Times Saturday 26664 – March 4, 2017. Clueless in Crosswordland.

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Well, that was a nightmare! The “obvious” answer to the early version of 18dn (missing the text of the actual clue, which appeared some hours later) was wrong, leaving me totally at sea in the SE corner. So it turned out that 18dn was both my FOI and my next to last. 22ac was way outside my comfort zone; I couldn’t get it from either the wordplay or the definition until I guessed a possible word and went to the internet. (For shame? Not me – I enjoy the clever wordplay, not the obscure references! Now Googled, immediately forgotten. Sorry, Setter.)

The rest was a fair fight except for 12ac, which was always going to be my LOI if and when I worked out what’s going on! I see from the club comments that others had the same problem, but as so often, it’s easy in hindsight! Compliments to the setter.

So my time is unmeasurable (and technically a DNF), but stretched over many hours. Looking at the leaderboard, I see that at the time of writing, the 100th best time was over 30 minutes compared with the usual 15 minutes or so – so it does look like it was harder than usual.

Clues are reproduced in blue, with the definition underlined. Anagram indicators are bolded and italicised. Then there’s the answer IN BOLD, followed by [the parsing of the wordplay]. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’, {deletions are in curly brackets}.

Across

1. Unwilling to move fortune into busted flush (8)
SLOTHFUL: put LOT [fortune] inside (FLUSH*).

9. Rising ground enclosed in English pit (8)
EMINENCE: put ENC [enclosed] inside E MINE [English pit].

10. Craft reversing into view without turning (8)
STRAIGHT: put TRA [art=craft, reversed], inside SIGHT [view].

11. Say equine group with no leader goes over Lipizzaner’s performance? (8)
DRESSAGE: EG [say] ASS [equine] ERD [herd with no leader], all reversed.

Wikipedia: The Lipizzaner is a breed of horse closely associated with the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Austria, where they demonstrate the haute école or “high school” movements of classical dressage.

12. After triumph in vote, a means to escape (4,2,4)
HAVE IT AWAY: HAVE IT [triumph in vote, as in ”the Ayes have it”] A WAY [a means].

Chambers gives “escape” as its first definition of “have it away”. I only knew the other, earthier, meaning!

I convinced myself the answer should be MAKE IT AWAY, meaning “escape” as in “make it away on holiday”, and thinking without much conviction that “triumph in vote” could be “make it” (into Parliament, for example). I hovered over this one for an eternity, but the penny never dropped as to how “have it” stretches to “triumph in vote”?

14. The writer’s accepted by Pound as a member (4)
LIMB: put I’M [the writer’s] inside LB [pound].

15. Ultimately, hatred favours hostility (7)
DISLIKE: D [ultimately, hatred] IS LIKE [favours, as in “he is like his dad”].

17. Fuel being short hampers officer commanding bishop’s area (7)
DIOCESE: put OC [officer commanding] inside DIESE{l} [fuel, being short]. What’s the difference between CO and OC? Anyone?

21. Possible report of banger with cured meat (4)
WHAM: W{ith} HAM. Cured meat is a bit of a give-away.

22. Sumerian city recitation, recalled in over half of Bible, one addressed as a blessing (4,2,4)
URBI ET ORBI: UR {Sumerian city] followed by ETOR [rote=recitation, recalled] inside BIB [in over half of Bible], followed in turn by I [one]. A major parsing challenge, particularly the need to see that “in over” the “in” and the “over” serve two separate parsing roles. All leading to an answer unknown to those like me who don’t follow His Holiness’s Christmas and Easter addresses. Apparently translates as “to Rome (urbi) and the world (orbi)”.

23. Heart surgeon tours unknown beastly place (8)
BARNYARD: Y [unknown] inside BARNARD [Christiaan Barnard, who pioneered heart transplant surgery in 1967]. Hands up those who knew whether the double-A was in his given name or family name!

25. Limited changes involving Liberal — not right now? (3-5)
ILL-TIMED: L{iberal} inside (LIMITED*).

26. An accountant trained to overturn world of study (8)
ACADEMIA: A CA [a (chartered) accountant] followed by overturning of AIMED [trained].

27. Playwright’s wife leaving area admits clubs hold opening (8)
HATCHWAY: HATHAWAY [Mrs. Will], minus an A [area], plus a C [clubs].
Down
2. Note informant among 52 scholarly people (8)
LITERATI: put TE [note] and RAT [the ubiquitous informant] inside LII [52, in Roman numerals].

3. Backed-up transport to make sound of airways (8)
TRACHEAL: CART backwards [transport] followed by HEAL [make sound].

4. Square vaguely remembered losing a grand (4)
FOGY: FOG{g}Y [vaguely remembered].

5. Failed to take away the air of disappointment (3-4)
LET-DOWN: triple definition, I think. One of them without the hyphen

6. Barnsley’s wingers splitting team twice in a row (4,2,4)
SIDE BY SIDE: BY [Barnsley’s wingers] between two teams.

7. Where to arrange flowers around climber almost like Japanese knotweed? (8)
INVASIVE: put IV{y} [climber, almost] inside IN VASE [where to arrange flowers]. The invasive tendencies of Japanese knotweed are not a topic of conversation in my part of the world, but then of course in Australia we have rabbits, cats, prickly pear and cane toads!

