Times Cryptic Jumbo 1523 – Saturday 23rd October 2021

23 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo 1523 – Saturday 23rd October 2021”

1. Some DNKs as always: LOI EPARCHY, POI bLARNEy, EMERSION, HYADES. Didn’t mark any clue as COD.
2. The Phil Silvers Show mediocre? Surely not. It’s generally considered a classic and way ahead of its time when other US sitcoms were in cosy ‘Honey, I’m home!’ territory. But we all have our tastes of course 🙂
3. Medium difficulty, I thought, but somehow I managed to type in THE LOOPS in spite of putting the unknown answer in from wordplay. Drat.
   I’ve never heard of PHIL SILVERS and this clue contains one of my bugbears: an indirect homophone. There is nothing in the answer that sounds like ‘fills’ and I don’t you can just pretend there is. I recognise this is a minority view, but in any event it made me sufficiently unsure that I had to look the comedian up before submitting.
   1. I must say–well, I don’t really have to, but–that I was quite surprised to see Phil Silvers show up here. We always watched Bilko when I was a child, but still.
4. ….that this took 57:54 but, since entering a 5 letter answer takes up to 10 seconds due to the deplorable speed of the site, it was probably just north of half an hour in brain time.

   I liked “no supper”, Bilko (sorry Keriothe), TOE LOOPS, and BLARNEY, but COD goes to APRICOT.

   1. No apology needed! Like I say I know from past occurrences that I’m more or less the only person who is bothered by this. I have heard of Bilko, by the way, but know absolutely nothing about the character other than the name, including (until now) who played him.
      1. The later Hanna/Barbera cartoon “Top Cat” was based on the characters from The Phil Silvers Show. It worked pretty well.
         1. Was it really? I had no idea!
         2. I used to watch both, but I preferred Top Cat:-)
         3. Also of note perhaps is that one of the writers on the show was Neil Simon who later went on to a glittering career as playwright.
         4. Top Cat derived from the Phil Silvers Show? I never knew that either. As for the original, I remember it being in the schedule and only ever watched a few minutes before deciding it was not for me… so “mediocre” fits my memory of it.
            1. Didn’t Top Cat even have a cartoon Phil Silvers turn up now and again? I thought so, anyway. It was a long time ago …
            2. It’s interesting how tastes differ as I would I by no means consider myself a fan US sitcoms (MASH, Friends, Frasier for example are as nothing to me), but The Phil Silvers Show (aka Sgt Bilko) just hit the spot at a certain phase of my life.

               Edited at 2021-11-06 02:56 pm (UTC)

5. Comfortably within the two hours so yes a medium one. I managed to successfully construct two NHOs — EPARCHY and HYADES — but I still looked them up to check before submitting. Lots of good stuff. I liked APRICOT, BANK STATEMENT, SPEEDOMETER and TEETOTALLER but COD to the sneaky EARNEST.
   I never liked the character, Sergeant Bilko, so never really watched it but the consensus surely is that it was a classic
6. EPARCHY and HYADES were unknowns for me too, but I managed to construct them before checking their actual existence. Didn’t bother to parse the DBP, as it was fairly obvious from the enumeration. Similarly SKULL AND CROSSBONES only needed a partial parsing before it went confidently in. The SPECTACLED bit of our feathered friend needed all the crossers and was one of my last entries. An enjoyable puzzle. 66 and a bit minutes. Thanks setter and Jerry.
7. EARNEST: did not parse correctly was trying EARN + EST.
   I just learnt Dukes=fists a couple of weeks ago, so that was handy for NED KELLY.
   I had AGRARIAN for rustic, which fitted the checkers and the definition nicely, before backtracking.
   I’ve learnt SAL=Sarah from crosswords, but have never known any Sarah’s who call themselves Sal.

   “King of Quires SUPERNAL” – only time I’ve heard this word

   NHO EPARCHY HYADES DANSEUR TRENT

   Edited at 2021-11-06 10:53 am (UTC)

   1. It’s been said here a couple of times–and I’m surprised Jerry hasn’t commented yet–that comments of any sort about current puzzles are to be avoided. Even seemingly anodyne remarks like ‘today’s was hard/easy’ are not welcome by those who haven’t yet approached today’s.
   2. As Kevin says, PLEASE don’t comment on other puzzles, especially prize ones with no solution yet.
   3. Hilaire Belloc:

      Some years ago you heard me sing
      My doubts on Alexander Byng.
      His sister Sarah now inspires
      My jaded Muse, my failing fires.
      Of Sarah Byng the tale is told
      How when the child was twelve years old
      She could not read or write a line.
      Her sister Jane, though barely nine,
      Could spout the Catechism through
      And parts of Matthew Arnold too,
      While little Bill who came between
      Was quite unnaturally keen
      On ‘Athalie’, by Jean Racine.
      But not so Sarah! Not so Sal!
      She was a most uncultured girl
      Who didn’t care a pinch of snuff
      For any literary stuff
      And gave the classics all a miss.
      Observe the consequence of this!
      As she was walking home one day,
      Upon the fields across her way
      A gate, securely padlocked, stood,
      And by its side a piece of wood
      On which was painted plain and full,
      BEWARE THE VERY FURIOUS BULL
      Alas! The young illiterate
      Went blindly forward to her fate,
      And ignorantly climbed the gate!
      Now happily the Bull that day
      Was rather in the mood for play
      Than goring people through and through
      As Bulls so very often do;
      He tossed her lightly with his horns
      Into a prickly hedge of thorns,
      And stood by laughing while she strode
      And pushed and struggled to the road.
      The lesson was not lost upon
      The child, who since has always gone
      A long way round to keep away
      From signs, whatever they may say,
      And leaves a padlocked gate alone.
      Moreover she has wisely grown
      Confirmed in her instinctive guess
      That literature breeds distress.

      1. Nice one. But wouldn’t “She was a most uncultured gal” rhyme better?
         1. I think Hilaire Belloc was pointing you in exactly that direction, only a bit more subtle than you John!

            Of its kind, this poem is a masterpiece.

8. I too thought this a middle of the road Jumbo, but none the worse for that. A few gems as usual and a few unknown or virtually unknowns too (HYADES was the only real DNK). I loved Pa’s Ma in 1A, MASTERPIECE, TOE LOOPS and the hidden DWARF among others. I finished in the NW corner – LOI APRICOT. By the way, Jerry, I parsed BANK STATEMENT as STATEMENT (something pronounced) after (on) BANK (slope). Thank-you Jerry and setter.
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