humming (5)
ABUZZ – the Italian region is ABRUZZO – remove the last letter and R(river). I had ASTI,R for a long time.

101 comments on “Times 28204 – rise and rinse”

  2. No I never got the singers either, nearly put RECHANT but it didn’t make any sense.
    NHO WOOD AVENS. Last one was SOUSE, where I assumed the regularly meant either TU from thus or AE from take. My assumption was wrong!
  3. I’ve had that dream too Pootle. In one I couldn’t make any of the pens or pencils work and in another I was in my nightgown and desperately trying to hide in a corner.
  4. Not tempted by “astir” because I recalled the Lear limerick about the blind man of th’Abruzzi who couldn’t his foot see. I’ve heard of someone being sent to the showers in baseball so EARLY BATH wasn’t too much of a stretch. Had a long think about SOUSE over “saute”. It recalled for me an old Spoonerish story about a reporter calling someone a prominent “white horse souse” (instead of White House source). 22.23
  5. 35m here so relatively speedy, with some unknowns worked out from the wordplay. Like others I hesitated over SAUTE for too long and wasn’t convinced by how I got to ABUZZ either. Didn’t see a problem with ATTESTOR so that was a beartrap avoided too. Thank you blogger and setter today. Much appreciated.
  6. I don’t think 17AC is intended as a double definition, unless I’m missing something. It’s just TENSE for PRESENT and CONCISE for PERFECT. “Statement of Polyanna’s views” is then the sole defn.
    1. I don’t think that works, as “statement of Polyanna’s views” is not a dictionary definition, however “tense” is the dictionary definition.
  7. I found this much harder than many of the other commenters. Having succeeded with the NHO wood avens, intrada and eldritch (which vaguely rang a bell) and completed the whole of the bottom half, I couldn’t see 4dn, 6 dn (neither sauce nor sauté would parse), 10 ac or 12 ac. I was on the right lines for 10ac but didn’t see the simple trick of inserting ‘out’. Char from singers was new to me. Have to try to remember that one.

    Thanks to the setter and to our blogger for explaining the mysteries.

  8. 26. Seemed trickier at the time than looking back. No issues but a few guesses including INTRADA and WOOD AVENS.
  10. Felt easier than yesterday but it’s a higher snitch. Had to guess Avens, and narrowly avoided Rechant and Psyware. Loved Aquae Sulis.
  11. 20.41. Good to get a score on the board today and a decent time for a tricky puzzle where a few unknowns (intrada, wood avens, sweetheart Jo and the non-edible sloppy Joe) had me picking my way carefully round a grid where I found the way to be steep and thorny rather than the primrose path of dalliance.
  12. Some interesting words today. I have only ever heard the term “Sloppy Joe” in Australia — describing a sweatshirt/hoodie type garment — I’ve never heard it in the UK.
    1. The day after the 1975 Australian election that saw Libs/Fraser beat Labour/Whitlam, the (Pickering) cartoon in the Australian had Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke (Trade Unions supremo) sitting against the wall the worse for wear after the wake.
      What are you going to do, Gough? asked Bob.
      I think I’ll return to The Bar, said Gough, the lawyer.
      I’ll walk with you, said Bob, at the time an alcoholic.
  13. I completely blew the North East sector by shoving in SAUTÉ. The COUTURIER was quite beyond me! And I jacktt it in!

    FOI 1dn ELDRITCH

    (LOI) 4dn RECHART

    COD 3dn WOOD AVENS

    WOD 28ac BALTHAZAR

    Mood Meldrewvian.

  14. ‘Pollyana’ derives from the novel from the name of the child heroine in the novel Pollyanna, 1913, by the American writer Eleanor Hodgman Porter (1868 NH – 1920 Cambridge Mass.) Sadly, as a child, I was addicted! She is my WOD. COD Sloppy Joe.
  15. Finished at 8:30 and been out all day since, so late to the party. Everything has basically been said. I did like EARLY BATH known more through rugby than soccer. I used to wear a SLOPPY JOE when I was 14. Yoiks.

    Our setter was clearly TIPSY possibly SOUSE(D) and definitely ABUZZ having been CALLED TO THE BAR to fetch his BALTHAZAR of Champagne.

    Thanks to said setter and Mr Heard.

  16. 18:57 LOI an unparsed RECHART after SPOUT. Ah that singing! Nice one. As for SLOPPY JOE, I only knew of it vaguely as some American food. I was a bit slow getting going, but eventually tuned in. COD to CALLED TO THE BAR. Thanks George and setter.
    1. Not my favourite clue, but it’s actually ‘are singers’ = CHAR as George indicated in his blog.
  18. Not helped by putting westwards as first one in duh! And don’t forget Lincoln’s Inn too.
  19. A few minutes at the end on RECHART even with all the checkers

    I live in Bath and love football so EARLY BATH was a write-in, and with a smile. Nice clue, as was the very clever CALLED TO THE BAR anagram

    ELDRITCH recalled from previous puzzles

    Thanks George and setter

  20. An hour and a half, but very enjoyable, though slow going. Somehow nothing came to mind immediately, but fortunately everything did upon long reflection.

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