Times 27813 – A Rake’s and Pilgrim’s Progress feature today; do not despond when in Berkshire!

Author   pipkirbyPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Today the UK Parliament is discussing another lockdown to start tomorrow. I, and several hundred thousand others, have signed a petition arguing for our golf courses to be kept open (albeit playing only in pairs and with no beer and sandwiches afterwards). I’m fingers-crossed for a sensible outcome and for a win for Sleepy Joe without too much legal posturing afterwards by you know who. It’s a Big Day. So my mind was a little distracted when I tackled this one.
Nevertheless I found I had it done in 17 minutes, with not too much longer needed to tease out all the parsing. 19a was my LOI and 18a my CoD as it took the longest to parse.

Across
1 Goddess not totally passionate, cold inside (6)
HECATE – HEATE(D) has C for cold inside. She was the Greek goddess of magic and spells.
4 Tied horse into winter vehicle (8)
SHACKLED – HACK (horse) inside SLED (Winter vehicle).
10 Cry, being fat (7)
BLUBBER – double definition.
11 Grander novel produced by detective writer (7)
GARDNER – (GRANDER)*. Reference to Erle Stanley Gardner, writer of the Perry Mason books,  not to be confused with one of my favourite writers, Martin Gardner (the Annotated Alice, etc.).
12 Clan’s symbol, mostly something carried (4)
TOTE – mostly TOTEM.
13 Rob ended career (10)
OVERCHARGE – OVER (ended) CHARGE (career).
15 Pioneering shopkeeper attaching value to natural fabric (9)
WOOLWORTH – Attach WORTH to WOOL to get Frank Winfield Woolworth, d. 1919.
16 Sound made by learner involved in row (5)
SPLAT – Insert L into SPAT = row.
18 Nice, request being put out to a bestower of gifts (5)
SANTA – PLEASANT (nice) loses PLEA (request), then A. Nice meaning nice for a change, not ‘let’s think French’.
19 Mix as zany lassie, one with company around being entertained (9)
SOCIALISE – Insert CO reversed into (LASSIE I)*.
21 Brought to face charges, man being brought in is familiar (10)
ACCUSTOMED – Insert TOM (a man) into ACCUSED.
23 Not expensive — 20 per cent off — good deal! (4)
HEAP – CHEAP loses one of five letters to give HEAP, a lot, a good deal.
26 First stage of relay with a big noise being introduced (7)
LEADING – LEG (stage of relay) has A DIN inserted.
27 Celebrations with relations expected to come first (7)
PARTIES – PAR (expected, as expected), TIES (relations).
28 More troubled by exam, becoming most withdrawn (8)
REMOTEST – (MORE)* then TEST = exam.
29 Keen to embrace good retro music (6)
REGGAE – EAGER (keen), insert G for good, reverse all (retro).

Down
1 Hotel with quite special uniform? (5)
HABIT – H (hotel) A BIT (quite, fairly).
2 Member of aristocracy leads part of NI in preparation for event (9)
COUNTDOWN – COUNT (aristocrat) DOWN (County in N. Ireland).
3 This musical instrument has upset neighbour (4)
TUBA – ABUT (neighbour) reversed.
5 Painter having house with courtyard (7)
HOGARTH – HO (house) GARTH (a courtyard with a cloister around it).
6 Vehicle in this style wanted by Scotsman, one in order? (10)
CARTHUSIAN – CAR (vehicle) THUS (in this style) IAN (our usual Scot). A Catholic closed order of both nuns and monks founded in 1084 by theologian Bruno of Cologne.
7 Solitary individual, I must bring two sides together (5)
LONER – L, ONE = I, R.
8 Insect ultimately wrecked tree with bole suffering (3-6)
DOR-BEETLE – (D TREE BOLE)*, the D from end of wreckeD. Fat bluish beetle also called a dung beetle.
9 Motorist‘s club (6)
DRIVER – double definition, car driver, golf club.
14 This water’s wrecked garment (10)
SWEATSHIRT – (THIS WATERS)*.
15 One moaning about idiot who sings when tipsy? (9)
WASSAILER – Insert ASS into WAILER.
17 One girl sadly without sex appeal hanging around for client? (9)
LOITERING – insert IT (sex appeal) into (ONE GIRL)*.
19 Berkshire town’s sheds (7)
SLOUGHS – Slough is a famous, or infamous, town in Berkshire, so Slough’s.
20 Frightening member of tribe? Pray, if losing heart (6)
CREEPY – CREE (member of US native tribe) PY (pray losing ra).
22 Appeal made by church member (5)
CHARM – CH(urch) ARM.
24 Food on either side of street trail (5)
PISTE – PIE (food) has ST(reet) inside.
25 Bank of Scotland being courageous, but not very? (4)
BRAE – BRAVE loses its V(ery). A hillside by a river in bonnie Scotland.

