Times Cryptic No 28242 – Saturday, 19 March 2022. Wordplay’s the game.

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Lots of familiar words as answers, with challenging wordplay to untangle. I enjoyed it! Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle. How did you all get on?

Notes for newcomers: The Times offers prizes for Saturday Cryptic Crosswords. This blog is posted a week later, after the competition closes. So, please don’t comment here on the current Saturday Cryptic.

[Read more …]Clues are blue, with definitions underlined. Any hidden answers are in red.

Across
1 Prepare for encounter with contrary cat that has run inside (4,2)
WARM UP – a biffable answer with challenging wordplay: W=with + AMUP=‘contrary’ puma=cat, with R=run ‘inside’. Phew!
5 Shrub restorative initially banned in most of country (8)
JAPONICA – tONIC=restorative, in JAPAn.
9 Man collapsed in tears, finding all that’s left (8)
REMNANTS – MNA=anagram (collapsed) of MAN, ‘in’ RENTS=tears.
10 One casually pegs out basic garments (6)
UNDIES – UN=one in casual usage, as in “that’s a good ’un” + DIES=pegs out.
11 Aide introducing English firm necessary for Franco (6)
PESETA – P.A. ‘introducing’ E=English + SET=firm. ‘Necessary’ is money, in this case in Spain in Franco’s time. Now of course they use the euro.
12 Like a dignitary taking liberties? (8)
IMPOSING – double definition: the first as an adjective, the second a verb.
14 A split resolution (12)
PERSEVERANCE – PER=a, as in “ten pounds a head” + SEVERANCE.
17 Warrior prince on battleground injures soldier (5,7)
FIELD MARSHAL – FIELD=battleground + MARS=injures + HAL=the Shakespearean prince.
20 Beaten lad upset jockeys (8)
PULSATED – anagram (jockeys): LAD UPSET.
22 The man involved in highest bidding (6)
BEHEST – HE in BEST.
23 Last traces of excess rain creep along and drop off (6)
SNOOZE – (exces)S (rai)N OOZE.
25 Substitute in court causing trouble (6,2)
ACTING UP – ACTING=substitute, as in “acting inspector” + UP=in court.
26 Model in two ways constrained by appearances (8)
TYPECAST – TYPE=CAST=model.
27 Submit, clutching back of ankle joint (6)
REEFER – (ankl)E in REFER.


Down
2 Crests formerly seen in parrots (6)
APEXES – EX in APES.
3 US city for which itinerant oilman pines? (11)
MINNEAPOLIS – anagram (itinerant): OILMAN PINES.
4 Magic star in confinement put on a little weight (9)
PENTAGRAM – PENT=in confinement + A + GRAM.
5 Only cold dessert? Right! (7)
JUSTICE – JUST + ICE.
6 Roly-poly using fruit puree primarily (5)
PLUMP – PLUM + P.
7 Sign agreement to put on turns (3)
NOD – DON=put on, ‘turns’.
8 What could be Jersey’s top team on channel (4,4)
CREW NECK – CREW + NECK=channel.
13 Coppers switch transport, gaining minor lead (5,6)
SMALL CHANGE – SMALL=minor + CHANGE=switch transport.
15 Person presenting current piece in press short of time (9)
EXHIBITOR – I=current + BIT, in EXHOR(t).
16 Relish private eye once losing case in dock (8)
PIQUANCY – P.I. + (o)NC(e) in QUAY.
18 Incandescent tirade about withdrawal of benefit (7)
RADIANT – RANT ‘about’ AID ‘withdrawn’.
19 Bear, equid and big bird from the south (6)
ASSUME – ASS=the equid in question + EMU=the big bird, ‘from the south’.
21 Letter from queen ignored by mad hatter (5)
THETA – anagram (mad): HATTE(r). We ignore R for regina.
24 Broadcast outstanding poet’s address (3)
ODE – sounds like OWED.

17 comments on “Times Cryptic No 28242 – Saturday, 19 March 2022. Wordplay’s the game.”

  1. I went offline early for some reason, and have no idea of how long I took (I inadvertently submitted with leaderboard). POI ODE, LOI TYPECAST. It took me a very long time to parse PIQUANCY after biffing it. COD ODE.
  2. …like Kevin, I inadvertently submitted with leaderboard after I had used aids to solve TYPECAST.
    Thanks, Bruce, for PIQUANCY. Never did ‘see’ ‘QUAY’.
    I don’t particularly like the use of UN in UNDIES and I like PULSATED as a synonym of ‘beaten’ even less.
    No COD as I found that a bit of s truggle.
  3. I thought the plural of ‘apex’ was ‘apices’, but checking after submission showed that ‘apexes’ is a valid alternative. Live and learn.
    I took a long while to see last in TYPECAST. Having -Y-E-A-T, I was ready to put in HYPERACT in desperation, as it was the only word my alphabet trawl revealed. Then TYPECAST emerged from somewhere and the penny dropped.
    Very enjoyable. thanks to setter and blogger.
    30:03
    1. I also raised an eyebrow at apexes, but given my tendency to moan about anachronisms, I let it go without comment!
        1. Surprised that the Times would use the straightforward English-form plural rather than the *fusty* Latin form.
  4. The setter needed an E checker; if he’d needed an I, I’m sure he’d have happily used APICES (and different wordplay, of course).
  5. I hope that’s right for the plural genitive, dative and ablative or I’m suing the German web site I just found it on. I finished this in the SW in about 45 minutes. Not many dignitaries I’ve met have been IMPOSING, I have to say, but the ‘taking liberties’ definition was neat. PIQUANCY was my COD although it took some time to fathom. CREW NECK was good too. Highly enjoyable. Thank you B and setter.
  6. Found this one tricky, littered with lots of the clues that seasoned crossworders know well but that the relative novice still takes time to recall, eg that “run”=R, I =current (I think, though why?). However, very slow, stumbling progress to complete in about 70 minutes. FOI 5d JUSTICE, LOI PERSEVERANCE at 14ac. I wasn’t quite happy with PULSATED at 20ac, for “beaten”. To me it should have been “beat”. But hey, what do I know?! Thanks to setter and bloggers.

    Edited at 2022-03-26 09:11 am (UTC)

    2. The conventional symbol for current is I, which originates from the French phrase intensité du courant, (current intensity), which was used by Ampere, after whom the unit of current is named.
  7. Had this one done in a tad under 30 minutes with PESETA LOI after TYPECAST. I struggled to parse PIQUANCY. Liked PENTAGRAM. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  8. All completed and parsed other than ACTING UP and SMALL CHANGE both BIFD in the incredibly long time of 111 minutes. Signs of 14ac
    After reading the blog I can see why I didn’t parse ACTING UP as substitute/acting I would never have thought of but I should have seen how SMALL CHANGE worked.
  9. I couldn’t see how nod = sign in 7dn. Surely if it goes through on the nod nothing is signed?
  10. Tricky, but not bad (except for UN in UNDIES), but I took just over an hour. Many answers needed to be coaxed slowly out of the wordplay, for example, RADIANT, PIQUANCY and TYPECAST, my LTI (last three in, of course). I kept wanting to make “incandescent” be RED, and my first try at TYPECAST was STANDARD, with ST and RD being the “two ways”. The next guess was ST….ST and I found TYPECAST only after the Y of PIQUANCY gave me a push in the right direction.

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