Times Cryptic 26690

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
There were some quite tricky bits and pieces here, I thought, but nothing to delay me beyond 29 minutes so it ranks at the easier end of the scale. [ I experienced problems posting this via the scheduler (delayed posting error 156, whatever that means) so I had to post it again manually. If anyone else has experienced this please mention it below. Also anyone who plans to use the scheduler may need to be aware.] Now explained and sorted thanks to McText (below).


As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]V2

Across
1 Where speed restricted by a third in Dibden Purlieu, at turning (5-2,4)
BUILT-UP AREA –   Anagram [turning] of A {di}B{den} [third in…] PURLIEU AT. The reference to the place in Hampshire was completely lost on me as I have never heard of it. I’m not sure if the answer here is used overseas, but in the UK it means an area that’s predominantly covered  by housing. It’s referred to sometimes with regard to traffic regulations, especially speed restrictions, so according to the Highway Code the speed limit in a built-up area is automatically taken to be 30 MPH unless otherwise indicated by signage.
7 In centre, appear with deadly beggar (3)
PEW – {ap}PE{ar} [centre], W (with). This is a reference to Blind Pew, a character in R L Stephenson’s Treasure Island who is described as a vicious deadly beggar. A bit obscure perhaps, though if one has read the book or seen one of the many screen adaptations there is a chilling early scene in which Blind Pew delivers the “black spot” to Billy Bones in the Admiral Benbow Inn which is not easily forgotten.
9 Girl involves Arab in obsession (9)
MONOMANIA – MONA (girl) contains [involves] OMANI (Arab)
10 Elderly assistant perhaps about to enter saloon? (5)
CARER – RE (about) is contained by [to enter] CAR (saloon?)
11 Doctor boarding for South Africa and island republic (7)
FORMOSA – MO (doctor) is contained by [boarding] FOR SA (South Africa)
12 Identical notes about right uranium mass: it’s radioactive stuff (7)
TRITIUM – TI TI (identical notes) contain [about] R (right), U(uranium), M (mass). My knowledge of -IUM words is limited to those that appear in Tom Lehrer’s song”The Elements” and a few that have been “discavard” since it was written. But apparantly tritium doesn’t qualify as an element so it’s not listed there and I relied upon wordplay and checkers to find it for myself.
13 Yen to join German eight in fast boat (5)
YACHT – Y (yen – currency), ACHT (German eight)
15 One to march or stroll with old woman, breaking leg (9)
ORANGEMAN – RANGE (stroll) MA (old woman) contained by [breaking] ON (leg – cricket). Orange parades are a traditional part of the culture in Northern Ireland though viewed by some as a divisive one.
17 Daughter accompanies mysterious Sumerian nanny (9)
NURSEMAID – Anagram [mysterious] of SUMERIAN, D (daughter)
19 Scream he produced, almost stabbed by knight (5)
MUNCH – MUCH (almost) containing [stabbed by] N (knight – chess). I’ve not managed to come up with an example where “almost” directly corresponds with “much” so I’m hoping somebody else can. The nearest I can get is where “much” = “almost all”. The painting reference is clear. On edit, thanks to my colleague Roly for coming up with the example “much/almost the same” which fits perfectly.
20 Little girl in factory sent back poor parts (4,3)
SKID ROW – DI (little girl) in WORKS (factory), all reversed [sent back]. Poor parts of a town.
22 Spell has power to wrong-foot (7)
CANTRIP – CAN (has power to), TRIP (wrong-foot). This word came up very recently.
24 Use excellent line with King James Bible (5)
AVAIL – AV (King James Bible – Authorised Version),  AI (excellent), L (line)
25 Send back additional mould: about time! (9)
EXTRADITE – EXTRA (additional), DIE (mould) containing [about] T (time)
27 Moor one to stop the Arabian Lawrence? (3)
TIE – I (one) contained by [to stop] TE (the Arabian Lawrence – Thomas Edward)
28 Journal with influence that keeps work down (11)
PAPERWEIGHT – PAPER (journal), WEIGHT (influence) with a cryptic hint as our only definition. On edit: I originally indicated “keeps work down” as the definition but I have now included “that” as part of it, which I agree with Mctext (see below) makes the definition a bit stronger.
Down
1 Poor in Knock denied pence (3)
BUM – BUM{p} (knock) [denied pence – P). I think this has to be an adjective to correspond with “poor”, as in “a bum deal”. I was a little puzzled by the strange surface reading and the capital K but I think “the knock” (with or without a capital) is something to do with obtaining credit fraudulently without the ability or intention to repay what one owes.
2 Film director’s beginning to go red (5)
INNER – {w)INNER (film director – Michael) [beginning to go]. Calm down dear! This is the red innermost part of a target in archery etc.
3 Solicitor eats one half of meal in break (4-3)
TIME-OUT – TOUT (solicitor) contains [eats] I (one) ME{al} [half]
4 No place as rowdy as Floridian location (9)
PENSACOLA – Anagram [rowdy] of NO PLACE AS
5 Criticize Prospero as tiresome part (5)
ROAST – Hidden in [part] {Prospe}RO AS T{iresome}
6 Chagrin provoked in making bow (7)
ARCHING – Anagram [provoked] of CHAGRIN
7 Sweet fruit for each male zealous apostle entertains (9)
PERSIMMON – PER (for each), SIMON (zealous apostle) contains [entertains] M (male). I’ve never eaten one and the dictionaries I looked at don’t mention the fact, so I take on trust that it merits “sweet” as part of its definition.
8 Craft holds king and staff in profound admiration (11)
WORKMANSHIP – K (king) MAN (staff) in WORSHIP (profound admiration)
11 Initial advantage / Wrights gave us? (6,5)
FLYING START – Two definitions, one figurative, the other cryptic with reference to the aviation pioneers.
14 Fresh garlic tea that lets joints move freely (9)
CARTILAGE –  Anagram [fresh] of GARLIC TEA
16 Sailor given lash inside fashion house? I give up! (9)
ABDICATOR – AB (sailor), CAT (lash) inside DIOR (fashion house)
18 Piece that comforts listener from Scots, picked up on circuit (7)
EARFLAP – FRAE (from – Scots) reversed [picked up], LAP (circuit). We had “brae” last week” and “gang” for “go”; what next, I wonder?
19 Order two parts needed for a friend? (7)
MANDATE –  M AND ATE are two parts of the word MATE (friend)
21 Youngster needs encouragement after sorrow, ultimately (5)
WHELP – {sorro)W [ultimately], HELP (encouragement)
23 Sorry about official decision that excludes fifty (5)
RUING – RU{l}ING (official decision) [excludes fifty- L]
26 Little creature went without starter (3)
EFT – {l}EFT (went) [without starter]. Two deletions of L in consecutive clues!

