Times Cryptic 26978

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

I needed 38 minutes for this one but found it mostly straightforward. My biggest problems were spotting how 20 and 26ac worked having biffed both answers with a little help from the checkers in place at the time. 26ac was going to receive my rarely awarded prize for COD but on reflection whilst writing the blog I decided it’s not quite as good as I had first thought.

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]

Across
1 Jumper Mark has got hold of without assistance? (4-4)
POLO-NECK – POCK (mark) contains [has got hold of] LONE (without assistance). I wondered about the definition, but it’s fine as ‘a polo-neck’  can be taken to mean a polo-neck sweater or jumper. I knew of ‘pockmarks’ (not from personal experience, I’m pleased to say) without ever considering what a ‘pock’ was. I now understand that it’s the blister that causes the mark but can also mean the residual mark itself.
5 Wielding this could make you chesty (6)
SCYTHE – Anagram of [could make you] CHESTY. Not much of a definition here other than it’s something one might wield as I don’t think the rest of the clue adds anything to it.
9 Staff in courses on reflection settled matter (8)
SEDIMENT – MEN (staff) contained by [in] TIDES (courses) reversed [on reflection]. As in the tide or course of history, perhaps.
10 Make box for holding tablet (6)
CREATE – CRATE (box) containing [holding] E (tablet – of ecstacy). More drug culture.
12 Cake aims to get awards (7,6)
BROWNIE POINTS – BROWNIE (cake), POINTS (aims). Collins advises that these are notional marks to one’s credit earned for being seen to do the right thing, from the mistaken notion that Brownie Guides earn points for good deeds. Some sources suggest that the expression is mostly used facetiously in connection with some trivial act which involves sucking up to one’s superior. Toad on Masterchef last night criticised a contestant who promised a brownie for producing something with the texture of cake so perhaps there’s a subtle difference that I’m not aware of.
15 Ingredient of healthy meals? (5)
THYME – Hidden in {heal}THY ME{als}
16 Express anger about constant cavity (9)
VENTRICLE – VENT RILE (express anger) containing [about] C (constant). Ventricles are perhaps best known as chambers in the heart but they are also cavities in the brain and other organs.
17 Works of obscure poetaster (9)
OPERETTAS – Anagram of [obscure] POETASTER
19 Cheese fondue’s first for barman? (5)
BRIEF – BRIE (cheese), F{ondue} [‘s first]. ‘Bar man’ in the sense of barrister with the question mark signalling the tongue-in-cheek definition.
20 This method briefly doing for a medic? (5,8)
MODUS OPERANDI – Method of operating. This can be written ‘briefly’ as MO which also stands for Medical Officer.
22 Cover one name of course (6)
INSURE – I (one), N (name), SURE (of course)
23 Plant takes a short while to camouflage brick container (8)
ASPHODEL – A, SPEL{l} (while) [short] containing [to camouflage] HOD [brick container]. There are lots of varieties of this, the daffodil being one such.
25 Studies state on board English ship (6)
ESSAYS – SAY (state) contained by [on board]  E (English) + SS (ship)
26 Part-time doctor and daughter keeping swine supplied with water (8)
HYDRATED – HYDE (part-time doctor) + D (daughter) containing [keeping] RAT (swine). The slight problem here is that it was Jekyll who was the part-time doctor. On edit, I note that others perceive this differently and I’m now in two minds about it.
Down
1 Operated by pressure, plug still not coming up (4-6)
PUSH-BUTTON – PUSH (plug – a product, perhaps), BUT (still), NOT reversed [coming up]
2 Light / was at the front (3)
LED – Two meanings, the first being a light-emitting diode
3 Long time taken up securing pit candidate (7)
NOMINEE – EON (long time) reversed [taken up] containing [securing] MINE (pit)
4 Distributed vast incomes to defend right political ideology (12)
CONSERVATISM – Anagram [distributed] of VAST INCOMES containing [to defend] R (right)
6 Court official, firm one belted by bishop? (7)
CORONER – CO (firm), then ONE contained [belted] by RR (bishop – Right Reverend)
7 A couple of Poles taken in by purchase deal (11)
TRANSACTION – A + NS (couple of Poles) contained [taken in] by TRACTION (purchase)
8 Waste carrier avoids small vessel (4)
EWER – {s}EWER (waste carrier) [avoids small]
11 Wow! Is sauce included in awful local dish? (7,5)
CORNISH PASTY – COR (wow!), then IS + HP (sauce) contained by [included in] NASTY (awful). HP stands for the Houses of Parliament as featured on the label of this disgusting brown concoction.
13 About ten monkeys playing with gas — from these? (6,5)
OXYGEN MASKS – Anagram [playing] of MONKEYS GAS containg [about] X (ten). I think this counts as semi &lit to account for the double-duty served by ‘gas’ here.
14 Stubborn little chap drank bottles (4-6)
SELF-WILLED – SWILLED (drank) contains [bottles] ELF (little chap)
18 Foreign articles extremely likely to be getting on (7)
ELDERLY – EL +DER  (foreign articles), L{ikel}Y [extremely]
19 Citizen’s food sent up with woman’s (7)
BURGHER – GRUB (food) reversed [sent up], HER (woman’s)
21 Wood popular in gym (4)
PINE – IN (popular) contained by [in] PE (gym)
24 Spot / one of three in Fiji (3)
DOT – Another double definition. The dots in Fiji are more properly called ‘tittles’.

