Times 28023 – not that East London, innit!

Another witty Wednesday, here and there, and nothing to scare the equine brigade in this, as long as you knew about obscure Scottish places as I did from football results on television. Merit marks to 3d and 15d, but my gold star goes 25a for “something pinned”.
Another Wednesday on a road trip, so it will be later before I can respond to any niggles.

Across
1	Agitator in East London ready on complex brief (9)
	FIREBRAND – (BRIEF)* followed by RAND, money used in East London, a smallish coastal city in South Africa.
6	Important aborigine not one to accommodate Jack (5)
	MAJOR – MAORI is our aboriginal person, lose the I and insert J for Jack.
9	Dignified senior to receive award (5)
	SOBER – SR (senior) receives an OBE award.
10	Desperate to survive drop (4-5)
	LAST-DITCH – LAST = survive, DITCH = drop.
11	One’s intended to bank note as money (7)
	FINANCE – insert N for note into FIANCE = intended.
12	Keeps quiet about a temperature showing changes (7)
	MUTATES – MUTES = keeps quiet, about A T.
13	Some toper in pub interfered with mate (8,6)
	OPPOSITE NUMBER – (SOME TOPER IN PUB)*.
17	Cultivated sort names Saracen in novel (11,3)
	RENAISSANCE MAN – (NAMES SARACEN IN)*.
21	Greed a wicked habit that holds painter back (7)
	AVARICE – A VICE = a wicked habit, insert RA reversed.
23	Revolutionary socialist cause in As You Like It? (2,5)
	TO ORDER – RED ROOT = socialist cause, reverse it all.
25	Something pinned to hem in fabric (9)
	GRENADINE – Very witty, took me a minute to see how it worked. A GRENADE is “something pinned”, it hems IN. As well as a pomegranate syrup, grenadine is a woven silk cloth mainly used for ties. I still have about 40 ties but haven’t worn 39 of them for years, only the black one when necessary.
26	Everything and nothing close to Boudicca’s town (5)
	ALLOA -ALL (everything) O (nothing) A (close to BoudiccA). It’s somewhere in Scotland, I’ve heard of the football team.
27	Honey badger‘s length adding to value (5)
	RATEL – RATE = value, add L for length.
28	Fights about casserole containing fine seafood (9)
	SWORDFISH – ROWS (fights) reversed, then DISH with F inserted.

Down
1	Escargots presumably not available on such menus? (4,4)
	FAST FOOD – no slow snails on this menu.
2	Day was one men overturned skip (5)
	ROBIN – Men = OR, reversed = RO, BIN = skip. Sir Robin Day died in 2000, but it doesn’t seem that long ago to me.
3	Busy worker securing wheels needs a cold drink (6,3)
	BERING SEA – BEE a busy worker, insert RINGS for wheels, add A. Cold drink, indeed.
4	Dreadful meal in time causes illness (7)
	AILMENT – (MEAL IN T)*
5	Refuse to be moved and he could receive summons! (7)
	DUSTMAN – cryptic definition.
6	Thick fog that envelops delta (5)
	MIDST – MIST around D. Thick as in “in the thick of / in the midst of”.
7	Current setter involved in predicament (3,6)
	JET STREAM – (SETTER)* inside JAM = predicament.
8	Go over what appears in eruption (6)
	REHASH – RASH appears in a skin eruption, insert EH (what).
14	Common little man seen in bar (9)
	PREVALENT – PREVENT = bar, insert AL a little man.
15	Farmer once in rising river amusing duck (9)
	MACDONALD – River CAM in Cambridge, rises > MAC, DONALD is the amusing duck. As in Old MacDonald had a farm, I presume.
16	Trespass for one snaring new bird without tail (8)
	ENCROACH – EACH = for one, insert N CRO(W).
18	Coin going with shillings to make a group (7)
	SPECIES – coin = SPECIE, add S for shillings.
19	Cunning Italian author entertains duke in style (3,4)
	ART DECO – ART = cunning, ECO as in Umberto Eco, insert D for duke.
20	Blade worn must have edges switched (6)
	DAGGER – RAGGED = worn, switch the ends.
22	Irishman puts island first with everything considered (2,3)
	IN ALL – NIALL is our Irishman, move the I to the front.
24	I was in van going north touring hot capital territory (5)
	DELHI – I LED = I was in van, reverse it (going north) insert H for hot.

50 comments on “Times 28023 – not that East London, innit!”

After yesterday’s mild dissatisfaction, today’s offering was a joy. About 37 minutes, of which the last four or so were spent dredging up RATEL from the memory banks after which DAGGER (obviously!) and GRENADINE (less so) dropped into place. LOI and COD definitely the ‘something pinned hemming in’. Thanks to setter and blogger.

Nice work. Various pennies dropped in a satisfying manner, as I remembered (or guessed at) all the necessary knowledge. I think the South African Grand Prix was held in East London, when it existed; and long experience has taught me that just about any word can turn out to be a sort of cloth.

32.40 so not exactly a stroll in the park for me. LOI was Macdonald which provided a bit of light relief as did Bering Sea which I eventually twigged courtesy of a dim recollection of the same answer appearing earlier this year.

Hopefully I’ll be a bit more on wavelength tomorrow when I won’t have the immediacy of playing like a drain in my latest golf round. Think I should stick to crosswords.

Thanks setter and blogger.

21:10. I found this quite testing and overall a satisfying solve, having to negotiate my way out of the occasional blind alley (e.g. 1 ac “Firebrand”). A well constructed puzzle in short.
For 13 ac “Opposite Number” I extracted “person” from the anagram which wasn’t terribly helpful and needed 7 d “Jetstream” to force me to re-consider.
Biffed 16 d “encroach” but parsed after submission.
Luckily I was aware of all the GK requirements, which helped.
LOI and my COD 15 d “Macdonald” which provided a classic PDM after staring at a nine letter word with 5 crossers for too long!
Thanks to Pip and setter

A DNF here as I did not really get 25ac GRENADINE pah!

FOI 1dn FAST FOOD – fast one in!

(LOI) 18dn SPECIES

COD 3dn BERING SEA – like grenadine not a proper drink

WOD 19dn ART DECO

Al feast of excellent clues that occupied me for fifty or so minutes

On edit — I do not find Donald Duck in the slightest bit amusing!

Edited at 2021-07-07 06:45 pm (UTC)

I struggled to properly parse 2dn Robin DAY. LOI GRENADINE.　 COD Renaissance Man. Time 12:55. Where is Kevin today? I like to compare times.

Talking of Scottish football results!
I was well off the wavelength today so this took me ages, but got there in the end. Like Corymbia, I was thinking of ash from a volcanic eruption so was fortunate to get Rehash correct.

Seemed to need all day, on and off, to complete but got there in the end, though with a fair amount of biffing and unparsed answers.
COD to 25ac GRENADINE
FOI 6ac MAJOR
LOI 6d MIDST!
Thought 5d DUSTMAN a bit weak but otherwise all good.
Thanks to Pip and setter.

31.15. I found this a tough nut to crack. I was glad of the long anagrams, opposite number and renaissance man, which opened things up a bit. The reference to East London in firebrand was over my head and left me a little anxious that I might be missing something. DNK grenadine as a cloth but the ‘something pinned to hem in’ was so brilliant, it had to be. That left LOI species which was entered on the basis of checkers and definition, not knowing the specie definition of coin.

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