Times Cryptic 29126

 

Solving time: 31 minutes

A pleasant 12ac puzzle with one query over the clue at 9dn. How did you all do?

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]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.

Across
1 An aquatic bird to avoid? (4)
DUCK
Two meanings
3 Brotherhood stumbled over women’s transport (10)
FELLOWSHIP
FELL (stumbled), O (over), W (women’s), SHIP (transport). As discussed here previously W can stand for women’s with an apostrophe when referring to clothing size.
10 Plantigrade mammal southern ambassador put up with (3-4)
SHE-BEAR
S (southern), HE (ambassador), BEAR (put up with)
11 Make row outside back of market, getting more bananas (7)
DOTTIER
DO (make) + TIER (row) containing [outside] {marke}T [back of…]. Madder.
12 What a conscientious nurse makes on reaching hospital? Easy (15)
STRAIGHTFORWARD
STRAIGHT FOR WARD (What a conscientious nurse makes on reaching hospital). And only yesterday I blogged this in the Quick Cryptic: Inconvenient direction hospital worker may once have gone (8).
UNTO WARD.
13 Eating at home, with wild dog mostly around (6)
DINING
DING{o} (wild dog) [mostly] containing [around] IN (at home)
14 Begged to share the Scarlet Pimpernel’s fate? (8)
BESOUGHT
They seek him here, they seek him there,
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven? Is he in hell?
That damned elusive Pimpernel!

If you shared his fate you’d BE SOUGHT

They never found him.
17 Amphibian got turned over crossing bank by river (4,4)
TREE FROG
GOT (reversed [turned over] containing [crossing) REEF (bank) + R (river)
18 Superior nun given directions by a couple of bishops (6)
ABBESS
A, B+B (couple of bishops), E+S+S (directions)
21 Policeman’s lying about keeping agreement in an unnerving way (15)
DISCONCERTINGLY
DI’S (policeman’s) + anagram [about] of LYING, containing [keeping] CONCERT (agreement)
23 Animosity private soldier articulated (7)
RANCOUR
Aural wordplay [articulated]: “ranker” (private soldier)
24 Implore gunners to accept other ranks, by God! (7)
BEGORRA
BEG (implore) + RA (gunners) containing [to accept] OR (other ranks)
25 A forceful person, might he entertain round America? (10)
POWERHOUSE
POWER (might), HE contains [entertain] O (round) + US (America). I’m not entirely convinced the containment syntax works.
26 Malaysian in Borneo, extremely doughty and keen at first (4)
DYAK
D{ought}Y [extremely], then A{nd} + K{een} [at first]. NHO this but wordplay and checkers got me there.
Down
1 No longer employed, treated with contempt around university (7)
DISUSED
DISSED (treated with contempt) containing [around] U (university)
2 OK, nonsense writer taking husband’s place in gamble (9)
CLEARANCE
CHANCE  (gamble) becomes CLEARANCE when LEAR (nonsense writer) takes H’s (husband’s) place
4 Short of energy, they are terribly coarse (6)
EARTHY
Anagram [terribly] of THEY AR{e} [short of energy]
5 Raised in social status, reorganising field day (8)
LADYFIED
Anagram [reorganising] FIELD DAY. In Shaw’s Pygmalion Henry Higgins attempted to ladyfy Eliza Dolittle for a bet. I think the more usual spelling is ‘ladify’ but both are listed in SOED.
6 London feature later represented in court game? (8,6)
WATERLOO BRIDGE
Anagram [represented] of LATER contained by [in] WOO (court) + BRIDGE (game)
7 Israeli port’s condition, enveloped in a lot of sea mist (5)
HAIFA
IF (condition) contained by [enveloped in] HAA{r} (sea mist) [a lot of…]
8 Gemstone European delivered in ceramic vessel (7)
PERIDOT
E (European) + RID (delivered) contained by [in] POT (ceramic vessel). ‘Peridot’ is the moniker of one of our Quick Cryptic setters and I wonder if he’s putting his signature to this 15×15. For those who don’t know, Peridot is Mick Hodgkin who derived the name from P(uzzles) EDITOR (anagram).
9 Military award belonging to woman inferior to many? (6,2,6)
LEGION OF HONOUR
LEGION (many) OF HONOUR (belonging to woman). ‘Inferior to’ is just a placement indicator. Perhaps we are in similar territory here to the QC last Friday when Constance was clued in the QC as a male name. That turned out to be an error as admitted by the setter. Here we have Honour clued as a woman yet I can find no evidence of it as such. ‘Honor’ would be ok (e.g. the actress Honor Blackman) but the only ‘Honour’ listed on Wiki is a male Zimbabwean footballer.
15 A couple of chaps producing headgear in Scotland (9)
GLENGARRY
GLEN + GARRY (a couple of chaps). SOED: A man’s flat-sided cap, pointed at the front and back and usually with a pair of ribbons hanging behind; chiefly worn as part of Highland dress.
16 Work supported by sure winner in firm (8)
CONCERTO
ON (supported by) + CERT (sure winner) contained by [in] CO (firm)
17 Blunder involving swimmer in turbulent water (4-3)
TIDE-RIP
TRIP (blunder) containing [involving] IDE (swimmer). Aka ‘riptide’.
19 High-flyer from Kentucky with pounds in a Channel Island (7)
SKYLARK
KY (Kentucky) + L (pounds) contained by [in] SARK (a Channel Island)
20 Downy plant Middle East scholar cut back (6)
ARABIS
ARABIS{t} (Middle East scholar) [cut back]
22 Function requiring weight and source of strength (5)
SINEW
SINE (function), W (weight)