​

48 comments on “Times 27813 – A Rake’s and Pilgrim’s Progress feature today; do not despond when in Berkshire!”

  1. Tell Boris you need to go out to test your eyesight?

    Fairly flew through the puzzle, even with quite a few unknowns. Some days you look at a clue and instantly see its parts, some days you can stare and doodle for ages with no inspiration at all. The former for me, today.
    SPLAT clued as sound was a bit strange, but the whole puzzle was Nice. Last pair in loitering/socialise, where I put socialite first but then spent a minute or two reverse-engineering the cryptic to get it right.
    Thanks setter and blogger.

  2. A very enjoyable puzzle with some really nice touches, some of them original. My favourite clue being ‘Bank of Scotland’.

    NHO DOR-BEETLE but assumed it would be valid given ‘dormouse’ even without a hyphen, although I now understand the words are not related, one being to do with sleeping and the other to do with buzzing. Unless snoring counts as buzzing?

    Possibly influenced by ‘zany lassie’ in the clue I came very close to writing SOCIALIZE at 19ac, but stopped myself and checked the wordplay carefully before finally committing to paper.

    Edited at 2020-11-04 06:43 am (UTC)

  3. Nice to have a straightforward one today to get me over yesterday’s aberration. Seeing the parsing for SANTA afterwards it is a little tricky but that was very biffable once you had S_N_A. My only unknown was the DOR BEETLE but the cryptic was clear for that one.

    Thank goodness we still have crosswords during lockdown!

  4. This wasn’t too much of a trial
    I finished it in a short while
    Some clues were a test
    And the one i liked best
    Was LOITERING – it made me smile
  5. Surprisingly fast today, although I never did figure out SANTA. I biffed DOR-BEETLE from the D_R, parsed post-submission. 19ac was my LOI, too, after dithering for a moment over S/Z. Now that I understand it, I’ll give the COD to SANTA.
  6. Another SANTA biffer here. While the bottom half of this one took a little longer than the top I still managed to finish in 33 minutes, which is my best time of the week so far, I think. Might’ve been slower if I hadn’t remembered DOR-BEETLE and “garth” from earlier puzzles.

    FOI 1a HECATE (referenced by Willow in a few episodes of Buffy. Ninja Turtles assemble!), LOI 19d SLOUGHS, which isn’t unexpected given my poor knowledge of where anything is, even in the UK.

  7. …Of Hecate leaves them their old shadowy sound.
    20 mins pre-brekker.
    No dramas. Struggled to parse Santa. NHO Dor-beetle.
    Thanks setter and Pip.
  8. Is anyone else having trouble accessing these crosswords? I like to print mine but there os no Print sign. Any help would be gratefully received, Thank you.
    1. There seems to be a problem accessing the Crossword Club site at the moment, it won’t open, never mind printing! But I can access individual puzzles via the newspaper here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/#section-puzzles

      There’s no direct print command on the page (there never is via this route) but if you open the puzzle and click on the ‘hamburger stack’ (top right) there’s a print command there.

      Edit: The Club site is accessible now and the print command is visible.

      Edited at 2020-11-04 08:06 am (UTC)

  9. I would sign a petition that required all golf courses to be made semi-public during the lock-down. Then our hard- pressed doctors and health care workers might, enjoy a little Trumpian privilege for the price of a modest green fee. A sporting way of saying thank-you.

    This puzzle was modest too, taking just 26 minutes of my precious time.

    FOI 25dn BRAE

    LOI 1dn HABIT

    COD 15ac WOOLWORTH

    WOD 11ac GARDNER – Erle Stanley – Perry Mason – I never missed an episode – he appeared in one episode in 1966 as a judge.

    I note that POTUS the VOTUS is not paying golf presently. Or playing fair by running to SCOTUS ‘to stop the voting’ TUCHUS!

