Solving time: 40 minutes
Mostly quite straightforward but I had to work hard to see the wordplay at 16dn.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Abandon heroin after police officer seizes it (5) |
| DITCH | |
| DC (police officer – Detective Constable) contains [seizes] IT, then H (heroin) | |
| 4 | Rat’s expression of disdain when eating rotten acorn (8) |
| TURNCOAT | |
| TUT (expression of disdain) containing [eating] anagram [rotten] of ACORN | |
| 8 | Former nurse unfortunately failed my loved ones and relatives (8,6) |
| EXTENDED FAMILY | |
| EX (former), TEND (nurse), anagram [unfortunately] of FAILED MY | |
| 10 | Side ultimately score five, being overcome by joy (9) |
| ELEVATION | |
| {scor}E [ultimately] + V (five) contained [being overcome] by ELATION (joy) | |
| 11 | One used to turn left by hospital before closure of route (5) |
| LATHE | |
| L (left), AT (by), H (hospital), {rout}E [closure of…] | |
| 12 | Life is special, flag being twirled around (6) |
| ESPRIT | |
| TIRE (flag) reversed [being twirled] containing [around] SP (special). Spirit, liveliness, life. | |
| 14 | Increasingly bad-tempered doctor swallowing drink that is initially relaxing (8) |
| GRUMPIER | |
| GP (doctor – General Practitioner) containing [swallowing] RUM, then IE (that is), R{elaxing} [initially] | |
| 17 | Border resident shot me with airgun (8) |
| GERANIUM | |
| Anagram [shot] of ME AIRGUN. Very slow on this one because I wasn’t expecting that type of border resident. I thought it might refer to a member of an obscure tribe. | |
| 18 | Think about eating head of gingerbread man (6) |
| KNIGHT | |
| THINK reversed [about] containing [eating] G{ingerbread} [head of…]. Chessman. I have amended my original parsing which had ‘about’ as anagram indicator rather than a reversal. Thanks to alfiethecoder for suggesting this. | |
| 20 | Cops seen in Ontario less regularly (5) |
| NAILS | |
| {O}N{t}A{r}I{o} L{e}S{s} [seen…regularly]. Captures. | |
| 22 | Antisocial lout set fire to boat whose interior’s about to turn black (9) |
| LITTERBUG | |
| LIT (set fire to), TUG (boat) containing [whose interior’s] RE (about) reversed [to turn] + B (black). |
|
| 24 | Problem with Duke’s meal (4,10) |
| BEEF WELLINGTON | |
| BEEF (problem), WELLINGTON (Duke of) | |
| 25 | Swimmer last to get aboard cutter? (8) |
| STURGEON | |
| {ge}T [last to…] contained by [aboard] SURGEON (cutter) | |
| 26 | Large vessel is in capital (5) |
| TUNIS | |
| TUN (large vessel), IS | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Needing lies to be circulated, European that has a thirst for power? (6,6) |
| DIESEL ENGINE | |
| Anagram [to be circulated] NEEDING LIES, then E (European) | |
| 2 | It’s in the tenth part (5) |
| TITHE | |
| IT contained by [in] THE. In olden days tax or produce in kind paid by farmers for the support of the church and clergy. | |
| 3 | Suspended over answer, managed to bite one’s tongue (9) |
| HUNGARIAN | |
| HUNG (suspended), A (answer), RAN (managed) containing [to bite] I (one) | |
| 4 | Clothing accessory and linked merchandise worn by page (6) |
| TIEPIN | |
| P (page) contained [worn] by TIE-IN (linked merchandise) | |
| 5 | Engineers passionate about new industrial plant (8) |
| REFINERY | |
| RE (engineers), FIERY (passionate) containing [about] N (new) | |
| 6 | Part of train perhaps drew near London’s West End (5) |
| CAMEL | |
| CAME (drew near), {Londo}N [’s West End]. Camel train – a series of camels tied in single file, used to transport goods or passengers. | |
| 7 | Sharing out a couple of litres too much gin indiscriminately (9) |
| ALLOTTING | |
| A, L+ L (couple of litres), OTT (too much), anagram [indiscriminately] of GIN | |
| 9 | Spies on army reserve chaps after short time (6,6) |
| SECRET AGENTS | |
| SEC (short time), RE (on), TA (army reserve), GENTS (chaps) | |
| 13 | Theatre set up marquee to host popular material (9) |
| PERTINENT | |
| REP (theatre) reversed [set up], TENT (marquee) contains [to host] IN (popular). Relevant. | |
| 15 | Brother starts to experience yearning — head for something to eat (6,3) |
| MONKEY NUT | |
| MONK (brother), E{xperience} + Y{earning} [starts to…], NUT (head – slang) | |
| 16 | Caught by short projectile, sure to capsize with fifty on board (5,3) |
| BULLS EYE | |
| YES (sure) reversed [to capsize] contained [caught] by BULLE{t} (projectile) [short]. Worth 50 points on a darts board. | |
| 19 | Hot — heading towards 45 degrees with many keeling over (6) |
| STOLEN | |
| NE (heading towards 45 degrees*) + LOTS (many) reversed [keeling over].
