Times 27,755: Two Jags Before The Mast

Author   verlainePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Cor blimey, there was some hard stuff in here and no mistake. If you hadn’t heard of the American historian or the colonial-era slang for “hired” or the wartime hidey-hole, you, like me, might just have had to desperately scrabble for some combination of letters that might sensibly fit and then work out if the cryptic could be made to justify that. I think 1ac is a rather brilliant GK-centric clue but are its components too obscure even from Friday consumption? I shall let a democratic show of hands decide.

Some great coherent surfaces, I will say, with immaculate balance between the cryptic and definition parts: “tail”…”tailless” and “slippery”…”slippery” being just two very blatant examples. I think my COD might be the simple but effective 8dn though. Nice job setter and more of this kind of chewy madness on a Friday I say you you, Mr Ed!

ACROSS
1 US historian’s description of Amundsen’s arrival at Pole? (8)
PRESCOTT – as in William H Prescott, the first American scientific historian, back in the 19th century. Amundsen’s was the first expedition to arrive at the South Pole in 1911, PRE-SCOTT by 34 days.

5 Agree to study remedy briefly (6)
CONCUR – CON [to study] + CUR{e} [remedy, abbreviated]. FOI

10 English town ultimately counted cost of untilled ground (6,9)
SUTTON COLDFIELD – ({counte}D COST OF UNTILLED*) [“ground”]. Biffable given a few crossers

11 Rich soil with, close by, stock all around (5,5)
BROWN EARTH – W NEAR [with | close by], BROTH [stock] all around that

13 Activator, oddly inactive for so long (4)
CIAO – {a}C{t}I{v}A{t}O{r}, with the odd letters deactivated

15 Rail, perhaps: one to put in shed (3,3)
HIT OUT – I TO “put in” HUT

17 Little drama in Wimbledon umpire’s words? (7)
PLAYLET – I understand a tennis umpire might shout things like PLAY! and LET!

18 Christian was one turning cheek, resolute (7)
PILGRIM – reversed LIP [cheek] + GRIM [resolute]. Christian being the eponym of Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress”

19 Dramatist needing writing instruments of old (6)
SHAWMS – SHAW needs MS. A shawm is a primitive oboe of some kind.

21 Pat of butter in large glass, just starting to turn (4)
GLIB – reversed B{utter} I{n} L{arge} G{lass}

22 Royal grant treated with disdain (10)
ARROGANTLY – (ROYAL GRANT*) [“treated”]. SOI

25 Feature from wartime film director Lee (8,7)
ANDERSON SHELTER – is ANDERSON Lindsay? Wes? Paul Thomas? Michael? Pick your favourite film director. The lee side is the one SHELTERed from the wind. Put them together to create a structure you might hide in during an air raid.

27 Sheriff, courtesy of grass, arresting old woman (6)
LAWMAN – LAWN [grass] “arresting” MA [old woman]

28 Old tracks supposedly set for broadcast by large Spanish lady (3,5)
LEY LINES – homophone of LAY [set] + L INES [large | Spanish lady]

DOWN
1 Disregard “X” placed under warrant (4,2)
PASS BY – BY [X, as in “times”], under PASS [warrant]

2 Scoff as leader eliminated from qualifier (3)
EAT – {h}EAT

3 Seek to take top off first in public building (5,5)
CROWN COURT – COURT is to seek [as in courting fame or disaster]; CROWN is to “top off” [as in crowning glory]. Arrange appropriately.

4 Hired parts necessary for automatic camera (5)
TICCA – hidden in {automa}TIC CA{mera}. Less “cleverly hidden” than “a word I’d never heard of”! But maybe some of your good selves have come across or even used it in the wild?

6 Tender, when speaking, for one for whom the earth moved? (4)
OFFA – homophone of OFFER, or you may vehemently disagree, along with my live-in Scot. Offa of Mercia is best remembered for building a big dyke to keep the Welsh in their place; I grew up on the Welsh side of it so can completely understand his point of view.

7 One’s advanced only so far (6,5)
CREDIT LIMIT – cryptic definition. The limit to which one can receive an advance or loan.

