Times Cryptic 28100

94 comments on “Times Cryptic 28100”

1. 17.50 with the last two minutes spent struggling with Breton until the penny dropped. Only got it with the bet on element. NHO Breton the surrealist painter.

   One thing I did like about this puzzle was the long edging clues, always get a lift when I see those going in.

   Enjoyable so thanks setter ( not forgetting blogger).

   1. Nobody’s heard of Breton the surrealist painter 😉
      1. And what of Brian Hatt?
2. Cosmo Lang is played by Derek Jacobi in ‘The King’s Speech’.
3. Same as everyone else: NHO BLUEFISH, BRETON, SPIKE-RUSH.

   Penguins have creches, so that’d fit.

   14′ 32″, thanks jack and setter.

4. A nice easy one today, then two impossible ones (for me at least) to finish off with. Was wondering about BRITON for a while. One wonders if these DNK answers are put in to juice up an otherwise straightforward and easily solved crossword.
5. 22:44. Knew BRETON but couldn’t have sworn I knew who LANG was, not that it mattered, but having spent the past hour reading about him I will remember him next time.
6. Did I get a mention too?
   1. I forget who you are.
      1. But you can call me Ed.
         1. I’m Jeremy; nice to meet you. I’ll be sure to mention you often in every stream of mine going forward.
7. It wasn’t meant as a criticism, it just surprised me as I would have said BRETON was very famous. But then I am basically an honorary Frenchman (without a passport to show for it, alas). However random archbishops from nearly a century ago must surely count as obscure. Not that it really mattered for the clue.
8. Time 14.40. This was a fine puzzle with ‘the long-uns’ falling in short order. Unknowns were Spike Rush and Breton but neither held up proceedings. Bluefish are common enough on the Eastern Seaboard – ah! I notice Olivia beat me to it!
   COD 1dn Adult Education – as it opened up the board.
9. Archbishop Lang had a central role in ousting Edward VIII and there was a bit of doggerel that made the rounds at the time playing on “Cantuar” which is the formal surname assigned to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury.
   My lord archbishop what a scold you are
   And when your man is down how bold you are
   Of charity how oddly scant you are
   How Lang oh lord how full of cant you are.

   BLUEFISH are very common along the eastern seaboard of the US and can be caught by casting from the shore into the surf, although you have to be careful removing the hook if you land one because they have quite fearsome teeth. Delicious cooked with a little butter, pepper and scallions. 16.08

   1. Good old Lang, what?
      1. Auld syne Lang, maybe?
      2. Kevin and Francois – one version is: Auld lang swine how full of cant you are.
10. I very nearly had the invented word tarpitude from “trade u” offensive plus pit but it did not look right then I saw what was going on.

    30 minutes with a fingers crossed there must be a surrealist called Breton 😊

    Thanks J and setter

11. by SPIKE-RUSH and BLUEFISH, but once checkers were in they fell into place faute de mieux. With nothing in after 10 mins, I thought this was going to be a stinker… but they came pretty quick once I’d got the long words around the edges.
12. As my family name is Faverot de Kerbrech, a very Breton name, I should at least have heard of the guy. Sadly not….
13. Took an absolute age but got there in the end with a bit of help from husband with laid back, I saw dial when he said it, and rush, I supplied the pike. I was lucky with Breton, NHO, it was a toss-up between in and Briton, so you can see I didn’t parse it. Much to enjoy. FOI Tutsi. I got about 20 of these without too much difficulty but almost called it a day, the others were so hard to dredge up. I have heard of Cosmo Lang, but didn’t see him in signal. Signal was the only word that fit. The blog cleared up many unparsings and part-parsings. Thanks, Jack, and setter.
    1. Double-take. Saw your avatar: wallaby! Looked more closely: a southern hairy-nosed wombat.
14. Just glad to finish today, relatively painlessly though I probably made a bit of a meal of it.

    NHO BRETON nor one of today’s random fish — please welcome MR SPIKE-FISH.

15. I liked 14 dn, concerning = re, boxer’s = (Mohammad) Ali’s, idiosyncrasy = tic. Result Realistic i.e. feasible!! However, I did waste a bit of time thinking about boxer dogs.
16. Straightforward solve, with Breton my NHO LOI. The word play gave it to me. I liked the chairman’s supporter. Thanks to our blogger, as ever.
17. 10:30 early this evening. More chauffeuring duties earlier today around Edinburgh dodging the pot holes in a constant downpour. The experience didn’t seem to get me down for whatever reason.
    After a brief and unsuccessful foray into the top of the puzzle, I reverted to the foot and having seen 26 ac ” chicken hearted” straightaway, I worked my way upwards and picked up the setter’s wavelength.
    NHO LOI 25 ac “spike rush” but the word play seemed to work.
    Several fine clues today with COD 22 ac “turpitude”.
    Thanks to Jack for the blog and to the setter.
18. Slow and steady solve in 3 separate sittings, as had other things to do during the day. All correct in the end. I’d never heard of the surrealist, the pond plant or the fish, but all gettable from the wordplay.
    Thanks for the blog, all the comments and also to the setter, for giving us an elegant, not too taxing puzzle.
    BW
    Andrew
19. 19.58. I got off to a slow start but things soon picked up. I wasn’t fully confident that spike-rush was correct but it seemed to be what was required. Otherwise I had no problems and found this quite satisfying to work through.
20. Late entry. Decent time for when I’m solving half asleep in bed after a long day churning thru the emails and Zooms.

    Too few short ‘uns to be a fave grid but got a foothold in the south and worked northwards

    BRETON also LOI. Surprised myself by persevering and finally working it out

    Plenty to like elsewhere

    Thanks Setter and Jackkt as usual

Comments are closed.