Times 27435 – Latin, Greek, Turkish, Zulu and the billabong song.

Author   pipkirbyPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Another fine Wednesday puzzle, not a ‘love-it-or-hate-it was last week’s, but very enjoyable. Quite a mix of easy clues, BIFFable clues and ones requiring a modicum of GK to satisfy the judges without guesswork. The only two to give me pause for thought were 17a – a firework I’d seen demonstrated but had heard called another name – and 5d which was buried in a far corner of the grey matter and hard to dredge up.

Across
1 Nearest one gets to star for each current male celebrity (10)
PERIHELION – PER = for each, I = one, HE = male, LION = celebrity. The star for example being the sun, and the perihelion being the point on Earth’s orbit when it is closest (as opposed to the aphelion). Fortunately I knew this as I’m quite into astronomy.
6 Group of fighters is clear when uncovered (4)
IMPI – I needed some checkers before getting this. An IMPI is a band of Zulu warriors and I’m sure I’ve seen them before in a puzzle. LIMPID = clear loses its outer letters.
9 Left a wife with set of clothes in case (7)
LAWSUIT – L, A, W(ife), SUIT = set of clothes. My FOI.
10 Carpet laid badly for follower of waltzing? (7)
MATILDA – MAT = carpet, (LAID)*. A swagman’s belongings slung on a stick were his “matilda” and “waltzing” meant walking through the bush. Now you’ve got the earworm all day.
12 A suggestion can get detailed (5)
TINGE – TIN = can, GE(T) = get detailed.
13 State game needs energy for one to learn (9)
TENNESSEE – E replaces I in TENNIS, then SEE = learn.
14 Choosing system to change local time in Orkney bay (11,4)
ALTERNATIVE VOTE – ALTER = change, NATIVE = local, VOE is a word for a bay in Orkney, e.g. Sullom Voe a well known oil port, insert T for time.
17 Firework pops with rather ashen swirling (8,7)
PHARAOHS SERPENT – A firework I’d never heard of with that name, and a rather nonsensical surface, but the anagram fodder and the checkers led me there. (POPS RATHER ASHEN)*. There’s a striking demo of it here, where someone sets fire to a pile of mercury thiocyanate on a plate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dhHpHOgrUI. I like the spooky music.
20 Reverting to older form of Greek without classical name for bird (9)
ATAVISTIC – ATTIC = form of Greek, goes around AVIS the Latin for bird. “Reverting to older” is a sort of truncated definition of atavistic, a clever clogs word I’ll try to use more often.
21 We must cross a street for litter (5)
WASTE – A ST(reet) inside WE.
23 Simple weapon like one a long time back (7)
ASSEGAI – AS = like, I AGES (one, a long time), reversed.
24 When a king could be under pressure to kill pheasants, perhaps (7)
ENDGAME – referring to chess; if you END GAME you could be killing pheasants.
25 Rifle fire (4)
SACK – Double definition.
26 Projected drama featured tortured POW in murder (6,4)
SHADOW PLAY – SLAY = murder; insert HAD (featured) and (POW)*. S (HAD) (OWP) LAY.

