Times Cryptic 27506

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

My solving time was about an hour but there was nothing particularly difficult here. How did you all do?

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

Across
1 Showing readiness to eat one in safety (10)
SALIVATION : I (one) contained by [in] SALVATION (safety)
6 Before hotel used to be clean (4)
WASH : WAS (used to be), H (hotel)
10 Ring line to receive small magazine (7)
ARSENAL : ARENA (ring) + L (line) containing [to receive] S (small). ‘Ring’ as in circus or boxing. I knew ‘magazine’ as the part of a gun that holds bullets but not this definition from Collins which equates with ‘arsenal’:  a magazine is a building in which things such as guns, bullets, and explosives are kept.
11 How Fiji is crazier than Pitcairn? (7)
DOTTIER : The cryptic hint here is the number of dots or ‘tittles’ appearing in the words Fiji (3) and Pitcairn (2). A rare example of the literal being in the middle of the clue.
12 Period of working on hobby regularly a compulsion (9)
OBSESSION : {h}O{b}B{y} [regularly], SESSION (period of working)
13 Tearing bits off flag, grossly offensive behaviour (5)
AGGRO : Hidden in [tearing bits off] {fl}AG GRO{ssly}
14 I must finish fish bones (5)
CARPI : CARP (fish), I. This is becoming a chestnut.
15 Engineer left ground in shade (4,5)
NILE GREEN : Anagram [ground] of ENGINEER L (left). A pale bluish-green apparently.
17 Spiritual trend is a fresh form of prejudice (3,6)
NEW AGEISM : NEW (fresh), AGEISM (form of prejudice)
20 One sorry about daughter being less well-developed (5)
RUDER : RUER (one sorry) containing [about] D (daughter). ‘Rude’ as in ‘unrefined’, one of its less common meanings.
21 Sack of bricks holding tons (3,2)
LET GO : LEGO (bricks) containing [holding] T (tons). There’s a theory that brand names are not allowed in Times crosswords but here we have an example, so if a rule existed it may have been relaxed. ‘Let go’  is a euphemism for ‘sack’.
23 Robbed of power, taken below to be confined (9)
PLUNDERED : P (power), then UNDER (below) contained [confined] by LED (taken)
25 Colour supplement sent without its first article (7)
MAGENTA : MAG (supplement), {s}ENT [without its first], A (article)
26 Some electricity through heart shocked part of body (7)
TRACHEA : AC (some electricity) contained by [through] anagram [shocked] of HEART
27 Very old affliction (4)
SORE : Two meanings, the first being an archaism, hence ‘old’ in the clue. It turns up in the Bible in phrases such as ‘he was sore afraid’.
28 Method of authorising payment in terms of golf (4,3,3)
CHIP AND PIN : Two meanings
Down
1 A few characters from the Bard, old hat (5)
SHAKO : SHAK{espeare} (the Bard) [a few characters from…], O (old). It’s a military cap with a peak and a plume.
2 No more suckers? That’s intolerable (4,5)
LAST STRAW : A definition preceded by a cryptic hint
3 Hurrying away on purpose: it must be seen in perspective (9,5)
VANISHING POINT : VANISHING (hurrying away), POINT (purpose). SOED: The point towards which parallel receding lines viewed in perspective appear to converge.
4 A 50-floor hotel, say, might be one in this capital? (7)
TALLINN : Alternatively spaced this can be TALL INN as indicated by the long cryptic hint. The capital of Estonia.
5 Uproar during exam leads to third for one (7)
ORDINAL : DIN (uproar) contained by [during] ORAL (exam)
7 Flying, could one say, inspiring terror (5)
AWING : Two meanings depending on pronunciation, ‘a-wing’ or ‘aw-ing’
8 Marx, remarkable person who spears his prey (9)
HARPOONER : HARPO (Marx), ONER (remarkable person). Arthur, born Adolph, the Marx brother who didn’t speak. I never found them remotely funny as an act, but Groucho in his later solo career was a good turn.
9 Grand award gets scrubbed in hostile state (2,7,5)
AT DAGGERS DRAWN : Anagram [scrubbed] of GRAND AWARD GETS
14 Feast Attlee shortly set about with a son (9)
CANDLEMAS : CLEM{ent} (Attlee) [shortly] contains [set about] AND (with), then A, S (son). Attlee was Prime Minister 1945-1951. Before and during the war  his home was about 100 yards from the house where I was born, but by the time I came along he’d been in Downing Street for a couple of years. I think he still owned the property though and sold up after leaving office as PM.
16 Helpers I’d organised for church office (9)
ELDERSHIP : Anagram [organised] of HELPERS I’D
18 Cast doubt on my claim to be a beauty (7)
IMPEACH : I’M PEACH (my claim to be a beauty)
19 Rise in level of horse riding (5,2)
MOUNT UP : MOUNT (horse), UP (riding – in the saddle)
22 Maybe man-eater‘s short time to gobble soldier up (5)
TIGER : TER{m} (time) [short], containing [to gobble] GI (soldier) reversed [up]
24 After daughter’s shower, this used? (5)
DRAIN : D (daughter), RAIN (shower)

