Times 29191 – Echo Alpha Sierra Yankee!

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time: 11:26

Music: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco.

Experienced solvers won’t be expecting much of a challenge from a Monday puzzle, and they won’t be getting it.    Yes, I could see where you might be held up if you didn’t have one or two bits of  vital information,  but each clue offers two simple ways of reaching the answer.    I only struggled a little at the end with errand and chiefdom, which were no harder than everything else.

Across
1 Friend o’ the setter’s endless love for horse (8)
PALOMINO – PAL’O MIN[e] + O.
5 Dish made by Father Fitzgerald, the legendary jazz singer? (6)
PAELLA – PA + ELLA.
10 What could be DC Andy Walterson’s workplace? (3,8,4)
NEW SCOTLAND YARD – Anagram of DC ANDY WALTERSON.
11 Old sorcerer following current line in descriptive language (7)
IMAGERY – I + MAGE + RY.
12 Seaman’s month in borders of Ecuador (7)
MARINER – MAR IN + E[cuado]R.
13 Sloth perplexed last of zoologists in Leeds (8)
IDLENESS – Anagram of [zoologist]S IN LEEDS.
15 Suitable position in town I cherish (5)
NICHE – Hidden in [tow]N I CHE[rish].
18 Women’s quarters, some time back, kept by monarch (5)
HAREM – H.(ERA backwards)M, a sort of semi-&lit.
20 Starchy food finally chosen to take in one’s drink (8)
POTATION – POTAT(I)O + [chose]N.
23 Slips up about joiner’s assignments (7)
ERRANDS – ERR(AND)S.
25 Excitement of head abandoning merrymaking (7)
AROUSAL – [c]AROUSAL.
26 Do what’s required as couriers are expected to? (7,3,5)
DELIVER THE GOODS – A mild cryptic hint, hardly cryptic.
27 Spring celebration, Scottish one featuring in weekly, perhaps (6)
MAYING – MA(YIN)G.   If it’s not ane, then it’s yin.
28 Deprived of nationality? It’s not verbally declared (8)
UNSTATED – Another jocular cryptic hint.
Down
1 Wise man slated the thing, we’re told (6)
PANDIT – Sounds like PANNED IT.
2 Native of Midlothian, say, initially looking over loch during ramble (9)
LOWLANDER – L[ooking] + O + W(L)ANDER.
3 Ship’s officer carrying revolutionary weapon (7)
MACHETE – MA(CHE)TE.
4 Abstainer visiting north, always smartly dressed (5)
NATTY – N A(TT)Y.
6 Fire supporter with Irish cricket side (7)
ANDIRON – AND IR ON.
7 Letters to begin with merit study (5)
LEARN –  L[etters]  + EARN.
8 Old dairy cow longing to be raised under tree (8)
ALDERNEY – ALDER + YEN upside-down.
9 Monkey lawgiver briefly observed in trade centre (8)
MARMOSET – MAR(MOSE[s])T.
14 Retired petty officer guaranteed appearance in public (8)
EXPOSURE –  EX P.O. SURE.
16 Exults over old Labour leader’s wrinkle (5-4)
CROWS-FOOT –  CROWS + FOOT, Michael Foot, that is.
17 Greek character notes Catholic dignitary’s top position (8)
CHIEFDOM – CHI + E + F + DOM.
19 Vehicle diverted in vain south of motorway (7)
MINIVAN – Anagram of IN VAIN under M.
21 Idea, albeit ultimately deficient (7)
THOUGHT –  THOUGH + [deficicien]T.
22 Restricted means of storing data involving waste (6)
CLOSED – C(LOSE)D.
24 Get better band together? (5)
RALLY –  Double definition.
25 Article about quiet European with pallid complexion (5)
ASHEN – A(SH,E)N.

90 comments on “Times 29191 – Echo Alpha Sierra Yankee!”

  1. 16:58
    Dithered between PANDIT and PUNDIT, but eventually chose the correct one.
    LOI was ERRANDS.

    Thanks Vinyl and setter

  2. I liked NEW SCOTLAND YARD very much. And who remembers ‘The King’ s Breakfast’ by AA Milne?

    The Dairymaid
    She curtsied,
    And went and told
    The Alderney:
    “Don’t forget the butter for
    The Royal slice of bread.”
    The Alderney
    Said sleepily:
    “You’d better tell
    His Majesty
    That many people nowadays
    Like marmalade
    Instead.”

    Should have read all the previous comments first 😉

  3. The blog headline encouraged me to have a go. First ever complete solve of the grown up crossword and in well under the hour! Many thanks setter and Vinyl.

  4. Two errors on what should have been an easy puzzle. I actually had PANDIT written in but on reconsidering decided that the balance of probability was that PUNDIT was likelier to fit the wordplay than PANDIT – known only as a name – to fit the definition. So I amended it. I also carelessly wrote in PALAMINO even though closer attention to the clue would have made it clear that my second A needed to be an O.

  5. I rattled through this and then came to a grinding halt on LOI 20a Potation which I classify as a NRTIHHO (now realise that I have heard of).
    I got it eventually only to see that I had entered Palomine instead of Palomino, from misreading the clue.
    Good puzzle, nevertheless.
    I’m a Morris dancer, but I’ve never heard of Maying.

  6. 23:59. Good fun. I join all those offering thanks to PANDIT Nehru. And I think old cowboys used to ride PALOMINOS; Roy Rogers did. So OK there. My problems came later with CHIEFDOM and POTATION which did not seem to belong in this otherwise easy Monday

  7. 18.05 Nearly quick. PANDIT needed a moment’s thought. The unknown POTATION didn’t delay me. But two-thirds of the time went on last four ERRANDS, CHIEFDOM, RALLY and the NHO MAYING. Thanks vinyl1.

  8. 20 mins. About as fast as I get these days. Like others, I thought of A.A. Milne as I wrote in ALDERNEY, and of Nehru when I wrote in PANDIT. HAREM took me a while to parse. COD NEW SCOTLAND YARD!

  9. All correct in 13’46”. Spotted the PANDIT trap thankfully. God knows I’m the kind to fall in normnally.

  10. Time to spare after doing the QC so had a go. Struggled gently to finish (with a couple of checks) in just under an hour. Quite pleased!

  11. Sailed through this – until I didn’t. For some inexplicable reason I couldn’t think of potato for the starchy food, so spent a while there trying to construct a NHO word for drink. Also NHO MAYING, and forgot about “ the big yin” ! All the other GK well-known, as I’m a horse-lover and a Shakespeare-lover, and I don’t understand how some solvers can think that PUNDIT could work, when it clearly doesn’t follow the clue. Fun crossword; more of the same level please.

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