Times 29299 – Not on the wavelength

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time: 35:02

Music: Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet, Maazel/Cleveland

I was able to get many of the answers very quickly, as there are quite a few clues here we have seen before.  Unfortunately, there are also some that require a little thought, and since my cryptic brain was falling asleep I had to struggle.   The cinchona/austerest crossing gave particular difficulty, but Ivanhoe was also tough.    There was a considerable period where I could see nothing, but after I got up to flip the record I saw several answers almost immediately – funny how that works.     The early solvers have all done well, but I suspect the sting in the tail will catch out a few of the later ones.

 

 

Across
1 Style of construction of a brick house (6)
FABRIC – Hidden in [o]F A BRIC[k], with house as a verb indicating the hidden.
4 Something easy to do with a tree (8)
CINCHONA –  CINCH + ON + A.    Not a well-known tree, so just follow the instructions.
10 Area with an enclosure invaded by soldiers (7)
ACREAGE – A C(R.E.)AGE.   The Royal Engineers, always getting into trouble.
11 Makes boxes to accommodate drug (7)
CREATES – CR(E)ATES.   Aha, a chestnut!
12 Whistleblower stopped by English bank (4)
REEF – RE(E)F, another easy one.
13 Underground organisation, as in secret moving? (10)
RESISTANCE –  Anagram of AS IN SECRET.
15 Replace wonderful children after daughter moves west (9)
SUPERSEDE –  SUPER + SEED with the D moved one position west.
16 Mean to shun male bore (5)
EAGRE – [m]EAGRE, a tidal bore, that is.   A write-in for experienced solvers, otherwise likely to give trouble.
18 Article containing argument for protective cover (5)
APRON – A(PRO)N.
19 Despatched to restrict a crowd in religious ceremony (9)
SACRAMENT – S(A, CRAM)ENT.
21 Word currently employed succeeded “limits” (10)
TERMINUSES – TERM IN USE + S.
23 Restless desire barely fits companion (4)
ITCH – [f]IT[s] + CH, Companion of Honour.
26 Millions stolen from Russian ruler in novel (7)
IVANHOE – IVAN, HO[m]E, a classic lift and separate clue where the solver is likely to overlook the significance of in.
27 Model admires piece to be worn (7)
SIDEARM –  Anagram of ADMIRES.
28 Better rest up after match (8)
GAMESTER –  GAME + anagram of REST.
29 Show-off regrets work being sent back (6)
POSEUR – RUES OP backwards.
Down
1 Talent to burn brightly for the audience (5)
FLAIR – Sounds like FLARE, another chestnut.
2 Hobart’s one server of drinks (9)
BARKEEPER –   [ho]BAR[t].
3 This writer’s embracing maiden — one making Friday call? (4)
IMAM – I (M) AM.
5 Pitch trendy Conservative policy (7)
INCLINE – IN + C + LINE.
6 Revolutionary wife, ace in crime, creating gossip (4,3,3)
CHEW THE FAT –  CHE + W + THEF(A)T.
7 Playwright with men leading the fashion (5)
ORTON – OR + TON, two crossword words that will never die because they are too useful.
8 Most severe wind is across the Channel (9)
AUSTEREST – AUSTER + EST.
9 Worship always in part of school curriculum? (6)
REVERE – R(EVER)E, i.e. Religious Education.
14 Displays breakfast containers? (10)
BRANDISHES – BRAN DISHES, a chestnut that caught me out.
15 Remarkably different bird, catching insect finally (9)
STARTLING – STAR(T)LING, a chestnut that did not catch me out.
17 Dog wrecked tea garden (5,4)
GREAT DANE – Anagram of TEA GARDEN.
19 Sleep in small cabin with study (4-3)
SHUT-EYE – S HUT + EYE.
20 Go up, moving out in line (6)
CREASE – [in]CREASE.
22 Lots of paper getting left in field (5)
REALM – REA(L)M.
24 Woman receiving honour for successful hit in US (5)
HOMER – H(O.M.)ER.   Equivalent to a boundary, but how many runs you get depends on how many baserunners there were, if any.
25 Slimmed down after reducing starchy food (4)
EDDO – Hidden in [Slimm]ED DO[wn].

