Times Cryptic 27649

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

I’m standing in last minute for Ulaca who is feeling under the weather at the moment and I’m sure we all wish him a speedy recovery.

My solving time for this was 24 minutes but I felt I was on target for a much faster time. Although there were two words unknown to me they were not the cause of my delay as they were clued with very clear wordplay. My problems all came in the SE corner where some answers had mostly vowels as checkers, something I find often hinders the thought process.

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 Rodent circling key hotel where brewer keeps grain (4-5)
MALT-HOUSE : MOUSE (rodent) containing [circling] ALT (key) + H (hotel)
6 Armadillo accommodated by prefect at Oundle (5)
TATOU : Hidden in [accommodated by] {prefec}T AT OU{undle}. My first unknown word. For those who like to make sense of the surface reading, Oundle is a public school in the Northamptonshire market town of the same name.
9 Distinguished member of upper house possibly gathering army (7)
NOTABLE : NOBLE (member of upper house possibly) containing [gathering] TA (army)
10 Foodie finally accepting Londoners’ description of their police? (7)
GOURMET : {acceptin}G [finally], OUR MET (Londoners’ description of their Metropolitan police?)
11 Fertile spot, like one adopted by map-makers (5)
OASIS : AS (like) + I (one) contained [adopted] by OS (map-makers – Ordnance Survey)
13 Secret art, manoeuvring public vehicle across the pond (9)
STREETCAR : Anagram [manoeuvring] of SECRET ART. One such famously named Desire from a street in New Orleans.
14 Orally declare sister worried about trophy (9)
NUNCUPATE : NUN (sister) + ATE (worried) containing [about] CUP (trophy). My second unknown word.
16 Nimble mole torn apart by rook (4)
SPRY : SPY (mole) containing [torn apart by] R (rook)
18 Revolutionary female cook (4)
CHEF : CHE (revolutionary), F (female)
19 Promotional body‘s tune is revised to accommodate singer (9)
INSTITUTE : Anagram [revised] of TUNE IS containing [to accommodate] TIT (singer)
22 One delayed more surprisingly by US city investigator (9)
LATECOMER : LA (US city), TEC (investigator), anagram [surprisingly] of MORE
24 Tribe in charge of eastern part of UK (5)
ICENI : IC (charge), E (eastern), NI (part of UK – Northern Ireland). Boudica’s gang.
25 Protective ring German field marshal left out in posh car (7)
GROMMET : ROMME{l} (German field marshal) [left out] contained by [in] GT (posh car). Usually a washer of some sort.
26 Bristle, having drink reduced by Queen (7)
WHISKER : WHISKE{y} (drink) [reduced], R (Queen) – or if you prefer, WHISK{y} (drink) [reduced], ER (Queen)
28 English head going over German city (5)
ESSEN : E (English), NESS (head – headland) reversed [going over]
29 Copy a restaurateur originally introducing a pasta sauce (9)
CARBONARA : CARBON (copy), A, R{estaurateur} [originally], A
Down
1 Wild weather thus overwhelming cricket side after half-day (7)
MONSOON : MON (half day), SO (thus), ON (cricket side)
2 Sale item consisting of large books (3)
LOT : L (large), OT (books – Old Testament)
3 It’s excluded from part of elevenses in his plant (8)
HIBISCUS : BISCU{it} (part of elevenses) [it’s excluded], contained by [in] HIS
4 They employ doorkeepers hospital rejected (5)
USERS : US{h}ERS (doorkeepers) [hospital rejected]
5 About time birds of prey start to show enthusiasm (9)
EAGERNESS : ERNES (birds of prey) containing [about] AGE (times), S{how} [start]
6 Vehicle taking high hill skirting Yorkshire river (6)
TOURER : TOR (high hill) containing [skirting] URE (Yorkshire river)
7 Carelessly misclue “tape” as “buried record” (4,7)
TIME CAPSULE : Anagram [carelessly] of MISCLUE TAPE
8 Liberal assembly ultimately supporting state? Absolutely (7)
UTTERLY : UTTER (state), L (Liberal), {assembl}Y [ultimately]
12 Moralising, posted promissory notes around hospital department (11)
SENTENTIOUS : SENT (posted) + IOUS (promissory notes) containing [around] ENT (hospital department – Ear Nose Throat)
15 A toxic aim needs changing — that’s self-evident (9)
AXIOMATIC : Anagram [changing] of A TOXIC AIM
17 Islander, a chap reportedly in love (8)
FILIPINO : Sounds like [reportedly] “Philip” (chap), IN, O
18 Pass over good points in industrial city (7)
COLOGNE : COL (mountain pass), O (over), G (good) N E (points)
20 English liturgy adopted at first around Republican state (7)
ERITREA : E (English),  RITE (liturgy) containing [around] R (republican), A{dopted} [at first]
21 The last word about sources of Cambridge undergrads’ discernment (6)
ACUMEN : AMEN (the last word) containing [about} C{ambridge} U{undergrads} [sources of…]
23 Argumentative type, one of eight in crew? (5)
ROWER : Two meanings
27 Parrot identified by poet Eliot initially rejected (3)
KEA : KEA{ts} (poet) [Eliot initially – T.S. – rejected]

