Times Cryptic 27344

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

I found this quite easy after struggling through yesterday’s. I needed 34 minutes in total, but the last 11 of these were spent on two intersecting clues at 5dn and 12ac

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

Across
1 Society originally providing money for burlesque (5)
SPOOF – S (society), P{roviding} [originally], OOF (money). I thought I had never come across this slang word for ‘money’ before but have just found out that OOF came up in a puzzle I blogged only last June..  Collins  has it as : C19: from Yiddish ooftisch, from German auf dem Tische ‘on the table’ (referring to gambling stakes).
4 Desire to adopt a name for a source of power (9)
WATERMILL – WILL (desire) containing [to adopt] A TERM (name)
9 Players may perform them, sliding as erratically (9)
GLISSANDI – Anagram [erratically] of SLIDING AS. Defined by SOED in the singular as: (in music) A continuous slide of adjacent notes upwards or downwards.
10 In which Earl Grey may be course attendant? (5)
CADDY – Two meanings re tea and golf
11 Quarrels when school’s dismissing head (6)
ARROWS – {h}ARROW’S (school’s) [dismissing head]. The ‘dump on the lump’ as Etonians would have it. These are actually the bolts fired from crossbows but can also be termed ‘arrows’.
12 Like study of races finally run in proper setting? (8)
ETHNICAL – {ru}N [finally] contained by [in…setting] ETHICAL (proper)
14 Abundantly virile boxing though no longer young (10)
MANIFOLDLY – MANLY (virile) containing [boxing] IF (though) + OLD (no longer young)
16 Member given rise Charlie rejected (4)
LIMB – {c}LIMB (rise) [Charlie rejected]
19 Information from all quarters (4)
NEWS – cryptic – North, East, West, South
20 Winner takes all initially, including Scotsman’s memorabilia (10)
VICTORIANA – VICTOR (winner) + A{ll} [initially] containing [including] IAN (Scotsman)
22 People with accommodation in Derby, for example (4,4)
FLAT RACE – FLAT (accommodation), RACE (people)
23 Address of son — super chap, it’s said (6)
SPEECH – S (son), PEECH sounds like [it’s said] “peach” [super chap].  I looked twice at ‘chap’ but the definition is not necessarily gender-specific.
26 East Ender’s claptrap about a loose fibre (5)
OAKUM – {h}OKUM (claptrap) [East Ender’s] containing [about] A. Trimmings or shreds or untwisted rope.
27 Low character pinching bridge player’s jewel (9)
MOONSTONE – MOO (low) + TONE (character) containing [pinching] N’S (bridge player’s)
28 What French drivers are out to use at first when travelling? (9)
AUTOROUTE – Anagram [travelling] of ARE OUT TO U{se} [at first]
29 Liberal philosopher’s coat (5)
LAYER – L (liberal), AYER (philosopher)
Down
1 Noteworthy crew, one controlling traffic movement (9)
SIGNALMAN – SIGNAL (noteworthy), MAN (crew vb.)
2 Point accepted by outstanding Irish basket-maker (5)
OSIER – E (point) contained [accepted] by OS (outstanding) + IR (Irish)
3 Angle we must adopt if ranting woman is seen here (8)
FISHWIFE – FISH (angle), WE containing [must adopt] IF
4 Stick with joiner? (4)
WAND – W (with), AND (joiner – conjunction)
5 Commonplace setting for articles about large sportsperson (10)
TRIATHLETE – TRITE (commonplace) containing [setting for] A + THE (articles) containing [about] L (large)
6 Part of army is unable to disavow (6)
RECANT – RE (part of army), CAN’T (is unable to)
7 Friend supporting elected party in Asian peninsula (4-5)
INDO-CHINA – IN (elected), DO (party), CHINA (friend)
8 Dedicated prince possibly changing sides at the outset (5)
LOYAL – {r}OYAL (prince possibly) [changing sides – R/L at the outset] to become LOYAL
13 Prim lady unexpectedly caught entering university party (5,5)
PLAID CYMRU – C (caught) is contained by [entering] anagram [unexpectedly] of PRIM LADY, U (university). The Welsh Nationalist party.
15 Game in horse-racing centre (9)
NEWMARKET – Two meanings
17 Composer crossing English river in skimpy garments (9)
BEACHWEAR – BACH (composer) containing [crossing] E (English), WEAR (river)
18 Plan put before the union? (8)
PROPOSAL – Cryptic referring to marriage
21 Textbook device for detonating charge (6)
PRIMER – Two meanings
22 Girl originally from a Scottish island? (5)
FIONA – F{rom} [originally], IONA (Scottish island)
24 Energy lad used to go round northern wood (5)
EBONY – E (energy), BOY (lad) contains [to go round] N (northern)
25 Reportedly belonging to solvers in the old days? (4)
YORE – Sounds like [reportedly] “your” (belonging to solvers)

43 comments on “Times Cryptic 27344”

  1. DNK OOF, and was very surprised to see that Jack had blogged it last year; I’d like to think that I was away at the time. (ON EDIT: No, I was here, all right. Puzzle 27062, and I commented on it.) Also DNK ‘quarrel’ or the NEWMARKET game; but in the three cases the answer was unavoidable. I can never remember whether it’s PLAID CYMRU or CYMRI, so I was happy to have my mind made up for me.

