Times Cryptic 26348

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
This one took me 28 minutes including parsing everything along the way (or so I thought) so I expect the speed merchants have had a field day. I say ‘or so I thought’ because on closer inspection when I came to write the blog I discovered my answer at 19ac didn’t fit the wordplay, nor was the definition correct – one of the perils of solving what appeared to be a rather easy puzzle when I thought I was within reach of a sub-30 finish. I think we have more than our usual quota of lengthy definitions today.

Deletions are in curley brackets and indicators in square ones

Across
1 ANARCHIC – A, then ARCH (cunning) inside NIC{k} (prison [largely])
5 FRISKY – F{irework} [initially], RISKY (dangerous)
9 OBSOLETE – SOLE (only) + T (time) inside [to cut] OBE (Empire medal)
10 BARROW – BAR (pub), ROW (argument)
12 REFRIGERATION – REF (match official), RIG (fix), E (English), RATION (allocation)
15 PLEAT – LEA (grassy area) in PT (part). No quibbles or doubts about the spelling of the meadow today!
16 INCOGNITO – Anagram [mixed] of NOTICING, O (blood group)
17 ANTENATAL – ANTEN{n}A (aerial [not New]), TAL{l} (having height [cut down])
19 SKINK – S (small), KINK (behavioural quirk). My initial answer here was STICK for reasons that looked ok to me at first glance but now seem quite beyond logic so I won’t embarrass myself by going into them.
20 INTERNAL RHYME – I suppose this is &lit with definition by way of an illustration of the answer, however it fails according to my understanding of how internal rhymes are supposed to work, not that I’m an expert so it could still be technically correct.
But here’s a rather better illustration from a song as performed by Kit & the Widow about “People Who Like Sondheim”:
“Religiously they learn all those eternal and infernal internal rhymes
Though they’re quite mechanical, chanting them litanically hundreds of times…”
22 RAKE IN – {hi}KE [not H (hard) I (one)] inside RAIN (wet weather). Definition: make much
23 FIREDAMP – FIRED (dismissed), AMP (some current). Explosive stuff!
25 SHRIKE – SHRIEK (harsh cry) with E (note) moving right to the end. A bird that has a frightening number of alternative names and varieties, any of which might turn up in crosswords. Actually the harsh cry can also be spelt SHRIKE.
26 KNITWEAR – Anagram [spilt] of INK WATER

Down
1 APOCRYPHAL – Anagram [rendering] of HAPPY CAROL. Definition: fabulous, in the sense of ‘mythical’.
2 ASS – {l}ASS (girl [going topless])
3 CULTIST – L (left) + SIT (lie) reversed [arising] inside CUT (split). My last one in.
4 IN THE PICTURE – A straight definition and a cryptic one
6 ROARING – R (character seen in both Oxford and Cambridge), OARING (rowing). Definition: emphatic, as in ‘a roaring success’.
7 SERENDIPITY – Anagram [unconventional] of YET INSPIRED. One of my favourite words. Here’s the definition and origin from the entry in SOED: (A supposed talent for) the making of happy and unexpected discoveries by accident or when looking for something else; such a discovery. From Serendip, -dib, said to be a former name of Sri Lanka + -ity; formed by Horace Walpole after the title of a fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip, the heroes of which ‘were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of’.
8 YAWL – Y (unknown), AWL (tool for making holes). A type of two-masted boat.
11 CANCELLATION – Anagram [arrangement] of ANCIENT LOCAL
13 FREETHINKER – FREE (not occupied), THIN (rarefied), {ma}KER [trinity completing maker]. Definition: rationalist.
14 BOOKKEEPER – BOOK (reserve), KEEPER (animal attendant). Definition: who works to maintain balance.
18 NITPICK – NIT (fool), PICK (choose). None of this ever going on at TftT of course.
19 SURFEIT – SURF (browse online), TIE (link) reversed [up]. Definition: stuff, which requires the answer to be a verb, now rare, hence ‘once’ being used to qualify it. Henry I is supposed to have died after consuming a surfeit of lampreys, and King John from a surfeit of peaches and cider which sounds a more attractive proposition than Henry’s fish supper.
21 IRIS – IRIS{h} (of Ireland [most of it])
24 ACE – {f}ACE (countenance [losing opening])

63 comments on “Times Cryptic 26348”

  1. Another enjoyable puzzle – not too difficult, but a number of very good clues.
  2. Another newbie, who is a 30m solver of the QC most days. Thought I’d try the grown-ups table today. Nearly got it done, but INCOGNITA rather than INCOGNITO sank me, unlucky as I am A blood type rather than O, and I was thinking of Terra Incognita. My COD FIREDAMP, pleasing construction and surface, obscure word pulled from darkest depths of memory. I’m a bit slow on anagrams which really affects my time, so 2 hours and 2 errors. Thanks to the bloggers, I think my first unassisted solution may be within reach, QC is a great trading ground.
    1. Well done Merlin. I also found this blog a great inspiration. My first attempt at the 15×15 took me 3 days, and I only completed 75% of it, with aids, but by following the blog over the last 5 years I can now finish most days in under an hour. Keep it up and your time will come down as you get familiar with the setters’ tricks.
  3. 7:42 for me, held up at the end dithering over CULTIST. Another pleasant, straightforward puzzle.

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