Times Cryptic No 26970 – Saturday, 24 February 2018. Up the river without a paddle?

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In the middle of another hectic weekend this took me 35-40 minutes, so fairly easy, I think. Interestingly, as I now start the blog, I can identify all but two of the definitions at a glance and remember the answers. More evidence of a relatively easy puzzle? (Since you ask, the two that needed a second look were 10ac and 19dn.)

The most obscure clue for me involved obscure mediaeval practices to do with birds and rivers. To be fair, I’m sure I’ve seen it before in previous puzzles, and I made it hard by miscounting the number of letters in the word to be anagrammed, which left me looking for the wrong number of extra letters!

My clue of the day was 12ac, which nicely disguised the need to separate the opening phrase. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle.

Clues are in blue, with definitions underlined. Anagram indicators are in bold italics. Answers are in BOLD CAPS, followed by the wordplay. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’, deletions are in {curly brackets}.

Across
1 Bird seen on mounds regularly is a foreshore frequenter (7)
MUDLARK: LARK is the bird, odd letters of MOUND in front. I’ve always pictured foreshores as sandy, not muddy, but perhaps it depends where you live? A “mudlark” is probably more commonly a person scavenging in the muddy riverbank than a bird.
5 Expertise with frying pan, though dropping the last two (5)
SKILL: drop ET from SKILLET.
9 Himalayan creature literally covering two fifths of Nepal? (5)
PANDA: two of the five letters of NEPAL are “P” AND “A”.
10 Just one garment being worn (9)
SINGLETON: the garment one has ON being a SINGLET.
11 Dream I must be held in respect (7)
REVERIE: I in REVERE.
12 Browning university substituted for two pieces of interminable Swinburne (7)
SUNBURN: drop the E off SWINBURN(e), and change WI to U for University. In Australia, “sunburn” is red, “suntan” is brown.
13 Queen of Lebanon in the wars backing the old knight (4,6)
ANNE BOLEYN: (LEBANON*), then YE backwards, then N for knight in chess notation.
15 Nice wine encapsulates European mood (4)
VEIN: VIN is wine in French, including in Nice, holding E for European.
18 Expect he’s keeping in work (4)
HOPE: OP in HE.
20 Bird ringing expedition finished amid flapping wingspan (4-6)
SWAN-UPPING: (WINGSPAN*) around UP meaning finished. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Upping
23 Giant penny-farthing with no rear wheel? “Penny Singular” (7)
CYCLOPS: a CYCL(e), then O as a wheel, P for penny, and S for singular.
24 Farmland animals eating five tons in gathered crops (7)
HARVEST: HARES on the farmland “eating” V=five, then T for ton.
25 Old money gets the reverse of low cabin — the best on board (9)
STATEROOM: a STATER is a greek coin, then MOO backwards.
26 State of Florida holidays? (5)
IDAHO: “of” is certainly a minimalist indicator for a hidden answer!
27 Product that’s widely drunk without whisky (5)
YIELD: (-IDELY*), having dropped W for whisky.
28 Child’s brought in near the end of today (7)
TONIGHT: TOT=child, bringing in NIGH=near.

