Times Cryptic No 26878, 9/11/17 Playing for keeps

Author   ZabadakPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Not a lot of problems with this one, with a high proportion of crossword standards and a promising, if brief, collection of US states. You are to be congratulated for dedication to duty if you stopped to parse the two long ones: if you didn’t, I’ve done it for you, such is my generosity. I have learned that a racecourse can also be a cravat, when an Italian poet lived, and that an oak’s seed is a fruit. I have also learned, but don’t really believe, what a budgie is also known as. Is there a psittacologist in the house?
Let me know if anything caused any issues. I can’t really see any and completed in 16 minutes, parsing and checking all the way. For ease of reference, clues, definitions, SOLUTIONS

Across

.

1 Silly clowning around outside back of hut (8)
FOOTLING Clowning around gives FOOLING, and it’s outside the back end of huT
5 Keep new judge in the same cricket side (6)
DONJON The slightly less familiar version of dungeon, here in its central keep guise. N(ew) J(udge) in DO (the same, short for ditto) and ON, the cricket side that’s not off
10 Rudely cursed at first by a French climber nursing injury (9)
UNCIVILLY A French is UN, cursed at first C, climber is IVY and the inserted injury ILL.
11 Former tax on a type of neckwear (5)
ASCOT SCOT used to be tax, and you need to put it on A. I would have guessed hat or somesuch, but it is a kind of tie akin to a cravat.
12 Doctor attending Light Infantry member (4)
LIMB Assume Light Infantry abbreviates to LI and add one of the standard doctors, an MB
13 Our Bing? He could be the bloke next door! (9)
NEIGHBOUR An anagram (pretty obviously) of OUR BING HE.
15  Figure in role of duke having noisy argument on phone? (10)
QUADRANGLE In the role of QUA plus D(uke) plus what wrangle, noisy argument would sound like on the phone.
17 Highland Scot’s verbal report of force eight wind, perhaps (4)
GAEL Is exactly a Highland Scot, and another soundalike, here of GALE which is a force eight wind. Generous and informative cluing.
19 Completely unknown person giving us support (4)
ALLY Completely ALL and Y one of the small collection of letters for unknown
20 Stores investing pounds in standard baked foods (10)
STOCKPILES Standard provides STOCK, baked foods are PIES, and £/L is invested therein.
22 Performer from Utah welcomed by one-time City worker (9)
EXECUTANT Which can be a proficient musician, but doesn’t need to be. One time: EX, city EC (the customary postcode) Utah must be UT, and worker ANT. String ‘em together.
24 See about specialised knowledge (4)
LORE This is really easy: see LO and about RE are about as standard as possible.
26 A scam involving introduction of ripe fruit (5)
ACORN Well, it is a fruit, and has been used to make ersatz coffee. A plus CON for scam and Ripe’s first inserted.
27 Accountant’s woman, one fated to be disbelieved (9)
CASSANDRA The Trojan princess who kept issuing dire warnings, and a name adopted by William Connor, columnist for the Mirror. Your accountant is a CA, and your woman SANDRA, a relatively rare visitor to these shores.
28 Liberal leader with a posh four-wheeled carriage (6)
LANDAU Which turned up in heat 2 of Another Place. First of Liberal, AND for with (easily overlooked) A for a and U for posh.
29 Variety of conifers connected with court (8)
FORENSIC I have a very limited range of conifers so it’s as well this isn’t one but the fodder for a rather cute anagram

Down
.