67 comments on “Times Cryptic 26690”

  1. I could have been a bit quicker if I hadn’t lost the grid with one word left, and if I’d been quicker to determine that 2d had to be INNER (DNK the director, DNK the darts reference). EARFLAP biffed (after noting that ‘earplug’ made no sense); DNK ‘frae’. I don’t recall CANTRIP, but it had a vaguely familiar feel, and it parsed, so. I thought the Orange marches were intended to be divisive.
  2. Never try an under-ripe PERSIMMON. You will not be able to salivate for a week!
    Agree with Kevin that FRAE is a bit hard to work with. But in retrospect, it seems fine.
    The clue for PAPERWEIGHT works a bit better if “THAT keeps work down” is taken as the def.
    Wasn’t sure about FORMOSA as it would seem to require some kind of indication that it’s an outdated usage.
    Could “Knock” (1dn) refer to the town in County Mayo?

    Jack: the scheduler may not have worked because LJ has new terms and conditions that must be accepted before you can post.

    Edited at 2017-04-04 12:53 am (UTC)

    1. Thanks for the suggestion re the scheduler which I have tested and proved to be correct.

      Also re the definition PAPERWEIGHT and I have now included “that” as part of it in the blog.

  3. Held up by a few, including 2d which I didn’t put in despite an alphabet trawl turning up no other possibilities, so a DNF in a bit over an hour. 7a was also a frustrating 3-letter roadblock before I remembered PEW as a baddie from somewhere. CANTRIP has been a getting a bit of a work-out in various places lately. I liked the defs for MUNCH and PAPERWEIGHT and my favourite, the word play for MANDATE.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  4. 7dn Mr. McText has that one bang-on! An unripe one is indescribably nasty. The Chinese buy ’em by the boxload at CNY. Best avoided.
    As is the usage of 11ac FORMOSA hereabouts! Beijing does not approve – it’s TAIWAN OK DONALD!?(

    Talking of whom – Putin America First – is a rather amusing bumper sticker – now available for all good Dems. (China doesn’t use bumper-stickers.)

    Mai je digresse – 30 mins on the nail!