60 comments on “Times Cryptic 29126”

  1. Around 45 minutes. FOI STRAIGHTFORWARD LOI BESOUGHT. Nice 12ac puzzle with no holdups.
    Thanks Jack.
    You have see instead of sea in 7d.
    In terms of honour related to woman there is a significant push to ensure women are equal to men in honours lists. For example in https://honourawoman.com/about/ an extract says

    “Since the Order of Australia was established in 1975, men have consistently received over 70 per cent of the Australian honours awards. We don’t think that’s equitable. It also denies women the right to be represented accurately on the public record for their achievements and contributions to Australia.

    Gender inequality in the Australian honours system begins with fewer nominations for women. Moreover, women are less likely to be a nominator and both men and women nominate men in greater numbers for an award.”

    1. 7dn amended now, thanks. An intervention by predictive text somewhere in the blogging process. Thanks also for the link and extract which is interesting but I’m not sure if you are suggesting it has some bearing on my query about the spelling ‘Honour’ as a woman’s name?

      1. I got this from Wiktionary, so am happy with it. “Proper noun
        Honour (plural Honours)
        A female given name from English, a less common spelling of Honor.”

  2. 32:50 for me, so straightforward but not massively so. I thought 9 down might be a play on “matron/maid of honour”, the status “of honour” showing the inferior position of the woman compared to the queen/princess/bride she serves.

    Thanks for the blog.

  3. 17:32
    DNK ARABIS, DNK ‘plantigrade’ (and learned that dogs and cats are digitigrade). Also DNK the bridge, and looked it up. I unthinkingly put in GARRYOWEN at 15dand even wondered if ABBESS was wrong before I came to my senses.

  4. I wondered if the medal was pinned “on her”, but that only worked (or not) in the way that some of the 1935 Sunday Puzzle clues from Sunday worked. Otherwise a nice 40 min, plus I learnt (or re-learnt) a couple words. Plantigrade indeed.

  5. Not so 12a for me. And to think we had a very similar clue and answer yesterday in the QC makes me wonder if I need a new pastime. SUN BEAR at 10a caused problems until I decided to read the clue again. Wrote in ‘dishonouringly’ for DISCONCERTINGLY before realising I was one letter short, thinking ‘honour’ was ‘keeping agreement’. Missed BESOUGHT.
    Enjoyable, though.
    Thanks Jack.

  6. 29 minutes. Not too difficult, but I had no idea about BESOUGHT which went in as my LOI from the def; very good. ARABIS and DYAK both new.

    The only suggestion I would have for HONOUR in 9d is that it is clued by ‘belonging to woman’, meaning the term “honour” is only applied to a woman (not to a man), in the sense of her virtue, chastity or purity.

