Times Cryptic No 27396 – Saturday 6th July 2019. Happiness is a well set crossword …

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… and this puzzle was a delight. Hard again, but very fair. Absolutely no obscure vocabulary or general knowledge, but many tricky clues that needed much thought to get hold of. I did all the bottom half relatively quickly, then cracked 1ac and finished the top left. Finally I did the top right, with 6dn my last one in – as usual, I failed to see the hidden answer!!

Many, many thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle.

The clue of the day for me was 15dn. I didn’t realise “kipper” could be a verb. 4dn deserves a mention for its unusual structure!

Clues are in blue, with definitions underlined. Answers are in BOLD CAPS, then wordplay. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’. Explanations and deletions are in [square brackets].

Across
1  Person trying to nab another’s second drink (6)
CHASER: a double definition. I’ve only underlined the second, more straightforward definition, since that’s the one used in 4dn. I slowed myself down on this clue because after I saw the “S”, CASSIS stuck in my mind from a recent puzzle.

5 On-field evidence of underground move to purge players? (8)
WORMCAST: WORM [to purge – e.g. to worm a dog, I suppose], CAST [players].

9 Means of transport connected works with college (8)
UNICYCLE: UNI is the college, the CYCLE is a set of connected works.

10  It’s said writer will express tentative interest (6)
NIBBLE: sounds like [“it’s said”] the “nib will”, or the “nib’ll”!

11  Monarch’s heartless companion put out (6)
QUENCH: QU[e]EN, CH.

12 Bishop’s said no different church must be included (8)
DIOCESAN: [anagram: “different”] of (SAID NO*), “including” CE. Setters use an apostrophe-s in many different ways. Here it’s part of the definition.

14  Unorthodox setters, each vastly superior (7,5)
STREETS AHEAD: [anagram: “unorthodox”] of (SETTERS*), then A HEAD (“each”, as in “tuppence a head”).

17 Worshippers go on creating havoc (12)
CONGREGATION: [anagram: “havoc”] of (GO ON CREATING*).

20 Extend series of organs, etc, having expert as leader (8)
PROTRACT: PRO [expert], TRACT [series of organs etc – for example, the digestive tract].

22  Quietly judge team returning for initial qualifier (6)
PREFIX: P [quietly], REF [judge], IX=XI [team] “returning”.

23  Enters the lists with nothing out of place? Exactly (4,2)
JUST SO: JOUSTS, with the O moved “out of place”.

25 Warship conquistador’s docked taking surgeon aboard (8)
CORVETTE: CORTE[z], “taking aboard” VET.

26 Eponymous hero, graduate in a woman’s clutches (4,4)
ADAM BEDE: the graduate is a B.Ed., dutifully put into the “clutches” of A DAME.

Amazing to see this book two Saturdays in a row, when I’d never heard of it before. It was George Eliot’s first novel, apparently.

27 Devoted pet welcoming first of travellers home (6)
DOTING: first of T[ravellers] and IN [home], all “welcomed” in DOG.

Down
2  Special period in which there’s no integrity (6)
HONOUR: NO in HOUR. Easy once you see it, but made harder by a cunningly placed definition. Is “special” just a distraction? Not really – a particular hour might be special for some reason, as in “cometh the hour, cometh the man”.

3 Gift claimed by Sibyl back on location, we hear (6,5)
SECOND SIGHT: SECOND [back], SIGHT sounds like SITE [location], “we hear”.

4 1 across, say, or 1 across drunk by English (9)
RACEHORSE: since 1ac is CHASER, this is an anagram [“drunk”] of (OR CHASER*), followed by E [English]. I assume the definition refers to “steeplechaser”. It seems very unusual to have to go to another answer to get both the definition and the anagram letters!

5 Win over the French added to women’s respect (7)
WHEEDLE: W [women’s], HEED [regard], LE [“the” in French]. It wasn’t easy to see whether the definition was “win over” or “regard”.

6 Repetitive movement from knocker on door (5)
RONDO: I often overlook hidden answers. D’oh!

7 Transport info for citizens provided here (3)
CAB: the CAB is transport, the C.A.B. is the Citizens’ Advice Bureau.

8  Sailor abroad set aside (4,4)
SALT AWAY: needs no explanation, I assume.

13 Boost canteen menu briefly with hot stew (11)
ENHANCEMENT: [anagram: “stew”] of (CANTEEN MEN- H*). “Briefly” warns us to drop the last letter of MENU.

15  Bowlers finally cured, as whole team needs to be? (9)
SKIPPERED: [bowler]S, KIPPERED. I didn’t know that KIPPERING is a process.

16 Avoided what host did in pub? (3,5)
GOT ROUND: double definition.

18 Specialist diplomat cut off offensive ambassador (7)
ATTACHÉ: ATTAC[k], H.E. [ambassador’s title]. An attaché can be a junior or a specialist diplomat – like a trade or cultural attaché.