45 comments on “Times Cryptic 26978”

  1. I felt a bit slow on this one, perhaps because I was checking carefully after silly mistakes in recent days. On review there’s nothing much that should have held me up. LOI was SELF-WILLED, as I was trying to parse with WILL as the little chap.

    Thanks, Jack, for the early-posted and precise blog. (The fact that Jekyll was the doctor completely passed me by.) Thanks also to the setter for a grid with no obscurities for those down-under.

  2. My problem was focusing on WILL as the ‘little chap’ in 14d. I’m pleased I spotted the device used in 24d
    Er, how to delete the Anonymous post that starts this blog thread?
  3. As per Mr. Starstruck I crawled through this especially the East Wing.

    As per 26ac SWINE = RAT ok but I was initially onto SPIGOTED and agree with Mr. Bloggs from Leighton Buzzard on the Jekyll confusion.

    FOI 24ac Dot (Jack you have one too many ‘i’s in Fijii!)

    LOI 10ac CREATE I was looking for pugalism

    COD 20ac MODUS OPERANDI (19ac BRIEF was OK)

    WOD 23ac ASPHODEL

  4. I was in Dim City for some reason; couldn’t parse a clue to save my life. I mean, like SCYTHE and CREATE for chrissake, as Holden would say. I persisted in looking for an M in 1ac (mark), and in taking ‘T-E-N’ to be part of the anagrist in 13d, and all in all botched the solving job for as long as possible. If Mr Hyde became Dr Jekyll at times, wasn’t he a part-time doctor? Just asking.
  5. I’m not sure that ‘part-time doctor’ is wrong for Hyde, as from his point of view, he was a doctor part of the time, in a way, however much he may have disliked it.

    Anyway, 31 minutes for this interesting offering, with SCYTHE going in late in proceedings from the checkers – the parsing being seen only post-solve. I held myself up by biffing ‘ventilate’ at 16a. MODUS OPERANDI was clever, though bungable in once more from the crossers.

    1. SCYTHE was my FOI! But it appears that I was on the wavelength for this one, finishing just outside of five minutes.
  6. This was only slightly harder than yesterday’s, which was a breeze, but 11, 12, and 13 were unfinished when I got on the subway and switched to the Quickie. Returning to it after dinner, I suddenly flashed on CORNISH as fitting the checkers for 11, so figured there must be something called a PASTY that can be eaten. But I was at a loss as to how to parse it until I came here, as I was not (mercifully?) familiar with the brown stuff. I then also instantly saw BROWNIE POINTS (Jack’s second sentence about that reflects the sense in which I’ve always heard it used. Brown-nosing points) and OXYGEN MASKS, before bothering to parse them.

