Times 29111 – ill met and proud

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

52:34

I never got a foothold in any quarter, so flitted around the grid until getting 9ac on the second pass opened things up a bit. Solid, and quite difficult, so I was happy to finish all green despite initially resenting the effort required.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Drop male conservative in disgrace (7)
MODICUM – M (male) then C (conservative) contained by ODIUM (disgrace).
5 Summit briefly going into recess brings calm (7)
APPEASE – PEAk (summit) minus the last letter (briefly), contained by APSE (recess, in a church).
9 Hard financial promises introduced by political party ignoring unions initially (9)
LABORIOUS – IOUS (financial promises) after (introduced by) LABOuR (political party) minus the ‘u’ (first letter of unions).
10 Fish egg’s first to hatch (5)
SHADE – SHAD (fish) + first of Egg. Hatch, as in cross with pencil lines.
11 Exercise machine that could get boring (5)
DRILL – cryptic hint / double definition.
12 Observer of speech by Taoiseach possibly clinging to power in Ireland (3-6)
LIP-READER – LEADER (Taoiseach, possibly) containing (clinging to) all of P (power) inside IR (Ireland).
13 Staff appreciate this band appearing in fundraiser for further education (6,7)
FRINGE BENEFIT – RING (band) contained by FE BENEFIT (fundraiser for further education).
17 Subordinate who fails to meet binding targets? (13)
UNDERSTRAPPER – cryptic hint, one who ‘straps’ less than expected. This had crossed my mind as a possibility that fit the checkers, but have never heard of this word, so it went in with a shrug.
21 Key figure in report of Nessie apparently (9)
LOCKSMITH – sounds like “loch’s myth” (Nessie apparently).
24 Abdicate, wanting son to be king? (5)
REIGN – REsIGN (abdicate) minus (wanting) ‘s’ (son). Wonderful stuff.
25 Several men who serve general purpose (5)
TENOR – TEN (several) + OR (men who serve).
26 Harry essentially severed connections with English (9)
PERSECUTE – PER SE (essentially) + CUT (severed connections) + E (English).
27 Leader of Parliament set about stopping corruption and dissent (7)
PROTEST – first of Parliament + anagram of (about) SET, all containing (stopping) ROT (corruption).
28 Extremely stubborn Democrat snubbed public support (7)
DOUREST – D (democrat) + nearly all of (snubbed) OUt (public) + REST (support). Not the first definition of ‘dour’ that came to my mind, but it’s the first in Chambers.
Down
1 Prime minister getting a grip on adolescent disorder (6)
MALADY – MAY (Teresa, former PM) containing LAD (adolescent).
2 Gathered information about campaign from lawyer involved in Act (9)
DEBRIEFED – BRIEF (lawyer) contained by DEED (act).
3 Innate evil shown up in man behind bars (7)
CORELLI – CORE (innate) then ILL (evil) reversed. Italian composer, nice definition.
4 According to Spooner, fool could take on another role (9)
MOONLIGHT – spoonerism of “loon might” (fool could).
5 First in series of affectations upset teller of tales (5)
AESOP – POSE A (first in series of poses, affectations) reversed.
6 Idiot put up flyer in Bay Area? (7)
PASTERN – SAP (idiot) reversed, then TERN (flyer). Part of the lower limb of a horse (Bay Area?) equivalent to the fingers/toes of other mammals.
7 Publicity campaign plugs gift (5)
AWARD – AD (publicity) containing WAR (campaign).
8 Deplore what determines senior manager’s salary (8)
EXECRATE – EXEC RATE (what determines senior manager’s salary).
14 Graduate admitting agitated state talked nonsense (9)
BLATHERED – BED (B.Ed, graduate in education) containing LATHER (agitated state). I spent too long anagramming ‘state’.
15 Home runs must be set up in subsequent fixtures? (9)
FURNITURE – IN (home) + R (runs) all reversed (set up) and contained by FUTURE (subsequent).
16 Period where one might find training difficult? (4,4)
FULL STOP – I think this cryptic hint refers to a weight-lifting move which requires more than the usual amount of effort. Thanks Ulaca (see comments); one might find it difficult to board a train at a full (or crowded) stop (or station).
18 Group of potential soldiers in detachment (7)
RESERVE – double definition.
19 Standard approach exposed vulgar new arrival (7)
PARVENU – PAR (standard) + aVENUe (approach) without the first and last letters (exposed).
20 Take in group from failing establishment (6)
INGEST – hidden in failING ESTablishment.
22 Pious platitudes on love in some poet’s work (5)
CANTO – CANT (pious platitudes) on O (love). Medieval poetic form.
23 University dons involved with part that’s used in programme (5)
INPUT – U (university) contained by (dons) IN (involved with) and PT (part).

