Times Cryptic 27650

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

You’ve probably already heard enough from me as blogger this week but I was scheduled to do this one, so here it is…

Solving time: 54 minutes over two sessions because as so often these days my solving was interrupted by a brief snooze. A nice puzzle with only one unknown meaning and not even a hint of a MER. A little trickier than yesterday’s however – for me at least – even though that had some unknown words as answers.

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 Very old structure from the back spooks (7)
ARCHAIC : ARCH (structure), CIA (spooks) reversed [from the back]
5 Some doctors send a message about violent emotion (7)
MADNESS : Hidden [some] and reversed [about] in {doctor}S SEND A M{essage}
9 Old celebrity to wake up shortly, like the birds (9)
OVIPAROUS : O (old), VIP (celebrity), AROUS{e} (wake up) [shortly]. I remembered the word from a previous encounter but had completely forgotten its meaning other than a vague association with eggs (based on  ‘ova’): producing eggs that are then hatched outside the body.
10 Maybe stick fork into small fruit (5)
SPEAR : S (small), PEAR (fruit)
11 Consuming interest in France before 1940? (13)
PREOCCUPATION : PRE-OCCUPATION (France before 1940?)
13 Measure of velocity of a moving Perseid (8)
AIRSPEED : A, anagram [moving] of PERSEID. The Perseids are a meteor shower. Didn’t know that but didn’t need to.
15 Disorderly signature on paper (6)
RAGTAG : RAG (paper), TAG (signature). Does anyone remember Rag Tag and Bobtail (Watch with Mother)?
17 One proverbially cool copper leaves behind a burden (6)
CUMBER : {cu}CUMBER (one proverbially cool) [copper – Cu – leaves). Or CU{cu}MBER if you prefer.
19 Backing show, risk being invested on and off (8)
REVERSAL :  REVEAL (show), with R{i}S[k} [on and off] contained [being invested]
22 A Wagnerian may unexpectedly sing this? (4,2,1,6)
AWAY IN A MANGER : Anagram [unexpectedly] of A WAGNERIAN MAY. The definition is &lit.
25 Be obliged to keep line significantly cut (5)
HALVE : HAVE (be obliged) containing [to keep] L (line)
26 In church, over to first carved pillar (5,4)
TOTEM POLE : TO, then O (over) contained by [in] TEMPLE (church)
27 To open sunshade the very thing for tourist (7)
VISITOR : IT (the very thing) contained by [to open] VISOR (sunshade)
28 Daughter avoids open car, day being very hot (7)
ROASTER : ROA{d}STER (open car) [daughter – d – avoids]
Down
1 Frenzied? I pronounce myself fine (4)
AMOK : With AM OK from the  cryptic hint
2 One offering a prune, that used to bring the tea? (7)
CLIPPER : Two meanings, Cutty Sark, now a museum in Greenwich, was one of the very last tea clippers.
3 Range, note, is marble (5)
AGATE : AGA (range), TE (note). This is a toy marble that resembles the colouring of the semi-precious mineral.  Other brands of cooking appliance are available, and can we please have a moratorium on AGATE for a while?
4 Perverse fancy for a single note (8)
CROTCHET : Two meanings, the first of which was completely unknown to me: A whimsical fancy; a perverse belief or preference, usually about a trivial matter.
5 Expression of dislike, receiving second question in place of prayer (6)
MOSQUE : MOUE (expression of dislike – a pout) containing [receiving] S (second) + Q (question)
6 Unlike pirates, a duke must be well turned out (9)
DISPARATE : Anagram [well turned out] of PIRATES A D (duke)
7 Gray is one for example appearing in computer catalogue? (7)
ELEGIST : EG (for example) contained by [appearing in] E-LIST (computer catalogue?). Thomas Gray is best known for his evocation of the churchyard in Stoke Poges that begins:
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
 The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
 And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
8 Force nine given very alcoholic brew to drink gallon (6,4)
STRONG GALE : STRONG ALE (very alcoholic brew) contains [to drink] G (gallon). Gales are classified: Force 7 – moderate, 8 – fresh, 9 – strong, 10 – whole. Quite a lot of strong ale being consumed around here at the moment!
12 Non-English characters in conflict about very ghoulish entertainment (3-5,2)
CAR-CRASH TV : Anagram of [in conflict about] CHARACT{e}RS [non-English  – remove e], V (very). Defined as ‘television programmes that show deliberately controversial, disturbing, or horrific material’ . Collins advises  ‘ghoulish people show an unnatural interest in things such as human suffering, death, or dead bodies’, so that seems to fit.
14 I would put in now for top post (9)
PRESIDENT : I’D (I would)  contained by [put in] PRESENT (now)
16 One at the dinner table who pricks hypocrisy? (8)
DECANTER : Two definitions of sorts, the second somewhat whimsical perhaps becomes clearer when a hyphen is added: DE-CANTER.
18 Assemble for review, dropping book with which one’s spotted (7)
MEASLES : Anagram [for review] of ASSEM{b}LE [dropping book – b]
20 Kind forbidden to punish (4,3)
SORT OUT : SORT (kind), OUT (forbidden)
21 Pro about to go on stage finds agent (6)
FACTOR : FOR (pro) contains [about] ACT (to go on stage)
23 Old instrument a British journal’s taken up (5)
GAMBA : A + B (British) + MAG (journal) reversed [taken up]. More usually called viola da gamba this was a viol that resembled the modern cello. Gamba is Italian for ‘leg’.
24 Stern   thing parents do with children (4)
REAR : Two meanings

