Times 28215 – boom boom.

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
As a Q, an X and a Z appeared quite quickly, I was thinking this might be a pangram, but I can’t see a J, so it isn’t. I romped through it in 15 minutes with no particular delays, only a MER at the spelling of our lazy pantomime lad. Not much here to 12a you, but fun to do.

Across
1 Medicine’s short — not a good time for hajj (10)
PILGRIMAGE – PIL(L), then a GRIM AGE would be ‘not a good time for’.
6 Tribal group determined to seize power (4)
SEPT – SET (determined) has P inserted. A SEPT is a clan or branch of a family. Given S*P* and the word play it was gettable if you didn’t know the word meaning. I’d seen it before.
8 Organisational reason to take one’s temperature (8)
LOGISTIC – LOGIC (reason) has I’S T inserted.
9 Squadron, say, drops one veteran without number (6)
UNTOLD – UNIT = squadron, remove the I > UNT, OLD = veteran.
10 Second person no longer still ignores Grand Hotel (4)
THOU – THOUGH = still, remove the G H for Grand Hotel.
11 Pay corps to recruit a foreign judge (10)
REMUNERATE – REME (army corps abbr.) insert UN (a foreign) add RATE = judge.
12 Fool bishop with pre-noon tipple, swigging litres (9)
BAMBOOZLE – B for bishop. A.M. BOOZE for morning tipple, insert L for litres.
14 South Island’s diving aid (5)
SCUBA – S for South, CUBA an island. Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.
17 Celebrate former superior officer (5)
EXULT – EX (former) U (superior) LT (lieutenant). I had EXALT in mind at first but couldn’t explain the ‘superior’. And exalt doesn;t mean celebrate.
19 Like good guy arresting city mugger (9)
ASSAILANT – AS (like) SAINT (good guy) insert LA (city).
22 Spoil bouncer, one in his 70s? (4,6)
BABY BOOMER – BABY = spoil, BOUNCER = boomer, as in kangaroo. Me, for example.
23 Keen lapwing drops it, heading west (4)
WEEP – lapwings are also called PEEWITs. Drop the IT and reverse PEEW.
24 Second fee securing Republican’s easy victory (6)
STROLL – S, TOLL (fee) insert R.
25 Ignorant individual blocks new reduced trail (8)
NESCIENT – NE – NEW reduced; SCENT = trail, insert I = one, individual.
26 Commie wrong to have moved to the left (4)
TROT – TORT = wrong, reversed -> TROT.
27 Panto dame’s son and why his ways are deviant (5-5)
WISHY-WASHY – (WHY HIS WAYS)*. He is Widow Twanky’s elder son in Aladdin, and so Aladdin’s brother; I’d have spelt him WISHEE WASHEE but I expect this is equally acceptable.
Down
1 Raised a drink, something taken at restaurant in Nice (9)
PALATABLE – A LAP (a drink) is reversed, then take a TABLE. No French needed.
2 What first-class fare gets the foreign newly-wed (7)
LEGROOM – LE (the foreign) GROOM (newly-wed).
3 Stylish Hilary for one maintains business link? (8)
INTERCOM – IN (stylish) TERM (Hilary for one, of three at Oxford, but apparently not Cambridge), insert CO (business).
4 Current tributes inspiring small hospital’s skills (15)
ACCOMPLISHMENTS – AC (current) COMPLIMENTS (tributes) insert S H.
5 Perhaps a grey English fruit lacks carbon (6)
EQUINE – E (English) QUINCE (fruit) drop the C for carbon.
6 Dean’s works are so absurdly racialist (9)
SATIRICAL – (RACIALIST)*. As in Dean Jonathan Swift.
7 Sprain muscle going about tango opener (4,3)
PULL TAB – PULL = sprain, AB = muscle, insert T for tango.
13 Notice Yankee attack butter (5,4)
BILLY GOAT – BILL (notice) Y for Yankee, GO AT = attack.
15 Dislike a pint drunk at Hackney Arms (9)
ANTIPATHY – (A PINT)*, AT, H Y where H Y are the ‘arms’ i.e. ends of Hackney.
16 Vestry typically holds object of worship husband left (8)
SACRISTY – SAY (typically, for example) insert CHRIST with the H removed.
18 Kiss player possessing fine special quality (1,6)
X FACTOR – X = kiss, ACTOR = player, insert F for fine.
20 Evergreen duchess’s elegance pointed up somewhat (7)
AGELESS – hidden reversed as above.
21 Current going round Circle Line track (6)
FOLLOW – FLOW (current) insert O (circle) L (line).