77 comments on “Times Cryptic 27506”

  1. 15:34. Quite tricky, this: I got particularly bogged down in the NW corner. Good fun though, the clue for DOTTIER definitely the highlight.
  2. 51 minutes. Would have been less if I hadn’t inexplicably put in LSAT STRAW, and if I’d spotted the obvious anagram at 15ac. A search of Google Images seems to show that no two people can agree on just what colour NILE GREEN is. Perhaps it differs from one end of the river to the other, or depends on the rainy season.
  3. which means very very!
    19’02” – though I felt I should have been quicker. Liked Dottier best. Here in France Candlemas (Chandeleur) is being resuscitated but only because it’s a chance to flog pancakes in Jan. I think I’m right in saying it’s the last part of the Christmas sequence in the church calendar.
  4. A pleasant puzzle for a chilly and rainy November morning. I would have been a little faster if I hadn’t biffed Marry Up before the mandatory re-think. Nice blog, jack.
  5. A very pleasant puzzle. SHAKO was my one guess, although I was reasonably confident. I was not sure TALLINN was spelled like that since the “say” in the clue made me think maybe it was a homonym for TALLIJN or TAHLINN or something. But all green squares for me.
  6. A slow start today, with just a few answers dotted around the grid for the first five minutes or so. But then the pennies started to drop, thank goodness, and I was pleased to finish with all correct, if not fully parsed. It took a while though – not sure exactly, but a good hour.

    Pootle has very accurately described my experience with sore and like others, I put shako in with a shrug. Another old hat to add to my list.

    All the same, I liked this – Tallinn, magenta and dottier were particularly pleasing.

    On the subject of the brilliant WITCH idea, I feel I might have to develop my own, simple version, based entirely on personal experience, much as Jack did with his league table of Quickie difficulty. On that basis, this gets a 5 / 10 for wavelength – I had to work quite hard to finish.

    FOI Wash
    LOI Shako
    COD Let go – half my son’s bedroom was given over to a huge Lego layout but very little ended up on the floor. Bits of his sister’s Barbie paraphenalia though? Everywhere, and agony!

  7. Finished – and on the same day as well, so must have been fairly straightforward. DNK Sharko, so did a Google check along the way, but otherwise no help required. ‘Oner’ was in the QC the other week and the days since have done nothing to improve my view as to its validity. Made a complete mess of (not) parsing 15ac, where I thought Green was a reference to the earth/ground wire and then wondered why Ni(l)e was a left leaning engineer… Invariant
  8. Eighteen minutes, with no problems apart from SORE where, like some others, I got the SO from “very” and was left with RE (?retired? no, probably not) for “old”. I did spend a while with “line green” at 15ac; surely everybody knows that engineers mark metal to be cut with a special green ink known as “line green”?
  9. Another finish on Big Puzzle, 41 mins and very pleased. But then I only venture into these parts when the Snitch is heading south. Great blog, Jack, thanks.

    Templar

  10. This can’t be a very hard one as I completed it without aids (in 2-3 hours) – something I only occasionally achieve. I am making my way through Book 18 and I’m gradually learning…

    Thanks especially to all the bloggers (but also to the commenters, and of course the setters) who make it all worthwhile.

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