Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1327

14 comments on “Times Cryptic Jumbo No 1327”

1. I don’t have my copy here, and I don’t remember much about this, other than that I didn’t know BOLOMETER, and barely knew AUSTER. I did know Miss Prism (John, you should read ‘The Importance’ straightaway), but I unthinkingly wrote in ‘pragmatics’ and didn’t notice the error until late. An enjoyable puzzle.
   1. I’ll put it on the list of things I really should read/watch/hear/see for my Electric Culture-Vulture to deal with for me.
2. A slightly stiffer solve, at 45 minutes. Fortunately for me, PATERNOSTER went straight in. There was one in Brum University library, and we all believed the name derived from the muttered prayers as you risked boarding it or worse, missed getting off and went over the top, mightily relieved the thing didn’t turn upside-down.
   I rather think the Times list of maestri is limited to those ending in I when the setter needs such a word – TOSCANINI’s the other one. But SOLTI was indeed magnificent.
   I was convinced I knew TALLAHASSEE from the mournful and mysterious song about Billy Joe. Does it matter if your source is wrong if the answer’s right?
   BOLOMETER made up on the spot, and THREADNEEDLE STREET for pick of the clues.
   Thanks John for patient and thorough blogging. You’re spot on with CASPIAN SEA, rather a smooth misdirection, I thought.

   Edited at 2018-06-16 08:59 am (UTC)

   1. This is what I’d call a Gettier case, where knowledge is not, as traditionally defined, justified true belief. It’s the Tallahatchee bridge that BJ jumped off of, and I’m wondering how he did more than why, since it’s a covered bridge.
      1. Well, Bobby Gentry’s film of Bobby Joe shows her on the (original, pre-1972 Tallahatchie Bridge, and it’s got plenty of places where you could jump off even without meaning to: it was a pretty standard truss bridge of mixed steel and wood, and pretty ramshackle. What puzzles me is why Billy Joe’s jump was fatal: it’s not like the Golden Gate, it looks about a dozen feet from bridge to water.
         Of course, it’s still not the TALLAHASSE bridge, which barely even exists except in my mombly imagination.
3. I needed aids for some of the GK, and completed in 75:26, which is a bit quicker than I usually manage. I had to check if there was a Miss Prism in a play and who the Greek character was. I also had to construct the unknown meter and ETYMON. I knew Tallahassee as my best man moved there when he went to the States, before moving on to Blacksburg and working at Virginia Tech. He never lost his Geordie accent, even after 40 years! An enjoyable enough puzzle. Thanks setter and John.

   Edited at 2018-06-16 03:12 pm (UTC)

   1. You can take a Geordie out of Geordieland, but you can’t take the Geordieland out of the Geordie. Your comments took me back to my youth in the North East and later working on Tyneside, and a favourite Geordie joke….

      A man limps into the doctor’s surgery.. “Doctor, doctor, it’s me leg”. “Well, my man, can you walk?”. “Work? I can’t even walk!”…

      …which makes me giggle at some of the conversations we have here on TftT about homophones. Why I divvn’t kna yer kna, like.

      Edited at 2018-06-16 08:07 pm (UTC)

      1. ..and you’ve reminded me of the incomparably avuncular Mike Neville who brought us the regional news for many years. He was famous for being able to smooth over any glitches in production, often with delightful humour. My favourite was when they ran out of material and all that was left was the weather forecast… no fancy maps and graphics in those days, just a reading out of the forecast.

         So he said “Well, I’ve got 60 seconds to read the weather”. He stops. gazes about, drums the desk in front of him with his fingers for 30 seconds and says..
         “I’ve got 30 seconds to read the weather”. Cue more of the same…
         “I’ve got 15 seconds to read the weather”….
         And then, slowly and deliberately, timing it to perfection..
         “I’ve got 5 seconds to read the weather. It will be canny muggy. Goodnight.”
         Priceless!

         Edited at 2018-06-16 08:23 pm (UTC)

         1. Why Aye, he wus a reel tresha:-)
         2. I grew up near Durham and went to grammar school in Sunderland. The difference in accents a few miles apart was incredible. Some people could even narrow you down to which village you came from by your accent. My original accent was Durham Pitmatic, but I had to modify it when I went to Uni in Durham, as no one could understand a word I said. What made it worse, was that it was modified into a sort of Mackam due to my going to skuwel in Sunderland:-)
            1. After a year or so in Grimsby and 4 years in South Africa, we returned to Teesside and I still remember my first day at Roseberry primary school in Billingham where all the kids were curious about the new boy and I overheard.. “Eee. Doesn’t he talk funny?”
               I know what you mean about variations in NE accents.
               From the age of 11 I was at Barnard Castle School where we had a mix of north-eastern accents.
               Funnily enough, I am returning there next week for an Old Boys reunion.
               1. Brilliant! I have a reunion at Durham in a couple of weeks. It’s the 45th anniversary of our graduation!
4. FOI PATERNOSTER which l saw instantly. COD DEHLI. Never heard of BOLOMETER but wordplay was clear. Four hours to solve. Now on Philistine in the Graun.
   Ong’ara,
   Kenya.
   1. Epic patience to persevere to the end! Good luck with the Graun. The Times is more than enough for me.

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