I completed all but 4dn, 18ac and 21dn in 28 minutes but then had a mental block and needed that time again to come up with the remaining answers, finally resorting to aids for 21dn. I’m still wondering whether to cry “foul!” over that one as both ways into the clue require specialist knowledge of the same subject. For Shakespeare scholars it would probably be a write-in but lesser mortals have to take their chance. I reached the point where I didn’t care any more and just wanted to move on. Here’s my blog…
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]
| Across | |
| 1 | In winter covering simple game absorbs silly cow (7) |
| SNOWCAP – SNAP (simple game) contains [absorbs] anagram [silly] of COW | |
| 5 | Epic call to the States that’s endless (7) |
| HOMERIC – HO (call), {a}MERIC{a} (the States) [endless] | |
| 9 | Stupid not to have opening near the tail (3) |
| AFT – {d}AFT (stupid) [not to have opening]. A bit of a loose definition here, I feel, as “aft” specifically refers to the stern of a ship which would never in any circumstances be called “the tail”, so one has to go via another word such as “back” or “rear” to match the definition with the answer. On edit: Thanks to mct for pointing out that “aft” also applies to aeroplanes so “tail” is fine. I should have checked before sounding off because SOED has: Nautical & Aeronautics. In or near or to or towards the stern or tail. | |
| 10 | Holding off briefly, go on green traffic signal, and make to race away (3,2,6) |
| PUT TO FLIGHT – PUTT (go on green – golf), OF{f} [briefly], LIGHT (traffic signal) | |
| 11 | Ship that is carrying good clothing (8) |
| LINGERIE – LINER (ship), containing [carrying] G (good), IE (that is – id est) | |
| 12 | Debrief of work in restaurant (4-2) |
| WASH-UP – Two meanings. I learned the first one quite late in my working life along with many other unnecessary modernisms that people sling around to make themselves feel trendy and with-it. | |
| 15 | Despicable type, little open to love? (4) |
| TOAD – TAD (little) contains [open to] 0 (love) | |
| 16 | Those labouring on jumbo maybe bought drinks and boasted after finally finishing (6,4) |
| GROUND CREW – {finishin}G [finally], ROUND (bought drinks – drinks that have been bought), CREW (boasted). In terms of air travel as indicated by “on jumbo” one might be more likely to think of cabin crew or pilot officers, but of course the ground crew work on a plane in another sense and get it ready for take-off. | |
| 18 | Holy Office is impertinent but no end weird (10) |
| PRIESTHOOD – PRIES (is impertinent), THO’ (but), OD{d} (weird) [no end] | |
| 19 | The legend of Hop-o’-my-Thumb (4) |
| MYTH – Hidden in [of] {hop-o’-}MY-TH{umb} | |
| 22 | Abscond, so busy with one’s feet? (3,3) |
| RUN OFF – If one is so busy one might be said to be “run off one’s feet” | |
| 23 | Man with pasturage rights is our age, almost (8) |
| COMMONER – COMMON ER{a} (our age) [almost] | |
| 25 | Don’t address David familiarly, we are told, and don’t give up (5,3,3) |
| NEVER SAY DIE – DIE sounds like [we are told] “Dai”, a familiar form of David in some parts | |
| 27 | School leavers’ destination? One to France, one to Rome once (3) |
| UNI – UN (one, to France), I (one, to Rome once). “Yew-knee” – a ghastly modernism for “university”. In my less tolerant moments I am tempted to think that anyone who calls it this should not be permitted to attend one. | |
| 28 | Mine’s best chance to refuel (3,4) |
| PIT STOP – PIT’ S (mine’s), TOP (best) | |
| 29 | Determination to have another go at puzzle? (7) |
| RESOLVE – Two meanings with the second one pronounced “re-solve” | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Bulb very bright at last across room (7) |
| SHALLOT – SO (very) + {brigh}T [at last] contains [across] HALL (room) | |
| 2 | Showing off nine tattoos newly created (11) |
| OSTENTATION – Anagram [newly created] of NINE TATTOOS | |
| 3 | Manager retains power element (6) |
| COPPER – COPER (manager) contains [retains] P (power) | |
| 4 | Right attitude turns up in irregular style of government (10) |
| PATRIARCHY – R (right) + AIR (attitude) reversed [turns up] in PATCHY (irregular) | |
| 5 | Trap / pirate chief (4) |
| HOOK – Two definitions. The pirate Captain in Peter Pan. | |
| 6 | Non-English dinners should include fat birds (8) |
| MALLARDS – M{e}ALS (dinners) [non-English] contains [should include] LARD (fat) | |
