Times 27376 – your bolter for 10

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 11:58, and a sigh of relief that the one I put in from wordplay turned out to be correct. I could have done better, I rather confidently put in BOLTER for 5 across thinking that it meant someone who ate fast an a horse that refused to jump, or ran away, or something, and that held up the whole top half of the grid for a while.

I enjoyed this one a lot, there’s some fun wordplay in these clues, my particular favorite being the Spoonerism at 14 which made me smile.

Away we go…

Across
1 Game European astride horse making unplanned escape (8)
LOOPHOLE –  the game is LOO, then POLE(European) surrounding H(horse)
5 One refuses to eat more quickly (6)
FASTER – double definition
8 Rabbit trap put back (3)
GAB – BAG(trap) reversed
9 Like yew, of course, in wild (10)
CONIFEROUS – anagram of OF,COURSE,IN
10 Owing to Shakespeare, Romeo makes an exit (2,3,3)
TO THE BAD – TO, then Shakespeare is THE BARD, remove R(Romeo)
11 Women’s leading pair leaving game playing area (6)
WICKET – W(Women) then take the first two letters away from CRICKET(game)
12 Stop bowler straddling line (4)
HALT – bowler HAT surrounding L(line)
14 Sweets from Spooner’s corporation, an inheritance from parents (5,5)
JELLY BEANS – spoonerism of BELLY(corporation), GENES(inheritance from parents)
17 Assertive father to French politician, right-winger (10)
PEREMPTORY – PERE(father in French), MP(politician), TORY(right-winger)
20 G-garbage (4)
GROT – G and ROT. Don’t see this style of clue in the Times often, but it was a staple for Araucaria in the Guardian
23 Attempts to solve succeeded (6)
CRACKS –  CRACK(solve), S(succeeded)
24 Fire old men and be damned! (8)
EMBOLDEN –  anagram of OLD,MEN and BE
25 Harry Potter’s eye cast (10)
STEREOTYPE – anagram of POTTER’S,EYE (apologies – I had underlined the wrong part of the clue originally)
26 Those completing all one grid had the edge (3)
LED – last letters in alL, onE, griD
27 Tree some outlaw guards (6)
BANYAN – ANY(some) inside BAN(outlaw)
28 Instrument that has diamond cut in half? (8)
TRIANGLE –  bisect a diamond and you can get a TRIANGLE

Down
1 Pilot’s guide sets fire to joint (9)
LIGHTSHIP – LIGHTS(sets fire to), HIP(joint)
2 Speaking about section of M25, say (7)
ORBITAL – ORAL(speaking) surrounding BIT – the M25 is a ring road surrounding London
3 One imposing cuts potentially a threat to security (6)
HACKER – double definition
4 Scots factor at England’s ground? (4,5)
LAND AGENT – anagram of AT,ENGLAND
5 Scrap fences in small rising road in US (7)
FREEWAY – FRAY(scrap, fight) surrounding WEE(small) reversed
6 Butterless sweet, say, grand teatime fare? (6,3)
SCOTCH EGG –  remove BUTTER from BUTTERSCOTCH(sweet), then EG(say), G(grand)
7 Note appended to records by popular artist (7)
EPSTEIN – TE(note) after EPS(records) then IN(popular) for the sculptor Jacob EPSTEIN
13 Two-timing Republican aboard coach meeting Yankee (9)
TREACHERY –  R(republican) inside TEACHER(coach), then Y(Yankee, NATO alphabet)
15 City dignitary‘s doctor runs over to stop sovereign mounting (4,5)
LORD MAYOR – MD(doctor), R(runs) and O(over) inside ROYAL(sovereign), all reversed
16 Air amid reeds stirred (3,2,4)
SET ON EDGE – TONE(air) inside SEDGE(reeds)
18 Court barred to actuaries working in large part of world (7)
EURASIA – remove CT(court) from ACTUARIES, then make an anagram
19 Pressure behind part of Arab’s leg (7)
PASTERN – P(pressure), ASTERN(behind) – this was my entry from wordplay alone
21 Instruction to halt touching case of deaf prisoner (3,4)
RED FLAG – RE(touching), then the outside letters in DeaF, LAG(prisoner)
22 Chap has taken up period winestore (6)
BODEGA – BOD(chap) then AGE(period) reversed

71 comments on “Times 27376 – your bolter for 10”

  1. The M25 is better known as Britain’s biggest traffic jam or car park if it doesn’t move at all. My FOI.

    LOI 17ac PEREMPTORY

    I’m usually flummoxed by Spoonerisms, but 14ac JELLY BEANS was bearable. My COD.