59 comments on “Times Cryptic 27649”

  1. I whizzed through this in about 15 minutes (including the same two unknown words) TATOU and NUNCUPATE. But then I ground to a halt on FILIPINO with all the checkers. I couldn’t get SICILINO out of my head, which I don’t think is a word, and SICIL is not quite close enough to Cecil. So it took another 5 or 10 minutes to kick myself. And I live on the west coast of the US so there are plenty of people from the Philippines around here, and I’ve even been there. Then, after all that, I had a typo anyway.
    1. Philipines being spelt differently doesn’t help. Adding further to the difficulty, I did a mental trawl of the world’s islands before the alphabet trawl, and Philipines being an archipelago(?) not an island didn’t get a look in. Bimini and Bikini did, though Sicily didn’t as no room for Siciliano’s A.
  2. Fast, but not furious. One error as, not knowing Nuncupate I over-baked the recipe and tried Noncupate. I liked Iceni for the vocabulary, and the parrot for the clue. Thanks jack, setter

    1. Me too. Glad I’m not alone, in the nicest possible way!

      Edited at 2020-04-27 09:49 am (UTC)

  3. I spent too much time worrying about the two DNKs, given how compelling the wordplay was in each case. I thought of HIBISCUS early on, once I had the B S, but couldn’t make any sense of the clue, so passed on; I only parsed the clue after submission. FILIPINO from an alphabet trawl; luckily F comes early. Jack, a slip at MONSOON: SO (thus).
  4. Best wishes for Ulaca, scary when people are under-the-weather in theses times. No problems with the two unknowns, and Filipino last in by miles. Only other trouble Cologne, imagining it would be an industrial city in UK. Nice puzzle.
    1. Well Isla, Colne, Lancs only needed an ‘own goal’ and one is almost there.
      A distant relative, on my distaff side, was Sir William Pickles Hartley, jam manufacturer and philanthropist, who founded the Hartley’s Jam Company and the Hartley Hospital. He was born in Colne in 1846.
      Upt’north an o.g. is also known as a ‘Hartley’s sponsored effort’!
  5. 6:50 – zoomed through this one, with NUNCUPATE the last one in and the only one where I needed the wordplay.
  6. A sub-twenty here at 18 minutes so the QC squad can be mustered. DNK NONCUPATE Innit!? but did know TATOU – they live in Scrabbleland: in GA their parlours are no longer locked-down – but please do not ingest!

    At first I thought 1ac bore shades of Richard Nixon but it was MALT HOUSE and not MILL HOUSE – MILHOUS!

    FOI 2dn LOT

    LOI 6dn TOURER as I was looking for the Great Ouse and not the little URE.

    COD 12dn SENTENTIOUS

    WOD 15dn AXIOMATIC

    MER at 17dn FILIPINO – locals prefer PILIPINO these days!

    Edited at 2020-04-27 03:13 am (UTC)

  7. A SPRY 22 minutes here, though it felt a bit slower than that while I was doing it, mostly because of the unknown NUNCUPATE and my consistent attempt to crowbar “eagle” into 5d. On the plus side, I saw 17d FILIPINO quite quickly, possibly because my dad’s called Phil.

    FOI 1a MALTHOUSE—I’ve been in a few; they were mostly in distilleries, but then whisky is basically distilled beer—LOI 8d UTTERLY where I was mis-reading the clue and trying to come up with a word that meant “liberal”. I took some time along the way to wonder how many youngsters will know “carbon” for “copy”; I’m 47 and I can only barely remember carbon paper. I suppose it just about lives on in “Cc”.

    Wishing U a speedy recovery.