| 7 | Scrap / paper (3) |
| RAG – Two definitions | |
| 8 | Relish getting out the fifth answer with tool (4-3) |
| CATS-PAW – CATS{u}P (relish) [getting out the fifth – letter], A (answer), W (with). “Catsup” as a variation of “catchup” or “ketchup” is a new one on me, although I see it has been mentioned here in despatches a couple of times without actually appearing as an answer. According to one of the usual sources it’s principally an American term. It sounds somewhat unappetising to me as I’m aware of “cat up” as a dialect expression meaning to vomit. | |
| 13 | Poppy for one gives a regularly-produced poetry book? (5,6) |
| HARDY ANNUAL – A definition by example and a cryptic hint with reference to the writer Thomas HARDY plus ANNUAL (regularly-produced book). Wiki advises that Hardy considered himself principally as a poet although I only know of him as a novelist. | |
| 14 | Not acceptable to be shot stealing old car (3,2,5) |
| OUT OF ORDER – OUTER (shot) containing [stealing] O (old) + FORD (car). An “outer” is a shot in archery and other target sports which hits the outer circle of the bull’s-eye. | |
| 17 | Approving being in a comedy sketch is to invite trouble (3,3,2) |
| ASK FOR IT – A, FOR (approving) in SKIT (comedy sketch) | |
| 18 | Briefly trim and lightly cut vegetable (7) |
| PARSNIP – PAR{e} (trim) [briefly], SNIP (lightly cut) | |
| 20 | She’s admired a couple of drugs (7) |
| HEROINE – HEROIN (drug #1), E (drug #2) | |
| 21 | Shakespearean Lord’s appearance in first word of his play (6) |
| AMIENS – MIEN (appearance) in AS (first word of his play – with “his” referring back to the Shakespearean Lord). I don’t like this clue at all as both ways in require more than a passing knowledge of the same subject. There must be hundreds of Lords in Shakespeare so the most likely route to the answer is by recognising the name from enumeration and checking letters if one happens to know of Lord Amiens in the first place, which I didn’t. The wordplay which ought to provide an alternative route to the answer is decidedly unhelpful as MIEN for “appearance” is not among the synonyms that spring most readily to mind and “first word of his play” is almost useles with its significance only becoming fully apparent in retrospect. It turns out that the work in which the good Lord appears is “As You Like It”, and anyone wondering (as I did) whether the first word of a play is quite the same thing as the first word of the title of a play can be reassured that our setter has both angles covered because the first word spoken in “As You Like It” actually is “As”. | |
| 24 | Buzzer made little noise? (4) |
| WASP – WAS P (made little noise – P, quiet in music) | |
| 26 | Tank is huge, not small (3) |
| VAT – VA{s}T (huge) [not small] | |
Otherwise, I liked this puzzle a great deal, even if it required getting through the second half of a pot of coffee.
AFT (9ac) also applies to aeroplanes, so “near the tail” is OK??
On edit: meant to say, I’m with Jack on “yew-knee” and have moaned about it here before. Mind yew, the swanky-chinless “varsity” is just as bad for different reasons. This is one area where I’m with the Americans who tend to use the more humble word “school”.
Edited at 2016-09-06 12:07 am (UTC)
By coincidence (or had you already seen it for yourself?)”varsity” turns up in one of today’s QC clues?
In my day (or at least in the circles I mixed) in everyday speech we tended to talk about “college” if we wanted to save on the syllables.
Edited at 2016-09-06 04:22 am (UTC)
I found the rest of it pretty difficult too, not at all on my wavelength.
Whenever I see ‘wash-up’, I think of how the lowlifes in Dickens addressed the judge: “Yes, your wash-up!”
That my Galspray Golf career over!
Might 15ac be TWAT!?
horryd Shnghai
I would have been 5 under par on the Galspray Golf handicapping method (move over Duckworth-Lewis) if it hadn’t been for pesky 21D for which I had IMBEDS: “I’m Bedfordshire” (a little known Shakespearean lord)
I’m comfortable with UNI – like it or not it’s now in common parlance, so just grin and bear it.
I’m surprised anyone’s FOI was AMIENS with no checkers. I couldn’t do it with them all. Although I think it is joke.
Edited at 2016-09-06 01:48 am (UTC)
Not sure anyone I know says the entire word “university”. What a waste of syllables! But then I’m from a different place.