    FOI 11ac and a flying start with FLYING START

    LOI 2dn INNER – Michael Winner! Yikes!

    COD 4dn PENSACOLA WOD PERSIMMON

      1. Not where I come from (UC), Alec. One never ever addressed or referred to a prof as Dr. X or Prof. X.
        1. Here, we tend to use the British conventions where, for example, Professor is a high rank and Dr is an earned title via qualification. I understand that all university staff (“faculty”?) in the US are “professors”. And that there’s a tendency to put “PhD” following a name in written communications. The British/Australian alternative at least has the benefit of being a way out of gendered titles.

          Personally, I’m with the Quakers on titles … let’s do away with the lot! “Alec” is fine by me! Good enough for my mother; good enough for everyone else.

          1. 19th-century British observers were often amused by the American use of ‘gentleman’ to mean ‘male person’: ‘That gentleman in the red cap will take your luggage.’
  5. Like Kevin I DNK either “Winner” or “inner” as a red ring. I think it is poor for the clue to introduce a possibility that the answer is a proper name (film director) when the actual definition is so obscure.

    DNK “cantrip” but the clue was clear. Did know “frae” so thought that fine too.

    Edited at 2017-04-04 01:51 am (UTC)

    1. Strange! For me it was a write-in. Couldn’t forget The Big Sleep (1978): Winner at his very best. And being the world’s worst darts player, I used to dream of scoring a red.
    2. I agree. I have never heard of the film director (OK that’s just ignorance on my part) but the red=inner is in neither the ODO, OED or Chambers.

      Dereklam

      1. It’s in Collins:
        Inner
        7. Also called : red (archery)
        a.
        the red innermost ring on a target
        b.
        a shot which hits this ring

        Although I’ve not heard any official statement on it recently, the Concise Oxford and Collins have in the recent past been considered the principal sources for the Times Cryptic with occasional input from Chambers. When checking something I nearly always go to Collins first as I’ve found it can save a lot of time.

        1. That is not unexpected and confirms a view I have held for sometime that Collins (like patriotism) is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
  6. 18:53. Another tough one, I thought. My first answer was YACHT and I had a pretty sparsely-populated grid after my first pass throught the clues. It all had to be put together quite painstakingly.
    Nothing terribly obscure, although I had somehow managed to forget CANTRIP, and it occurred to me that if you haven’t heard of PENSACOLA (not exactly the best-known city in the world) you could easily go wrong with the anagram fodder.
  7. Is there a case for CANTRAP at 22ac? It’s at least as good as CANTRIP for the definition, and “trap” for “wrong-foot” isn’t much of a stretch. The second definition I can see for “wrong-foot” online is “put (someone) in a difficult situation….”.

    Have to say I entered it without much trepidation. Also have to say I’d argue the case more strenuously if I hadn’t already messed up with ENT. Got a feeling I’ve made that mistake before. Mind you, ents are creatures, and they’re little creatures if you’re the size of a mountain, so…. nah, didn’t think so.

    CANTRAP though? Hmmmm.

    Thanks setter and Jack.

    1. I found CANTRAP as an alternative spelling in a couple of on-line dictionaries but it’s not in any of the usual sources which suggests it might not be accepted by a Times adjudicator, but who knows? Collins offers CANTRAIP as an alternative.
      1. CANTRIP last came up here in a puzzle I blogged on 31 Jan this year (#26636)

    2. Yep, I had cantrap too 🙁

      And I biffed Pondarosa (sp?), which I vaguely knew as some US place, and forgot to go back and check.

      All others went in slowly but surely, was glad to finish with the two in bottom right in about 50 or so minutes.

  8. I have heard of Pensacola but faced with P_N_A____ I biffed PANHANDLE, thinking that it seemed a little obscure for a UK puzzle.

    I thought FORMOSA a bit odd, wondering if it was still offiicially the name of the island as opposed to the country, but even if that were true (it seems not) it still was worded oddly.

    MUNCH was my last one in, with the literal hidden in plain sight but MUCH not exactly something I thought of for “almost” because I agree it isn’t really. That was after getting MANDATE which I also thought odd, along the lines of if you are a woman (or gay) you need a MAN and a DATE.

  9. 14:16 … fairly comfortable experience, though I hesitated over whether it was CANTRIP or a galsprayan CANTRAP.

    Very smart, economical cluing. I especially liked SKID ROW.