65 comments on “Times 28215 – boom boom.”

  1. Currently standing atop the leaderboard, which was worth a screenshot, I thought.

    Not difficult till I got down to the SACRISTY/NESCIENT interchange, which required a bit of thinking.

    1. Ditto. 28 minutes for all but those two, then another 14 to finish them off. Not sure I knew NESCIENT. (Later edit: On checking I note it has come up only once before, in a puzzle I blogged in 2016, and I didn’t know it then either).

      Edited at 2022-02-16 06:56 am (UTC)

  2. Put in EXALT. [ON EDIT:] Looking at the SNITCH, and then at the club forum, I would appear to be in good company. NHO WISHY-WASHY (or Widow Twanky) but assumed it was a panto character. Cambridge doesn’t have a Hilary Term. At THOU, I think you want to extend the underline to include ‘no longer. COD to LOGISTIC.

    Edited at 2022-02-16 01:19 am (UTC)

    1. You are correct, kevin, I had assumed wrongly that the university in the fens followed the proper one in this respect. I’ll edit.
  3. 35 minutes. A much gentler one than yesterday. Enjoyed the ‘bishop with pre-noon tipple’ and the ‘Nice’ misdirection at 1d. The question mark at 22a means the setter is excused, but ‘one in his 70’s?’ for BABY BOOMER. Not yet I’m not, … quite.

    You’ve stolen my thunder, ulaca. For one brief shining moment I was at the top of the Crossword Club leaderboard. My reaction was exactly the same as yours. I took a screenshot to preserve my few minutes of fame for posterity. When I had a look again, there you were at the top and I was down in the pack. Sic transit gloria.

    1. I disagree, exalt means to praise or raise in power, exult means celebrate, in my dictionaries.
        1. On reflection I think I agree with you Lou – it’s definitely arguable. I wasn’t an accomplished chorister like JohnInterred but I happened to land on the “correct” EXULT thanks to Bach’s Magnificat which has an aria that begins “et exultavit (spiritus meus)”. It’s quite a nasty little trap here.
      2. Celebrate means praise, so EXALT seemed a perfectly good answer to me. This of course required me not to check the wordplay. I’d like to claim A for superior but if I did my heart wouldn’t be in it. Fortunately I failed to finish anyway so avoided a pink square by dint of broader incompetence!

        Edited at 2022-02-16 11:03 am (UTC)

    2. I’m with you. I suspect it depends on whether you thought of exalt first as the answer or exult. If as I did you biff exalt it’s easy to persuade yourself that it’s correct then move on an not revisit. Ditto if you think of exult first. I agree though that exult perfectly fits the answer whereas exalt only imperfectly fits it. Ambiguous though.
      1. Sympathy .. I wrote in exalt originally, but thought better of it and changed it to exult, which does fit better imo ..
  5. Another to traipse through feeling relief after yesterday, until the sacristy/nescient crossers. Went away and came back later to get them.
    1 ac and all its checked down words straight in, including 3 dn the obvious INCOTERM. Fortunately LOGISTIC was as obvious and 3 was easily fixed. I note that INCOTERMS is not in any dictionaries, which surprises me, though I see it’s a Registered® Trademark.
    NHO Wishy Washy in panto, SEPT seen but forgotten, no other troubles. Thanks setter and blogger.
  6. Bumped you out of the leaderboard medals now Ulaca, but I don’t think my bronze position will last for long.
    Slow at the end by SACRISTY/NESCIENT, until I saw ‘scent’ as ‘trail’ but persisted in thinking INNOCENT would fit the definition ‘ignorant’ until sacristy forced a rethink.
    23:03

  7. Every other week, Tuesday is a long work day, and this week I have to do these things at my desk until the ink arrives. But I couldn’t leave this till later after the wonderful clue for SATIRICAL.

