Times Saturday 26778 – July 15, 2017. When the cat’s away, the mice will play.

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This was great fun, not least because I was watching replays of Wimbleton at the same time. There were several unknowns, but in each case the rest of the clue steered me straight eventually. Cats and mice featured, somethimes in unusual ways. My LOI was 13dn, which was also my choice for the clue of the day. Thanks to the setter.

Speaking of being away, McText will be filling in next week while I attend to other duties. Thanks to him too.

On to the blog. Players ready? Play! Clues in blue, definitions underlined, anagram indicators bolded and italicised. Answers in BOLD CAPS, followed by the wordplay. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’, deletions are in {curly brackets}.

Across
1. Fruit starter for some, followed by fish (8)
SHADDOCK: S{ome}, HADDOCK. Not a fruit I know.
5. Assembled, being given a word to join in plot (6)
BANDED: BED=plot, being given AND=a word to join. I put this one in with a little trepidation, but what else could it be?
9. Fellow back on the field maybe (4,4)
TEAM MATE: cryptic definition. Think football teams: backs and forwards. I often dislike CDs, but don’t mind this one.
10. Workers abandoning yard finally order a cab (6)
HANSOM: HAN{d}S=workers abandoning the “D”, OM=order.
12. High-class type taking time as essayist and as philosopher (12)
ARISTOTELIAN: had to read this carefully to get the spelling right, since it’s not a word that rolls off the keyboard. ARISTO=high class type.  T=time. ELIAN = “as essayist”, in this case “like (the essays of) ELIA”.
15. Dance as sailor reeling round after his drink? (5)
RUMBA: RUM=drink, then AB “reeling round”.
16. Party folk seen as ultra-Republicans changing sides originally (9)
REVELLERS: Never heard of the LEVELLERS, but just change “left” to “right” and let’s party! Apparently they were a political movement during the English Civil War that emphasised popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance.
18. Little girl’s fit of anger that may affect dog (9)
DISTEMPER: or Di’s temper.
19. Do well in good school (3,2)
GET ON: G{ood} ETON.
20. What’s evident in a thousand workers joining firm? They aren’t happy (12)
COMPLAINANTS: PLAIN in CO + M + ANTS.
24. Fancy spout, outside fountain’s ultimate feature (6)
ORNATE: SPOUT=orate, N=ultimate of “fountain”. Assemble.
25. Slowing down of religious service by one who’s eccentric and old (8)
RITENUTO: RITE + NUT + O{ld}, all adding up to yet another unfamiliar musical term, although I’m sure we’ve seen this one before, at least in the abbreviated form “RIT”.
26. Ignoring outsiders, abbess is terrible nun (6)
SISTER: hidden word (“omitting outsiders”).
27. African party in the political middle with leader lacking charm (8)
ENTRANCE: yet another appearance of the ANC, here inside {c}ENTRE. Surely the centre can be the middle of anything, not just politics, but I suppose it’s here for the surface read.

Down
1. Hindu widow has material in short supply (4)
SATI: SATI{n}. Another unknown, but running through possible fabrics eventually found it.
2. Hero with limited opening, king becoming cross (4)
AJAX: AJAR minus the R plus the X.
3. Kid gets shy about penalty for lateness (9)
DEMURRAGE: DEMURE=shy around RAG=kid.
4. Violently destructive lion, say, when initially held in line (12)
CATASTROPHIC: CAT=lion, say + AS=WHEN + TOPIC=line, around H{eld}.
6. Member of American tribe gets horse going quickly (5)
APACE: APAC{h}E. “Horse going” says to delete the H.
7. More than one nonconformist in Norfolk town is admitting depression (10)
DISSIDENTS: DISS=Norfolk town I know only from crosswords + IS, admitting DENT.
8. Running down in protest with any number, I celebrate (10)
DEMONISING: DEMO + N=any number + I + SING.
11. Consume less energy in adapted building, getting gas? (12)
CONVERSATION: {e}AT=“consume, less E=energy”, all inside CONVERSION=adapted buillding.
13. Pet goes round most of day trying to catch mice, say? (10)
PREDACIOUS: PRECIOUS=pet, around DA{y}. As mentioned, this was my LOI. With all the crossing letters to help, I could only think of PREDICTORS, until I went back to reconsider my initial thought that it looked like an “IOUS” ending. I was also dubious that mice qualify as predators, although I suppose they eat insects. On edit: Thanks to Kevin Gregg. The definition is “trying to catch mice, say” not just “mice, say”. Now I see it!
14. Man must see funny games in arcades? (10)
AMUSEMENTS: (MAN MUST SEE*).
17. Land you found north of a river in the distance (5-4)
LIGHT YEAR: LIGHT=land, YE=you, A + R.
21. Hot drink in dish with chipped edges (5)
LATTE: {p}LATTE{r}. I liked “chipped edges”!
22. Surprise performance (4)
TURN: double definition. The first seems a bit of a stretch, but might work as in “the plot had a turn”, perhaps. On edit: Thanks again to Kevin Gregg. “It gave me a turn” works better.
23. Trunk call from Spaniard, perhaps, in support of bishop (4)
BOLE: B=bishop + OLÉ.

 

21 comments on “Times Saturday 26778 – July 15, 2017. When the cat’s away, the mice will play.”

