Times 27001 – Mini-monster

Author   ulacaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Well, I found this difficult, taking over an hour. No idea how others have done, as I have been out enjoying the beautiful weather in Hong Kong’s hidden gem, its north-east corner. I wasn’t so blase that I just said, ‘Sod it! You lot can get it at my leisure.’ I actually thought tomorrow was Monday, by dint of the fact that today is a public holiday. Sad, but true.

ACROSS

1 Religious figure showing esprit? (4,6)
HIGH PRIEST – rather good this – it’s ESPRIT as it would be if you were to make an anagram of it with the anagram indicator being HIGH. I confidently bunged in HOLY SPIRIT, thereby making myself liable to eternal damnation as a heretic. Thank God this is the 21st century.
6 Minimal cut in study (4)
SCAN – SCAN[t]
10 Different person in lead to get vegetable (7)
POTHERB – OTHER in PB
11 Open sandwiches are commonly initially ham (7)
OVERACT – AC (Are Commonly initially) in OVERT
12 Neat, adopting island’s clan system (9)
TRIBALISM – BALIS in TRIM
13 Attacker expressing a further requirement (5)
RIDER – rather good too, I thought; think of expressing in the sense of what a mother does with her milk. So the A gets chucked out of R[a]IDER
14 Put down pen, heart being overwhelmed by end of verse (5)
QUELL -QU[i]LL with the I getting replaced by [vers]E
15 Story about African politicians, one that’s quite attractive (9)
FANCIABLE – ANC I in FABLE; liked this too
17 A small point about sailors and soldiers getting decoration (9)
ADORNMENT – RN MEN in A DOT
20 Rather like methods of preservation? Shrewd (5)
CANNY – a Baldrick-style gag; ‘I have a canny plan.’ ‘Don’t be stupid, Baldrick.’ ‘But I have stuffed the turnip in a can.’ Oh, please yourselves…
21 Sausage returned after one’s dropped — start again (5)
RENEW – WE[i]NER reversed minus its I
23 Drama to increase around element of education in kindergarten? (9)
PLAYGROUP – PLAY GO UP around R (one of the 3 Rs)
25 Dealing with plates smashed in alarm (7)
LAMINAR – IN ALARM*
26 Expression of good fighter pilot on edge? (7)
GRIMACE – G (good) RIM (edge) ACE (fighter pilot)
27 Subset of the chosen 22? (4)
ECHO – a cunning hidden (signalled by ‘subset of’), Echo being a classical nymph (Thanks to gothick_matt for the gentle prompting)
28 Marine creature covering a marine area, nothing less (10)
CRUSTACEAN – CRUST (covering) A [o]CEAN (nothing less)

DOWN

1 Very keen about displaying religious attitude? Get away! (3,2)
HOP IT – PI in HOT
2 Discover what’s upsetting for one couple about current group (3,4,2)
GET WISE TO – GE (e.g. reversed – upsetting for one) TWO around I SET
3 Quiet revolution not 100% able to turn the dominant flow (10,4)
PREVAILING WIND – P REV AILING (not 100% able) WIND
4 Popular lawyer making only key points (2,5)
IN BRIEF – IN BRIEF
5 Currently arts graduate is engaged in tin representation of figure (7)
SNOWMAN – NOW MA in SN (tin)
7 Vegetable, cold and tough (5)
CHARD – C HARD
8 Dodgy reputation not unknown around a lot of political party (9)
NOTORIETY – NOT Y (unknown) around TORIE[s]
9 Sadly cannot irrigate unfamiliar ground (5,9)
TERRA INCOGNITA – CANNOT IRRIGATE*
14 What French will accept a routine formal dance? (9)
QUADRILLE – A DRILL in QUE (what in French)
16 Heads for vacation often during spare time, showing wish for travel (3,6)
BON VOYAGE – V O (initial letters of Vacation Often) in BONY (spare) AGE (time)
18 Representative in European city upset ruler (7)
EMPEROR – REP in ROME all reversed
19 Something irritating in opening chatter (4,3)
TEAR GAS – TEAR (split – opening) GAS
22 Pretty girl: note my rising power over hearts (5)
NYMPH – N MY reversed P (power) H (hearts)
24 Praise writer about two separate articles (5)
PAEAN – A + A in PEN

53 comments on “Times 27001 – Mini-monster”

  1. 36 mins but with “get wise to” overlooked and left partly unsolved. Nice puzzle. Thanks for the explanation for “rider”.
  2. After an Easter Monday visit to Tobermory, where I collected a nice 10 year old single malt directly from the conveniently placed distillery, I tackled this puzzle a day late, late in the afternoon, after a breakfast of cold ham, cheese, toast with pate, banana, grapes, blueberries and tea, consumed while watching the sheep milling about through the kitchen window, after which I had an enjoyable walk around the beaches of West Mull with Iona looming mistily across the Sound and the rain coming in, not quite horizontally, but with a bracing wind. Later a visit to the Keel Row in Fionnphort enabled a delicious pint of MacEwans 80/- to be consumed before I returned to our cosy cottage and looked at the puzzle. I Hopped to It, and after 24:42 rose to NOTORIETY. A biffed PRESCHOOL caused a delay in the SE, where I also pondered on the meaning of RIMGACE, before common sense prevailed. A most enjoyable puzzle. Thanks setter and U.

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