Times Cryptic 26506 – September 1, 2016 At last, a cure for insomnia!

Author   ZabadakPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I struggled through drooping eyelids through this, untroubled by any inkling of excitement for 25 minutes*. So many of the clues were of the “stick this into/onto that” variety, so many indeed that I ran out of ways to say “wrap this with that”. Sorry. Definitions were mostly one word and prosaic. I did make one mistake through not checking my anagram fodder, and in truth I did intend going back to it to work through the wordplay properly, but missed out on the opportunity (eyelids drooped still further) and submitted too soon.
*Oh all right, 1 down raised the tone a bit

Clues Definitions SOLUTIONS

Across

1 Pay for tea, dipping into resources  (8)
PURCHASE  Tea become CHA and is put (rather messily, in all likelihood) into PURSE
5 Oppressive temperature in chamber  (6)
CLOSET Oppressive: close followed by T(emperature)
9 Republican’s quitting a good deal further behind (3)
AFT  I think this is R(epublican) removed from RAFT, both that and good deal meaning a large number.
10 Retreating in disarray, some ultimately join up again  (11)
REINTEGRATE  A straightforward anagram (“in disarray”) of RETREATING and somE ultimately.
12 List of exam scores, perhaps, English included, worth promoting?  (10)
MARKETABLE  the list of exam scores is off course a MARK TABLE. Add an extra E(nglish)
13 Enthusiasm prize student’s full of  (4)
ZEST  Hidden in prizeZE STudent
15 Journalist on hill brought down  (6)
FELLED  Journalist is, as ever, ED, tacked onto the end of FELL for hill.
16 Devoted nurses going too far to dance  (7)
GAVOTTE  Devoted: GAVE gently embraces OTT, over the top or going too far
18 Fruit spirit in pot without lid knocked over  (7)
TANGELO  Sprit is ANGEL, place in a topless POT reversed. You don’t even have to derive POT from another word.
20 Short bar put out (6)
ABRUPT  Put out the letters of BAR PUT
23 Web-hosted vote’s succeeding  (4)
NEXT  Vote (with a stubby pencil on a string) is X. The NET is hosted by the web (or is it the other way round?) and in turn nurses the S
24 Crooked mat, they say, for a corner  (5,5)
RIGHT ANGLE  Crooked WRY, mat: TANGLE. Put the two together and feed them into the sound mimicking apparatus
26 Queen wearing shapeless minidress gets chilly reception  (5,6)
SHORT SHRIFT Queen provides just the R, wrap lovingly with a SHORT SHIFT
27 The lady closing gates with haste  (3)
SHE provided by the last letters of gates with haste. Not novel? There’s novel at least!
28 Rejected noodle: go for baked food  (6)
PASTRY   Noodle is SAP, (variants on idiot) which is “rejected”. Go provides TRY
29 Cashed in, as each new driver is apparently overdrawn?  (8)
REALISED   EA(ch) new driver L IS “in the RED”. Clever, eh?
Down
1 Vital fluid — granny given litre infusion?  (6)
PLASMA When you think about it, granny is PA’S MA. When you get over the excitement, throw in a L(itre)
2 He’s stopped working on island  (7)
RETIREE  on: RE, island: TIREE last of the Inner Hebrides going westwards.
3 Terse report on 21’s bloodsuckers  (10)
HORSEFLIES  You’ll discover 21 is Pegasus. Our solution is as laconic a report as it’s possible to imagine on seeing what Pegasus does. Mind you, (earworm alert) I’ve seen a peanut stand
4 Suggestions drawn up with European attention to formality?  (4,3,6)
SPIT AND POLISH  Suggestions TIPS written upwards, with AND, European (of a kind) POLISH
6 Long-established toy on offer originally  (4
LEGO  Today’s product placement, the world’s most expensive plastic. Today’s cricket: On is the side of a cricket pitch also known as LEG. Offer donates the required O
7 Spring holiday with least to offer?  (7)
SPAREST  Spring: SPA, holiday REST. My oath, this is dull.
8 Pedant regularly blocking taxes for covenants  (8)
TREATIES  The even letters of pedant, EAT inserted into TRIES from taxes (verb)
11 Eg. help writer with a mobile phone supplier? (9,4)
TELEGRAPH WIRE  and not LINE as I set down with no justification. Collect and redistribute EG HELP WRITER and A
14 Extra staff set up permitted household fitting  (10)
OVERMANTEL  Extra gives OVER (not cricket, just surplus). Staff: MAN and permitted: LET “set up”. As you will know from these columns, CB Fry was able to jump up onto one from a standing start
17 Holds water, taking firm position to drink  (6,2)
STANDS UP   Firm position STAND, drink SUP.
19 Harmful beast one’s restrained by common sense  (7)
NOXIOUS  Beast: OX, contained within NOUS, common sense. Courtesy McT: you also need the I from “one’s” to make it work – thanks!
21 Stallion keeps steady, crossing America northwards  (7)
PEGASUS  Keeps steady: PEGS, throw in a reverse USA
22 Cutting base, man needs large saw  (6)
BEHELD. Spot the definition. Man: HE plus L(arge) cut into base: BED.
25 Where most inmates have time to get a move on  (4)
STIR  One of the many synonyms for prison, where people do time, and as a verb to get moving.

