Times Cryptic 27680

76 comments on “Times Cryptic 27680”

1. 25 minutes, a few of them on 9 down and at least 5 on 13 across. I’d misinterpreted cordial as the drink MATÉE, which it turns out is spelt MATÉ and is a tea, not a cordial. Needed a rethink after a fruitless alphabet trawl. Very enjoyable overall, thank-you setter and blogger.
   1. As an overseas solver, Maze remembered from Bobby Sands, whose slow death featured on the news for weeks on end in Australia.
      1. It was censored in the UK – I saw French newspaper coverage.
      2. I was in Dublin on the night Sands died. The Pope was also shot on the same day, I seem to remember. The police baton charged a mob outside the British Embassy. It was scary
2. I biffed a fair number of answers, as the long ones across the middle went in quickly. However, there was some tricky stuff along the outer edges, and I ended up with ‘forego’ as my LOI – fortunately, I saw the Oregon bit with all the checkers in place.

   When I saw ‘supporter of the Reds’, I thought at once of Cincinnati, which of course is not what you would expect in a UK puzzle.

3. I got stuck trying to decide if the anagram of Coq Au Vin lost its Oxygen or its Question. One up,to the setter. I liked the Fellow Traveller. Thanks, jack and setter
4. Matey always reminds me of Morse’s boss. Enjoyed this, especially the multi-word answers, FACE-TO-FACE, BARROW BOYS and BRAKE LIGHT, though held up in the end by the excellent SEAT and FOREGO. Not only was I flummoxed by the dispreferred spelling; I was also unable to see past Goa and therefore parse the clue. So thanks to Jack for that one – and For the latest in his longest line of blogs, of course. A little sub-Nitch at 28 + change.
   1. Yes; in Endeavour, I didn’t clock who the young Strange was until he started calling Morse “matey”.
5. exactly the same thought process as our fellow traveller St Paul above. Reduction of the Coq au Vin made the 26a old king intractable, so it had to undergo reoxidation, leaving it slightly overcooked at 18mins.
6. The last 3-4 minutes were devoted to POI SEAT and LOI FOREGO. I didn’t know ‘forgo’ could be spelled like that (well, I knew but thought it was an error). Biffed HOI POLLOI, parsed post-submission. I didn’t realize the Maze was ‘old’; I associated it with the Troubles.
   1. It’s hardly ever used “correctly,” but I shall continue to consider this usage an error. “Not on my watch!” Ha
      1. Chambers allows both, but as a traditionalist I’m with you.
7. About 30 mins for me. Having lived in France for years, I think anyone there would be a bit annoyed at cassoulet being described as “stew”. But I guess it is. I wasn’t sure how NAIVE worked. The fact that “i” is a paper is not something that comes easily to mind.
8. Got in just under 15 minutes. Very enjoyable. Never heard of FELLOW TRAVELLER but an easy biff unless you are American.
   1. This term originated in US politics, but over here the preferred spelling is “traveler,” one L.
9. LOI BARROW-BOYS, NHO.
   ISOMETRIC yesterday, ISOMORPHIC today.
   I so sleepy… g’night
   1. is the correct pronunciation and it is often a pejorative in Cockneyland for a young spiv.
10. 22 minutes here, so my week’s going well so far. Didn’t know the “red” meaning of FELLOW TRAVELLER, but fine apart from that. FOI 1a FARE LOI 5d MATEY after I finally got 13a YARROW and realised that cordial could be an adjective rather than some obscure drink. Glad I knew IN VACUO. COD 22d REHAB.
11. No problems with this one – very gentle stroll

    The MAIZE was an awful place, known as Long Kesh and situated SW of Belfast it was the focus point of much dispute during the troubles. Even now, renamed Balmoral Park, there is still disagreement over its future and the EU withdrew a redevelopment funding grant because the factions could not agree a way forward

12. …Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d;
    20 mins pre-brekker.
    I enjoyed it, mostly Hoover which brought a laugh.
    Thanks setter and J.
13. I always thought it was a drill used to create a hole in the skull, and indeed that’s what it was, or is (sv Trepanning). It’s also a drill bit, says Wikipedia:
    A trepan, sometimes called a BTA drill bit (after the Boring and Trepanning Association), is a drill bit that cuts an annulus and leaves a center core.
14. June is going well so far. LOI YARROW/MATEY. I thought FOREGO meant precede and forgo meant go without, but the former is also a spelling of the latter, it seems. I liked the juxtaposition of MATEY and REMORSE, strange indeed.

    COD: FACE TO FACE, I liked facet of ace.

    Yesterday’s answer: I think the most recent country with a new name is North Macedonia, I’m not sure what the suggested clues were for. There’s even a government web page about changed names. I’d post the link but that makes this post spam.

    Today’s question: who was the US President at the outbreak of the (first) Great Depression?

    1. Shall I get the carpet-cleaner out, Herbie?

       New Question – what was his middlename and where was he raised.