    I had no idea about the pantomime character, but with some crossers the anagram was clear. Didn’t know REME either.

    I had EXALT first too, though I didn’t know what ALT would’ve meant there.

    Edited at 2022-02-16 05:20 am (UTC)

  8. …but I join the exalted EXALT group, because I biffed it without properly parsing the clue.
    Thank you, Pip, for UNTOLD, ‘Hackney Arms’ and BOOMER.
    My excuse for not knowing that BOOMER = kangaroo, despite having lived in Sydney for 20 years, is that I never saw any bounding down King Street in Newtown or Pitt Street in the city.
    COD: INTERCOM.
    PS: Born in 1947 so I am definitely a BB. My NZ driving licence expires on my 75th birthday and I’m told I have to see my GP to undergo a test to qualify for a new one.

    Edited at 2022-02-16 07:05 am (UTC)

    1. I am a 1949 BB — and as I only drive in UK these days even that has to come to an end,
      as apparently Hertz & Avis do not rent to anyone who has reached their 72nd birthday.

      Perhaps I will have to follow Randy Newman and buy a freekin’ Lexus, next time I’m back in Blighty…whenever that might be!

      I forgot to mention that yesterday, I hid behind the sofa!

      Edited at 2022-02-16 07:36 am (UTC)

      1. Gosh! Didn’t know that about Hertz/Avis! Unsure if I’ll ever get to visit the UK again but good to know.
        You hid behind the sofa? Was that because yesterday’s cryptic was reportable to the UN as an Instrument of Torture?
  9. With Wishy-Washy making an early appearance at 27ac I’m now expecting Cinders, Buttons, and Jack to be with us before Easter.
    Our American cousins have been spared the horrors of the English Pantomime Season. I never wish to see another! However, my WOD as I believe the great George Formby played him as well as the uke.

    FOI 5ac SEPT which was a gimme!

    LOI 25ac NESCIENT which wasn’t!

    COD 5dn EQUINE — I’m a big quince/membrillo fan

    My time was around 45 minutes as I was called away for an early luncheon as ‘er indoors was going outdoors this afternoon. Yes, we’re still 8 hours ahead!

    My twin brother is ten minutes older than me, but every year for the last twenty-five, I celebrate my birthday first, eight hours ahead. I shall only inherit the earth!

    1. …but some ‘Murcans like pantos! When we last lived in England, an American teacher friend of ours, resident in Sicily, made a special trip to see us, specifically to see a panto!
  10. Pretty easy until the SACRISTRY/NESCIENT bit, my last two in. Also got distracted at 1D by assuming that something taken at a restaurant in Nice was LA TABLE and then not seeing quite how the clue worked. Before I realized it wasn’t something saying we needed to use a bit of French.
  11. Oh, weep for Adonais! though our tears
    Thaw not the frost which binds so dear a head!

    15 mins pre-brekker, so very gentle.
    I liked Bamboozle, I raised an eyebrow at Hackney ‘Arms’, and I guessed it would be Ult rather than Alt.
    NHO Nescient, probably because I am.
    Thanks setter and Pip.

  12. A STROLL in the park this was not
    In fact it was more of a TROT
    A bit WISHY WASHY
    But no ANTIPATHY
    It did not BAMBOOZLE a lot
  13. 23 minutes with LOI PULL TAB after I finally ventured the unknown SEPT. COD to LEGROOM for the lovely surface although it was a write-in. Turning left when boarding a long-haul flight was perhaps the greatest privilege in my business career. I was born just after the war finished in 1945, and we were always called BABY BOOMERs at school, but statisticians don’t start the category now until 1946. I’m apparently from the silent generation. I’ll shut up then, having said thank you to Pip and setter.
  15. This felt like a decent challenge for me – first pass told me it would require significant work, though I soon found the bottom half filling in nicely (but not completely). A bit tougher up top, and I was late to get the 15-char 4d. Spent quite a while before deciding SEPT was a reasonable bet, and had no idea whatsoever of “Hilary” = TERM.

