Times Cryptic 27884

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

I got through this eventually in 55 minutes but it was touch and go at times as to whether I would finish without resorting to aids. I’m glad I didn’t give in to temptation or I’d have been deprived of the sense of achievement when I finally dredged up the name of the Russian revolutionary at 8dn from the recesses of my brain and completed the grid. Much of the rest of it seemed very hard too, but perhaps I’m having a bad day .

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 Experienced unease as one dismantled fences (8)
SEASONED :  {unea}SE AS ONE D{ismantled} contains [fences] the solution to the clue
9 Wellington is smooth, fitting round front of knee (4,4)
IRON DUKE : IRON (smooth), DUE (fitting) contains [round] K{nee} [front]. Wiki advises that this commonly used nickname originally related to th eDuke’s consistent political resolve rather than to any particular incident.
10 Maybe grave misfortune, suffering loss of identity (6)
ACCENT : ACC{id}ENT (misfortune) [suffering loss of identity – id]. A DBE (Definition By Example) but clearly indicated by ‘maybe’.  As mentioned elsewhere I have been doing research into the early days of TfTT and trawling through the archive I was interested to see a comment posted in 2007 by our founder Peter Biddlecombe, now Sunday Times Crossword Editor, saying that (then) recent notes to Times setters had advised that a DBE did not need to be indicated in the clue. That’s interesting because it’s usually a matter for comment even to this day, although it’s no longer the source of indignation it once was.
11 Agree to keep old tank mainly for one of our relatives (10)
CHIMPANZEE : CHIME (agree) contains [to keep] PANZE{r} (old tank) [mainly]
12 Buzzer loud, leading to complaint (4)
BEEF : BEE (buzzer), F (loud – music)
13 Image-obsessed female maybe changing a lot into one frock (10)
IDOLATRESS : Anagram [changing] of A LOT contained by [into] I (one) + DRESS (frock). The word exists. Let’s move on without further comment.
16 Flavouring from wine drink put back into pop (7)
PAPRIKA :KIR (wine drink) reversed [put back] and contained by [into] PAPA (pop). ‘Kir’ is a proprietary name for a blend of wine and cassis. Another supposed ‘rule’ is that product names are banned at least in the weekday puzzles, but it seems to have gone by the board these days, not that it bothers me a jot.
17 Competency rating, one linked with written material, variable (7)
ABILITY : AB (rating – sailor), I (one), LIT (written material – literature), Y (variable)
20 Body parts, large and small, found in canal (10)
INTESTINES : Cryptic with reference to large and small intestines and the alimentary canal
22 Oddly appearing if nobody has returned for the kids, funnily (4)
YOOF : {i}F {n}O{b}O{d}Y [oddly] reversed [returned]. The definition may extend to include ‘for the’. I associate the name Janet Street Porter with YOOF TV as she had influence in that sort of thing at one time, but I imagine she was not responsible for the invention of the slang word.
23 Team‘s salvation left up in the air (5,5)
ASTON VILLA : Anagram [up in the air] of SALVATION L (left). One of the two big football clubs in Birmingham.
.25 Put out note, second-hand (6)
DOUSED : DO (note), USED (second-hand)
26 Sounding extremely ecstatic when given appropriate stuff (8)
ECHOGRAM : E{cstati}C [extremely], HOG (appropriate – monopolise greedily), RAM (stuff)
27 New onboard motor’s last thing you should hit! (4,4)
BARN DOOR : Anagram [new] of ONBOARD, then {moto}R [‘s last]. An easy target because it’s so large. There’s an expression ‘couldn’t hit a barn door’ with reference to incompetence. I don’t recall seeing this in a puzzle before last weekend when it turned up in another publication, and that came in handy today.
Down
2 Film Charlie climbing ridge with others (2,6)
ET CETERA : ET(film),  C (Charlie – NATO alphabet), then ARETE (ridge – arête, actually) reversed [climbing]
3 One all in purple initially summoned church guards (5,5)
SPENT FORCE : SENT FOR (summoned) + CE (church) contains [guards] P{urple} [initially]. One who is completely out of energy.
4 Hardly fair upsetting a large number, by Jiminy! (3,7)
NOT CRICKET : TON (large number) reversed [upsetting], CRICKET (Jiminy Cricket – a character in Walt Disney’s ‘Pinocchio’)
5 Appreciate one fight that you’d see on TV? (7)
DIGIBOX : DIG (appreciate), I (one), BOX (fight).They’rejust as likey to sit below the TV, but never mind.
6 Great display that sees champ finally clean up (4)
POMP : {cham}P [finally] + MOP (clean) reversed [up]
7 Cross when entertaining character at the end repeated gag (6)
MUZZLE : MULE (crossbreed) containing [entertaining] Z (character at the end of the alphabet) + Z [repeated]
8 Old revolutionary‘s name put up by king before once (8)
KERENSKY : K (king), ERE (before, once), N (name), SKY (put up a ball in sport). More here, for those interested. My LOI, and I was losing hope of finishing without aids when I suddenly remembered his name from history studies some 50 years ago.
14 A commercial, alternatively, featuring male singer in rep (10)
AMBASSADOR : A, M (male), BASS (singer), AD (commercial), OR (alternatively). ‘Rep’ short for representative, whether diplomatic or otherwise.
15 Support resistance with collaborator and some ammunition (5,5)
RALLY ROUND : R (resistance), ALLY (collaborator), ROUND (some ammunition)
16 Men of low rank rate mixing with VIPs (8)
PRIVATES : Anagram [mixing] of RATE VIPS
18 Farewell party visited by Pope, also earlier (6-2)
TOODLE-OO : TOO (also), then DO (party) contains [visited by] LEO (Pope). I think Bertie Wooster favoured ‘toodle-pip’, but I enjoy any such reminders of a byegone era.