    How on earth did the setter come up with the Dibden Purlieu anagram?? It is indeed an actual village (in Hampshire) which makes me wonder if this setter also contributes those ‘gazetteer’ Concise puzzles with ninas involving unlikely sounding villages.

  10. Thought Pensacola at 4d was not really fair as it is impossible to know what the right answer is if you haven’t heard of this city; I really don’t think it counts as GK for us Brits. Other than that, some nice clues.
    1. Nor for Australians. This was my one error, guessing at PENCALOSA. It sort of has a Spanish ring to it, no?

      Edited at 2017-04-04 01:54 pm (UTC)

  11. Cheated on 1a (tied myself in knots trying to work out 1/3 of Dibden Purlieu backwards), 2d, 18d and technically 22a as I put control, before seeing
    can trip. Finishing with LOI 8d workmanship.

    Couldn’t parse, 15a (range), 19a (much/almost), 24a I had rv for king james bible, and 19d all I could think of was man + date = friend…

    dnk eft, pew, frae, simon = zealous apostle.
    red/archery: isn’t the inner bit gold?

    COD 20a skid row.

    Edited at 2017-04-04 07:31 am (UTC)

    2. I should have said “innermost ring” rather than “innermost part”. In archery the inner or red is the innermost ring next to the bulls-eye (which is, as you say, gold).
  12. I struggled with this one, with only six clues falling in my first half-hour. Poor sleep and a headache weren’t helping. Still, I managed to wrestle myself onto the wavelength in the end, and finished the lot in seventy minutes.

    Glad others are similarly nonplussed by “much”. FOI ROAST, I think, LOI EARFLAP. I suppose my COD should be MANDATE, now I’ve been told how it works!

    Plenty of stuff on the edges of my GK: I’ve never learned to count in German; PENSACOLA was only just in my ken (possibly from watching Dexter or CSI: Miami); FORMOSA only vaguely known, etc. At least I knew TRITIUM…

    On the whole, glad I got through unscathed.

    Personally, I love a persimmon. Definitely worth a try. Some varieties might be seen in your grocer as a “sharon” or “kaki” fruit. As others have said, wait until they’re ripe, but that’s okay: they’re not like pears, where you only have a microsecond of opportunity. They’re pretty obviously soft and juicy when they’re ready, and they stay in that range for a good few days.

    Edited at 2017-04-04 07:51 am (UTC)

  13. Not too keen on some of this. The FORMOSA clue needs an indication of out of date usage. PENSACOLA is too obscure to be clued by anagram – a recurring gripe. At 1D “on the knock” is old 1930s slang for buying by hire purchase – I don’t see “Knock” on its own as working. Found much of the rest a bit of a joyless slog. Well blogged Jack
      1. Sorry Alec but I have doubts about that – from Google I see there are villages in Scotland and County Mayo as you suggest but all far too obscure surely?
    2. It might alll have been different if Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters had been allowed to release -‘Drinkin’ Pepsi Cola down in Pensacola’ sometime back in the forties.
      1. Didn’t the Andrew Sisters sing “Rum and Coca-Cola”? I’d have to have something stronger to drink than either to keep me longer than 5 minutes in Pensacola, or anywhere else in Florida, for the matter of that.
        1. They did indeed! (Cola Wars!)

          Oh! We’re drinkin’ Pepsi Cola
          Down in Pensacola, havin’ a wonderful time!
          Wishin’, you weren’t missin’,
          Splishin’, spashin’, fishin’ for a marlin!
          We’ll soon be home, my darlin’,
          Till then we’re drinkin’ Pepsi Cola
          Down in Pensacola, with a twist of lime an’. .
          . . . havin’ a wond-er-ful time!

          1. That’s Pepsi; I was thinking of Coke; “Drinking rum and coca-cola/….. working for the Yankee dollar”. Seems like a conflict of interest here.
            1. I read somewhere that in the Kinks song “Lola”, it originally had “…where you drink champagne and it tastes just like Coca-Cola” but the company threatened legal action, and they had to change it to “cherry cola”.
  14. 31′, with struggle on CANTRIP and misparsing of MANDATE as MAN + DATE. Hampshire ref passed me by also. Good to finish. Thanks jack and setter.
  15. I shared some of Jimbo’s quibbles about this rather irritating puzzle, and had one of my own (the “range” = “stroll” device at 15AC). I don’t think we’re likely to hear the Sage of Dorset describing a puzzle as “a range in the park”.
  16. Finished in just under half an hour with CANTRIP selected over cantrap as more to do with legs. Did not remember PEW which was not altogether surprising since I read Treasure Island in 1956, but cryptic was clear. Had Simon mellowed from his Zealot days? I’m reading Emmanuel Carrère’s The Kingdom at the moment, which is brilliant. 19a being set by Yoda meant I took a while to scream. The Liverpudlian ORANGEMEN would invade Southport to march on 12 July, a night to go to a pub in Birkdale or Churchtown. It was always called Formosa in my youth when Chiang Kai Shek was leader. We’d call it the AV rather than the King James then, and would have expected PENSACOLA to be a drink. COD FLYING START although Dibden Purlieu must deserve its day in the sun with that name. Enjoyable. Thank you Jack and setter.
  17. You beat me to it rolytoly. Much the same = almost the same without controversy I feel, and one thing I’ve learnt about crosswords is that as the synonymy is usually correct in The Times, it’s worth pondering a while before getting annoyed.