  7. A lot of time trying to find a four-letter scholar to shorten and reverse after ARAB. Never heard of the flower, obviously.

    Not all that straightforward for me, what with GLENGARRY (only known with its Glenross) and DYAK, but then I think Jack only said it was so to generate a bit of comment!

    27:35

  8. FOI HAIFA.
    NHO DYAK or ARABIS
    A bit… odd to have DISCONCERTINGLY and CONCERTO crossing.
    Much more familiar with “riptide” than TIDE-RIP.
    LOI BESOUGHT.

  9. Failed on the plant so DNF in close to 50, but was not solving with any great urgency or intensity so who cares. Some of these were tough but all up an enjoyable challenge. The military award was my LOI and I’m still not convinced by the clue, just as I’m not sure a tide rip is actually a thing. Wasted absolutely ages on DISCONCERTINGLY thinking it was an anagram of policeman’s lying, which slowly-appearing crossers appeared to confirm for most of the journey. Thanks Jack.

    From Floater (Too much To Ask):
    My grandfather was a DUCK trapper
    He could do it with just dragnets and ropes
    My grandmother could sew new dresses out of old cloth
    I don’t know if they had any dreams or hopes

        1. Wiktionary has both. But the tide rip is specifically rough water caused by the tide/current whereas the rip tide is just fast.
          Wik could be wrong, but.

  10. 50m 59s and a lot of that time was spent wrestling with ARABIS.
    Alas, I biffed DITZIER for 11ac even though it didn’t seem to fit the clue.
    A true ‘ditzy’ story: The daughter of a friend in Sydney once sent her mother a cat from Queensland by means of Australian Air Express. When my friend went to collect the cat, the AAE agent asked ‘what’s the name?’ Answer: Ditzy. ‘No, YOUR name’!
    I liked BESOUGHT and STRAIGHTFORWARD.
    Thanks, Jack. I particularly liked your UNTOWARD solution!

  11. 12.19, only now fully understanding BESOUGHT – har har. ARABIS rang a vague bell, but it took a little while for me to properly understand the simple cryptic, as I was looking for an Arabic word for a scholar (eek) plus a reversal of a word meaning ‘cut’.

    I’m also unconvinced by ‘entertain’, although you could argue that ‘he might’ are to be taken as two distinct units, justifying the plural form of the verb.

    Thanks both.

  12. Around 40 mins. Held up a bit in the SE until I finally saw DISCOCERTINGLY which unlocked SKYLARK and off we went again. NHO DYAK but as our blogger says, just follow the wp. Wasn’t sure about GLENGARRY either but worked it out.

    Thanks Jack and setter.

  13. 31 minutes with LOI ARABIS ventured tentatively. I’d been a bit more confident of DYAK. Otherwise a very pleasant solve watching Terry and Julie cross over the river. Thank you Jack and setter.

  14. The real problem with 9dn is that the Légion d’Honneur (which the clue evokes) is a predominantly civilian honour. So “military award” is a bit of a stretch.

    1. I agree. And also Legion of honour is just 3 English words. It is also a translation of the French honour. So is it OK or just Green Paint?

  15. 14:39. I couldn’t remember what plantigrade meant, NHO DYAK and took a while to remember the military award (and that HONOUR was a girl’s name). Otherwise quite 12A, my COD, for me. Thanks Jackkt and setter.

  16. About 20 minutes.

    – Didn’t know enough about the Scarlet Pimpernel to fully understand BESOUGHT, but it sounded right
    – Needed the wordplay for DYAK
    – LEGION OF HONOUR went in with a shrug
    – Had heard of GLENGARRY without knowing what it was
    – Didn’t parse CONCERTO (I often forget supported by=on)
    – Hadn’t heard of ARABIS but got there from wordplay

    Thanks Jack and setter.

    FOI Haifa
    LOI Arabis
    COD Waterloo Bridge

  17. 8:57 but when the pink squares appeared it had nothing to do with NHO ARABIS. I unfortunately invented a new bird – the SKYHAWK. I simply didn’t parse the clue properly, despite spotting Sark straight away. Not my best effort.

