Times Cryptic 26264

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I thought I was heading for a record time on this one as I solved so many clues at the first reading, but then I hit a wall with the long Down clues unsolved and one of the long Acrosses and it took me a while to get second wind. In the end I completed in 32 minutes but I’d had my sights on a much better result earlier in the proceedings. I’m sorry you’ve been landed with me on consecutive days but “C’est la vie!” (as they don’t say in Nice).

{deletions}   [indicators]

Across
1 FORESTRY – FOR (destined*), {v}ESTRY (room in church) [unstarted]. *On edit: FOR (destined to end up in) seems more likely, as suggested by Ulaca. See his first comment below.
5 ZODIAC – CA (about), I (one), DOZ (dozen abbr.) all reversed [turning]
9 NARCISSI – I (one) inside NARCS (drug agents), IS reversed [backing]
10 STRIPY – RIP (tear) inside STY (low place).  ‘Low’ in the sense of  being squalid.
12 ROUGH JUSTICE – ROUGH (disreputable fellow), JUSTICE (judge)
15 ALIBI – AL{l}, I{n}, BI{t} [never to finish]
16 ROCK SOLID – ROCK (pop music), SOLI (performances), D (daughter). I’d make a point of avoiding anyone who said ‘soli’ instead of ‘solos’.
18 SFORZANDI – The answer was a write-in once I had the Z checker in place but I spent ages trying to identify anagrist here. Eventually I realised it’s not an anagram at all but an instruction to substitute S FOR Z AND I in ZION to get the word SON out of it. The definition is ‘sudden stresses’ and the answer is another Italian word used in musical circles. I don’t mind the use of -i for the plural here as I do with ‘soli’, because it remains a purely Italian word with no direct English equivalent.
19 NASAL – NASA (space agency), L (large). I didn’t know this name for a nose-piece of armour but it seemed safe to assume it was correct.
20 SOLAR FURNACE – Anagram [working] of A CLEAR SUN FOR. This was also a bit of a guess, but what else could it have been?
24 INGEST – Sounds like “in jest” in which many a true word is said to be spoken
25 BELOW PAR – Anagram [badly] of RAP ELBOW
26 NITWIT – An N.I. TWIT might be a fool from Northern Ireland
27 STEM CELL – STEM (stop), CELL (undercover group)

Down
1 FINN – F (fine), INN (pub). A clue that may have escaped from the Quick Cryptic department.
2 RARE – RA (gunners), R{usty}, E{specially} [initially]. Definition: having few matches.
3 SLIVOVITZ – LIV (54 in Roman numerals) inside SOVI{e}T [not European], Z (unknown)
4 ROSE GERANIUM – Anagram [artificially created] of ORANGERIES, UM (sound of hesitation). Another unkown or forgotten answer.
6 OATES – O{r}ATES (makes a speech) [dismissing king]. Titus Oates came up here very recently and was fresh in my mind.
7 INITIALISE – Another clue requiring us to read the answer as a phrase, so in England and Europe the INITIAL IS E. I didn’t know the definition ‘set to value’ here, which I now understand specifically relates to computing. It seemed sort of right though.
8 CLYDESDALE – C (cold), LYE (solution for washing) enclosing anagram [messy] of SADDLE. This fine breed of horse comes up quite a lot.
11 EJECTION SEAT – EJECTION (deportation), SEA (marine), T{ransport} [initially]. I’ve always called it an ‘ejector seat’ and my dictionary tells me ‘ejection seat’ is American usage.
13 JAM SESSION – JAM (preserve), SESSION (hearing). Another from QC Land perhaps.
14 PILOT LIGHT – PLIGHT (difficult situation) encloses I (one) + LOT (good deal)
17 SONIC BOOM – Anagram [unruly] of I SOON COMB
21 ROSTI – S{erved}[initially] inside ROTI (bread)
22 APSE – S (saint) inside APE (primate). And another!
23 ORAL – {fl)ORAL (flowery) [taking the floor]

60 comments on “Times Cryptic 26264”

  1. 48 minutes (but interrupted by a request from my daughter) for a straightforward but not entirely easy puzzle. LOI was SFORZANDI after I recalled how the wordplay must work — a very long time ago we had SFORZANDO with the wordplay “it’s what makes zoo so”, which I found so impressive that it’s stuck in my mind ever since. INITIALISE and NITWIT were also quite good. I wasn’t quite sure whether 12ac would be ROUGH JUSTICE or whether it mightn’t be TOUGH JUSTICE, but I did opt for the right choice in the end. Nasty unchecked first letter.
  2. A peaceful 17:12 with no hold-ups other than a licking dog. Nothing unknown, nothing else to add.
  3. About 45 minutes for me, so I was relieved that few people seem to have found this one particularly easy.

    SFORZANDI almost did for me. I half-remembered sforz-something, and it was a toss-up between -andi, -anti and -anni. But “-ando” sounded more reasonable for the singular, hence “-andi” for the plural. SLIVOVITZ, in contrast, occupies a prominent place in my memory and so (for once) gave me no problems.

    Nice to see some post-WWII science making it in at 27ac. and 17d, but my COD was ZODIAC, because it’s so elegantly crafted.

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