8 Art deco pieces entertaining camper (7)
REDCOAT – (ART DECO*). Hi-de-hi!

9 Odd creature with tail also includes a tailless variety (8)
PLATYPUS – PLUS [also] “includes” A TYP{e}. Sadly I basically biffed this in from “odd creature”.

12 Detonating on IOW left weird light in bay (5,6)
ORIEL WINDOW – (ON IOW L WEIRD*) [“detonated”]

14 Pile in to stop a slippery customer producing something slippery? (6,4)
BANANA PEEL – NAP [pile] in BAN A EEL [to stop | a | slippery customer]. Biffable from EEL.

16 What’s to come from retiring second time — gold chain (8)
TOMORROW – reversed MO T [second | time], plus OR ROW [gold | chain]

18 The twist in Animal Farm, perhaps, as told (7)
PIGTAIL – which sounds a lot like PIG TALE [Animal Farm, perhaps]

20 State syrup, heading off cough, has worked (6)
CYPRUS – (SYRUP C{ough}*), worked over

23 Boy having file removed from case of doctor (5)
OSSIE – {d}OSSIE{r}

24 A long number of answers, including right one (4)
ARIA – A A [(two) answers] “including” R I [right | one]

26 Style of cryptic down clue? (3)
TON – reverse cryptic, where TON is “not up”, ergo a cryptic clue for “down”.

82 comments on “Times 27,755: Two Jags Before The Mast”

  1. Somewhat beyond my pay scale so I gave up early.

    15ac HIT OUT= RAIL which has usually been COOT;16dn I really must go to IKEA TOMORROW;
    I did enter a dodgy TICCA at 4dn and BROWN EARTH at 11 ac – but the fun had gone out of it from a setter possibly determined to level the good Lord Verlaine, after his three minute wipe-out yesterday.

    I would imagine our American friends might be stuck up at SUTTON COLDFIELD.
    If one is a rich Brummie, yow lives in SUTTON COWL-FIELD: if yow’s filthy rich yow lives in SOWLIHULL- Lady Byron Lane – where all the ‘howses’ look like cinemas. My WOD.

    FOI 2dn EAT

    COD 8dn REDCOAT Hi-de-ho!

    Clapton’s 28ac today’s earworm.

    Edited at 2020-08-28 02:02 am (UTC)

  2. Got 80% on my own (including many clues I shouldn’t have been expected to get) in a reasonably fast time, maybe 25 minutes. Then sat looking at the grid for a half hour without putting in a single letter. Much thanks, Verlaine, for explanations to get me home.
  3. A tough one, and I wasn’t up to it, although I did manage to finish–with a bit of help. Couldn’t think of a US historian for starters, other than Adams and Bancroft. NHO SUTTON COLDFIELD, but once I had the FIELD, the letters pretty much fell into place. DNK BROWN EARTH (was looking for BLACK sthg for a while). DNK ANDERSON SHELTER, but the checkers suggested ANDERSON, and I looked it up. Same experience as Vinyl with LEY LINES, one of my last. The only OSSIE I know is Davis, and you certainly wouldn’t call him a boy! TICCA was staring me in the face almost from the start, but I just couldn’t believe it. COD maybe to CIAO.

    Edited at 2020-08-28 03:07 am (UTC)

  4. Finished, but one wrong – for some reason I thought they were LEI LINES. Lots of NHOs, but surprisingly Sutton Coldfield not among them – no idea how I know it. Ticca seemed likely as an earlier form of “on tick”, though that means on the never-never? And seems to come from on ticket, while ticca is Hindi. Oh well, right answer wrong reason. Anderson a guess, both film director (must be a dead one!) and shelter. Happily Ines was not Inez – do setters read our comments? Good fun, fine puzzle.

    Edited at 2020-08-28 03:52 am (UTC)

  5. Gave up overnight with about two-thirds completed. Polished it off this morning having corrected 14dn where instinctively I entered BANANA SKIN as I have never heard of anyone slipping on a BANANA PEEL although of course ‘peel’ and ‘skin’ mean the same thing in this context.

    DK PRESCOTT but the wordplay was helpful and it went in almost straightway. DK TICCA. DK OSSIE, which judging from the list of famous Ossies on Wiki seems to be mostly adopted by foreign sportsmen, none of them tennis players which might account for my never having heard of any of them.

