Times Cryptic 26121 – spinning a web to deceive

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I don’t have an exact time for this, as it was done over the usual tea and toast intermixed with a modicum of chat with Mrs K. Overall it flowed well, from the bottom upwards mainly, with only unravelling 3d and parsing 12a causing significant delay. Afterwards I checked 15d to see exactly what the farming bit was about although I was sure the answer was correct. I had inklings of a pangram, but it isn’t.

Across
1 MATISSE – (K)ISS = brush, less first letter, inside MATE = China; def. artist.
5 FIGURED – FIG = sticky fruit, (END)URED = stuck, with no end; def. thought that.
9 SERVICE AREA – Cryptic, aided by solving 2d; where you ‘fill up’ and here MASS = service.
10 MAR – Alternate letters of iMpAiR, def. impair, or &lit I suppose.
11 ABOUND – A, BOUND = certain, as in ‘bound to be there’, ABOUND = flourish, as in proliferate.
12 ENCHANTS – Def. possesses; (P)ENCHANT = taste, ignoring pressure, add S = society. I was foxed for a while in parsing this and don’t see why Society is capitalised.
14 FIRST DAY COVER – Amusing d.d. I have a box of 100 or so British FDCs which my grandfather bought for me regularly as a child, but I suspect they’re worth close to nothing. Any offers?
17 QUARTERMASTER – QUARTER = pity, as in ‘show no quarter’, MASTER = skipper; def. he’s charged with barracking.
21 ARKANSAN – ARK = refuge, A N (new) SAN = place for treating the sick; def. N American. I have a feeling we’ve seen this answer before recently.
23 CHASTE – CASTE = rank, insert H = Welsh finally; def. restrained.
25 CHA – Def. tea; with repetition you can do the CHA CHA CHA, darling, and dance.
26 SAIL THROUGH – (GHOULISH TAR)*, anagrind ‘at sea’, def. the best way to pass?
27 RED FLAG – Ruddy = RED, sink = FLAG; def. don’t you dare go past this!
28 PAPERED – PÈRE = Parisian parent, insert into PAD = flat; def. helped to decorate.

Down
1 MISLAY – M = millions, IS, LAY = unprofessional; def. to lose track of.
2 TURN OFF – Double definition.
3 SPINNERET – (PRESENT IN)*, anagrind ‘bats’, def. expressive organ. From the anagram fodder and then some remote depths of memory I remembered this word, for the spider’s ‘organ’ which produces web material.
4 EWER – EWE = Jacob’s mother, say; R = runs, def. water jar. No biffing allowed; you have to twig that Jacob is a kind of sheep, not the son of Rebekah.
5 FAR AND AWAY – FA = soccer chiefs, RAN AWAY = fled, insert D = bottom of field; def. easily, as in easily the best player on the field.
6 GNASH – (HANGS)*, anagrind ‘criminal’, def. display anguish. If you have teeth.
7 ROMANOV – ROMAN = upright type (not Italic), OV = Very Old, reversed; def. house in Russia.
8 DERISORY – SIRE = father, reversed inside DO = party, then RY = lines; D(ERIS)O RY; def. pathetic.
13 STAR-GAZING – STAR = prime, GRAZING = pasture, remove R, def. night-time activity.
15 CATCH-CROP – CATCH = to get, CROP = haircut; def. not farmer’s main concern. Apparently a catch-crop is one grown speedily between main crops.
16 SQUAD CAR – SCAR = mark, around QUAD = yard, def. vehicle.
18 AWKWARD – (H)AWK = tout, heading off; WARD = division in town; def. self-conscious.
19 RESCUER – (ERRS)* ‘badly’ around CUE = tip; def. man making delivery.
20 METHOD – MET = fulfilled, HOD = carrier; def. order.
22 NASAL – NAVAL = marine, switch the V to S = switch primarily, def. coming from hooter.
24 STEP – Last letters of (‘those footing’) billS musT makE sharP; def. move.

55 comments on “Times Cryptic 26121 – spinning a web to deceive”

  1. A technical DNF having typed ARKSNSAS but other than that about 30 minutes.

    Quite tricky I thought and towards the end I had several gaps I wan’t confident in filling so I was pleased to finish.

