Times Cryptic 28016

82 comments on “Times Cryptic 28016”

1. I semi-biffed HIGH-POWERED; got the HIGH, but couldn’t work out the POWERED. OHMMETER biffed, parsed post-submission. ANSERINE also biffed, but then immediately parsed; no idea how I know the word. ALGIERS was a gimme, given the dearth of North African capitals; the setter could have left out the ‘N’. NHO TOC H; ‘old’ had me thinking of early Christianity.

   Edited at 2021-06-29 02:17 am (UTC)

2. I had a vague memory of TOC-H as…well, something. I’d never heard of ANSERINE. I didn’t know ORPINGTON as a duck. I mentally associate it with some by-election years ago but I have no idea why it was significant. I know Orton mostly from the play LOOK BACK IN ANGER which comes up from time to time since it is 15 letters, but I know nothing about the play and have never seen it. I didn’t know he was murdered. I didn’t notice that RE BUS was two different pieces and took it on trust that there was an old army vehicle called a REBUS.
   1. Paul, Look Back in Anger was by John Osborne. Orton’s best-known plays are Loot and Entertaining Mr Sloane.
   2. Eric Lubbock (later Baron Avebury) won Orpington for the Liberal Party in ?1962, hastening the demise of the Tories who had been in power since 1951.
3. STRETCHH instead of STRETCHY, thanks to my carelessness with the square-skipping input method.

   I had most of this done in under 20, but the upper left corner was brutal! I’m astounded that people found this so easy. ORPINGTON and ORTON both were a lucky guess for me. OXIDE eluded me for a full 10 minutes. HIGH-POWERED seemed clear but the wordplay took me ages to parse. DUENNA was another where I assumed I had all the ingredients (wasn’t so sure about U), but couldn’t seem to put them together into anything resembling a word.

   In any case, I was pleased to have stuck with it and finish the puzzle, but sad to get no credit.

4. Also finished quickly while finding it difficult, with a few unknowns.
   Failed to separate the army and the vehicle, wondered if there was a tank called a Rebus. Also took Nelson’s capital at face value; a sailor’s secure refuge might be a strong hold (in a ship). As you say, whatever gets you there, even if it’s wrong!
   Nice puzzle, thanks setter and blogger.
5. The NW was a little tough, and I was strangely blind on badge and subzero. Fortunately, I had heard of Orton – there’s a detective novel where the poison-pen letters are produced by snipping out choice bits from his plays. Robert Barnard, of course.

   There’s an article on the Sapphic stanza in the Wikipedia, but Horace isn’t mentioned. However, he did write a few poems in that form. The originals in the Lesbic dialect are pretty tough for those who only know Attic and Homeric.

   1. Are you sure it’s Robert Barnard? I’ve read every one of his books (I think) but don’t recall that detail. Would you have the title?
      1. ‘A Little Local Murder’perhaps? Barnard’s ‘Mother’s Boys’ was based on Orton’s dreadful mother.
         1. Thanks. I’ve found the reference to Mothers Boy’s in an interview from 1996. I have a copy somewhere, so I shall dig it out. A have read A Little Local Murder but it’s one of very few Barnard titles that I don’t possess.
            1. Possession is nine-tenths of the law.
      2. Yes, it’s A Little Local Murder. The excerpts were not from Orton, but from Edward Albee and John Osborne.
         1. Thanks
6. I solved this in 22 minutes so easy in the process for us True Blue Brits, with ‘Dizzy’ at number one with his HIGH- POWERED ORATORY. QV’s fave.

   FOI 17ac ONE IN A MILLION

   LOI 20dn AEGEAN

   COD 1dn OXHIDE – anyone remember KIWI’s OX-BLOOD shoe polish? Prince Phillip used to wear Lobb’s ‘Oxfords’ with the jolly old oxhide toe-caps!

   WOD 3dn ORPINGTON famous for its ducks, ‘Buff’, ‘Black’ and ‘Speckled’ hens, early election results, Jeremy Beadle and the equally dreadful Nigel Farage – best buddy of POTUS 45

   On Edit: The lovely Old Speckled Hen (Ale) is named after a motor car from Abingdon.