    Some really good stuff here, with the amazing Dibden Purlieu clue having me quite shocked: surely only people from the New Forest know what a purlieu is, or where DP is, and here someone has made a clue out of it?

    Thanks both, I enjoyed puzzle and blog.

  18. I found this tough going, the last several clicking in at the last minute to finish at 45 min on the button. A couple of minutes were spent thinking about the possibility of a clue elsewhere in the crossword saying “Correct pronunciation of 19d?” Unfortunately it’s pronounced ee-mendate, so the answer’s no.

    My logic for “much = almost” was “much the same = almost the same”. Thanks setter and Jack.

  19. 29 minutes, thus breaking a run of 40-somethings. I rather enjoyed this [but then I have little discrimination and enjoy most Times puzzles :)].

    Of the quibbles raised, thanks to rolytoly for pointing out the obvious re ‘almost/much’ (the 9th entry in Collins online); I happen to know Pensacola and am not doctrinaire about cluing unusual words with anagrams, so that just about passes muster; I’m putting ‘Knock’ down to either an editing error or the setter/editor combo wanting to get a rise out of comments sites getting all hot under the collar about it and coming up with ingenious Googled solutions; then finally Formosa being clued as an ‘island republic’ – well, it was one for less than six months in 1895, and are all ex POTUSes and ex PMs specified as such? Plus, it may rankle the Communists in PRC, which is always a good thing.

    I was interested in Kevin’s mordant comment about the Orangemen marches. A young CS Lewis (born and bred in Belfast) absolutely detested the things, and wrote in a letter that they were sort of thing (together with Yeats’s early poetry and plays) that could turn him into a Republican. A far cry from the man portrayed in Tolkien’s suppressed portrait of his erstwhile friend called ‘Ulsterior Motive’.

    And, while I have the floor, may I say how nice it was to see Simon the Zealot appear? Maybe next up the disciple/follower Nathanael, who when told that the Messiah hailed from Nazareth came up with the immortal line, ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ Now we know where Monty Python got all their best jokes from.

    1. Was surprised at the rush to pile in on old JRR last week, but perhaps I was missing some of the subtext. Fascinating.
      1. Well, in very simple and rather one-eyed terms, things started going downhill in their relationship when Lewis became very friendly with Charles Williams in 1940. A little later Lewis achieved what became great fame (cover of Time in 1947) as a Christian author, which Tolkien as a Catholic could never come to terms with in a layman. Then in 1957 (from memory) Lewis married a divorced woman. This was something of the final nail for Tolkien. Interestingly, Joy, Lewis’s wife, became good friends with Tolkien’s wife before her early death in 1960.

        In a letter written after Lewis’s death three years later, Tolkien called him the most uncompromisingly honest man he’d ever known – penning Ulsterior Motive at around the same time, perhaps.