    1. Yes, we seemed to have a few regular terms today that I only see in crosswords: ERNE, NESS, ICENI, ENT (as a hospital department), TEC, OS to name a few. So it seemed a bit old fashioned to me, though I enjoyed in nonetheless.
    2. I’m sure there is (or was) a movement to have this redesignated ‘courtesy copy’ but it hasn’t made it to any of the usual source dictionaries.
  8. Like George my only pause was NUNCUPATE where I trusted the wordplay. I’d met all the others before including FILIPINO. Quite a few old chestnuts in this one.
  10. 22m for me so a classic Monday light workout. Thanks for stepping in Jack and GWS to Ulaca. You have the wrong key in 1a (ALT works rather better than ESC!) and I believe 24a is a very nice &lit: if memory serves, the Iceni were based in what is now Essex, so did indeed rule the East of the UK.
    1. Thanks for this, now corrected, and to Kevin for pointing out the slip in MONSOON. As you will appreciate the blog had to be thrown together in a bit of a rush.
  11. A nice start to the week, coming in slightly under par at the moment with a WITCH of 96. That site seems to have revised my average from 16:13 to 15:36 which looks like a good sign.

    NHO TATOU meaning armadillo, I’ll be careful the next time I go to an inking parlour. And the actress is Tautou. NHO NUNCUPATE either, was paranoid that some other trophy would go in the middle.

    MONSOON – doesn’t ‘overwhelmed’ usually mean ‘is outside of’ rather than ‘is on top of’?

    Friday’s answer: sycamore tree seeds are known as helicopters; apparently they are officially called samara(s?). And there’s a helicopter called a Bristol Sycamore. Who knew?

    Today’s question: which two films have won three acting Oscars?

    1. Who knew? Well erm… Raoul Hafner, (1905–1980) FEng, FRAes, Austrian-born British helicopter pioneer and engineer.

      Today’s question would be better phrased.’which two films have each won three acting Oscars?’ Otherwise there are countless combinations.

  12. I don’t think I parsed ICENI or OASIS, and even GOURMET didn’t really get the full treatment, but I was skipping through in 11 minutes, which is as quick as I can type. Of course, I did the wordplay properly for NUNCUPATE, and what there was of the wordplay for TATOU because there was no other way of getting them. I only know one word for armadillo and can’t see why you’d want another one, except, as has been pointed out, for Scrabble.
    Thanks Jack for stepping in and best wishes to Ulaca.
  13. …and a new PB!
    This must be close to going off the bottom end of the SNITCH scale.
    My first thought for 1ac was OAST HOUSE and my LOI was FILIPINO as it was for others
  14. Nearly a PB at 8m on the nose here; everything fell into place very nicely. Thank you setter for a nice start to the week. Well done Jack for coming to the rescue. All the best to Ulaca.
  15. 14 minutes. LOI GROMMET despite Rommel being the only German Field Marshal I know. In that post-war era of my early childhood, he was a legend. TATOU and NUNCUPATE were unknown but fairly set. COD to GOURMET. A good Monday puzzle. Thank you Jack and setter.
  17. Well the smug classicist didn’t know that one, and unlike TATOU it’s a bit long for Scrabble. I bet that was the last clue set and that was the only word that would fit. Either that or the setter is a lawyer. It didn’t really hold me up as the wordplay was crystal clear. The rest all fell into place nice and easily and I’m quite pleased with a WITCH of 87. COD HIBISCUS, LOI KEA, as it was one of those days when a rough progression from NW to SE was possible.
  18. NUNCUPATE and TATOU made the first 25 minutes worthwhile, FILIPINO made the last 10 minutes of alphabet-cum-geography dredging just plain frustrating. Anyway, got there in the end so not a bad way to start the crossword week.
  19. 9:53. …pausing at the end for a while before I persuaded myself NUNCUPATE could be a word. TATOU was also an unknown for me. Only other problem was writing FLIIPINO in for 17D which made INSTITUTE more difficult than it should have been. A type without typing! I wnder who the NOTABLE GOURMET and his CHEF ARE? Thanks Jack and get well soon Ulaca.
  20. I don’t often do the 15×15 but today’s was, in my terms, a doddle. NUNCUPATE was the only hiccup but the wordplay gave it. I didn’t believe one or two answers at first but my first attempts/biffs proved sound, I took twice as long as many of the slower posters above but was very pleased to find my time was a pb. John M.

    Edited at 2020-04-27 08:59 am (UTC)

  21. No time today but I cannot do them faster than this. As horryd says, this is one for the QCers. Best wishes U.
  22. Yes defnitlee an easy one, with nuncupate the only brake. Cod to iceni for being both cryptic and true.
  23. Yes v easy, my only unknown being the discovery that Audrey Tatou is Audrey Armadillo .. a great name for a great actress

    Edited at 2020-04-27 09:47 am (UTC)

  24. 7:31. Very easy overall, but a couple where I had to pause to contemplate the wordplay. NUNCUPATE being the prime example: it didn’t look right but the wordplay could hardly have been clearer. Last in though was FILIPINO, where the requisite chap took a while to appear.
    Thanks to jackkt for stepping in at short notice and best wishes to ulaca.
  25. 20:25, but with NONCUPATE. Drat! Thanks for stepping in Jack, and Get Well Soon to Ulaca.

