Times Cryptic 27944

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

This must have been easy because I completed it in 23 minutes, 7 within my target half-hour.

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 Reportedly go stealthily after a wading bird (5)
STORK : Sounds like “stalk” (go stealthily after)
4 Position of titled person touring Eton by car (9)
BARONETCY : Anagram [touring] of ETON BY CAR
9 Articles by retired chap about Brussels club? (9)
ATHENAEUM : A + THE (articles), then MAN (chap) reversed [retired] containing [about] EU (Brussels). The London club was founded in 1824.
10 Rough path taking zigzag course across river (5)
TRACK : TACK (zigzag course – yachting) containing [across] R (river)
11 Badger about to leave African capital by ship (6)
HARASS : HARA{re} (African capital – of Zimbabwe) [about – re – to leave], SS (ship). I’m constantly irritated by UK newsreaders and pundits saying ‘haRASS’ and ‘haRASSment’.
12 Touchy about curtailed party — a mockery! (8)
TRAVESTY : TESTY (touchy – irritable) containing [about] RAV{e} (party) [curtailed]
14 Fussy    detail (10)
PARTICULAR : Two meanings
16 Research establishment backing a Welsh lake (4)
BALA : LAB (research establishment) reversed [backing], A. I know of this lake only from crosswords.
19 Chinese currency your aunt regularly used (4)
YUAN : Y{o}U{r} A{u}N{t} [regularly used]. The basic unit.
20 Youth‘s rise incorporating state benefit (10)
ADOLESCENT : ASCENT (rise) containing [incorporating] DOLE (state benefit – colloquial)
22 Classical composer — namely Parry, perhaps? (8)
SCHUBERT : SC (namely – scilicet), HUBERT (Parry, perhaps). Parry’s most famous and enduring composition must surely be his setting of Jerusalem.
23 A songbird, or a couple of bovines, do we hear? (6)
BULBUL : Sounds like [do we hear] “bull, bull” [couple of bovines]. Never ‘eard of it! We don’t get them round these ‘ere parts.
26 Girl‘s ultimately regretful feeling (5)
LAURA : {regretfu}L [ultimately], AURA (feeling). Random.
27 Spiritless detainee an Italian leader imprisoned (9)
INANIMATE : INMATE (detainee) containing [with…imprisoned] AN + I{talian} [leader]
28 E.g. James Stuart,    an indulger in make-believe? (9)
PRETENDER : Two definitions, the first – of course – by example. James Francis Edward Stuart (1688–1766), “the Old Pretender”, claimant to the thrones of England and Scotland.
29 Devout head of Giggleswick strangely lacking in heart (5)
GODLY : G{iggleswick} [head], OD{d}LY (strangely) [lacking in heart]. Giggleswick’s former residents included Richard Whiteley, late and best ever host of Countdown, and Russell Harty, ITV’s answer to Michael Parkinson.
Down
1 Cheerfully casual friends from south very quietly lying in cut grass (4-5)
SLAP-HAPPY : PALS (friends) reversed [from south], then PP (very quietly) contained by [lying in] HAY (cut grass)
2 Alternative books originally recommended by governor (5)
OTHER : OT (books – Old Testament], HE (governor – His Excellency), R{ecommended} [originally]. I think by convention ‘A by B’ can be ‘BA’ (as here) or ‘AB’. Perhaps someone knows for sure?
3 Position of top man back at last in grand vessel (8)
KINGSHIP : {bac}K [at last], IN, G (grand), SHIP (vessel)
4 Brought up cash for speaker? (4)
BRED : Sounds like [for speaker] “bread” (cash – slang for money)
5 Striking, like schoolwork submitted a second time? (10)
REMARKABLE : A straight definition  plus a cryptic hint leading to RE-MARKABLE
6 Indigenous trees primarily planted in green (6)
NATIVE : T{rees} [primarily] contained by [planted in] NAIVE (green – inexperienced)
7 Change coaches delayed leaving India (9)
TRANSLATE : TRA{i}NS (coaches) [leaving India – I], LATE (delayed)
8 Disgusting yobs upsetting kindly Kent youths at first (5)
YUKKY : Y{obs}, U{psetting}, K{indly}, K{ent}, Y{ouths} [at first]
13 Precocious child supported by family in outskirts of Watford (10)
WUNDERKIND : UNDER (supported by) + KIN (family) contained by [in] W{atfor}D [outskirts]. WD also happens to be Watford’s postcode.
15 A door she used at first moving around wayside inn (9)
ROADHOUSE : Anagram [moving around] of A DOOR SHE U{sed}[at first]
17 Holding line, it rarely disturbed gunners (9)
ARTILLERY : Anagram [disturbed] of IT RARELY containing [holding] L [line]
18 Presumptuous fool with posh Chinese porcelain (8)
ASSUMING : ASS (fool), U (posh), MING (Chinese porcelain)
21 Wear down painter finally settled in Lincoln (6)
ABRADE : RA (painter) + {settle}D [finally) contained by [settled in] ABE (Lincoln)
22 Slosh around a county bordering on Wales once (5)
SALOP : SLOP (slosh) containing [around] A. It’s an old name for Shropshire.
24 Specific type of dramatic poem Ibsen wrote (5)
BRAND : Two meanings
25 Just a tree outside (4)
FAIR : FIR (tree) containing [outside] A