*North East on a compass starting from the top. |
|
| 21 | Consecutive notes in descending scale heard until now (2,3) |
| SO FAR | |
| Aural word play [heard]: “soh fah” (consecutive notes in descending scale). You may recall from the song that the ascending scale is ‘doh re mi fah soh lah ti doh’. There are several different spellings of most of the notes but I have picked two that enable the aural wordplay to apply to both needed for the clue. | |
| 23 | Staff working to support sonar operator, perhaps? (5) |
| BATON | |
| BAT (sonar operator, perhaps), ON (working) | |
Started off well enough and then came to sudden halt in the south. Just couldn’t see some of the wordplay, especially for BULLS EYE, MONKEY NUT and STURGEON. Liked BEEF WELLINGTON and GERANIUM, oh, that kind of border resident.
Thanks Jack for the parsings.
Around 70 minutes and most enjoyable. Lot of clever hard to find definitions slowed me quite a bit but it was a steady solve. FOI DITCH then DIESEL ENGINE, TITHE, HUNGARIAN and EXTENDED FAMILY.
Last two in GERANIUM and BULLS EYE are my CODS.
Thanks Jack
12:14. Like Jack and Quadrophenia (and presumably most people) I was initially thinking of a different border resident, and was drawn to the anagrist almost making Germanic. Perhaps it was the fact that begins in GER that led me quickly to GERANIUM.
I thought the surface for KNIGHT was excellent – very smooth.
I have to admit that I found this more difficult than expected. This setter has some very non-literal literals, and the cryptics are a bit convoluted. The only long one that went in easily was beef wellington. I also had pitch instead of ditch – a PC instead of a DC – which made diesel engine impossible. It took me a long time to try erasing it, and then everything flowed.
Time: 38:37
24.36. Particularly liked KNIGHT, GERANIUM and LOI STURGEON for being both clever and deceptive, or cleverly deceptive. Thanks Jack for explaining what was going on with ESPRIT.
From Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again:
Well Shakespeare, he’s in the alley, with his pointed shoes and his bells
Speaking to some French girl who says she knows me well
And I would send a message to find out if she’s talked
But the post office has been STOLEN and the mailbox is locked
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end? To be (etc)
Another expression for a litter bug is a litter lout, so I think the term “lout” in 22a is justified.
I especially liked 18a – neat.
Ah, so it is! I had forgotten that.
I took 39:05 with LOI BULLS EYE. I thought I‘d made a bit of a meal of it but I see my time is not untypical. Enjoyed the puzzle, anyway.
Thanks setter and blogger
A good puzzle. I saw KNIGHT as Think reversed (“about”) rather than an anagram indicator, but both work.
I think your version is better, and surely what the setter had in mind so I have amended the blog. Thanks.
12.07, feeling a bit sluggish but chipped away at it for a decent time in the end. Nice to see a non-PC officer. GERANIUM was also my last one in – a good misdirection there.
Thanks both.
25:41 GERANIUM when it finally came had me utter a bad word on the train … that kind of border d’oh!
13.55
Nice gentle Tuesdayish one, with only BULL’S EYE (5,3) giving pause for thought (that thought being “Isn’t it one word in this context?”)
I put PITCH in at 1ac before realising my mistake when I got 1d, and didn’t see BAT as “sonar operator”, but neither mattered.
LOI BULL’S EYE
COD TIEPIN
You make a good point. The ODE and COD have it as one word whereas the SOED, Collins and Chambers entries have it with a hyphen. I can’t find it anywhere as two words.
Wiktionary has all 3 versions.
I never bother about space versus hyphen, and neither does my Cheating Machine. Just the numbers part of the enumeration is plenty if one has more than a couple of letters.
That didn’t give me a 1d Piesel Engine though….
