Times 26895 – TCC heat 2 puzzle 1. Planting an idea or two.

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I had fun with this one, IMO the easiest yet of the four Heats puzzles so far published. I’d have finished it in well under the par of 20 minutes were it not for the NE corner where 5a and 5d held me for a while, solving and parsing.

As usual, definitions are underlined. Not much more to say. Well, nothing.

Across
1 Said goodbye, embarrassed about fishy preparation (7)
CHOWDER – ‘said goodbye’ = CHOW, sounds like CIAO, DER = red / embarrassed, reversed.
5 Hunter, swift steed, second to front (7)
SCOURER – My swift steed is a COURSER, I move the S to the front for the answer. Eventually I decided that one could SCOUR EBay or HUNT on it for a bargain, so in that sense they are synonyms.
9 Makes more impressive clothes more expensive (7,2)
DRESSES UP – If dresses go up, in price, they’re more expensive.
10 Stopped losing head, and relaxed (5)
EASED – CEASED = stopped, loses its C.
11 Dash just across line (5)
FLAIR – FAIR = just, insert L.
12 Article is worked on (9)
REALISTIC – (ARTICLE IS)*
14 Getting on train for Eton, say (8,6)
BOARDING SCHOOL – Cryptic DBE. Getting on = boarding, train = school.
17 Regular carrier beginning at Badminton? (7,7)
SHUTTLE SERVICE – Cryptic double definition.
21 Sick Asian nursing a broken leg brings relief (9)
ANALGESIA – (ASIAN A LEG)*
23 Fleece supplier a shopping centre rejected (5)
LLAMA –  A MALL reversed.
24 Beef not cooked in rind of bacon (5)
BRAWN – Insert RAW = not cooked, into B N = rind of bacon.
25 Start to hold forth about one spirit (9)
ORIGINATE – Insert I GIN (one spirit) into ORATE = hold forth.
26 Pull swimmer back downwind (7)
LEEWARD – DRAW EEL = pull swimmer, all reversed.
27 Refusal from Berlin to host bike races, golf and fishing (7)
NETTING – NEIN = German for NO, insert TT as in Isle of Man TT, add G for golf.

Down
1 Arrange overdraft provided in county’s banks (6)
CODIFY – CY = county’s banks. Insert OD = overdraft, IF = provided.
2 Plant publication about European duck (7)
OREGANO – An ORGAN is the publication, around E, followed by O for duck. Mrs K being the resident botanical expert, at the stage where I had the checkers A and O only I asked her to think of plants fitting that pattern. It makes her feel involved in my life. When I soon saw the other checkers and told her it was OREGANO she was not impressed. “That’s rubbish. I was thnking of plants, not herbs. Stupid crossword.”. I see her point, but if the clue had specified a herbal answer it would have been even easier to biff.
3 Abandon reduced price for foreign jumper (6,3)
DESERT RAT – Abandon = DESERT, RAT = RATE reduced by E. Wiki says there are three separate types of rodents all known as desert rats; gerbils, kangaroo rats, and Natal multimammate mice. Presumably some or all of them jump.
4 Checks on small coaches (11)
RESTRAINERS – RE = on, S = small, TRAINERS = coaches.
5 Drop one in without issue (3)
SIP – Sine prole is a legal term meaning childless, without issue, often abbreviated to SP. Insert I = one.
6 Old book marks popping up in Vile Bodies (5)
OBELI – Hidden reversed in V(ILE BO)DIES. The dagger sign (†) used in printing.
7 Teacher brought up possible German course (7)
RISOTTO – SIR = teacher, reversed, OTTO could be a German chap.
8 Taunt English after understandable Irish Rising (8)
RIDICULE – Reverse LUCID IR = understandable Irish, add E.
13 A good church attendance, not to do Mass (11)
AGGREGATION – A, G = good, (CON)GREGATION = church attendance with the CON = ‘DO’ removed.
15 Polite tip that’s given to royals (5,4)
CIVIL LIST – CIVIL = POLITE, LIST = TIP, tilt; taxpayer’s money passed over to keep the Royals in luxury.
16 One sultan resolved to capture British port (8)
ISTANBUL – (I SULTAN B)*
18 Erect a pale in river in the dark (7)
UNAWARE – A WAN = a pale, reversed into the River Ure.
19 Bread and some butter included in tea (7)
CHAPATI – Put a PAT of butter into your CHAI = tea.
20 Good-for-nothing ordered goods (3,3)
BAD EGG – BADE = ordered, GG = goods.
22 Sail east then north into former colony (5)
GENOA – Insert N and E into GOA, former Portuguese colony. Don’t biff GHANA or GABON.
25 Queen upset losing island rum (3)
ODD – DIDO is the Queen, she’s upset and loses her I.