   Edited at 2021-06-29 04:56 am (UTC)

   1. My summer job when in my mid teens was as a civilian batman. I remember Ox blood and trying to keep it off the dress uniforms. It was while batting that I started doing cryptics. They were pinned on the wall in front to alleviate the boredom.
      1. Merganser Sir, I’d stick inverted commas round batting – otherwise the Americans get rather discombobulated!
7. I didn’t find this as straightforward as the SNITCH suggests it was, particularly with my LOI DUENNA. Then just as I was painstakingly putting together the cryptic the word DUENNA inexplicably came to me though I didn’t know its meaning. Elsewhere FRICASSEE caused me some confusion as I thought Canterbury represented the South East and wondered where the extra E had come from. Didn’t twig that it is a SE SEE!
8. We’ve had fewer birds here of late
   Which from my point of view has been great
   But today lost its shine
   When i saw ANSERINE
   And ORPINGTON made me irate
9. Pootle old Bean, Duenna is fairly easy to remember as Anna was a duenna in the King and I. Later she became a due-anna.
   Much like the film, I will never be allowed into Thailand.
   1. Thailand has just leaped in my estimation
      1. Lord Ulaca – I am not allowed back into HK due to an incident in Bangkok. You lucky people!

         I was very sorry to read of the demise of ‘Apple Daily’. Hong Kong has plummeted in my estimation. I used to love it!
         Ci so gan, hai bin do? I used to exclaim!

10. The gradual sand that through an hour-glass runs—
    A woodland rivulet—a Poet’s death.

    20 mins pre-brekker. NHO TOCH or Anserine but the wordplay/checkers were enough.
    Thanks setter and J.

11. I found this easy except for SIT versus SAT – I couldn’t decide. A merganser is a sawbill.
    1. Ah yes, so it is. it also derives its name partly from anser, which is Latin for goose, so Jackkt was spot on
12. 23 minutes with LOI ANSERINE, although I figured it was that much earlier. COD to ORPINGTON, famous also for Eric Lubbock and as the birthplace of my daughter’s puppy. A reasonably straightforward puzzle but with some pleasant penny-drop moments. Thank you Jack and setter.
13. I found MB eventually but my edition is called Death of a Perfect Mother.

    Edited at 2021-06-29 06:00 am (UTC)

    1. I shall re- ‘Kindle’ a few Robert Barnards for the winter – thank-you Keriothe and Jack.
       1. Have you read his ‘Mr Mozart’ books writing as Bernard Bastable? There are two of them, ‘Dead, Mr Mozart’ and ‘Too Many Notes, Mr Mozart’. I enjoyed both but the first one was my favourite.
          1. No I have not. Thanks.
             I am presently writing a book about ‘Ghost’ writers – which kicks off with E Phillips Oppenheim and Anthony Hope – later Anthony Partridge. Sax Rohmer (Frank Odom), Leslie Charteris, Ian Fleming, Paul Gallico, Agatha Christie, Phyllis Bottome, Captain W E Johns, Dornford Yates and ‘Putzi’ Hanfstaengl were all in Oppy’s stable!

             Not everything on a book cover is entirely ‘above board’, particularly when it came to crime, as Arthur Conan Doyle would attest. He loathed writing Sherlock Holmes.

             I am always interested/suspicious as to why writers develop second personas.

             1. I think it’s straightforward with Barnard. The Mozart books were a complete departure from his usual style and he didn’t want fans to buy them expecting detective stories.
14. John, I clean forgot about your daughter’s puppy… oops a daisy! It is ‘one in a million’ that she’s called Daisy!? No, the puppy! Boy do we need the ‘Lion of Vienna’ tonight! (Rigsby’s cat!?)
    And btw terrible Time! Do try to keep up!

    Edited at 2021-06-29 07:03 am (UTC)

15. 18:10
    Relatively quick solve.
    Thanks, jack.
16. I knew ORPINGTON from the better-known, to me, chicken of that name, the buff variety.

    This was a rare sub-ten for me, not sure why.

    9′ 44″, thanks jack and setter.

