Times Cryptic 27638

68 comments on “Times Cryptic 27638”

1. I had everything but CARDIE and of course ARBALEST at just over 14′, got CARDIE, and then had 4′ or so to contemplate 28ac. I got as far as AR T, but BALES eluded me and I went to Wikipedia. Like Ulaca I thought of ARMAMENT, and the setter should have, too; ARBALEST is really a bit much for a daily cryptic. DNK SPOILER. Biffed BERMUDA TRIANGLE & PETER PAN, parsed post-submission. Thinking if U then Q led to recalling ALIQUOT, although I couldn’t tell you what it means.
2. I found this enjoyable but pretty tough, grinding out ALIQUOT and CARDIE but failing on the crossbow, where I chucked in a hopeful (hopeless?) armament. 40-odd minutes.
3. 8:40 – ALIQUOT a term used often in chemistry, so it was at the front of the mind, and too much time reading fantasy novels took care of ARBALEST. Was a little worried INSTALL might have been something else.
4. Everything except the Aliquot (Ali-what?), Arbalest (OED: “…the word survives only in military antiquities, it has no standard modern spelling”) and Cardie (Cardie? really? Cardie?) went in pretty quickly. I was blaming the isolation-encouraged ability to drink more than I properly should at dinner, but that was’t the problem. Not at all. Nice blog, jack. 90% of a nice puzzle, setter.

   1. CARDIE (and the alternative spelling CARDY) have come up a number of times before. It’s common parlance in the UK though maybe not with younger folk.

      Edited at 2020-04-14 04:49 am (UTC)

      1. Thanks, jack. I wasn’t questioning the word – as you say, we’ve had it before – more that it is a word which grates on my ear, in the same way that “veggie” does. Perhaps there’s a reason why younger speakers don’t use it. I had also thought a jumper, in common usage, was restricted to pullover style, and would not have a button or zip up.
         1. Doctor, doctor. I can’t get my buttoned woollen top off.
            I need to refer you to a cardyologist.
         2. I imagine younger speakers don’t say cardie or cardigan because they don’t wear such things. As for the definition, ‘jumper’ is not overly specific and Collins defines it only as: A a warm knitted piece of clothing which covers the upper part of your body and your arms.
            1. I actually observe younger people (in their 20s and 30s) wearing cardigans more than people of my generation. I wouldn’t quite describe them as trendy but they don’t seem to be regarded as fogeyish.
               I don’t think I would ever refer to a cardigan as a jumper but then I don’t own any so I can’t be sure. In any case I thought the definition was close enough.
               1. Please note that there are not just old fogeys like me but retro ‘young fogeys’ too.
   2. Quite. The whole point a out a cardigan, or cardie, is that it is NOT a jumper, as it buttons up the front rather than going over your head.
5. Another armament. Then looked up a wordfinder and immediately recognised arbalest, so must have seen it in a crossword somewhere (don’t read fantasy novels ;-). Aliquot guessed, only other problem the extra S in dissolve. Liked soccer ground, and the answer rocket scientist.
6. Spent a bit of time trying to understand the extra letter in DISSOLVE. No fair! COD to ALIQUOT, a great penny drop.
   1. My quick parse of DISSOLVE fortunately failed to notice the unaccounted for S.
   2. Probably a typo in the clue, which should have read girls?
      1. Or perhaps:

         Wind up girl’s only about five

         1. That was also my thought Jack.
7. All correct including inventing a word for the crossbow, wondering about the extra S in dissolve, and wondering what ALIQUOT actually meant since I put it in from wordplay alone.

   I think spoiler is the type on a plane not a car, which does indeed dump lift.

8. but others not! 28ac ARMAMENT hereabouts but I knew, fat pillow, there was another word for a cross-bow.

   So 36 minutes to add to my Chronicles of Wasted Time.

   FOI 14dn CLAPTRAP

   COD 1ac CORNICES

   WOD 1dn CARDIE so every English- auntiewear

   Much enjoyed.

9. An annoying start to the day. A missolved ARMAMENT plays a misclued DISSOLVE. So I’m calling that a draw. OK, setter?

   Edited at 2020-04-14 07:12 am (UTC)

10. Hard work today, ALIQUOT dredged up, no idea what it means. DISSOLVE’s unaccounted letter caused some disquiet. ARBALEST from historical novels. Nho ramen, so AMENABLE put in with crossed fingers. Rather liked OWN GOAL and CARDIE. As noted by jack, two consecutive ALIs, and also two pantomimes.