    20ac GROT reminded me of dear old Reggie Perrin, who made selling his ghastly GROT his business. My WOD.

    Time 47 minutes after a slow start

    Edited at 2019-06-13 05:07 am (UTC)

    1. Indeed. I spent several hours on the M25 this week. Monday’s weather made it especially pleasant, if one happens to like the challenge of driving in a circle while halfway blind…
  2. I took ‘cast’ as the definition (from the original meaning of the word) and ‘Harry’ as the anagrind; I don’t see how ‘Harry’ could be the definition of STEREOTYPE.

    Edited at 2019-06-13 06:16 am (UTC)

      1. Agreed reluctantly, as the HP books’ writing style conforms to a dismally fixed stereotype all its own.
  3. Biffed a couple, including WICKET, which I never got–took ‘Women’s leading pair’ to be WO and gave up. ORBITAL biffed from the B and I think the T; I’m not sure why, other than figuring that an M25 would be a minor road, or later. Forgot to parse it. Like Jack, I tried to make something of (amid reeds)*. COD to 10ac.
  4. Another slow start here too, and in fact after making little progress with only about 9 words in after half-an-hour and struggling to keep awake, I abandoned the puzzle for the night and returned to it this morning.

    On resumption I biffed a couple of answers and then made steady progress completing in a second session of 25 minutes.

    Count me as another who wasted time trying to unravel ‘amid reeds’ as an anagram, not helped by being unsure of GROT at 20ac, a type of clue I shall be quite happy if I don’t see again in The Times. We had a ‘stuttering’ clue recently which worked rather well, but this one doesn’t imho.

    Edited at 2019-06-13 05:16 am (UTC)

  5. A par-ish 15 minutes but then I managed to think “Ah yes, the final letters of ‘all one grid’ … LID.” Are Amazon selling brains yet? I need an upgrade.

    Anyway, some nice things, and mostly solved with confidence.

  6. Just remembered, I forgot to query ‘teatime’ in 6dn. I don’t know why eating a SCOTCH EGG should be time-specific but I’d bet more are eaten at lunchtime than at teatime, which is a movable feast anyway, often depending whether one is ‘dahn Saff’ or ‘oop North’.

    P.S. Yes, I have noted the question mark so it’s possibly only meant as an example but inclusion of ‘teatime’ still seems odd and unnecessary to me.

    Edited at 2019-06-13 06:26 am (UTC)

  7. I enjoyed this, not too hard. I bet nobody completes it without at least looking at *(amid reeds).
    I did like 14ac .. the idea of a Spoonerised homophone is a clever one!

    Edited at 2019-06-13 07:29 am (UTC)

  8. Vinyl & I have compiled a glossary .. there is a link on this page, top right, underneath the Snitch link.
    Feel free to suggest additions or amendments, I see it as an evolving thing.

    The next objective is to correct and update the list of bloggers and rewrite the whole of the “about this blog” page, watch this space..

    2. When I click on ‘glossary’, I get the following message:
      We are sorry, but you do not have access to this service. Please contact your Organization Administrator for access.
      1. Do you, indeed.. no idea why! Perhaps Vinyl will, he picked the webpage to use. Try clearing cache on the TfTT homepage and try the link again ..
        Anyone else have that problem?
    4. An excellent device which will save a lot of time explaining to newcomers.

      I think DKN should be DNK.

  9. Another wasting time on *(amid reeds) here. Took a while to be certain about GROT, before changing tack. Didn’t parse ORBITAL or LORD MAYOR, just biffed them. Liked JELLY BEANS. HAD BOILED EGG for a while. Does a boiled sweet contain butter? More breakfast fare than teatime though. FASTER and CONIFEROUS put me right. FOI, HALT, LOI EMBOLDEN. Nice puzzle. 40:03. Thanks setter and George.
      1. I will add Ximenean .. we decided not to have any individual cognomens in the glossary; Magoo will have an entry in the blogger’s list, being a past blogger .. thanks for suggestions!
  11. Pretty happy with my time of 45 minutes, till I went to the Club scoreboard and found I was last of the correctly completed solvers, beaten by the new Galspray, no less. Will go halves with Sotira on that new brain….
  12. COD to JELLY BEANS, really good. TO THE BAD also commended. I agree with kevin about STEREOTYPE.

    I don’t seem to have any links on this page?