    Failed to parse CROWN COURT.

    Edited at 2020-08-28 05:01 am (UTC)

    1. I have a vague memory of this coming up here ages ago; I got the impression at the time–which you’ve now reinforced–that there’s a UK/US difference: although I find nothing particularly odd about ‘skin’, I’d definitely refer to a banana peel.
      1. Maybe. I’d definitely ‘peel’ a banana rather than ‘skin’ it, but actually I was thinking of the definition in the clue ‘something slippery’ because in the UK the usual expression is ‘slip on a banana skin’ not ‘a banana peel’.
          1. By total coincidence and unprompted by me, a friend of mine born and bred in Philadelphia and living in Manhattan for the past 35 years wrote this to me today: I’ve never been the person who laughs when someone in a flip slips on a banana skin.
            1. I suspect your friend was lured to “skin” (having heard that version from English friends or transatlantic reading) by the assonance with “flip” and “slip.”

              And I suppose a “flip” is a sandal to Brits and such, as this sense is not found in Merriam-Webster.

  6. Jack, should not your DKs be DNKs?

    I could only think of the homophonic OZZIE Obourne who wasn’t sporting.

    William Hinkling Prescott d. 1859 wrote of Peru and Mexico.
    Prescott, Arizona was named in his honour. Makes ‘No-No- Nanette’ seem plausibly modern!

    I forgot to mention the old Anderson Shelter and what about Leroy Anderson. Remember him? Sleigh-ride etc!

    2. Forgotten Dreams, and The Typewriter still heard as theme music to the now pisspoor R4 News Quiz. Oh for the glory days of Coren and Ingrams!
  7. With Penny the puppy causing havoc and me getting nowhere, I resorted to aids to get going, so no time to report. I did actually find that I had all the knowledge apart from PRESCOTT, which would have been a brilliant clue if I’d ever heard of him. So, my COD goes to REDCOAT, which I got fair and square, as I did PIGTAIL, another good clue. Throughout my life I’ve slipped on BANANA skins, so MER to the PEEL. SUTTON COLDFIELD was the site of the worldwide Scout Jamboree in 1957, which I attended and which I biffed today on the erroneous basis that untilled ground must be a cold field. I can only think of two OSSIEs, Ardiles and Wheatley, who played for Glamorgan some time ago (it’s Ozzy Osbourne isn’t it?) and a dossier has always been an incriminating file in my life, so a second MER there. Too hard a puzzle to do at the same time as puppy training, but thank you V and setter.
    1. OSSIE Clark is a very well known British fashion designer. Obviously I remember Senor Ardiles, but Mr.Wheatley would have had to be picked out of the dim recesses of my memory rather like attacking a pomegranate with a pin !
  8. I thought I was basically giving up when I put OSSIE in at an hour and fifteen—didn’t know it was a boy’s name, and hadn’t seen “dossier”—so I was surprised to find I’d actually finished this one correctly. Now to study the blog to find out the reasons for the ten or so question marks in my margins…
  9. 35 mins pre-brekker to leave: Shawms and —/Lines undone.
    I’ll take that on what was quite a toughy.
    NHO ticca.
    Thanks setter and V.
  10. Kept me out of mischief for an hour. Wasn’t confident of TICCA or OSSIE – hadn’t met the former, hadn’t parsed the latter – but pleased to have a correct solution
  11. Well, what a great puzzle, even sweeter as I finished in under half an hour.

    Hi-de-hi featured yellowcoats, it was Butlins that made REDCOATs famous. I did a summer in the kitchens at Pontins, aged eighteen, where they were bluecoats.

    A BANANA skin is nowadays more figurative, but it is and always has been a skin.

    PRESCOTT undoubtedly one of many contenders for COD, nho the historian.

    I was a bit slow on the town, and I live there.

    I have walked about half of the OFFA’s Dyke path, not my favourite.

    I put in ANDERSON SHELTER and thought of James, Gerry and Sylvia, none of whom directed films as far as I know.

    Thanks verlaine and setter, more of these please!