Down
1 Millions favoured tsar as a mover of people (7)
MINIVAN: M for millions, IN for favoured, IVAN was a Tsar.
2 Assist rising clan in forceful attack (8)
DIATRIBE: AID “rising”, then TRIBE.
3 Supermarket division is cutting beer (5)
AISLE: IS inside ALE.
4 Author (not English) has new name for English town (5,4)
KINGS LYNN: KINGSL(e)Y is the author, then N for new, plus N for name.
5 Listen out for mum (6)
SILENT: (LISTEN*).
6 To butt in, changing spades to no trumps, is impolite (7)
INTRUDE: to me the word order of this clue is a bit awkward, but the idea is to start with “IS RUDE”, and change S for spades into NT for notrumps, producing “butt in”.
7 Noted traveller in train to Petrograd, returning 9.50? (5)
LENIN: turn 9.50 into “NINE” L=Roman for fifty. I don’t particularly recognise the historical reference, but perhaps it’s this movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenin…The_Train ?
8 Near a very quiet fish (8)
APPROACH: A, PP for very quiet, ROACH is the fish.
14 Frequently after deepest North Sea port (9)
LOWESTOFT: OFT after LOWEST. I couldn’t have pointed at Lowestoft on a map – apologies to all readers who live there!
16 Denial — for example in what might be Scotland? (8)
NEGATION: EG in NATION.
17 Just like rugby players, say, to belt out full of alcohol (8)
SPORTING: PORT in SING.
19 Present suits are becoming dated (7)
PACKAGE: four suits make a PACK of cards, to AGE is to become dated. PRESENT seems more specific than package, so perhaps the clue deserves a “perhaps” or “say” to show this is a definition by example.
21 Tax cine reels? Not right (7)
INEXACT: (TAX CINE*).
22 Smoked reefer to take dope with daughter (3-3)
DOG-END: DO=take, GEN=dope (info), D=daughter.
23 Copper retiring is comfortably off (5)
CUSHY: CU=copper, SHY=retiring.
24 Buzz coming with a northern person (5)
HUMAN: HUM=buzz, A, N=northern.

30 comments on “Times Cryptic No 26970 – Saturday, 24 February 2018. Up the river without a paddle?”

  1. Nothing to do with the movie, other than the movie deals with the incident: Lenin was sent back from his exile in Switzerland in a sealed train in 1917, the Germans thinking that he would help undermine Russia’s war effort.
    1. Curiously, there is a (very fringe) piece called Lenin, the Rock Opera, which, if had emerged a little more from obscurity might explain the “noted” bit of the clue. No doubt there are other musical treatments but someone with broader musical knowledge is needed to identify them. Lenin on the Train: Steve Reich perhaps?
      1. On the other hand, can you think of any other passenger to Petrograd? Lenin was a person of note. Sometimes a cigar …

        1. Well, me once, except by then it was St Petersburg again. But I concede more people will have heard of Lenin, if not of his train journey.

  2. Had to look up SWAN-UPPING, and when I did I realized that I’d seen it once before, here. COD to 25ac. So far as I know, the PANDA does not live in the Himalayas.
    1. I struggled with these two as well, with the Sherpa Panda thing annoying me until I looked it up: the OED has “panda” to mean either the giant or the unrelated red/lesser panda – Wikipedia calls it a living fossil, so it’s not currently related to anything at all. A quick calculation on google earth then showed its habitat to be roughly 20k of Nepal’s 50k sq mi, making the clue a nice &lit. Thanks Bruce and setter.
  3. 24 minutes without knowing exactly what the LENIN clue was about or noticing the PANDA error. Aware of mudlarks from the 1950 film THE MUDLARK starring Irene Dunne, Alec Guinness and Andrew Ray.

    Edited at 2018-03-03 08:37 am (UTC)

  4. Found this reasonably easy in 22 minutes. COD to CYCLOPS. In the grounds of Spondon Power Station, which I on occasion visited, a swan with an attraction to human beings took up residence, giving an auxiliary meaning to SWAN UPPING. On the cruises I’ve been on, all passenger rooms have been called STATEROOMs, an example of marketing changing the language. Thank you B and setter.
  5. Pretty standard stuff. Only STATER not parsed but easily guessed. Wondered if KINGS LYNN and LOWESTOFT were part of some nina but couldn’t see anything.
    Awaiting delivery of my paper. The papergirl apparently is not braving the hazardous road conditions, deep snow drifts and blizzards. The youth of today, eh?
  6. My notes say “about 40m”; I seem to remember I was in something of a 11a REVERIE and forgot to start my timer. Still managed to get through this one in 40m.

