Times 27471 – Thick as a parrot.

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
A jolly puzzle of moderate difficulty, a little risqué at times, good for biffing and with a few clues a bit more tricky to explain. Some nice smooth surfaces, notably 17a, 20a, 28a. FOI was 1a and LOI was 21d. Around 19 or 20 minutes for me then a minute to parse 13a.
If it’s not out of order to comment; I wouldn’t be surprised to hear someone use the word at 11d in reference to the current PM, the Benn Act and a certain date, any time soon. Stormy weather ahead!

Across
1 Leader of Conservatives blocking change leads to dispute (11)
ALTERCATION – C inserted into ALTERATION = change.
7 Cricket side jeer, opening pair having been dismissed (3)
OFF – SCOFF loses its opening 2 letters. OFF as opposed to ON.
9 Point about much reduced page is so long (6-3)
TOODLE-PIP – TIP (point) goes around OODLE (oodles, much, reduced), and P for page.
10 Affluent heiresses, in reduced circumstances, becoming possessive (5)
THEIR – Hidden in AFFLUEN(T HEIR)ESSES.
11 Scoundrel climbed for wild plant (3,4)
DOG ROSE – DOG = cur, scoundrel, ROSE = climbed.
12 Ready to change a long time ago (4,3)
YEAR DOT – (READY TO)*. A phrase which seems to have originated in the late 19th century.
13 Cats with second cast for addicts (5)
USERS – Took a mo to see how this works. MOUSERS are cats and lose their MO = second. Nice work.
15 Get garage rebuilt for a sum (9)
AGGREGATE – (GET GARAGE)*.
17 Rent boy hanging around church with speed (9)
LACERATED – LAD (boy) has CE (church) and RATE (speed) inside.
19 Heads for starters (5)
PATES – Double definition, I assume the setter is meaning paté could be served as an entrée or starter,
20 Bums are on view from behind in eg cossies (7)
TOERAGS – A saucy surface, where we find ARE is ‘on view’ reversed inside TOGS = cossies,
22 Describe former flat (7)
EXPLAIN – EX = former, FLAT = plain as in salt flat.
24 Without outside assistance, Head Office going to be engaged (2,3)
IN USE – IN HOUSE (without outside assistance) loses its HO (head office).
25 Quietly living in Cleveland, perhaps (9)
PRESIDENT – P (quietly) RESIDENT (living in). The only US President so far to serve two non-consecutive terms.
27 One in Sweden’s ready for a drink (3)
KIR – KR = kronor, Sweden’s currency, insert I (one). Apéritif drink of dry white wine with added cassis or similar flavouring such as violette, peach, raspberry.
28 One may have a nap on the flight (5,6)
STAIR CARPET – cryptic definition.
Down
1 A small flat is fitting (3)
APT – abbreviation of APARTMENT.
2 G-string aria for one with a lisp (5)
THONG – Thing a thong of thickspence, for example. Not the air on a G-string. I have a feeling there’s a subtle difference between a thong and a G-string, but I don’t want to be seen as an expert in these matters.
3 Deodorants applied during bowls (4-3)
ROLL-ONS – Is this simply ROLLS = bowls, with ON = applied, inserted? Where ON means applied as in a sticker was on my windscreen. Seems a bit weak to me.
4 A little application and skill used to make dessert (5,4)
APPLE TART -An APPLET is a little APP, and ART = skill.
5 Intimate spotted taking a pee (5)
IMPLY –  take a P from PIMPLY.
6 Maybe almond covering for fruitcake (7)
NUTCASE – almond NUT, covvering = CASE.
7 Extra doctor back is what attracts interest (9)
OVERDRAFT – OVER = extra, DR = doctor, AFT = back.
8 I foster spring breaks without golf (5,6)
FIRST PERSON – (FOSTER SPRIN )*, spring without G in the anagrist.
11 Simultaneously accepting opposing beliefs, possibly both unliked (11)
DOUBLETHINK – (BOTH UNLINKED)*. First used by Orwell in his book 1984.
14 Former auditor spoken of in the Treasury (9)
EXCHEQUER – sounds like EX (former) CHECKER (auditor).
16 Who’s greeted a gismo’s introduction with excitement? (9)
GADGETEER – (GREETED A G)*. Not an everyday word, but it exists.
18 American in residence supplying drilling tools (7)
REAMERS – RES short for residence has AMER(ican) inserted.
19 27 served up in pop is something spicy (7)
PAPRIKA – PAPA = pop has KIR reversed inserted.
21 Arabic work (not old) written up above (5)
SUPRA – AR = Arabic, OPUS = work, drop the old = PUS, reverse (written up) = SUP RA. Latin for ‘above’ used in referring to a previous bit in a text, e.g. as ‘vide supra’.
23 One’s heard a sheep consumed (3,2)
ATE UP – sounds like A TUP, a male sheep.
26 Little spirit shown by football club’s front three (3)
TOT – First three letters of TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR? What next? ARS? ACC(rington Stanley)? Ninety or so football clubs for setters to pick. Is your MOTHERWELL?

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45 comments on “Times 27471 – Thick as a parrot.”

  1. They really do need to do something about the font. I printed this out, as I always do, so the option of zooming in wasn’t available without a return to the computer, which wasn’t worth it. After starting at bums/burns for a while with much squinting, I went with the utterly unknown TOERAGS as LOI based on iffy wordplay. Then I looked it up, and figured it was close enough, but wouldn’t have been surprised were it wrong. I didn’t really have a problem with REAMERS as routers were the other choice and the ‘amer’ convinced me. Regards.
  2. Good to know that most of us are cast in the same mould when solving. Aged slow coaches such as I can only marvel at the times clocked up by you aces but solving this, l felt a little like one of the gang until the SW corner. I’m not a timer- I like to print and use one of my extensive collection of fountain pens but I knew I was doing relatively well until 20ac. Thanks for all the blogging and parsing. All the chat here helps me get through the day.
    Joe the Jazzer.
  3. Managed to get nearly all of this before dashing off to play golf-beautiful day here today.
    On my return I still could not get REAMERS, TOERAGS and PATES ( which I probably should have got). David
  4. Yep that cost me a minute or two at the end. TOERAGS is hard enough to see from checkers if you have the *right* definition!
  6. DNF. Bah! I seem to have decided that toodle-pip had far too many Ds and not enough Os in it. That’s the only way to account for my tooole-pip at 9ac which led to one pink square at the end. Felt like a bit of a tooole when I saw the error. The puzzle itself was pretty enjoyable and a similar experience to others, off like a rocket, most done comfortably inside PB territory around 12 mins but pushed out to just over 19 mins by the hard to crack crossers of Toerags and Reamers, which is, I think, a firm of solicitors in Catford.

    Edited at 2019-10-02 09:23 pm (UTC)

  7. 17-odd minutes for a late evening solve, same hold-ups as everyone else. Thanks for restraint on the TOT clue – very kind. I was tempted by TAT for the quality of defence, TIT for any of the players, and TUT for the mildest possible response.
  9. Toerag should be towrag. Tow is a piece of old rope (hence tow) used to wipe bottoms when toilet paper was scarce or unknown. My father, who worked in a hospital during the Second World War explained this to me. Unfortunately toerag seems to have become the accepted spelling.

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