15. A pleasant solve, taking under the half hour while dealing with a flurry of emails. with no unknowns or doubts. COD to FELLOW TRAVELLER, but there were several other clues which produced smile of recognition. REHAB was clever too. I remember FACE TO FACE on the Beeb with John Freeman well, a must-watch for an earnest young man. Thank you Jack and setter
16. Very straightforward but very enjoyable too! Thank you setter and Jack for unscrambling 18ac which I biffed but failed to spot the anagram. Just over 13m today.
    1. Sorry that was me; password problems again.
17. 15.24, with the unlikely looking O_E_O and the infinite possibilities of _E_T the last to be filled in – almost. As it happens, I went back to 2d because I hadn’t been able to parse it, and changed my RESIN to ROSIN from the (aha!) hidden letters.
    I see it pays not to have a US dictionary today: SALTPETER, and TRAVELER must have give pause for thought.
    BRAKE and carriage go together for me with model railways: I had a Third Class Brake in my set.
    Thanks to Jack for bothering to parse HOI POLLOI. (3,6) first word H_I….ummm
    1. It always pays not to have a US dictionary !
       1. Bite your tongue, Phil!
          1. I can’t Paul – it’s too far up my cheek to reach it 😂
18. 12′ today, on paper. As others, FOREGO LOI.

    Thanks jack and setter.

19. 12:37. Held up at the end by FOREGO, MATEY and YARROW – having put MATIE in previously. Must biff less. I had CASSEROLE at first for 10A, which didn’t help. DNK the meaning of FELLOW TRAVELLER, but the answer was obvious. COD to REHAB for the great surface.
20. No real problems. Seeing TREPAN I wondered where Thud n Blunder is in these difficult times.
21. Remembered trepanning as being ostensibly therapeutic, going back to prehistoric times. Up here in Free Escossia if we wish to avoid something, we still say, ‘I need X like I need a hole in the head.’

    Some cracking clues in here, with the gold medal to 22d. During my usual two hours awake in the middle of the night, I sometimes attempt to get back to sleep by making up clues for random words. Weirdly – and this has happened before – last night’s was ‘saltpetre’. One day I hope to get all 30 clues this way!

    1. I do the same!
22. Sorry to be obtuse but can someone explain the REDS in 15a – if its not a communist or socialist was it needed at all??
    1. But ‘reds’ DOES refer to communists and the FELLOW TRAVELLER is defined as ‘supporter of the Reds’ – he sympathises with them but without committing to the Party.

       Edited at 2020-06-02 10:04 am (UTC)

       1. Thank you – that was the bit I wasn’t getting – I hadn’t picked up that it was more usually associated with communism
          1. Sputnik means fellow traveller so it had a “Red” connotation for me before I looked it up.
23. 6:48. Another easy one, but very enjoyable.
    I remember the Maze prison and H Blocks from my childhood, when they were always in the news and they dubbed Gerry Adams’s voice with that of an actor. A totally bonkers policy effectively lampooned here.
    Collins defines TREPAN as a ‘brace and bit’ which in turn is defined as ‘a hand tool for boring holes, consisting of a cranked handle into which a drilling bit is inserted.’
    1. It was given out initially that he had a voice impediment!
24. I wasn’t happy with RESIN for 2d and as I clicked submit in my haste to dip under 10 minutes the correct answer came to me, a fraction of a second too late.

    I had no idea what was going on with FELLOW TRAVELLER.

    I caused myself a bit of bother in the SW corner with a semi-misbiffed in vogue until the king put things right.

25. Equal PB today, 12 minutes, no problems. Liked 1d and the anagram at 18a. LOI was 22d.
26. Very slow because I had five down as matee. My thought was that it was an alternative spelling for maté, the tea – which might be drunk cold as a cordial. Amazing how the brain can justify these contortions! Anyway I finally saw the light – which certainly made 13 across a whole lot easier. Otherwise I was imagining a plant called an earlop.
27. Easy one; no time, as took a phone call in the middle of solving.
    Didn’t know about fellow traveller, but looked it up and there it was.
    Thanks jack.
28. With a lot of biffing. Thanks for the explanations. The one failed biff was CASSEROLE which held me up trying to find M-E-Y and was only when I twigged MATEY that I looked again.
29. 35 minutes to get everything apart from HEEHAWING which I looked up as I could not see how to parse the clue. DNK ROSIN. COD to REHAB and a like for HOOVER. David
30. 24 minutes for all but forego which I gave up on far too soon. Surprised by its spelling. More so by pity as remorse. Some nice touches otherwise.
31. It was certainly covered in NY – lot of Irish-Americans here.
    1. It was covered here too, not censored to my recollection. Wiki says: “In response to a question in the House of Commons on 5 May 1981, Prime Minister said “Mr Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life. It was a choice that his organisation did not allow to many of its victims”. Cardinal Basil Hume, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, condemned Sands, describing the hunger strike as a form of violence. However, he noted that this was his personal view.” ‘Nuff said.
32. More than one amusing connection here. In addition to MORSE and MATEY my grandfather had a Morris Traveller (taupe) that he used to call the shooting brake. 14.18
    1. That was the model that was half-timbered, wasn’t it? A curious concept for a car, I always thought.
       1. Yes, indeed Jack. Similar cars were also popular in the US and known as “woodies”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodie_(car_body_style)
          1. Remember Dame Edna in Stratford!? Must have been a set up.
33. With a brief interruption.

