Times Cryptic 26912

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

My solving time for this was an hour, give or take a minute, but it was actually a case of DNF as I resorted to aids for the unknown plant at 11ac (1 of 5 plant references today). There were a few other unknowns along the way but I followed the logic in those clues and got away with them.

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 Globe-trotting pleasure-seeker’s black dog (3-6)
JET-SETTER – JET (black), SETTER (dog)
6 Notes written about island capital (5)
SOFIA – SO+FA (notes) containing [written about] I (island). The capital of Bulgaria.
9 Grass — giving rise to great alarm! (5)
PANIC – Double definition, the first only known to me  from crosswords
10 Convenient haven in old Indian city (9)
OPPORTUNE – PORT (haven) contained by O (old) + PUNE (Indian city – known as Poona in the days of the Raj)
11 Tyneside boss fencing in large aquatic plant (7)
NELUMBO – NE (Tyneside) + UMBO (boss) containing [fencing in] L (large). I used aids for this plant which has only come up once before in my time at TftT, in 2009. It turns out that I knew UMBO as the boss on a shield but have not seen it for ages and it didn’t come to readily mind.
12 Hanger-on heading off with American force (7)
IMPETUS – {l}IMPET (hanger-on) [heading off], US (American)
13 Plant found in ravines by seabird with style (7,7)
CHINESE LANTERN – CHINES (ravines),  ELAN (style), TERN (seabird). CHINE has come up before but I struggled to remember it; SOED reminds me that it refers specifically to natural phenomena to be found on the Isle of Wight and in Jimbo’s county of residence, Dorset. According to Wikipedia disambiguation there are at least 5 different plants that are known by this name.
17 Boxer possibly mends tan briefs badly (4,4,6)
MANS BEST FRIEND – Anagram [badly] of MENDS TAN BRIEFS. Coming  on top of 1ac methinks our setter may be a dog-lover.
21 Gawky being ultimately cut out for relaxing sport? (7)
ANGLING – {g}ANGLING (gawky) [{bein}G, ultimately cut out] . Whether this is relaxing may depend on whether one is successful at it and at which end of the rod one finds oneself.
23 Excursion a firm provides for colourful bird (7)
TOURACO – TOUR (excursion), A, CO (firm). Another unknown to me but gettable from wordplay.
25 Murderer a Trojan prince observed, according to report (9)
PARRICIDE – Sounds like (according to report) “Paris” (Trojan prince) + “eyed” (observed). The killing of a parent or close relative or, as here, the person who commits the act. Another word I’m not very well acquainted with and has come up here only once before – again in 2009. ‘Matricide’ and ‘patricide’ are more familiar and specific terms for the killing of a parent.
26 Arab, one fronting endless attack without question (5)
IRAQI – I (one), RAI{d} (attack) [endless] containing [without – outside] Q (question)
27 State capital’s second month without alcoholic drink (5)
SALEM – S (second) + M (month) containing [without – outside] ALE (alcoholic drink). The state capital of Oregon.
28 Like a tomboy’s call to attract man by hotel (9)
HOYDENISH – HOY (call to attract), DENIS (man), H (hotel). I knew ‘hoyden’ only from previous puzzles but have never seen HOYDENISH before.
Down
1 A power held by fellow in charge of a flowering shrub (8)
JAPONICA – A + P (power) contained [held] by JON (fellow), IC (in charge), A. Jon, if short for Jonathan, is also the fellow in charge around here!
2 In Princeton, a likely description of much traditional music (5)
TONAL – Hidden in {Prince}TON A L{ikely}
3 Impedes new copper prodding remains of fire (9)
ENCUMBERS – N (new) + CU (copper) contained by [prodding] EMBERS (remains of fire)
4 Book about setting up of broadcast item, possibly (7)
TWOSOME – TOME (book) containing [about] SOW (broadcast) reversed [setting up]
5 Copy beginning of record I found in unexpected place (7)
REPLICA – R{ecord} [beginning], then I contained by [found in] anagram [unexpected] of PLACE. Thinking of EP as ‘record’ caused something of a diversion here.
6 Tantrum left parents finally upset (5)
STROP – PORT (left) + {parent}S [finally] reveresed [upset]. We had STROP on my watch last week in connection with “pet”, another word for a fit of pique.
7 Healthy old actor catching game for supplier of healthy food (5,4)
FRUIT TREE – FIT (healthy) containing [catching] RU (game), TREE (old actor). Oh dear, I had thought they’d finally laid to rest this old geezer, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree,  whom nobody outside of crosswords has thought of in many a decade. But no, he’s been exhumed once again for our delight, 100 years and 5 months since his demise and looking decidedly unhealthy, I imagine!
8 States 18 opposed (6)
AVERSE – AVERS (states), E (English, see 18dn)
14 Speech made by new president during month on river? (9)
INAUGURAL – IN (during), AUG (month), URAL (river)
15 Corrupt squire out to get semiprecious stone (9)
TURQUOISE – Anagram [corrupt] of SQUIRE OUT
16 Censure maiden cutting beautiful youth on horse (8)
ADMONISH – M (maiden) contained by [cutting] ADONIS (beautiful youth), H (horse)
18 Language no good in priest’s hole, initially? (7)
ENGLISH – NG (no good) in ELI’S (priest’s), H{ole} [initially]
19 Insecure title oddly held by right-winger (7)
TOTTERY – T{i}T{l}E [oddly] contained [held] by TORY (right-winger)
20 Eccentric son at university going over grounds (6)
CAMPUS – CAM (eccentric), S (son) + UP (at university) reversed [going over]
22 Man absorbing woman’s artistic style (5)
IDIOM – IOM (Man – Isle of) containing [absorbing] DI (woman)
24 Taxi turns up in main road? They can be counted on (5)
ABACI – CAB (taxi) reversed [turns up] in A1 (main road). There are lots of A1 roads around the world to choose from but the British one connects London with Edinburgh.