40 comments on “Times Cryptic 26506 – September 1, 2016 At last, a cure for insomnia!”

  1. About half an hour for this one. Not such a doddle though, with a few more difficult clues including AFT, another one of those harder-than-they-first-look 3 letter ones. I particularly liked PA’S MA for ‘granny’ (I’m excited!), REALISED and my favourite the ‘Terse report on PEGASUS…’ for HORSEFLIES.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  2. … to finish this after yesterday’s disaster of a solve. Agreed with Z8 that PLASMA is the best of the bunch; though I didn’t mind HORSEFLIES either. And there’s an answer prominently repeated in The Other Place today — but with a very different clue and definition.

    Minor correction: Z8, you missed out the “one” (I) in 19dn.

  3. Get some sleep Z, it’ll look better in the morning. I quite enjoyed it at the time, and even more now that I know how to parse PLASMA. (So could MIASMA be clued as “Air of unpleasantness after granny is given one”?) Anyway, moving on.

    Don’t think I’ve heard of OVERMANTEL, my LOI. And HORSEFLIES was pretty good.

    Thanks setter and Z.

    1. Yeah, you’re probably right – I was within an ace of deciding to succumb to Morpheus and finish it in the morning. It really was a case of solve one, nod off, solve one, nod off… – no idea why. Even as I write I’m considering an apology to the setter.
    2. Excellent. You have managed to make miasma even more unpleasant. My usual 30 minutes with a couple of enjoyable clues. I’ve seen tempus fugit.
    4. I have to join in the chorus of praise. There’s a future for you, galspray, in smutty crosswords.
          1. Maybe we should try a Private Eye style Christmas Turkey this year…

            You’d make the perfect editress.

            1. Hm. I suspect getting that right — naughty but not too naughty — is a lot trickier than it looks.
              1. Ah, I think we have the perfect candidate – Gallers, solver-cum-setter, not to mention diplomat.
    5. Definitely COD!
      22m for this, struggling all the way. At least I managed to finish, unlike yesterday’s (which I did just after this – didn’t get time yesterday). I did like PLASMA and HORSEFLIES though.
    6. Très amusant!! I reckon you could sell that clue to some of the Sunday setters. There’s often a whiff of smuttiness there!
  4. Whereas this offering did not please Z8 (Captain Grumpy) terribly much, I was at last clear of my ‘Meldrew moments’, derived from my first three efforts this week.

    28 minutes was a refreshing change. Give me prosaic anytime over and above mistakes in the setting. I hope the editor spent at least three hours in the naughty chair, yesterday.

    FOI 11dn TELEPHONE WIRE which later became the more proper TELEGRAPH WIRE

    LOI 9ac AFT – Z8 your explanation is correct, so come cheer!

    COD 16ac GAVOTTE WOD PROSAIC

    horryd Shanghai

  5. 35 minutes, finishing in the SE, and particularly liking ABRUPT and BEHELD. I originally had ‘telephone line’ – no wonder I need to write these things down (though I got there without today…via ‘telephone wire’).
  6. 36 minutes for what I found to be a rather enjoyable puzzle – I particularly liked many of the surface readings. Admittedly it’s at the easier end of the spectrum but there are lots of newbies joining the ranks, often from the QC, who need some encouragement, and older hands (like myself) who sometimes struggle and need an easier ride occasionally to regain confidence. Anyway the new Monthly is available today for those who find they have time on their hands.

    Having noted the presence of X and Z whilst solving I resolved to check, but we are a J and and a Q short of a pangram.

  7. This was just a tad too clever for me today. If I’d had more time free I might have pushed on and finished, but as it is I had to leave it with a few to go. Those ranged from the “oh, of course it is” quality with CLOSET to the unknown TANGELO, which I might have guessed if I’d got all the crossers… Sadly I was still trying to figure out what word beginning TOX… I was missing instead of writing NOXIOUS in…

    I’ll add my admiration to the pile for PLASMA and HORSEFLIES; glad I got them before my hour ran out.

    Now, time to add “noodle” and “sap” to my list of “really?” synonyms and take my car to the garage…

    Edited at 2016-09-01 06:36 am (UTC)

  8. Just over the 30 minute mark with a LOL moment when I saw how 1dn worked.. Otherwise steady stuff.

    (Further minor amendment Z – the S in your explanation of 23ac should X. My parsing was slightly different so that NET (web) is ‘hosting’ the vote (X)

    Edited at 2016-09-01 07:37 am (UTC)

  9. 34 minutes but with DECEASED for 29a – well if you’re deceased, you’ve cashed in, even if the cryptic makes no sense. Mind you there were a few that didn’t make much sense to me, so thanks Z for enlightening me.
    It should, of course be added that other brick-based toys are available…
  10. Many smiles today, PLASMA, HORSEFLIES and RIGHT ANGLE, my FOI. Nearly biffed TELEGRAPH POLE, see them all the time, are they called that over the pond? I do hope no-one ever refers to me as a RETIREE, ghastly word. 24′. Thanks setter and z, btw the sun is shining.
  11. 15:21 … obviously one of the main functions of social media is to make idiots feel less alone, so it’s good to see I wasn’t the only one whose biggest hold-up was unscrambling a biffed telephone wire. Feel free to friend or heart me or whatever.

