Times Cryptic 29274 – Sat, 5 July 2025. Know wot I mean, guv?

Author   branchPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic

A few interesting and unfamiliar words here, including one I didn’t realise came from Cockney Rhyming Slang. How did you do?

Note for newcomers: The Times offers prizes for Saturday Cryptic Crosswords. This blog is for last week’s puzzle, posted after the competition closes. So, please don’t comment here on this week’s Saturday Cryptic.

Definitions are in bold and underlined. Wordplay instructions copied from the clues thus. Anagram material (THUS)*

Across
1 Singular sound of weary masses (6)
STACKS – S [singular] + TACKS [sound of TAX=to weary].
5 One watching beer bottles sway (8)
BEHOLDER – BEER bottles HOLD [sway].
I had a momentary pause at hold=sway, but it works: think of “a cult leader’s hold/sway over their flock”.
9 First proper name to be extracted from second? (10)
PRIMORDIAL – PRIM [proper] + ORDINAL with N extracted.
“Second” is an example of an ordinal number, flagged by the question mark. {As you likely know, cardinal numbers say how many there are, ordinal numbers say what order they are in.}
10 Culmination of mock kiss (4)
APEX – APE + X.
11 Bad-tempered silence about desire (8)
SHREWISH – SH + RE + WISH.
12 Fish louse once found in most of Bristol (6)
BONITO – NIT [louse, once … before it hatches!] found in BOOB [most of “Bristol”!].
I wondered where this meaning of Bristol came from. Should have guessed … CRS: Bristol City, titty!
13 You initially get lecture if greengrocer’s cross (4)
UGLI – U + GLI [initially, Get Lecture If]
15 Snake wanting months to digest duck for instance (8)
OCCASION – MOCCASIN [snake, wanting M] to digest O.
18 Mobster, senior man, regularly used martial art (8)
CAPOEIRA – CAPO [mobster] + sEnIoR mAn regularly.
It’s true that a CAPO is not just any mobster; he’s the boss. But it’s not relevant; seniority relates to the second part of the wordplay.
The answer floated into my mind from somewhere. I thought, “wait – is that a martial art or a dance form?” Turns out, it’s both!
19 Oil producer originally called Mike (4)
NEEM – NEE [originally called] + M [from the phonetic alphabet].
I had to look it up. Yes, it’s a real word: a tree!
21 Country in deficit, surplus reversed (6)
RUSTIC – hidden backwards as highlighted above [in, reversed].
23 Wolf down half of most tasty sandwiches (8)
DEMOLISH – DELISH [tasty] sandwiches half of MOST.
25 Some continental custard powder (4)
TALC – hidden as highlighted above [some].
26 Bombast is old Falstaff’s hallmark (10)
OROTUNDITY – O + ROTUNDITY.
27 Seethe at daft dilettante (8)
AESTHETE – anagram (daft): (SEETHE AT)*
I didn’t realise the answer could have this disparaging flavour.
28 Lining of pert setter’s winter coat (6)
ERMINE – PERT + MINE.
Down
2 Set fire to rubbish tips on fringes of Crowborough (5)
TORCH – TOR [ROT=rubbish, tips] + CrowborougH.
3 Hispanic peasant is most flamboyant, endlessly in love (9)
CAMPESINO – CAMPEST + IN + O [love].
I didn’t know this word!
4 Rick Stein’s head waiter ultimately suffering cramps (6)
SPRAIN – head of Stein + PAIN [suffering] cramps waiteR ultimately.
I wasted time trying to justify STRAIN. Duh!
5 Bravo! Hen-night do enlivened seaside city (8,3,4)
BRIGHTON AND HOVE – anagram (enlightened): (BRAVO HEN NIGHT DO)*
6 Partially support rugby player (8)
HALFBACK – HALF [partially] + BACK [support].
7 Master runs into bank (5)
LEARN – R into LEAN.
8 Conductor travelled behind chosen few (9)
ELECTRODE – RODE behind ELECT.
14 Old lady, cruel at heart and dead rough (9)
GRANULATE – GRAN + U [CRUEL, at heart] + LATE.
16 Unmarried state of Carol, retired mannequin (9)
SINGLEDOM – SING [carol] + MODEL retired.
Rather a clunky word.
17 Girl’s bosom lay bare (8)
DISCLOSE – DI’S [girl’s] + CLOSE [as in “close/bosom friend”].
20 Dirty rascal, topless of course (6)
IMPURE – IMP + SURE.
22 Understood one is bound by diplomacy (5).
TACIT – I bound by TACT.
24 Attacked Rolling Stone (3,2)
SET ON – anagram (rolling): (STONE)*
Delightful!

31 comments on “Times Cryptic 29274 – Sat, 5 July 2025. Know wot I mean, guv?”

