Times Cryptic No 26938 18th January 2018 Tequila!

Author   ZabadakPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I squeezed in (just) under 20 minutes for this one, which contains a rather useful compendium of anagram indicators and a few little bits of history to keep you on your toes. It takes a certain amount of brazen courage for the setter to include and clue 13ac.
For once, there are no plants, and there’s no cricket (or indeed sports of any kind) but a broad general knowledge is assumed, possibly more suited to those of us of a certain age. Only 27 across would puzzle a solver from, say, 40 years back.
Here’s how my SOLUTIONS were deduced from the clues and the definitions they contained.

Across

1 Frantic check, going round conference venue (7)
POTSDAM That’s reversed (going round) MAD STOP for frantic check for the 1945 Soviet/British/American talks aimed clearing up the mess after German (and before Japanese) surrender.
5 Excuses from son involved in fire (4,3)
LETS OFF S(on) is placed into LET OFF, either firing a gun or setting off a firework.
9 Russian official vehicle crossing second westbound bypass (9)
COMMISSAR CAR (vehicle) surrounds MO (second) reversed (westbound) and MISS (bypass). Commissars were Soviet era political chiefs, such as Molotov (he of the cocktails) who was at Potsdam as Commissar of Foreign Affairs.
10 Iberian region lacking a component of air (5)
ARGON A bit under 1% of the air we breathe, here made up of the Spanish region of Aragon (as in Catherine of) without its second A.
11 What’s needed by doctor close to securing key practice? (7,6)
BEDSIDE MANNER Close to is BESIDE, include the random key of D and add MANNER for practice
13 Cask knocked over behind crate – odds are you’ll have heard it (8)
CHESTNUT Our setters know their audience and how willing we are to disdainfully label hackneyed clues. Cask is TUN, which must be reversed and attached to CHEST for crate.
15 Domestic beast from mountain area – there or thereabouts (6)
ALPACA Mountain is ALP, A from Area, the rest of the clue a roundabout version of Circa, conventionally abbreviated to CA
17 Whenever you fancy a wife, work round it (2,4)
AT WILL Slightly risqué clue, needing care with the parsing. It’s A, then TILL for work round W(ife). Do wives mind being referred to as “it”?
19 Something to play with British in traditional hot spot? (8)
HANDBELL With gives AND, add B(ritish), place both in HELL, by tradition a “blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. I understand that for those who are dentally challenged, suitable teeth will be provided.
22 Gambol, roping in last of large brood for greater number (13)
PREPONDERANCE In from checkers, turns out it’s PRANCE for gambol containing (larg)E and PONDER for brood.
25 Critically change finale the writer’s inserted (5)
EMEND  ME, the writer, inserted into END for finale. Critically seems to be there to add colour to the clue: no doubt I can be emended by a critic if incorrect.
26 Loathe seaman, old buddy, squeezing in (9)
ABOMINATE The seaman is the AB variety, add O(ld) MATE for buddy and “squeeze” IN
27 Stunned criminal arrested, resistance gone (7)
TASERED An anagram (criminal) of ARRESTED minus one of its R(esistance)s
28 Strategic arrangement in war Helen & Co generated (7)
ECHELON  An anagram (generated) of HELEN and CO. Here’s some Spitfires demonstrating.