As featured in the chorus of the WWI song::


Goodbye-ee, goodbye-ee,
Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee,
Tho’ it’s hard to part I know,
I’ll be tickled to death to go.
Don’t cry-ee, dont sigh-ee,
there’s a silver lining in the sky-ee,
Bonsoir, old thing, cheer-i-o, chin, chin,
Nah-poo, toodle-oo, Goodbye-ee.
19 Maybe not exactly deprive of the lead (7)
UNPLUMB : SOED has this as obsolete but Chambers lists it without qualification. Collins doesn’t have it at all. In the other part of the clue ‘plumb’ means ‘exactly’ so ‘unplumb’ suggests ‘not exactly’.
21 Yacht: it moves after stopping a minute (6)
TITCHY : Anagram [moves] of Y{a}CHT IT [stopping ‘a’]. It’s actually a reversal rather than an anagram but there’s no reversal indicator.
24 Change your voting system after revolution (4)
VARY : YR (your) + AV (voting system – Alternative Vote) reversed [after revolution]

99 comments on “Times Cryptic 27884”

    1. Yes indeed! ‘Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy.” from Milton Drake & Co. NY 1943. Even our Cockney ragamuffins like a bit of politics! Many other children’s songs have a political origin.
  2. Retired hurt (pride) again with the revolutionary and the tv box and the sounding not found. Thanks for the blog and clarifications, Jack.
  3. Would someone enlighten me as to the meaning of POI? I don’t see it in the Glossary.
      1. The structure of your abbreviation of choice certainly avoids the confusion which would be caused by someone commenting on their Preantepenultimate One In!
  4. 33 minutes to get all but the revolutionary. I too toyed with the infamous Lord Pevensey who was, no doubt, beheaded at some point in English history but could not justify the parsing and threw in the towel.
  5. Once again, my Russian ‘A’ Level studies come in useful. I’ve hardly spoken the language in 40 years but can remember the names like KERENSKY — typed in once I’d tried K as the first letter with all checkers in place, didn’t parse the SKY bit though.

    Some nice clues, none of which were overly-insurmountable after a little thought.

  6. As a Wolves fan, I’m always happy when people recognise that we’re not based in Birmingham – Wolverhampton being a city in its right these days, thank you very much. Although I might question if BCFC are a ‘big’ club…

    Anyway, all done in about seven minutes apart from KERENSKY, which I failed to get after another four minutes of playing around. Never heard of him, and that’s a convoluted cryptic to try and put together – I was unsuccessful, alas, going for the nonsensical REVENSBY in the end. From googling now, it seems to have been part of Lincolnshire once?

  7. Never heard of Kerensky. Getting fed up with answers involving unknown people — I think there were a couple last week, too.
  8. ….after spending 4 minutes playing around with 8D. NHO him, annoying, since I’d enjoyed the previous 17 minutes.