    Edited at 2019-05-07 05:26 am (UTC)

  2. SPOOF at 1ac was my LOI as I knew not OOF!

    We’ve heard a lot about the Kentucky Derby recently. Dear me what a to-do! The Derby run at Ascot, as noted in 22ac FLAT RACE, is pronounced ‘Dar-bi’ and not ‘Der-bi’! Nancy Mitford would turn in her grave. Jennings and Darbishire have it right!

    On that theme 15dn Newmarket was the first card game I learnt after snap.

    27ac MOONSTONE made no mention of Wilkie Collins – fine story.

    FOI 19ac NEWS – too easy.

    COD 13dn PLAID CYMRU – pronounced as per Kevin.

    WOD 20ac VICTORIANA Was Mr. Brown the Scotsman!?

    Edited at 2019-05-07 04:16 am (UTC)

  3. Just on the hour, being held up in the NW by OOF (which I had forgotten), OSIER which we see frequently enough and which I should have known and ARROWS. Funnily enough, I first thought of ‘arrowheads’ for this which I dismissed straight away. There’s been a card game theme elsewhere quite recently which helped with 15d.

    I liked the surface for 13d and ‘ranting woman is seen here’ for FISHWIFE.

    Thanks to setter and blogger

  4. Happy to solve this in a reasonably quick time for me. DNK “oof” for money, or NEWMARKET as a game. In that sense, I’m guessing the clue is a bit unfair, in that it relies on two bits of general knowledge. But I happened to know one, so it was okay for me. I also guessed the Welsh Party after a few crossers were in place.

    Thanks, Jack, for the excellent blog. I took 18d to be a double definition – “plan” for one and the rest for the other.

    And thanks to the setter for a good steady workout.

    Edited at 2019-05-07 03:00 am (UTC)

  5. 19:52 … puzzle of YORE in places, given some of the vocab. Needed a mental rethink to get it completed, especially the northwest — signalman, quarrels for arrows, oof, a fishwife and an osier all intersecting.

    I’d totally forgotten OOF as well, jackkt, despite having taken part in the Yiddish/not Yiddish? discussion of it below you blog last June: https://times-xwd-times.livejournal.com/1957460.html

  6. I finished with a doubtful SPOOF, not thinking it synonymous with burlesque and not knowing OOF, so I was pleasantly surprised to find I had all correct. I was convinced a couple of times I’d made mistakes, with both C_M_U and T_I_A_H____ looking like nothing would fit them but eventually managed to pull them out the bag.
  7. 20 mins which is about as fast as I can write them in between spoonfuls of yoghurt, granola, etc. I was on fire. I came here expecting to see quicky-type times.
    Thanks for the confidence booster setter and J.

    PS One of the answers reminded me of an old entry for the Clue Writing Competition:
    UKIP mocking a Liberal for teasing Labour (7,5)

    Edited at 2019-05-07 07:26 am (UTC)

  8. 10:56. Some chewy bits in this but also quite a lot of biffables.
    OAKUM came up a couple of years ago with ambiguous wordplay, and I remembered it this time.
    Wodehouse fans will be familiar with Oofy Prosser, which helped with 1ac. It helped me a several others last time OOF came up too.
    Is 28ac sound? It doesn’t work as an &Lit but the ‘extra’ bit you find in a semi-&Lit (‘what French drivers’) doesn’t work as a definition either. Normally you’d have something like ‘this’ here.

    Edited at 2019-05-07 08:07 am (UTC)

    1. Yes, I thought it was a bit strange too but decided to leave others to query it.
      1. I’m not sure, but in a semi-&Lit I normally expect the ‘extra’ bit (i.e. the bit that isn’t part of the wordplay) to function as a definition, even if it only works when taken in conjunction with the rest of the clue. So in this clue

        He, wearing one pair, returned on opening of handcuffs?

        the definition is ‘he’, which is a valid definition of HOUDINI albeit pretty vague without the context of the rest of the clue. ‘What French drivers’ is no kind of definition.
        I’m probably over-thinking it as usual.

