Times 27555 – TCC Heat 1 – where you from, pet?

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I see 47 of 81 solvers attempting this last December completed it correctly, while just 30 of 81 got all three in this heat correct. I tried it against the clock (not my usual habit) and found it took me 19 minutes, solved and understood, not just biffed in hope. Half of this time was spent, or wasted, on the SW corner where 21D refused to explain itself and 27A took too long to see. The long anagrams at 5D and 10D and the easy 4A got me off to a fast start. If they’re all as fair and straightforward as this, I might splash out a fee and train fare next year!

Across
1 Stay on edge (6)
RESIDE – RE = on (the subject of), SIDE = edge e.g. of a triangle. My son’s in-laws in Scotland, when we risk a visit, often ask us “where are you staying?”. It took me a while to realise they meant “where are you living / residing?”, not where were we temporarily dossing down in Aberdeenshire while visiting them. So I think this definition has a Scottish tang.
4 Dating drunk drinking fashionable cocktail (3,3,2)
GIN AND IT – (DATING)* with IN (fashionable) inserted.
9 Really hot cafe, door guards going around (2,5)
DE FACTO – Reversed hidden in H(OT CAFE D)OOR… Latin meaning ‘in reality’.
11 Nervous when there’s wages about to steal (7)
PANICKY – PAY around NICK.
12 Starts off at seven in the morning, after small tea (5)
ASSAM – A S = starts from ‘at seven’, S for small, AM = in the morning.
13 Dog with dog lead evenly trimmed (9)
CURTAILED – CUR = dog 1, TAIL = dog 2 verb, E D = lEaD evenly.
14 Artificial part of expert’s argument (10)
PROSTHESIS – A Pro’s thesis would be an expert’s argument.
16 Broadcast live in two different ways (4)
BEAM – BE and AM being two synonyms for live, exist, as infinitive and present tense.
19 Fuss excessively, hosting duke (2-2)
TO-DO – Insert D for duke into TOO excessively.
20 Rows in southern river, showing determination (10)
STEELINESS – S, TEES river, has LINES inserted.
22 Foremost of adventurers travelling to Saturn? (9)
ASTRONAUT – A, (TO SATURN)*. Gets my CoD award.
23 Teeming area with wood (5)
AWASH – A(rea) W(ith) ASH wood.
25 Tough soldiers, retreating Roman men (7)
SIGNORI – IRON (tough) GI’S (soldiers) all reversed.
26 Russian politician still to admit large crime (7)
YELTSIN – YET (still) has L inserted then SIN for crime. Seems a lifetime since old Boris ran Russia, Putin has been the man so long. Actually it was 1991 – 1999.
27 Hanging around with sailor and Yankee in band (8)
TARRYING – TAR = sailor, RING = band, insert Y for Yankee.
28 Pair with say back pain (6)
TWINGE – TWIN = pair, EG (say) reversed. Trivia: near me and Rutland Water is a small village on the A606 called Whitwell. As you enter the village, a proper sign says “TWINNED WITH PARIS” ! Apparently it is, sort of. The Charman of the Parish council in 1980 wrote to President Chirac, proposing why his village was suitable for twinning with Paris (being a centrally located metropolis) and if no reply was received, they would take it as agreed. None was, so it is.
Down
1 Seaside resort one favoured for special treatment (3,6)
RED CARPET – REDCAR is by the seaside, near Middlesborough I believe; PET = one favoured, also a much used term of endearment e,g, by checkout operators, in the North East. I have never been to Redcar, but I had the idea it was more of a place for a RETORT than a resort. Is steel works tourism the new thing? Maybe John_dun can tell us.
2 Strongboxes commandos lined with iron (5)
SAFES – The SAS have FE (Fe, iron) inside them.
3 Get rid of much of cold that’s upset friend (8)
DECIMATE – ICED upset, MATE = friend. If you decimated something you’d remove nine-tenths, or get rid of much of it.
5 Mixed peel with mint in? Try with sauce (13)
IMPERTINENTLY – (PEEL MINT IN TRY)*.
6 Queen with extremely awful temper (6)
ANNEAL – Queen ANNE, add A(wfu)L.
7 Showing bust firm left beset by strike (9)
DECOLLETE – DELETE (strike) has CO and L inserted. A French word décolleté meaning having a low neckline. How much bust is shown is optional.
8 Flirted with you once in turning point (5)
TOYED – DOT (point) reversed, insert YE = you once.
10 Men helping to defend box and scoring (13)
ORCHESTRATION – OR (men), RATION (helping), insert CHEST (box).
15 One who’s experienced love, great LSD trips (3,6)
OLD STAGER – (O GREAT LSD)*.
17 Mechanic’s unfortunate bad luck (9)
MISCHANCE – (MECHANICS)*.
18 Papers turning a pallid colour in refuse (8)
DISALLOW – ID = papers, turning = DI, SALLOW = a pallid colour.
21 Community around London’s West End, reluctant to come forward (6)
COLONY – Annoyingly, I got hung up on the idea that the def. meant ‘reluctant to come forward’. But no, the thing is LON (London’d West End) inserted into COY meaning as it says. Even with *O*O*Y as my LOI there aren’t many options, but seeing how it parsed held me up.
22 Help when ready (5)
ASSET – AS (when) SET (ready).
24 Clergyman dismissing his first offence (5)
ARSON – PARSON dismisses his P.