17. A nice easy ride. For me COUSCOUS came from the American slang cous’ that is short for cousin and often used in reference to a friend… but it works either way. Thanks setter!

    Edited at 2021-06-29 07:16 am (UTC)

18. A rare sub-15 for me. I’m rather fond of couscous (not many folk know it’s basically pasta) and I once lived in a Toc H house in Crawley. Not that that helped with the clue as it was biffed before I finished reading it…

    Edited at 2021-06-29 07:17 am (UTC)

    1. Scorching time U!
19. 41m.

    I fully realise that isn’t an impressive time, but I haven’t been a regular solver for very long – so I’m totally chuffed….

    …additionally, it may be no coincidence that after a period of regularly consuming the demon drink, I decided last night to embrace abstinence. The clarity of thought that sobriety brings, eh?

    Best wishes, Denise

    (By the way, what does LOI mean?)

    1. Welcome!
    2. Well done, and welcome!
    3. You ask what LOI means? What does abstinence mean?
    4. Your efforts may have made your knees tremble!
20. Last One In – see ‘The Glossary’ for more.

    Denise, forty one minutes is pretty good – even sober! All the speed merchants use stimulants – Verlaine and Mr. Jordan are on steroids and IPA, just like most Olympians.

    I personally eschew alcohol until Midday and complete most, not all, puzzles before Yard-Arm Time.

    Well done on the PB!

    1. Were you thinking of EPO? IPA is unlikely to be the drug of choice among Olympians until darts makes it in.
    2. Because of medical requirements, I’ve had absolutely zero alcohol in the past fortnight. I’m hoping to jump off the wagon after my anti-coagulation clinic tomorrow morning ! Whether I shall adopt “the Sheffield Stout and Pie Diet” recommended by my fellow Yorkshire exile Dave Hudson is open to conjecture, but a celebratory pint of IPA and a helping of Eggs Benedict in Wetherspoons is distinctly possible !
21. I thought this was very pleasant. Mention of Joe Orton reminded me of the film about him and his lover, Ken Halliwell. It was entitled “Prick Up Your Ears”. Apparently some wags used to re-arrange the letters of ‘ears’ on the sing outside the cinema.
    Ah, Toc H!. The first (village) football club I played for back in the early 1960s was Wadhurst Toc H in Sussex. I have no idea how the club came by its name, though.
    LOI and COD: STRONGHOLD
    1. 1964-65 Joined Sussex County League Division Two
       1966-67 Sussex County League Division Two Champions
       Promoted to Division One
       1972 Left Sussex County League
       1973 Merged with Toc-H to form Wadhurst United

       On Edir:Geoffrey Batchelar the poet was born on 23rd July 1906 in Wadhurst, a market town just on the Sussex side of the border with Kent. The name Talbot House was changed to Toc H as it was too similar to another Lancastrian Talbot House Association. Rugby Football and Polo were the dominant sports, perhaps before your time, Martin.

       Edited at 2021-06-29 09:02 am (UTC)

       1. Thanks, horryd! I was playing for Wadhurst when they entered the Sussex County League and played a handful of matches for the first team. Mostly I was in the reserves. For some reason we also got promoted. We played in the First Division of the East Sussex League supposedly to keep up with the first team. there was no rhyme or reason to that promotion. We got thrashed every week. I think we managed one win and one draw all season.
       2. PS….Notable events in Wadhurst:
          1956 RAF Meteor Jet crashes in the High Street destroying the Queen’s Head Pub. The pilot and 2 local residents killed.
          1993: Couple murdered in a house in the High Street.
          ‘Notable’ residents:
          Jeff Beck lives in a house just outside the main village.
          His former partner, Celia Hammond, the former model, started her cat charity, the Celia Hammond Animal Trust in a shop in the High Street.
          TV ‘personality’ Davina McCall owned a house just behind the station but sold it within the last few years.
          1. It’s all go in Wadhurst! Do you know Sleaford, Lincs!?
             1. Alas!
22. FOI 5ac SUBZERO
    LOI 20dn AEGEAN
    COD 7dn ELYSIAN
    Time to Complete: 11.33 mins
    Clues without aids 30
    Clues with aids 0
    Wrong Answers 0
    Total Correct 30/30
    Aids used: Partargas/Double Espresso (Doppio)

    I am edging towards a sub-ten!