77 comments on “Times Cryptic 27650”

  1. i remember rag, tag, and bobtail. Picture book was on Monday, Andy Pandy on Tuesday, Bill and Ben on Wednesday, RT&B on Thursday, and the Woodentops on Friday. Despite that, it was surprisingly hard to fill in _A_T_G, maybe because you’re not really looking for a compound noun with that few letters.

    I spent too much time trying to work out where the DEER came from in DECANTER since the hypocrisy was CANT, before I realized it wasn’t that sort of clue.

  2. This was a grind for me, and I came close to throwing in the towel. I didn’t help matters by being more than usually dim, missing the hidden (again) at 5ac, for instance. DNK GAMBA (only viola da gamba), SORT OUT (punish), CUMBER. And NHO my LOI, CAR-CRASH TV, which took me ages to guess; and even then I only parsed it post-submission.
  3. All Brits of a certain age, like Paul and Jack will have been raised on 15ac and Bobtail. Respect to Paul who remembered the week’s line-up. We never saw Picture Book as we had to go next door to watch TV, but not Mondays – no idea why! No TV in our house until I was 13! Stuck with the Radio which was wonderful!

    Now it’s all CAR-CRASH TV and the KARDASHIANS!! Y-UK!
    At 14dn POTUS gets yet another mention or is it Kim Jung-Un -‘feared missing over the sea of Japan’ (remember that line from M*A*S*H*? – great TV).

    FOI 22ac AWAY-IN-A-MANGER aka ‘the nut house’ where I was raised.

    LOI 25ac HALVE Doh!

    COD 27ac VISITOR as it made 12dn sooo difficult!

    WOD 12dn CAR-CRASH TV but lots else to enjoy.

    Time 53 minutes done on us balcony in glorious sunshine.

    Edited at 2020-04-28 04:36 am (UTC)

    1. Andy Pandy began in 1950 and was joined by Flower Pot Men in 1952. The title Watch with Mother was introduced in 1953 when Rag Tag & Bobtail came along. That accounted for Tuesday to Thursday as mentioned by Paul, but Picture Book and The Woodentops didn’t appear until 1955. By missing Picture Book you were deprived of seeing the lovely Patricia Driscoll before she defected to ITV in 1957 to play Maid Marion to Richard Greene’s Robin Hood. And whilst on the subject of that series, another member of Robin’s band of Merry Men features in today’s QC and a little known fact is the actor who originally played him was none other than the film director John Schlesinger.