        Edited at 2019-05-07 11:51 am (UTC)

  9. It seems I’m not alone in having 1a SPOOF as my last, but I did recognise “OOF” when I finally saw it. The SIGNALMAN was my penultimate, which didn’t help.

    My crossword-inspired reading list came in handy again for 26a OAKUM; I looked it up just a few days ago when “Crabby’s science of dates and sums and writing seemed a typical invention of her own, a sour form of fiddling or prison-labour like picking oakum or sewing sacks” came up in the schoolroom chapter of Cider with Rosie.

    36 minutes all told, with FOI 14 MANIFOLDLY coming from the pencilled-in MAN at the end of 1d, and then a general dotting around until I returned to the starting blocks to finish off. Enjoyed the people of the 22a FLAT RACE.

  10. and stupidly writing GLISSANDO originally. Quite liked the FISHWIFE.
  11. 11.23
    I managed to correct a typo in 3dn but failed to spot that I had typed NEWMARKKT at 15dn so my target of getting the errors column back to zero is still a month off. Wonder if markkt is related to today’s blogger? I have been known to use the expression ‘oodles and oodles of oof’ but I can’t remember where it comes from.
  12. 25 minutes with LOI ETHNICAL. I quite liked the puzzle, but then 20 across was my era. My mother would talk of someone swearing like a Fleetwood FISHWIFE. We’d play Newmarket at my Grannie’s on Christmas Day when I was a kid and I’d get so excited if I was about to ‘chip’. I knew OAKUM from a previous outing. I’m sure we still must have a SIGNALMAN somewhere on the rail nerwork. There are plenty of WATERMILLs in hydro power stations even if they’re also turbines. They were always fighting in INDO-CHINA when I was a kid. I used to confess to my manifold sins and wickedness every Sunday. So stick to your guns and set puzzles like this regularly, Mr Rees-Mogg. COD to PROPOSAL. Thank you Jack and setter.
  13. 18:23. I pondered OOF in 1A (my LOI) for some time before deciding it had to be. Like Kevin and Sotira, I had forgotten it came up last year. Perhaps I’ll remember it now.

    Edited at 2019-05-07 07:35 am (UTC)

  14. Was composer of the week on bbc radio 3 last week. She would work with the English river Wear

    Dave P

  15. 18 mins hand-written while eating a croissant and drinking Waitrose latte, so clearly on the easier side. Oof from Wodehouse, maybe? Or am I conflating it with Oofy Prosser? Anyway, I seemed to know it. 22dn my daughter’s name 🙂 Thanks Jack and setter. Nice start to the day.
    1. Oofy Prosser is so-called because he’s very… oofy. So it’s the same word.
  16. I couldn’t see Triathlete and couldn’t see past Triviality. So Ethnical was never open to me. Plaid Cymru took a while too.

    Not getting good scores at the moment. Like Boxer, “I must work harder”.

    Edited at 2019-05-07 09:46 am (UTC)

  17. Quite a lot of this went in quite easily. The hold-ups included ETHNICAL, because that word was not in my internalised lexicon: of course, it is morphologically well-formed but just seemed odd to me. And the Welsh orthography for 13d slowed me down, too, even tho’ I had the anagrist jotted down in front of me. Oof is completely new to me, but I finally bunged in SPOOF with a shrug and a MER because, like pootle73, I’m not sure burlesque=spoof. Is Wodehouse required reading for cruciverbalists, do you think? I’d better get started then, because I am totally ignorant of all things Oofy Prosser and Jeeves-ish.
    FIONA was an instant and exultant payback for yesterday’s un-Scottish island of Okinawa.
    Best clue was AUTOROUTE for its cleverly disguised anagram.
    Thanks for the blog, Jack.
  18. I romped through this puzzle, although I failed to spot the anagram for AUTOROUTE, and put SPOOF in without being convinced that OOF was dosh, despite years of reading and re-reading Wodehouse. I somehow never associated Oofy Prosser’s nickname with oodles of spondulix. The rest of the puzzle just seemed to fall into place as I read the clues, so I quite enjoyed it. Having said that, my first entry was NEWS, and I didn’t hit the wavelength straight away, but found my feet in the bottom half before returning to the upper reaches. 21:40. Thanks setter and Jack.
  19. 29’40, felt slowish. 28 seems fine to me, the whole being both an acceptable (if wry) definition and the clue-directions. Nice assortment of clue-types generally on a not too demanding course.
  20. An extended and rather careless solve which I entered off-leaderboard to minimise embarrassment. Nothing particularly hard, though I essayed MANIFESTLY at first, which at least looks more likely to turn up in conversation than the -OLDLY answer.
    I’m aware of OS for outsize but not outstanding so made little sense of the OSIER wordplay.
    All four directions cropped up differently arranged an embargoed couple of days ago, so was fresh in mind.
    Entered PROPOSAL without worrying what sort of clue it was.
    Thanks Jack
  21. Found this tough going, after a while. Slowed by W HIP at 4 down, seemed to work for a horse racing stick and a joint joiner, and having an I for the anagram fodder at 9a. Got there in the end, thanks bligger and setter.
  22. 1 typo with MINIFOLDLY for which the mind boggles. No problem with PLAID CYMRU as I live in Wales although I have England a field away. LOI was TRIATHLETE which was easy but just couldn’t see it.
  23. 9m 39s with PRIMER the last to fall. Apologies for grumbling, but there were a few today that I didn’t particularly enjoy: AUTOROUTE as discussed above; the cryptically superfluous ‘used’ in 24d; and the unnecessary question mark in 22d. Nothing to get too het up about, but not ideal.