    1. I used to live in Sutton Coldfield too (1970-3) but it didn’t help me to parse it !
  12. Tough, fair, funny and the difficult word TICCA clued as a hidden. So many good clues it is difficult to pick a COD but I will, if pushed, go for the shelter. Thanks setter as I settle in for my 2 week’s isolation having returned yesterday from Ines and her friends.
  13. Just over an hour of hand to hand combat with a superior foe. Well done setter, a Verlaine pleaser without doubt! I crawled over the line with all parsed bar TON though I did look up several guesses so a semi-DNF. Shawms very familiar to me as we used them in an early 80s band brilliantly named the Flavel Bambi Septet.
  14. Just over 30 minutes hard graft, nothing going in easily which makes it -um- interesting.
    PRESCOTT from wordplay, since round here he’s a politician who punches above his weight, now sitting in The Other Place and ineligible for the Times.
    OSSIE obviously Ardiles, no longer a boy even when he arrived at Spurs. The nearest I can get to the usual boy idea here, the diminutive, is that it’s short for Oscar, but not in my Chambers. Other suggestions are that its another form of Aussie and Liverpool for hospital.
    TICCA only from hidden, never previously encountered and probably never to be seen again. Make mine chicken.
    TON as the only sensible fit, being too blasted to spot the not up idea.
    ANDERSON: I’ll take Lindsay, director of boundary pushing films such as If… and O Lucky Man. Or Jimmy (still alive, obviously) director of magic cricket balls whose magnificent 600th I heard while driving and nearly crashed the car with excitement, applause and pleasure.
    BROWN EARTH not known as a particular thing, but apparently loads of it near me in Epping Forest. I’ll let my friends know.
    Not all ARIAs are long, they only seem that way as the soprano goes for the second recapitulation.
    Thanks V for elucidation where needed and obvious and infectious relish.

  15. Just happy to finish all correct. I wanted 14D to be Panama Heel (like Cuban, but made from straw) but did not slip up. Only understood OSSIE when I wrote it in.
  16. Left a couple unsolved. The vocabulary was tough (Ticca, Shawms, Redcoat for non-Brits) but what gave me fits was that while most clues were very tightly worded, a couple had something extra for the surface (courtesy at Lawman, doctor at Ossie, necessary at Ticca), and I didn’t change gears quickly enough. All in all, I think I’d rather have this than the cake walk that showed up yesterday. Thanks Verlaine, & setter.
  17. But I needed help on two clues: TOMORROW and LEY LINES.
    Thanks, Verlaine, for explaining 15ac, 25ac, 3d, 9d and 26d. I solved them but couldn’t parse them properly.
    Joint COD to PRESCOTT and PIGTAIL.
  18. I do look forward to Friday’s challenges, and that was a good one! A few DNKs, viz. TICCA, BROWN EARTH, PRESCOTT but they were all easy enough to work out, as well as providing some educational input for the weekend. COD would have been PRESCOTT if I’d heard of the guy. The only ‘boy’ called OSSIE I’ve heard of is the 1980s (?) footballer Ardiles but I’m sure there must be others. And I’m not sure the bonkers theory that ley lines are ancient trackways deserves airing in the Times! The current consensus among the credulous seems to be that they are “alignments and patterns of powerful, invisible earth energy”. That’ll be right!
  19. That was hard, just couldn’t see HIT OUT, so guessed sit out wrongly. I’d like to TICCA OFFA the setter for obscurity.

    COD: GLIB nicely disguised.

    Yesterday’s answer: WWW has nine syllables, world wide web has three.

    Today’s question: the TV series Crown Court and Billy the Fish in Viz are set in which fictional town?

    2. United captain’s heading home after vacation in ‘restful’ resort (8)
      3. Just when I think I’m getting better at this clueing lark, you have to pop up with an absolute gem Robert ! Truly, I am not worthy….
  20. Most enjoyable, and just the right level of difficulty for a Friday. PRESCOTT went in straight away even though I’ve never heard of him. I guess I just spotted the wordplay immediately and instinctively knew that had to be the answer.

    LOI was SHAWMS, not a familiar word and I took too long to L&S writing instruments.

    Thanks setter & V.

