Times Saturday 26772 – July 8, 2017. One for our North American friends.

Author   branchPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
I think this will be another easy or medium puzzle by Saturday standards, at least for the expert solvers. A nice mix – some history, some geography, some languages.

The SE corner took me longest – both 25ac and 21dn were hard to see until I finally cracked 27ac. My choice for the clue of the day has to be 21dn, with honourable mention to 27ac. Thanks to the setter.

Without more ado, on to the blog. Clues are reproduced in blue, with the definition underlined. Anagram indicators are bolded and italicised. Then there’s the answer IN BOLD CAPS, followed by the parsing of the wordplay. (ABC)* means ‘anagram of ABC’, {deletions are in curly brackets}.

Across
1. Anticipates spoken request for several cinema seats? (10)
FORESTALLS: sounds like “four” stalls.
6. Beginning of month: everyone is on parade (4)
MALL: M{onth} ALL.
9. Most prominent supporter of trades union backed uprising (10)
REVOLUTION: NO. 1 TU LOVER, all “backed”.
10. Blue jays regularly spotted in meadows (4)
LEAS: alternate letters of “blue jays”. The first American (on edit: North American!) clue, featuring the Toronto baseball team.
12. Read documents about overthrow of a ruler, north European (12)
SCANDINAVIAN: fiddly parsing … SCAN=read, DI=reversal (“about”) of ID=documents, NAVIA=another reversal (“overthrow”) of A IVAN=a ruler, N=north.
15. What woman’s not keen to admit, maybe, crossing front of medieval Italian museum (9)
HERMITAGE: HER AGE is secret, crossing M{edieval} IT{alian}. The museum is in St. Petersburg.
17. Fellow journalists from left and right penning leader for Independent (5)
EDDIE: ED +DE=ED backwards, containing “I” for i{ndependant} .
18. Incompletely translating ancient language (5)
LATIN: hidden.
19. Finished exam with little energy for play (9)
PASTORALE: PAST + ORAL + E=energy.
20. No longer fit, old man gains weight, say (4,4,4)
PAST ONE’S PEAK: PA + STONE + SPEAK.
24. The god of silence? (4)
ODIN: no din, please, I’m doing the crossword.
25. A shade less healthy after swallowing a tablet? (10)
PAINKILLER: PINK + ILLER, swallowing an “A”.
26. Confused, disheartened old fusspot (4)
FOGY: FOG{g}Y. I would have spelt this with an E but Chambers gives FOGY as the first option.
27. Dutch settler‘s feat, going round Saint Laurent area? (10)
STUYVESANT: STUNT=feat, around YVES (Saint Laurent) + A=area. After contemplating places the Dutch settled, like Java and Goa, I eventually remembered New York. Odd that it took so long, when one of my early thoughts was that Saint Laurent might have something to do with Canada. A fashionista I am not!

Wikipedia: Peter Stuyvesant served as the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664. The second American clue.

Down
1. Cross over road pursuing female (4)
FORD: F +O=over + RD.
2. Welcome associated with Republican party (4)
RAVE: R=Republican, AVE=greeting in 18ac. The third American clue, featuring the political party of that well-known president.
3. Christmas offering? NB: cool tie folded in it (9,3)
SELECTION BOX: (NB COOL TIE*) inside SEX=”it” to crossword setters. I got this one from the anagram, and then had to think for a while to place the meaning of the expression.
4. A largely penniless place of learning in the Midlands (5)
ASTON: A + STON{y}.
5. Ladies perhaps one over the eight on sailing vessel? That’s crazy (9)
LOONINESS: LOO + NINE + SS.
7. Brave unspecified number in a line (10)
AMERINDIAN: N inside A MERIDIAN. The fourth American clue.
8. Galleons at sea finally move towards city on the Pacific (3,7)
LOS ANGELES: (GALLEONS*) + last letters of “move towards”. And the fifth.
11. Give lift to fool (4,3,1,4)
TAKE FOR A RIDE: double definition.
13. Female will start to probe vault that’s safe during raid? (10)
SHELLPROOF: SHE’LL P{robe} ROOF.
14. Demonstrating in favour of SATs? (10)
PROTESTING: or PRO TESTING.
16. A course requiring skill with computer program? (5,4)
APPLE TART: APPLET=(small) program, ART=skill.
21. A bit like a Quaker? (5)
PENNY: a “bit” can be a coin, such as a penny, although in the expression “shave and a haircut, two bits” it apparently means specifically an eighth of a dollar. The other end of the clue is more punny than penny, but made me smile. Wikipedia again: William Penn was […] an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania. The sixth American clue.
22. Tiny creature chewed leaf (4)
FLEA: (LEAF*).
23. Guzzler emptied wine bottle (4)
GRIT: G{uzzle}R + IT=vermouth.
 