1 Vendetta not many’d spoken of (4)
FEUD Not many’d translates to few’d if you will, and sounds like our answer
2 Very rarely performing a nice varied 1930s song (4,2,1,4,4)
ONCE IN A BLUE MOON OK, this is a real mix. ON is performing, A NICE is to be varied to CE IN A and BLUE MOON s a 39’s song, which sounds like this when sung by the incomparable Ella
3 What a convict won’t do for a budgie! (8)
LOVEBIRD My mother would say it’s not a budgie. Convicts can usually be expected to back the setter’s assertion that bird/time/porridge etc is not their favourite
4 City don leaving capital to provide material … (5)
NYLON The city is New York, the capital LONDON, which loses its DON. Apparently the story that the material was named after the two cities is a myth.
6 … partly for a chemical plant (6)
ORACHE Fortunately, this plant is today’s hidden clue: fOR A CHEmical
7 Versatile worker’s flag initially overturned by autumn winds (4,2,3,6)
JACK OF ALL TRADES JACK for flag, O for the beginning of Overturned, FALL for autumn, TRADES for winds.
8 Scholar, one barely recognisable outside Alabama (10)
NATURALIST One barely recognised (tee hee) is a NATURIST, and our second (third if you count NY) state abbreviation is AL for Alabama.
9 Unknown in C stream, one child’s first alphabet (8)
CYRILLIC The unknown Y crops up again, embraced by C (given letter) RILL for stream and I for one plus C again, this time for Child.
14 Fuddy-duddies worry, seeing canvas on yard (6,4)
SQUARE SAIL Fuddy-duddies are SQUARES, and worry provides AIL (via “trouble”)
16 Bird which nests in northern university church (8)
NUTHATCH Which provides THAT (again easily overlooked) and N(orthern) U(niversity) and CH(urch) provide the remaining pieces.
18 Escape of liquid ultimately damages sacking (8)
SPILLAGE S from the last of damages, PILLAGE is congruent with sacking if you are a Viking, Goth or Vandal.
21 Proper woman retiring as governess (6)
DUENNA the rather more common ANN turns up (in two ways) to tack on the DUE for proper.
23 Old Italian poet’s sons immersed in Chinese way of life (5)
TASSO Sons produce two S’s between them, and TAO is the Chinese (for) way of life. A poet of the 16th Century
25 Alcoholic drink boozer finally concealed in coat (4)
MARC Brandy made from the refuse of wine production. R from the back of boozer within MAC for coat.

51 comments on “Times Cryptic No 26878, 9/11/17 Playing for keeps”

  1. I guess it wasn’t just me, but I had already worked a puzzle that will eventually appear in The Nation, and this one seemed almost as easy. I first got the two Down clues that cross the entire grid. Had never heard of ORACHE.

    Edited at 2017-11-09 02:28 am (UTC)

  2. Thanks, Z. It went fast fro me here, 30 min, though not anywhere near as fast as the top of the leaderboard. I liked the bare naturist, and wasn’t convinced that the Un properlyy got in front of the C in Uncivilly.

    Separately, I thought it was cool that the Snitch gave us a good estimate, yesterday, of the difficulty of the competition puzzles. I mentally added a couple points, assuming that some of Saturday’s solvers did it again and pulled the average down. But 120-130 smells right.

  3. I could have shortened that time by a couple of minutes if I hadn’t flung in ‘duel’ at 1d (not many=dual?), even while noting the oddity of ‘many’d). 27ac and 23d were gimmes from the definitions. NHO ORACHE, of course, but for once my normal slowth in spotting hiddens didn’t kick in, and I twigged at once. And no, I didn’t parse either of the long downs.
  4. 18 minutes. Pretty happy with that until I saw I was third last among those who’d already done it on the crossword club. Do all the geniuses get in early then?
  5. About an hour for me. A LOVEBIRD is a psittacine, like a budgie, but the two aren’t the same. The clue is also incorrect because how could any convict not love Kylie Minogue.

    Good to see a few cryptic-world words in NUTHATCH, MARC and DUENNA making an appearance. Maybe ORACHE can be added to the list

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  7. Thursday has been far tougher, until today.

    Home in 28 minutes with 5ac DONJON LOI.

    FOI 2dn ONCE IN A BLUE MOON

    28ac LANDAU again! I have waited for a few years and then three some along in a row – or so it seems!

    COD 15ac QUADRANGLE

    WOD 6dn ORACHE or goosefoot.

  8. Thirty minutes here—might have been a PB if I’d not spent too much time trying to do something with “quarrel” for “row” at 15a, my LOI. FOI 1a FOOTLING, a lovely word. Along the way I learned about ORACHEs, budgies, ASCOT, and that FORENSIC has a meaning apart from the one familiar from Waking the Dead et al.

    This was a confidence-boosting puzzle as I put in the top half at Inspector Morse-like speed (the only standard to which I’ve ever aspired) and only slowed down a little when I hit the bottom half. If I’d not spent the last year practising I’d have probably run aground on DONJON, LANDAU, or the unknowns.

    WOD NUTHATCH, COD 19 ALLY for the penny-drop. Some of us aren’t used to all the chestnuts yet, you know!

  9. 15:57 .. didn’t feel very in tune with this, though nothing was too hard. DUENNA, SQUARE SAIL, DONJON, LANDAU, FOOTLING .. none of them exactly on the tip of my tongue.

    I’m with your mother, Z8, re budgies and LOVEBIRDs.

