Times Cryptic No 27810 – Saturday, 31 October 2020. Happy Halloween.

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Given that this puzzle appeared on Halloween, I wondered if there would be spooky things afoot. As it turned out, no … it was much more treat than trick. I finished quickly and relatively easily. My LOI was 10ac, with its nice clue. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle. Let’s take a look.

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.

Clues are blue, with definitions underlined. Deletions are in {curly brackets}.

Across
1 Manage to hold everything together with current steam organ (8)
CALLIOPE – COPE (manage) holds ALL (everything) and I (the symbol for current in physics).
5 Upturn in iron making plant (6)
FRISÉE – RISE in FE, the chemical symbol for iron. I didn’t know the plant … it’s a French name, obviously.
9 Drink minutes after game (3)
RUM – RU for Rugby Union, M for minutes,
10 Repairs the brickwork of the church here? It could be a little light (5,6)
POINT SOURCE – POINTS (repairs the brickwork, by replacing the mortar), OUR C.E. (this church here).
12 Dry goods may be carried here (2,3,5)
ON THE WAGON – double definition. Who uses a wagon these days?
13 Dismissing editor, looked intently for a brilliant one (4)
STAR – from STAR{ed}.
15 Knowing about key as something that might open windows? (6)
ADWARE – D is the key, in AWARE. ADWARE might open a window on your computer, to show you an advertisement.
16 Ring to listen to one half of animated pair (7)
GROMMET – sounds like (‘listen’!) one half of Wallace & Gromit.
18 Hooligan managed to get round two-thirds of gallery in Florence (7)
RUFFIAN – RAN around UFFI{zi}. I didn’t know the gallery, but the answer was clear.
20 Take husks off tough rice and such (6)
THRESH – outside letters of T***H, R**E, S**H spell the answer. Neat literal definition.
23 Stake a new note (4)
ANTE – A (from the clue), N (for new), TE (a musical note).
24 Brilliant singer at our carol broadcast (10)
COLORATURA – anagram (broadcast) of AT OUR CAROL.
26 Into Hell he’d burst to maintain a position (4,3,4)
HOLD THE LINE – anagram (burst) of INTO HELL HED.
27 Pawn the thing? That’s mine (3)
PIT – P for pawn, IT is the thing.
28 Each day Iran backed capturing foreign capital (6)
RIYADH – hidden, backwards, in eaCH DAY IRan.
29 As hand waving left Tuaregs confused (8)
GESTURAL – anagram (confused) of L TUAREGS.

Down
1 Projecting course of ring road in county (northern) (6)
CORDON – O (ring) and RD inside CO (county), then N (northern). I think the definition refers to a projecting course of stonework. Can anyone give us the details?
2 Restricted American university breaking into song (7)
LIMITED – MIT in LIED.
3 Theatre manager with prime positioning above dress circle (10)
IMPRESARIO – IMPRE is an anagram (‘positioning’) of PRIME. SARI is a dress. O is the circle.
4 Means soldier in company has more when other ranks are gone (7,6)
PRIVATE INCOME – PRIVATE is the soldier. IN CO is ‘in company’. ME is M{OR}E, when OR (other ranks) are gone.
6 Crucifix with diamonds affixed to jumper (4)
ROOD – ROO is the jumper. D is diamonds.
7 A point in society setting up arts corporation (7)
STRATUM – STRA is the result of ‘setting up’ ARTS. TUM is the corporation.
8 Condemn river vehicle that’s worn out (8)
EXECRATE – EXE is the river. CRATE is the worn-out vehicle.
11 All are expected to conform with these arresting ideas? (7,6)
THOUGHT POLICE – I think this is just a very obscure cryptic definition. If so, too deep for me!
14 Title we have secured by explosive series of games (10)
TOURNAMENT – OUR NAME is the title we have. It’s secured by TNT.
17 Stop brewing herb tea with the last of water (8)
BREATHER – anagram (brewing) of HERB TEA with the final R from {wate}R.
19 Terminally overweight friend (7)
FATALLY – FAT ALLY describes our overweight friend.
21 Thwart special constable taking stimulant (7)
SCUPPER – S.C. is Special Constable. UPPER is a stimulant.
22 What determines price of wagon on railway (6)
CARTEL – CART on EL (a railway, in Chicago for example).
25 Boss is unintelligent, but not very religious (4)
STUD – STUPID, minus PI.