    28’30”, thanks jack and setter.

11. …that was me today. Not the greatest. I got COD ALIQUOT though. I was finding this easy until it wasn’t, and ended up with two wrong, a biffed CORVID for CARDIE and ARMAMENT for ARBALEST. That was after spending 20 minutes going round in circles after reaching the last three in 15 minutes, and then only hitting on CORNICES. And that involved a tour of 92 football grounds (I left Gigg Lane in) before thinking of the anagram. I thought of BALES too, but dismissed it as impossible to fit in. I saw what looked like the missing S in dissolve and came here expecting an erudite explanation. Doesn’t seem like there was one. Otherwise enjoyable. Thank you Jack and setter.
    1. Once I realised that Sincil Bank was not the answer to 1ac I avoided the trawl round all 92 footie grounds. My COD
12. 44 minutes, with 19d ALIQUOT falling not long after I constructed 28a ARBALEST and realised the setter might’ve presented me with another word I’d never heard of. Helped a lot by the “see a U, try a Q” rule. Didn’t even notice the surplus S in 9d.

    I don’t think it’s ninja turtling that I knew of Rialto only as the model of Reliant car, as I’m not sure they were ever popular enough to be described as popular culture…

    1. Rialto was also a Britpop band! Sort of sub-Pulp stuff, on the approximate level of, let’s say, Strangelove or My Life Story.
       1. I just gave them a quick try, and rather liked them.
          1. I just asked Google to play me “Monday Morning Five Nineteen” by Rialto, and it corrected me, rather snippily I thought, to “Monday Morning Five Point One Nine”…
13. 17:22 LOI arbalest. Aliquot from wordplay. Fairly quick for me; must have hit the wavelength for once. Thanks jack.
14. A good tussle with ARBALEST shrugged in from a guess at BALES and the final checker from INGEST, and ALIQUOT an amused penny drop. However a lengthy detour in the middle came from going walkabout with the clock running, researching Russian religious affiliations ending in A. There are none. It took an age for the dreadlocked answer to emerge. Me cyaaan’ believe it, as the great Linton Kwesi Johnson would say.

    Edited at 2020-04-14 07:45 am (UTC)

15. 19:13. Puzzled by the extra S in DISSOLVED, derived the unknown ARBALEST from the wordplay, but then was stuck at the top taking ages to see my last 2 in – OWN GOAL and COOP UP. My scientific training made ALIQUOT a write-in, though. COD to CLAPTRAP.
16. …shall Dissolve.
    30 mins with yoghurt, granola, etc. Some of which spent looking for the missing ‘S’ and inventing, luckily, the NHOs: Arbalest and Aliquot.
    Thanks setter and J.
17. FOI: A confident “Inspector Morse“. Hastily changed to “ something Inspector” – and then finally to “Rocket Scientist”.

    COD: Aliquot. I also liked cornices.

18. Like others enjoyed most of this and had a laugh at ALIQUOT. But the missing S at DISSOLVE was time wasting and disconcerting whilst ARBALEST would be great in a Mephisto but is a bit OTT for the daily and the man on the Clapham omnibus. Well blogged Jack.
19. Another curate’s egg, with the obvious misgivings that have already been expressed. ALIQUOT is a good clue, and gettable solely from wordplay, especially for classicists who have an interest in boxing history. ARBALEST, however, felt to me like one of those words which had somehow found its way in from a different, much harder, puzzle (and the * denotes that I checked it existed before submitting, Mephisto-style, which I don’t really expect to have to do in the daily puzzle).
20. First crossword in two weeks, so was pleased I haven’t lost the knack. Like most others, I was slowed at the end by Arbalest, Aliquot and Cardie – and was puzzled by the missing S in Dissolve. Many thanks.
21. DNF – boo to ARBALEST!
22. I’m glad it wasn’t only me who couldn’t figure out where the first S in DISSOLVE came from.
    I put CARDIE in without real confidence and still don’t quite see how CARD = Identifier.
    ALIQUOT wasn’t a problem as my late wife, a scientist, used the word from time to time.
    On the other hand, I don’t expect to be needing to bring ARBALEST into the conversation next time I go down the pub, primarily because there’s no pub around here. At least solving the clue was straightforward once I realised what “straw packages” meant.
    COD to AMENABLE.
    1. Yes, I looked at it twice but I’d already picked holes so I decided to let it go without comment. I thought of ‘ID card’ of course but that’s only one function. Collins has: A card is a piece of cardboard or plastic, or a small document, which shows information about you and which you carry with you, for example to prove your identity.
    2. I thought of business cards, which are commonly referred to as just ‘cards’.
       1. Back in the day in the Land of the Free, certain unpleasant people would refer to ‘card-carrying communists’.
          1. Now you made me research it.

