Times Cryptic 26972

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

I forgot to note my exact solving time but despite having one careless wrong answer I found this straightforward and completed it, I think, within 30 minutes. If the puzzle had been more of a challenge I might have taken more trouble to understand the wordplay at 18ac instead of bunging in what seemed to be the obvious answer and moving on. It seems a very long time since we had an absolute stinker of a puzzle and it’s about time this was rectified, although no doubt I should be among the first to complain if this were achieved by loading it with obscurities.

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 Wild call by card player after ace and king turned over (5)
RABID – A (ace) + R (king) reversed [turned over], BID (call by card player)
4 Brother wearing several reduced pink hats (9)
SOMBREROS – BR (brother) contained by [wearing] SOME (several), ROS{e/y} (pink) [reduced]
9 Girl swallows a minute drink over in island resort (3,6)
LAS PALMAS – LASS (girl) contains [swallows] A + M (minute) + LAP (drink) reversed [over]
10 Taste no end of wine from South Africa (5)
SAPOR – SA (South Africa), POR{t} (wine) [no end]. Not a word I know so it’s just as well the middle letter was a checker or I might have gone for ‘savor’. A quick Google suggests this is its first time in the main puzzle although it did appear once in a Mephisto set by Don Manley in 2013.
11 Fish an unfit cooked accompaniment for chicken (9,4)
YELLOWFIN TUNA – YELLOW (chicken), anagram [cooked] of AN UNFIT. I’ve seen this on labels on tins.
14 Way American woman ignores British (4)
ROAD – {b}ROAD (American woman) [ignores British]. Do Americans still use this word? I associate it with gangster films of the 30s and 40s.
15 At little cost, fellow twice visits parts of Acton with a bit of cash (2,3,5)
ON THE CHEAP – HE HE (fellow twice – but separately) contained by [visits] anagram [parts] of ACTON, P (a bit of cash – 1 penny)
18 Cause of beastly smell, namely, that primarily is found in the country (5,5)
SCENT GLAND – SC (namely – scilicet), then T{hat} [primarily] is contained by [found in] ENGLAND (country). I biffed ‘sweat gland’ here and paid the price.
19 Fine weather intermittently for outdoor event (4)
FETE – F (fine), {w}E{a}T{h}E{r} [intermittently]
21 Work left university staff mostly looking for a break (13)
OPPORTUNISTIC – OP (work), PORT (left), UNI (university), STIC{k} (staff) [mostly]
24 Deity behind rain, to some extent (5)
INDRA – Hidden [to  some extent] in {beh}IND RA{in}
25 Got together and took single drug (9)
METHADONE – MET (got together), HAD (took), ONE (single)
27 Herts town set welcoming writer (9)
HARPENDEN – HARDEN (set) containing [welcoming] PEN (writer). A first appearance for this Hertfordhire town apparently – Tring being the more usual one. I tried to find something it’s famous for, but in vain. It’s located not far from the M1 with Luton vaguely to its north and St Alban’s to its south. I have lived in two quite separate locations within 20 miles of Harpenden for the past 67 years but have never set foot there!
28 One who scored duck: caught out, say (5)
DUKAS – DU{c}K [caught out], AS (say). I’m not entrely convinced by ‘say / as’. I assume it’s intended in the sense of giving an example, but wouldn’t that be ‘such as’? Paul Dukas (1865-1935) is perhaps most famous for ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ which as visualised in Walt Disney’s ‘Fantasia’ was more a case of ‘mouse caught out’. Donald Duck might have been better placed to cope with all that excess water!
Down
1 Extremely angry, missing European racing event (10)
RALLYCROSS – R{e}ALLY CROSS (extremely angry) [missing European]
2 Again relative turned up (3)
BIS – SIB (relative) reversed [turned up]. Encore!
3 Face up to work and discussion at the White House (6)
DIALOG – DIAL (face), GO (work) reversed [up] with ‘at the White House’ indicating the American spelling
4 In flames? I lit match (9)
SEMIFINAL – Anagram [lit – drunk] of IN FLAMES I
5 Pole briefly working for builder (5)
MASON – MAS{t} (pole) [briefly], ON (working)
6 Rescuer splashing about round pool (8)
RESOURCE – Anagram [splashing] of RESCUER containing [about] O (round). A pool of talent or of money are examples of a resource in this sense.
7 Substitute given stick after failing to finish second match (11)
REPLACEMENT – REPLA{y} (second match) [failing to finish], CEMENT (stick)
8 Father is up and about (4)
SIRE – IS reversed [up], RE (about)
12 Tenant thrown out in Leeds and Lahore (11)
LEASEHOLDER – Anagram [thrown out] of LEEDS LAHORE
13 Talks will enthral daughter beginning to study game of strategy (5,5)
SPEED CHESS – SPEECHES (talks) contains [will enthral] D (daughter), S{tudy} [beginning]
16 Hard work removing railway covering an Asian region (9)
HINDUSTAN – H (hard), INDUST{ry} (work) [removing railway], AN. ‘Covering’ just indicates placement here, not containment.
17 Deduction in pay for refusal to work (8)
STOPPAGE – Two meanings
20 Award, one accepted by leader of rock group (6)
RIBAND – I (one) contained [accepted] by R{ock} [leader] + BAND (group). This is a ribbon awarded for an achievement. For example, the Blue Riband was contested for many years by the great passenger liners as the prize for the fastest Atlantic crossing.
22 I am outwardly ruddy frosty (5)
RIMED – I’M contained by [outwardly] RED (ruddy)
23 Exclamation of disgust, initially having drink upset (4)
PISH – H{aving} [initially] + SIP (drink) reversed [upset]
26 Article encased in fine timber (3)
OAK – A (article) contained by [encased in] OK (fine)