    I have The QuarterMaster’s Store as an earworm now.

      1. Dear Whoever
        Please search your heart and consider that there may be kinder and gentler ways of making your point. On the whole, we seek to eschew “blunt to the point of rudeness” around here. And anyway, I there is a difference between not finishing because you don’t know some of the answers and (as is at least occasionally true of me) not finishing because of a terminal case of fat finger syndrome. Let’s call the second of those “technical” for want of a different word.
        On a different note, I know how to pronounce Arkansas. In the light of that, does anyone know how to pronounce Arkansan?

        Edited at 2015-06-10 11:39 am (UTC)

        1. Anonymous has a style reminiscent of a troll-like creature who appears now and then on the Club Forum. I too had a technical – because I had the answer to 24d but my right ring finger had another idea for the vowel. Unfortunately the Club recording angel doesn’t take cognizance of this. I see that a fair number of extremely reliable solvers seem to have had a similar experience. 18.25 P.S. Around here it’s spoken as ArKANsan, and now I’ve got the dreaded “What did Delaware” on the brain…..
          1. I was told once that the state is pronounced Arakan-saw while the river is pronounced Arkan-sas. Is this true, and if so, why?
            1. You’re probably right Justin but I don’t know why without trolling through wikipedia. I just about remember hearing that the river is Kansas with an AR (as in R(iver), no I didn’t get it at first either) at the front. As a New Yorker I try not to think too much about that part of the country, and I’m sure they return the favour. The SAW thing is beyond me.

              Edited at 2015-06-10 04:18 pm (UTC)

              1. Yes we in Europe forget the size and diversity of the US. Most of what I like about it comes from the edges – the rest you can keep as far as I’m concerned (though I’m sure the middle has some mitigating aspects I don’t know about).
                1. This is very true, and compounded by an assumption among some of us Europeans that a common language equates to a common culture, which it really doesn’t. I have learned from doing business with Americans that I often have to adjust my behaviour and attitudes much more than I do with, say, Swedes or Italians. But as with most cultural adjustments it’s generally worth the effort. Mostly people meet you half way… as long as they’re not from New York. 😉

                  Edited at 2015-06-10 10:29 pm (UTC)

      2. If I type a wrong letter into my iPad in circumstances where I know I wouldn’t do so under competition conditions (i.e. writing on paper), I like to give myself the benefit of the doubt, and in fact I don’t even bother mentioning it here. Perhaps this makes me an appalling cheat and scoundrel but I am not anticipating much loss of sleep over the matter.
        1. There is definitely a difference between a typing mistake and being unable to get the answer. There are idiots in this world and a lot of them turn up on the internet. (I’ve put that as politely as possible)
          1. Indeed. Part of me fears that this little exchange amounts to feeding the troll, but on the other hand a bit of courteous disagreement is probably otherwise absent from their diet and might do them the world of good.
  2. Made very heavy weather of this. CATCH CROP, FIRST DAY COVER and SPINNERET were unknown to me, but I can’t see why they took so long to unravel.

    Biggest Dean Martin was the QUAD in SQUAD CAR. Took ages to see it. Just a dopey day I think, put it down to not enough sleep.

    Looks like a good puzzle, slightly wasted on me today. Thanks setter and blogger.

    Edited at 2015-06-10 09:13 am (UTC)

  3. About 45mins, so on the tricky side, and I too worked from the bottom up on this one… Same problem parsing MAR as ulaca, and I didn’t get where the URED bit of 5ac came, so thanks for sorting those out.

    SPINNERET unknown but gettable.

    1. Snap, with the URED. All I could think of was stuck = CURED as in glue setting, but it’s taking the wrong end (sic) off.
      Otherwise the last few took a while, due to a typo crossing SPINNERET, and especially STEP where I read the clue incorrectly so couldn’t solve it immediately. Then had to go back to work with, “Those that foot the bill…” rattling around in the my mind, unsolvably, even though I saw the TEP from the other words.
      Eventually got it all, but many hours elapsed.
      Rob
  4. 39 minutes on the clock, but a bit less as there was a technical problem and I lost what I’d already done. things started quickly in the SW but then it was a bit of a struggle until things accelerated again towards the end.