    Edited at 2020-11-04 08:13 am (UTC)

  10. 12:51. A little slow getting started but no real hold-ups. biffed SANTA and forgot to go back and parse, which is a shame. Nice clue. FOI TOTE, LOI ACCUSTOMED COD to the onomatopoeic SPLAT. Do kids still buy comics these days? I see the Beano is still published.
  11. “come bombs and blow to smithereens
    those air-conditioned, bright canteens,
    tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans,
    tinned minds, tinned breath” (Betjeman)

    Groaned when a Berkshire town was needed, as this exposes a lack of familiarity with English towns. I’d heard of this one- though now have learnt which county it’s in.
    30:22

    1. At the time of Betjeman’s poem Slough was in Buckinghamshire and is still considered to be in that historic county. Grocer Heath was the man in charge when the change was made in 1974 after his wholescale reorganisation of local government England. He also messed about with my home county, Middlesex, and Sussex too amongst many others.
      1. Yesterday, I had a letter published in “The Times”, so my address appeared as “Cheshire”, thanks to my postcode, rather than “Greater Manchester” where we were dumped in the 70’s.

        Incidentally, today my letter elicited a response from a Peer of the Realm no less !

  12. Today’s the first day in what seems like ages that I’ve had a personal WITCH of <100. I thought I was losing it, although I’ve been experimenting with “skip filled squares” which has taken a bit of getting used to.

    GARDNER unknown (but a fair assumption to make) and SANTA biffed, otherwise pretty gentle.

  13. 8:12. No problems after a complete disaster yesterday. I had a very busy day so didn’t get a chance to comment but I was too embarrassed to tell you about the two stupid mistakes I made anyway.
    I didn’t know GARDNER but it wasn’t hard to get. I did know the DOR-BEETLE for some reason. I couldn’t parse SANTA so thanks for the explanation.

    Edited at 2020-11-04 09:02 am (UTC)

  15. I don’t know what happened today but I just couldn’t see the WASSAILER, SANTA and LEADING trio. Gave up and came here after staring at them for 15 mins. Might not have been helped by having one eye on the tv, watching the extraordinary events taking place over the pond. Oh well, back to the drawing board. Thanks pip and setter.
  16. I thought that was the easiest in many a week, in spite of not knowing about Mr Gardner, then spoilt it all by typing DOR BETTLE! Having lived in Slough for a few years, it’s by no means a bad place to live, and that ghastly snob Betjeman has a lot to answer for! COD to LOITERING.
    1. It’s very dismissive to label JB as a snob. He was a product of his era and in older age (the poem was written in 1937) his views on many things had changed. He later expressed remorse at what he had written about the town although at the time he had been clearly influenced by his romantic view of English architecture and the general (justified) decline in the way things were heading.

      Edited at 2020-11-04 08:36 pm (UTC)

  17. 17 minutes. I was the other way round to Johninterred, starting out like a bat out of hell on the port side, but slowing down a bit to starboard. HECATE was constructed and sounded somewhat familiar. Erle Stanley Gardner was a great favourite of mine in the late fifties/ early sixties, both in books and on telly,and I never could watch Ironside later without wondering what terrible accident had befallen Perry. COD to the brae o’ bonnie Doon. Nice puzzle. Thank you Pip and setter.
    1. John – Burr’s health was failing but he wished to continue the role as Perry mason. The scripts divined that he was shot, whilst on vacation, and his spine was severed (from memory).
  18. Thought I was on a PB today, top half all done and dusted quicker than a Boris U turn, then a slowish steady trawl, finished in 33 or so which is still well inside my target of 45. Since doing the QC earlier I have learnt to count, which doesn’t half help.
    Signed the petition myself. Pro’s roll up at 2.30 hopefully won’t be the last for four weeks, wish me luck, I need it, the game is awful at the moment. Nice blog.
  19. … still dozy from staying up most of the night. Nothing much to say about the crossword. COD to SANTA.
  21. Never really got on board with this for no obvious reason. Possibly just me having a slow morning rather than anything wrong with the puzzle, I suspect. Never knowingly heard of the insect, but if you can construct D_R BEETLE, the rest of the anagram rather suggests itself.
  22. This golf thing is ludicrous. Because it has the image — among people who don’t know — of rich people discussing business on expensive golf courses, it gets regarded as an elitist activity. Which it isn’t. A very wide range of society plays golf. It’s cheaper (in the UK) than going down to the pub and having a pint or two every evening; or smoking 20 a day.

    And it isn’t just golf (although that is my own interest); it’s tennis, cycling, athletics, triathlon (as Matthew Syed says this morning in his excellent article). And some other things he doesn’t mention, like club football.