  18. No probs today, though nho arabis.
    After completion I looked up plantigrade, and was a bit surprised to find I am one.. that and digitigrade filed away for future use
    Wife says I’m so lazy, I must be a tardygrade 🙂

  19. Mostly 12ac but 22 mins became 35 to get the last few.
    COD BESOUGHT may be a corker but combined with the NHO GLENGARRY and DYAK it stumped me for a while.
    ARABIS sounded better than Arabus and I tried to justify as Arab + Si(r) being a teacher cut and backwards. Jackkt’s parsing is much neater. And righter.

  20. 45 mins. Not straightforward, I thought. DNK GLENGARRY or DYAK, but they seemed logical. Loved the Pimpernel clue.

  21. Medium level, 24 minutes, ending with the DK ARABIS which I guessed then checked. DYAK rang a bell. Didn’t think about HONOUR not being a woman’s name, I’d have spelt Ms Blackman that way anyway.
    Liked WATERLOO BRIDGE best.

  22. 15.24, musing a decent time over my last in, that plant. The “downy” bit was off-putting, trying to imagine and identify a plant which could stuff a pillow. I assumed the setter was Uxbridging a bit, a plant one might find on Watership Down. Having looked it up since, it seems more of an alpy or rocky plant. But then again, rather hidden in the Wiki article, is that ARABIS leaves tend to be densely hairy, so maybe pillow stuffing is possible.
    I guess we’ll never know why the English Honor Blackman took the American spelling, or why our setter corrected her for the medal. Or maybe our setter is, after all, a Hollyoaks fan, however unlikely that may seem, where Honour Chen-Williams is a character. Either way, it passed me by as I decided not to spell it HONEUR in my entry.
    The Pimpernel clue the best of the bunch.

  23. I had the same thought as Jack about Honour/Honor being or not being a girl’s name, but shrugged my shoulders and decided Honour probably was. However, he has done more research than I have and it seems that it’s a mistake. 36 minutes on an otherwise pleasant crossword that again I had some trouble beginning although once afloat was OK on. I wasn’t very happy with the word ‘back’ in the clue for 20dn: it’s unnecessary, doesn’t really improve the surface, and looks as if it’s there simply as a gratuitous misleader.

  24. 3 wrong in 26 mins. HOIFA where HOAR stood for HAAR, BYAK and EREBUS as a guess for ARABIS.

    COD: STRAIGHTFORWARD

  25. 22:10 – not so straightforward for me, although the generous cluing eventually helped with guessing the unknowns. Plantigrade sounds like a useful sort of word.

  26. 07:21, fairly straightforward and pleasant apart from ARABIS, where I followed my usual path with things horticultural i.e. follow the wordplay and hope for the best

  27. 7:58. Made up ARABIS and DYAK. Didn’t notice the problem with Honour/Honor when I solved it quickly, but I agree with others it seems a slight slip.

  28. Round about the 30 minute mark to solve this, although it is only an approximation as I dozed off in the middle. No reflection on the setter as I enjoyed the crossword, I just had a sleepless night. I had my doubts about SHE BEAR, but trusted the cryptic. I got lucky with my LOI ARABIS as I didn’t manage to parse it properly, I vaguely remembered the word from somewhere, and was delighted to find it was right.

  29. 10:45 but with a stupid mistake: LADIFIED. The anagrist was right there.
    I was doubly surprised by PLANTIGRADE, because I didn’t think they were mammals and I only knew them as water bears. But that’s tardigrades! I am a digitigrade when I run: if I heel strike I get terrible shin splints. There’s a view that this is natural to us, in the absence of padded shoes, and if you watch young kids you’ll see they often run this way.
    The heroic attempts to justify HONOUR are admirable but I suspect this is just a mistake. I think I’d have spelled it this way. I never realised until today that Honor Blackman and Honoré de Balzac have the same name.

  30. PS at 25ac I think you can treat ‘might he’ as either two elements of wordplay ([might] [he] with an implicit ‘and’ between them) or one ([might he]), so either ‘entertain’ or ‘entertains’ is fine.

  31. Seeing concerto somehow did not point me to disconcertingly where instead I made up the word disconcordingly – D’Oh

    Nice puzzle with the unknowns fairly clued. Agree with the general MER at legion of honour which I’d biffed with a couple of checkers but was never convinced by and was expecting to revisit.