    As Hyde and Jekyll were the same guy, and he was a doctor only when he was Jekyll, I don’t think there’s any problem with that clue. I’d go so far as to say it wouldn’t quite work the other way round.

    Edited at 2018-03-06 04:52 am (UTC)

  7. 16:27 … major hold-up from biffing ‘pump-action’ at 1d — clearly I read and watch too much crime fiction.

    The question of whether Jekyll and Hyde were one person or two time-sharing the same space is beyond me. But I thought the clue was a belter.

    Very enjoyable stuff

  8. 49m, with the left-hand side in before the right. FOI 2d LED; struggled with 16a VENTRICLE and 6d CORONER in the top, and with SELF-WILLED and LOI 23a ASPHODEL in the bottom. I did vaguely recognise ASPHODEL once I’d constructed it, so that was helpful. Might’ve been from the last time Narcissus came up; I remember reading the Wikipedia article on daffodils…

    COD definitely 26a for me. Last year I re-watched James Nesbitt’s fantastic performance in the BBC’s modern interpretation Jekyll, which might have helped me to seeing Hyde as a part-time encumbrance of the main event…

  9. Last night I experienced a strange crossword coincidence. Having had the unknown KULAK yesterday the word was then used several times in the book I was reading. These sort of coincidences seem to occur more often than seems reasonable!

    I held myself up today by biffing OXYGEN TANKS, which was rectified once I saw MODUS OPERANDI. As with yesterday I give my COD to a clue for such a nice concise surface – THYME. Fairly straightforward but also very elegant to my mind.

  10. 40 mins in bed on iPad pre brekker – which will probably be bran flakes. I’m at my 93 year old dad’s and that’s what he has.
    Anagrams are harder on the iPad.
    Mostly I liked the Hyde clue.
    I blenched at the plant.
    Thanks setter and Jack.

    Edited at 2018-03-06 08:18 am (UTC)

  11. I did this in 13.11, but rather wished I had taken longer, as so many of the clues were more elegant than my rough treatment allowed. HYDRATED in particular, with MO, POLO-NECK, CORNISH PASTY and ASPHODEL all sorted out after submission. Part-time doctor made me smile regardless of whether it was the right way round or not.
    Thanks to Jack for taking more care than I did.
  12. 16′ 38”, so improving online. One or two clues seem to have escaped from the QC, e.g. THYME and PINE. I too had PUMP ACTION for a while. Thanks jack and setter.
  13. 12:39. Similar experience to z8’s – lots of biffing – although I would never say that I wish I had taken more time, however much I should.

    Edited at 2018-03-06 09:19 am (UTC)

  14. A very elegant crossword. I loved the CORNISH PASTY with the brown sauce (what’s not to like about tamarind, vinegar, molasses and anchovies?).
  15. 27 minutes with LOI and COD HYDRATED. I agree that Dr Jekyll was only part-time, as the other part of the time he was My Hyde. Penultimate was DOT. I blame my eyesight for not seeing that sooner. I managed to understand that MO must also stand for MODUS OPERANDI without ever either having heard or used it. T’hod carrier was how my Granddad would refer to someone doing the donkey work, so ASPHODEL was a write-in. I’m not totally convinced of ESSAYS for studies. Aren’t they two separate activities taking place simultaneously/ intermittently? Nice puzzle. Thank you Jack and setter.

    Edited at 2018-03-06 10:18 am (UTC)

    1. I also looked more than once at essays/studies and wasn’t entirely convinced but eventually found this in SOED: study – An essay, book, etc., devoted to the detailed consideration of a specified subject. M19.

      Edited at 2018-03-06 10:48 am (UTC)

  16. 13 min 37 secs.

    I don’t recall seeing a dollop of HP sauce besmirch The Times crossword before. Actually I’m quite a fan of the stuff. I know that Harold Wilson was supposed to be keen on it too but I didn’t realise, until just now, it was once known as Wilson’s Gravy.