53 comments on “Times Cryptic 26972”

  1. If it makes you feel any better, Jack, I biffed SWEAT GLAND too! Is the term ‘broad’ used today? Well, a former colleague of mine, a B747 Captain with a cargo airline was checking into a hotel in downtown Sydney in the very early ’90s. He told me that Telly Savalas walked into the lobby at that point but not seeing any Flight Attendants, said to him, “Hey, where are the broads?!” But that was some time ago.
  2. Bombed out on this one. Slow time of about an hour, another one to fall for ‘sweat gland’ even though it didn’t parse and isn’t the ‘Cause of beastly smell’ and ‘caught out, say’ beat me (no, I won’t say the obvious), not helped by not knowing the composer. Also neologised 3d to ‘dealop’, just the sort of expression I can imagine the present White House incumbent using, even if it is a non-word.

    Agree with your doubts about ‘as’ for ‘say’ in 28a. About as close as I can get is ‘as in’ or ‘as per’.

    Thank you to setter and blogger.

  3. And another ‘sweat gland’ biffer. Wondered for a long time how ‘recourse’ worked. And it took me a long time to think of a composer with a K; I didn’t really notice the AS problem once I remembered him. DUKAS evidently was very fussy about his music, and threw out a lot of it. I guess he was hoping Disney would come along some day. Barely heard of HARPENDEN or RALLYCROSS, so they took time, too.
  4. I too popped in 18ac as SWEAT GLAND so a DNF but I was in good company for once.

    As per Kevin I knew that this had a higher difficulty for our American cousins, apart from 3dn DIALOG that is. Dearie-me! America First!DRAGON might have been at least Welsh.

    I have always assumed 27ac HARPENDEN was a north London Borough! Like Jack never visited.

    FOI 22dn RIMED
    LOI 28ac DUKAS
    COD 1dn RALLYCROSS
    WOD 23dn PISH!

    Edited at 2018-02-27 05:32 am (UTC)

  5. 50 minutes, with similar problems with SAPOR and DUKAS, but luckily trusting my instincts and getting them right. I thought of both sweat and SCENT GLANDs pretty much immediately, so had to parse, which was just as well, it seems…

    FOI 2d BIS LOI 28a DUKAS, WOD PISH, of course!

    By helpful coincidence I have some YELLOWFIN TUNA in the fridge, foraged from the wild just yesterday. (Well, okay then, delivered by Ocado.)