    COD SPENT FORCE

  9. …but not so glorious when one’s looking at -E-E-S-Y and only able to see Pevensey or Zelezny (javelin-thrower). Did the rest in 30 minutes, as some others, but a dnf, annoying as K. was a known unknown so to speak. Maybe its use by the setter was a fraction unplumb.
  10. DNF until resorting to a wordfinder for the old revolutionary after staring at if for a few minutes. Like Phil, I’d enjoyed it up till then and was on for a respectable sub-20 minute finish. Maybe if I had thought of SKY for “put up” I’d have got there. At least I’m not the only one. Oh well, we live and learn. Thanks for the link Jackkt.

    Edited at 2021-01-26 03:18 pm (UTC)

  11. Difficult, this … fortunately Kerensky rang a vague bell.

    Unplumb is in Collins online, marked “obsolete”
    Not sure letting somebody call a drink after you is quite the same as a trade name. Kir is certainly in general use in France, the drink is quite popular there, not keen myself though

    1. No but it seems kir is in fact trademarked, which was news to me.

      Edited at 2021-01-26 04:53 pm (UTC)

      1. How can it be a defensible trademark? It’s a variable cocktail, usually creme de cassis and white wine as noted, but “royale” with a sparkling wine; I’ve also had “kir peche”, “kir violette”, and “kir framboise”, all made from variable quantities of white wine plus peach / violette / raspberry liqueurs. It’s like saying “Bucks fizz” or Black Velvet” are trademarks.
        1. As I said above, it strikes me as a pretty useless trademark to own, since it would only really be enforceable for the purpose of selling the drink premixed, and why would anyone buy that? You could try and insist that bars shouldn’t use the term but a) you couldn’t possibly enforce it and b) even if you could people would just shrug their shoulders and call it a blanc-cassis.
          But nonetheless it does appear to be a trademark!
            1. Yes I saw that when I did the search that found the article I linked to. On the website they always write it ‘Kir® Royal’ and state that it’s a trademark in France. The idea of buying pre-mixed kir royal is if anything even more disgusting than the idea of buying pre-mixed kir vin blanc!

              Edited at 2021-01-26 10:16 pm (UTC)

  12. Enjoyed this one — just had to ask my wife for help with the revolutionary — she got it immediately.
  13. Would have preferred PEVENSEY even if it is decidedly pacific there, I hear. Biffed KERENSKY from the crossers and was delighted to find out he was indeed revolting some time back. Elsewhere, some well obscured defs and good cryptic devices.
  14. Second day on the trot where, after quite a long struggle, I was short by a couple at the end. This time it was the unknown revolutionary and Echogram. Not sure I would ever have got the Russian, but I had E*h*ram, so I have to count that as a slip on my part. A touch disappointing after having teased out Unplumb and Yoof. CoD to 3d Spent Force, where I had no idea what was going on until the pdm. Invariant
  15. In terms of precision and parsing, combined with level of difficulty, I thought this was the best crossword for a long long time. I really love precision me. Will probably have to wait six months for another though. Mr Grumpy
  16. 29.33. I found this generally tricky as I made my way round the grid and my last two in Kerensky and then Unplumb delayed me for quite some time.
  17. Was just about to comment when the Amazon delivery driver brought some accessories I’d ordered for my computer and a new printer to replace my expired Kodak All in One which had turned into a Scanner only. The accessories included new network cables and cable tidies and a gigabit PCI network card to add redundancy to my desktop machine. I ripped out a pile of redundant cables including the old dialup stuff. You can guess the rest. I was late for my Zoom Folk session and have just realised I didn’t even manage to read all the comments, so I shall read them now and content myself with noting that my LOI was 8d and having laboriously worked it out from wordplay(eventually), I checked it before submitting. Never heard of him(I think). 37:38 with a little self doubt. Thanks setter and Jack.
    On edit: I just remembered I was going to mention Digiboxes, as when satellite TV first appeared, the decoders were analogue, not digital, and were referred to, in the trade, as Set Top Boxes. I used to repair them. I’ve still got a couple of them in the garage/workshop, and the old analogue dish with its LNB is still on the wall outside(disconnected now).

    Edited at 2021-01-26 11:12 pm (UTC)

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