    From Wikipedia – HP Sauce became known as “Wilson’s gravy” in the 1960s and 1970s after Harold Wilson, the Labour Prime Minister. The name arose after Wilson’s wife, Mary, gave an interview to The Sunday Times in which she claimed “If Harold has a fault, it is that he will drown everything with HP sauce.”

    What I’m an even greater enthusiast for is the tangy, liquid concoction, first sold by chemists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins in 1837 – Worcestershire Sauce.

    Edited at 2018-03-06 10:22 am (UTC)

    1. We’d have felt the benefits of the white heat of the technological revolution if only the nation had stuck with HP Sauce instead of transferring its affections to tomato ketchup.
  17. Just crept in under the hour, being slow to spot the anagram for 13d and hardly even considering BROWNIE POINTS as being ‘awards’.

    I’m another who liked CORNISH PASTY, almost as much as the thought of both the food and, yes, the sauce. Lunch for tomorrow, served as suggested.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  18. Hurrah! 29m all correct today so feeling much happier. I liked this elegant offering very much with nods of approval for the plant, watered and the herb. 26a seems to work fine for me – ‘he’ evidently wasn’t a full time doctor, I guess. My COD though is the pasty, especially for the HP mention. I enjoyed AV1’s reminder of Harold’s love of said concoction. Proper politicians in them there days. Thanks for the blog, Jack, appreciated as ever. Delighted of Darlington today.
  19. Good medium puzzle, a few biff ed, 23 minutes. I like HP sauce in principle and would be sad to see it go, but don’t much like the taste. But agree on Worcestershire sauce especially liberally with tabasco in a bloody Mary.
  20. I guess we will never know why certain puzzles suit our solving style, and some don’t, but today’s was definitely one of the latter. I found myself groping towards enlightenment in clues which didn’t turn out to be terribly obscure with hindsight, so whoever this setter is, I found them to be very sneaky (which is obviously a great compliment).

    And while I always hesitate to correct the blogger, I am afraid that HP sauce is officially great.

  21. Did so much biffing to get a good time that some of the subtleties of this crossword passed me by, and it’s only coming here that I discovered them. Note to self – parse as you go, it makes sense! Yes, I’m not sure about push = plug either.
  22. Apparently, Harold also preferred cigars but felt that this did not fit in with his Labour grassroots persona. Hence the pipe in public.
  23. This just seemed to flow in, although my solving method (tendency to solve clues based on ‘interesting’ letters already entered, as opposed to in numerical order: “Oh…there’s an X, that should be an easy clue”), I ended up solving this one bottom up, with coroner LOI. Bit surprised at HP for sauce and was alert to ventricle after having got stuck on arteries last week.
  24. 20:12 I associate BROWNIE POINTS with something between getting credit for good acts and brown-nosing a superior, namely keeping in the wife’s good books.
    1. Yes me too. You can’t actually do anything with them but if you save up enough you get a pink ticket, which can be exchanged for a long boozy afternoon in the George after the Crossword championship.
      1. I know my place. I’m looking forward to another of those boozy afternoons again this year. But won’t you be hoping to join a number of other illustrious members of our community in the Grand Final?
        1. I confess that is my crossword ambition. But if I ever achieve it I don’t know what I will do with the lost drinking time!
  25. 13:31, no real problems other than 2d, LED, reminding me how annoyed I get when I see the past tense of to lead appearing as LEAD. Seems to happen a lot.
  26. I found this fairly easy, taking 23:53, which I was surprised to find put me 114th on the Leaderboard, so obviously lot of others found it even easier. CREATE was my FOI and POLO-NECK my last. I found the NW the most resistant sector. Liked CORNISH PASTY, BROWNIE POINTS and HYDRATED. No problem with Hyde being a part time doctor. Good fun. Thanks setter and Jack.
  27. All this talk of ventricles, oxygen masks, insurance and coroners made me a little nervous, but the patient was alive and breathing when I left him after 23 minutes.

    This one seemed reasonably straighforward with no real NHOs, although I don’t think I’ve come across “SELF-WILLED” before.

