Times Cryptic 27584

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

My solving time was off the scale although I found the right-hand side reasonably straightforward. I came a cropper on the left and technically this was a DNF as I ran out of stamina at10ac and resorted to aids .

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]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.

Across
1 Understand way of presenting information is within reach (8)
GETTABLE : GET (understand), TABLE  (way of presenting information)
9 One with no heart playing Macbeth for example (8)
ANTIHERO : Anagram [playing] of I (one) NO HEART
10 Endlessly awkward old man responsible for stock (6)
GAUCHO : GAUCH{e} (awkward) [endlessly], O (old). This was my last one in after resorting to aids.   Before doing so I was considering the possibility of RANCHO, thinking that like ‘ranchero’ it might mean a rancher, so I looked it up but alas it’s only a ranch building. At that point I decided I’d had enough of it.
11 Off to obtain one’s hot rum (10)
OUTLANDISH : OUT (off – set out/off), LAND (obtain – e.g. a prize), I (one), S (‘s), H (hot). ‘Rum’ in the sense of  ‘odd’.
12 Wail when displacing back joint (4)
KNEE : KEE{n} (wail) when displacing back (letter ‘n’) becomes KNEE
13 Hoot catching a youngster dressing (5,5)
SALAD CREAM : SCREAM (hoot) containing [catching] A LAD (a youngster)
16 Notice protective garment for expert (7)
ADVISOR : AD (notice), VISOR (protective garment)
17 A new house featured in the writer’s story (7)
IVANHOE : A + N (new) + HO (house) contained by [featured in] I’VE (writer’s). By Sir Walter Scott and as played  in 39 TV episodes (1958-59) by Roger Moore. Fans of trivia might care to note that Ivanhoe’s first name was Wilfred.
20 Reserve number one of eleven for clerk? (10)
BOOKKEEPER : BOOK (reserve), KEEPER (number one of eleven – goalie)
22 No longer owns hotel east of Panama? (4)
HATH : H (hotel – NATO alphabet) placed to the right [east] of HAT (Panama?).  ‘Hath’ being ‘no longer’ in general use.
23 Encouraging and cheerful, fond of play pens (10)
SUPPORTIVE : SPORTIVE (fond of play) contains [pens] UP (cheerful)
25 Gaunt eccentric eating nothing sweet (6)
NOUGAT : Anagram [eccentric] of GAUNT containing [eating] 0 (nothing)
26 Good name kept by parliament led by person with honour (8)
OBEDIENT : OBE (person with honour – Order of the long defunct British Empire), then N (name) contained [kept] by DIET (parliament)
27 Clergyman‘s soft with that lady in Slough (8)
SHEPHERD : P (soft) + HER (that lady) contained by [in] SHED (slough – a snake may slough its skin). SOED has: ‘shepherd’ fig. A person, esp. a member of the clergy, who watches over, guides, or cares for a group of people; a spiritual guardian, a pastor.
Down
2 Tested chopper on the rise, likely to explode? (8)
EXAMINED : AXE (chopper) reversed [on the rise], MINED (likely to explode)
3 Designer label in hat on the left is to amuse (6,4)
TICKLE PINK : CK (designer label) contained by [in] TILE, PINK (on the left – politically). CK may stand for Calvin Klein, although I had understood that the daily Times does doesn’t allow brand names in its puzzles. An alternative may be that it’s a reference to C-K design theory. Personally I’d go with the first option whilst wagging a finger at the setter and/or editor for allowing the breech of rules. It’s no big deal in itself but then we get into the realms of once started, where will it all end? On edit: I’ve just remembered we had Pepsi only yesterday and I’m beginning to wonder if product placement is now a consideration when setting clues? Only joking…I hope!
4 It might be spotty young fellow’s character (10)
BLOODSTONE : BLOODS (young fellow’s), TONE (character). NHO this. Collins has ‘bloodstone’ as a dark-green variety of chalcedony with red spots: used as a gemstone.
5 Hartley novel concerned with human life (7)
EARTHLY : Anagram [novel] of  HARTLEY. The writer LP Hartley wrote one of the most quoted opening lines of a novel: ‘The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there’ – The Go-Between 1953.
6 Something ventured climbing a peak (4)
ETNA : ANTE (something ventured – an advance payment or stake) reversed [climbing]
7 Profane sentence newspaperman holds up (6)
DEFILE : ED (newspaperman) contains [holds] LIFE (prison sentence), all reversed [up]
8 Head turned by US neighbour’s cheerfulness (8)
BONHOMIE : NOB (head) reversed [turned], HOMIE (US neighbour). Collins has ‘homie’ as a person from the same area as you, especially one from the same social group as you.[US, informal]
14 Creed, given converts, shows difference (10)
DIVERGENCE : Anagram [converts] of CREED GIVEN
15 Weakling needs hard, difficult practice (3-7)
RUN-THROUGH : RUNT (weakling), H (hard – pencils), ROUGH (difficult)
16 A call for assistance carrying cream building material (8)
ASBESTOS : A, SOS (call for assistance) containing BEST (cream  – crème de la crème)
18 Playing a specific melody live (2,3,3)
ON THE AIR : ON (playing), THE (specific – definite article), AIR (melody). I’m not 100% convinced by the definition here as most live performances never go on the air, and most performances that are on the air (these days anyway) are not live but precorded.
19 Son runs off and goes fast (7)
SPRINTS : S (son), PRINTS (runs off)
21 Huge creature that’s hunted bird (6)
OSPREY : OS (huge), PREY (creature that’s hunted)
24 Rock and roll dance (4)
REEL : A triple definition, I think, although the first two are perhaps not entirely distinct