    Edited at 2021-06-29 08:44 am (UTC)

23. 11:27 but I failed to parse HIGH-POWERED and had only vaguely heard of TOC H. Like others, it was the NW corner that held me up. Thanks Jack and setter.
24. Another decent time. Hoping I may be back in the groove. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
25. I had the top half completed in around 8 minutes but the lower half was a bit trickier. ORATORY went in first and I was fortunate to spot OXHIDE quickly. ANSERINE was unknown but easily derived from wordplay. A biffed OHMETER(typed without looking at the screen) was corrected during proof reading and then parsed properly. SIT ON THE FENCE and ONE IN A MILLION were write ins. I’m sure Homer and SAPPHIC have cropped up recently. COUSCOUS and STRETCHY stretched me for a while. RATTLESNAKE and AEGEAN were my last 2 in. I’ve heard of Toc H, but couldn’t have defined it. 23:09. Thanks setter and Jack.
26. This turned into a biff-fest when I realsied I was hgeadin for a good time. But still didn’t make it under the ten. We had Toc-H at school as a Monday afternoon activity for those (the majority) who eschewed the cadet corps. I think it still goes on, no? Roald Dahl was the first to make gremlins famous, I think. From his wartime RAF days – when ‘gremlins’ were the beasts that made things go wrong on planes.
27. 34 Mins FOI YOWL LOI (last one in, Denise) AEGEAN. Not too challenging today. Thanks Jack and setter.
    1. I suspect there are a number of olympic sports where IPA is indeed a drug of choice. Football, not the least. When I was an international (but not olympic, sadly) pistol shooter, it was popular there too.

       Edited at 2021-06-29 11:44 am (UTC)

28. 14.21 for me, mostly because I got into a tangle in the northern hemiquadrangle and retreated to the south, where everything flowed in nicely.
    I wasn’t sure of STRONGHOLD, thinking the Nelson might be otherwise defined, but suddenly spotting HIGH-POWERED gave sufficient confirmation and YOWL, previously opaque. The (actually) simple BADGE followed, allowing me to dispense with all thoughts of an ill-fitting SOMBRERO, and enter the correct temperature as my LOI.
    The more familiar meaning of SAPPHIC had me wondering whether there was something about Horace that we didn’t know about before and where s/he stood on the LBGTETC spectrum.
29. 9:56. Not too hard overall, but the NW corner was tricky. Mind you my LOI was SUBZERO.
    DK ANSERINE, TOCH or that SAPPHIC verse was associated with Horace.
30. Never heard of TOC H but with three checkers, TORCH was plain enough.

    NHO ORPINGTON duck either, though I had a girlfriend once that lived in ORPINGTON — again needed all the checkers to arrive at that destination.

    ANSERINE — again unheard of but parse-friendly.

    Otherwise everything was fairly comfortable.

31. Many Scottish secondaries are ‘High’ schools.
32. Pleased with 14 mins for this, given my run of DNFs last week. It seemed pretty straightforward, with the unknown ANSERINE assembled by the same thought process as our esteemed blogger.
33. Pleasant solve, spoiled only by realising that my imperfect typing had put in TAM and ELTSIAN. Oh well. I remember looking up TOC H some time ago when the novel I was reading used the expression “dimmer than a Toc H lamp” to describe a character, clearly an expression which had not survived long enough for me to understand the reference.
    1. That must have been the WWI expression. My mother used to say “dimmer than a NAFAFI candle” from WWII.
       1. ‘NAAFI candle’ is new to me.
34. Not difficult, but I needed Jack’s help to explain HIGH-POWERED. A nice range of clues. African grub, Spanish matrons, Roman poetry. Russian citadels…and Ely.

    COD ORPINGTON. The 1962 by-election win by Mr. Lubbock was meant to be the start of the great Liberal revival, but that turned out to be a dead duck.

