Times 28123 – Russell Oberlin, perhaps?

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time: 31 minutes
Music: Tchaikovsky, Symphony 2, Markevitch/LSO

This one was unusually chewy for a Monday, at least for me.   While some were write-ins, some were not, and a number of them had to biffed and figured out later.   Well, later is now, so here we go. 

OK, all done.   SNITCH says pretty average, but some solvers found it a little harder. 

Across
1 Page penned by retiring Tories — protection for that? (9)
COPYRIGHT – CO(P)Y RIGHT. 
6 Around and around, circle tree (5)
CACAO – CA + CA + O, my FOI.
9 Important time to plug bottle (5)
VITAL – VI(T)AL.
10 Where builder might have faith, back of ladder being held — step up (9)
INCREMENT – IN C(R)EMENT.
11 Sweet to see so much dancing, pop joining in (9,6)
CHOCOLATE MOUSSE – Anagram of TO SEE SO MUCH around COLA.
13 Footballer hugging old man in love (8)
BESOTTED – BES(O)T + TED.  with a tricky cryptic and a tricky literal, as in is often a connecting word, but not this time.
14 Buried in South Africa, bird bones (6)
STERNA – S(TERN)A.
16 Club that spurs one on (6)
DRIVER – Double definition.
18 Type relocating to hamlet (3,5)
HOT METAL – Anagram of TO HAMLET, and probably not the type you were expecting.
21 One books male singer: to acquire female as stripper, finally? (2,3,10)
IN THE ALTOGETHER – I + NT + HE + ALTO + GET HER.
23 Reference contents of chest in sign (9)
THESAURUS – T([c]HES[t])AURUS.
25 Warm salutation (5)
TOAST – Double definition, as a verb first, then a noun.
26 Old PM in Wilson or Thatcher (5)
NORTH – Hidden in [wilso]N OR TH]atcher].  Yorktown was his downfall.
27 Too much to ask, request for large coffee? (4,5)
TALL ORDER – Double definition, one jocular.
Down
1 City that may similarly be built up? (5)
CIVIC – Palindromic answer, where the literal is an adjective.
2 Tackling forbidden in the end, a sport unfortunately isn’t for defender (6,5)
PATRON SAINT – Anagram of A SPORT around [forbidde}N + AIN’T.
3 Dismiss Sale’s back, punching rugger thug (4,3)
RULE OUT – RU L([sal}E)OUT.
4 Network admits staff looked in pain (8)
GRIMACED – GRI(MACE)D.  If you were trying to use rod, you were not alone.
5 By the sound of it, consideration nailed down (6)
TACKED – Sounds like TACT in most dialects.
6 Baldie snatching that lady’s cigar (7)
CHEROOT – C(HER)OOT. 
7 Articulate main character (3)
CEE –  Sounds like SEA.  At first, I thought this was CHI, that sounds like KEY, and then CUE which sounds like Q.   Neither was correct.
8 Alive and kicking? (2,3,4)
ON THE BALL – Semi-double-definition, one alluding to football.
12 Maybe make marks with key on daughter’s lucky purchase? (11)
SCRATCHCARD – SCRATCH CAR + D.   A UK-ism that I got from the cryptic.
13 Ill fortune covering sport (9)
BADMINTON –  BAD + MINT + ON, as in it’s worth a mint!
15 Great catcher rising after pass (8)
COLOSSAL – COL + LASSO upside down in this down clue.
17 English wood with tree rot (7)
EYEWASH – E + YEW + ASH.
19 Brilliant player in team runs so amazingly (7)
MAESTRO – Anagram of TEAM R SO.
20 Blood spilt ultimately in support of county (6)
CLARET – CLARE + [spli]T
22 Right over hill, finding revolver (5)
ROTOR – R + O + TOR.
24 Organ recital, almost exquisite, starts up (3)
EAR – R[ecital] A[lmost] E[xquisite] upside-down.   It took me a long time to see how this worked.

70 comments on “Times 28123 – Russell Oberlin, perhaps?”

  1. A 32 minute DNF with ‘cue’ for CEE. A pity, but I was determined to put this in, no matter what. I liked the two palindromes for ‘City’ + ‘revolver’ and CHOCOLATE MOUSSE.
  2. Surprised by the SNITCH (99 when I checked) as I found this all quite comfortable — all parsed correctly too — didn’t even go back to check CEE might be something else.

    FOI CACAO

    POI GRIMACED

    LOI COPYRIGHT

  3. Slow for a Monday but all correct and parsed in under my cut off time of an hour. Pleased with the result. Nice to see Manchester United’s George Best make an appearance (even though a random footballer must make it hard for many.). Liked ‘as stripper, finally’ for a definition COD

  4. Grateful for this one, as I found it quite biffable and I was struggling with a heavy swell on the Stornoway ferry and a noisy gaggle of small children beside me in the cafeteria. Anyway, COD to the stripper clue – simple but clever. LOI = EYEWASH. Incidentally, aren’t TACKED and TACT homophones in all English dialects?
  5. Solved mainly over lunch. The SE had to wait whilst I got my haircut. FOI EAR; LOI TOAST -a word which I think has fooled me before.
    I had MOUSSE long before the Chocolate arrived; a half-biff in the end.
    Lots to like but COD to SCRATCHCARD for getting a new (to me) word into a puzzle with a good surface.
    About an hour in total.
    David
  6. DNF. 15 to me 12 to setter. Congrats to all finishers. My solve was in the east with only ear, North and in the from in the altogether in the west. FOI sterna, LOI cee. Am I bovvered? Thanks for the blog, Vinyl, and the puzzle, setter.
  7. 15:19 Not much to add. I took a while to understand SCRATCH CAR. Finished with BESOTTED and BADMINTON. I liked the Ikean IN THE ALTOGETHER.

    Edited at 2021-11-01 08:21 pm (UTC)

  8. Just two on the first pass (Hot Metal and North), which I normally take as a clear ‘thanks, but no thanks’ flag, but it was raining so I persevered. Some time later, (though still the same day!) loi Patron Saint went in with a shrug — I had the (a sport)* bit, but was trying to work anti + n in there as well. Very satisfying to finish something that seemed impossible on first sight. Invariant
  9. 16.13 but tricked by 7 dn. Opted for the Cue mentioned by vinyl1. All makes sense now but can’t remember the last time if ever I saw Cee as an answer. Just finished after a 10 mile walk in the Surrey Hills earlier today. Beautiful but totally knackering . Too tired to make any meaningful contribution. 😴
  10. 18:45 early this evening after the cricket. Quite difficult in parts, some other clues pretty straightforward.
    COD 21 ac ” in the altogether”. I liked the sequential structure of the clue and the surface itself. I also liked 3d “rule out” and 17 d “eyewash”.
    LOI 2 d “patron saint” where even with all the correct anagrist elements in place, I needed the crossers before I could see the answer.
    Thanks to Vinyl and setter
  11. 39.42. This was a struggle all the more so for being unexpectedly un-Mondayish. As if besotted, chocolate mousse, copyright etc weren’t chewy enough I also felt that I made heavy weather of some chestnutty ones like vital, driver and toast.

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