Times 27,737: Gegs Benicted

Author   VerlainePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I wouldn’t describe this as super-hard, but it passed Friday muster at least by the standards of this gentle week, with some interesting and amusing constructions amidst a fair few quite straightforward compatriots. I mostly liked the reverse cryptic in 5dn, the elegant cleverness of 26ac, and definition part of the day definitely goes to 18dn. There was also just enough of a GK component about this puzzle to satisfy me; for all of which, thank you, setter!

ACROSS
1 Forced to accept order under contract (8)
PROMISED – PRISED [forced] to accept OM [order (of merit)]

9 Several deliveries arrived crushed (8)
OVERCAME – OVER CAME [several deliveries | arrived]. FOI

10 Briefly turn down side road (4)
SPUR – SPUR{n}

11 Performing insect begged for food (4,8)
EGGS BENEDICT – (INSECT BEGGED*). Took me awhile to shake the idea of FLEA something…

13 Decrepit little bird found on step (4,2)
PAST IT – TIT found on PAS. SOI

14 Ravel‘s standpoint on hospital discipline? (8)
ENTANGLE – if you have an E.N.T. (Ears, Nose & Throat) ANGLE…

15 Weak, though extremely willing (7)
THREADY – T{houg}H + READY. A thready pulse is a weak one, apparently.

16 A dry agency worker’s parting shot (7)
ATTEMPT – A TT [a | dry], “parted” by TEMP

20 I’ll appear in another novel, perhaps (8)
ANTIHERO – I, “appearing in” (ANOTHER*), semi-&lit. If all novels contained antiheroes this would’ve been an &lit!

22 Adjust to correct position, touching bottom (6)
RESEAT – RE [touching] + SEAT [bottom]. I started with REBASE in here and this ended up my LOI.

23 Riskily meddle in passionate drama? (4,4,4)
PLAY WITH FIRE – which could alternative be a PLAY that has some FIRE in it

25 Italian banker‘s Oscar-nominated part (4)
ARNO – hidden in {osc}AR-NO{minated}. A Tuscan river (you can certainly bank on rivers), that flows beneath the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

26 Old papers in many cases (8)
OFTTIMES – O [old] + FT, TIMES [(two) papers]

27 Wasn’t emu originally a flier? (4,4)
MUTE SWAN – (WASN’T EMU*). Swans are some of the largest birds that can actually fly, I believe, certainly top ten list material.

DOWN
2 Find fault with expert in orbit (8)
REPROACH – PRO in REACH

3 Sir Thomas’s quarry bagged by our opponents, sadly (5,3,4)
MORE’S THE PITY – (Sir Thomas) MORE’S, plus PIT “bagged” by THEY

4 Large plugs seen and disregarded (8)
SLIGHTED – L “plugs” SIGHTED

5 Match that professional’s taken to heart? (7)
DOUBLES – and the centre of {profe}SS{ional} is, as you see, DOUBLE S

6 Edible seed, many of which would yield paltry sum (6)
PEANUT – many of which are PEANUTS, if you pay which, you can have your choice of monkeys or TftT bloggers

7 Under strain, I move slowly on landing (4)
TAXI – under TAX [strain], I

8 Speculation lacking in celebrant’s likely garb (8)
VESTMENT – {in}VESTMENT

12 An age that’s critical during dry season abroad (7,5)
DONKEY’S YEARS – KEY [critical] during (DRY SEASON*)

15 One stirs shortly after meal, papa assumed (8)
TEASPOON – SOON after TEA, “assuming” P

17 Latest spacecraft crossing edge of exosphere on time (8)
TARDIEST – TARDIS crossing E{xosphere} (or perhaps {exospher}E) on T. To describe the TARDIS as a spacecraft is a bit like describing the Titanic as a dinghy, mind you…

18 Where mum joined baby scheme church introduced, with thanks (8)
PLACENTA – PLAN [scheme] has C(hurch of) E(ngland) “introduced”, with TA [thanks]

19 Very quiet man’s initially made a false deduction (7)
SOPHISM – SO P HIS M{ade}

21 Poser trounced in game (6)
ENIGMA – (IN GAME*)

24 Decline of oxygen in kiln is concerning (2,2)
AS TO – take an OAST, and “decline” the O(xygen) to the very bottom.

63 comments on “Times 27,737: Gegs Benicted”

  1. Even though this was my slowest time of the week at 45 minutes, it was a very satisfying puzzle and I really enjoyed ENTANGLE, OFTTIMES (looks strange when written out) and TEASPOON.
    I struggled to get EGGS BENEDICT as I hadn’t realised that it was an anagram but I think it deserves to be COD for its deception.
    Many thanks to the setter and to Verlaine for the entertainment.
    1. EGGS BENEDICT is rather a beautiful anagram clue now I consider it more. I shall add it to the COD shortlist retroactively!
      1. Good morning V.
        It certainly is – and had me racking my brain for insect names!
        Have a great day.
  2. A good deal of this 45min epic was spent correctly looking for the anagram of I and ANOTHER, and finding the choice between Arthenio and Antherio a difficult one, as either of these fellows might have appeared in an Italian novel I’d never read. When Antihero finally dawned– Doh!
  3. Took a while to get going, sleepy and hot after golf, and also watching cricket, but once we had our eggs B unscrambled and a few more scattered around the grid, it seemed to flow better and I had all done except my LOI 26 in 35 minutes or so. For some reason the easy enough but wrong-looking OFTTIMES didn’t spring to mind and as I was being told to do the BBQ I gave up and came here. Thanks for explaining DOUBLES V. A neat construction, like my Regius Professor with his purple heart the other day.
  4. Enjoyed this puzzle, had to come here to see how Doubles worked, a great clue where it had to be but I still couldn’t parse. Eggs Benedict always reminds of an excellent B&B in Worthing run by two gentlemen where it was served part of breakfast. My other half failed to clear her plate to which the response the following morning was ‘ Shall we go with just the ONE SAUSAGE today?? Thanks setter and Ld V
  6. 25:23. An engaging puzzle not too hard but just hard enough to put up a worthwhile struggle.
  8. I was out all day yesterday at a lovely old church in the hamlet(well there’s a church and a farm) of Stanwick not far from Scotch Corner, meeting up with fellow members of a performance group doing some recording for our latest project. It was the first time we’d met up since lockdown began, so it was a joyous occasion. Anyway I didn’t have time to do this puzzle until now(Saturday morning) but managed to get through it without tripping over any clues. I started with TAXI and finished with DOUBLES, which I only parsed post solve. An enjoyable puzzle. 37:29. Thanks setter and V.

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