    By 37m I was left with the SACRISTY / NESCIENT crossing – never got there for the double-NHO. Then found EXALT was also incorrect, hastily biffed without suffi9cient diligence. Thanks Pip and setter

  16. No match for the HKV today, well played that man.

    I know the word SACRISTY well from all the time Mum spent keeping our local one in order. But just realised I’ve never seen it written down, and for some reason always assumed it was spelled SACRESTY. So I saw it quite early but had no hope of parsing it until the penny dropped right at the end. Not knowing NESCIENT didn’t exactly help either.

    Put me down as a BB, but more Baby than Boomer, a child of the 60’s.

    Thanks Pip and setter.

  17. Add me to the EXALT crowd. It’s one of those where if you get it, you can’t see a reason to change it, and while I’ll allow EXULT is the “right answer”, VAR will have a hard time deciding whether or not it’s a penalty.
    Otherwise another fine puzzle, taking 17.23. I particularly like the not-French-for-once Nice, and the GRIM AGE.
  18. I had all the parts for my LOI, NESCIENT, but struggled to put them together to come up with this unknown word. I thought we’d seen WISHY WASHY recently, but I can’t find evidence of that so maybe it was in a Listener. It always makes me think of the Wishy Washy Laundromat where Dolly Parton met her long time husband.
    Glad to see my generation represented here — Generation X (FACTOR).
  19. 47 mins but… stuck on the crossing of NESCIENT and SACRISTY. Looked up the former, then got the latter. Boo-hoo. SEPT also unknown but biffed.

    At least back to some normality after yesterday’s stinker. Back to being locked out of LJ every day. What a bore.

    Thanks Pip and setter.

  20. I broke into this at 10a with THOU, then postulated that 17a started with EX, and popped in the X-FACTOR. ULT came along eventually and I’m glad ALT didn’t occur to me. The rest of the SW soon FOLLOWed, and WISHY WASHY gave me a good start in the SE. PALATABLE made me rethink my biffed NUMBSKULL. LEGROOM got me moving in the NW and PILGRIMAGE provided ACCOMPLISHMENTS and EQUINE. UNTOLD was LOI. 23:38. Thanks setter and Pip.
  21. How curious, John Dun: my LOI was your FOI! Somehow the clue read oddly to me and it took me too long to parse. PILGRIMAGE striaght in (what else could a hajj be?) and biffed ACCOMPLISHMENTS once I had a few checkers. NHO SEPT, though wdp generous, and had a few goes at writing the correct letters of NESCIENT. Entertaining, and a sight easier than yesterday. Thanks all round.
  22. 39:56 but I had to look up LOI NESCIENT. DNK SEPT or that a BOOMER is a kangaroo, but hurdled them successfully. I see I am an early baby boomer (December 1946). I liked BAMBOOZLE and BILLY GOAT
  23. Nice puzzle, with a very tempting elephant trap which I avoided, listening to that voice in my head which reminds you that if you can’t parse an answer, consider the possibility it might be wrong. I think perhaps it was because I got the answer before the L was in place, so I considered EXTOL, briefly wondered if there was such a word as EXOIC etc., which helped remove the temptation for an over-hasty biff.
    1. I had EXTOL initially too. It’s quite impressively sloppy to put in a wrong answer through lack of attention to wordplay, and then ‘correct’ it by doing exactly the same thing again.
  24. Found this quite tricky, with the NESCIENT/SACRISTY interchange holding me up for some time and then getting thrown NICEly off the scent by 1 down

    I’m a Boomer thought I don’t feel I’ve ever really boomed. Never too late, I suppose. Might try a muffled roar after this evening’s apero.

    Thanks to Pip and the setter.