Thanks, Andy, that’s interesting but Times crosswords are supposed to stick to the Oxfords (COD / ODE) and Collins. Chambers seems to be accepted now too, perhaps because it’s the prime source for the Mephisto puzzle.
The Times used to name the dictionary that had been used, can’t remember which but either Collins or Chambers, but that stopped a few years ago. Or was it decades?
FWIW Wiktionary started off with a time-expired (out of copyright) Miriam Webster. That does cover Brit English, but only as an afterthought.
I go back a little over 20 years, Andy, and at that time the acknowledged sources for Times daily crosswords were the Concise Oxford and Collins. I think it may have been confirmed since then that the Concise has been replaced by the slightly more comprehensive single volume Oxford Dictionary of English, and certainly I know that’s so for the Sunday Times 15×15. Chambers has been stated as the source for the Mephisto, but it’s been noted here over the years that occasionally words and/or meanings only to be found in Chambers have crept into daily Times crosswords.
Thanks jackkt.
From the definitive ISRTA:
Robin: Oh well, here goes (twang, whoosh, mmoooergh!
Marion: Well done Robin, right in the bull’s eye!
I enjoyed this, possibly because GERANIUM was reasonably gentle so I didn’t have to trawl through my Observer Book of Birds or Garden Flowers, which makes a nice change from recent puzzles. Had trouble parsing BULLS EYE, so thank you Jack.
I will be solving these on my phone this half-term week inbetween ferrying the children around. So won’t comment on time. Enjoying spending a bit more time fully parsing answers.
Not too many troubles here. Not sure it would have been quick though as the tricky definitions meant relying on the word play.
BULLS EYE was in and out more times than Luke Littler’s darts. My pea brain thought it was one word. I was questioning if there was a cricket term for ‘Caught by short’ and ‘50 on board’ was actually wordplay especially as I had an L in there. Probably wouldn’t have got into that mess if I was speeding through it.
From DITCH to BATON. Favourites: CAMEL and LITTERBUG
Please see my reply to John B above re BULLS EYE.
28 minutes with LOI BULLS EYE, although I’d been waiting to put it in for a while. COD to Desperate Dan’s favourite Cow Pie at 24a. Not quite as easy as it looked. Thank you Jack and setter.
About 15 minutes.
– Seem to have been lucky with GERANIUM as it occurred to me quicker than for others
– Didn’t parse LITTERBUG beyond set fire to=lit
– Didn’t understand the ‘en’ part of STOLEN
– Got BATON despite completely misunderstanding how the clue worked (I thought ‘sonar operator’ was a whimsical way of indicating a musical conductor, who might use a baton)
Thanks Jack and setter.
FOI Camel
LOI Refinery
COD Knight
22:56
Blistering start in the top half but slowed down to normal pace after five minutes or so. Also, like Vinyl, had PITCH rather than DITCH for some time which made 1d less than straightforward. One PDM with “Oh! That sort of sonar operator”. Managed to puzzle out BULLS EYE, but failed to fully parse SECRET AGENTS whilst in flight. L2I PERTINENT followed by ESPRIT.
Thanks Jack and setter
31 minutes. The usual struggle with the first few (FOI EXTENDED FAMILY) then most of the rest went in steadily. I’d reached an impasse with only 4a and 4d to finish; solving TURNCOAT gave the crossers, all of which I needed, for TIEPIN. COD to BULLS EYE.
Very much off wavelength. Nothing to complain about, lots of clever stuff but lots that I made hard work of wading through in a long 37 mins.
Liked BAT for sonar operator.
Thanks both
27:52
Very much off wavelength today and I found that a bit of a slog. I didn’t help myself by transposing the I and A at the end of HUNGARIAN which caused issues with ESPRIT.
Thanks to both.
Trickyish puzzle that I completed in 30:43. Off to a quickish start with GRUMPIER FOI and KNIGHT LOI. Liked 16D, 19D and 23D and couldn’t parse 22A
1a Ditch, like vinyl etc I had Pitch for a while which very nearly works, but Ditch is far better. This delayed the Diesel Engine for ages.
17a Geranium. I was struggling awhile with Margin + E + U, someone who lives on some border or other.
18s Knight, biffed, add my thanks to alfiethecoder.
19d Stolen, never saw the NE bit, biffed.
Bit of a fuzzy head, so thought my 35′ was slow given that the the solutions seemed straightforward in retrospect, but looking at others it actually seems OK.
The only missing parsing was BATON where I’d assumed bat=staff so couldn’t see the sonar operator; as I say, fuzzy-headed!
