Times 29155 – In C Major?

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Time: 23:45

Music: Prokofiev, Symphony #6, Previn/LAPO

This one was not too bad, and I got through most of it fairly quickly before getting stuck at the end.    It was all the seaside towns that got me, and I wouldn’t have expected them to be right next to each other.      This part was probably not difficult for UK solvers.    I did know the sylphid and barsac, which definitely helped.    There were a couple of jokey alternate definitions, which this setter must like.

If I had been the editor, I might have been tempted to make a few revisions to smooth things out a bit, but each clue by itself is perfectly fair.

 

Across
1 Pacific territory’s current feeding Hants resort’s lights? (5,3,7)
SOUTH SEA ISLANDS – SOUTHSEA (I) ‘S LANDS
9 Photo taken beside tree in army training area (9)
ALDERSHOT -ALDER + SHOT
10 Lesson from gangster’s girl endlessly sheltering gunmen (5)
MORAL – MO(RA)L[l].
11 Foreign currency quiet king invested in fish (6)
SHEKEL – SH + E(K)EL.
12 Fairly outspoken, seemingly like some old Germanic people (8)
FRANKISH –  An Uxbridge dictionary hint.
13 Enthusiasm that’s more difficult for Cockneys, they say (6)
ARDOUR – Sounds like ‘ARDER….in some dialects.
15 Bewildered politician Fabians initially took advantage of (8)
CONFUSED –  CON + F[abians] + USED.
18 Tirade about flipping hooter booming (8)
RESONANT – R(NOSE backwards)ANT.
19 Local’s account for sweet white wine (6)
BARSAC – BAR’S A/C.
21 Like many churches, soaked when lake gets in (8)
STEEPLED – STEEP(L)ED.
23 Note by Irishwoman failing to finish biographical sketch (6)
MEMOIR – ME + MOIR[a].
26 Vast number briefly concealing a cache (5)
HOARD – HO(A)RD[e].
27 Talent exercised in articles relating to a legendary continent (9)
ATLANTEAN – A(anagram of TALENT)AN
28 Snack meal for one who needs a share? (10,5)
PLOUGHMANS LUNCH –  For one who presumably needs ploughshare.
Down
1 A lot of effort, keeping a couple of Poles in port (7)
SWANSEA – SW(A,N,S)EA[t].
2 Improper but not outstanding? (5)
UNDUE – Another facetious cryptic hint.
3 Clownlike character in doctors’ street mostly, one of several (9)
HARLEQUIN – HARLE[y] + QUIN, one of five.
4 Genuine German playwright, not British (4)
ECHT – [br]ECHT.
5 Collaborating investigators changed role in case of protest (8)
INTERPOL – Anagram of ROLE IN + P[rotest]T.
6 Fruit supplied by half of them in half of capital (5)
LEMON – L([th]EM)ON[don].
7 Beautiful youth thus managed to go north over South America (9)
NARCISSUS – SIC RAN upside down + S + US.
8 Record concealed underneath extremely saucy little spirit (7)
SYLPHID –  SY +LP +HID.
14 Wild ruffian’s frantic speed carved up road (9)
DESPERADO – Anagram of SPEED + anagram of ROAD.
16 Classify sailors in Cornish river like brothers (9)
FRATERNAL –  F(RATE RN)AL.
17 Provide too few pieces for such deliveries? (8)
UNDERARM – UNDER ARM, in its Uxbridge sense.
18 Grew fashionable fruit (7)
ROSEHIP – ROSE + HIP, a chestnut.
20 Continental port contributing to décor in Thessaloniki (7)
CORINTH – Hidden in  [de]COR IN TH[essaloniki].
22 Half-wild canine’s function in Tamworth, perhaps? (2-3)
PI-DOG – PI(DO)G.
24 Lyric poem about ancient entertainment venue (5)
ODEON – ODE + ON.
25 Family beginning to languish in jail (4)
CLAN – C(L[anguish]AN.

68 comments on “Times 29155 – In C Major?”

  1. 8:16 – I saw some very fast early times for this one, my biggest hold up was SOUTH SEA ISLANDS, which I could not figure out all the wordplay for and hoped was correct. Got SYLPHID from wordplay.

  2. Around 50 minutes. Held up significantly when I put in RESONATE.
    Thanks Vinyl
    I don’t understand how “Hants” fits in 1ac. I saw resort as an anagram indicator and Hants letters fit in the answer. Can you explain please?

  3. 33m 19s
    It seems to me that, even if the Monday puzzle appears easy, there’s usually a gotcha; in this case PI-DOG. Like it says in the movie: a complete unknown.
    Thanks, vinyl, particularly for SWANSEA and UNDERARM. The latter is something of an expletive here in NZ after one of those dastardly Aussies deliberately bowled an UNDERARM delivery in order to win a cricket match against NZ several years ago.