72 comments on “Times 29111 – ill met and proud”

  1. DNF for me as I was totally convinced 16dn just had to be RUSH HOUR. Although I returned to it I couldn’t think of an alternative, so the sw corner looked a little bare. Perhaps it would have helped if I got LOCKSMITH but I didn’t.

  2. DNF. Christmas, bah humbug. I found this « trés » 9ac. 16d would have been a great clue for RAIL STRIKE, sadly it wasn’t.

    Well done William and thanks.

  3. 34’20”
    Very testing going, fortunate to get a clear run, stayed on gamely.

    Having dabbled in pen and wash and studied countless yearlings with Grandpa George, HATCH and PASTERN didn’t pose any problems. I’m sure I’ve seen an understrapper in a grid before, but that may be going back to the early 90s. Also, de-TRAIN rang a bell, possibly from a novel; it sounds like something that might have appeared in military orders in the 40s.
    I thought my Nitch of ninety-four might get me somewhere near the frame but couldn’t believe the Snitch. The Italian came to mind quickly as Radio 3 have played his Christmas Concerto at least three times in the last fortnight.
    Many thanks to William and the setter for a great challenge that happened to fall within my ken.

  4. DNF, naturally. Way above my pay grade but much enjoyed and lots of learning. MOONLIGHT made me smile (one of the few I did get!). Many thanks for the blog.

  5. 60.28, and grateful to have no pink squares. Somehow, I had all the required vocabulary, but it took a lot of time and effort to extract it from my aging memory.Tough, but ultimately very satisfying.

  6. This took me ages and I still don’t understand ‘dourest’! I put it in because it had to be the answer, but why ‘snubbed’? Does that simply indicate the missing ‘t’ in ‘out’?

    1. The fifth (and final) definition of “snub” in Chambers is “to cut or break short”, so it’s telling you to cut the last letter

  7. Well, I very much enjoyed all the clever parsing and defining when Wm’s fine blog showed me the answers I hadn’t been able to get. And there were quite a few more of those than just Pastern and Dourest.

  8. Started last night when tired, only got a smattering of clues. This morning solved CORELLI from the cryptic, then PASTERN from the cryptic – bay area, indeed. Then SHADE went straight in, and I realised what a fiendish puzzle it was. FULL STOP not parsed, but otherwise loved it (not being a Scottish-speaker).

  9. Failed on PASTERN, putting in POSTERN, without understanding quite why, but NHO the former. Also SHADE, which I would have got if I’d thought of the correct sense of hatch. I did end up with DOUREST, as the only alternative I could think of, but like many, do not equate it with stubborn, just gloomy or overcast. Glad to see I’m in good company.

  10. 34.11 in two bites. The second proceeding rather more quickly. Didn’t know pastern but assumed it related to horses. That made shade much easier on realising the hatch wasn’t as in incubate or plan. Liked moonlight, not particularly difficult but it just appealed.

    Thx setter and blogger

  11. DNF, too tricky for me. Writing RUSH HoUR for FULL STOP held me back.

    Pastern is the word which Samuel Johnson defined incorrectly in his Dictionary. When asked why, he replied, “Ignorance, pure ignorance”.

  12. I got there in the end. About 45 minutes. With reservations about DOUREST.
    I got CORELLI quite easily because “evil” in the clue made me think “Devil”. Then I saw “bars” which is a frequent link to a musical answer. One of Corelli’s best known compositions is “The Devil’s Trill Sonata”. So thinking of him even before I parsed the clue properly…. Now I’m wondering if the reference to evil/devil was intended or whether it was just a happy coincidence.

  13. I had to sleep on this overnight – Shade and Pastern came to me at about 3 in the morning. So no recorded time but it would be very long.
    Two clues I did like – Modicum and Execrate.
    Four clues I didn’t like – Input, Tenor, Dourest, Full Stop.

  15. done sunday. v tough, but got there in 57’23”. admit i had to doublecheck PASTERN. many thanks.

  16. DNF as resorted to aids for the fish and bird.
    MER at reserve as “potential “ soldiers, here they are soldiers serving part time.
    Thanks for a good workout setter, and appreciation for the blog, especially the explanation of full stop.

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