  1. Camp as a row of tents and not too UGLI. Alternatively, thank God it was Saturday. Felt this was cleverly and mostly fairly clued.
    All complete and correct but needed help here with parsing one or two. Firstly in 12ac saw the BONITO had to be, but missed the Bristol – unfortunate.
    Took a fancy to the old lady in 14d and probably my COD.
    In 5d could see BRIGHTON as likely from crossers, and was assisted by memory of football team Brighton and Hove Albion – to realise full name.
    Had to seek some aid with 18ac, where I believe ‘senior man’ is doing double duty and necessary – because a CAPO is/was the ‘head of heads’ in the mafia.
    Also looked up synonyms for ‘bombast’ to reveal why 26ac was a clever clue.
    MERs (only) at HOLD for ‘sway’ in 5ac, and DEMOLISH for ‘wolf down’ 23ac.
    And, for added pedantry, SET ON less encountered than ‘set upon’ 24d.
    The structure in 4d – a little clumsy but works.
    Overall, this was enjoyable, unlike what appears to be happening to some daily cryptics.
    Thank you setter and branch.

    1. The head of heads is the capo dei capi or capo de tutti capi. A CAPO is the head mobster but by definition he is therefore also a mobster so there is no need for ‘senior’.

      1. I see/saw the point U are/were making.
        My question was: Is a generic mobster good enough to construct the specific answer?
        We can perhaps agree to disagree?
        Or U my have a further and last word on this matter. Kind regards.

        1. Head mobster is a sub-category of mobsters, just as a labrador is a sub-category of dogs. So ‘mobster’ is a valid definition of ‘head mobster’ exactly as ‘dog’ is a valid definition of ‘labrador’.

  2. 51m 08s
    26ac OROTUNDITY reminded of the word with a similar meaning, ‘rodomontade’ meaning boastful words or bragging. I first came across it in a book by an American historian describing the momentous days in May in 1940 in London. He quotes one of Churchill’s cabinet colleagues as referring to Churchill’s ‘rodomontades’.
    12ac: It’s years since I heard that piece of CRS!
    Thanks, Bruce.

  3. 30:46 WOE
    STRAIN. Talk about duh! I didn’t waste much time trying to justify it, I just wrote a ? in the margin. ?, indeed!
    I knew Brighton, of course, but not BRIGHTON AND HOVE, which I got from ODE. I remember Bristols from a cryptic here; and I remember that it got some negative comment from solvers; surprised to see it come back. I liked DEMOLISH.

    1. Well we had ‘totty’ yesterday, which carried an admission. But, like rv1 elsewhere in this blog, I suggest Bristols is more direct objectification than should be acceptable for us in a clue – or in life in general.
      And it should be clear from my other posts that I am not a prude.

  4. A few NHOs in this. OROTUNDITY was one but guessed Falstaff was rather on the large side. CAPOEIRA was another. Saw the conductor ELECTRODE quickly without being led down the musical path. Thought the definition for GRANULATE should have been ‘roughen’ rather than ‘rough’, can’t quite think of how they could be exchanged in a sentence but I’m sure it would be right. NHO NEEM but the wordplay was clear. BONITO rang a distant bell and saw the NIT as the ‘louse once’ but missed the cheeky boo(b) hint. I haven’t heard that particular CRS either for a long time. Liked SHREWISH. COD to the amusing DE(MO)LISH.
    Thanks B and setter.

  5. This was a challenging and satisfying puzzle ( unlike yesterday’s one which continues to irritate ) . With 5d I would never have got this if it wasn’t for the football memory and wonder whether the city is officially called ‘B and H ‘ as both Brighton and Hove are clearly two separate places.

    1. Well according to Google AI the club name combines the two towns and Albion means ‘white land’ referring to the cliffs (of Dover).
      If true, then the clue is a little suspect, unless the two city centres are commonly regarded as one.

    3. I hadn’t realised about Brighton and Hove.
      Further to andyf’s comment, it’s interesting to see the wording of the announcement in the London Gazette:
      https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/56109/page/1431
      (bottom left)
      ***
      “The QUEEN has been pleased by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of
      the Realm dated 31st January 2001, to ordain that the Towns of
      Brighton and Hove shall have the status of a City.”
      ***
      ‘the Towns’ plural, become ‘a City’ singular.
      As opposed to the notice to the right, where on the same date, ‘the Town’ of Wolverhampton also became ‘a City’.

  6. So the two I couldn’t get this week were the fish and the duck. I feel fairly vindicated at my resignation since having looked up the answers I was none the wiser as to how they worked.
    I thought SPRAIN was an excellent clue. So many devious deflections to go through to work out what was doing what.
    APEX was succinctly clever too.

    Thank you both.

  7. Well over an hour over two sessions on two days. By the end I was using aids. Too many unknowns for my taste: NEEM, BONITO, CAPOEIRA, CAMPESINO. Didn’t recognise the definition of AESTHETE or understand how OCCASION worked.

