Times 28739 – hath the brightest day a cloud

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

53:00 and counting.

An early SNITCH rating of 93. I still cannot fathom 10ac…

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Oriole initially on kind of perch is a singer (5)
BASSO – first of Oriole on BASS (kind of perch).
4 Do up judge’s clothing close to late autumn period (8)
RENOVATE – RATE (judge) containing the last of latE and NOV (autumn period).
8 Rightists twice holding wild rave where music’s played (14)
CONSERVATORIES – CONS + TORIES (rightists twice) containing an anagram of RAVE.
10 Most brilliant flower boxes just the ticket (9)
BRIGHTEST – BEST around RIGHT, where flower is neither a plant nor a river, but means the pick or the elite.
11 Large duck wanting day in den on river (5)
LODGE -L (large) and dODGE (duck) without the ‘d’ (day).
12 The King drunkenly speaking made-up words (6)
ELVISH – sounds like a slurred version of (drunkenly speaking) “Elvis” (the king).
14 Maybe slip on this jacket of beautiful jewels plugged by a fashion label (5,3)
BLACK ICE – outermost letters of BeautifuL + ICE (jewels) containing A and CK (fashion label).
17 Bug with a thousand and three feet circling holy ground up north (8)
KIRKYARD – IRK (bug) contained by K (a thousand) and YARD (three feet).
18 Lime mixed with G&T or lime mixed with gin (6)
GIMLET -anagram of LIME + G+T.
20 Easy to take in water? It gets knocked back (5)
NAIVE – EVIAN (water) reversed.
22 Crack team at sea makes decisive act on board (9)
CHECKMATE – CHECK (crack, see Guy’s comment) + an anagram of TEAM.
24 Discerning detectives tailed felon with money (£1000) (14)
DISCRIMINATING – DIS (detectives) + CRIMINAl (felon) + TIN (money) + G (a grand, £1000).
25 Not becoming popular, Anglicans beset by depression (8)
INDECENT – IN (popular) + CE (anglicans) contained by DENT (depression).
26 Belief which might come from the Left or the Right? (5)
TENET – palindromic belief.
Down
1 Very tough crook’s outside robbery filling sack (12)
BACKBREAKING – outermost letters from CrooK + BREAK IN (robbery), all contained by BAG (sack).
2 Where tablets were taken, stopping pains in ailments (5)
SINAI -hidden in painS IN AIlment.
3 In public, suffers from unknown rash (9)
OVERHASTY – HAS (suffers from) contained by OVERT (public), then Y (unknown).
4 Troops contend with formal inspection (6)
REVIEW – RE (troops) + VIE (contend) + W (with).
5 Tacky products banned completely? Don’t mention it (3,2,3)
NOT AT ALL – NO TAT (tacky products banned) + ALL (completely).
6 Like some complaints ubiquitous on the internet (5)
VIRAL – double definition.
7 Ornament packaging made badly? It’s tedious work (9)
TREADMILL – TRILL (ornament) containing an anagram of MADE.
9 Sestet with score in triplicate making this record (7-5)
SEVENTY-EIGHT – 6 (sestet) + 20 (score), multiplied by 3 (in triplicate) = 78.
13 Red cat follows e.g. rats up until noon? (9)
VERMILION – LION (cat), after VERMIn (e.g. rats) up to the letter ‘n’ (noon).
15 Get on well with one in club offering enticement (9)
CLICKBAIT – CLICK (get on well) + I (one) in BAT (club).
16 Rehearse eulogy that must inspire court (8)
PRACTISE – PRAISE (eulogy) containing CT (court).
19 Paint great work, filling in outline from Dubuffet (6)
DEPICT -EPIC (great work) contained by the outermost letters from DubuffeT.
21 Part of the theory of relativity, for the radio presenter (5)
EMCEE – part of the equation E=MC^2 (theory of relativity).
23 1970s film frame from Altman — absorbing fiction (5)
ALIEN – outermost letters from AltmaN containing LIE (fiction).

101 comments on “Times 28739 – hath the brightest day a cloud”

  1. 26:08
    Good puzzle. A reasonably steady solve although I took Crack = Check on trust and needed William to explain LODGE.
    COD SEVENTY- EIGHT.

    Thanks to William and the setter and best of luck to all taking part tomorrow.

  2. Another fairly tough one, but easier than yesterday’s. I plodded through in 50 minutes. For a long time I had gaps on the left-hand side, but BACKBREAKING opened up everything, and I almost raced home to the finish. A final change from VIRUS to VIRAL gave me LODGE.

  3. 27:54

    Steady solve with some question marks along the way:

    B(RIGHT)EST – didn’t get the flower reference at the time
    CHECKMATE – pencilled in from the start but the crack = CHECK was extremely random (judging by the number of solvers that didn’t get it)
    CLICKBAIT – LOI – clue could have done with an indicator that this was internetty – never heard of it in any other context

    COD to ELVISH with BLACK ICE a close second.

    Thanks William and setter

  4. 12:40
    NOT AT ALL a BACKBREAKING lead-up to the Championship.
    LOI RENOVATE
    LOL ELVISH (echoing the Kirsty MacColl joke in Terry Pratchett’s ‘Soul Music’, which features a boy working down the fish shop who swears he’s Elvish).

