Times 27034 – sunk!

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: submitted at 15:12, but I have one incorrect.  After a longer look at the one I got wrong, I can see what it should have been, though I don’t think I would have come readily.

Odd puzzle this one, lots of head-scratching, and a fair chunk of biffing, though I think I have the wordplay sorted out (for those clues that have wordplay). I won’t be surprised if I’m not alone in having an honest error.

For those of you not expecting to see my smiling face, z8b8d8k and I have done a little swap, as he is away from the interweebs today and I will not be around on June 14.

Away we go…

Across
1 Dirty books in second venue for literary festival (6)
SHABBY – B,B(books) in S and the HAY literary festival, which starts in a few weeks (and was a lucky guess for me)
4 Building’s top plant installer? (8)
THATCHER – cryptic definition (since it would be plant material used to make the thatched roof)
10 Bury rival, small person applying for job? (11)
INTERVIEWEE – INTER(bury), VIE(rival), WEE(small)
11 Impertinence masked at the outset by daughter’s sauce (3)
DIP – LIP(impertinence) with D instead of L at the front
12 Very serious man with stylish clothing (7)
CHRONIC – RON(man) inside CHIC(stylish)
14 You, once humble, putting forward Liberal that’s a bit jaundiced? (7)
YELLOWY – YE(you, once), then LOWLY(humble) with the L moved to the front
15 Electronic components cracked on some circuits and died, losing current (14)
SEMICONDUCTORS – anagram of ON,SOME,CIRCUITS,D minus I
17 One’s highly strung, which may describe spinal cord (6,2,6)
BUNDLE OF NERVES – double definition
21 Survive disembarking after everyone else? (7)
OUTLAST – or be the one who gets OUT LAST
22 Hooter modified to cover front of brass instrument (7)
THEORBO – anagram of HOOTER containing B(rass)
23 Form of three-way junction without a coupling (3)
TWO – T(three-way junction), W/O(without)
24 Drill bit with vertical grip? (7,4)
PRESENT ARMS – cryptic definition, based on rifles being presented vertically in that part of the drill
26 In study I messed up division (8)
DISUNITY – anagram of IN,STUDY,I
27 Writer needing men in good health (6)
ORWELL – OR(men), WELL(in good health)

Down
1 Bag held up in Candide’s Act I, usually (8)
SUITCASE – hidden reversed in candidES ACT I USually
2 Floating platform headed back to sailors (3)
AFT – RAFT(floating platform) missing the head
3 Cowshed shelved, both unfinished and romantically moody (7)
BYRONIC – BYRE(cowshed) and ON ICE(shelved) both missing the last letter
5 It is a question of parentage (4-4-6)
HOWS-YOUR-FATHER – double definition with IT referring to sexual intercourse
6 Possible plagiarism involving Spanish article which is run without obstacles (3,4)
THE FLAT – THEFT(plagiarism) containing LA
7 Drove in rush, desperate to find water on Manhattan’s West Side (6,5)
HUDSON RIVER – anagram of DROVE,IN,RUSH – the river separating New York from New Jersey
8 Power for line of forwards is rewarding (6)
REPAYS – P replacing L in RELAYS(forwards a message)
9 Not being satisfied about male campers, maybe, breaking record time (14)
DISCONTENTMENT – ON (about) TENT MEN(male campers) insie DISC(record), T
13 Unruly spirit destroyed debt records (11)
RUMBUSTIOUS – RUM(spirit), BUST(destroyed), IOUS(debt records)
16 Slippery slope limiting America’s support (8)
ESPOUSAL – anagram of SLOPE containing USA
18 Unsmiling principal brings in commercial parking (7)
DEADPAN – DEAN(principal) containing AD,P
19 European Court function is set up to protect voter (7)
ELECTOR – E,CT with ROLE(function) reversed surrounding
20 Got Edward as a prize, as usual (6)
WONTED – or WON TED. This was my error, as I had POTTED, with TED being the POT.
25 Wish undone in French way (3)
RUE – double definition

76 comments on “Times 27034 – sunk!”

  1. DNF. Not my favourite. Put in TAO instead of TWO, after flipping a coin. Forgot that w/o = without, and was distracted by ‘three-way’. I dislike clues like 23 that have a redundant ‘a’ in them; I think it goes against the principle of watertight wordplay. Great blog, thanks.
    1. I can’t quite explain why but I didn’t find the “a” redundant. To my ear just “coupling” by itself to define “two” doesn’t sound as good as “a coupling” to define “two”. I expect if I cock my head the other way “coupling” on its own will sound completely fine and “a coupling” not nearly as good!
  2. Had to google BARONIC to see if it was a word, which it wasn’t so that led me to the answer. I wasn’t sure if barons are a moody lot or not. LOI THE FLAT which was a very confusing clue, and I’m not much of a racegoer myself anyway. As usual, good in parts.
  3. Out all day and attempted this in installments.

    A DNF in the usual areas – 20dn POTTED instead of WONTED

    I wanted 11ac to be DHP! What impertinence!?
    For 23ac I shoved in TAO.

    FOI 1ac SHABBY (Ken?)
    COD 17ac BUNDLE OF NERVES
    WOD 13dn RUMBUSTIOUS

    Mood Meldrew.

    Edited at 2018-05-10 02:53 pm (UTC)

  4. My LOI was POTTED, after I finally saw the short across answer was TWO, using the wordplay George describes. But it is wrong. Enough said, I suppose. Beyond that, I am pleased to have actually remembered the THEORBO from earlier appearances here. Regards.
  5. Damn. I got bogged down at 4ac and 6d. I finally saw THATCHER, but then went to pieces completely. The closest I got to 6d was “TEE SLOT”, on some undefined pretext involving golf and no parsing whatsoever at all. More annoying is that I considered “lie flat” before getting 4ac. Somehow, having “THE” in an answer seems wrong.

    Oh, and “THEORBO”?? I did get it, but I wouldn’t have put money on it.

    Edited at 2018-05-10 05:10 pm (UTC)

  6. What a terrible week. At least I finished this one, but like many other people with one mistake, only mine was BARONIC and not POTTED. But there were many words I had trouble explaining, TWO for a while and particularly REPAYS. My THEORBO was right — I am good at guessing what might be plausible, at least. Had I thought of BYRE, I might have preferred BYRONIC to BARONIC. But I didn’t think of BYRE.
  7. A 24 min solve on the train into work for me this morning. I enjoyed this and must have been on the wavelength given the difficulties others have found. I rather neatly began with 1ac and ended with 1dn. Re. the “chronic” coming to mean “very serious” through usage debate, I don’t read everything in the Times but I always like to have a read of Oliver Kamm’s Pedant column on grammar. He is very persuasive on the etymological fallacy (the false notion that a word’s meaning is derived solely from its origin and any other usage is wrong) so I find myself on the meaning is determined by usage side of the debate.
    1. Don’t you find Kamm says exactly the same thing in every Pedant’s column: that usage is all? Talk about variations on a theme.

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