             Apparently, the CPUSA did issue membership cards in the 30s and 40s – they were green with a serial number. But most members did not carry them, but hid them away.

             1. These days ‘card carrying’ is usually applied to the ACLU – I think it is attempt to link the ACLU to the American Communists in the minds of gullible voters.
23. Hmm, managed to get it right but spent ages thinking there must be another word that goes ?I?SOLVE, partly because I didn’t think of the Parliamentary sort of dissolving. Put it in and hit submit thinking it would be wrong, but to my surprise it wasn’t.

    NHO ARBALEST, not that sure that art means gift.
    COD has to be ALIQUOT even though I had only vaguely heard of it.

    Previous answer: the longest capital that has no letters in common with its country is Montevideo, inspired by PYONGYANG.

    Today’s question: which two parts in Peter Pan are usually played by the same person?

    1. The Thompson Twins!
       1. Mr Darling and Captain Hook?
24. But having seen the BALES I didn’t see the ART, and INGEST wouldn’t come either. Nice easy puzzle but spent half the time on those last 2. Post solve the -N-E— gave 131 matches so no wonder it wasn’t easy.
25. 16:15. ARBALEST rang a vague bell, possibly from French. I don’t think I’ve ever come across ALIQUOT but was able to derive it from wordplay.
    I wasted a little bit of time over DISSOLVE, which appears to be a mistake. Should have been “girl’s” I reckon.

    Edited at 2020-04-14 10:10 am (UTC)

26. ….the random chap at 7D. Fortunately, I’d come across ARBALEST before (probably in AZED). My only problems (other than a slowish start) were not recognising the function of the SPOILER, and being off-message at 16D, where I was convinced the messenger was Hermes. I saw the floating S straight away, and guessed the dreaded apostrophe had gone AWOL.

    FOI LIBRA
    LOI/COD ALIQUOT
    TIME 12:10

27. Half an hour but with armament: annoying as arbalect tapped at the door but I didn’t listen carefully enough and dismissed it, not trusting it long enough to see bales. Surprised by aliquot which I only got through knowing some Latin. Careless setting with dissolve. As others I feel the crossbow term too arcane: has anyone heard it used (as opposed to reading it)? There are mediaeval weapons with no equivalent word now for which there might be a case. But this aint one.
28. I put in “Asimult” as in: I am the ult(imate). The rest of the crossword was OK as I chanced to read about arbalests recently.
29. I eased myself into this puzzle with 4d, then put the PUP in 5a while awaiting inspiration for the rest of it. This allowed me to stick an A in our random man and pop in the SPOILER, which I quickly recognised from my avid viewing of Aircrash Investigations(from a technical rather than a ghoulish interest). I spotted the SOLVE part of 9d quickly but wasted probably 5 minutes trying to justify the missing S. This was my LOI and I half expected pink squares, so another raspberry for the setter from me! The rest of the puzzle was quite enjoyable, especially the Ali Quote, which I derived from wordplay. I did manage to construct ARBALEST from the straw packages, but looked it up to confirm it existed. 31:44 which would’ve been well under 30 minutes, but for DISSOLVE. Thanks setter and Jack.
30. Finished with everything correct, but hopelessly slow at well over an hour. I was delayed by a few, especially INGEST, which I associate with food, rather than fluid, intake and OWN GOAL which I spent too long trying to solve as an anagram.

    Last in was ARBALEST, trusting unconfidently to the wordplay. The word sounded vaguely familiar and I now remember the name of a work colleague many years ago – Larbalestier – at least one of whose ancestors was presumably a crossbow maker. Well, now I know anyway.