67 comments on “Times Cryptic 27584”

  1. My only problem was putting in ANTE at 6d; I think it was 11ac that showed me I was wrong, but it is a double-helical clue. Biffed POI 3d, wondering about CK but figuring it had to be Calvin Klein; absit omen. LOI 12ac; it had to be KNEE, but I was thinking EEK and wondering where the N came from. Finally caught on. Is Macbeth an ANTIHERO?
  2. My last two were BLOODSTONE and ADVISOR and took me far too long. I had gone for RANCHO as, perhaps, being a short version of RANCHERO but it was not to be. I know the word GAUCHO too, so kicking myself for not thinking of it.

    I think “ON THE AIR” is less about the broadcast as what is going on in the studio where being LIVE and ON THE AIR are the same thing, I think.

  3. I side with Kevin on Macbeth – yes his name’s on the tin and he’a loser but……not a great clue when John Osborne et al had far better exemplars.

    36 minutes

    FOI 25ac NOUGAT

    LOI 6dn ETNA

    COD 19dn SPRINTS

    WOD 13ac SALAD CREAM (from Heinz) yuk! My parents were addicted to it! MAYO (from the province of Hellmann) please!

    Edited at 2020-02-11 05:58 am (UTC)

    1. I only knew SALAD CREAM because I happened to watch a part of a ‘Fawlty Towers’ episode where an obnoxious guest wants some and they don’t have any. NHO before or since.
    2. Have to take issue with that H. I am completely the other way. Heinz Salad Cream has a nice tang whereas Hellmann’s mayo has a sickly texture.
  4. I didn’t know ‘profane’ as a verb and couldn’t have described a BLOODSTONE which had to go in from the wordplay. The effort of having to nut out a few others was so great that I nodded off, so no time.

    I’d never come across the TV series ‘Ivanhoe’ which I don’t think we had here, though I remember as children we were allowed to stay up to watch the film one night as a treat. Lots of jousting and derring-do.

    I liked the L.P. Hartley reference and the &littish GAUCHO.

  5. Thank you for the L.P. (not J.R.!) Hartley quote, Jack. That was the first movie I ever saw on a plane. Pan Am London to Los Angeles, I think. Haunting music by Michel Legrand.

    I, too, am apprehensive about the intrusion of brands into the Cryptic.

    COD to KNEE and HATH. I wonder with HATH if there isn’t a clue there somewhere, for a future puzzle, to include Mrs Shakespeare

    1. Amazing how you member these things. My first airline movie was The Goodbye Girl on the way to NZ in 1977.
  6. I bifffed BOOKKEEPER and came here to discover the inevitable arcane (ha!) sports reference. I should have gotten GAUCHO sooner! I’ve got Hellman’s in the fridge but have never seen, let alone tasted, SALAD CREAM. I suppose it’s not uncommon to have, as we did at the old magazine office in the days of Radio Nation, above the door of a studio (or office doubling as such) an ON THE AIR sign that lights up when a show is being broadcast (live).

    Edited at 2020-02-11 07:02 am (UTC)

  7. It looks like Mayonnaise but is vinegered and only until we Brits discovered Hellmann’s did it appear disgusting.
    In China we have the Japanese Kewpie (Cutie Pie) – it tastes OK, but the packaging makes it look like baby food. I’d rather not!

    I’m all for trade names – CK etc – ad placement is part of life these days. Why should Sunday be so special?

