Times 28207 – The kind of politician we could use…

Time: 31 minutes
Music: Shostakovich, Symphony 15, Ormandy/PhilSO

I did not find this such an easy Monday – there are quite a few things here that various solvers might not know. Since a cryptic usually gives you two ways to solve each clue, you might finish anyway, but it’s not going to be easy. In particular, the absent bovine, the hipster’s grape, and the magic horse may give some of you a bit of trouble.

Across
1	Toe-curling jewellery item found in church: value unknown (12)
	CRINGEWORTHY – C(RING)E + WORTH + Y.
9	Student’s notes on boy king (5)
	TUTEE – TUT + E + E – not the key of tonight’s symphony, unfortunately.
10	Flattering article penned by a mostly uninspiring politician (9)
	ADULATORY – A DUL[l] (A) TORY.
11	Remains of cake grew mouldy (8)
	WRECKAGE – Anagram of CAKE GREW.
12	It’s a girl’s sort of paper (6)
	TISSUE – ‘TIS SUE.
13	A bill plugging public vehicles: you can count on them (8)
	ABACUSES – A + B(A/C)USES, my FOI.
15	Sailors reportedly spot bishops, say, on board (6)
	SEAMEN – Sounds like SEE MEN, that is to say chessmen.
17	Person of high birth stealing Italian poet’s heart (6)
	ARISTO – ARI[o]STO, a poet we read in translation in the Spenser seminar. You may not be so lucky.
18	Traitor in Paris who attracts support (8)
	QUISLING – QUI + SLING.
20	Medieval horse, black, with three feet? (6)
	BAYARD – B + A YARD. This legendary horse does appear in Orlando Furioso, so we have a bit of a theme going.
21	Disney film buff cheers one in South Africa (8)
	FANTASIA – FAN + TA + S(I)A,
24	Lover shortly meeting a sailor from the East (9)
	INAMORATA – IN A MO + A TAR backwards (from the East).
25	Like wizened old men in the fourth row (5)
	LINED – LINE D, a device that has been used frequently of late.
26	He rates sport wrongly — it’s way above us! (12)
	STRATOSPHERE – Anagram of HE RATES SPORT.

Down
1	Grape originally acclaimed by jazz fan with degree (7)
	CATAWBA – CAT + A[cclaimed] W/B.A, which would definitely be tricky if you didn’t know the grape.
2	Expecting win, they may fail badly (2,3,6,3)
	IN THE FAMILY WAY – Anagram of WIN, THEY MAY FAIL – nice surface.
3	European king wearing anorak (5)
	GREEK – G(R)EEK. Does an actual anorak ever appear in these crosswords?
4	Argumentative type runs into manipulator (8)
	WRANGLER – W(R)ANGLER.
5	Not quite the way to put to flight! (4)
	ROUT – ROUT[e].
6	Bulk of ambassador’s son protecting a provider of 1 down (9)
	HEAVINESS – HE(A + VINE)’S S.
7	Complaint jointly suffered by scrubbers, perhaps? (10,4)
	HOUSEMAIDS KNEE – Cryptic definition, and not very cryptic, either.
8	Stated reason French writer briefly creates heraldic beast (6)
	WYVERN – Sounds like WHY + VERN[e], easily guessed by habitues of the Quickie blogs.
14	Say more than anyone else— to the greatest degree (9)
	UTTERMOST – UTTER MOST, a chestnut.
16	Bovine creature reportedly off, ultimately to Zimbabwean city (8)
	BULAWAYO – Sound like BULL + AWAY + [t]O.
17	Even though I put in wager, a learner comes first (6)
	ALBEIT – A L + BE(I)T.
19	Eminent man’s cry of surprise about foreign currency (7)
	GRANDEE – G(RAND)EE.
22	Bloomer made by union leader initially entering dump (5)
	TULIP – T(U[nion] L[eader])IP.
23	Festivity a habitual convict upset (4)
	GALA – A LAG upside down, an easy clue I didn’t look at until I was nearly finished.

76 comments on “Times 28207 – The kind of politician we could use…”

At 20 minutes this is certainly my PB, despite the several unknowns or barely knowns in it. CATAWBA rang a very faint bell from the distant past shortly after the big bang, perhaps, as Olivia suggested, because I grew up in New York State. BULAWAYO went in from wordplay, but it also did seem slightly familiar. BAYARD involved a sensible choice of how to interpret the wordplay, but I can’t say I knew it. WYVERN was a word our high school English teacher taught us at a time when she was in the mood for choosing obscure entries in dictionaries. The only thing that gave me any trouble at all was TUTEE, for which I needed to realise that the boy king was part of the wordplay and not the literal definition. But all in all, an easy puzzle (something about wavelength, I guess).

Rattled through this almost as fast as I could write, helped by seeing “Cringeworthy” straight away.
Sadly, just guessed incorrectly with “Catawma” — please add my name to Isla’s list!

Catawba was the name of the fictional hometown of George
F.Babbittt in the Sinclair Lewis novel.

Late entry

Loved Isla’s entry. Won’t be forgetting this grape variety in a hurry. For the record I plumped correctly thinking the b more likely.

No real hold ups elsewhere though CRINGEWORTHY was actually one of my last ones

Ninja Turtled BULAWAYO from a childhood love of Wilbur Smith rather than History lessons at school. His early ones are rather good, if I’m allowed to confess such a thing

Thanks Vinyl and setter

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