    23′, thanks gl and setter

    1. 2 a relief printing plate cast in a mould made from composed type or an original plate.
    2. Found the link eventually ( on my ancient iPad) at the bottom of the page with just the solutions on. Once I progress to this comments page it disappears.
  13. Another witty and fine puzzle today. I struggled a bit on the RHS, taking 32 minutes which might have been 22 had I not read “completed”as competed, and tried to anagram AMID REEDS for far too long. Well done George.
  14. Normal progress until I made the double error of failing to register that 16d was three words AND trying the anagram. If we bulk buy can we get the brains cheaper? COD to LAND AGENT but please no more like GROT. This type of clue does not work for me.
  15. … is the symbol of immortality. I nearly needed that long to solve this. I really struggled. taking 50 minutes. I got a bee in my bonnet that LIGHTSHIP was going to have the lights at the stern and couldn’t shake it off. I wasn’t confident enough about GROT to stop seeking an anagram for ‘amid reeds’ on 16d. LOI was LAND AGENT. COD to JELLY BEANS. I’ve had SCOTCH EGG for every meal, I think.They were a particularly good breakfast while driving to work in the bedsit years. Thank you George and setter. On the iPad, how can I find the glossary? I’ve always gone into Snitch separately.
    1. Breakfast is my favourite time to eat SCOTCH EGGS, particularly if they are home-made. Yum.
      Not sure about iPad but on my phone the link to the glossary is right at the bottom.
      1. I had a Scotch Egg last week in a wonderful eatery (Bull and Claw) in Shanghai that contained a duck’s egg.
        Served with a salad. Delish!
  16. 13:43, but with a careless POSTERN. Here’s some free advice: if there’s an obscure word that fits the checkers, and which you know exists without any real idea of what it means, be careful because there might be another one. Admittedly this is not advice with a very wide field of application.

    Edited at 2019-06-13 08:18 am (UTC)

  17. I think 50 minutes was quite a lucky escape for me on this one. Helpfully there’s a local club aboard a LIGHTSHIP, and I’ve even been aboard, so 1d was my FOI.

    I then made my way widdershins around the grid in fits and starts, which was a helpful way to do it, as it meant I’d already put in EMBOLDEN to help me realise that 16d wasn’t an anagram. Finished with 10a, needing all the crossers to see the wordplay for the unknown TO THE BAD. 19d PASTERN also put in from wordplay alone.

    Lots of fun along the way. I liked the LOOPHOLE, the Spoonerism and the SCOTCH EGG among others.

  19. Would have been a lot quicker if, like vinyl1 above, I hadn’t spent ages trying to use stirred as an anagrind (see Glossary!). It was only when the anagram for EMBOLDEN became apparent that I realised it wasn’t an anagrind.

    Can I add the possibly useful LITBOMM which also comes up every day – lurking in the back of my mind. As was PASTERN today. Useful alternative to the good old plain DNK.

  20. On reflection, since BIFF is a corruption of BIFD, maybe it should be LITBOMB.
  21. Looking for answers in all the wrong places, so relieved to clock in at no worse than 21.7. Another one here who fell for the “amid reeds” anagram, and I spent much too long wondering if there was such a thing as a “lawgua” or “awguar” tree hidden in 27a. TRIANGLE was a nice one. SET ON EDGE and TO THE BAD took a while to materialize because they’re not really familiar to me.

    Nice glossary, thank you Jerry and Vinyl! I think MER can be attributed to Myrtilus. And I don’t know if you want to mention, in connection with themed puzzles, that they are frequent in the Guardian for people who like that sort of thing.

    1. About 27 minutes. Another one lost for a time amid the reeds. Liked that and 10 especially. As vinyl says, good to remember Dr Johnson’s ‘Ignorance, pure ignorance’ (re pastern).
    2. I’ve amended the theme entry .. invention of MER is an important matter, are we sure it is Myrtilus? When was the first mention, I wonder..
      2. … but certainly it was Myrtilus who coined MER. Remembered because it’s so useful, and I wish I had. Quite recent – late 2018?
      3. Definitely Myrtilus. I think with his approval we could perhaps use mer for minor and MER for major uplifting of the said features.
      4. …was another Myrtilus creation I believe:
        Deceptively Easy Answer Needing More Attention (R) Than Is Necessary (I think, though I’m sure the R stood for something as well – Really, maybe?)

        for a QC clue that was included in a 15×15 and made you overthink the solution

        jb

  22. I didn’t find this one particularly easy, finishing in 13m 18s. For some time I tried to get proselytise, or some incorrect spelling of it, into 25a.
  23. ….due to receiving some desperately bad news that I won’t bore you all with.