123 comments on “Times Cryptic 27944”

  1. There are quite a few bulbul species in Africa and Asia. In South Africa, they tend to have a conspicuous yellow patch. I won’t tell you where the patch is, but the Afrikaans nickname for the bird is ‘bottergat’, anglicised as ‘butterbum’.
  2. FOI slap happy. The top half went in remarkably quickly, then the SE except for bulbul and brand, then the SW. I’d had cuckoo earlier but red squares forced a rethink. Bulbul took a long time coming, and brand was a complete biff as nho. Very pleased to finish a 15 x 15 relatively quickly — the timer said 53 mins odd, but solving was interrupted by a Tesco delivery and lunch. Both of these might actually have been helpful as I may have been processing meanwhile. If I had stared at the grid for 53 mins perhaps I would still be staring. LO’sI then, bulbul and brand. COD — all of them, I enjoyed the lot. Thanks, Jack, for the blog, and setter for the entertainment. GW.
  3. ….BULBUL (NHO) about 1A, where, try as I may, I cannot pronounce either word differently. But then I were born in God’s Own Country, and transferred across the Pennines at an early stage, so ‘appen owt’s possible.

    Nobody has mentioned the grid display changes, so maybe they’re peculiar to Smartphones. On the upside, I can now see the whole grid (or considerably more of it on a Jumbo), which makes checking easier, and the problems of slow response and incorrect movement have gone. On the downside, the smaller keyboard is a pig, and the “submit” button is too close to the “next clue” arrow. I was offered submit four times before I really wanted it !

    FOI HARASS
    LOI BRAND
    COD ADOLESCENT
    TIME 7:12

  4. Just finished it off after having to abort this morning. Nice to see local places on here BALA and SALOP both just down the road. LOI BRAND no idea about Ibsen whatsoever.
  5. It had to be, but I checked for the definitional connection before writing it in.
    Yeah, pretty easy. But 83 comments! I’ll scan them all now…
  6. Given ever-decreasing speed of letters appearing on my screen (reminder to self: update from my dinosaur system), seemed relatively speedy but then I see so many others recording PBs. Nothing exceptional and some slightly arcane wordplay references. Went to the Schools (oddly plural) in Shrewsbury so SALOP no issue, and BULBUL familiar. No prob with Stalk/Stork as I come from near the pottery town of similar sound… (or not).
  7. Reasonably quick today — just had no idea about the Ibsen poem nor the Jerusalem composer — but easy enough to biff.
    Nice to see my Dad’s school get a mention — he grew up exactly halfway between Giggleswick and Wigglesworth — in the beautiful Ribble valley.
    1. You will note from a post lower down that my Dad was a Yorkshireman — but he had the good sense to move to the correct side o’t’hills.
  9. I saw a couple of minor gripes from the old lags about anonymous posts. I’ve occasionally commented anonymously in the past, but rarely, and not today. I do drop in most days to find out by how many multiples I’ve been slower to reach the solution than some of the regulars here. Today, I’m glad to say, I have a rather satisfying (to me) 1.5 times the blogger, not a PB by any means, but better than usual. I always enjoy finding out how to parse those answers I’ve shoe-horned in and there are always some entertaining comments to read. So thanks to everyone for that. If I’ve ever anything useful to add, it will be under my new moniker, never again cloaked in anonymity.
    1. Welcome Norm0 – and now you can select a user-pic if you wish.

      Old lags won’t gripe about anons as long as they put a name of some sort (real or made-up) at the end their postings. And even then they’re unlikely to receive an adverse comment unless they come here only to post negative stuff.