22 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27810 – Saturday, 31 October 2020. Happy Halloween.”

  1. thanks, brnchn. I found this mild, too. I liked Pit for it’s brevity and Coloratura for it’s cleverly related anagram.
  2. Nothing particularly mind-stretching. DNK POINT SOURCE, DNK that the dog was spelled that way, and DNK that meaning of CORDON. But I see that ODE gives ‘(Architecture) a projecting course of brick or stone on the face of a wall’, which is good enough for me. I noticed that ‘manage(d)’ (COPE, RAN) is in two clues, if that’s of any interest.
  3. I’ve written “straightforward” in my notes but there were a few words I was unfamiliar with such as CALLIOPE, FRISEE and POINT SOURCE.
    No real COD but double ticks to THRESH and ADWARE.
    Thanks for the blog, Bruce. I’m always wary of saying a clue is an &lit so I’m glad you explained THRESH that way. And, yes, I have no other theory on THOUGHT POLICE.
  4. 34 minutes. NHO POINT SOURCE, nor FRISEE as a plant; I thought is was something to do with hair-styling. Like others I was a bit vague about the gallery, although having looked it up later I certainly knew of it. Knew the fairground organ.
  5. Easy one, this.
    frisee is a salad vegetable, you can buy it in sainsburys. Type of endive
  6. 22 minutes with two unknowns in. For 1d, the cryptic says CORDON but I didn’t know the projecting course. That’s the way I went but there is a county CARLOW that I kept trying to make work. On 5a, I constructed FRISEE and I’ve no doubt eaten it, but I didn’t know it. I also assumed CALLIOPE was a steam organ named after the muse. POINT SOURCE brought back memories of the double slit experiment. COD to GROMMET and THOUGHT POLICE jointly. I enjoyed this. Thank you Bruce and setter.
  7. 14:08. …so yes, on the easy side. Like others I hadn’t heard of that meaning of CORDON. I liked ADWARE, THRESH, PIT and FATALLY best.
  8. 9:50. No problems while solving but now that I look at it again I don’t see how the clue for THOUGHT POLICE is supposed to work.
    Frisée aux lardons is a French staple. Frisée is quite bitter so the fattiness of bacon works really well with it. Yum.
  10. I got 12 clues in my first session of 30 minutes and had the whole thing finished by 11:22AM so not too long overall. I had a few queries.
    FOI and LOI was CARTEL. Started with it, could not parse it, crossed it out and finished with it -still not understanding the EL. Also failed to parse STUD which was 2OI.
    Otherwise similar unknowns to others successfully constructed which means it was a good puzzle in my book. Liked FATALLY. David
    1. The El is the ELevated railway system in Chicago; I’m not sure if the term applies to other cities’ elevated trains.
  11. I rather liked 11d – I think it’s a whimsical DD cum CD – “Thought Police” as “these (people) arresting ideas” and colloquially “thought police” are people who expect others to conform to their ideas. “These” needs to do double duty to make it a DD since “arresting” would need “policing” rather than “police” otherwise – so perhaps best to see it as just a CD.

    Overall pretty straightforward at 9.20.

    I’ve forgotten my password but I’m an occasional poster as shikasta.

    1. The thing I don’t get about 11dn is that it seems to be the ideas that are getting arrested.
      1. Whimsically, yes – if the Thought Police police thoughts then they might arrest them since that’s what police do.
          1. Well, it is a whimsical CD type clue – & besides the Military Police do arrest the military.
  13. ….as the paper boy didn’t deign to get out of bed. Would have been a little quicker on paper. DNK FRISEE (Salad ? You’re having a laugh !), or POINT SOURCE. Wasn’t impressed by the THOUGHT POLICE.

    FOI RUM
    LOI ON THE WAGON
    COD THRESH
    TIME 10:18

  14. FOI 6dn ROOD

    LOI 15ac ADWARE

    COD 16ac GROMMIT

    WOD 24ac COLORATURA

    But at 10ac I had POINT COURSE (Brickwork innit!?)

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