8. Mimic runs performing group with no name (8)
RESEMBLE: R [runs] followed by E{n}SEMBLE [“nameless” performing group].

13. Prepare to do battle with a rump steak somehow (4,2,4)
TAKE UP ARMS: (A RUMP STEAK*).

15. Swallow to flap without gusto? (8)
DOWNBEAT: DOWN [swallow] flap [beat].

16. Flight of fancy was arty ingénue’s debut (8)
STAIRWAY: (WAS ARTY I{ngenue}*).

18. Blue note in middle of Alcina? Don’t talk like a fool (8)
CLOWNISH: LOW [blue] N [note] in CI [middle of “{al}CI{na}], followed by SH [don’t talk].

When the online crossword went up, this clue read “18. (8)” so I immediately wrote in CLUELESS, which left me clueless about the rest of the SE corner for a considerable time, until of all things “URBI ET ORBI” made me reconsider, and I came up with CLODDISH for “reasons” that don’t bear recording. When the actual clue eventually appeared, things finally fell into place.

19. Writ in inferior American-Gothic style? Not for Scots (8)
SUBPOENA: SUB [inferior] POE [American-Gothic style] NA [“not” for Scots, as in “I dinna do it”].

20. There’s nothing that’s disgusting about mounting support for shortest book (7)
OBADIAH: O [nothing] BAH [that’s disgusting] absorbing DIA [aid=support, “mounting”]. Shortest book in the Hebrew Bible, with only 21 verses.

24. Belly accommodating large surfeit (4)
GLUT: L in GUT.

25 comments on “Times Saturday 26664 – March 4, 2017. Clueless in Crosswordland.”

  1. Spent the morning near Fremantle over coffee with Galspray and the visiting Grestyman. Of course, I fell into the CLUELESS trap until Galspray was able check the updated clue. And I’m glad those two were around to work out most of the parsings. As with comments so far, the blessing at 22ac was last in and came with a struggle. Thanks guys!
    1. Was a good morning wasn’t it? Glad we had such a meaty puzzle (and the red herring at 18dn) to stretch out the fun.

      Don’t think Gresty has stuck his head up since, might still be jet-lagged.

      I myself have come late to this party due to a three-day binge in Steak ‘n’ Kidney, but delighted by what my fellow Sandgropers achieved in my absence.

  2. Two wrong, something I haven’t done on Saturday in I don’t know how long a time. I was so fed up I didn’t keep my copy, but I evidently put in ‘Barnaard’ (stupidly ignoring the ‘unknown’ and the definition; what was I thinking?), and something other than HAVE (take?) IT AWAY; the phrase is new to me. URBI ET ORBI, which I knew, came to me from the Sumerian city, and the E_ telling me the answer wasn’t English; I did have some worries whether it wasn’t urbE and orbE, but. Today’s was a blessed relief.
  3. 2 wrong – the bible (assuming Obadiah is a biblical book?) is a closed book to me, I spell BEH beh, so Obediah it was. And no idea about have it away – never knew it could mean escape. Guessed take it away – it’s a phrase, albeit wrong definition, and take it for win makes sense.
    Managed to construct urbi et orbi, which my cod-Latin translates as town and ball. Not so keen on that clue, but most of it was very enjoyable – well-constructed and tricky.
    1. Oh, and forgot to say – prickly pear is defeated! The cactoblastis moth, the cane toad of our day, has destroyed it. With no ill effects to the ecology… yet.
      Rob
  4. When 17ac DIOCESE went in I was pretty assured that 18dn was CLUELESS but it was not to be and I went to The Times site to find out it was to be CLOWNISH! Indeed CLOWNISH! Do people not check for this? Or were they CLUELESS? Naughty chair!

    9ac EMINENCE was so darned obvious but was eventually my LOI!

    This was tough DNK (CLUELESS) URB ET ORBI – being raised a Methodist.

    FOI 6dn SIDE BY SIDE

    4dn FOGY is not my preference – FOGEY every time old or young.

    COD 18dn (original) CLUELESS WOD CLUELESS

  5. Hard work indeed, but I got there in the end apart from the Latin phrase, which like our noble blogger I felt no shame in looking up as I was mentally exhausted by the time it became my only missing answer.

    Re the missing clue, solvers who are used to accessing the puzzle via the old Crossword Club platform might like to be aware that the newspaper puzzle section (where the Quickie is to be found) is completely separate from the Club so if there’s ever a query over a clue it’s worth looking in the other place to see if it’s the same there (and vice versa, of course). On this occasion the link to play the puzzle on-line in the Club was broken for several hours too.

    A third option for those with the subscription to cover it, is the facsimile newspaper which is usually available from around dawn UK time, where you can see the puzzle as it appears in the printed edition.