Some sympathy for those griping about AMIENS, but as I’m unfamiliar with the play and still managed to solve it, I think I’ll make it COD.
Thanks setter and Jack.
Edited at 2016-09-06 02:03 am (UTC)
So you were one over today. Sorry.
If you didn’t stop for that sip of coffee you’d have been two under.
And you were two over today, so one over for the tournament. Still well and truly in the hunt, given the near certainty of Ulaca having a massive choke when the pressure is on.
Thanks to setter and blogger
The recent uni grads (after today I’m tempted to think of them as aft toads) in my office made me all too familiar with WASH-UP,
Thanks for the blog, and especially for the clear discussion of the Amiens problem, Jack.
15 mins for all bar 21 and 23, so could have been the crossword equivalent of a 62 at the Majors.
Another who got AMIENS from the wordplay, since, though I’ve read around 25 of Shakespeare’s plays, I can never remember character names, unless they are Becky Sharp, and she’s not even in the canon.
And 13d was almost as TLSy. Of course Hardy would rather have been a novelist, but the critical savaging of his work was such that he went off in a huff and just wrote poetry for the last few decades of his life, or at least that’s how I seem to remember it.
PS. There’s a school of thought (to which I incline) that Hardy’s poems are better than his novels. At any rate I’m prepared to recite The Choirmaster’s Burial and/or Lizbie Brown at you from memory should you drop a hat.
Edited at 2016-09-06 10:59 pm (UTC)
I was thinking (in a muddled fashion) more of plays that I might reasonably expect a youngster to have some acquaintance with these days. Much as we all love JC I can’t remember it having made an appearance in popular culture for years, whereas you still get, e.g. R&J films starring Leo di Caprio, Hamlet with David Tennant, Midsummer Night’s Dream done for TV by Russell T Davies, etc. AYLI and Winter’s Tale just feel way off that radar at this point, for better or worse…
The rest of the grid was fine, with a tip of the hat to the ANNUAL
I’m getting annoyed with being caught out by ‘common era’ every time it comes up, so I’m writing ‘common era’ here twice in the hope it will stick. In fact, I’ll write it again. Common era.
As for Lord Amiens … I’m also a TLS blogger but have admitted that, like a good Swiss cheese, my Shakespeare is mostly holes. I love Shakespeare’s writing but don’t much like his plays (bit long, bit silly), and have only lately stopped pretending I do.
I was going to gripe about the clue but as others got it without knowing the references I suppose there’s no excuse.
p.s. jackkt, your entry for AMIENS is a little masterpiece. Thank you.
Edited at 2016-09-06 07:21 am (UTC)
Ah well. As someone who spent most of his education learning about computers, I do have to accept that there will occasionally be more classical heights of Times puzzles that I won’t be reaching…
(Loved 24a, by the way…)
Edited at 2016-09-06 07:30 am (UTC)
There are a couple of very slick clues here to make up for it, such as 20dn and 23ac
Edited at 2016-09-06 08:03 am (UTC)
Edited at 2016-09-06 08:33 am (UTC)
AYLI is a marvellous play. At one point Rosalind is pretending to be Ganymede, who is pretending to be Rosalind, pretending to be Ganymede…and of course the actor would have been male. See it if you can. Thanks jack and setter
Edited at 2016-09-06 10:04 am (UTC)
The ‘debrief’ meaning of 12ac rang a bell, but it was so faint that I didn’t dare put it in until I had all the checkers. I wonder if it has appeared in one of these puzzles at some point. CATS PAW didn’t ring even the faintest of bells.
Henry inside used to be at university debrief (4-2)
26374
Alan
Edited at 2016-09-06 12:05 pm (UTC)
Given that 13:10 is within 2 whole minutes of my 12′ handicap I’m signing my card as a par round (pending clarification from the committee) so I’m still 4 under for the tournament.
On edit:
Tournament referee (the toad) insists I’m 1 over today so 3 under overall.
Edited at 2016-09-06 12:35 pm (UTC)
45 minutes to finish the crossword, a little longer for the soup.
SE most difficult, took some minutes to get 23ac, and it was only then that I got 21dn – a name vaguely recalled with the wordplay then revealing which play was relevant. Although I knew the work, I’ve no memory of that character, where what’s particularly noteworthy is (as mentioned above) that we have Rosalind (a female actor playing what would have been a male in a female role) disguised as a man, pretending to be Orlando’s girl.
On “uni” – I couldn’t abide it for a long time, but I suppose I’m begrudgingly getting used to it now. Back in the 80s no-one would’ve dared to use this “word”.