    Edited at 2018-02-27 07:29 am (UTC)

  6. 25 mins with yoghurt, granola, etc. How I pine for a croissant.
    Struggled a bit in the NW until the checkers gave Rallycross (nice clue). But generally this was quite quick, although testing in parts.
    I first thought of Sweat – but couldn’t see a land other than England. And whenever I see ‘namely’, I look for the SC.
    More than an MER at ‘say’=’as’ – but the DUK gave it away.
    Mostly I liked: Rabid, S Gland, Hindustan and COD to the understated 20dn.
    Thanks setter and Jack.
  8. I was surprised a bit when the clock said I’d been 26 minutes on this – didn’t feel that long.
    I wasn’t worried by AS in DUKAS, but extracting DUK from the rest of the clue took absurdly long: with all the cricketing stuff around I couldn’t just take C from DUCK – too easy perhaps, and of course there was say as a homophone indicator until it wasn’t. Shades of the “Alexander Dumb Ass” from Shawshank, perhaps.
    Of course I put in SWEAT GLAND first, but couldn’t make the cryptic work and bizarrely thought the crossing letters it supplied were wrong. Tough luck on you sweaty ones.
    I have walked through Harpenden on the way from Luton to St Albans (saved on the 1/6d bus fare) and quite recently visited a private hospital very nearly completely hidden in a warren of residential streets. It’s primarily a dormitory town on what used to be called the Bed Pan line, with lots of fabulously expensive houses.
    Favourite today was R(E)ALLY CROSS. Unkind of the setter to remind me of Spurs’ stuttering progress to the FA Cup SEMI FINAL via REPLA(Y)s against the might of Newport County and Rochdale, but perhaps it was accidental. Thanks, Jack, for an exemplary commentary.
    1. I’m not sure that Stephen Fry can take the michael out of Robert Robinson, who I also quite liked, without winning a ‘kettle calling pot’ award!
  10. All correct. I biffed SWEAT GLAND and then something niggled me that it would not be clued as “cause of beastly smell” so I thought again and saw SCENT immediately.

    No idea of my time. I downloaded the crossword before leaving a hotel for a conference, and so the timer charged me for an hour on buses and registration. I think about 40 mins.

    My LOI was DIALOG since I was convinced it was a word like SYSOP of American origin.

  11. Easy today though the unknown sapor went in with a shrug. To be fair, not much else fits.
    Harpenden has a few moderately famous residents & former residents, eg Eric Morecambe, Craig Charles, Ken Brown the golfer, and several rugby players. That’s about it..
  12. Wrote in SWEAT GLAND, then overwrote it after parsing. Do humans have scent glands, or are we more subtle? I have played a lot of blitz chess, suspect that might be the online version. Am not sure that a LEASEHOLDER is a tenant, but obvious enough. 25′, thanks jack and setter.
    1. I think there can be slight differences of detail in law but in general terms they are interchangeable and certainly the usual sources present them as such without splitting legal hairs.
  13. …the simile for today. Off the pace, taking 58 minutes. DNK DUKAS and was uncertain that ‘say’ could be ‘as’ but could see no other. I was also doubtful about SAPOR. Finished in the SW with INDRA and PISH. I always seem to find the reverse hidden last. I’m going to start saying PISH rather than the rather coarse word I usually explete. FOI LAS PALMAS. COD to YELLOWFIN TUNA. Thank you Jack and setter for bringing me back to reality.
  15. Nineteen minutes for me, but with a stupid tyop. In fact I started with two (including the somewhat Pythonesque YELLOWFIN TUBA) but then spotted one of them before I submitted, leaving me with RESOURRE/ON THE RHEAP (so, strictly speaking, a double typo). DUKAS was a bit of a guess, but that name was lurking somewhere in the back of my memory; otherwise all smooth going. PISH is, presumably, what Sean Connery is on when he’s out for a few wee bevvies.