Down

1 Quick kiss for Oscar winner (4)
PECK Gregory, who got his Oscar as Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mocking Bird. Should have got a quick kiss from Sophia Loren on the day, but didn’t.
2 Potentially compliant board keeping mum (7)
TAMABLE Board provides TABLE, MA for mum intrudes.
3 With water lacking, river breaks petered out (5)
DRIED Petered out is DIED, insert R(iver)
4 It’s my barking that Parisian follows in fascination (8)
MYSTIQUE An anagram (barking) of ITS MY followed by QUE, French for “that”.
5 Popular German houses more spacious (6)
LARGER Today’s hidden in PopuLAR GERman
6 Laboured way editor describes bible translation (9)
TRAVAILED There are many more Bible translations than the good old AV, but not here. Insert into TRAIL for way and the standard ED(itor)
7 Material from publication by unknown author — initial only used (7)
ORGANZA Private Eye referred to itself as an ORGAN, but almost any publication will do. Add the unknown Z and only the initial of Author
8 Jest ultimately dire, in fact, in a dismal way (10)
FUNEREALLY Jest is FUN, ultimately dire is E, in fact REALLY. Concatenate
12 Practises piano when forced, with the least coherence (10)
SCRAPPIEST an anagram (forced) of PRACTISES P(iano)
14 Unlikely group of sisters perhaps providing no picnic? (4,5)
TALL ORDER I quite like the idea of the Sisters of Improbable Altitude (at one time, I did some work in Hackney in co-operation with the Little Sisters of Jesus, who genuinely were) but sadly here, “unlikely” is TALL is as in tall story. Even so, the “sisters perhaps” is a nice hint for ORDER.
16 Equestrian jump — better one, in part (8)
CAPRIOLE A horse’s ability to get all four feet into the air while carrying a weighty Spaniard, made up of CAP for better, and I for one in ROLE for part.
18 He wears pants, but contrarily (7)
WHEREAS Sooner or later we’ll be dropping pants as an anagram indicator, but not today. Rearrange HE WEARS
20 For what’s in orbit, I holler mightily to be heard (7)
EYEBALL Orbit another name for the eye socket. Today’s homophone (to be heard), in this case I BAWL
21 Uncrowned king of England disheartened by division in city (6)
EDWARD That’ll be the VIII. EnglanD disheartened gives the ED, and division in city gives WARD (see Jimbo’s erudite comment on Clerkenwell a couple of days ago)
23 Consider changing direction to make call from Clydesdale, maybe (5)
NEIGH Consider would be WEIGH, pick one of the other three directions to start it.
24 Hacked off when leading character’s put down (4)
HEWN It’s just the plain WHEN with its first letter dropped two places.

55 comments on “Times Cryptic No 26938 18th January 2018 Tequila!”

  1. I must have been well on the setter’s wavelength, and we continue a really excellent week for wordplay. 9 minutes on the dot had me top of the leaderboard at the time (that won’t last), with PREPONDERANCE the last in. Enjoyed this one!
  2. This subject heading offered itself as I typed; evidently I gave up at exactly 30:23 once before. If I had been foresighted, I could have stopped at about 23′ and at least got a better time. Anyway, with 2 letters to fill in A RIOLE, I just couldn’t come up with anything. Having just Googled CAPRIOLE, I learned that it is one of the ‘airs above the ground’.
  3. Another enjoyable puzzle but I spoiled it with CABRIOLE. I know a cabriole is a jump and just hoped that CAB = better in some sense or other. Wrong. 55m 30s
  4. 32 minutes suggests another puzzle at the easier end of the scale but unfortunately just beyond my half-hour target. CAPRIOLE was the one that did for me because I knew the word I wanted – on the tip of the tounge, so to speak – but I needed every checker in place before it would come to mind.

    POTSDAM at 1ac was a gift following on from yesterday’s Quickie where it was clued as ‘Wild stay over in Brandenburg capital’.

    Edited at 2018-01-18 06:14 am (UTC)

  5. 1a POTSDAM *would* have been a gift if I’d bothered looking it up yesterday and learned it had anything to do with conferences. As it is, it was one of my last in, and possibly what made this a hard bottom-to-top solve. Too hard, in fact, as I had the unknown 16d CAPRIOLE left at the end of my hour and not enough time to figure it out.

    Lots of other delays along the way, including my conviction that 1d must be some kind of clever substitution clue instead of a reference to an actor, that 9a’s wordplay must involve a tsar, my continuing failure to recognise that “que” could be the French “that” rather than “cela”, and my complete missing of the hidden. Not a good performance, all told!

    Edited at 2018-01-18 07:46 am (UTC)

    1. I so nearly mentioned the Potsdam conference in my comment yesterday as that was the reason I knew of the place rather than its being the capital of Brandenburg.

      Edited at 2018-01-18 08:02 am (UTC)

  6. 30 mins (except for 16dn) with banana, compote, granola, yoghurt.
    I knew 16dn would be that “up on the hind legs then jump a la the Spanish Riding School” thing. I’ve even see ’em do it. But could I remember the word? Also kicking myself for not trying ‘Cap’ as a well-used term for better. That might have just been enough of a memory jogger. Heigh-ho – that is the art of setting: get the solver to kick themselves. Well played.
    Thanks artful setter and Z.

    PS Subject line is rhyming slang for ‘Cash me a Cheque’.