    Fortunately I’d filled in NEWS before looking at 15d, which I immediately thought was BADMINTON.

    1. The setter may have been aiming at the Scottish-sounding surface “fae Ona?” (Fi-Ona) although to the best of my knowledge there isn’t another island called Ona, in addition to Iona, off the coast of Scotland.
  24. Steady solve, with a pause at the end to realise I didn’t know what “burlesque” might be synonymous with (my brain was probably distracted by the other connotations of the word). Then I suddenly remembered the previous discussion here about OOF and Mr. Prosser, and it fell into place.
  25. ….but quite frankly I can’t be bothered.

    I will restrict myself to asking if the source of power for a WATERMILL is a WATER WHEEL.

    Was held up on my LOI by stupidly biffing “manifestly” at 14A.

    FOI GLISSANDI
    LOI PLAID CYMRU
    COD PROPOSAL
    TIME 14:25

  26. I didn’t find this particularly easy, so was pleased to finish in less than an hour on paper with hardly any scribbles on the picture of Kompany celebrating his goal against the Foxes last night (boo). I too entered spoof very tentatively. It took a little while to parse osier – I was determined that the point was S, not E! I can see all the arguments for and against autoroute, but tbh I quite liked it. Overall, I thought there were some great surfaces.

    FOI glissando
    LOI spoof
    COD Plaid Cymru – I rather liked the image the clue brought to mind 🌝

  27. PLAID CYMRU last one in – hard to see from the crossers until you can’t unsee it.
  28. 14:53 and I didn’t have any bad vibes about this. When OOF last appeared my brief comment at the time confirms that I’d never heard the word then and despite such compelling evidence I’d never come across it before this morning either. Oakum was my other “unknown”.
  29. Happy to get through this in 35 minutes, but then realised I’d made two mistakes: Lore instead of Yore, and misspelling Oakam as Ockum… Thanks to setter and blogger.
  30. Another DNF. Oh dear. I seem to have developed the crossword equivalent of the yips of late just hesitantly failing at the end on a tricky LOI. Today it was ethnical which did for me. I generally found it tricky though. I wasn’t sure of the game at 15dn so began a tour of racecourses. First in was Towcester. That was soon replaced with Newcastle. I finally settled on Newmarket though. Having the wrong ones in for too long probably help me up a bit. Dnk or dn-remember oof.
  31. I don’t know if I was around the day ‘OOF” last appeared, but like Penfold I’ve never seen it before today either. No matter what I said then. Regards.
    1. I’ve checked for you Kevin, and I’m sure you won’t be too surprised to hear that you confessed to not knowing OOF last June.
  32. I only occasionally complete the TC so was pleased after a couple of hours to get the last one YORE, with only one query. I had OAKAM, having thought the A was inside cockney OAK’M as said, not as spelt. Darn!

    Otherwise very rewarding, and I finished another earlier this week so I’m happy.
    Ian

  33. Well, almost beaten! Ethnical was LOI in a time of 56 mins. The last 15mins were spent gazing at 5d and 12a , hoping that inspiration would occur before drifting off to sleep. For one of us it did.
  34. Thanks setter and jack
    A single session but a longish one – battling with the OOF bit of 1a (checking my history I never did that June 2018 one even in 2019), Newmarket card game and the Welsh Nationalist Party. Also didn’t see the anagram of AUTOROUTE, had just assumed a cryptic definition – and shouldn’t have.
    Wonder whether it was just an Australian advantage to spot TRIATHLETE quite early on – live just up the road from where they run many triathlons here.
    First one in – YORE and finishing up in the SW corner with that AUTOROUTE and PLAID CYMRU.

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