62 comments on “Times 26895 – TCC heat 2 puzzle 1. Planting an idea or two.”

  1. Around 20m but unsure as there were several interruptions, some irritating but one most welcome, being the delivery of the Festive tipples from the Scottish Malt Whisky Society, courtesy of its Black Friday offering! I found this puzzle much easier than any of the 3 in the first prelim but then I wasn’t nervous about embarrassing myself at home, I suppose. I look forward to next week’s offering with interest. I was held up a bit by a lazy ANALGESIC but that was eventually corrected, thanks to AGGREGATION and like others LOI was SIP though I didn’t hesitate too long over that really. Excellent puzzle and blog, thanks to both setter and blogger today.
    1. A quick check on Wiki reveals….
      Masala chai, a blend of black tea and herbs and spices, originating in India; Chai, a word for tea in numerous …
    2. Chambers 12th edition has Chai:
      noun
      1. A strong black tea infused with milk, sugar and spices
      2. A general name for tea used esp in India
      ORIGIN: Hindi, tea; cf cha
  3. About 30 minutes of distracted solving. Nice puzzle, and clearly my times don’t make a trip to the UK advisable. DNK the SP meaning but went with SIP as a drop of something. LOI here, though, was CHAPATI where I thought the bit of butter would be a tab until I finally realized what was afoot. Regards.
  4. The standard dictionary for the daily is Collins, which does have chai. Now I check, it is in the 12th edition of Chambers – maybe you have an older one?
  5. 7:30 for this one, and I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who got CIVIL LIST from Blackadder.
  6. 20 min 25 secs. Like others I got stuck for a few mins on 5 across and 5 down and I didn’t know SP.
  7. Could even be a PB for me. Sometimes things just flow along when you’re solving without distractions or competition pressure.
  8. 44 minutes, but that’s OK, with SIP my LOI. Assumed (as it turned out correctly) that SP might be a Latin abbreviation for “childless”, since SIP was the only possibility that fit the drop. I don’t have enough Indian restaurants nearby here in Germany, so for the longest time I tried to fit something like CIABATTA into 19 dn, but fortunately that didn’t work very well so I changed the bread’s nationality. Everything else quite straightforward.
  9. 20 mins for me all done and dusted on the morning commute. Mostly a satisfyingly fun romp but held up for a couple of minutes at the end by 5dn where I ended up putting “sip” on the basis of checkers and “drop” with no idea how “sp” might mean “without issue”. The uncertainty has been nagging at me all day, could “sap” or “sop” have fitted wordplay or definition better? Glad that through no fault of my own I managed to arrive at the correct answer. I don’t think I knew Genoa as a sail but the wordplay was rock solid.
    1. Consider the following question. “Are we on for a date?” It could be phrased as “Is a date with you realistic?” ie “is it on?”
  11. Oh dear, I guessed that Oz must have a DESERT ROO–much likelier than a RAT; to mislead us, I suppose. And hence had 17 across as SOMEONE SERVING, forgetting (age does these things)what was used in badminton. Which left some problems–I invented an Indian tea for 19 dn, NAAN-A-G(H)I, some butter, and was left defeated on 18 dn by M-A-A-E, after toying with LATE for in the dark.
  12. Quite an easy one, although there was some resistance from the SE corner. BAD-EGG was LOI+COD – tough surface to crack, and very satisfying. NETTING is a fine clue too. Vaguely remembered GENOA, SP & OBELI fortunately. I wonder if CIABATTA (which blocked my mind) and CHAPATI have the same roots, and BUTTY too, but I’m not curious enough to bother looking it up. Thanks to setter, blogger and commenters.

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