    Edited at 2018-01-18 08:21 am (UTC)

  7. 29 minutes. Found this quite easy but then I am of a certain age. In the fifties, war programmes were often shown on the BBC. Yalta and POTSDAM were always mentioned. I’ve just checked them both out. In the intervening months from February to July 1945, FDR had died, Harry S Truman becoming President. Jo Stalin (the name given to my teddy bear a few months later) was at both. The British General Election was held just before Potsdam. The count took place during the conference, delayed somewhat as the election had to be held later in Nelson and Colne, so as not to clash with Wakes week. So Winston Churchill and Clem Attlee are both in the pictures, as was Ernest Bevin.
    LOI BEDSIDE MANNER, needing all the crossers before seeing the obvious. COD MYSTIQUE. Enjoyable puzzle. Thank you Z and setter.

    Edited at 2018-01-18 08:37 am (UTC)

  8. 16:39. I biffed quite a lot this morning, but some of the definitions were quite hard to spot. Or maybe I was just being dim.
    I had HANDBALL for a while: if you can’t parse it, it’s probably wrong. EYEBALL sorted that out eventually. ‘Orbit’ should trigger instant thoughts of eyes, but it didn’t. Maybe it will in future.
    CAPRIOLE my last in: another impeccable example of a funny word with clear wordplay.
    Thanks setter and Z.

    Edited at 2018-01-18 09:00 am (UTC)

  9. As Bolton W says – off to an easy start with POTSDAM. Don’t know Gothic M’s age but its amazing how quickly one generation’s common knowledge becomes an obscurity for the next

    A steady rather than spectacular solve with the southern hemisphere harder than the north. I like 27A. Well done Z

    1. I’ll be 45 on Sunday, so the Potsdam Conference happened 28 years before I was born. I was rather put off history early in my school career, and even then we mostly learned about Chairman Mao, from what I vaguely remember…
      1. This 44 year old had also never heard of the conference. I knew of Potsdam though from the mention of Potsdamer Platz in one of Bowie’s last and for me greatest songs, Where Are We Now?
  10. I only had 20 minutes available this morning at which point I still had 9a, 6d, 21d and 24d to complete. COD to TASERED.
  12. 29 min 49 secs with two errors. Tasared for Tasered and Cabriole for Capriole.

    I was beguiled – and subsequently detained for some time – by Boddice Ripper, for 11 across.

    Edited at 2018-01-18 11:06 am (UTC)

    1. It was seriously tempting, wasn’t it?! – enough to forget one’s devotion to proper spelling and attention to wordplay. Perhaps it was the Donald’s mantra a couple of rows down: “whenever you fancy a wife…” Not to mention Helen and Co, with that indefinable feminine mystique dressed in sheerest organza. Guilty as charged, your honour.
      1. I hadn’t twigged that I had also been seduced into more misspelling! (Or even Miss spelling!)
  13. As always, I find I am not alone, this time because I spent a disproportionate amount of that time filling in _A_RIOLE…making sure it couldn’t possibly be TOPRIOLE, concluding that CABRIOLE sounded very plausible apart from the fact that it didn’t fit the wordplay etc. etc. While I struggled with this one, 13ac raised a smile.
    1. It doesn’t help that CABRIOLE is a thing: it’s even a leap, though the ballet dancers who essay it might feel a bit miffed by the equine connection.
      1. This I didn’t realise (both horses and ballet dancers fall well outside my areas of specialism, so I might easily give offence to either at any moment). In the end, I decided I must be thinking of CABRIOLET and carried on looking.
  14. More or less on the wavelength but dithered between “handball” and “hardball” until the E went in. “Cabriole” was certainly very tempting but I just about remembered the right term from my “horsey” phase – when about 11 and knew all the obscure dressage vocab. Not that I could actually do it. 15.23
  15. 29.20, travailing with no more than a laggard coherence. Good advice in 17, one imagines Polonius offering it in a happier version of the play. Also rather liked the tall order.
  16. 18:48 .. we really need an acronym for something like “much the same experience as almost everyone else”. Last in by many lengths was …. well, you know what.

    Wordy but clever clues, and a big smile at the TALL ORDER, further enhanced by Z8’s Sisters of Improbable Altitude. Love it

