Times Cryptic 27649

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

I’m standing in last minute for Ulaca who is feeling under the weather at the moment and I’m sure we all wish him a speedy recovery.

My solving time for this was 24 minutes but I felt I was on target for a much faster time. Although there were two words unknown to me they were not the cause of my delay as they were clued with very clear wordplay. My problems all came in the SE corner where some answers had mostly vowels as checkers, something I find often hinders the thought process.

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]. I usually omit all reference to positional indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.

Across
1 Rodent circling key hotel where brewer keeps grain (4-5)
MALT-HOUSE : MOUSE (rodent) containing [circling] ALT (key) + H (hotel)
6 Armadillo accommodated by prefect at Oundle (5)
TATOU : Hidden in [accommodated by] {prefec}T AT OU{undle}. My first unknown word. For those who like to make sense of the surface reading, Oundle is a public school in the Northamptonshire market town of the same name.
9 Distinguished member of upper house possibly gathering army (7)
NOTABLE : NOBLE (member of upper house possibly) containing [gathering] TA (army)
10 Foodie finally accepting Londoners’ description of their police? (7)
GOURMET : {acceptin}G [finally], OUR MET (Londoners’ description of their Metropolitan police?)
11 Fertile spot, like one adopted by map-makers (5)
OASIS : AS (like) + I (one) contained [adopted] by OS (map-makers – Ordnance Survey)
13 Secret art, manoeuvring public vehicle across the pond (9)
STREETCAR : Anagram [manoeuvring] of SECRET ART. One such famously named Desire from a street in New Orleans.
14 Orally declare sister worried about trophy (9)
NUNCUPATE : NUN (sister) + ATE (worried) containing [about] CUP (trophy). My second unknown word.
16 Nimble mole torn apart by rook (4)
SPRY : SPY (mole) containing [torn apart by] R (rook)
18 Revolutionary female cook (4)
CHEF : CHE (revolutionary), F (female)
19 Promotional body‘s tune is revised to accommodate singer (9)
INSTITUTE : Anagram [revised] of TUNE IS containing [to accommodate] TIT (singer)
22 One delayed more surprisingly by US city investigator (9)
LATECOMER : LA (US city), TEC (investigator), anagram [surprisingly] of MORE
24 Tribe in charge of eastern part of UK (5)
ICENI : IC (charge), E (eastern), NI (part of UK – Northern Ireland). Boudica’s gang.
25 Protective ring German field marshal left out in posh car (7)
GROMMET : ROMME{l} (German field marshal) [left out] contained by [in] GT (posh car). Usually a washer of some sort.
26 Bristle, having drink reduced by Queen (7)
WHISKER : WHISKE{y} (drink) [reduced], R (Queen) – or if you prefer, WHISK{y} (drink) [reduced], ER (Queen)
28 English head going over German city (5)
ESSEN : E (English), NESS (head – headland) reversed [going over]
29 Copy a restaurateur originally introducing a pasta sauce (9)
CARBONARA : CARBON (copy), A, R{estaurateur} [originally], A
Down
1 Wild weather thus overwhelming cricket side after half-day (7)
MONSOON : MON (half day), SO (thus), ON (cricket side)
2 Sale item consisting of large books (3)
LOT : L (large), OT (books – Old Testament)
3 It’s excluded from part of elevenses in his plant (8)
HIBISCUS : BISCU{it} (part of elevenses) [it’s excluded], contained by [in] HIS
4 They employ doorkeepers hospital rejected (5)
USERS : US{h}ERS (doorkeepers) [hospital rejected]
5 About time birds of prey start to show enthusiasm (9)
EAGERNESS : ERNES (birds of prey) containing [about] AGE (times), S{how} [start]
6 Vehicle taking high hill skirting Yorkshire river (6)
TOURER : TOR (high hill) containing [skirting] URE (Yorkshire river)
7 Carelessly misclue “tape” as “buried record” (4,7)
TIME CAPSULE : Anagram [carelessly] of MISCLUE TAPE
8 Liberal assembly ultimately supporting state? Absolutely (7)
UTTERLY : UTTER (state), L (Liberal), {assembl}Y [ultimately]
12 Moralising, posted promissory notes around hospital department (11)
SENTENTIOUS : SENT (posted) + IOUS (promissory notes) containing [around] ENT (hospital department – Ear Nose Throat)
15 A toxic aim needs changing — that’s self-evident (9)
AXIOMATIC : Anagram [changing] of A TOXIC AIM
17 Islander, a chap reportedly in love (8)
FILIPINO : Sounds like [reportedly] “Philip” (chap), IN, O
18 Pass over good points in industrial city (7)
COLOGNE : COL (mountain pass), O (over), G (good) N E (points)
20 English liturgy adopted at first around Republican state (7)
ERITREA : E (English),  RITE (liturgy) containing [around] R (republican), A{dopted} [at first]
21 The last word about sources of Cambridge undergrads’ discernment (6)
ACUMEN : AMEN (the last word) containing [about} C{ambridge} U{undergrads} [sources of…]
23 Argumentative type, one of eight in crew? (5)
ROWER : Two meanings
27 Parrot identified by poet Eliot initially rejected (3)
KEA : KEA{ts} (poet) [Eliot initially – T.S. – rejected]