    1. Wow!
31. NHO aliquot, but the wordplay was helpful and it was a great clue. Arbalest known from Paul Doherty’s ‘Sorrowful Mysteries Of Brother Athelstan’ where it seems to be the default murder weapon.
32. 21.04 but I have to confess to a cheat. I’m guessing I’m not unique. 19 dn being the cause, realised it would start with ali but never having heard of aliquot, that’s as far as I got. Would for example have been a bit fairer ( as well as explicit) than say?

    FOI coop up LOI, not including aliquot, claptrap. Along the way liked rasta, amenable and rocket scientist.

33. 17:05. A quick solve for me today. I latched on to the wordplay for the unknown arbalest and aliquot pretty sharpish so no delays there. The unclued “S” in dissolve on the other hand caused some hesitancy and led to a bit of nail biting between submission and confirmation of an all correct solution with no pink squares.
34. Feeling smug, as knew aliquot from chemistry days and knew arbalest was some kind of siege engine (a giant crossbow?). As others, wondered if the missing S in DISSOLVE was a typo, girl should be girl’s. Otherwise, no problems, 28 minutes, should have been 26 but took ages to see 1a was an anagram.
35. Pleased and annoyed about this.
    Pleased to get down to my last three, so decided on best guesses and visit here.
    ARBALEST derived from the clue; have never seen the word before. AMENABLE because I could get the letters to fit and Table seemed right; DNK Ramen.
    Finally ALIQUIT. So near yet so far.
    The top half seemed much easier to me.
    Now to try and finish The Old Man and The Sea. Have chosen a very short book as my lockdown attention span seems short.
    David
    1. And thanks to Phil for 7d …
36. Nicely hidden anagram at 1a – penny dropped only with all of the checkers in.

    ALIQUOT – another guess with all of the checkers – remembering to try a Q before a U.

    25 mins for all but 6, then a further 20 to finish the three remaining pairs CARDIE/CORNICES; RASTA/ALIQUOT; ARBALEST (another guess)/INGEST

37. Strangely enough, the extra S in DISSOLVE was my only problem and cost me several minutes before I dared to submit. Not that I really knew the meanings of some of the other terms (like ALIQUOT), but they all rang some sort of a bell. ARBALEST no problem, since in my younger days I learned by heart most of the Georges Brassens songs, including “Et c’est depuis ce temps, ma sœur/Que je suis devenu chasseur/Que mon arbalète à la main/Je cours les bois et les chemins” from “A l’ombre du coeur de ma mie”. Of course one shouldn’t have to know French to solve an English crossword.

    Edited at 2020-04-14 05:31 pm (UTC)

38. ‘Alibi’ for ‘excuse’ seems a bit loose. A lot of this was. Or perhaps I’m venting one of my pet hates-a crossword that is maybe 90% a bifable write-in’ with the other 10% impenetrable. Consistency please! Perhaps tomorrow we’ll get obscure words beginning with ‘B’? And so on until the lockdown finishes. . .Mr Grumpy
39. Couldn’t quite get talent for gift completely out of my head so toyed with trialent etc as possible answers. Went to word wizard in the end. Pity about dissolve. Otherwise it was a pretty good puzzle
40. I had no problem with any of this except the noodles. I spent 5 minutes on that one. My LOI.I should have remembered them because there’s a wonderful Japanese Restaurant just down the road where I’m a regular. I wasn’t sure of the crossbow but I knew the German word for crossbow is ARMBRUST which was near enough to convince me. I think I’ve come across ARBALEST in historical novels. 27 minutes. Ann
41. In Norse mythology ‘Dis’ refers to a fertility Goddess – could the setter have had this in mind i.e girl clueing Dis?? Norse Lady? Just an idea.
42. … I’m not often allowed a look at the 15×15 as my wife usually finishes it (we still do it on paper, one copy in the house. But occasionally she throws it at me in disgust at not finishing and I’m allowed a go.

    So I could see this was not her favourite when it was given me after only a short while and with several clues uncompleted. Including all of Amenable, Aliquot and Arbalest.

    All three added eventually but all three needing word trawls and dictionary checks – and leaving me wondering why clues beginning with A were so uniquely challenging and controversial. As already noted, perhaps it will be answers beginning with B that cause all the comment tomorrow …

    Cedric

43. Could someone enlighten me on DISSOLVE = “wind up”? Thanks!
    1. Yes, one might dissolve / wind up a company that’s in financial difficulties. ‘Disband’ would be another word for it.

       Edited at 2020-04-16 03:19 pm (UTC)

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