    Apparently the plant is pronounced /orˈich/ and it’s sometimes used interchangeably with spinach. Looking at pictures of it online it’s quite familiar, so I suppose I’m quite glad to know what the stuff’s called.

  10. No problems getting this done in under 5 minutes, and that was even with considerable fooling around in the NW, where I tried, at various times, JAILBIRD, UNCOUTHLY, QUARRELING, that sort of thing. FOI 5ac, LOI 8dn as for some reason my brain wanted Alabama to be AB. Too much time spent in Edmonton I expect…
  11. It would have been a pretty good time for me had it not been for the convincing and not unreasonable (to me at any rate) CAGEBIRD for 3d, ANON for 19a and DRUPE for 26a. This rather messed up the LH side for a while until I could disentangled myself bit by bit.
  12. 26 minutes. Wondered about LOVEBIRD/budgie. Didn’t know the ‘court’ reference re FORENSIC.
  13. 35 mins with yoghurt, granola, fruit – plus raw choc granola addition from a friend: how kind.
    Not too hard, but I felt I was jumping around a lot.
    I blenched at the plant – but it was a hidden (thanks setter).
    Last bits in were DUE(nna) and DON(jon). Note to self: swat up on medieval castles. Don Johnson was Sonny Crockett in 80’s cop show, Miami Vice – and as an homage to him, today I shall be pushing my jacket sleeves up past the elbow.
    Mostly I liked: Autumn winds and Spillage(COD).
    Thanks stylish setter and Z.
  14. 4:59, but with a silly mistake. I took a calculated gamble by submitting in under 5 minutes rather than checking my answers and on this occasion it didn’t pay off. Oh well, no regrets.
    1. 4:59 and no regrets? You’ve been spending far too much time with verlaine 😉

      Well done on the time. These days you’re so off my list of rivals.

    3. I took the time to check my answers and as a result went over the 18-minute barrier.

      Don’t you just love it when you do that and can’t find any typos? I felt robbed.

      Edited at 2017-11-09 12:21 pm (UTC)

      1. My favourite is when you take the time to check your answers, can’t find anything typos and then there is one.
  15. At least I can show you what a budgie looks like. 18 minutes today again, with LOI the disguised ORACHE. Some of the gold dust from the competition contestants must have fallen on me at The George. EXECUTANT was just someone who executed in my parsing. DONJON was obvious but not heard of before. CASSANDRA was also a fine journalist, William Connor, in the glory days of the Daily Mirror. Sheridan’s Duenna was once our school play, not that I was in it. There can’t have been a part for Third Soldier. It’s only as I’ve got old that I’ve realised how brilliant Ella is. How strange the change from major to minor! Thank you Z and setter. * On edit Z, the Ella link has taken me to Billie Holliday.

    Edited at 2017-11-09 11:35 am (UTC)

  16. 13’02″, but with a foolish GAIL and one typo. Still doing this in the club and building the foundations of the daily table. What a great word FOOTLING is! Thanks z and setter.
  17. A very fast for me 11.56, but no I didn’t bother to parse 2d. It is the conker season so no surprise to see a liberal sprinkling of chestnuts.

    Edited at 2017-11-09 09:48 am (UTC)

  18. 27 min 39.

    First one all correct in under 30 mins since returning here. Onwards and upwards ……

  19. 15:53. Luckily the unknown ORACHE was a hidden word, but I hesitated to put it in until I got the checkers. EXECUTANT was also new to me as was ASCOT as neckwear. I too frowned at LOVEBIRD for budgie, but knew no better. I thought 18d was an anagram of D and DAMAGES to start with. Anyone else fall into that little trap? Hence 20a and 18d my last two in. The straightforward, but none the less pleasing, 13a my favourite. Thanks Z and setter.
    1. Yes I fell into that trap – and was thinking what a great anagrind ‘sacking’ is. Then the penny drop – which is why it is my COD.
  20. Maybe it’s my age (75) but budgies were indeed called lovebirds when my Mother had them
  21. 11.03, only about half a minute outside PB. As others didn’t stop to parse the take on the song. Hey myrtilus, think how fast you could solve without the food. (Or…) ‘Square sail’ brings the wonderful 20-volume series by Patrick O’Brian to mind, Napoleonic Wars time, beginning with ‘Master and Commander’, recently discovered by self and a sheer delight.
    1. Or without forensically parsing every clue and watching the pink dawn creep across the Edinburgh rooftops? I don’t follow.
      1. Well, for me a grid’s a grid with its own fine aesthetic, but there are different ways of doing things and mine is evidently of a plainer pattern. I met someone once who found that reading Kant while listening to Bach was bliss. I carp not, but admire.
        1. We are not now that strength which in old days
          Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are.