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75 comments on “Times 27555 – TCC Heat 1 – where you from, pet?”

  1. 20’33 but a couple of appearances in the London finals back in the seventies told me I was never going to be a contender, as they say. My times don’t seem to have changed much since then but no doubt will dip alarmingly soon. That is one day soon. Yeltsin eh? Takes you back. It’s been a colourful parade of Soviet/Russian leaders despite the current gecko always waiting to spring. Liked 5.
  3. I’ve got to say I like pip’s comment ‘how much bust is shown is optional’. jk
  4. Chambers has:
    1. To take or destroy the tenth part of
    2. To punish by killing every tenth man
    3. (loosely) to reduce very heavily

    The third entry validates the setter’s usage.

    1. Chambers is also (as is its wont) uniquely silly about this: the other main dictionaries have more sensible definitions reflecting actual usage. No one uses the word ‘decimate’ in the ‘one in ten’ sense any more. It’s a classic example of the etymological fallacy.

      Edited at 2020-01-08 06:39 pm (UTC)

  5. 11’18” Done on treeware with my phone as a timer.
    Tis’ an age since I managed a sub 15min, so I can only assume that this will possibly (nay probably) be my only one of 2020.
  6. but was left staring at 18dn as LOI. Even with every other letter correctly in place, I couldn’t see it. My brain just sometimes DISALLOWS and is deeply disappointing. An infuriating DNF.
  7. Like Vinyl and myrtilus, this went smoothly (except for Beam, which took forever to see), but smoothly for me wouldn’t be useful at the championships. Plus, if they didn’t stop the clock and just let me continue on until I’d finished 3, I might not get to The George until closing time. Not worth the risk, that.
  8. Ditto to pretty much what everyone has said, particularly re prosthetic (boo) and L for the west end of London. I got colony but didn’t parse it. I didn’t help myself by transposing the answers for 22d and 23d either. Despite all that, I trundled through this in 38 minutes, and found it most enjoyable, but I don’t think I’ll be bothering the championships! Is there a group that’s ‘just here for the beer’? That would be my entry level 😊

    FOI Gin and It
    LOI Disallowing
    COD Astronaut, although Signori made me smile, and Anneal reminded me of happy days in a jewellery / silversmithing course
    DNF So close, and yet so far!

    1. The previous 2 years I was just there for the beer, but I ended up having to do 3 more in the afternoon this time.
  9. Biffed that one, and never even realized it till I came here (too late to add much), having never heard of REDCAR.
  10. As one of the second-halfers on the day, this was the first time I’d seen this puzzle and I agree it was on the easy side – 5m 57s for me. I didn’t note how quickly each of the second heat puzzles took me (and I jumped between them a little bit) but I think they all took longer than this.
  11. Can I say I’m not in favour of the Championship Puzzles getting easier? I don’t think anyone who comes to a Times Crossword Championship would feel really hard done by by finding the puzzles on the tougher side.

    I feel harder done by when certain serial champions hold up their paper after 15 minutes…

    1. Times Cryptic Jumbo 1414: Not Quite Blogged From 11dn, But Pretty Close
      Auto-fill? Or some secret message I haven’t yet fathomed?
      I had a mysterious subject line show up on one of my comments a few weeks ago (“high school”) and I don’t know where that came from.
        2. Thanks! I actually went to the puzzle in question to try to figure out what you were getting at!
  12. Another easy one after yesterday’s tricky one. More of the same please. Remembered several holidays in the Fifties in Redcar. Good luck to Boro v Spurs on Tuesday. Hope to get a ticket.
  13. No time, due to several long interruptions, but well over the 20min I’d’ve needed to stand a chance in the TCC.

    STEELINESS held me up inordinately, as I was trying to squeeze the “rows” between S and NESS – wrong river.

    1. That held me up too. I’ve walked along and over the Ness several times. Lovely city, Inverness
      1. Now that’s impressive. I’ve tried to develop the skill, but I never get more than two or three paces before I sink.
  14. No heartburn getting through this one, ending with COLONY. All correct as well. Probably a tad under 20 minutes but didn’t time myself. I imagine the rest of this heat at the competition was more difficult. Not fooled into thinking an airline ticket and taking a shot at the next competition would be anything less than silly on my part, though. Regards.
  15. Last one into the PROSTHETIC trap, at 34 mins. Had 16a as BEEB for some time, thinking that the clue should read ‘broadcaster’, and being smug about having spotted the typo in the Oz tree ware! Had heard of Redcar as a place in England, and would have guessed it to be a London tube station, so thanks for the enlightenment above. The currentban on overseas travel will fortunately prevent a visit.

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