  5. I forgot to say: Good luck to all taking part in the Championship tomorrow. I’ll raise a glass to those of you at the George from my Somerset lodgings (or more likely some other establishment serving suitable beverages)!

  6. 33 mins. KIRKYARD held me up at the end, looking for the wrong literal. Love the Pratchett ref, John.

  7. Late to the party today but I saw this one off in about 25 minutes.

    When I first started solving the 15×15 I used to dread Fridays as I’d inevitably grind to a halt with the ink in my pen untroubled. They still have a psychological hold over me, and whilst solving this relatively easy one I was waiting for the sting in the tail.

    Thankfully this one posed no problems, with no unknowns and with all clues parsed except for 9D.

    A nice mix of clues and an enjoyable solve so thanks to the setter, and to the blogger for the number crunching.

  8. 18.30 with LOI kirkyard. I thought it might be a sports venue at first. Glad I didn’t persevere along that route. Is practise the American spelling? No objection if it is, us Brits get plenty of home grown clues.

    No major issues so thanks setter and bloggger.

    1. My dentist practises at a dental practice. This is the usual British English spelling: c if it’s a noun, s if it’s a verb. Nothing to do with the USA, where they say what the hell and spell all of them with an s. No doubt in due course we will also, makes more sense.

  9. Dad was a teacher and must have helped many to pass English ‘O’ Level with his “‘C’ for C_ommon nouns” (i.e. not verbs), together with his other aide memoires….Hope this helps!

  10. Not bad for a Friday. NAIVE LOI – may be chestnut, but I don’t think I’ve seen it.

    23:54

  11. A bit surprised the check/crack obscurity is so widely accepted with a slight shrug at the most. To be literally on the page but very widely off it in general practice or knowledge is not what’s wanted for a good crossword I’d have thought, which otherwise this is if on the easy side.

      1. I get the point, but wouldn’t a more sharply-angled clue be preferable to justification by dictionary rules of an easily guessable answer? I’m no clue-setter but something on the lines of, say -‘Obstruct an officer is the absolute end!’ – ?

    2. Much as I agree with you, you won’t get very far with that argument on here. The crossword seems designed these days only for those who have access to a full complement of dictionaries. And everyone seems to lap it up-although as an aside, quite what standing Merriam-Webster has in the UK, is a continuing subject of bemusement to me.

      A far far cry from the days when it should have been possible to complete the crossword on the daily commute, without having to pack a weighty dictionary into one’s briefcase.

      Ironically on the subject of dictionaries, I’m still wondering why nobody else hasn’t used one to point out that a bass isn’t a type of perch. One lives in hope. . .

      2. All of the usual source dictionaries (Collins, ODE/COED/SOED and Chambers) have entries supporting bass as a type of perch. It seems a little unlikely they would all be wrong, but if they are it’s not the setter’s fault.

  12. 26’50”
    Dwelt at the start, quickened home straight, stayed on well.
    All justified bar crack = check. I am still baffled; Collins (v) to crack or cause to crack … but what, and in what context ? Perhaps it is in the context of the cracked veneer.
    I’m very chuffed with four double digit Witches on the trot, today’s pleasingly matching the gramophone record; long players, EPs and singles being near impossible pipedreams.
    I’ll be keeping all digits crossed for all of you here in tomorrow’s classic getting a clear run.
    Thank you William and setter for a very enjoyable puzzle.

    1. Exactly the same definition given by Keriothe above is also no. 31 (not exactly the top of the hit parade!) in Dictionary.com: “a small crack, as one in veneer or one that occurs in timber during seasoning.” So veneer and timber are two contexts.
      But in another listing there it’s 42: “a small crack: There were several checks in the paint.,” which would be another.
      And 43 is “an egg, designated for market, having a slightly cracked shell and an intact inner membrane.”

  14. Only just finished as I have had a busy day. No one has mentioned it but robbery does not equal break-in if we want to be fussy. A robbery has to involve violence or the threat of violence to a person, which a break-in seldom does. ‘Theft’ or just ‘crime’ might have been better

  15. I liked it. Plus I was pleased with myself for backing in to two of them through whatever we call completely mis-reading the clue but having the mis-reading get to the right answer. Goofy parsing. (The two didn’t include Checkmate, which I got the correct way, check or no check).

    And good luck to all TftFs tomorrow – I hope you all finish in the top 10.

  16. Better late than never, I thought this was a tidy puzzle and although I failed to parse BEST and CHECK they seem fair to me. I presume the adjective CHECKED (as in patterned with small squares) derives from this meaning. Maybe “part of the theory of relativity” was a bit weak. Thanks for the blog.

  17. Yet another in the increasing number of crossies that look so obscure to me at first that I lose hope and the result is obvious…
    Looked blindly about for a “toe-in” but ended up cheating for my first! (Needed to get started – just proves the dispiriting effect is devastating !). When I eventually got underway, not too bad: I was aware of what I was looking for in 1a (another name for perch + 0 = singer), but was looking for the wrong kind of perch! And so forth…the sorry saga continued. Started to enjoy it eventually (especially ELVISH and NAIVE), but have to admit to 11 look-ups out of 27 answers. Maybe I need to lower my expectations 😩

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