  21. I also struggled, but prevailed, with all my deductions turning out to be right, which is exactly how these things are supposed to work (and doubly so on Fridays), so well done to the setter. NHO TICCA, of course, but the wordplay suggested only one thing; and I was embarrassed to realise that I couldn;t think of a single American historian off the top of my head..apart from, er, you know, thingummy…the Civil War guy…
  22. Perhaps one of the above contributors was aware of ticca as hired. I certainly wasn’t. Maybe a word too far? 41’30 here and glad to have got there, though held up for some time by the banana-skin with the slippery ski. Many congratulations to the setter, infuriating as you are.
  23. Well that was frustrating. Finished in 36.04 but undone by ley lines. I thought there was an anagram of gel as in set as the first part. Leg lines anyone?

    LOI was glib delayed by trying to get some reference to a goat before realising how simple the answer was.

    Lots to enjoy here, pleased I got shawms though took a time to dredge the musical reference from the recesses of my memory. Great end to the week even if a disappointment to miss by one letter!

  24. This is my first ever post on this incredibly exhilarating, fun and informative site.

    I have always marvelled at the times achieved. I simply luxuriate In taking my time to complete the challenge.

    I am posting because I also live in Sutton Coldfield! It took a few moments to unravel the anagram, but not too long.

    Keep up the good work by encouraging others to have a bash at the 15×15.

    Thank you all for your expert analyses of the clues.

    Jovan.

    2. Welcome, Jovan. Is the TV transmitter still there? That’s what first brought Sutton Coldfield to my attention back in the 1950s. The BBC were very proud of the transmitters that brought TV to a wider audience throughout the country. Does anyone remember Kirk o’Shotts?

      Edited at 2020-08-28 01:02 pm (UTC)

      1. Hi jackkt,

        Thanks for your kind words.

        I have been a huge admirer of your encouraging words to newcomers over the years. Your honesty is also very much admired in your analysis of clues and the time it takes you.

        The TV transmitter, I believe, is still there as such, but no longer is it operational. It has not been used for several years so my wife tells me. She was born here!

        Keep up the sterling work!

        Jovan.

      2. I did some work for BT Broadcasting Services in the 1990s during which I came across Kirk O’Shotts (only virtually sadly).
  25. I filled the NE in 4 mins and said to myself that our blogger is going to be disappointed. However the many DNK’s held me up and I was finally l left with HIT OUT and OSSIE both of which I didn’t understand but hit the finish button with a prayer.
    SUTTON COLDFIELD we’ve had fairly recently?
    Liked SHAWMS and OFFA’s dyke, which is nearby, most spectacularly at World’s End between Wrexham and Llangollen.
  26. Wow, that was a toughie! I didn’t actually grind to a halt until my LOI, HIT OUT, which took an alphabet trawl and the best part of 10 minutes. Didn’t know PRESCOTT as a US historian, butloved the wordplay, which wasn’t too difficult with P_E already in place. EAT was my FOI. Didn’t know TICCA and half expected 2 pink squares, but was pleasantly surprised. I would say I peel a banana, but the slippery thing in the common expression is a skin! Quite an enjoyable 51:44. Thanks setter and V.
  27. Trickiest one by far for me was OSSIE, barely a boy’s name, and I couldn’t parse it. 13m 08s with the last few minutes on that one, finishing with no confidence that I’d got it right.

    BANANA PEEL was lovely, and the NHO answers fairly clued, including SHAWMS, PRESCOTT, BROWN EARTH, TICCA.

  30. Well, another DNF. NHO SHAWM, PRESCOTT, OR TICCA, so well and truly beaten, again! Lots of clues biffed without really understanding the wordplay. So once again thanks to Lord V as he is known in some circles, for the enlightenment.
  31. I don’t understand 23dn. It says ‘having file removed from case of doctor’ and that’s not what’s happening, surely? The case of doctor is removed from file, and I can’t see how it can be interpreted any other way.

    Otherwise quite impossibly difficult but some very good clues. My knowledge of film directors is so bad that I thought there was one called Lee Anderson, so couldn’t understand where the shelter came from. Never heard of Prescott and he isn’t in a long list of US historians in Google. But it was nicely clued, and not too hard so long as you take it on trust that he exists.