52 comments on “Times Cryptic 26912”

  1. I thought the eccentric was just the cam, leaving the p to go with the u to be up. Interesting that it works equally well both ways. I know HBTree because he has blue plaque on Sloane Street in Chelsea, just at one of the bus stops. When traffic is bad, which it often is, the bus can stop to allow considerable time for reflection on the plaque. Otherwise, an hour, needing aids due to knowing neither the boss nor the plant.
    Nice blog.

    Edited at 2017-12-19 02:49 am (UTC)

  2. I read 20d as Paul did, and I wonder if you did, too, Jack, and CAMP is a typo; there’s only the one P. I had exactly the same feeling as Jack did when I saw TREE; oh well, if SA and IT continue to appear, … I think his main claim to fame today would be that he was the half-brother of Max Beerbohm. DNK NELUMBO, but I was sure of the NE and finally remembered UMBO. Also finally remembered STROP, which was irritatingly on the tip of my tongue, as it were, almost from the beginning.
    1. Thanks, Kevin. Yes it was a typo (now corrected). Camp, in that sense, is usually clued by ‘affected’.
  3. I had the TV on and wasn’t in a hurry, so I tried to stick with Down clues for as long as I could. I had 2, 24, 14, 18, 8, 15 and 6 before I couldn’t help but see 27 Across. Got 19 and then suddenly saw 26A. 3D, 9A, and then I stopped keeping track.
    I must know NELUMBO from CrosswordLand, it went in without parsing. For a lot of these, I parsed simultaneously with writing them in. Not sure I’ve ever come across TOURACO before.
    Was surprised that this wasn’t harder for *me* because I didn’t get enough sleep last night after celebrating the beginning of my birthday with a late-night last shot of some very fine Midleton Very Rare Irish whiskey my upstairs neighbors gave me for bringing in their mail for a couple months.

    Edited at 2017-12-19 06:15 am (UTC)

  4. By rights this had all the elements I dislike most: plants, random names, unknown words, obsolete place names and unimaginative old chestnuts (RIP Mr Tree) but do you know what? I really enjoyed it!
    34 minutes in which the crossword muse certainly seemed to have settled on me.
    But do I detect the spectre of hubris hovering overhead?
  5. Even if I’d taken a chance on “Denis”, which I had thought of, and popped in the unknown HOYDENISH, I might still have come a cropper on the unknown PARRICIDE (where I was thinking some odd construction like a PARAISINE might be plausibly Biblical.) Then again, as I knew neither NELUMBO nor “ubmo” and hadn’t figured out TWOSOME, being hung up on “air” rather than “sow”, or a possible anagram of “emit”…

    On the whole, I did well right up until those last four, but unknowns, arbitrary names and homophones cluing unknowns was a bit too much for me today.