Thanks Jack and setter
Irritated to be beaten by BULLS EYE at the end. Stared and stared at it, but no joy. Otherwise not very stretching.
Slow today over 25.26, misled and mystified by every masterly misdirection. DIESEL ENGINE my last but one, failing to make the letters of “needing lies” tot up to 12 for the anagram and trying to think of a European version of Trump or Musk. You’ll gather that my last was GERANIUM, not least because I thought the border resident had to be a sheep or a dog (or, I suppose, a sheep dog).
15:23
Unlike Quadrophenia with his sudden halt in the south, and very unlike Mike H with his blistering start, I came to a sudden halt everywhere with only DITCH to show for my early labours. A ridiculous harangued at 3d then made matters worse. It was only when I spotted that the definitions weren’t going to be straightforward (as mentioned by Vinyl) that I recalibrated my thinking and made steady progress.
I think BULLS EYE was made harder by the use of WITH as the link to the definition, which doesn’t really work for me.
I biffed SECRET AGENTS and LITTERBUG.
17:24 with a long time at the end on BULLS EYE. One of those answers that would probably have been easy with the first letter checked. Generally a little heavy on the whimsical definitions for my taste.
I’m not keen on simple prepositions being used as synonyms for other simple prepositions (as in by = at at 11ac). Silly really, because nouns and verbs etc are fine, but I sort of feel that there’s a perfectly good reason why by = by and at = at. And also to say that NE is ‘heading towards 45 degrees’ seems a bit loose. 45 degrees to what? Otherwise a very nice crossword. 47 minutes.
45 degrees to what? I think the answer is that bearings are measured clockwise from North. I don’t claim any special knowledge, but in warships in old movies the captain is always issuing orders to steer 145 degrees, or 72 degrees, or whatever, without specifying a benchmark. A heading of eg 0 degrees would be north, and 180 degrees south, so a heading of 45 degrees would be North-East
Yes I think that’s what the setter meant, Kapietro.
Very enjoyable. Occasional use of the check function and revealed LOI BULLS EYE which I would have got with a bit more perseverance. Favourites were BATON (oh, that sort of sonar operator) and GERANIUM (oh, that sort of border resident). TURNCOAT took a while without checkers because I was fixated on ‘ugh’ for expression of disdain 🙄 Thanks Jack and setter.
9:09. Handicapped by a nasty bug today, so I’ll take that. Lots of biffing with this one, and sometimes just bunging things in from enumeration once I had a few checking letters (SECRET AGENTS).
Now I’m going back to bed.
After about 10 minutes I had TITHE, SO FAR, NAILS and a sinking feeling. Suddenly STURGEON kick started me into a higher gear. PERTINENT begat BEEF WELLINGTON and I was off! I came to a grinding halt again with 4d and 16d still to do, but TIEPIN eventually yielded and I suddenly saw what fifty on board was! 29:14. Thanks setter and Jack.
20.23
Quick to begin with but another hamstrung by PITCH which I even double checked to ensure it was right. Eventually realised it just couldn’t be. BULLS EYE was strangely tough to see even with the checkers
29:50 – I found this tough with 1d and GERANIUM accounting for a several minutes hold-up at the end, but the rest felt less than straightforward
Slow with this getting stuck a few times. BEEF WELLINGTON got me going again. LOI STOLEN.
After a careless error on an easy puzzle yesterday, I took my time on this one, and found it very enjoyable. Plenty of misdirection in the surface readings- enjoyed GERANIUM and STURGEON.
Thank you Jack and Setter. More of these please crossword editor!
A fairly even paced crossword until I got to my LOI 16dn, where BULLSEYE eluded me for nearly five minutes. Eventually I thought of an answer that fitted, and then had to spend a little time on top for working out the parsing. It extended my finishing time to 42.27, which although under my 45 minute target I felt could have been faster.
22.30. LOI esprit, I knew iris had to be involved somewhere. Almost made the solution impossible by putting in pitch at 1 ac but finally saw my mistake when I recognised the crossing engine.
Nice puzzle. Thx setter and blogger.
44:17 – I found this easy to start with quite a few write-ins, then it got quite difficult (maybe my brain stopped working). either way it was very enjoyable. really got stuck on TIEPIN and TURNCOAT at the end (a word which has held me up before I think!). thank you
Half really easy and half hard for me. Being dim on bulls eye. Seems that the convention of not doing bull finishes has gone from pro darts.
57 minutes. Not very biffable so I was slow but all parsed in the end. BULL’S EYE LOI. Thanks Jack.