19 Part of pump beginning to swivel stops mine working (6)
PISTON: S[wivel] in PIT ON.

21 Enlivened old king admitted to enormous dread (5)
AWOKE: O[ld] K[ing] in AWE.

24 Headgear provided by mum, temperature rising (3)
TAM: MA, T all “rising”.

30 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27396 – Saturday 6th July 2019. Happiness is a well set crossword …”

  1. I was also grateful that ADAM BEDE appeared so recently. He’s now ensconced in my memory. CHASER and RACEHORSE took ages to see, as did DIOCESAN, but I got there eventually in 38:46. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  3. I just now realized that I never even looked for the definition for RACEHORSE. So there are other kinds of CHASERS besides steeple–?
    WORMCAST was an utterly new word to me. I must have encountered B.Ed. before, and maybe even C.A.B., but took those on faith, looked them up later.
    1. Ambulance chasers. Whisky chasers. Skirt chaser. Rainbow-chaser (it’s in the dictionary). Stern-chaser (it’s a cannon!).
      1. Ha. Well, yes. What I meant was, so it’s a generic term for a kind of horse?
        1. I’m definitely NOT the authority on horse racing but I feel pretty sure a ‘chaser with a leading apostrophe is a steeplechaser.
          1. ODE sv chaser gives (2) ‘a horse for steeplechasing’. (No apostrophe)
            Interestingly enough, it also gives (3) ‘a strong alcoholic drink taken after a weaker one’; whereas the Ameican Oxford dictionary gives ‘a drink taken after another of a different kind, typically a weak alcoholic drink after a stronger one’.

            Edited at 2019-07-13 04:54 am (UTC)

            1. I think ‘chaser’ originated as a horse for hunting and the racing meaning came later.

              As for drinks, I think it can go other way as far as strength is concerned, so you’d order your usual drink or what have been drinking previously in that session, plus something different as the chaser.

              My only query on the puzzle was ‘special’ in 1ac which I’m still not convinced is necessary or adds anything.

              1. I assume you meant ‘either’? In any case, my understanding of the term matches the American Oxford definition, so I was surprised at the ODE’s. I may have been influenced by the boilermaker, a shot of whisky ordered with, and immediately followed by, a beer. My own definition of a chaser is a Scotch to follow the previous Scotch.

                Edited at 2019-07-13 06:38 am (UTC)

                1. Yes, ‘either’- sorry about the slip.

                  More on CHASER:

                  Collins has variously:

                  A chaser is an alcoholic drink that you have after you have drunk a stronger or weaker alcoholic drink.
                  …whisky with beer chasers.

                  UK
                  a drink drunk after another of a different kind, as beer after spirits

                  US
                  a mild drink, as water, ginger ale, or beer, taken after or with whiskey, rum, etc.

                  Chambers has:
                  a drink taken after one of a different kind, eg beer after spirits.

                  Oxford online has:
                  A strong alcoholic drink taken after a weaker one.

                  In my own experience it meant spirits to be ordered and drunk at the same time as beer, not necessarily before or afterwards, but that may just have been the company I kept.

                  1. The name indicates that it comes after. Whatever you order, the second drink would be the chaser
              2. Collins has ‘a special moment or period’, and gives the example ‘our finest hour’. This seems odd to me, because even in that example it just seems to mean ‘time’, but there it is.
                In my experience (which may not be typical of course) a CHASER is invariably a whisky following a beer.

                Edited at 2019-07-13 10:14 am (UTC)

    2. I tried to justify MOLEHILL at first, but it wouldn’t parse, then I remembered those squiggly sandy things I dig under to catch lug-worm when I go fishing.
  4. … my excuse for taking nearly the hour on this. The CHASER/RACEHORSE duality took a while, but I’m not sure otherwise what kept me. ADAM BEDE was by this point a write-in. LOI was WORMCAST, though it is a word I know. COD to STREETS AHEAD. Good puzzle. Thank you B and setter.
  5. ….once I got started. I can just about forgive the Grauniadism of CHASER/RACEHORSE.

    FOI STREETS AHEAD
    LOI UNICYCLE
    COD NIBBLE
    TIME 11:15

  6. I remember enjoying this puzzle but having a few queries at the end. I had PRELIM for 22a being a qualifying round. And WRENCH at 11a (i.e to put out a muscle); the parsing was approximate. So LOI could not be Honour, which I had considered, but HONERA ,one of the many crossword constructions which might be correct.
    21d clearly should be AWORE (see recent QC). David
  7. -style elements noted, as noted by Phil.

    A CHASER for me is pint, with a whisky on the side.

    FOI 24dn TAM

    LOI 11ac QUENCH

    COD 5ac WORMCAST found all over English lawns

    WOD 5dn WHEEDLE

    Time immemorial

    Edited at 2019-07-13 09:14 am (UTC)

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  10. 18:13. Nice puzzle. WORMCAST took me a while: a word I didn’t know and WORM wasn’t exactly the first synonym of ‘purge’ I thought of.
  11. I’m used to beer being the chaser; it washes away the sting of cheap bar whiskey. In Texas, they salt the beer. I’m with Phil and horryd — clever as 1a / 4d was I am not at all in favour of cross-referenced clues. Thx for the blog, and thanks setter
    PS – am I the only one who made sure that there was no word AWORE before entering 21a?

    Edited at 2019-07-13 01:31 pm (UTC)

  12. 54:42. I struggled to get on the wavelength of this one. Found 1ac, 5ac, 5dn, 4dn and 2dn hard to crack. I was also a bit hesitant over 20ac. Thank you, blogger, for suggesting digestive tract, I can now see tract as a series of organs which I couldn’t at the time of solving.
  14. As another disgruntled solver who could only think of, but not fully parse “prelim”, I object on grammatical grounds to “prefix” being clued as “qualifier”. A prefix is an affix placed before a word, base, or another prefix to modify a term’s meaning whereas a qualifier is is a word that limits or enhances another word’s meaning.
    Jeffrey
  16. The Citizens Advice Bureau renamed itself as Citizens Advice over 4 years ago.

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