    I rather enjoyed this one. West side was easy, but almost nothing in the east went in without a fight.

    BEHELD and PLASMA and CLOSET probably my favourites. Edit: Oh, and PEGASUS.

    Edited at 2016-09-01 08:20 am (UTC)

  12. 21:41. I enjoyed this, with a strong COD to PLASMA. I hit some sort of blind spot with my LOI NEXT. For some time I had N_X_ and couldn’t think of anything that would fit it, and couldn’t come up with a synonym for web.

  13. Nice to have a slightly easier puzzle to restore confidence. 26 minutes for this one with FOI ZEST, LOI LEGO which I didn’t put in until the wool fell from my eyes and I saw the cricket reference. I thought there were a number of excellent clues, including PLASMA, HORSEFLIES and RIGHT ANGLE. I laughed out loud at Galspray’s MIASMA. AFT took me a while to see, but there were no real holdups. Thanks setter and Z. I tackled this after a late night, but a lie in until 10am and a strong coffee had me raring to go. I love being a retiree 🙂
  15. If you can biff, can you misbiff? I did that with TELEGRAPH LINE iso WIRE. All that time and effort (1hr 18m 35s) only to make a mistake. Much amused by PLASMA as I was yesterday by POSTER. Also amused by galspray’s MIASMA!

    Edited at 2016-09-01 12:44 pm (UTC)

  16. No exact time but around 20 mins I think. I biffed a few but enjoyed parsing PLASMA. With my pedant’s hat on, I believe CB Fry jumped backwards from a standing position onto his mantelpiece not his overmantel. On edit – I feel I need to make clear that he was not wearing my hat while performing this feat.

    Edited at 2016-09-01 02:35 pm (UTC)

  17. A puzzle of two halves. The LH side were largely write-ins but I had a bit of a struggle with the other side (apart from PEGASUS which tied into 3d). As usual, I was blindsided by the cricket clue and had to biff LEGO without parsing. 29 minutes. Ann
  18. 35 minutes, enjoyable puzzle, slow to see CLOSET and LEGO was my LOI. Liked HORSEFLIES and RETIREE.
    SHRIFT seems a funny word, never used without being SHORT these days?
    Just returned from squeezing our Thursday golf game in ahead of a major Ladies comp, where there were plenty of those SHORT SHIFTS visible in the 30 degree heat!
  19. About 25 minutes, ending with REALISED. Mostly top left to bottom right, although I had left LEGO blank for a while before seeing the cricket thing lurking within. More of a coast today than some earlier puzzles this week, but PLASMA is quite clever. Regards.
  20. 22 mins so I was off the wavelength, but I took a slight knock towards the end which didn’t help. I had the same experience as Sotira and Ann inasmuch as the LHS went in a lot quicker than the RHS. I eventually finished in the SE with BEHELD after REALISED. I confess I found this one a little too mechanical for my taste with the obvious exceptions of PLASMA and HORSEFLIES.
  21. Did this while driving back from London after my stag night with a similarly hungover mate. Apart from “BEHELD” which we had as LEGEND (saw, as in proverb), we finished it, although we were distracted for a while trying to find an anagram of minidress and ER to make a chilly reception. 1 down was our FOI and I thought we were in for a real treat, but the whole was spoilt I thought by some over-obvious answers (FELLED, STANDS UP) which gave pause simply because one couldn’t imagine they could be that straightforward
  22. 40 minutes today, quite straightforward. The last 5 or 10 minutes were spent REALISING how REALISED worked and I agree, PLASMA is quite good (MIASMA too, for that matter). It reminds me of Swedish, which is quite specific about relations. I have a German friend living in Sweden who showed me a portrait of her great-great-grandmother on the wall and said it was her mormorsmormor (pronounced delightfully moormoorshmoormoor, and meaning literally ma’s ma’s ma’s ma, to keep in the general spirit of things).
  23. <45 mins so one of my quickest, starting and finishing (with 22) in the SE. After recent confusion, nice to have a relatively straightforward puzzle, for me at least!

    I didn’t get the clue for 16, but as soon as I got the G it just had to be gavotte…

  24. Thirty-four minutes for me, a little slower than my best but I’m relieved to see that not everyone found it that easy.

    Has anyone ever actually seen a TANGELO? I have only ever seen them offered in crosswords.

  25. A sluggish 10:14 for me, feeling tired after a busy day – but clearly not as tired as you. This is the second day in a row where I’ve enjoyed the puzzle much more than the blogger, finding this one interesting and enjoyable.
  26. Poor Dr Thud. It is Tangelo season Down Under now. They are like large mandarins: easy to peel citrus, very nice flavour. Sorry we get the print puzzle a bit later over here. I don’t expect you will see this comment.

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