    Thanks to Jack and the setter

35. After a terrible run of DNFs, I didn’t bother to time myself which I was regretting as I raced through a (what I found) easy puzzle. Until I got to my final pair.
    At 23ac, I came up with CAPOTE, cape round ot, giving the name of a fellow. Neat. However, that left me with N-OBALL. Having never heard of neoball, I was stuck. Doggedly, I failed to revisit capote so went to online aids which, of course, gave me netball. Still couldn’t solve 23ac as I was fixated on fellow as the definition. Gave up and came here at that point.
    Didn’t know anserine or orpington as a duck but both were clear from the wordplay. Toc H is a throwback.
    Thanks to the setter and to Jack for enlightenment.
36. Fairly gentle today — although ANSERINE, Toc H and a non-chicken ORPINGTON were all new to me. 5m 13s with ANSERINE the LOI.

    I would have liked a ‘perhaps’ in 17a but it was a nice clue despite that.

    1. that would have made it too easy!?
    2. The objection to definition by example can be taken too far. ‘Person grinding corn’ is a pretty direct definition of someone milling. Sure they might also be grinding something else, but they might be doing the accounts and still be in a mill, so technically you’d need ‘person grinding corn or some other substance including, but not limited to, cereal products, or attending the same location, including (without limitation) for a purpose related to the aforementioned activity’, which I don’t think improves the clue 😉

       Edited at 2021-06-29 09:36 pm (UTC)

37. I was well overdue for a typo so I got 2. Sniff. I only knew the Orpington chickens. In the Barbara Pym novels the elderly church ladies who dote on handsome curates are always feeding them boiled chicken smothered in white sauce and called FRICASSEE. 12.12 with 2 pink squares.
38. This seems to be my day for typos. I meant NAAFI. Sorry.
    1. I was trying to be as polite as poss., but nevertheless I had not heard of your mother’s expression even after having read every Richmal Crompton book going in my boyhood.
       On edit: I note that she died in 1969 in Orpington of all places!

       Edited at 2021-06-29 11:54 am (UTC)

39. 23.32. A relatively slow solve for me today, no reason, just being steady and surefooted as I made my way round the grid not really biffing too much. Didn’t fully parse high-powered, DNK Toc H or anserine but the solution for the former seemed clear and the wp for the latter pretty solid.
40. I was another who thought REBUS was a tank. Nothing to frighten the horses here, nice and easy after a hot round of golf.
41. Steadily solved most of the clues over two cups of tea, which is pretty fast for me, but I failed in the NW corner with ORPINGTON (NHO) and OXHIDE (which I should have got).
    I’m putting this down to a bad night’s sleep- woke up at 4am and couldn’t doze off again.
42. Finished in a good time, for me, around 40 minutes, but no idea what was going on half the time. Very unusual for me to be in multi-biff mode.
43. Enjoyable puzzle today. No time due to multiple interruptions, but it didn’t feel completely easy – or certainly not the top half. I constructed the NHO DUENNA from word play and didn’t parse HIGH-POWERED, so thanks to our blogger for explaining that.
44. A wet afternoon here, not far from Orpington, so time for the puzzle. I had learnt another meaning for this word but thought it was a hen (maybe the definition had been fowl)-now corrected to duck.
    At 12a I started with SWANLIKE but somehow managed to correct it to get the unknown ANSERINE.
    I was less successful rushing to the finish with MANTEL (she’s everywhere) which forced me into OLDEAN at 20d.
    A couple of errors but fun whilst it lasted.
    David
45. ….but my LOI took fully a minute.

    I biffed HIGH-POWERED, thanks Jack !

    FOI ORATORY
    LOI AEGEAN
    COD ORPINGTON
    TIME 5:48

46. Rather than looking it up, I came here to find out about the Christian society, post-solve… which was started last night and finished after I got up. Was glad to remember the duck and that Horace wrote SAPPHIC odes that didn’t extol lesbianism.

    Edited at 2021-06-29 04:10 pm (UTC)

47. As usual, half done and then defeated by the second more cryptic half. FOI FRICASSEE, last one I managed ELYSIAN. Disappointing performance for a Tuesday. Here’s to the rest of the week! But as ever thanks to blogger for the tutorial.

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