  20. I was never going to finish this, as too many completely unknowns (PENSACOLA, EFT etc), combined with a regular problem with solving on iPad via The Times app that there are no indications of hyphens in the enumerations. Hum Ho.
  21. No quibbles with this, apart from the need for ‘old’ before island republic’. Didn’t know Pensacola but the most likely anagram when the checkers are in. Knock’s well enough known for its shrine I’d have thought. 24’18. 16’s surface nice, if one isn’t too close up. What with that and the breaking of the leg and the scream at the point of being stabbed, one wonders if some of these setters need help, perish the thought… – joekobi
  22. 46:48 but one error with a careless WORKMENSHIP. Should’ve proof read more carefully! Didn’t know PENSACOLA or CANTRIP, but guessed correctly from checkers. Blind PEW raised a smile and I liked FLYING START. Knew the Shrine at Knock and the alms reference but it still seems like a weird clue. Struggled to get going and TRITIUM was my FOI, with CANTRIP bringing up the rear and TRIP chosen as it seemed more likely to indicate wrong footing. Spotted the FRAE bonny Scotland reference. Thanks setter and Jack.
  23. I quite enjoyed this – I didn’t time myself but it would have been less than 30 mins. PEW was no problem as I share a surname with a character in Treasure Island and am very familiar with it (the names of the pub and the doctor have fortunately also been questions in the last two pub quizzes I have attended). CANTRIP is a word I only associate with crosswordland.
  24. Picking up on previous comments, it was front and centre in the “who lost China” debate in the McCarthy era. And of course, speaking of Orangemen, DJT got the whole Taiwan/China thing garbled in his first inter-action with the Chinese, so what could possibly go wrong in the big powwow this week?

    Hastily leaving that topic – Today’s Guardian by Vlad features the following: Across 1. Bit of a setback for brownie lovers (7) SNAFFLE. I thought it felt awfully familiar and yes we had it just last Thursday as: “Bit of a twist for Tolkien lovers”. 19.31

    1. I take comfort in the fact that at this point no-one, least of all the Chinese, can possibly take Trump seriously.
  25. Having struggled to get a good start I cheated on the Floridan anagram. I am sure people know this place well but my immediate reaction was what the F. So rather than waste my time on this I am just back from a lovely cycle ride. I’m afriad this sort of puzzle doesn’t float my boat. My problem no doubt but I may give the QC a go later.

  26. I had no trouble with PEW, having taken that part in a stage performance of “Treasure Island”. I had one eye closed throughout, and the other covered with a black eyepatch with dozens of tiny holes drilled in it to avoid the classic error of the amateur stage – “don’t bump into the furniture”.
  27. No subtext from me. I tried to read the books, and found them really dull. Just a personal opinion though, I certainly don’t begrudge anyone their enjoyment.
    1. May I recommend Bored of The Rings a wonderful 1969 parody?
      I seem to remember the elf crossing the Ngaio Marshes in search of the Zazu Pitts.

      Are you attending on 12 April in London?

          1. Yes. I should arrive at about 1730 and have to leave by 2030.

            I’ll carry a copy of The Times.

  28. 27 mins. I had all but five done in a reasonable time but then I ground to a halt. I finally got going again when PEW fell into place, but I’m really annoyed with myself for not immediately seeing with=W once again. After that I got WORKMANSHIP, CANTRIP, MANDATE and finally MUNCH.

    I needed quite a few checkers before PENSACOLA fell into place even though I’ve heard of it. As far as the Knock in the clue for 1dn is concerned I’m 99.9% certain the setter capitalised it so the Irish place name made the surface reading make some kind of sense. The fact that some people find it obscure is neither here nor there, IMHO.

  29. About 20 minutes, with CANTRIP from wordplay, and ending with INNER after finally having several years worth of darts references sink in. Although I still can’t recall whatever you call that thing on the floor. EARFLAP went in with a shrug, too, as ‘frae’ doesn’t mean anything to me. As you might expect, though, no problem with PENSACOLA. Regards.
  30. A DNF for me in about 30 mins. FOI persimmon though I’m not sure I would know one if I saw one. Thanks to the blogger for the parsing of 1ac which I biffed without working out the anagram fodder. Wrong-footed by 22ac at the last. I feel that cantrip was gettable but unfortunately I got fixated on looking at “power” in isolation to clue “P” and struggled to discard this erroneous parsing even though it yielded no results. Disappointing because “has power to” to clue “can” is no great stretch.
  31. Well, I didn’t really stand a chance on this one. I couldn’t see what INNER could possibly have to do with red, so I simply invented a few VIPs, MILNER, the famous director of some obscure film I didn’t want to see, and ILNER the well-known (well not really) Russian revolutionary. After that it didn’t really matter much that I also had a typing error, with an O instead of a P at the end of CANTRIP and WORKMANSHIP. Must play darts when I next get a chance.
    At least on my (original) side of the pond PENSACOLA was no problem.

    Edited at 2017-04-04 10:23 pm (UTC)

  32. I’m with those who found this one irritating, for all the reasons given.
  33. For the avoidance of doubt the centre of any target is the “bull” — the ring around the bull is the “inner”, the next ring is the “magpie” and the last is (unsurprisingly ) the “outer”. Kind regards, Mark Smann

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