59 comments on “Times Cryptic 27649”

  1. No problems, 14 minutes, hesitated between NONCUPATE and NUNCUPATE and guessed right. As Jimbo says, chestnutty. Liked the clue for the KEA parrot, which lives in same land as martinp1.
  2. I can’t go much faster than this so it must have been fairly easy.

    I can never see the word UTTERLY without thinking of the TV series “Brass” – one of my all-time favourites. Timothy West hamming it up brilliantly as Bradley Hardacre – northern industrialist and general all-round bad guy.

    Thank you to setter and blogger.

    Dave.

  3. Fastest time in yonks – spoiled by a typo. SenteTtious.

    Best wishes to our absent blogger.

  4. I just about remembered “nuncupative (i.e. oral) will” from first year real property eons ago – no idea if they’re valid. Some interesting match-ups – GOURMET/GROMMET/ESSEN and GT/TOURER. I think they sped things up for me. I hope you are being taken care of Ulaca and feel better soon. Keep us posted. 10.12
  5. 13:27 is about as fast as I can muster when jabbing away one-fingered on my tablet as opposed to a proper keyboard. Trusted the wp for the unknown armadillo and nuncupate. I liked the broken biscuits clue for hibiscus. Best wishes to Ulaca and thanks to Jackkt for stepping in.
  6. One of my best times so far this year, 09.50. All seemed to click into place nicely. FOI monsoon and last utterly. Nuncupate is a word I’ve never encountered before but the cluing was pretty explicit. COD for me was sententious but honourable mentions for gourmet and grommet.

  7. Not that easy for the QC community, but certainly accessible and enjoyable.Same two unknowns as Jack and others;but I’ll add my LOI KEA. I was wondering whether the car might also be a parrot; but I paused to parse and Keats emerged. So all correct in about an hour.
    COD to either EAGERNESS or STREETCAR.
    Nice to be reminded of Hibiscus, an upmarket London restaurant I used to visit occasionally. It closed a while ago. David
  8. The parrot was my downfall. I did not figure out that “Eliot initially” would give T.S. to take away from a poet, fixating instead on taking away E from some four-letter poet and eventually sticking in KRA with fingers crossed.

    NHO of NUNCUPATE or TATOU either, but in the end I put it in as the cluing was as clear as it could be in both cases.

    Is Cologne particularly an industrial city? I would have thought Essen fitted that definition rather better.

    FOI Lot
    LOI Nuncupate
    COD Iceni/Grommet

      2. Fair enough! I tend to think more of the cathedral, the Hohenzollern Bridge and Kölsch beer (with the tradition of waiters bringing you another one unless you leave your beer mat on top of the glass).
  9. Very easy, 26:30, with (what a surprise!) NUNCUPATE and TATOU being the only unknowns. The wordplay was very clear, but theoretically there could have been other choices (NONCUPATE, ECTAT?), ruled out as usual mostly by a sense of what would be most likely to be a real English word (borrowed from another language, of course).
  10. After being tipped off in QC land, I must have taken 4 minutes out of my pb to finish in 12:58. I forgot to post at the time, so remember little except the time I took. I think I started doing cryptics about 10 years ago, and never thought I would dip under 20 mins, but I did, and now under 13 mins. Next target, 10 mins. Maybe in another 10 years, but for today, I’m a bit chuffed.

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