16 comments on “Times Saturday 26772 – July 8, 2017. One for our North American friends.”

  1. Around 50 minutes, held up for ages by AMERINDIAN and to a lesser extent by PASTORALE which I knew as music and possibly poetry but not as a play.

    PETER STUYVESANT I knew origially as a brand of cigarette widely advertised on TV when we first acquired ITV back in the 1960s and later, by chance, learned a little about who he was.

    Edited at 2017-07-15 04:40 am (UTC)

  2. Enjoyably straightforward with PENNY LOI. I think I knew Penn was a Quaker, or was it a vampire? I also knew PETER STUYVESANT more for his cigarettes. I was in the HERMITAGE only a few weeks ago so that was a write-in. Liked AMERINDIAN clue but number one trade union lover reversed pips it to COD. 38 minutes. Thank you B and setter
  3. 26mins 59secs for me, so I found this one of the gentler Saturday offerings but no less enjoyable for being so. FOI 6ac. LOI 7dn. I thought the no 1 TU lover at 9ac was a great spot. I was pleased to be able to get 27ac from wordplay, although I think I have vaguely heard of it. Also vaguely twigged the Quaker / Penn connection at 21dn. COD 5dn.
  4. 27ac was well-known to me – ‘his ‘ cigatettes were a god-awful smoke – so dry! My WOD

    COD and LOI 21dn PENNY which finally dropped!

    It took me an hour without any particular dash!

  5. 41:47 for me. I can’t remember where I started but I think PENNY was my LOI. Spent time on STUYVESANT confused by trying to shoehorn the St Lawrence Seaway in due to careless clue reading, then metaphorically slapped myself on the forehead. I also knew the name from the cigarette connection although I never tried that particular brand. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  6. I had a good tussle with this and finished by writing in a couple which were unknown or unparsed: Amerindian and Grit.
    As ever many thanks for the very clear blog which has explained a number of things for me.
    This was tough but enjoyably engaging. Struggled with Eddie and had Past Ones Best at 20a for a while.
    Pastorale guessable but unknown as a play.
    COD to 1a for making me smile. David
  7. 12:18. Nice puzzle this. I won’t tell my wife about your description of the Blue Jays as ‘American’, brnchn. 😉
    1. I did say “North American” in the headline! I think I’m safe.

      Edited at 2017-07-15 07:50 pm (UTC)

      1. ‘American’ and ‘North American’ mean very different things to a Canadian!
        ‘Canadian’ is to ‘North American’ and ‘American’ as ‘Finnish’ is to ‘Nordic’ and 12ac.

        Edited at 2017-07-15 10:34 pm (UTC)

        1. I understand that Canadiennes might feel about the U.S. much as Kiwis feel about Australia, or as you suggest Finns feel about Sweden. I don’t feel that should require them to cede naming rights to two continents for the sole use of one constituent country, but if it’s so, it’s so! Blog amended accordingly!
          2. There isn’t necessarily animus involved (or not much), but ‘America’ is commonly understood to mean the US (God Bless America, American Woman, All American…), whereas ‘North America’ isn’t. Similarly Finns don’t necessarily dislike Swedes but Finland is often assumed to be part of SCANDINAVIA when it isn’t.
  8. Sadly, while STUYVESANT sprang to mind at some point, I didn’t remember how to spell it, and managed to eliminate it from my enquiries as I thought it would make 21d end with a V, which seemed unlikely. It didn’t help that, like others, I only knew the name from the cigarette brand, and that from adverts in magazines in my dim and distant childhood.

    I got everything but those two, so close, but no cigarette, I guess.

  9. A tame one,this but fun.Remember STUYVESANT from its ads in Time and Newsweek in the 70’s.
    Ong’ara,
    Nairobi.(COD ODIN)

Comments are closed.