    Edited at 2017-12-19 07:44 am (UTC)

  6. No time since, like jackkt, I needed aids to get the water plant, ‘umbo’ having either slipped my mind or not having being in it to start with. I could do without the greenery.
  7. 40 mins to DNF by guessing the boss was ‘Ambo’. Meanwhile enjoying toast with blackcurrant jam.

    Too many plants: too many uninvited fellows.

    With regard to Beerbohm Tree, I recently read ‘The Word is Murder’ by Anthony Horowitz. It is quite fun, and a proper whodunnit. Mr Tree crops up as it seems that a ‘Tree’ is the name given to an end-of-term showcase by drama students.

    Thanks horticultural setter and Jack.

  8. An early solve today must have helped me get through this in 37m, of which I wasted at least 7 or 8 on my last two – the plant and the item, dredging umbo up from some previous puzzle no doubt, but still a guess as I’d never heard of the plant. Then another pause until I remembered to lift and separate (thanks, Jimbo!) and found what I was meant to be looking for – an item.
    Having raced through the first dozen or so in the top half I was hoping for a quick time, but not to be, as ever these days. I’m still clinging to my totally unevidenced theory that since the quickie cryptic came along this daily puzzle has got harder; or is it just a coincidence that the quick cryptic came as I got slower? Certainly I am now rarely below 30m and I think never below 20m, which used to be an occasional boost for the confidence. Thanks for the puzzle, gardening setter and for the blog, Jack.
  9. Apparently I can find a unique way to mess up, having got everything except 13a without too much hassle, then having a light bulb moment as that blue willow pattern thing popped into mind and threw in CHINESE PATTERN hoping that the plant bit was in there somewhere. HOYDEN and UMBO emerged (quite slowly) from the mist of memory, and TOURACOs I have recent pictures of.
    As far as I was concerned, SALEM was the capital of Massachusetts (sorry Oregon) and I put in Paris sighed with shrug, thinking I might just squeeze sighed out of observed if I squinted a bit.
    21 minutes, but too much pink. Thanks Jack for putting me straight.

    1. I thought the same about SALEM but it turns out Massachusetts is one of the rare states whose capital is the city you expect it to be.

      Edited at 2017-12-19 12:31 pm (UTC)

  10. Did somebody turn the clock back 25 years? A real old-school puzzle with our actor friend and a sprinkling of entries from The Crossword Setter’s Book Of Obscure Words (1975 edition). Mostly easy but the last few required some dictionary assistance. Not my cup of tea at all.
  11. I needed to use aids today and still took nearly an hour, despire writing JET SETTER and JAPONICA straight in. I had NEL?M?O but couldn’t remember the shield bit. HOYDENISH wouldn’t come either but I think I knew it once I looked it up. And on 27 across, I felt sure as I wrote it in that SALEM wasn’t the Massachussetts state capital. At least I was right about that. COD to PARRICIDE as I got that one fair and square having rejected Hectorcide. PANIC and TOURACO biffed and constructed respectively. It was a tough puzzle. Thank you J and setter.

    Edited at 2017-12-19 10:07 am (UTC)