    Did this on the train from Glasgow to Dundee, and didn’t time it – not quick though. Failed to parse LORD MAYOR, and NHO TO THE BAD. The meaning of STEREOTYPE was a further DNK.

    COD JELLY BEANS – I love a good Spoonerism !

  24. Very enjoyable, nothing obscure (pace those who fell down on equine anatomy) but lots of excellent misdirection, most notably the non-anagram at 16dn. It seems to be a sign that your regular pub has been unnecessarily gentrified when you get offered an artisan Scotch egg with your pint, but I can get on board with that part of the process.
    1. Oh, artisan scotch eggs are definitely the best ones. But since I gave up work, I no longer qualify ..
  25. Quite enjoyed, and quite quick, a tad under 20 minutes. Another one where there seems to be a 50-50 split between those finding it easy and har. – I was on the wavelength.
    Even though AMID REEDS was the *obvious* anagrist I didn’t even consider it, I was so certain that GROT was correct. And didn’t like that clue at all. Otherwise the only unknown was the Scottish factor;for some reason I’m au fait with pasterns, hocks, fetlocks and other such arcanery.As words – I’m with the good doctor in not actually knowing where they are. My greyhound pet arrived with an injured hock, suffered during racing.
      1. Indeed – a typo (2 in fact). Not uncomon, in crosswords as well as comments!
        Thanks for the unspamming.
  26. But with one error. Postern for Pastern.

    I was heading for an all correct, all under 30 mins, week. Not something I’ve managed up until now, to the best of my knowledge.

    🙁

    1. I think my avid reading of the James Herriott books assisted me with that one 🙂
  27. The glossary is a great idea. Many thanks, I have wondered for ages what &lit (and several other things) was, all quite obvious of course when one knows. Thank goodness for the SCC. I see it refers to the quickie but will definitely sign up if it ever extends to the main crossword.
  28. A leisurely 26 minutes in an early evening solve while the (ladies’ or is it women’s these days?) cricket is burbling in the background.
    No real complaints, though that rubbish clue nearly ended up as GASH (G instead of the D of dash (-), despite the lack of substitution indicator). I thought it was nearly clever.
    Love the glossary: definitely no WOMBAT (waste of money, brains and time), not really a TftT acronym, but one of my favourites.
  29. 20:50 I’m pleased with that time because there are elements of this puzzle that on another day might well have held me up for a lot longer. As it is I seem to have been on the wavelength. Fortunately I discarded my attempts to anagram “amid reeds” and then just “reeds” around tone or tune quite early on. Triangle also popped into my mind sooner than it otherwise might have done. The glossary is excellent.
  30. Once I gain, I find myself having brought a ganglion to a brainfight. My time of 21 minutes was not bad for me, but slower than it ought to have been. Bursts of progress were interrupted with inexplicable bouts of word-blindness.

    Still, an enjoyable third of an hour. My only MER (thanks, glossary!) was at the Spoonerism in 14ac. Do Times Spoonerisms not usually conserve the spellings of their interchanged parts? Then again, I loathe Spoonerisms in general, and can only imagine that Professor Spooner was a remarkably tedious one-trick sort of a person. My only noirer bête is Cockneyisms, which frankly ought to have died out with Punch magazine.

    1. I wondered about the conservation of spelling, too. Then I wondered if we all, eventually, inherit Dad Jeans or at least the need for them.
  31. Pretty straightforward only slowed down by the PASTERN/CRACKS axis as my last two. I liked TRIANGLE.
  33. Is a yew coniferous? It has little red arils with a poisonous seed inside
  35. Thanks setter and George
    Was able to do most of this over a cafe coffee and needed a few minutes to finish it off after getting home. Have raced horses before, so PASTERN was an immediate get when it came up. Against the crowd with the 14a and 20a clues – like the example here, usually find the Spoonerisms quite amusing (regardless of whether homophonic or not) and the quirky devices like a contrived stutter just add to the variety of tricks one has to navigate.
    Serendipity was at play with SCOTCH EGG as it came up in yesterday’s FT puzzle just after doing this puzzle from over 18 months ago – EGG clued identically but think that the SCOTCH word play here was better.
    Finished in the NW corner with CONIFEROUS (well disguised anagrist), LAND AGENT (a new Scottish term for me) and TO THE BAD (an unheard of phrase) as the last few in.

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