  4. And straight away we sail back in time to the SOUTH SEA ISLANDS, as they used to be known about a century ago. From there we fast-forward to now and PiDog which, I understand, is some replica canine robot and that’s its brand name. With any luck I will never hear of it again. 20.26 for me, an enjoyable puzzle, held up briefly by SWANSEA at the end and the ‘dog’ which went in with a shrug. Thanks vinyl.

    From Country Pie:
    Raspberry, strawberry, LEMON and lime
    What do I care?
    Blueberry, apple, cherry, pumpkin and plum
    Call me for dinner, honey, I’ll be there

    1. Pi-dogs I vaguely associate with Spike Milligan… in Indian childhood? Or north African war service? Or I might have it totally wrong, google suggests nothing.
      Edit: might have been Flashman, as suggested by JerryW below.

      1. Google gives this, and more besides:
        What is a pidog?
        Dive into the innovative world of robotics with PiDog, a robotic dog that combines fun, education, and advanced technology into a unique learning experience. Perfect for hobbyists and learners of all ages!

        1. Google should have remembered the hyphen, which Chambers does and produces verification of Isla’s memory “(in Asia) an ownerless or half-wild dog (also pariah dog)”. Which is how I knew it.

          1. There are references to pi-dogs in Paul Scott’s Raj Quartet ( Jewel in the Crown on television) which is set in India.

  5. 25 minutes.
    Mostly straightforward. I tried parsing MEMOIR as MEMO, IR before seeing the light.

    PI-DOG appeared here most recently in 2020 in a 15×15 blogged by me. I can’t say I remembered it, but having worked it out today from wordplay it seemed vaguely familiar.

  6. Yep, the English geography held me up the longest. I saw South Sea Islands long before I put it in… “Well, it’s not an anagram, so…?”

  7. Luckily I lived for a time in Hampshire (Hants) since my Dad was in the Royal Navy. So no problem with SOUTHSEA or ALDERSHOT. I found this easy only getting held up for a few moments with my LOI MEMOIR. I’d never heard of PI-DOG but the wordplay was generous.

  8. A fast 22′ for me. Wondered what was going on when all the place names came pretty early; actually off-putting since I started looking for more…

    Never heard of PI-DOG, and don’t want one. The crossing of UNDUE and SHEKEL held me up a little and were my last two in.

    Thanks Vinyl and setter

  9. 8.19. Must learn more wines! And, it seems, Hampshire towns, although those seem less likely to recur.

    Thanks both.

  10. 13:33
    No major hold-ups but a couple took longer than they should have, a few unknowns (SYLPHID, PI-DOG, and BARSAC), and more importantly based on recent form, no typos. Mostly straightforward I thought and the cluing helped to cover any lacking GK.

    Thanks to both.

    1. In Australia we have Chateau de Cardboard, 4-litre boxes of very cheap wine with a flexible plastic bladder inside. One company decided to sell the bladders without the protective cardboard box, marketed a white and a red. I’ve forgotten the white’s name but the red was… Clarsac. Claret in a sac. I was somewhat impressed by the pun.

  11. Like Paul I had the advantage of a naval dad and a Hampshire childhood, but unusually I started at the very bottom with PLOUGHMANS LUNCH and worked my way steadily northwards towards the Solent, finishing in a – for me – rapid 13:15. I suspect the real speedsters will zip through in half that time or less. Thanks V and setter.

  12. 21 minutes with LOI MEMOIR, thrown by thinking Moira was a Scottish name. Was the photo mentioned in 9a one of Miss Joan Hunter Dunn? A very comfortable solve. COD to INTERPLOD, sorry, INTERPOL. Thank you V and setter.

    1. I’ve now got “A Subaltern’s Love Song” going round in my head; at least, as much as I can remember. There’s a fair bit of “Dee-dumpty Dee-dumpty” in place of the actual words.
      JB did like a sportif girl what with Joan and Pam and doubtless others I’ve not come across 🙂

  13. Spent at least five minutes stuck in the NW, overthinking SOUTH SEA ISLANDS, which is not a legal territory? Should have got it earlier as I’ve been to Southsea, even stayed there.
    I’ve been to SWANSEA too, but that was my LOI, as my lasting impression was of the stag- and hen-do reputation of part of it.

    14’16”, thanks vinyl and setter.

  14. For some reason I got a Lionel Richie earworm this morning:

    “That’s why I’m easy
    I’m easy like Monday morning…”

    Oh. But that was Sunday wasn’t it.

    Anyway, no problems. I even think I knew PI DOG from somewhere. LindsayO says it is some sort of robot dog (like K-9?) but the definition I found was:

    “an ownerless half-wild dog of uncertain breeding, common in the villages and towns of India and other countries in east and South Asia”

    And that obviously fits with the clue definition.

    Thanks Vinyl for the blog and setter for a gentle and enjoyable start to the week.

    1. My wife is called Moira. She is 100% Scottish. She is most displeased to see the name described as Irish.

  15. About 25 minutes.

    – Was glad of the S checker in BARSAC, as I’ve never known how to spell it and might have put a Z
    – Took ages to get SWANSEA, even with the checkers, as for some reason it’s not something I instinctively think of as a port
    – Pieced together the unknown SYLPHID and PI-DOG from wordplay

    Thanks vinyl and setter.