  25. And I thought it was referring to our very own Dean Mayer…. I didn’t separate the superior from the officer, so EXULT was biffed assuming some meaning of ULT I didn’t know.
    Enjoyed that!
  27. Held up for a couple of minutes at the end because I just couldn’t see how THOU worked. SACRISTY nicked from Simenon because Maigret was an altar boy in his youth. 17.11
  28. SACRISTY / NESCIENT was what held me up for ages at the end, as the latter didn’t ring a bell – it was only when I wrote it in that the former leapt out. As a Christian (and the son of a retired vicar) I suppose I should have had an advantage on that one.

    Sadly I don’t have any close relatives in the armed forces, so the abbreviations always trip me up there, and I went for EXALT. 13m 03s with that error.

  29. A crossword that was I think easier than I made it, with 59 minutes. I had EXALT at first, but stupidly didn’t split ALT up and thought that it quite possibly referred to a superior officer, with its suggestion of ‘high’. Was very unconfident with boomer = bouncer, but thought that BABY BOOMER had to be right.
  30. DNF. I had all but two answers in very quickly – about seven minutes – but after another ten I couldn’t crack those pesky two. I considered SCENT for ‘track’, but couldn’t construct a word I knew from the remaining wordplay. Annoying because NESCIENT is pretty obviously derived from the Latin for ‘not knowing’ so I feel I should have got it. I don’t think I’d ever have considered SAY for ‘typically’ and had no idea what a SACRISTY was (or indeed a vestry, although I’d guess it’s where the vicar keeps his vests) so that one was close to impossible for me. Ah well, I’m certainly not going to try and mount a case that either word is obscure, and it would have been to no avail anyway because I had EXALT.
    I ninja-turtled SEPT from Game of Thrones.

    Edited at 2022-02-16 11:21 am (UTC)

    1. GoT bit apart, I could have written every word of the above.

      Spooky! (Except that it’s not).

  31. I wouldn’t describe today’s as easy, but in comparison to yesterday’s…
    FOI ‘Pilgrimage’
    LOI ‘Sacristy’ – what held me up there was ‘assailant’. I’m so used to seeing the ‘holy man/good guy/etc.’ as St or just S, that I spent quite a long time trying to work out why ‘Ailan’ could mean ‘city’ before the penny dropped.
    COD ‘Bamboozle’
    I didn’t come unstuck at 17ac, even though my first thought was ‘extol’. Both the other options occurred to me and I decided the ‘u’ was by far the best fit.
    Time 13:15.
    Thanks Pip and Setter
    PS not all of us are boomers…
  32. …an EXALT here (which I would have thought perfectly reasonable) so one pinkie.

    No probs with SACRISTY — that’s what it was called, rather than a vestry, in the church near where I grew up.

    Nice grid which revealed its secrets gradually with nothing too ridiculously hard.

  33. 18.42. A little bit of working out required for me over the equine / untold and sacristy / nescient crossers, plus trusting the word play to get to sept but a far gentler and more enjoyable solve than yesterday’s. My Pavlovian response to superior was U so I didn’t even think of exalt.
  35. I’m still squinting at SAY = TYPICAL, but the answer was clear. And I’m really glad to have met the “arms” trick in a simple clue. I made a mental note for when it comes back in something more convoluted. I was Exalt. Alas.
    1. It’s actually ‘typically’ rather than ‘typical’ which I think makes all the difference. We’re used to seeing ‘say’ meaning ‘for example’ in clues when setters employ a definition by example, and ‘typically’ might be used to fulfil the same purpose.
      1. I dunno, jack. I’m fine with SAY = EG = FOR EXAMPLE, but I don’t see any of those really being equivalent to TYPICALLY
  36. ….those last two answers took me practically a quarter of my time.

    FOI SEPT
    LOI NESCIENT
    COD BAMBOOZLE
    TIME 13:07

  37. 50 minutes, but an EXALTed DNF. Otherwise quite a delightful puzzle. When I was born, more explosive things than babies were booming, but fortunately nowhere near me.

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