      Edited at 2020-04-28 06:06 am (UTC)

  4. Took my time and did a bunch without crossers and got some of the longer ones early, so it didn’t seem very hard. But DECANTER eluded me for quite a while, with its jokey definition. Liked the operatic carol, PREOCCUPATION and MEASLES.
  5. I found this fairly tricky without ever feeling completely stuck. I liked CAR CRASH TV where I spent time thinking it was going to be something like ghost train. I also never fail to miss an abbreviation like TV so was bemused for a while as to what the last word was going to be. LOI DECANTER required an alphabet trawl, and thankfully I managed to avoid my temptation to put in an invented REPASTER.
  6. An hour and a minute, finally putting in CROTCHET without knowing whether it was right or not. There was a lot to like here, and plenty of moments where I felt I’d been outsmarted, like when I finally spotted the hidden in 5a, or worked out that we weren’t hunting an anatomist at 7d.

    On the down-side, I spent longer than I needed to in the SE corner because I read “stem” instead of “stern” at 24d because of that damned font again…

    Edited at 2020-04-28 06:21 am (UTC)

  7. I felt very off wavelength though the SNITCH indicates this was just tough and my 50m was par for the course. Which phrase cheers me up as it reminds me that my new set of Mizunos are being made – if the factory is open again. Hopefully by the time they arrive, appropriately distanced golf will be permissible.

    Several entered with shrugs so thanks Jack for explaining TOTEM POLE (I got stuck on church being CE or CH), AGATE (I always miss range=cooker and had the note as E) and CROTCHET (NHO the nonmusical definition). I also spent an age trying to cram in ANCIENT for 1a.

  8. I had a glove puppet of a mouse which my mother told me was either Rag, Tag or Bobtail, but as we didn’t have a TV then we didn’t know which one it was. I was pretty sure it wasn’t Bobtail.

    I got stuck in the top left. The laxative sense of prune took a long time to go and I didn’t know the word OVIPAROUS. I was relieved when I was finally able to get rid of OSTARROUS which never looked right.

      1. Thanks Jack. I think i’ve still got him somewhere so i’ll find him and tell him. Or is it her?
        1. Gender unspecified as far as I can tell. Bobtail was presumably female as she was sometimes accompanied by five baby rabbits – perhaps the first portrayal of a single parent family on children’s TV? The S-word hardly reared its ugly head on TV at all in those days, but there have been rumours for years about Andy Pandy and Looby Loo and what might have been going on in that picnic basket with Teddy!
            1. Indeed, if by ‘rumours’ you mean ‘outright fabrications bearing no relation to the actual names of any of the characters on the show’.
  9. 48 minutes. LOI was TOTEM POLE, seen from crossers as the SE slowly fell into place and only then parsed. I’ve never called a hot day a ROASTER, and nor has eitherThe Sun or Private Eye as far as I am aware. In my younger days I had both an MG Midget and MGB, but I never called them ROAdSTERs, though I did know of the term. I’d been working with ‘how full of Cantuar’ for a while before COD DECANTER hit me. In the SW, CAR CRASH TV also evaded me for a long time. A tough puzzle, but enjoyable. Thank you Jack and setter
    1. SOED has 5 A very hot day with a scorching sun. colloq. L19.

      It’s in Chambers too but not in Collins.