    Edited at 2017-03-11 06:10 am (UTC)

  6. An enjoyable puzzle. Thank you brnchb and setter. 35 minutes is scrawled across the torn-out page. LOI EMINENCE. Although I’d seen the answer much earlier, I took the duration to see ENC for enclosed in the parsing. A middle-of-the-road Anglican like me has no problem with URBI ET ORBI or OBADIAH, which admiittedly does sound a bit like a Beatles song. After poor old Benedict and now Francis copping it with the Cardinals, maybe his message should just be to their College this Easter. COD HAVE IT AWAY, although perhaps I would see the clued meaning as secondary.
  7. By the sounds of it I was very lucky to have the clue for 18d available when I printed my copy.

    This must have been a slow start for me, as my FOI was 26a. It was certainly a slow finish after that, too, taking me 75 minutes. Mind you, that’s a lot better than I’m doing with this week’s so far…

    Everything was just about parsed apart from the unknown URBI ET ORBI and my LOI HAVE IT AWAY, which I changed from “take” or “make” at the very last minute after much indecision, playing a hunch rather than knowing what was going on. I only worked out why that one was right after a helpful hint on the club site post-solve.

    It was nice to come here and find out exactly who Barnard was, and learn that Lipizzaner is a horse rather than a particular rider! Glad the setter hinted in an equine directly with the rest of the clue, which I thought was nicely done. Learned something about the bible with OBADIAH, too; glad the Biblical name was familiar from the Sharpe books/telly series, where Obadiah Hakeswill is a nasty piece of work.

    1. What is it about Obadiahs, I wonder? Obadiah Slope was also a nasty piece of work, in Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire. When adapted for TV in 1982 he was played by Alan Rickman in an early villainous role.
        2. Nobody could match him in mixing unctuous cunning with menace and threat. I’d better not seek out that Guardian puzzle of your other post if I want to stay married. I took an age on this morning’s puzzle.
  8. 18:01. I liked this: fortunately 18dn was there by the time I got to it so I avoided that problem. I didn’t know URBI ET ORBI, but constructed it from the wordplay, which I thought was very clear. It’s not an easy clue but that’s not the same thing as unfair.
    HAVE IT AWAY was my last in, and I had to trust the wordplay because I have never come across this meaning of the phrase before. I considered MAKE IT and TAKE IT for a few minutes before the parliamentary meaning of HAVE IT occurred to me.
    Fortunately I remembered the meaning of ‘favours’ in 15ac from a past crossword: I’ve never encountered it in the real world.
    The churchy feel of this suggests Don Manley, which makes it fairly certain it was set by someone else.

    Edited at 2017-03-11 10:23 am (UTC)

  9. I’ve only ever heard of one meaning for this and it’s not the one the setter was using so, like others, I dithered mightily over it. I came to the puzzle after the clue error was corrected so nothing else held me up. 19.01. P.S. Today’s Guardian (prize cryptic) is by Enigmatist, aka John Henderson. He was the setter for the special bespoke puzzle for the 10th anniversary celebrations for TFTT in December 2015. It was truly fiendish.
    1. Just having a go at the Enigmatist one; thanks for the recommendation. (PS: am I barking up the wrong tree, or is there a mistake in the answer for 11a?)
      1. You’re quite right about 11a – the 6 letter word should end with an S not an ED!
        1. Thank you! The puzzle as a whole defeated me in the end—the GK was a stretch too far in a couple of places—but I enjoyed many of the answers that I got.
  10. Tough but I liked it. Except for the bit where the obvious LAMB (writer, A M for member) wasn’t right, causing a crossing problem. thanks for the blog.
  11. Good stuff, despite the missing clue, which meant I had to come back for that one.

    COD to BARNYARD, if for no other reason than that it reminds me of the excellent ABC series, Rake.

    Edited at 2017-03-11 02:11 pm (UTC)

  12. I struggled with this one, taking 67:15 and getting one wrong. I had TAKE IT AWAY:-( The given answer has a totally different meaning in my experience! A tricky puzzle I thought, with some tough clueing. Was glad of the wordplay for the not unfamiliar URBI ET ORBI. Took me ages to think of the heart transplant pioneer, but I got there eventually. Thanks setter and Bruce.

    Edited at 2017-03-11 02:36 pm (UTC)

  13. Defeated by this. Like others I had either Take it Away or Have … for 12a; I was favouring Have but could not parse either. My 15d was Downplay and so 23a was impossible. I failed to get 18d 20d 25a and 27a. I did manage to work out Urbi et Orbi and knew the phrase. I always solve from the paper so did not have that 18d problem.
    I thought the setter was in a Joey Barton mood. David
  14. Thanks for HAVE IT AWAY, brnchn. Like others, I was only familiar with the earthy version, nudge, nudge, wink, wink. I recently watched the the 3hr entirety of the Commons debate on the decision to invite Trump for a state visit, a debate triggered by a petition signed by 1,850,000 people, including me. It ended with the chairman saying forcefully, “The Noes have it, order order!”, so I should have remembered where “triumph in vote” came from.
    no problem with “urbi et orbi” thanks to sixty years before the Catholic mast!

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