Down
1 Plan installing current circuit broken by minute indicator (5,4)
PILOT LAMP – PLOT with I inserted, then LAP with M inserted.
2 Member of rose family Rosa, but it’s become pale and sickly (5)
ROWAN – ROSA has her SA (it, sex appeal) replaced by WAN meaning pale and sickly.
3 Exploit holiday island in part of Hong Kong for criminal activity (13)
HOUSEBREAKING – HONG is the part you need. Into that insert USE (exploit), BREAK (holiday) and I (island).
4 A title abandoned outside of university in old Paris (7)
LUTETIA – (A TITLE)* with U inserted. I know LUTETIA is the Latin name for Paris because I know the element Lutetium was named after Paris, as one of its discoverers was a French chap, Georges Urbain. Lutetium is one of the so-called rare earth metals although it is actually more abundant than silver in the Earth’s crust.
5 Turkish chap covered in exotic oils (7)
OSMANLI – Another one got from wordplay. MAN goes inside (OILS)*. It means Turkish or Ottoman, named after Osman I who founded said Empire.
7 Mass troubles to Tyneside perhaps can be a burden (9)
MILLSTONE – M(ass), ILLS (troubles), TO NE (to Tyneside).
8 Vegan eats this up to make vegetarian angry (5)
IRATE – Irate reversed inserted into vegan gives you vegetarian, thus: VEG (ETARI) AN.
11 Operetta tune “Romeo, Romeo”, unknown text overleaf? (3,5,5)
THE MERRY WIDOW – You are allowed to BIFF this, and then see how it works; THE ME = tune, R, R, Y = Romeo, Romeo, unknown; then a WIDOW in typography is a lonely line of text which joins up with another paragraph on the next page, an undesirable piece of typesetting.
15 Of the sea, it’s mostly stupid putting a girl in (9)
THALASSIC – THIC(K) = it’s mostly stupid, insert A LASS. From the Greek word Θάλασσα meaning sea.
16 Really how it appears for idealist? (9)
EXTREMELY – I and T (it) appear as the first and last extremes of IdealisT.
18 Rather warm house, always dry one, shut up (7)
HOTTISH – HO = house, TT = dry, I, SH = shut up.
19 Come after County Council, note, prosecuted for housing (7)
SUCCEED – SUED = prosecuted, insert CC for county council and E a note.
20 Collect is a church form of worship (5)
AMASS – A, MASS. Can’t say much more about it.
22 Stop running market booth (5)
STALL – Double definition.

59 comments on “Times 27435 – Latin, Greek, Turkish, Zulu and the billabong song.”

  1. Agree with your assessment, Pip, that this was a bit of a mixture of easy-ish, BIFFable and some-thought-required clues. I was happy to finish in just under my average time.

    There seems to be a problem with the SNITCH today, so I will need to investigate. Apologies for the interruption to service.

    Thanks for the blog.

    1. My automated download-and-print job failed this morning (circa 4am) so I wonder if there was something broken on the Times site earlier?
    2. On the Snitch yesterday’s numbers of contributors fell from 55 to 50 at one point. Is Mr Snitch poorly?
  2. I didn’t notice that I’d typed ROWNN; it’s been a couple of weeks since I had a spate of typos, and I hope this isn’t the start of another. Anyway, DNK PHARAOHS SERPENT–and after watching the video I’d be happy still not to know it. DNK VOE, but assumed there was a Voe Bay in the Orkneys. Biffed 3d from H and G, couldn’t justify it so deleted it; and then finally figured it out. Definitely biffed 11d, and now I feel totally justified in so biffing; I looked at the clue for a while afterward, then decided what the hell. For what it’s worth, I parsed ATAVISTIC as ‘reverting to older form’, Greek=ATTIC; ‘reverting to older’ doesn’t make much sense to me.
  3. Worse than a technical DNF today as I actually revealed two or three answers on-line when I failed to find them using word-searches.

    Unknowns were PERIHELION, LUTETIA, THALASSIC and PHAROAH’S SERPENT which I came across long ago as a firework but then it was called ‘The Mine of Serpents’. VOE was new to me but I parsed the rest of that clue after biffing. One other problem was that I thought of GALLSTONE at 7dn and found it difficult to think past it.

  4. 17.36 for this linguistic smörgåsbord – at least Die Lustige Witwe was translated into English. A bit of a spelling test too: I usually stumble around Pharaoh, and get assegai in one of its alternative versions. TENNESSEE can be a stumble too.
    I had forgotten about the typographical widows and orphans, but that didn’t really matter as I already had THE MERRY and Wives of Windsor didn’t fit.
    I liked the trick for EXTREMELY, and Pip’s lively blog.

