Times 27079 – No politics please, we’re British!

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time: 29 minutes
Music: Mendelssohn, Midsummer Night’s Dream Music, Previn/LSO

I vaguely felt that this was a little more difficult than usual for a Monday, without being able to point to anything particularly obscure.  The Snitch says otherwise, but only a few results are in yet.   Anyway, while many of the answers were write-ins, a little thinking was required here and there. 

Across
1 Opens containers filled with eggs, oddly (6)
BEGINS – B(E[g]G[s])INS, not the first containers I thought of, either.
4 Old surgeon — successful one, presumably — less well-known (8)
OBSCURER – O + B.S. (Backelor of Surgery) + CURER. 
10 Close — and quickly — after turning key, storage facility at bank (5,4)
NIGHT SAFE – NIGH + FAST backwards + E.
11 Severe wound identified in A & E (5)
ACUTE – A(CUT)E.
12 Democrat and Republican etc make it, somehow? (5,6)
DREAM TICKET – anagram of D + R + ETC MAKE IT.
14 Half the people on earth smell (3)
HUM – HUM[ans].
15 One lives on alcoholic drink, reportedly (7)
RESIDER – RE + sounds like CIDER.
17 Outcast going back into fresh air apparently (6)
PARIAH – backwards hidden in [fres]H AIR AP[parently]
19 Male name given with some hesitation (6)
CALLUM – CALL + UM, a Scottish name derived from Latin Columba.
21 Sickly-looking child’s coat (7)
PALETOT – PALE + TOT, one of those words the French took from English, and then sent back in a garbled form.
23 Computer in 2001 revealed what’s 75% of 50% (3)
HAL – HAL[f].   Yes, I saw the movie when it came out in 1968.
24 Fail to achieve target, as nostalgic German banker might? (4,3,4)
MISS THE MARK – Double definition, one jocular.
26 Attacker drops new weapon (5)
LUGER – LU[n]GER.
27 60s’ film hero visiting hostile mining area (9)
COALFIELD – CO(ALFIE)LD.   The movie may be forgotten, but everyone remembers the song.
29 Offensive and frosty-sounding, speaking thus? (8)
TETCHILY – TET + sounds like CHILLY, the offensive that will live forever alongside Beerbohm Tree and sex appeal.
30 Tabloid journalist coming in right before work (6)
REDTOP – R(ED)T + OP, and write-in for most solvers.
Down
1 One place to sleep at foot of hill in Spanish resort (8)
BENIDORM – BEN + I DORM.   Never heard of it, but the cryptic is very generous.
2 Music sent up in Brussels concert? (5)
GIGUE – EU GIG upside-down.
3 Egg, one with top sliced off (3)
NIT – [u]NIT. 
5 Finish school, having gap year before attending university? (5,2)
BREAK UP – BREAK + UP, a bit of a UK-ism.
6 Growth of one singing French version of She? (11)
CHANTERELLE – CHANTER + ELLE, where ‘growth’ is a little vague for a famous fungus.
7 Rowdy players getting plastered (9)
ROUGHCAST – ROUGH + CAST, a chestnut.
8 Unhealthy male in grip of unusual malady at last (6)
RHEUMY – R(HE)UM + [malad]Y
9 Higher gear, zigzagging across motorway (6)
GAMIER – GA(MI)ER, i.e. an anagram of GEAR.
13 Novel, fateful time for Julius Caesar? (11)
MIDDLEMARCH – Double definition, a very witty one.
16 That girl’s dazzled … by such illumination? (9)
STARLIGHT – anagram of THAT GIRL’S, a cryptic I didn’t notice until after finishing the puzzle.
18 Fed Midlands community on upside-down pudding (6,2)
STOKED UP – STOKE + PUD upside-down.   The city is also known as Stoke-On-Trent, but that would not do here.
20 American going through two states to find, say, Oklahoma! (7)
MUSICAL – M(US)I + CAL, where both a modern 2-letter postal abbreviation and an old-style abbreviation are used.
21 Was getting advice about cutting tool (6)
PITSAW – WAS TIP upside-down.
22 Fellow reduced rent for holiday accommodation (6)
CHALET – CHA[p] + LET
25 Quick drink before road trip starts (5)
ALERT – ALE + R[oad] T[rip]
28 Price of fuel cut (3)
FEE – FEE[d], most likely, with ‘fuel’ as a verb.

47 comments on “Times 27079 – No politics please, we’re British!”

  1. 14 minutes, most instantly solved, but a slight delay in SW corner. DNK pitsaw or paletot, but they had to be right. Sometimes I feel that I’m just in complete synch with the setter; other times I think we’re speaking a different language.
  2. Just my 4th ever completed 15×15 so feeling pretty chuffed. Gigue and paletot went in with fingers crossed and roughcast was also new to me.
    I did have a significant break mid solve with 2d and a number in the SE still remaining but when I came back I managed to steadily fill in the blanks.
    Thanks for the blog.
  3. Wow, I finished it! All present and correct, only had to resort the thesaurus a couple of times. Very pleased I got PALETOT and PITSAW. About 45 minutes, I think — started in my dinner hour and finished it after tea. Does anybody else find that they do better after a glass of wine?!
    1. Congratulations – this one was no Monday easy. I shouldn’t really let on, but I think Verlaine of this parish would would cheerfully sing the praises of a glass or two before, during and after the puzzle. Doesn’t seem to slow him down much.
      I did the Quickie today after half a bottle of Lucozade, but I don’t think that counts.

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