    Pip, I think the purpose of the capitalisation at 12a is in reference to NAncy Mitford-style society (with balls, debs, etc) rather than a club. And thanks for the parsing of the brush (I was still in art mode) and MAR (where I was looking to remove letters from the wrong word!)

  5. 20 mins. I enjoyed this puzzle even though I was held up badly in the SE where I didn’t see STEP and METHOD until I’d deciphered the anagram fodder for SAIL THROUGH. Count me as another who biffed FIGURED.
  6. Nice puzzle but with a couple of obscurities as far as I was concerned, namely SPINNERET and CATCH CROP. Having listened to The Archers quite regularly at one time I thought the expression was ‘cash crop’. Is that something else or have I been mishearing things?
    1. It would depend on the context, both are legit farming expressions, a cash crop being one sold rather than used by the farmer for feed etc. Remind me which episode of the Archers it was…
  7. Fairly straightforward——must admit in my haste assumed “spinneret” to be some sort of keyboard from the olden days. First day cover made me smile a gave me a momentary nostalgic glow.
    1. There’s a piano-ey type thing called a spinnet and that’s precisely what I was thinking of when I bunged in what I though was an alternative spelling of the non-existent spinaret.
      1. Ditto, and didn’t know better till coming here. So, technically, I didn’t solve the whole puzzle.
  8. A shade over 15 minutes. Thanks to Pip for explaining a couple I had biffed. I think Ulaca’s rationale for the capital S makes sense as far as the surface goes but there is also the point that Chambers and Collins give S as an abbreviation for Society, not society.
  9. It was all going quite well until I neglected to parse 26ac properly and entered slip instead of sail. I’m not sure I quite knew what a spinneret was but it seemed to fit so that was good enough. I didn’t spot the kiss at 1ac but it could hardly have been anyone else. As for catch-crop, I’m extremely doubtful that it has cropped (?) up in a conversation at The Bull, but I am happy to be persuaded otherwise.
    1. Acronym, for Bung In From Definition BIFD, then led to the verb to BIFF- you have the right answer but you haven’t worked out why properly.
  11. I would have slipped under the 30 minute mark had it not been for a) my head seemed full of cotton wool today b) it took me a while to tune into the compiler’ wavelength. The latter I found quite idiosynchratic and unusual – though none the worse for that.
    By far and away my favourite clue was 5d.
    Has anyone else noticed that instead of producing gossamer from his nether regions, Peter Parker has spinnerets in his wrists instead? Spiderman’s just lost all credibility for me now.
    1. You know, if he had produced gossamer from his nether regions I might actually have watched the films.
  12. Solved on a noisy bus with no clear idea of how long it took – I would imagine about a Penfold. Didn’t know CATCH CROP or SPINNERET either.
  13. 17:59 .. all the right answers, not necessarily for the right reasons (SPINNERET).

    Enjoyable, and quite tricky in places.

    Edited at 2015-06-10 01:52 pm (UTC)

  14. 20:58 with spinneret and catch-crop unknown.

    I made a bit of a mess of the SE where I had beheld instead of method (if you were carrying, say, a kitten or bundle of wet sticks you might order it to “be held”) until I spotted the lack of an E in the fodder for sail through.

    I had a first day cover of the stamps that were brought out in 1969 to mark the first Concorde flight but a friend helpfully tore the corner off the envelope so I could soak the stamps off and put them in my album.

    Edited at 2015-06-10 01:08 pm (UTC)

    1. An easy clue you should have solved far more quickly, from the acronym:
      Depressingly
      Easy
      Answer
      Needing
      More
      Actual
      Reflection
      Than
      Is
      Necessary
  16. 15m. Some biffed, some unknowns from wordplay. A good mix.
    For me 6dn evoked the very specific anguish you get when someone’s leaving and you want to eat them up, you love them so.