  12. After 50 minutes and 2 coffees I had plodded along to have all done except the water plant, NEL*M*O, and couldn’t be a’d to look it up, so a DNF. Had to guess correctly on two others, HOYDENISH, TOURACO. Saw 20d as CAM + S UP reversed. No complaints though, a good Tuesday toughie, if a bit old school,and well blogged jackkt. CoD 8d perhaps. As a Bournemouth boy I went often to Alum Chine so 13a was a nice one.
  13. No trouble with the plants – must be the result of favourite winter pastime poring over plant catalogues. But I got in difficulties in the SW corner being too clever by half with 21a. If “gawky” were to mean “staring” that would give me “goggling”. Remove one G and you get the relaxing sport of “gogling”. I don’t think so. Then I kept trying to make “rumpus” work in 20d. Nope. 17.34
    1. But if you removed the first G instead, you get the hands-free sport of “oggling” which most males traditionally found very relaxing. But post-Harvey Weinstein I guess that’s been elevated from a relaxing to a dangerous sport.
  14. I thought this was going to be purely Mondayish as I wrote 1ac straight in and proceeded to knock down quite a few other clues without much pause… but I didn’t realise we were in for a botany exam! UMBO is known to all Latinists (strangely I never worked out what the word for a “shield boss” was despite reaching an almost equivalent level of French) but I’d never heard of the plant, or the other at 13ac. At least TOURACO was familiar from crosswords in recent years. 9 minutes in total. I would agree that TREE is on the shady side, but if you’re going to employ him, definitely let it be in a puzzle with a significant horticultural element like this one…
  15. Alas, z8b8d8k’s method of screwing up is not unique. Saw ‘style’, bunged in ‘pattern’ and pressed submit at 15.35, foolishly omitting the parsing bit altogether. I like plant clues and, although I had never heard of NELUMBO, stud/boss/umbo are mutually triggering words after years of solving.
  16. Flew for 18′ then crashed on the unknowns NELUMBO and UMBO, deespite having NEL-M-O.Takes away a lot of satisfaction. Thanks jack and setter.
  17. 8:45. I didn’t have much trouble with this, but I did find it annoying. Plants, silly crossword obscurities (including a dreadful double in NELUMBO and ambiguous wordplay for HOYDENISH), Beerbohm Tree for crying out loud. Grumble grumble harrumph.

    Edited at 2017-12-19 12:57 pm (UTC)

  18. 21 min 25 secs with three wrong. Heydenish for Hoydenish. Importune for Opportune and Trigone for Twosome, simply because it fitted.
  19. Well, I got close with “nelambo”, based on the shaky reasoning that there might be a hill, bump or other prominence in Wendens.
    1. I’m joining Dr. Thud’s thread here since he’s used precisely the same title I was planning to use on my post. NELUMBO? A DNF for me, as it wasn’t on the tip of my tongue, nor the tip of my vocabulary, nor anywhere within my experience. Looked it up. Regards.
  20. Same as many with Nelumbo and Hoydenish (I hate Denis as my father Denis called his first son Denis and confusion reigned ever since). I had the checkers -A-T-R- at 13a and was desperately hoping for a clue involving illegitimacy but alas not. So a DNF with two errors in about 40 mins which is still good for me. Let’s hope for a plant-free end to the week. Thanks all
  21. As my Dad taught me Japonica means “from Japan” and could apply to numerous plants – it is not a flowering shrub on its own – you need at least one word with it. A basic error from the setter which is strange as he seems to like plants a lot!
  22. Like others, crashed and burned with aids needed for NELUMO(didn’t know the boss) and TWOSOME(brain dead, had tome but failed to scatter), but still failed with PARRISINE after 51:25. Managed to construct the CHINESE LANTERN using elan and tern, but not knowing chines. Found this a slog rather than a pleasure. Thanks Jack.
  23. 13:30 so in average territory despite all the odd stuff. The only real issue was choosing between HOYDEN and HEYDEN. As I commented on these pages fairly recently I’m prepared to cut old Beerbohm a bit of slack for a few more years as a recent episode of University Challenge brought to light that Mr Tree founded RADA.

    Edited at 2017-12-19 02:57 pm (UTC)

  24. A few put in with fingers crossed, but they were all o.k. Plants are not a strong suit of mine (along with several other areas).
  25. Did everything bar 3 of the plants and hoydenish in 15 mins, then threw in the towel. Never heard of japonica, umbo, palumbo, hoydenish. Knew I was beaten and called it a day. Would probably have got chinese lantern with a bit more thought, but was past caring. No criticism of the setter: I need to mug up on plants. Never heard of touraco either, but wp was generous. Good blog, cheers.

    Edited at 2017-12-19 03:56 pm (UTC)

  26. About 50 minutes with NELUMBO correctly put in from wordplay, so quite pleased to have finished.
    I must take issue with CAM=ECCENTRIC, though this seems to have got itself firmly ensconced in crosswordland. Both convert rotary to linear motion, but a cam allows an arbitrary relationship, whereas an eccentric provides only a (roughly) sinusoidal motion.
    1. Not disagreeing as I have only the vaguest concept of what’s being discussed in technical terms, but I like to know whether the blame for any inaccuracy lies with the setter or the lexicographers so I consulted the usual sources.