    Edited at 2020-02-11 07:31 am (UTC)

    1. Think the history of salad cream is related to WW2 austerity rather than a brand. I believe Margueritte Patten invented it as a way of using powdered egg to create a palatable sauce. Heinz certainly developed it after but were they the creators? I’ve picked the right forum to be contradicted so replies eagerly anticipated!
  8. I struggled to finish today, taking some time to come up with ADVISOR, BLOODSTONE and GAUCHO. The latter always puts me in mind of the steakhouse chain. COD to BOOKKEEPER for the “number one of eleven” bit – I failed to parse that until afterwards.

    Robrolfe commented on brand names in the crossword yesterday so I look forward to seeing what he makes of CK today!

  9. 29 minutes with LOI DEFILE. Yes, Jack, I used to watch Roger Moore as Ivanhoe too, back in the days when he was squiring Dorothy. I didn’t know Homie as a neighbour, but BONHOMIE was GETTABLE with OUTLANDISH and SALAD CREAM solved. ANTIHERO then became clear. My favourite example would have been Joe Lampton, Horryd. I bet many of us who used to have SALAD CREAM with our Sunday tea until we got up ourselves also used to call NOUGAT nugget. That’s before we started wearing Calvin Klein. COD to BOOKKEEPER. I enjoyed this. Thank you Jack and setter.
    1. I’m still very partial SALAD CREAM used sparingly in certain circumstances. It’s delicious in cucumber sandwiches for instance and goes well with cold cooked beetroot that hasn’t already been suffused in vinegar.
      1. Mrs P likes salad cream. I’m a mayo man myself but peanut butter and salad cream sandwiches are a taste sensation!

        I’ve just grabbed a bottle of Heinz SC from the fridge (WFH this morning) and the list of ingredients isn’t long:
        Water, spirit vinegar, rapeseed oil, sugar, cornflour, mustard powder, egg yolks, salt, colour.

        Heinz mayo has much the same ingredients but the proportions are different. The mayo is 68% rapeseed oil (vs 22%) and 5% egg yolk (vs 3%).

    2. Yup Bolton, Mrs H from Lancaster calls it nugget whereas I, a Londoner, calls it NOUGAT.

      I’m still a SALAD CREAM fan – always thought mayo was vile.

      Edited at 2020-02-11 10:00 am (UTC)

  10. COD to HATH. I wore out several cassettes of GAUCHO in 1980/81 while driving across the desert to sites in Saudi Arabia. A combination of the heat, over-playing and the fact that they were rip-offs from Singapore.
  11. 18:47 Held up in the NW corner until I found TICKLE PINK after getting the I from ADVISOR. GAUCHO took a while to come too. We have SALAD CREAM in the cupboard for younger daughter to put on chicken, although she puts mayonnaise on salad. OUTLANDISH or what?
  12. A fall at the last hurdle for me—I had all but 7d in 25 minutes, tried to think of anything other than “DEMITE” and failed, so bunged it in and came here. Fiddlesticks.

    It didn’t seem right, but I’ve been reading Silas Marner this week, so I’ve been introduced to quite a few words that I didn’t know, and I’d have been annoyed if I’d sat there like a lemon for an extra ten minutes only to find out that “demité” was some import that meant “profane”…

    Edited at 2020-02-11 08:29 am (UTC)

  13. 25 mins with yoghurt, granola, salad cream, etc.
    Mostly I liked Salad Cream and nice clue for Ivanhoe.
    Spent ages on the Pink bit of Tickle. It’s ages since I have heard/used that expression. Nice.
    Thanks setter and J.
  14. Gaucho came easy, and I’ve been feasting on youtube clips of Ronaldinho Gaucho these past few minutes. Must have been on the wavelength today, few problems anywhere. I see brand names as inevitable, but still don’t like them.
  15. A much earlier solve than normal for me and it clearly didn’t do me any good. 23:00 with most problems in the top half. No unknowns or non-parsings, I just couldn’t see what was going on for too long with a lot of the clues.

    I should have known I was going to struggle when I started biffing PREACHER at 27 and found that I’d arrived at the crossing H one letter too soon.

  16. Like Gothick, had half a dozen or so left after 30 mins, then struggled with the rest. If I had known what a BLOODSTONE was, I might have finished sooner.
  17. I mentioned brand names yesterday, late in the day, it’s an awful development.

    Enjoyed today’s puzzle, but dnk BLOODSTONE, will look out for it now.

    Does OBEDIENT mean good?

    17’31” thanks jack and setter.