      1. Also not in Lexico. I don’t have SOED so I was going to say that this is an example of the setters relying on Chambers but one that I have no problem with since the answer is obvious and easy to deduce if you haven’t heard it before.
        I’m more familiar with ROASTER as a Scottish word for a pillock.
        1. It’s very common up here in Scotland to say that it is ‘roasting’, i.e. very warm, but I’ve never heard the day called a ‘roaster’, though OED has plenty of examples
  10. Sticking to 0.5% bottles for now… Found this hard and some of the anagrams took a lot of unpicking. Had the final V in car crash tv but spent time trying to think of a book about some King IV. Thought I’d completed in around 70 minutes but my enty of Odivarous at 9a proved wrong, reasoning diva was ok for a star. Talking of stars, has anyone managed to see Starlink satellites over the UK recently? I’ve looked and failed several times. Thanks for unraveling the clues blogger.
      1. My daughter has a neighbour whose brother runs the Roundhill Brewery in Billingham. She is keeping me supplied with Billy Brown Ale. I also have managed to acquire a click and collect slot with Tesco and will restock on the Newcastle variety on Thursday:)
  11. Not in this form, Jack! Today ‘Our Host’ is in very fine form! I never knew the churchyard was in Stokes Poges; that a CROTCHET was also ‘a whimsical fancy’ and the finer details of Patricia Driscoll. Keep it coming Sunshine!

    Meldrew

    Edited at 2020-04-28 07:49 am (UTC)

  12. 45 mins, then gave up, driven mad by Decanter.
    Can’t remember the last time one was on my dinner table. Must bring some Pauillac ’76 up from the cellar later.
    Thanks setter and J.
  13. Quite chewy today – good challenge. Never heard of CAR CRASH TV and have no idea what it is.

    No TV in our house until I was 14 so no knowledge of Ragtag and Bobtail. Children’s Hour and Uncle Mac on the radio for me before graduating to Dick Barton, Special Agent. It meant we read a lot which was probably good for me.

      1. Uncle Mac was Derek McCulloch who presented a children’s radio programme. He was also the voice of Larry the Lamb. His “catch phrase” was “goodnight children, everywhere”

        Radio L came later – as a teenager listening under the bed clothes when supposed to be asleep. Happy times!

  14. Plenty to unravel today and lots to like. Had never heard of the GAMBA or the other CROTCHET but obviously it didn’t stop me solving. Brought up short just for a moment wondering how a two letter word could end in V…
  15. Took ages to think of CAR-CRASH TV, I keep forgetting that a ‘2’ could be initials. Not quite sure of the role of ‘about’ in that clue.

    NHO the first sense of CROTCHET, GAMBA
    COD FACTOR, neat

    Yesterday’s answer: the two films – each – to get three acting Oscars are A Streetcar Named Desire (for Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden and Kim Hunter) and Network (Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight). Inspired by STREETCAR.

    Today’s question: what is the only prime number that does not contain the letter ‘e’ (or any letters of ‘mackerel’ for that matter)? Rather easy, I admit.

    Edited at 2020-04-28 08:13 am (UTC)

    2. I’m not falling for your trick, I’m going to start at 18,731 and count backwards.
    3. Here’s a random question inspired by something on this page: what is the most-watched individual TV episode of all time?
      1. I’d guess a Chinese or Indian soap-opera, just because there’s more Chinese and Indians by a factor of about 4 or 5 than any other nationality.
        1. That’s not the answer we were given! According to Wikipedia the highest audience for an individual TV show in India was about 35m, which is roughly a third of the number of people who watched the final episode of M*A*S*H. There don’t appear to be any publicly available statistics for China.
          1. I’ve heard that before, about MASH; and I remember Radar’s quote to Hawkeye. About 2 this morning, woke up and realised: ‘feared missing over the sea of Japan’ was Col. Henry Blake’s plane, the end of a season. MASH came back for many more episodes under the command of Col. Sherman Potter. I can’t remember the actual final episode, but I’ve probably seen it
            1. I don’t know if I’ve seen it or not. I went through a spell of watching the show and loving it but it was so long ago I’ve forgotten almost all of it.
  16. Just under the half hour. I got off to a quick start but soon slowed to a normal pace.

    COD: MADNESS. Well hidden.