    2. You may not be familiar with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (“Go and sin some more!”), drag queens in nun suits from San Francisco; they now have chapters in London and Manchester, among other places.
      1. They’ve popped up on television progs here a few times over the years and they did indeed spring to mind when seeing Z8’s line (and were likely in his mind, too)
    3. ‘When I left they were sleeping, their feet sticking out of their beds.
      Don’t turn on the lights, their haloes will light up their heads.
      And you won’t make me jealous if I hear that they sweetened your night,
      For if you are a beanpole maybe it could work out all right.’
      1. Well, he did have a thing for tall women — I assume that’s what So Long, Marianne is about
  17. Well, isn’t it the horse’s job? Mark Twain, as a young man out West, was tricked into getting on a bucking bronco, being assured it was gentle; as he describes it, the horse ‘put its feet in a bunch’.
    1. Well yes Kevin, the horse actually does the tricky stuff but the rider is supposed to tell it what and when which was the part I couldn’t master. At all.
  18. 31 minutes, so pretty good for me. Never heard of Cabriole, so I had Hobson’s Choice at 16d – which is always desirable – while I nearly biffed Handball, not least because Ulf, my tennis mate, played for Sweden. Or so he tells us…
  19. There’s me looking at maps of Poland looking for Potsdam, and there it is: Poznan. Better check those air tickets.

    PANTS as an anagrind: no thanks.

  20. 64m and I made heavy weather of some straightforward clues – NEIGH for example where I had the horsey reference easily enough but struggled to find the answer. Then I also struggled with the harder clues (for me anyway) such as PREPONDERANCE and the leaping horse. So a victory for the setter as I thought it was all fair enough and I was just dim. Thanks for the entertaining and elucidating blog, Z and also thank you, setter, for reminding me of my limitations!
  22. Struggled at the end to get HANDBELL and CAPRIOLE, plumped for cabriole as a jump. 30 minutes.
    Excellent themed puzzle today by Paul in the Grauniad.
  23. I thought of Edward V before Edw VIII (although as a Richard III suporter, I’m not sure I believe that he was properly King), and I didn’t remember Capriole in time. I thought there were a lot of nicely chosen words making up the wordplay today – organ, ponder, table, tun. And a nice level of difficulty for a slow Thursday morning. Thx, Z
  25. I did this puzzle this morning before dashing off to meet a friend for an afternoon of knocking balls around the green baize, and have only just got round to reading the blog and commenting. I didn’t have too many problems with the puzzle apart from the NE, which held me up interminably. CAP for better came to mind quickly, and as I already had ___R_O_E, 1 in a part/role was an obvious choice. Having heard of CABRIOLE but not CAPRIOLE, I still had to choose between the wordplay and the unknown, but chose wisely. I think I spent around 30 minutes on most of the puzzle, but 6d, 8d, 10a and 19a accounted for another 10 minutes or so and I submitted at 40:54. POTSDAM was my FOI no doubt helped by yesterday’s QC, and TRAVAILED was my LOI. I dabbled with REGENT and EXCORIATE 21d/26a, but the parsing didn’t work and PREPONDERANCE and TASERED set me right. Liked BEDSIDE MANNER, CHESTNUT and AT WILL. Nice puzzle, and usual excellent blog from Z. Thanks setter and Z.
  26. Three hours, thirty-seven minutes and eight seconds. But something like three hours of that were due to my leaving the timer running while I did something else less enjoyable. Actual solving time, therefore, was probably a coliform’s pilus over the half hour.

    I wasted some time having “regio” at 10ac, for reasons that were excellent at the time. I also had “organdy” at 7d for quite a while. What held me up for longest, though, was the horse jump, my LOI.

  27. I really enjoyed this, though it took an hour. There was nothing outstandingly difficult, but like keriothe, I had to biff almost everything and then see whether the wordplay made sense (and it usually drew many chuckles). BEDSIDE MANNER is a lovely expression, reminding one, as it does, of the bygone age (my childhood 70 years ago) when doctors actually did come to your bedside.
  28. Yes, enjoyed this one for just under 20 mins. Thought long and hard about AS WELL until I bothered to try and parse it and was a fan of CABRIOLE for a while. Nice puzzle..

    PS, where can I find the esteemed blogger’s analysis of the Christmas Turkey?

    Edited at 2018-01-18 08:55 pm (UTC)

  29. I felt a bit slow on the uptake today, just a bit tired I think and needed 25 mins on the morning commute and 30 mins at lunchtime to fill the grid. None of the acrosses went in on a first read so my FOI was 4dn. LOI 19ac. I liked the chestnut, the bedside manner and the tall sisters.
  30. 19:13. Somehow I remembered CAPRIOLE, perhaps from the Peter Warlock Suite, so I didn’t slip up there. Nice to see another element in the same spot as NIOBIUM yesterday. Are we in store for a trawl of the periodic table, I wonder? Lots to enjoy about the puzzle and blog – 13a made me smile too as a little offering to the faithful, but 19a my favourite for the ‘traditional hot spot’. Thanks setter and Z, both.

    Edited at 2018-01-18 10:04 pm (UTC)

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