  28. The appearance of HP was quite apposite today, as I did the puzzle on 3.31 New Street to Piccadilly train.

    I lived in Sutton Coldfield 1970-3 and my cross city commute in the latter part of my sojourn involved the newly opened Aston Expressway. Depending on the direction of the wind, one was assailed by the smell of either Ansell’s Brewery, or the HP sauce factory. Strange that I was never put off beer, but couldn’t stomach HP sauce for the next 30 years or so !

    FOI 5A

    Biffed 1D due to not seeing plug = push

    26A was my second favourite clue, and I too considered who was part-time only when I’d finished.

    COD 1A which I thought was excellent.

    Slightly held up by 13D before signing off in 13.37

    Thanks for both blog and puzzle.

  29. Another day another defeat by two clues at the end -23a and 26a. I never seem to know the plants in crosswords; those in my garden never seem to crop up.
    As it turns out my main problem was lazy biffing -Burgers at 19d and Eye at 24d.
    Still, I am getting higher up the learning curve.
    COD to 11d. David
    1. Commiserations! I hate it when that happens. I recently started a little mental checklist of “what to do when I’ve just been staring at that last one for ages”. So far I have:

      • Are you sure all the crossers are right?

      • Could it be a hidden? Or a reverse hidden?

      • Are you sure it’s not an anagram?

      • Try reading the clue backwards, slowly, word by word. (That can sometimes tease out hidden meanings.)

      • “See a ‘U’, try a ‘Q'”

      • …and I recently added “consider ‘KN’ if you see either a ‘K’ or an ‘N'”, but I’m not sure how often that one will come in handy…

        1. Yes, good point; setters often disguise multiple/cryptic definitions as more “normal” clues, say.

          Having said all that, I managed to not finish today’s 15×15 because I couldn’t get the last couple, so clearly my checklist isn’t always useful!

  30. Not much to add, but I also missed some of the subtleties of the clues. Apologies setter.
  31. I found this quite challenging, possibly because I did it after a long day at work, and I was pleased to finish in less than hour without cheating (OK I double-checked ASPHODEL before I pressed submit).

    I couldn’t parse 26a, mainly because swine = rat never occurred to me; I got as far as HY = half year (part time) DR = doctor and D = daughter but decided to leave it there.

    I liked 7d, with the misleading last two words, purchase deal, having quite different meanings, also 13d for comic effect.

    Thanks as usual for the blog Jack. I wondered if 5a was an &lit. Scything long grass would certainly make me chesty as I’ve had hay fever ever since I was a boy.

    And BTW there’s nothing wrong with HP sauce, as long as you use it to jazz up plain food rather than ruining something tasty with it! But definitely ketchup on a pasty.

    Edited at 2018-03-06 08:40 pm (UTC)

    1. I think you’re probably right that the setter intended the SCYTHE clue as &lit but it seemed a bit too loose until you mentioned hay fever. With that in mind it makes more sense.
    2. I never saw that explanation of 5a which I just thought was a bit weak. Well spotted! I agree with you on HP sauce. Great with pies and sausages… and haggis! I found this mostly fairly straightforward but had a mental block on remembering HYDRATED (and I also failed to parse it), seeing VENTRICLE and finding the aforementioned sauce to get to the CORNISH PASTY for quite a while. No sauce on Cornish pasties for me, unless you have them with baked beans. 21:13.
  32. 34:08 which felt a bit slow but then I was distracted by a lengthy conversation between two people sitting behind me on the train. I initially had an unparsed pull-over at 1ac but soon corrected when 3&4dn arrived. Slight delay twigging that sort of barman in 19ac and the part-time doctor in 26ac. Nice puzzle.
  33. Very far from the setter’s wavelength as this took me 1 hour 21 mins my only consolation being that everything was correct and fully parsed. For a very long time I couldn’t see the anagram for poetaster in spite of having all the checkers – that’s how bad it was. To add to my irritation my brother completed it in 35 min so he’s now winning 2:0 in our weekly competition. I badly need a Man Utd style comeback!

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