    Edited at 2018-02-27 10:58 am (UTC)

  16. As an ex-pat Kiwi living in the US, I am not sure I have heard of Harpenden. However, with all the checkers in Harpenden rang a vague bell and I managed to parse it; H (herts) with Arden (town)welcoming pen (writer).
  17. 7 minutes ish which turns out to have been a pretty good time for this one, though no Mohn (that goes without saying). I’d managed to mess up the direction of a homophone in the QC, so luckily I didn’t fall foul of any glandular traps here, or else I’d be in a really foul mood today probably!
  18. By no means a stinker, but one where I could feel the gears grinding as I solved – that mysterious thing which is generally summed up as wavelength, I suppose. At least I can feel pleased that having biffed the sweaty version of 18ac, I did enough due diligence in checking how the clue worked to be able to spot the error – this seems like exactly the sort of clue which could wipe out the field on Finals Day in a Foinavon type disaster. All in all, I had time to think of Eric Morecambe* (I went to some event at the public hall in Harpenden which bears his name, though it was so long ago that the name is all I remember), and applaud RALLYCROSS.

    *if I make an error in any future competition, I intend to seize the editor by the lapels and say “I’ve filled in all the right letters. But not necessarily in the right order.”

    1. Actually I’m pretty sure I’d have checked SWEAT GLANDS in the championship. I was a bit uneasy about that one and SPEED CHESS but the clock was ticking towards 10m so I just crossed my fingers and submitted. I was at least as worried about STOPPAGE: it seemed the only likely answer but I’ve never come across the pay-related meaning.

      Edited at 2018-02-27 04:47 pm (UTC)

  19. Another one who bunged in SWEAT although vaguely uneasy with it. Otherwise good stuff in 24 minutes.
    In the 80s I was a regular visitor to the Merck Sharp Dohme offices in Harpenden, and recall the local pubs were good for lunch.
  20. Interesting that Snitch is showing 121 for a relatively easy crossword. I wonder why? And yes I fell into the same trap. The SC for namely doesn’t come up often enough to register with me. Held up by trying to put in Harlesden, (which of course is near Hertfordshire), recourse, and not being able to spell METHADONE.
    1. Hmmm… it is an interesting question. The individual NITCH scores today’s are widely spread, which is not normal. There are a few in the 70s and 80s, many just over the 100 mark and a few quite long ones. There are also 17 reference solvers with errors, which is quite high (no doubt caught out by the “sweat gland” trap). I’m guessing that working through the final clues like HARPENDEN and SCENT GLAND, for those that got them right, took some people quite a while, and this accounts for the high score. If my theory is correct, it’s interesting that one or two clues can really make a difference to the overall difficulty (at least as the SNITCH measures it).
  21. Progressed fairly steadily through this one in 11.47 (my birth month as it happens !)

    Didn’t get one in until 14A, but fell straight for 12D which shed the required light on 11A, where I’d seen TUNA but moved on.

    Biffed 15A, and was finally left with 18A and 17D, which was LOI.

    Fortunately, I’d convinced myself that 18A began SC because of “namely”, and never thought of “sweat”. However, there was a danger of my biffing SHEEP GLAND. Luckily, a P wouldn’t have gone well in 17D – “-P-P A-E” looked strange to say the least.

    Straightforward (mostly) and enjoyable.

  22. I feel lucky that I didn’t think of sweat gland as I might have biffed it instead of biffing SCENT GLAND. I used to live in St Albans which is just down the road from Harpenden. I don’t remember much about it other than there being a good pub called the Three Horeshoes.

    COD to RALLY CROSS as I found the play on ‘really cross’ amusing.

  23. 17:20. I was making pretty speedy progress initially but then found myself becalmed. I considered SWEAT GLAND but took the time to check the wordplay, possibly because I was irritated that my original thought of SHEEP followed by something meaning poo turned out to be wrong.

    RALLYCROSS well known as I remember watching the action from Lydden Circuit on World of Sport in the 1970s and my Dad used to play golf with John Taylor, winner of the inaugural European Rallycross Championship in 1973.

    SAPOR and DUKAS were unknown but gettable from WP.