    Edited at 2015-06-10 01:58 pm (UTC)

  17. Does Biffing equally apply to: Bunged In From Checkers BIFC, and Bunged in from Guesswork BIFG, both of which I have some experience of? Most days. Also, does Biffing equally apply to entering the wrong answer (but you haven’t worked out why properly) or does it have to be the right answer to qualify as a Biff?
    1. No, biffing should only apply when the solver can see the definition but not the wordplay. Bunging in a guess from checkers is just that, a guess. An answer that fits the wordplay but is actually incorrect has been known as a MOMBLE (which isn’t an acronym), although it hasn’t been used for a while.
      1. I love the fact that we are already on to discussions about correct and incorrect usage. 😉
      2. I was thinking that as the inventor of the word, grestyman might have a view but then I have a vague recollection of a story where a class was analysing and deconstructing a piece of literature and one of those present said that as he wrote it, he would be happy to assist. The Lecturer rounded on the author and demanded why he was better placed to deconstruct the language to discover its meaning than anyone else.
        1. I have some sympathy with the don; a writer is invariably a hopeless judge of his own work.
          1. I remember being told that Faulkner, when asked why such and such character in one of his novels did such and such, would say, “I wonder, maybe he …”
      3. I somehow seem to come up with a lot of mombles (limited vocabulary…?), and on Monday I noted that I suspected that the unknown (to me) CATALPA may have been one… Luckily this time it wasn’t!
    2. Bunging in the wrong answer from the definition has been referred to as ‘misbiffing’.
  18. For all the talk of biffing, I thought today’s was another example of fine wordplay right through – the only obscure word for me was CATCH CROP, but everything was nicely in place within 10 minutes. Good puzzle!
  19. This must have been one of the easier ones as I finished it without the need for any cribs or other aids.
  20. Around 30 minutes, with the same unknown words as others have cited holding me back: SPINNERET, CATCH-CROP and where -URED came from. SAIL THROUGH was very tricky to me, for some reason, and only came to mind late. My last one in was the well disguised STEP. I parsed the (k)iss as a (m)iss. Does that mean I have a DNF? Nice puzzle. Regards.
  22. About 46 mins for me as my biffing without being able to parse made me more tentative. I eventually got the kiss in 1a but thanks for explaining SPINNERET, FIGURED and NASAL. I originally guessed AFTER CROP, which didn’t help (does it count as biffing if you biff wrong and then correct by the checkers without knowing the word(s)?). Also, I spent a while with 13d trying to find an anagram of “prime pasture” without the ‘r’s. An enjoyable and fair puzzle. I liked 16d, but the topical 5d was 5d the best. It made me wonder what the verb “Blatter” means, so I looked it up… “To move with a clatter” or “strike repeatedly and noisily”.
  23. DNF for me today, not least because I had “cover-crop” for 15d. My [clearly underadequate] reasoning was that to “get the bill” was to “cover” it (as in “let me get that”/”I’ve got it covered”). Well, now that I see my reasoning in black and white, it really doesn’t look very clever.

    That made QUARTERMASTER impossible, but fails to explain why I didn’t get RESCUER.

    1. I very nearly put in COVER CROP, and if I had thought of your interpretation of get/cover (which seems fine to me) it would have gone in.
  24. I was feeling tired and depressed after a truly horrid day so I’m not too surprised that I struggled with this one; indeed I’m quite surprised that my 14:12 seems to have held up comparatively well against the opposition.

    As usual it took me a while to get going properly. I thought of MATISSE straight away, but failed to twig the ISS so held off from bunging it in. On the other hand CATCH-CROP went straight in as one of the few easy wins, though I’d normally spell it without a hyphen.

    A very fine puzzle by my reckoning. My compliments to the setter.

  25. Thanks for that clarification. I guess that just leaves Biff’s companion, Worked in from Wordplay, to receive an acronymic christening. Or has it had one?

    And I’d not met misbiff before, but now that I have I think I’ve fallen in love.

    Two for inclusion in the next OED? How do we go about that?

  26. We need another acronym – can someone do better than DUDWOC ‘Didn’t understand definition, worked out from cryptic. (eg ‘spinneret’ and ‘catch crop’)
    Geoffrey (long time lurker – must get an avatar)

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