    LOI besought which caused me to groan when I saw it, very clever clue.

    Thx Jack and setter

  32. 26 mins. I too was puzzled by Honour being a woman’s name. Otherwise, a great puzzle! Arabis was new to me and I also kept thinking of “Erebus”….

    1. Looking on Wikipedia you’ll see that there is a character on Hollyoaks called ‘Honour’ who’s female and several ordinary people on Facebook are also women called ‘Honour’ so the setter isn’t mistaken, though the name is certainly rare.

  33. Held up by PERIDOT, and spelt it PEREDOT, so OWL club again. I thought of the RID equals delivered synonym, but rejected it.
    Found it more difficult than yesterday, with some unknowns for me like GLENGARRY and DYAK. Took an age to get 12ac.
    Many thanks to Jack and the setter.

  34. 26.06. Not helped by mistaking tern for duck( assumed the ? indicated sounded like) and Frenchifying the Legion of Honour. Also thought disconcertingly was an anagram of policeman’s lying. That was a road to nowhere. Finally finished with arabis.

  35. 36:50 Two unknowns, ARABIS and DYAK.
    I took a while to remember the fate of the Scarlet Pimpernel. I initially biffed BEHEADED on the basis that they may have eventually caught him, but the need to fit in WATERLOO BRIDGE convinced me that he was sought but never caught.

    Thanks Jack and setter

  36. DNF

    Just the one pink square. Didn’t see Arabist so had to guess an unknown plant and plumped for ARABUS.

    A nice crossword otherwise, pitched at just the right level for the QC crowd (well, me anyway) to get their teeth into. The only other NHO was DYAK but the wordplay was friendly enough.

  37. 11ac: I had T as third letter and realised ‘bananas’ was likely to be the definition. It then amused me to find BATTIER, NUTTIER before DOTTIER.

  38. 27 minutes held up a few minutes at the end by Glengarry and Dyak.
    I think Honor is commoner than Honour as a girls name
    Thanks setter and blogger

  39. I liked this, though I did think at one point that I wouldn’t be able to finish. NHO DYAK, ARABIS, and found both difficult to parse, so that DYAK was my LOI after the PDM of GLENGARRY, bifd. I had never known what it meant, and only knew the word from the famous play – Glengarry Glenross. I liked BESOUGHT, but was very put off by the term ‘fate’, which implied that he came to an end rather than being a quarry for the French. Took far too long over which London bridge was required, especially since I used to travel over it daily at one time. Also NHO TIDE-RIP, as opposed to rip-tide. So, on the whole, quite pleased to have made it.

  40. Staggered through it, but held up by ARABIS at the end to leave me one short.

    I also felt that “of honour” meant “inferior to” as in maid of honour.

    NHO DYAK

  41. Skylark
    Have you anything to say to me?
    Won’t you tell me where my love can be?
    Is there a meadow in the mist
    Where someone’s waiting to be kissed?

    14’26”. Many thanks.

    1. Great song! I had intended to post a link to it on YT in my blog. I started looking for the best recording but something distracted me and I never finished.

  42. Well wonders have ceased; I boasted yesterday and paid for it today. Failed by four after an hour! No idea why.

  43. I couldn’t make any sense of 9d either, beyond the obvious “LEGION”; the remainder, “OF HONOUR”, was obviously correct, but I couldn’t see how you could derive it from the clue: seems you can’t.
    (EDIT: having now read all the comments above, seems you can. All a bit academic anyway since the answer was very obvious)

    Unfortunately, I had never heard of “ARABIS” and came up with the answer “ARABYS”, parsed as ARABY being an old name for the Middle East and “S” being a (very severe) reduction of “scholar”. So, close but no cigar.

  44. Loved BESOUGHT, and STRAIGHTFORWARD. And done in just over 19 mins – my quickest for a long time!
    Like Edric today, I won’t have such luck tomorrow!
    Fun puzzle!

  45. My LOI ARABIS a very lucky guess, along with a few others I have to confess.
    I thought 1ac was going to be my FOI TERN but I quickly corrected that.

  46. As a free gift to a future setter wanting to clue Légion d’Honneur, may I suggest “Nice distinction…”?

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