    Edited at 2020-04-27 09:55 am (UTC)

  26. That’s a record time for me. Fortunately the FILIPINO LOI didn’t hold me up for long. Always helps when 1a is the first one in. Not too well up on pasta sauces, so my first effort was CARBONADA but then the cryptic gave me the R.
  27. ….Brian Eno’s brother at 17D. NHO TATOU or NUNCUPATE, but the parsings were clear. I was delayed slightly by trying to work with “limo” rather than “GT” at 25A.

    Best wishes to Ulaca for a full and speedy recovery, and thanks to Jack for stepping in at short notice.

    FOI MALT-HOUSE
    LOI EAGERNESS (trying to work with “eagle”)
    COD HIBISCUS
    TIME 7:34 (fortunately I checked for typos, as I’d made FIVE of them !)

    Edited at 2020-04-27 09:56 am (UTC)

  28. 17’02, mostly v. straightforward. I like the parrot’s parsing which I didn’t see. ‘Streetcar’ always reminds me of the Tennessee Williams magical title and play. Nuncupate rang the faintest bell possible and tatou none at all.
  29. A Monday stroll, even if quite a fast-paced stroll. The armadillo was unknown but could hardly have been clued more clearly. Perfectly nice example of the genre.

    P.S. Hope the indisposition is not too serious.

    Edited at 2020-04-27 11:13 am (UTC)

  30. No problems, 14 minutes, hesitated between NONCUPATE and NUNCUPATE and guessed right. As Jimbo says, chestnutty. Liked the clue for the KEA parrot, which lives in same land as martinp1.
  31. I can’t go much faster than this so it must have been fairly easy.

    I can never see the word UTTERLY without thinking of the TV series “Brass” – one of my all-time favourites. Timothy West hamming it up brilliantly as Bradley Hardacre – northern industrialist and general all-round bad guy.

    Thank you to setter and blogger.

    Dave.

  32. Fastest time in yonks – spoiled by a typo. SenteTtious.

    Best wishes to our absent blogger.

  33. I just about remembered “nuncupative (i.e. oral) will” from first year real property eons ago – no idea if they’re valid. Some interesting match-ups – GOURMET/GROMMET/ESSEN and GT/TOURER. I think they sped things up for me. I hope you are being taken care of Ulaca and feel better soon. Keep us posted. 10.12
  34. 13:27 is about as fast as I can muster when jabbing away one-fingered on my tablet as opposed to a proper keyboard. Trusted the wp for the unknown armadillo and nuncupate. I liked the broken biscuits clue for hibiscus. Best wishes to Ulaca and thanks to Jackkt for stepping in.
  35. One of my best times so far this year, 09.50. All seemed to click into place nicely. FOI monsoon and last utterly. Nuncupate is a word I’ve never encountered before but the cluing was pretty explicit. COD for me was sententious but honourable mentions for gourmet and grommet.

  36. Not that easy for the QC community, but certainly accessible and enjoyable.Same two unknowns as Jack and others;but I’ll add my LOI KEA. I was wondering whether the car might also be a parrot; but I paused to parse and Keats emerged. So all correct in about an hour.
    COD to either EAGERNESS or STREETCAR.
    Nice to be reminded of Hibiscus, an upmarket London restaurant I used to visit occasionally. It closed a while ago. David
  37. The parrot was my downfall. I did not figure out that “Eliot initially” would give T.S. to take away from a poet, fixating instead on taking away E from some four-letter poet and eventually sticking in KRA with fingers crossed.

    NHO of NUNCUPATE or TATOU either, but in the end I put it in as the cluing was as clear as it could be in both cases.

    Is Cologne particularly an industrial city? I would have thought Essen fitted that definition rather better.

    FOI Lot
    LOI Nuncupate
    COD Iceni/Grommet

      2. Fair enough! I tend to think more of the cathedral, the Hohenzollern Bridge and Kölsch beer (with the tradition of waiters bringing you another one unless you leave your beer mat on top of the glass).
  38. Very easy, 26:30, with (what a surprise!) NUNCUPATE and TATOU being the only unknowns. The wordplay was very clear, but theoretically there could have been other choices (NONCUPATE, ECTAT?), ruled out as usual mostly by a sense of what would be most likely to be a real English word (borrowed from another language, of course).
  39. After being tipped off in QC land, I must have taken 4 minutes out of my pb to finish in 12:58. I forgot to post at the time, so remember little except the time I took. I think I started doing cryptics about 10 years ago, and never thought I would dip under 20 mins, but I did, and now under 13 mins. Next target, 10 mins. Maybe in another 10 years, but for today, I’m a bit chuffed.

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