    1. I can’t see how aesthete could mean dilettante either – based on general knowledge and ODE.
      But Chambers cites it and it fitted the crossers (true confession).

  8. Pink in BONITA. It rang a bell and maybe Bristol = Boat. I do vaguely remember the slang from childhood classics such as Benny Hill and The Sweeney but am happy to let some GK fall through the sieve of memory.
    Falstaff recalls the torture of Henry IV pt 1 for O’Level. Which idiot thought that was a good choice to instil a love of Shakespeare in teenagers?
    Didn’t enjoy this one at all but thanks for the blog.

    1. I struggled with the play at the time, but it has some good quotes. Our teacher told us why – the alternative was Macbeth, which everyone would choose. Henry IV gave us a better chance of getting better marks.

  9. Found this very hard. I did complete it after several attempts over three days with all but the wordplay for 9a understood – thanks branch, seems obvious now.
    Definitely the hardest by a long chalk of the trio I usually do over the weekend (Saturday and Sunday cryptics and Mephisto). That aside there were some very well crafted clues and I wonder whether there was something on the setters mind with 1c, 12a, 17d, 29d.

  10. Could not believe my eyes when I worked out BONITO.

    Excellent puzzle, must have taken nearly an hour.

  11. About 20 minutes

    – Relied on the wordplay for the unknown BONITO, and like Dicko above I couldn’t quite believe that this Private Eye-level cluing was being used (on top of that, I’m familiar with Bristols as rhyming slang, but I can’t recall seeing it used in the singular before). Combined with the bosom laid bare for DISCLOSE, plus the topless rascal for IMPURE… blimey
    – Also had to trust the wordplay to get the unknown NEEM
    – Didn’t know that meaning/connotation of AESTHETE

    Thanks branch and setter.

    FOI Brighton and Hove
    LOI Bonito
    COD Sprain

  12. 14:39. Having worked my way through the various unknowns I managed to ruin it all with a silly typo.
    The CRS is in poor taste and not worthy of the Times IMO, and like Mayfair above I am no prude.

  13. 62 minutes. Slow throughout but worst in the NE. I was stuck at the end on CAPOEIRA (spelling unknown) and BONITO (totally unknown) but I eventually figured out both from the wordplay. Thanks branch.

  14. I liked this – a level hour and all parsed. Thought 9ac especially elegant. Also liked the whimsy of 19 ac, achieved in just five words.

  16. Too much for me- would never have got BONITO, I had the nit part by Bristol meant nothing to me- obviously I have led a very sheltered life. Couple of others that beat me. I’ll try today’s in due course and hope for better outcomes!

    1. You will be pleasantly surprised, I think.
      Perhaps a little too easy for some tastes, but very Times conventional.

  17. 34.00

    Strange one. Some escapees from the Quickie, then a large pile of breezeblocks.

    NHO CAMPESINO NEEM CAPOEIRA. and OROTUNDITY almost NHO but the w/p was reasonably clear in all cases.

    Also NHO BOOB for Bristol which is poor both for the reasons above (come on Editor, this should have been a very obvious use of the red pen); and for its obscurity (to me anyway, which is of course all that counts 🙂) Fortunately BONITO rang a reasonably strong bell but this clue had a rather strong whiff of obscurity clued by an obscurity.

    But apart from that one gripe, I like a few off-beat words so did enjoy the puzzle a lot especially as I managed to make myself pause and correct STRAIN to SPRAIN.

    Thanks setter and Bruce

  18. Done in an hour.

    I had PROFUNDITY as I thought that was a characteristic of Falstaff:
    While often portrayed as a buffoonish figure, his speeches and actions reveal a complex character with PROFOUND insights into human nature and the absurdity of certain societal values.

    Needed help from my crossword Dictionary to unpick Bosom=Close. But the Bosom clue turned out to be Bristols. Was able to guess CAMPESINO from CAMPO (field?). NHO NEEM (looked unlikely), or CAPOEIRA (even less likely), or BONITO.

    Didn’t understand why Brighton & Hove is one place, apart from the football club. I now see it’s an administrative area. With the elimination of unitaries in 2027, maybe it will disappear.

    To get from “most of Bristol” to Boo: you need to know that Bristol has a football club called Bristol City, and that the rhyming slang for Titty is Bristol, that a synonym could be BOOB, and that “most of” means drop the last letter.

    1. B&H is a bit more than an admin area, it’s the official name of the city as clued.

  19. Technically DNF as referred to cheat machine for the fruit. It was there but I’d forgotten it. Jamaican cuisine and ingredients are out of my ken.

    Lots to like: capoeira, orotundity, primordial, but COD to the cheeky indicator in bonito.
    Thanks se tyre and blogger.

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