Times 28,283: Sorted for E’s and Pot

Author   VerlainePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

I liked this a lot, with its very correct quotas of interesting vocabulary, artsy GK, and humorous constructions. COD to 12ac as the idea of a boatload of Father Christmases very much appealed. Thank you setter!

Done and dusted inside of 10 minutes; video evidence at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1476097154, from the 10 minute mark. Please excuse the increasingly wild and straggly beard, I’ve lost the power cord for my trimmer.

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

Across
1 Health ought not to be taken wholly for granted (8)
ALTHOUGH – {he}ALTH OUGH{t}, “not to be taken wholly”
5 Exercise in order to be cheerful? (4-2)
CHIN-UP – double def; if you tell someone “chin up!” you are ordering them to be cheerful
10 Going places, free at last? (5)
LOOSE – LOOS [places for “going”] + {fre}E, &lit
11 Post articles, including place for Creole dish (9)
JAMBALAYA – JAMB [post] + A and A “including” LAY [place]
12 Old naval commander’s spoken of Christmas holiday at sea? (5,4)
SANTA CRUZ – homophone of the delightful concept that is a SANTA CRUISE
13 Raffles maybe run once in newspaper, going back (5)
THIEF – HIE [run, once] in reversed FT. Raffles was E.W. Hornung’s gentlemanly literary cracksman.
14 Passage ancient poet largely avoided in recitation (7)
OVIDUCT – OVI{d} + homophone of DUCKED
16 A necessity to be originally called a dame (4-2)
NEED-BE – NEE [originally called] + DBE [Dame Commander]
19 Little plastic models (6)
SELDOM – (MODELS*)
21 Australian peach brandy factory employee? (7)
BOTTLER – a bottler is an excellent fellow, or suchlike, Down Under; and an important job in a brandy factory
23 More trouble as head’s dismissed (5)
OTHER – {b}OTHER
25 With cold, not on various drugs: drink from this (9)
COFFEEPOT – with C(old), OFF [not on] + E, E and POT
27 Conflict that was ended by The Sun (3,3,3)
SIX DAY WAR – began on Mon June 5, 1967, and was all over by the Sun (June 11).
28 Mammal’s four limbs it oddly passed over (5)
ORIBI – {f}O{u}R {l}I{m}B{s} I{t}
29 People moving, and people opposing, keeping bats caged (6)
NOMADS – NO’S [people opposing] “caging” MAD [bats]
30 For diversion, try C-list celebrity show (8)
STRICTLY – (TRY C-LIST*)
Down
1 Every American satellite passing over Pole, it’s implied (8)
ALLUSION – ALL U.S. IO [satellite of Jupiter] + N [pole]
2 Old player that you’d not want in your side finally vetoed by president (9)
THORNDIKE – THORN [that you’d not want in your side] + {vetoe}D + IKE.  Sybil, with whom in mind for the title role George Bernard Shaw wrote Saint Joan.
3 East Ender perhaps who aspires to appear on a musical show (5)
OPERA – ‘OPER [Cockney unaspirated aspirant]  on A
4 Asian state prison turning over an informer (7)
GUJARAT – reversed JUG + A RAT
6 Sign of life in bather swimming before lunch? (9)
HEARTBEAT – (BATHER*) before EAT
7 Outlet for soldier’s natural aggression, as fighting is, primarily (5)
NAAFI – N{atural} A{ggression} A{s} F{ighting} I{s}
8 Irrational: a very loud English Trot going nowhere! (6)
PIAFFE – PI: A FF E. On-the-spot dressage move
9 Long-distance runner to stagger after cutting leg (6)
AMAZON – AMAZ{e} + ON [leg]
15 Evidently give not enough away, being so secretive? (9)
UNDERHAND – if you under-hand out something, you don’t give enough away
17 Writer’s function and aim (9)
BALLPOINT – BALL [(social) function] + POINT [aim]
18 Yankee repairman quietly turning over deck (8)
PRETTIFY -Y FITTER P, all reversed
20 Parrots raising racket across wide area (6)
MACAWS – reversed SCAM “across” W A
21 Motion’s opponents won’t face rebuke (2,3,2)
BE FOR IT – and the opponents of a motion will be against, not “for” it
22 Continue to hoard old pennies and shillings for favoured child (6)
GODSON – GO ON, “hoarding” D S [as in LSD, pounds shillings pence]
24 Dickensian scavenger, he lifted as much as possible? (5)
HEXAM – HE + reversed MAX. Appears in Our Mutual Friend, right in chapter 1, messing about in boats on the Thames
26 Cause of complaint from lycée? Endless one (1,4)
E COLI – ÉCOL{e} + I

55 comments on “Times 28,283: Sorted for E’s and Pot”

  1. 60 minutes. I was a bit irritated by the larger than usual number of clues where the answer was a more-or-less unknown word: JAMBAYALA, SANTA CRUZ (which I thought was a place; I can’t see the link with the naval commander), PIAFFE, HEXAM, BOTTLER in that sense, so one only had one way of getting the answer. But they were largely clued with unequivocal wordplay.

    CHIN-UP = exercise? Why?

    1. Like push-ups and sit-ups ,chin-ups are a common workout routine exercise. I remember it from PE class in school and I know I’ve seen it in army movies showing basic training. You stand under a horizontal metal rod and pull yourself up till chin is above bar. If you come down all the way to ground and push off with your legs for the next one that’s cheating- your arms have to do all the work!
    3. Wilransome, Who is your avatar? Looks very familiar.

      Edited at 2022-05-06 06:51 pm (UTC)

      1. Me, many years ago. Unless you were around in 1970 the familiarity may be a coincidence.
      2. My ‘theory’ is that wilransome is the spitting image of Eddie Redmayne in ‘The Theory of Everything’. Or was in 1970. In fact I actually wondered if that was a still from the film until he ‘fessed up. Maybe that’s who you were thinking of?

        Edited at 2022-05-07 08:25 am (UTC)

  2. Good stuff, 45 minutes sluggish after golf, had to get HEXAM and PIAFFE from wordplay only. Nice to see an antelope, and liked the SANTA CRUISE idea. BOTTLER was a guess from worker in booze factory, never heard of that Aussie expression.
    1. I lived in Sydney for 15 years in total but never heard the term BOTTLER. No-one I knew used it.
      1. I would say only used in one sense, an exclamation of joy when something good happens: “You little bottler!” So rarely heard – maybe Bill Lawry on the cricket commentary going OTT, as was his wont.
  3. Twenty minutes for me; not often I approach the “2 Verlaines” mark. I’m solving at the end of a nice week off in Cornwall, and in the afternoon rather than the morning, so perhaps my brain has had more of a chance to warm up than normal… Or maybe listening to a few hours of Jeeves & Wooster in the car on the way home put me in the right frame of mind!
  4. 35.43. I thought this was a terrific puzzle. Really stretched the little grey cells. Bravo setter!
  5. Well, I finally finished! Hurray!
    Couldn’t parse NEED-BE; took ages to see BE FOR IT as a version of what I’ve always heard, “be in for it”; was thinking “brandy factory” should probably be split… and didn’t know the Aussie expression; didn’t know the navy bloke, or the Dickens character either. But joining the consensus that the wordplay was all fair and helpful.
  6. 24.57 achieved late on after a very boozy golf day. Hic.

    DNK Hexam or piaffe and wasn’t totally convinced I was right with need be . Thx for the explanation. Time for zzzs.

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