    Edited at 2020-11-04 10:59 am (UTC)

  23. I do object to early Christmas clues. Maybe they had to get these in before the lockdown
    LOI REGGAE failed to separate the retro music.
    Being in Wales our lockdown finishes on Monday and I’m off to play golf. Care to join me?
  24. First puzzle of the day without a typo! Started with TUBA, finished with SPLAT. Constructed the very vaguely familiar HECATE, and the unfamiliar DOR BEETLE. Saw the parsing for SANTA. I think we had something similar quite recently. Liked Bank of Scotland. 19:56. Thanks setter and Pip.
  25. Have you seen Verlaine’s time for the Concise? Bejeezus!!! And I did a PB in 5.50.
  26. If in a regrettable 38’27. Though I was a touch bleary-eyed after watching some of the desperate hocus-potus the other side of the pond. Is this what democracy is to be defined by? When it’s all lost to the machine? Whether the machine is of China, or AI, or whatever. Sorry, just rambling. Couldn’t parse Santa but pleasant memories reaching far, far back of Woolworths.
  27. First one I’ve managed to finish for a while. HECATE went in with fingers crossed as a NHO, biffed SANTA like a number of other commenters, didn’t know “garth” as a courtyard but the “house” in the clue was very helpful, and had no idea who the GARDNER was. Otherwise no real problems.

    FOI Brae
    LOI Hecate
    COD Wassailer

  28. Furious at myself for putting in LOADING at the end, having parsed the definition as ‘first stage’, and wondering if LOG could be ‘relay’. I wasn’t terribly convinced but I forgot to go back and check. Spoiled one of my best times! (35 being my average.)
  29. Very happy with that. Knew DOR as an alternative to “dung beetle” but didn’t know it was a legit lock-up with BEETLE. Didn’t parse PARTIES or SANTA but felt comfortable. Other than that, very happy. On the right wavelength for a change.
  30. An afternoon solve after the poignant last church service before lockdown – I get the frustration of the golfing community. I sailed through apart from the bottom right, which pushed my time to 15.43. I did stop to arse SANTA during my proofing, even though it couldn’t be anything else.
    Not (I hope) giving anything away, the most recent Listener was most prescient in allowing for the uncertain outcome in the US, permitting different finishes based on when you submitted, what actually happened, or what you hoped might happen, or what you wished had happened. Another not-too-tough one, worth having a go at.
    1. I don’t recommend doing that to Santa. I think that may be more naughty than nice…

      On the subject of crossword ambiguity and the US election, Qix (@CrypticQix) posted this last night:

      Though originally behind, after polling he’s leader (5)

  31. 31.50 with s bit of a struggle. Probably not helped by a visit to the golf course and a glass or two of vino after. Hopefully our blogger and I will have good news for further exercise during lockdown, though I have my doubts.

    Now time for a few zzzzzzz…..

  32. DNF. Started with the election TV on and a glass of whiskey, and had a hard time concentrating on anything TV and more whiskey. I kind of liked Hecate, mostly because she doesn’t get the same play as the other goddesses.
  33. The LEADING PARTIES are apparently neck and neck across the Pond, just as they are at 26/27A !

    Thanks for parsing SANTA – he won’t be coming this year, as his helpers are all elf-isolating.

    FOI BLUBBER
    LOI OVERCHARGE
    COD LOITERING
    TIME 8:20

    1. Bad indeed, although once the legal nonsense has been had, there seems a good chance Joe B will get through. Trump’s brazen posturing is nauseous, he just thinks he’s entitled to win because he’s great.
      Enjoyed a sunny round of golf today, played as well as I can, won the money, so now have a month to wash and polish those muddy shoes and clubs.
      And do more crosswords, jigsaws and leaf collecting!

      I like the elf isolating idea, but I hope they’re essential workers!

  34. Completed after a bracing round of golf in the sunshine. Wonderful views over Lyme Bay to Torbay. Spent too long looking for a French connection in 18a. I signed the petition too, but am not very hopeful.
  35. 43m for a trouble free solve only held up at the end by Santa and reggae. Nice middle of the road puzzle. Thank you setter and Pip. Fingers crossed for JB. Am still in shock from listening to Trump’s “victory speech” earlier today. What a ghastly, ghastly man. I remember well the “hanging chads” from 2000 when Al Gore won the public vote but lost in the electoral college. A bitterly contested result looks increasingly likely sadly.
  36. Very late to this as I was out enjoying a final game of golf for a while on a beautiful day. Not an enlightened move by the government. I too signed the petition.
    Anyway I managed to crack the puzzle with a few question marks; but all correct as it turns out. LOI PARTIES.
    Lots of good clues I thought. David
  37. 17:07. I thought this was tricky for a QC then realised I’d opened up the wrong puzzle (I like to warm up with the QC). I persevered nevertheless and built from the bottom up. I’m not sure I knew Garth or Gardner, Santa was obvious but harder to parse, LOI socialise. Nice puzzle.

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