    FOI Ardour
    LOI Swansea
    COD Confused

    1. I can see Southsea from the ferry as I write this so thanks for that one! Defeated by ECHT but a very tidy Monday puzzle I thought. Thanks for the blog.

  16. 14.21

    Also held up by SWANSEA at the end. Was imagining some warm continental outpost. Wrong image (though lovely part of the world).

    Thanks Vinyl and setter

    1. Kipling for me, I think. Wikipedia has: “ The Indian pariah dog is sometimes referred to as the pye-dog (also spelt pie or pi) and the Indian native dog.”

  18. Lovely puzzle.
    Quite easy.
    LOI 23a Memoir.
    NHO Sylphid, but not hard.
    1d Swansea was hard, needed all the checkers.

  20. 28 minutes, having spent a while on 1dn. Stupidly I was looking for a 7-letter word meaning a lot of effort. Southsea no problem as I lived there as a small child. PI-DOG dredged from somewhere in memory.

  21. I drew a blank in the NW apart from ARDOUR. MORAL and LEMON arrived next and I continued in a clockwise direction before landing back in SWANSEA. I went on some training courses in SOUTHSEA back in the mid 1970s, staying in a hotel not far from the seafront. The owner was a snooker fan and took me for a few games at the snooker club just up the road. Happy days! INTERPOL and FRANKISH were last 2 in. 17:37. Thanks setter and Vinyl.

  22. A pleasant 20 minutes to complete, with PI-DOG solely from the wordplay. Familiar with places in Hants and with barsac wine, and biffed NARCISSUS. I liked FRANKISH and the lunch to share.

  23. I was stuck on a few in the NW corner, tried to fit ‘new’ in as the second word of the SOUTH SEA ISLAND clue (as a synonym of ‘current’) and also toyed with making an anagram of ‘Hants’. PI-DOG was a NHO but it had to be from the word play (I’m surprised there haven’t been any comments so far from solvers far from Blighty who haven’t heard of a Tamworth sandyback pig).

    1. I did the same with ‘new’ – my first attempted biff was PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Good job it didn’t fit!

  24. 33:31. 1ac went in eventually from crossers, I never spotted SOUTHSEA, and I struggled with SWANSEA. Struggled with MEMOIR and SHEKEL too. Liked STEEPLED

  25. Got off to a good start with SOUTH SEA ISLANDS going straight in, and completed well over half the across clues at first read before getting to grip with the down clues. Geographical knowledge of the UK was a big advantage here with SOUTHSEA and ALDERSHOT coming readily to mind.
    A friend once persuaded me to share a bottle of BARSAC without telling me how sweet it was. It was not an experience I ever repeated until my wife and I went to a wine tasting experience in a German Vineyard. Even their so called dry wines tasted sweetish to me, so I’ve avoided wine from that country ever since.
    My only hold up was with my LOI 1dn where I was slow to recognise SWANSEA as the required port. I really should have thought of it sooner as it’s about 40 miles up the South Wales coast from me. In the end crossed the line in 20.48 for a good start to the week.

  26. 24:01

    Inside my old target of 24m30s (Snitch of 69), outside my new target (since New Year) of 19m30s (old target minus five minutes). The lower half went in pretty easily, but was stumped by most of the NW – all of the downs from 1-5 plus 1a, 9a, 11a and 12a had me foxed for a good five minutes thought until I saw UNDUE. Had thought of ISLANDS already and UNDUE led me to think of SOUTH before recalling SOUTHSEA from a very long time ago. Once 1a was in, the remaining downs and acrosses filled themselves in.

    Thanks V and setter

  27. 7:54. PI-DOG rang only a faint bell and I don’t remember seeing SYLPHID in that form before but no major hold-ups.

  28. A pleasant start to the week, consumed over a leisurely lunchtime pinta in 23 minutes. NHO PI-DOG, but there appeared to be no alternative. Agree that those familiar with Hants could have had a slight advantage with some of the geographical GK.
    FOI – MORAL
    LOI – SWANSEA
    COD – PLOUGHMANS LUNCH
    Thanks to vinyl and other contributors.

  29. Struggled with MEMOIR because, again, Me as a note eluded me. I’ve always known it as Do Re Mi etc. But setters seem to be able to justify any variation at will almost – must remember in future.

    1. To be fair to the setter, it’s the dictionaries that offer the alternatives (me/mi and te/ti are the ones I always try to remember have alternative versions).

  30. 25 minutes. My first guess for 1a was TURKS AND CAYMANS but I was getting both my island names and oceans muddled up. There were a few that needing nutting out including SWANSEA as the ‘port’ and MEMOIR, not knowing MOIRA as an Irish name. I hadn’t heard of SYLPHID but followed the instructions to come up with a plausible answer.

    Favourite bit was our blogger’s comment for 18d with both the “ROSE + HIP” and “a chestnut” elements wittily referring back to the ‘fruit’ def; understated but very clever.

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