  3. Like Bruce, I didn’t know SHADDOCK, and put in BANDED faute de mieux; parsed it much later. I knew SATI (used to be spelled ‘suttee’), but didn’t realize it referred to the widow as well as the act of immolation. COD REVELLERS.
  4. Not this blogger’s WOD methink! My FOI.

    My WOD and LOI was RITENUTO (RIT large!)

    COD 22dn TURN!

    In all 52 minutes for what was a tricky blighter!

    1ac the SHADDOCK (Pomelo) is common enough in the far east and like grapefruit if you are on statins – avoid as they neutralise the medication!

    Edited at 2017-07-22 02:35 am (UTC)

    1. I don’t know about pomelos, but grapefruit juice doesn’t neutralise the statin, but the reverse–it blocks the effect of an enzyme that normally keeps too much of the drug from being absorbed. And a half a grapefruit a day won’t supply enough juice to have a deleterious effect.
  5. It’s a sunny day in St Annes. It’s Blackpool for us on this our final full day of holiday, off for a walk down the prom with Kiss Me Quick hats on, Mrs BW with a toffee apple (she’s into healthy eating) and me with candy floss, the stuff of dreams. Spent nearly an hour on this having first had my non-conformists as dissenters, trying to make my REVELLERS some sort of ravers (I’m pretty sure I’ve never been in either category) and attempting almost every possible spelling of ARISTOTELIAN to fit with these notions. Eventually having remembered Elia as Charles Lamb, I followed the instructions and it all fell into place. I once had a nice lunch at a pub in Diss, not a place to disrespect. DNK SHADDOCK and RITENUTO was also constructed from cryptic and crossers. I also know 1d as the act rather than the widow and as suttee, but nights spent in white SATIn never reaching the end gave me the alternative spelling. COD PREDACIOUS. Thank you B and setter.

    Edited at 2017-07-22 06:46 am (UTC)

  6. 24:19, with a long time at the end staring in increasing desperation at the gaps where the unknown SHADDOCK and DEMURRAGE would eventually go. I loved this: a stiff challenge with some new words that are fairly indicated, even if the clues are far from easy.
  7. 45 mins over Saturday brekker – croissant with lime marmalade. Why don’t they put more peel in lime marmalade? Like they do in Shaddock marmalade?
    Given the modern fad of ending every sentence as if it is a question? I might start writing that way too?
    Demurrage was a wild guess? Thanks tricky setter and brnchn.
    1. Why not make your own lime marmalade? With extra peel. Rose’s might be worried! Shaddock even Pomelo Marmalade has not yet made an appearance in my world and probably never will.
      Onion marmalade is the odd one out….any more rarities?

      Edited at 2017-07-22 08:56 am (UTC)

      1. I’ve made plum jam, but never marmalade. And by that I mean I have provided support and guidance to Mrs Myrt while she did the actual weighing, heating, stirring, and so forth. Delicious.
        I have considered melting some Roses lime marmalade, adding my own peel and repotting. Would that work? Maybe there is some lime-specific issue with peel content?
  8. Always enjoyable when you can confidently enter words that you’ve never heard of, as was the case with SHADDOCK, DEMURRAGE and RITENUTO. And I now realise I could never have parsed REVELLERS, but with “party folk” and R_V_L_E_S, there didn’t seem much need to.

    Thanks setter and brnchn.

  9. Some unknowns here, DEMURRAGE, PREDACIOUS, and forgottens, SATI and SHADDOCK, and 3 of these 4 being in the NW corner meant I had real problems finishing. The rest wasn’t too difficult iirc, apart from not knowing “levellers” to explain the parsing at 16ac. ‘Rallentando’ and ‘ritardando’ are another two musical terms for slowing down.

    Edited at 2017-07-22 08:19 am (UTC)

  10. I struggled with this one. My time shows as 1:23:09. I remember having to use aids to get SATI and DEMURRAGE, but wrestled the rest into submission, including the unknown fruit. I knew Ritardando and Sostenuto so worked out the RITENUTO eventually. A tricky offering. Thanks setter and Bruce.
    1. My eldest son did his M.Phil on the Navigation Acts and made his fond father read his thesis. Demurrage entered my vocabularly then, and not just as in ‘I wish I’d demurred when he suggested me reading it’. He won a prize for it though.
      1. My daughter gave me a copy of her thesis on arthritis in horses, but I didn’t get very far into it despite the best of intentions 🙂
  11. Too hard for me. I struggled on for about an hour before resorting to aids for 1ac, 3dn and 25ac which then opened up a few other answers for me. I would have persevered but I knew that I just wasn’t on the wavelength and wasn’t going to be able to see what was required. Well beaten by the setter. Didn’t help having a half-parsed Royalists / Loyalists instead of Revellers / Levellers at 16ac for ages.
  12. Very enjoyable. Too late for any meaningful comment. I spent about 5 minutes on PREDACIOUS which was my LOI. 33 minutes. Ann
  13. I had a long tussle with this and finally pencilled in some answers just to complete it. Last in as guesses were Sati and Shaddock. Banded went in because it seemed the least worst answer. I thought Ritenuto might be OK as it suited the parsing. I knew Demurrage from work days. COD to 6d.

    I see from the answers I managed to get it all correct.
    Not easy but enjoyed it; the only query being 5a. David

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