    COD: CONFIDENCE TRICK. Nice anagram.

34. In contrast to others here, I had no trouble with FOREGO, though having the O from FELLOW TRAVELLER was a big help. The one that caused me the most trouble was CASSOULET – after trying to fit in complainant, co-defendant etc. for ‘person in suit’ I finally realised it was a person inside case, and cassoulet rang the faintest of bells.

    I didn’t parse FACE TO FACE or HOI POLLOI, as ‘poll’ meaning ‘head’ isn’t something I’m familiar with. I hadn’t heard of Maze prison, but the crop couldn’t be anything other than MAIZE really.

    FOI Seat
    LOI Cassoulet
    COD Yarrow/remorse

35. 11.04. Thought I was going to have a stormer for me but got stuck with heehawing which was my LOI. Other than that, speedy progress with a fair number of the clues presenting answers which could be assumed rather than parsed. I’m not complaining.

    An enjoyable romp, so thank you setter.

36. It took me some time to get going, then things sped up, then it all slowed right down again! But still finished in less than 40 minutes, which is good going for me.

    I must admit to a certain amount of semi-biffing – FELLOW TRAVELLER, FACE-TO-FACE and FOREGO all went in half-understood and make a lot more sense now. I too took a while trying to discard the O in 19d, even though I could see it was an anagram. I liked the anagram for CONFIDENCE TRICK, which under normal circumstances would have got my vote for COD, but there was one other which made me LOL – you know which one! I also liked SEAT a lot – very neat. I always forget that ‘i’ is a newspaper – I was a dedicated Indie reader for 20+ years but then it really went down the pan, and that’s when I started taking the Times. Just as well, I suppose, or I wouldn’t have tried the quickie, and then moved on to the biggie (although it often makes me tear my hair out!)

    FOI Eternal
    LOI Heehawing – I looked at the -EHA- group in the middle and thought ‘No – that’s never going to make a word!’
    COD Rehab – of course
    Time 39 mins

    Thanks to Jack for the very clear explanations, and to the setter for an enjoyable tea break

37. I managed to get FOREGO early on but was held up by TREPAN – thanks for the erudite discussion – at the end before the alphabet trawl (for once) came up trumps. Finished in 29 minutes.

    The ‘current’ in the surface for TUNIC reminded me of wise old King Canute sitting there on the beach trying to hold back the tide.

38. at 15ac had several shades of red, but not bright red. Many people joined the communist party in the late thirties, simply to register their distaste for Mosley & Beckett. My COD.

    Talking of which, one ‘pinko’ square, as I had RESIN not ROSIN at 2dn. 34 minutes.

    FOI 8dn CHEF – some Latin remembered.

    LOI 29ac SEAT as I had earlier entered HALL Heigh-ho!

    WOD 27ac HEEHAWING – shades of Christoper Robin.

    MATEY was bubble bath on TV when I was a kid! Since the nineties it was used by Peter York-types as a mode of address. (Fink & Clark)

    Edited at 2020-06-02 02:17 pm (UTC)

    1. Mainly Graham Fink as I recall.
       1. Thank-you Giles
39. Not difficult and perfectly pleasant, but solved in slow motion against my usual benchmarks for no apparent reason.
40. Most of this went in quite quickly, but one or two clues held me up, MATEY, BRAKE LIGHT and HEEHAWING, although not for too long. Didn’t know CF for compare, or RED for FELLOW TRAVELLER. 22:10, which put me at 122 on the Leaderboard, which will exclude me from the SNITCH list. Thanks setter and Jack.
41. 5m 13s and knocked over the 5m mark by trying to think how CASSOULET was spelled. A gentle one today, my COD was FACET OF ACE – a parsing I didn’t understand till coming here.
42. ….an old BARROW-BOY….” (Queen : “Death on Two Legs”).

    I wrote FELLOW in at 15A, but didn’t know the expression, so wasn’t prepared to dismiss “passenger” until ARCHENEMY went in.

    FOI FARE
    LOI YARROW
    COD CASSOULET
    TIME 7:43

43. Sputnik translates as “Fellow Traveller” in Russian.
44. …without too much bother. FOREGO last in.
45. 18:36. A pleasant solve. It took me a little while to rearrange the Irish cop and the doctor and to work out heehawing. I didn’t know the fellow traveller was associated with the reds.
46. I got the answer “naive”, but I still don’t understand why the letter i is paper??? can someone please explain?!
    1. Because the ‘i’ is a UK daily newspaper. Read all about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_(newspaper)

       Edited at 2020-06-02 09:07 pm (UTC)

47. I too was stuck on 9dn at the end – I liked this crossword, a good few biffed in quickly and finishing off with some good challenges!
48. I have been unable to understand why paper is abbreviated as i. As a beginner some explanation would be appreciated.
    1. Welcome dalegreen2555. If you look two messages above your query you will find the explanation. It’s not an abbreviation.
49. In what context can remorse mean pity?
    1. SOED has:

       remorse: 3 sorrow, pity, compassion; M16–E18.

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