    1. Yes, I almost queried it in the blog. I thought that telling a child to ‘be good’ might just cover ‘obedient’ but on reflection I’m not sure I can see it at all.
      2. Dictionaries to the rescue:
        Collins: ‘obedient or well-behaved’
        ODE: ‘obedient to rules or conventions’
  18. 8:20. I was very much on the wavelength with this one, it seems. I did about three-quarters of it very quickly indeed, but became (relatively) stuck in the NE corner. For some reason the ETNA/ANTE chestnut was my last in.
    I suspect the groups who were/weren’t familiar with HOMIE will match fairly accurately with those who were/weren’t familiar with CRIB in a recent Sunday puzzle.
  19. Couple of iffy bits. I’m familiar with the phrase, “I’m tickled pink,” but have never heard it used as an infinitive or a transitive verb.

    Re. 16a: is a visor really a garment, and is an advisor really an expert?

    Thanks for explaining CK. As someone who wears the first thing that’s clean, designer labels are beyond my ken.

  20. Under 20 minutes, with Bloodstone LOI. Much of this ran in as fast as I could write, mostly in the eastern half. Western half was slower. Couldn’t parse Tickle pink, although now that I learn it contains a brand name, I like it even less. Yesterday’s pepsi made me uncomfortable, too.
    If they’re changing the rules about brand names we should be informed.
  21. NHO Calvin Klein, so to reduce him to his initials is simply very poor clueing. Luckily it was an obvious biff. I tend to think of a pink politician as barely left of centre anyway, so overall the crappiest clue of 2020 so far

    I agree with Kevin as regards ETNA, but I already had the checkers in place when I reached it, so no biggie.

    FOI SALAD CREAM (a crime against humanity)
    LOI ETNA
    COD ANTIHERO
    TIME 11:26

    Edited at 2020-02-11 12:10 pm (UTC)

    1. Calvin Kline; the stylish way to stash your tackle! A man about town such as you! Keep up Jordan!

      Edited at 2020-02-11 03:43 pm (UTC)

  22. 26 minutes. Didn’t parse the designer label and shocked to see it there. Macbeth is courageous and has his moments of morality, as you might say, but these only go to make him an antihero with depth. Re Ivanhoe and The Go-Between, it seems homo legens is slowly but surely becoming homo spectans. Liked ‘hath’. jk
  23. Not quite a double helix (lovely term for such a clue) as ‘climbing’ goes more easily with what’s before it than after. jk
  24. I thought at first you were going to back Macbeth as an antihero!
    Hellmann’s v Heinz – we’re in Marmite/Bovril territory methink!
  25. Went well to begin with but very unbalanced. Western side quicker to go in than east. Bit of a struggle latterly but finished in 24.01. COD for me was Hath, easy when you realise but I went through so many tortuous constructions before getting it. A classic kick self I thought.

    Guessed the Bonhomie included some sort of nickname for a Canadian but never heard of Homie before. Ivanhoe took a while, thinking H for house rather than ho.

    Enjoyable puzzle and pleased to finish in a reasonable time.

  26. Yesterday evening I mentioned to a friend that I’d recently included ETNA in a crossword, and shamefacedly admitted I’d gone for a reversal of ANTE. Is it a bye-law that that’s the only way to do it?

    6m 38s today, fortunately thinking better of DETIME after I’d already put it in the grid. Didn’t manage to parse TICKLE PINK and I’m not sure I’d have thought of Calvin Klein – always reminds me of the scene in Back to the Future where Lorraine thinks Marty is called Calvin Klein because that’s what it says on his underwear.

  27. I was wondering if the occasional product placements were trial balloons or some sort of immunotherapy to desensitize us to the introduction of allergens in the form of brand names. It’s ok in small quantities I guess. I remember asking my father what the other 55 varieties were after ketchup and SALAD CREAM. As others have noted HOMIE and neighbour don’t quite align. I’ve seen the IVANHOE with Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Fontaine (not half bad) and didn’t know James Bond also played him. 18.21
    1. The product placement thing is probably a condition of Trump’s biggly fantastic great deal.
  28. aaaaarrgh!!!! 18’57” – once again a good time wrecked by carelessness. exanined. when will I learn??
  29. Right on the wavelength with this one after royally screwing up the Concise and QC puzzles. FOsI EXAMINED, GAUCHO and TICKLED PINK. LOI ETNA after dismissing ROTA. One of my better efforts. 15:53. Thanks setter and Jack.
    1. Did you misspell the water bridge on the concise? I reckon there are quite a lot of them today (me included).
      1. I did! However, I also failed to notice that my peer had been compromised by my LOI, the fastener:-(

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