  17. Nineteen and a half minutes, but should have been much quicker. I seemed to have a lack of focus all the way through. For example, what word ends in AIC and means old? Sorry, can’t think of one. Had MAG and AB, knew the word, but couldn’t put them together. Started with O and VIP, thought of (A)ROUS, but then went off on a wild goose chase looking for something that ended in AVIAN. Thought of CANT, took too long to get the rest. And so on.

    So sort of on the wavelength, but too easily diverted today.

  18. 27:23. Stuck for quite a while at the end with CROTCHET, CAR CRASH TV and HALVE, having CAR CHASE TV at first. I liked the Wagnerian singing AWAY IN A MANGER and the neat reverse hidden for MADNESS.
  19. 43:38
    A handful. Just took my time and worked through it. LOI decanter. Thanks Jack.
  20. 25 minutes, which turns out to have been quite good. The initial delay was having ANCIENT at 1ac which worked ok with 1 and 2 down but kiboshed the rest.
    It rather looks as if the fancy CROTCHET preceded the musical one – be that as it may, I spent a while trying to work out hoe crochet evolved into the answer. It doesn’t.
    I (nearly) finished this week’s Listener before attempting this, which I thought might explain why I was over complicating the clues. For what it’s worth (and in case anybody feels like dropping a hint) I still haven’t cracked 7 (it’s a radial) “Common part of a Chinese phoenix with jade at the center (two words)” (six letters), which is a shame because I’ve got everything else!
    1. FUNG is a Chinese Phoenix and FUN BAG would be a common (vulgar) (body) part, but that doesn’t explain the JADE / BA bit.

      1. Yes, that’s how far I’ve got, but the construction of the grid doesn’t allow it. The answer needs a letter with a Scrabble value greater than the F.

      1. Brilliant, that works and my grid looks messy but complete.
        I don’t usually enter, but if you would like a share of the prize…

  21. Woodforde’s, who I assume are not too far from you, deliver mini-pins of ale. I’ve had one of Wherry a couple of times for Christmas.

    If you want something from further afield Hook Norton do the same.

  22. I’m not sure how my 14:42 has got me into the top 20 (for now). Wavelength maybe. GAMBA from WP, CROTCHET with a shrug and CAR-CRASH TV biffed.

    Did airspeed make anyone else think of this?

    KEEPER: Stop! What is your name?

    ARTHUR: It is Arthur, King of the Britons.

    KEEPER: What is your quest?

    ARTHUR: To seek the Holy Grail.

    KEEPER: What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

    ARTHUR: What do you mean? An African or European swallow?

    KEEPER: What? I don’t know that! Auuuuuuuugh!

    BEDEVERE: How do know so much about swallows?

    ARTHUR: Well, you have to know these things when you’re a king you know

    Edited at 2020-04-28 09:24 am (UTC)

  23. COD = AIRSPEED – since you don’t have to know what a Perseid is to solve the clue, but it becomes an &lit clue if you do.
  24. 11:35. I liked this, with its funny words and interesting wordplay. Thanks for the double shift jackkt.
    I didn’t know that meaning of CROTCHET or ROASTER as a hot day. I’ve heard of the viola da GAMBA but somehow failed completely to make the connection with GAMBA on its own so it went in purely from wordplay.
    A small point but 22ac is only semi-&Lit since the wordplay (a Wagnerian may unexpectedly) is not the whole clue.

    Edited at 2020-04-28 09:33 am (UTC)

  25. Glad it wasn’t Wednesday and my turn to blog, well done jackkt. Didn’t much enjoy this one, a few good clues like DECANTER and 9a and 11a, but never heard of CAR CRASH TV or CROTCHET being a whimsical fancy. Kind of lost interest and DNF, although had I considered 27a could begin with V, I might have polished it off. Memo to file; if it ends in a 2 letter word, that isn’t UP, think of a kind of TV you’ve never heard of.
  26. I was sure that someone would have mentioned ‘crotchety’, a word that makes likely the meaning as a perverse fancy. But apparently no (I was so sure that someone would have mentioned it and that I’d missed it that I did a search).