62 comments on “Times 29299 – Not on the wavelength”

  1. I was enjoying this puzzle until I came to a grinding halt with just Cinchona and Austerest remaining (even as I write this, my spell checker is telling me Austerest is not a word!).
    Has anyone ever used the word “austerest”? Surely, “most austere”? So, a DNF.
    Terminuses a bit dodgy also, reminds me of Count Arthur Strong trying to say Colosusses in his Egyptology sketch.

      1. Ton is a word meaning fashion, style, tone – it comes from the French, apparently, and turns up in The Times crossword fairly regularly, I have learnt. I have never seen it used outside of crosswordland.

        2. In the TV drama Bridgerton (especially in the first series) the characters spoke and thought of little else but ‘the Ton’.

  2. Had to keep checking that today was Monday…
    36 mins including the obligatory BARTENDER until SUPERSEDE corrected me.
    LOI EDDO NHO

  3. Fun puzzle, unfortunately no time because I left the timer running to do something else, but I think around 25 minutes.
    Luckily for me I got BARKEEPER near the end without understanding it!! I was thinking only of Tasmania, duh.
    Ivanho(m)e held me up and I smiled when I got it, LOI was the CINCHONA which I have never heard of.
    Thanks setter and blogger
    PS yes also NHO EDDO

  4. I was another one who had BARTENDER thinking what a good clue it was, and it took a while to persuade myself there must be an alternative. SUPERSEDE finally demanded I reconsider and the less impressive BARKEEPER went in between the posts. I’m pretty good on tree species having written quite a few into landscaping specifications in my time, but I’ve never come across CINCHONA. It went in as directed by the clueing, but I fully expected to find it was wrong. A nice surprise therefore to find it was correct, and my time of 41.23 gave me a clean finish.

  5. DNF
    Went for BARTENDER. Didn’t know CINCHONA, EDDO or AUSTER.

    Still, it was worth the price of entry for IVANHOE. I can still here the theme tune. “Ivanhoe, Ivanhoe,
    side by side we’re proud to ride with Ivanhoe”

    Thanks to vinyl and the setter

  6. Having to write this all over again as my deets not recognised! One hour one minute, too long for a Monday. Didn’t fully parse IVANHOE – missed the ‘in’ indicator. Don’t really approve of two hiddens in one puzzle.

  7. 28:48. Pleased with that. OK with BARKEEPER because I had SUPERSEDE already in place. I disliked the awkward word TERMINUSES, but I liked its clue with “in use” for currently employed. POI the NHO CINCHONA giving me the A for for my LOI the other awkward word AUSTEREST. I liked SIDEARM and BRANDISHES.

    Thanks to LongTimeLurker for the low-down on the CINCHONA as the source of quinine. It’s the sort of thing you’d think we’d know

  8. DNF. Defeated by IVANHOE and BRANDISHES. Resorted to external aids for NHO CHINCHONA and AUSTER although the latter was quite guessable really.
    Forsook BARTENDER once I saw SUPERSEDE.
    Thanks to setter and vinyl1.
    Edited to add that I of course had NHO EDDO.

  9. First one I’ve finished in a while which is nice, and coming here I’m happy to join the various clubs of people having issues with BARTENDER/BARKEEPER, misspelling SUPERSEDE and not knowing EDDO, CINCHONA and AUSTER (my LOI). I also got CHEW THE FAT after just a few checkers, but then couldn’t for the life of me see how to parse it – I was thinking ‘CHEAT’ as the crime so was mystified by what ‘revolutionary’ was meaning.

    Thanks vinyl1 & setter!

  11. Liked Auster.
    Didn’t like Austerest or Terminuses.
    Either didn’t know or forgot (same difference, eh?) Orton and Eddo.
    The usual panic attack seeing a long word with a bird somewhere in it.
    Any baseball reference in the puzzle gets a one-man Mexican Wave in my house.

  12. Hmm…not a typical Monday puzzle. DNF as much of this was beyond me and I was certainly not on the setter’s wavelength! CINCHONA and EAGRE were completely unknown to me as was AUSTER for the wind.

    The only bright spot is that I can spell SUPERSEDE – the trick is to remember it is from SEDER to sit (ie something sitting above) not CEDER to yield. I expect one day either spelling will be acceptable – I’ve given up correcting the Licence/License confusion.

    Thanks for all the explanations.

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