    1. It’s both! They are removed from one another, and the clue is silent as to which part we are supposed to keep.
      1. But just removing the file from its case gets you to Ossie, and no need to bring the doctor into things
        1. I guess so. But it helps the surface and still works from a wordplay point of view, I think.
        2. The file has a “case of doctor (dr)” as some files have a case of leather. (What kind of fancy filing systems am I used to? Don’t ask.) You remove the file’s dr case and find the contents. Personally I think it’s a great clue!
          1. The objection is I think that the file *doesn’t* have a ‘case of doctor’. OSSIE does, but OSSIE is not a word meaning ‘file’.
      2. Sorry, I must be being dim. I can’t see how they are removed from one another. It just says that file is removed from DR; I can’t see that it tells you that DR is removed from file.
        1. Yes on reflection I see your point: you want the thing that’s removed still to be a file after it’s removed, which does seem logical. I’m reading it as ‘what’s left of file when you remove it from the case of doctor’ which is probably a stretch.
          1. A little further – ordinarily I’m relaxed about quirks which help the surface, but (even if this did work both ways) in a puzzle with unusual or difficult fill like Shawms and Ticca and Ossie I think the cluing has to be unambiguous. So ‘remove the case of doctor from file’ or ‘remove file from its case’ are fine, but both together are a bit underhanded.
            1. Think of the “of” in the clue as meaning “made of”, and I think it works. “Remove the case (comprising doctor) from file”.
              1. if we’re going to add to the prepositions, instead think of “from” as “from its” – then the doctor is redundant.

                I think it’s possible that the clue that was rethought and improved – either from “remove file from its case” or from “remove doctor’s case from file”, and the editing didn’t catch up. Either way, my point that, if its an easy puzzle with simple grid-fill the setter has more latitude; if its got difficult grid-fill (and this did) and difficult and clever cluing (and this did) then you can’t be sloppy with wording.

                Meantime, the only Ozzie I know of is Ozzie Nelson, from The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. With no disrespect, even a conveyance lawyer discussing the intricacies of property law would be better company than O&H reruns.

    2. I’m with Wilransome and Paul on this one – the clueing of 23d is clunky.
      Excellent crossword overall – unfortunately I entered “Tun” instead if “Ton” so I’m a DNF – I should have remembered Ton = Style from previous crosswords. Somehow I got it into my mind that Nut could mean crossword clue – certainly a tough nut to crack!
      My grandfather had an Anderson Shelter in his back garden, so that helped me ( and my Spanish language teacher is called Ines).

      Edited at 2020-08-28 03:00 pm (UTC)

  32. 16:46. I loved this.
    I’m reading a book by an American historian (Eric Foner) at the moment but that was of no use to me today.
    I suspect the intended Anderson is Michael of Dam Busters fame but I thought of Wes.
    I knew of Yellowcoats before I knew they were based on something real.

    Edited at 2020-08-28 03:10 pm (UTC)

  33. DNS (did not submit) because I had the top 2/3 done and then had to let it marinate an hour or two having drawn a complete blank at the shelter. Got it in the end thanks to Barbara Pym (I think). Same as everyone else on TICCA. I did have just the vaguest recollection of PRESCOTT which I must have gleaned from George Bush family trivia – it was the first name of GWB’s grandfather who was a US senator from Connecticut and somehow related. Rather an OT week this with David and his psalms yesterday and SHAWMS today. No time.
  34. ….he honoured her OFFA” Thereafter the earth allegedly moved at frequent intervals.

    After 16 minutes I was left with the NW corner, which took almost another 6 minutes. NHO PRESCOTT, but a lovely clue. DNK TICCA, but I always think this sort of thing is best in a “hidden” so no complaints. DNK BROWN EARTH but it was obvious (eventually !)

    As observed in my response to Rob Rolfe earlier, I couldn’t parse SUTTON COLDFIELD despite a three year residency 50 years ago -thanks V !

    FOI CONCUR
    LOI CROWN COURT
    COD CREDIT LIMIT (loved TON and OFFA too !)
    TIME 21:47

  35. Excellent challenge. Didn’t know TICCA or PRESCOTT. Didn’t parse TON. But happy that all my assumptions played out.
  36. DNF. Did get, among the others – Sutton Coldfield, Anderson shelter, shawms, and an unparsed platypus. Bunged in but unknown, ticca, Prescott. Didn’t get Ossie, and not much impressed by it as a boy’s name (although Ossie Clark did ring a bell).
    Quite hard but I wasn’t on best form distracted by domestic issues.

