Times 29097 – not the one in The Strand, either.

I really enjoyed this Wednesday puzzle; not too difficult but with a collection of good anagrams, mixed cultural references and deceptive and amusing definitions. Cut affecting mothers? This week I think I’ve fully parsed them all, but feel free to put me right if I’ve missed a trick.

Definitions underlined in bold, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, anagrinds in italics, [deleted letters in square brackets].

Across
1	Noble European artist very taken by Mrs Simpson (8)
	MARGRAVE – Not Wallis, but Homer’s wife MARGE, has RA, V inserted. I knew a margrave was some kind of old European nobleman but couldn’t have told you anything more about it.
5	Reversing wagon over Joe; how distressing (6)
	TRAGIC -CART reversed with GI Joe inserted.
9	Nowt wrong with Hindu crime fiction (9)
	WHODUNNIT – (NOWT HINDU)*.
11	Previous month, uncovered gold (5)
	PRIOR – [A]PRI[L], OR for gold.
12	Skinny daughter sacrificing anything to be a dedicated swimmer (7)
	LEANDER – LEAN (skinny), D[aught]ER, where aught = anything. Leander in Greek legend was the chap who swam across the Hellespont every summer night to see his love, Hero, but drowned when a winter storm came along, so she drowned herself too. I can’t explain why I knew this trivial story, but I did. If Leander came back after 2022 he could walk over the new bridge, now the longest suspension bridge in the world.
13	Free love recollected by sailors (7)
	ABSOLVE – ABS (sailors), (LOVE)*.
14	Goes off side in a pleasure boat (6,7)
	PADDLE STEAMER – ADDLES (goes off), TEAM (side), inside PER = ‘a’. The “per pound meaning a pound” ruse again.
16	Musical group tight, having consumed two pints, missing second note (6,7)
	STRING QUARTET – STRINGENT (tight) loses its second N[ote], and insert QUART = two pints.
20	Bitter drink affected game plumber’s guts (7)
	CAMPARI – CAMP (affected), [m]ARI[o]. I am ignorant when it comes to computer games but I’d heard of Super Mario being a plumber in a game years ago.
21	Former copper beginning to erupt, go ballistic! (7)
	EXPLODE – EX (former), PLOD (copper), E[rupt].
23	Huge country home — help is coming round (5)
	INDIA – IN (home), AID reversed.
24	Place to buy drinks in can that helps to fund the church (5,4)
	TITHE BARN – THE BAR where you buy drinks, inside TIN = CAN.
25	Delicious beverage reportedly downed with pirate’s approval? (6)
	NECTAR – NECT sounds like “necked”, downed, AR as in ARRGH me hearties!
26	Always empty rooms to let here in Scotland (8)
	AYRSHIRE – AY (always) R[oom]S, HIRE = to let.

Down
1	Cut almost plausibly fluent figure in the jungle (6)
	MOWGLI – MOW (cut), GLI[b] = almost plausibly fluent. As in Kipling’s The Jungle Book. The name supposedly meant “bald” as being a boy he had no fur unlike other animals.
2	Simpson put in an appearance, knocked over wine (5)
	RIOJA – Not Wallis, or Bart, this time, but O.J. of American Football fame who (possibly) didn’t murder his wife and her friend. He is put into AIR (appearance) reversed.
3	Full game of golf enjoyed — exhausted! (7)
	ROUNDED – ROUND of golf, E[njoye]D.
4	Ruined investor quit holding large position in entertainment sector (13)
	VENTRILOQUIST – (INVESTOR QUIT L)*.
6	Mature East German blocks fencing thrust (7)
	RIPOSTE – RIPE (mature) with OST (German for east) inside.
7	According to Spooner, little Mildred acquired a diver (9)
	GUILLEMOT – Spooner would have said “Millie Got”.
8	Iron ore, essentially, loaded on board transport vessel (3-5)
	CAR-FERRY – CARRY = transport, insert FE (Fe, iron), R (centre of oRe).
10	Planners try at working honestly and openly (13)
	TRANSPARENTLY – (PLANNERS TRY AT)*.
14	Aid camper getting injured? I might (9)
	PARAMEDIC – (AID CAMPER)*.
15	Conservative group overturning No 1 cut affecting mothers (1-7)
	C-SECTION – C (Conservative), SECT (group), NO I reversed.
17	Falls once more going over the border of Rwanda (7)
	NIAGARA – AGAIN reversed = NIAGA, R[wand]A.
18	Hardy character clutches gospel regularly, having removed hair shirt? (7)
	TOPLESS – O P L as above, inside TESS (of the d’Urbervilles).
19	Hat that is carrying the head? (6)
	BEANIE – BEAN (head) I.E. that is.
22	Over a thousand tapir — wingless animals (5)
	OKAPI – (edited as pointed out below by G de S and others): O = over, K (a thousand), API = tapir ‘wingless’ as above.

82 comments on “Times 29097 – not the one in The Strand, either.”

Very straightforward for a 15×15, and a comfortable solve in 23.46. The only one I failed to parse was CAMPARI, where knowledge of Mario the plumber was sadly lacking. I was unsure about the European count even though I parsed the answer, and it needed me to get MOWGLI before being confident enough to finish the puzzle off with MARGRAVE.

Just under 10 mins – but 1 error. The invented OMAPI instead of the known OKAPI. Aargh!

28’45”
Steady pace throughout.

Was feeling quite chuffed with my sub-30, until the Snitchmeister popped that balloon.
Very enjoyable; thank you setter and Pip.

I really enjoyed this one and found it not too hard.

Just one thing, piquet, should “European” not form part of the definition in 1ac? Without it underlined the answer would have to be MARGERAVE I think? (I vaguely remembered Margrave but, incorrectly, assumed it was a character from some literature I’d read many years ago, maybe Tale of Two Cities or something)

Well, this one must have just been too easy for me. I simply could not get into it and binned the project with maybe a quarter done. Maybe something else going on in my mind, though, if such there be, I haven’t found it yet.

20:01. A super puzzle, enjoyably testing, I thought, in GK, vocab and cluing. So I’m happy with my time and impressed by so many fast times out there. COD TOPLESS, now that Koppite has pointed out that “hair shirt” should read “her shirt”

27.07, while also listening to Manchester City match on the radio.

14’29”. Didn’t Byron swim the Hellespont in imitation of Leander? The classic Arrrr Jim-lad “trope” (if that is the word) goes back to British actor Robert Newton’s performance as Long John Silver in the 1950 film. All subsequent stage pirates owe a debt. There is also LANDGRAVE in the German nobility.
Many thanks.

No objection to the Super Mario reference itself, but the clue was too indirect. You have to correctly interpret “game plumber”, and then remove letters from the result.