      Under ‘cam’ there’s very little to associate the two words directly, but under ‘eccentric’ ODO has: A disc or wheel mounted eccentrically on a revolving shaft in order to transform rotation into backward-and-forward motion, e.g. a cam in an internal combustion engine.

      Edited at 2017-12-19 07:50 pm (UTC)

  27. A late solve today due to a traffic-clogged trip to Yorkshire. I seemed to have avoided most of the traps. I knew the boss was either Ambo or umbo which didn’t help. Main problem was a biffing of importune which left TWOSOME my LOI. My COD 14d INAUGURAL where the long def had me befuddled for some while, trying to fit NABE into a month on a river.
  28. I ended up with one wrong today I didn’t know the aquatic plant and although I remembered that there was a crossword-y word for boss I plumped for ambo instead of umbo. Annoying that umbo seems to have fallen from my memory when I have known it and used it more than once in past crosswords. The plant in 13ac was also unknown. I saw tern early but thought I might be looking for eastern or pattern, got chines then finally twigged elan. 23ac unknown but generous wp. Hoyden known from a previous crossword.
      1. Sorry, I attached that to the wrong puzzle. It concerned DISCOURSE in the Cryptic before this one, Monday’s, blogged by Vinyl.

        “Dish” doesn’t mean “get rid of” over here, though it means to pass a basketball to a teammate. And does it really mean that somewhere in the UK? Collins has the meaning “to ruin,” but that’s not the same thing.

        1. Ah, I thought I remembered ‘dish’ from somewhere recently.

          The Oxfords have: dish vb utterly destroy or defeat, which might just stretch to the required meaning e.g. he dished / got rid of all opposition

          but a better match is in Chambers Slang Dictionary: dish vb to stop, to suppress, to do away with [mid-19C-1950s]

          1. A (belated) thanks for that, Jack! Chambers Slang, huh? I wonder how many Brits here recognized that usage or were just willing to let it slide.
  30. Oh dear! A DNF. I just couldn’t find a 4-letter ‘boss’ that would fit NEL _ M _ _ and nelumbo utterly unknown to me anyway. And 4d (which would have given me a final checker) defeated me, too. I was too hung up on ‘broadcast’ being a ‘sounds like’ directive. I biffed the Tree in 7d, but had no idea who the old actor was supposed to be. Chine for a ravine? Nope. Hoydenish? Worked out from wordplay but I was grumpy about ‘hoy’ as a call. ‘Cam’ as an adjectival equivalent to ‘eccentric’ seems … er… well, eccentric to me, but it keeps turning up in these Times cryptics. OK, there were a few easy ones: 3d encumber, 2d tonal, 12a impetus. But I agree absolutely with john_dun: a slog rather than a pleasure.

    Thank you for the excellent blog!

    Oh, look — it’s gone midnight and you guys will be on to Wednesday’s recycled championship qualifier already! Night night.

  32. First attempt at 15×15 as on holiday and so more time on my hands. C.80% completed I’d say, but sounds from a few commentators above that there were some tricky ones that needless to say I failed to get/know so all in all a decent start.

    Mighty

  33. The slow boat was sunk today, with a large number of unfamiliar words eventually pushing me to guess wrong. It’s something that’s happened before. With the Listener I used to allow myself a dictionary, but not here. I navigated CHINES, NELUMBO, PANIC, TOURACO & UMBO successfully.

    But I put down “PARRICINE” (Paris seen) instead of PARRICIDE, thinking maybe the murderer had a different stem from murder, forgetting that PARRICIDE can be the killer himself.

    Worst, I found CHINESE PATTERN and thought: “Isn’t that a decorative style?” So I was looking for EPAT to be a plant but I’m not allowed to peek until the formal biff phase, when I did but I’d got it wrong. And the CHINES and the TERN made me think I was on the right track. It the unhaving of ideas which is the hardest.

    Please no more TREE, until we’ve had “actor” mean HERBERT or BEERBOHM 30 times at least. Then we can go back to an occasional outing (once every few years) of actor = TREE. Until then: No More Tree please thank you.

    Thanks to the setter (remember: no more TREE please), blogger, solvers and other near-solvers.

    One more thing: No More Tree please.

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