    Edited at 2020-08-28 01:34 pm (UTC)

  37. Surprised at the SNITCH – I didn’t find this too bad – the cryptics were pretty generous even if one didn’t get all of the parsing.

    1a. Didn’t know the historian, but with the first three checkers, the answer was plain enough and gave the final checker for 4d.
    10a. Enough checkers for FIELD early on though I thought that might be the ‘ground’. More checkers made further parsing unnecessary.
    11a. Never heard of the answer but the cryptic was clear.
    19a. Vaguely recalled word guessed from S___M_
    21a. Alphabet sweep to work this out from both checkers.
    25a. Got from all checkers in first word – no idea about the director.
    28a. From checkers – no idea about the Spanish lady.
    4d. Guessed hidden from checkers.
    9d. Biffed from first three checkers.
    12d. Not sure I’d heard of the WINDOW but having eliminated those letters, rearranged the others.
    26d. Vague on this one. Hit and hope!

  39. Sutton Coldfield has appeared in a previous puzzle, though I couldn’t remember whether it was COALFIELD or COLDFIELD, and the former seemed more likely as it’s in the black country isn’t it? The majority of solvers seem to live there, but not me. (I lived in 20d for three years, but it didn’t help). The checkers helped to pick the right one. SHAWM also rang a bell, or perhaps honked, from a previous outing.
    Finished eventually with all correct in 72mins, nho ANDERSON SHELTER took a large part of this, finally seeing ‘shelter’ as ‘lee’, then guessing the name from checkers.
  40. It’s certainly NOT in the Black Country ! It’s quite an upmarket town, with some very expensive housing.

    Geographically, it’s only a few miles from Walsall, which IS classed as Black Country, but the two towns could hardly be more different.

  41. Found it tough going in parts, kept thinking of the Director Ang Lee. COD 1a, though hadn’t the faintest idea who he was. Thanks

  42. I enjoyed chewing over today’s clues for just under 40 minutes although there were some unknowns – PRESCOTT, LEY LINES & TICCA.
    Banana skin is more familiar to me than BANANA PEEL and it took me an age to spot GLIB.
    CIAO & REDCOAT were good clues – and my COD is SUTTON COLDFIELD which competes with Solihull (where I was born) for being one of the supposedly more upmarket areas of the West Midlands.
    Thanks to the setter and to V for the comprehensive blog.
    1. Oh good grief! How extremely cunning. Explains, I think, the presence of TICCA and OSSIE.

      Edited at 2020-08-28 11:08 pm (UTC)

  44. Pleased to finish this albeit in 78 mins. A speedy NE corner was not a sign of things to come. Thought the Anderson shelter answer might be an anagram of “film director Lee” with wartime as a loose anagram indicator. Good clue. Also held up by having banana skin. Right on the limit of my solving ability so perfectly judged for a Friday puzzle. Thank you very much setter and V.
  45. I gave this up after 30 minutes because my builders had arrived to adapt the bathroom for my advanced age. 30 minutes is usually enough but today I only had the NE corner and the English town to show for it. I took it up again this evening when they had left and managed to finish it unaided but with some difficulty. About an hour. A most enjoyable struggle. Ann
  46. An hour and 3 mins for me. Yikes! Very tough but well worth the effort. Held myself up at the end with tip instead of ton meaning I couldn’t see the ley lines until eventually I realised they had to be there and revised tip to ton.
  47. I think I remember ‘tikka’ as in ‘tikka-gharry’, presumably in Kipling. The alternative spelling was always there but is now inevitable because of confusion with curry.
  48. Fair enough. Our conveyancing lawyer when we bought our current and previous houses was called Ossie so I didn’t think twice about it!

    Edited at 2020-08-28 10:58 pm (UTC)

  49. Late to this one, but I can see SCOTT, SUTTON, BROWNE, GRIMSHAW, ROGAN, ANDERSON and MANLEY

    Don’t think I’ve missed any, unless there’s an OLDFIELD or a TOUT?

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