      1. Althea and Donna deserved great credit for deposing the interminable residence of Mull of Kintyre at the top of the charts. I remember their appearance on TotP looking slightly overwhelmed and, sadly, not in their pants and ‘alter backs but the chaste khaki suit (and ting)
    3. US kids learn two cadences –
      M I double S I double S I double P I, and
      T E double N E double S double E
      which, once learnt, make it easier to get all the double letter in the right places

      Edited at 2019-08-21 02:18 pm (UTC)

  5. 48 minutes. Today I actually wrote out all the possibilities for 4d to pick the likeliest, which was either a very lucky guess or a way of allowing me to access some knowledge buried in my unconscious, quite probably from the Asterix books…

    I thought it was going to be an easy one when I quickly shoved in both PERIHELION and PILOT LAMP to get me started, but the THALASSIC OSMANLI (who else shoved in OTTOMAN? It parses!) and the avis hiding in the ROWAN slowed me down.

    Also, I had an indoor fireworks kit when I were a lad, but although I enjoyed setting off the PHARAOH’S SERPENT I don’t think they were called that on the back of the box.

    Thanks to setter for the workout and Pip for the workings-out, especially of LOI 6a IMPI.

    Edited at 2019-08-21 06:27 am (UTC)

    2. Had the M and N in already, but wondered if OTMANTO or ATMANTA was a famous Turk. Though having just looked it up it’s ATTAR, not ATTA.
  6. 21:25 … chewy in a thoroughly enjoyable way. Thanks, setter.

    Some satisfying longer ones, but I especially enjoyed the neat TINGE — nice use of the tin/can device.

    A couple of years back, on a whim I bought some indoor fireworks for post-Christmas dinner entertainment at my parents’ family gathering. Everyone slightly skeptical until the fireworks started (as it were). Then everyone became eight years old again and loved them. Highly recommended, even ‘the worm one’ which I now know the correct name for.

    1. “But they can dazzle or delight, Or bring a tear, When the smoke gets in your eyes.”

      Edited at 2019-08-21 08:31 am (UTC)

  7. Thoroughly enjoyable crossword, lots of ticks & smiles while solving and one or two satisfying bifds .. I remember Pharaoh’s serpents from childhood.. creepy, I’ve always found them. Quite interesting chemically, though. Couldn’t parse 11dn but now Pip mentions it I remember widows & orphans, from MS Word formatting..
    Thanks to the setter. Pip, nice blog. I think in 20ac the def. is “Reverting to older form” with attic just being “of Greek.” One of many very elegant clues.

    Edited at 2019-08-21 07:59 am (UTC)

  8. 40 mins pre-brekker.
    I’m not as keen on this as others seem to be. Too many unknowns.
    Mostly I liked the king ending the pheasants.
    Thanks setter and Pip.
  9. I remember well, the disgusting element of the Indoor Firework Season, usually up until Twelfth Night. Women would swoon and retire to the sitting room for smelling salts and Babycham.

    FOI 12ac TINGE lovely clue – but a gimme at this level!

    LOI 3dn HOUSEBREAKING terrible clue. Knowing HK well (1996-1999) I was looking forward to the usage of Mon Kok (Busy Corner) Wanchai (ulaca-la-la-land) Shatin (gee-gee-land)or similar. All we got was HONG from the not so Happy Valley. When I was there I lived in ‘Prosperous Heights’ (Mid-Levels) The rents were somewhat astronomical – my son renamed it ‘Preposterous Heights.’
    I now live in Hong Qiao, Shanghai which translates to ‘Rainbow Bridge’, a Chinese anagram of – no riots hereabouts.

    COD 20ac ATAVISTIC

    WOD PHARAOH”S SERPENT!!

    There used to be a French teacher at school who went by the name of Lutetia St. Germaine (Miss Germaine) – I never twigged as we weren’t on first name terms.

    Edited at 2019-08-21 08:14 am (UTC)

  10. For all budding poets, I note that 18dn rhymes nicely with Scottish. Anyone?

    Taxi for one!