    MER at have = be obliged. have to = be obliged to, so OK I suppose. But do you ever hear ‘have’ used alone in this sense?

    1. I only know (or rather knew) the word ‘crotchety’ as meaning ‘irritable’ so I certainly wouldn’t have seen the link.
    2. I think it works as a direct substitution:

      (to) be obliged (to do something)
      (to) have (to do something)

  27. Maybe a punishment for my criticism of today’s QC.

    I was in immediate difficulty after pencilling in “ancient” at 1A, and not coming back to it for around 10 minutes. The clever AGATE finally put me right.

    After 17 minutes, I was left with the SE corner, and a further 6 minutes left me with 24D. My 5 minute alpha-trawl was futile, as I’d carelessly biffed “roasted” at 28A.

    Altogether a very poor day, but COD DECANTER in honour of my avatar.

  28. Another trip down memory lane. My parents used to talk about an Ed Decanter who was some sort of Jazz singer they were fond of. They didn’t have any of his records though so I don’t know what he sounded like.
  29. Plodded wearily homewards in just over an hour in 2 sessions, with two not so difficult clues – the reverse hidden MADNESS and DISPARATE anagram – holding me up longest. I enjoyed the ‘with which one’s spotted’ def and the DE-CANTER. GAMBA gave me a reason to look up the difference between a viola da GAMBA and a viola d’amore which I always mix up, though shouldn’t – think ‘leg’ for the one closer to a cello.
  30. Well, that was hard going. Finished but took me 37.13 and a few lucky guesses. FOI was airspeed which indicates my troubles in starting. LOI agate which was a total guess and didn’t feel comfortable when after inserting I checked whether agate was marble and found it isn’t! Thank you blogger for showing why it is correct – simples!

    Car crash tv had me completely bamboozled and then I had a vague recollection of seeing this answer a few months ago and hey presto.

    Lots of clues to like- archaic, away in a manger( classic anagram), oviparous and crotchet being stand outs. Very relieved to have finished this one.

  31. You’re welcome, Jim. I’m not sure Mr k was being entirely serious but I don’t need much excuse to post links to such golden oldies!
    1. Thanks again Jack. Not entirely PC perhaps but very enjoyable. And, if you watched on, he was followed by a few minutes of Django. Wonderful!
      1. Eddie was indeed not entirely PC. One of his claims to fame is that he was the first performer to be censored on live television when the producers doctored the sound and pictures of a song they deemed to be in bad taste.
  32. I managed to sort out all the answers in 39:46, but tripped over my brain at 28a and, like Phil, put ROASTED, having lifted and separated in the wrong place, thus making 24d, which I already had, wrong too. I’ll put it down to weariness, as the SE corner, with its TOTEM POLE, GAMBA, and DECANTER, distracted my neuron for quite a while. Drat! Thanks setter and Jack.
  33. Down to earth with a hefty bump after yesterday’s PB.

    DNF after an hour. DECANTER and REVERSAL.

    Long way to go yet!

  35. Don’t bank on it. You’ll probably have about four bottles delivered, if that.
    1. Fingers crossed, my request for a dozen has been accepted. Was only allowed to order 3 x 2 ltr bottles of fizzy water though!
  36. 17:21 – I really struggled with this and I’m a little embarrassed to say that PREOCCUPATION was my last in.
  37. 37:23. This one gave the old grey matter a bit of a pummelling. I found myself going round the houses somewhat and at one point, having convinced myself that 12dn with its final word two letters ending in V was a Yiddish expression I’d never come across, did not think I would finish it. However I persevered and tidied it all up in the end.
  38. Failed to fully parse a few – MOSQUE, REVERSAL (though I thought of the word early enough to pencil in and leave unchanged) – and did not know the non-musical meaning of CROTCHET

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