          In truth, I do sometimes solve without distractions and my times are materially improved – but not so as to be comparable with the regulars here. I sometimes think of striving and not yielding – but I think that would mean more practice than I have time for – and swotting.

          With regard to the Aubrey/Maturin set, I think I once dabbled but stopped. Thanks for the recommendation.

          1. Nice to think of Ulysses and crew huddled round the back page of the Chronos/Tempora. But he wouldn’t have permitted swotting.
    2. I thought of O’Brian too. Time to reread the series methinks. Didn’t Stephen Maturin have Catalan ancestry – much in the news recently?

      Edited at 2017-11-09 04:19 pm (UTC)

  22. DNF as I forgot I hadn’t done DUENNA when I submitted – not that I knew it anyway… Is it my imagination, but is LANDAU now a prerequisite for every crossword? Or at least every other one.
    1. Great opportunity for setters, given his recent demise and excellence in the likes of North by Northwest and Mission Impossible.
  23. Breezed through this one, under 10 minutes at an airport gate for a randomly on-flight time. LOVEBIRD was the only one that held me up for any period of time.
  24. I did this after a trip up the M5, M49 and M4 to Wales, sitting in a Costa car park with a Costa coffee and blueberry muffin, with the misty mountains around Abergavenny forming a picturesque backdrop, my laptop happily attaching to my phone’s mobile hotspot. The paperless office is actually here! Good job the anagrams didn’t need much unravelling. Anyway the crossword took me 33:55 and was most enjoyable. 1d was my FOI with QUADRANGLE and SQUARE SAIL bringing up the rear. DONJON, ASCOT as neckwear and ORACHE unknown, and TASSO only known from a puzzle a few days ago. 2d and 7d biffed with a brief nod to the clues. I put in LOVEBIRD with a furrowed brow. Thanks setter, and Z for the usual entertaining blog.
  25. I was sluggish on the QC this morning but as soon as I looked at this I got 2d; 7d followed a bit later and so I had a lot to work with.
    I sort of knew that it would come down to the plant -and it did. I don’t know many plants. To me the clue suggested I take a bit of 4d , so I had ON to begin with; Onache was pencilled in but I decided to look for a chemical (another mystery subject for me). The letters P H O looked like chemical stuff so that was that.
    One wrong. I do tend to miss hiddens. But this is progress … David
  26. 20-ish minutes and never felt like getting any faster.

    Quite a few unparsed in that as well – including most of the NW corner.

  27. Through in 25 minutes, which probably would have been quicker but I was watching something on TV while doing this. OI was FOOTLING, a word I’m not familiar with, and I’m certainly happy the plant – another unknown word – was a hidden. Regards.
  28. Thirty-eight minutes here – my brain is solar powered and has been running slow ever since they changed the clocks. I am also in a generally grumpy mood – it has been one of those days when all the machinery of the universe, all the vastness of space and time from the Einsteinian to the quantum, has devoted itself to irritating me in manifold minor ways.

    LOI CYRILLIC, which is odd because I have a fondness for the Cyrillic alphabet. This stems partly from the fact that I collect Russian timepieces, and partly from the fact that it is hard not to like an alphabet named after a man called Cyril.

  29. No real problems, but a little distracted by listening to the Northern Ireland/Switzerland match on the radio (0-0 as it stands). Thanks to Dr Thud for the customary humour, and sympathy for being the butt of a malignant universe.
  30. Romped through this in fairly short order (by which I mean half an hour-ish, well these things are relative). Only to find that I DNF-ed, having inexplicably entered Gail with an “I” at 17ac. Very annoying. I’d like to be able to say it was just a silly typo but I fear that I did wilfully, and with malice aforethought, insert said vowel into said square in the grid. I can only put it down to a sort of solving on autopilot which sometimes kicks in. A few familiar bits of crossword-ese, deployed in comfortable and familiar ways, can seem to cause my active brain to enjoy the comfy, armchair ride, put its feet up and take a bit of a rest. I remember thinking it was a bit of a strange answer but not so much so that I was prepared to go through the laborious task of substituting the “I” for the four other vowels to consider the four alternatives. Ho hum.

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