    1. Assegai that’s Scottish
      And Osmanli as can be
      Irate Thalass that’s hottish
      But not those from Dundee
  11. …my usual ALTERNATIVE VOTE. 29 minutes. LOI EXTREMELY, unparsed. PHARAOH’S SERPENT must have been lurking in the back of my mind, because I solved the anagram quite quickly, but it wasn’t up there with a Roman Candle or a Catherine Wheel. OSMANLI seemed the most likely but was unknown, as was the WIDOW if not the operetta. Otherwise, a steady solve. Thank you Pip and setter.
  12. Unusually I was constantly distracted this morning and this was a crossword that needed full concentration. I have appreciated it in retrospect so thanks for the blog.
  13. Very entertaining puzzle and blog, Pip! But Sullom Voe is in Shetland. I worked at the nearby airfield of Scatsta between ’78 and ’80 for Dan Air, ferrying construction workers on the oil terminal at Sullom Voe in and out.
    That video of PHARAOH’S SERPENT is going to give me nightmares I can see!
    Particular thanks for EXTREMELY. Now you’ve parsed it I make it my COD.
    I would never have understood the widow part of THE MERRY WIDOW if you hadn’t explained it.
    Is PERIHELION any relation to Perry Como?
    Our former neighbour in France is called LUTETIA and a lovely lady she is.

    Edited at 2019-08-21 09:05 am (UTC)

    1. Indeed, I stand corrected, I see Sullom is in Shetland not Orkney, although Voes meaning inlets are common to both. My geography is as bad as the weather, that far north.
  15. Agree with others, a real potpourri that made for a lot of fun solving. 16D is very good. Well blogged Pip
  16. I got off to a flying start with PERIHELION, and very soon had most of the NW completed. I hadn’t heard of PHARAOHS SERPENT and needed most of the checkers before constructing it from the anagrist. I biffed THE MERRY WIDOW, then deduced all of the wordplay apart from the lonely text. I reverse engineered ALTERNATIVE VOTE, being cognizant of Sullom Voe in the Shetlands. MATILDA showed me where the MAN went in 5d, so it was a simple matter to rearrange OILS around it to get the familiar sounding OSMANLI. I knew the word ATTAVISTIC, but wasn’t sure of its meaning, but the wordplay was clear enough. THALLASIC also sounded a bit Greek to me, and seemed likely enough. I wasn’t sure about LUTETIA or LETUTIA, so confirmed it before submitting. My LOI was EXTREMEMLY, where I managed to spot the parsing before submitting. On the whole a challenging and enjoyable puzzle. 32:04. Thanks setter and Pip.

    Edited at 2019-08-21 10:30 am (UTC)

  17. ….a little Mr.Hyde – in the SHADOW PLAY”. The late, great Rory Gallagher for the initiated, and an apt description for this excellently challenging puzzle.

    I’m pretty sure that this is the first time I’ve ever finished the 15×15 quicker than the QC (qv), but I biffed three to achieve that feat, so thanks to Pip for the parsings of ROWAN, THE MERRY WIDOW, and EXTREMELY.

    My LOI was a NHO and required me to write out the anagrist and eliminate the letters already in place (something I rarely need to do) before I could make it my fourth biff – at least it was parsed !

    FOI LAWSUIT
    LOI PHARAOH’S SERPENT
    COD IRATE
    TIME 11:01

  18. Yes an excellent offering today, with lots of half known stuff on the edge of my awareness. Struggled to think of an Orkney bay and all I could come up with was Scapa which was no use, and I think that’s also in Shetland? Also failed to lift and separate the holiday island which held me up for ages, trying to think what else criminals might do to houses. And no, I hadn’t heard of PHARAOHS SERPENT either. Well done, Pip, for knowing how to type in Greek!
  19. I think that’s what it said on the box but it’s a very long time since I had a Guy Fawkes Night. The last time I did I’d just given a group of urchins a penny (actually 2/6) for the Guy only to have the “guy” run off with shrieks of laughter. Unfortunately the indoor fireworks we had when I was a kid didn’t produce that wonderfully nostalgic smell of cordite. I had quite a struggle with this and never did parse IRATE. 22.19 P.S. Now I come to think of it, it may have been “coiling” cobra.

    Edited at 2019-08-21 12:30 pm (UTC)

      1. Actually no Kevin. For those unfamiliar with NewYorkese, there are still old-fashioned Brooklynites who pronounce “coil” and “curl” as if they were the same word.
  20. I thought this very easy. Only thing I couldn’t get was the firework. Twas an anagrammed thing I didn’t know, so I did a zebra: waited for the crossers.