  24. 33m – ok with the glands but hesitated over SAPOR which was a new word for me. Enjoyable puzzle so thank you, setter and Jack for the blog. I needed it today as couldn’t parse the composer, but I knew his name and his most famous work (courtesy of Classic FM). I didn’t much care for DIALOG when a perfectly pleasant English word such as DRAGON would have fitted. However all overshadowed by pondering what music Thud might play on his YELLOWFIN TUBA – salmon chanted evening or the trout quintet were the best I could think of.
    1. O sole mio (Dietrich Fisher Dieskau, presumably); For unto us a child is prawn; Cod save our gracious Queen; There’s a plaice for us (from West Side Dory); Albert Herring (sic, Britten)…..
      I fear the list may be endless.
  26. The snitch never lies: took me 50mins, so it *was* quite chewy, despite the claims from some here that this was an easy one.

    SAPOR was new to me, but had to be from wordplay, and it had a Spanish ‘sabor’ / ‘savour’ sort of flavour.

    I reckoned it couldn’t be just a simple ‘sweat gland’, because of the ‘beastly’ in the clue … and then I remembered the civet and its scent.

    FOI and biffed was ‘on the cheap’. NW corner was last to fall, causing significant delay, and after 1d clicked the rest fell quite quickly.

    Jolly good puzzle. And thanks for the good blog, Jack.

  27. After battling for almost an hour, managing to avoid the sweat gland, but struggling mightily with DUKAS and DIALOG, I was left with S_P_R which I finally interpreted as SIPOR (SIP for taste, and OR endless wine, meaning something from South Africa). Drat! 54:53 WOE. I never got into the swing of this puzzle, with almost every clue needing to be dragged out screaming from its closet. Thanks setter and Jack.
  28. Zoomed (relatively) through all but three and simply couldn’t sort them: 3 (where I’m not happy about ‘to’ in ‘face up to’), 23 and 27. Reminds of a tendency I have in speed chess to tear about but not be able to tidy up. Some neat stuff today.
  30. A little personal coincidence along the bottom edge: my son lives in Harpenden, and we used to live in France in a road called impasse Dukas.

    Jim R

  31. Like Jack, I initially had ‘sweat gland’ at 18a, but I wasn’t convinced and revisited before checking the solution, and managed to see the correct answer.
    Very enjoyable puzzle I thought.
  32. Somehow never got on the setter’s wavelength today, but managed to slog through in the end. LOI sapor, like pserve_p2 it was the Spanish sabor analogy that convinced me in the end. Wanted 23 dn to be ‘nigh’ for an awfully long time. Might have one with a tonic tonight just to get the thought out of my mind, even though it doesn’t really go with the weather… COD 1 dn.
    1. Hello keriothe,

      Sorry, only just seen your reply. I like it.

      The Donald, if you’re reading this, and I know that you are, you’re free to use my dealop, in the positive sense of course, any time you want.

  34. Fairly simple today, except for the gland. I initially was sure it was SWEAT GLAND, but the ‘gland’ part also was clearly the end of England, which made me reexamine. It was LOI. Didn’t really know of SAPOR or DUKAS but they didn’t cause a great delay. 20 minutes including the reexamining. Regards.
  35. 27 mins (including 2 mins at the end where I was unsatisfied with the utter unparseability of sweat gland, stared at it a bit longer until England popped out at me whereon scilicet also became apparent). I was misled by 11ac into thinking the anagrist was “fish an unfit” and thought I might be looking for stuffing of some kind (I know there’s no ‘g’), so that was a nice pdm when it arrived. The composer at 28ac was only vaguely heard of. FOI 15ac. LOI 28ac. COD 1dn.
  36. Well, at least I’m not alone — wouldn’t have been able to parse SCENT GLAND anyway (no more than SWEAT GLAND). The other two answers I just bunged in without being sure of them were SAPOR and STOPPAGE, but at least they were right.
  37. Two wrong after an hour: dialop and sweat gland. No complaints though – a good challenge and nothing unfair.

    Speed chess was easy for me as a regular player of “bullet” games on the internet – one minute for each player for the whole game. A good way to get the brain working … If only I could solve the crossword as quickly!

  38. I got SCENT GLAND, but it was close, took an uncomfortably long time to see HINDUSTAN, didn’t remember ever hearing of (or hearing) DUKAS, and, LOI, finally decided there must be a town called HERPENDEN, and lo, there is.
  40. Sweat Gland – me too. Did not know and did not get Dukas. Do I not like Dialog. Otherwise pretty good tonight.

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