    FOI 1a MUDLARK, LOI 20a SWAN UPPING having finally remembered it from reading the Wikipedia article after the last time it came up.

    Thanks for the explanations, Bruce et al; the PANDA and the LENIN reference were definitely a stretch too far for me! Thanks to the setter for firm-but-fair setting.

    Edited at 2018-03-03 09:21 am (UTC)

  7. Great blog and fun puzzle. But I do agree about 12ac— sunburn is definitely red, not brown, in the UK too!
  8. A perfectly average 17.52 for me, wondering about the Himalayan PANDA, of course, ably demystified by Rolytoly. My last was SUNBURN, a brilliant deception with the two poets and (in Browning) the hint of a real university, plus the cleverness of the substitution device.
    ANNE BOLEYN the other stand out clue. Queen of Lebanon, indeed!
  9. 31:49 which is quite quick for me but it actually felt like it should have been quicker. There wasn’t too much here that didn’t crack under a modest amount of concentration. Though I probably spent too long on 22dn and 25ac where I was reluctant to bung in the obvious not knowing the old coin. I particularly liked 13ac and 5dn.
    1. DNF in 30 mins. I couldn’t see Cyclops – even with one eye closed. I also failed to get Package and Dog-end, for which I had Fag-End.
        1. So close but I’m afraid the answer on the card is “Upham”. You don’t win the speedboat but you do get to keep your bus fare home. Thank you so much for playing.
  10. 9:56. No problems with this one. It helped that Lenin and his train journey feature in Travesties, which we saw recently.
  11. Oh so that’s it – I had no idea what was going on. Thanks for the parse Bruce. Also had no idea why Lenin was on the 9.50 from Paddington (or wherever). 19.18

    P.S. I hope everyone your end is doing ok with the snow/ice and is keeping warm, dry and well-fed (and well-supplied with drinkables, most important). We’re in NYC for the moment so we’re snug but Rhinebeck got clobbered by our big snow yesterday and the power is out for the entire area so I’m simpatico.

  12. 15:06, so it must have been quite easy. Only unknown was the reference to Lenin taking a train to Petrograd. But I’ve looked it up now… in a sealed train.
  13. Somehow the LENIN reference was near the front of my memory banks and surfaced immediately. I liked the ANN BOLEYN/ Queen of Lebanon clue. I’d heard of Swan Upping although I couldn’t have told you what it actually was. I mentally ignored the Panda/Himalaya conundrum, but nice to see the mystery explained. Thanks Roly. I enjoyed this puzzle which kept the brain cells ticking over for 29:20. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  14. Opposite side of the County to me, so I wasn’t offended. It is the most easterly settlement in the UK, so that should help you pinpoint it on the map.
    1. I was delighted to see it, but a little disappointed with the clue.

      Bill
      Lowestoft.

  15. Thanks for the blog. I found this to be on the difficult side of average and finished in 55:40 with quite a few not fully parsed.

    As far as I know, mudlarks exist as birds only in Australasia – in this country it is (or was) most definitely someone who scavenges in the muddy banks of the Thames.

    1. PS in a tidal river, I believe it’s correct to call the banks foreshores.
  16. I, too, liked the swipe at Swinburne. Interminable indeed. Thank brunch, and thanks setter.
  17. One error,POT-END for DOG-END,otherwise not that difficult,this.COD 16d.
    Ong’ara,
    Nairobi.
  18. A bit late coming here as I was in Crewe yesterday.
    Last Saturday I solved most of this on the train on the way up to Preston to watch football.
    The puzzle was very enjoyable; the game was awful for Preston fans.
    My problems with this were Swan Upping (NHO) and Stateroom ( couldn’t parse) but nothing else seemed possible. 17d also took me ages.
    Thanks to setter and blogger. David

  19. about 40 mins. really enjoyable, some great clues of which the best for me was MOO. I believe that although acute sunburn is pink, one could talk about the sun-burned face of some beachcomber, and that would be brown. Thanks all!

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