    Took around 25 mins in dead tree, though in my defence I was interrupted by the cat (Old Scratch) during the firework clue, so I’ll blame him for that one.

  21. 19:03 but with a couple of biffs… TENNESSEE and THE MERRY WIDOW. Another who had OTTOMAN at first, knowing, from a Mephisto, I think, that OTTO was a fragrant essential oil.. But 10A had to be MATILDA so I had to construct the unknown OSMANLI from the wordplay. LOI PHARAOHS SERPENT with a shrug. Thanks for the explanatory video, Pip. I liked IMPI, ROWAN, IRATE and ENDGAME most.
  22. Very entertaining puzzle, with few unknowns for the smug classicist contingent (though the existence of the indoor firework had to be worked out from the most likely looking anagram). OSMANLI is a word remembered from my Big List; always a pleasure when one of those actually sticks.
  23. I tripped over my old pet peeve, an obscure foreign word clued as an anagram. Not LETUTIA, it seems. 10m 18s with that error.
  24. 13:28. Excellent stuff, thank you setter. I thought 8dn was particularly brilliant.
    Quite a lot of funny words in here but I sort of knew all of them except the firework, which is completely new to me as a word and a thing, and the Orkney bay.
  25. 33 mins. Nice puzzle with some Greek and Turkish content, which I enjoyed, having lived and worked in Cyprus for 16 years. Bit of a secondary theme going on there with impi and assegai. Wonder where the snitch is today. Thanks pip.

    Edited at 2019-08-21 01:18 pm (UTC)

  26. She did not make it up, Sarah! – ‘We weren’t on first name terms.’
    I did!
  27. I’m with keriothe – Irate is at least a clue of the week.
    One of the most famous of the first wave of French restaurants in New York was called Lutece, whose derivation I looked up years ago and was able to remember when it came time to put the U, E, and I in the right places. I didn’t know Impi, and with just the -m-i stood little chance. One up to the setter.
  28. All fairly straightforward, apart from some time pondering LUTETIA, and a mis-biffed “Ottoman” (otto, of course, being an essential oil from roses).
  29. I struggled with some of this but got there in the end.

    Earlier this year I was on holiday in India and I had a go at The Times of India cryptic crossword. LOI was clued as

    Jet fighters (4).

    The answer was the same as the answer to 6 across! I kid you not.

  30. Got sunstroke and entered “Perehelion”.
    Tarnation.
    Anyone remember Rory Gallagher’s “Shadow Play”?
      1. Sorry PJ. Missed your quote. What a combination of energy and talent he was.
        1. Indeed he was – I have everything he ever recorded, having been converted when a colleague lent me “Tattoo”, and “Cradle Rock” just blew me away. One of my biggest regrets is that I never got to see him play live.
  31. I liked this, a very varied group of words. Biffed THE MERRY… of course, and got the firework from the anagram. LOI was IRATE, after IMPI (very clever), and having that and ASSEGAI on the same day reminded me of Michael Caine in the movies. Regards.
  32. 35:03, terrific puzzle, nice and juicy, something to get your teeth stuck into. I enjoyed working out ones at the outer reaches of my GK like perihelion, thalassic, osmanli and lutetia. Pharaoh’s serpent was unknown and painstakingly derived from available anagrist and checkers. Atavistic was very satisfying to put together. Also delighted to come here and learn about the etymology of the rare earth metal, a new term from typesetting, widow, and her companion the orphan. Who said learning wasn’t fun? The widow and the orphan remind me of the en and the em which I have since learned on here are also called nut and mutton. This had led me to wonder whether this use of mutton was too obscure for the cluing device: “mutton chops” as an insertion indicator for em. A hastily made up not very good example might be:

    Companion to try stiff mutton chops (10)

    1. STABLEMATE!
      love it – good clue imo; but not one that I’d be likely to solve in the wild
  33. watching the Pharaoh’s Serpent on the You-tube link. Never seen this before, and NHO indoor fireworks! ( sounds moronic if not oxymoronic ) Also loved Myrtilus’s poem and, like Special Bitter, being taught the derivation of Lutetium. 24 mins to complete the puzzle, and several more to enjoy the blog and comments.

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