      Edited at 2021-04-06 08:24 pm (UTC)

  10. I agree with most of the above, except that I pronounce Harass with the emphasis on the first syllable — that seems to go better with the easiest (only?) pronunciation of its cousin, Harry.
    1. Apparently not: according to Chambers harass is from an Old French word for inciting a dog, whereas harry is a from an Old English word for army.
      1. OED seems to think the two meanings ran together in middle English

        Harass — French harasser (1562 in Godefroy) ‘to tire or toyle out, to spend or weaken, wearie or weare out by ouertoyling; also, to vex, disquiet, importune, harrie, hurrie, turmoile, torment’ (Cotgrave); perhaps a derivative form of Old French harer to set a dog on

        Harry — In Middle English the native word [as noted, related to army] may have run together with Old French harier, herier, herrier, in same sense.

        1. Interesting (I love the OED) but I would say that makes them less cousins and more a mid-life fling!
  11. Middlesex survives, of course, as one of the two stations taken by the crews at the start of the Boat Race. Not this year though.
  12. at 23ac was my WOD as they are the most common bird to be found in the gardens of suburban west Shanghai. They have the sweetest song at this time of year, and an attractive little, white eye-flash under their crest.

    FOI ATHANAEUM – home to Sir Harry Luke, the man who wrote over sixty books, including a very decent cook book, but still has no biographer!

    LOI 29ac GODLY and Creme

    COD 8dn YUKKY!

    Time 25 minutes in a taxi; then a delicious luncheon at ‘Vesta’ off Fuxing Lu, Pusi; with a further 7 minutes in a taxi heading back to Bulbul-land.

    Edited at 2021-04-06 05:40 pm (UTC)

  13. I found this remarkably easy until I reached the last two which I couldn’t complete. Bulbul and brand were somewhere in my subconscious so went in easily enough. I’ve sung Jerusalem so many times (mostly while drunk) that Parry’s name was well known.
    However, I couldn’t work out what ‘after a’ was doing in 1ac. Even so, I should have seen it. Also in 3dn, was completely thrown by ‘in’ being a write in; was trying to fit k in a grand vessel. Oh well.
    Thanks to blogger and setter and commenters for your wonderful stream of comments, reminders of old songs, bizarre old adverts and all round entertainment.
  14. Having pulled up short by about half a dozen yesterday, I was relieved to finish today, thereby confirming just how easy it was. Even then, I thought I was going to end up be a couple short — Bulbul was completely unknown, and so I was sorely tempted with a stab at Tubull, until I finally realised that the grossly unfair, unknown Ibsen poem was also a perfectly reasonable ‘specific type’, aka Brand, so Bulbul it had to be. 21ac Abrade also needed more than a few minutes careful thought. If this carries on, I might be tempted to start timing myself again. Invariant

    Edited at 2021-04-06 05:58 pm (UTC)

  15. All very easy apart from the BULBUL/BRAND crossers which caused a good deal of head scratching. ABRADE also suffered from the Hokey-Cokey (in out in out) before I trusted the w/p whilst I also dithered over FAIR as for some reason that particular tree seems to elude me.

    Off to watch the footie with son on some get-together-on-BT-sport thing so pleased this one wasn’t a beast

    Thanks Jackkt and setter

  16. 37 minutes, but only because I was so tired and so annoyed about the BULBUL-BRAND crossing (neither of which I have ever heard of) that I decided to just leave them in and submit, rather than spending years pondering more likely alternatives. I am not fond of puzzles which are VERY easy and then finish with two very special and exotic crossing entries. Somehow the setter hasn’t put his heart into it, if that’s all (s)he can come up with.
  17. 18.55. I paused like others over brand and bulbul but once the bird went in brand seemed pretty clear. Needed an alphabet trawl to find a better answer than blew at 4dn. I had an Abdulla Bulbul Ameer earworm post-solve. I’m pretty sure given my age that this came down to me from the Whitbread advert. Such a pleasure to listen to the song in the various links posted above as it is in the advert and then the Peter Skellern version which I didn’t know.
  18. Wow, a triple record-breaker today …
    … as i finished this in 19 minutes. This is a personal best (something that has happened several times before), faster than our blogger (which I think has happened once before), and faster also than it took me to read the considerable number of comments (which I don’t think has ever happened before!).

    Good fun all round, and for the record I side with those that say HARass, and that can’t tell the difference in sound between Stork and Stalk.

    Many thanks to Jack for the blog
    Cedric

  19. It’s certainly very bad news
    Now the birds are arriving in twos
    I’ve had quite enough
    Of this avian stuff
    It really does give one the blues

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