Times Cryptic 27776

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 52 minutes. Not overly difficult but there was quite a lot to think about here, for me at least.

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 Cat and a bird endlessly going round tree (8)
BERGAMOT : TOM (cat) + A + GREB{e}(bird) [endlessly],  all reversed (going round). Not sure I knew it as a tree but it’s the plant that’s the source of the oil used traditionally for flavouring Earl Grey tea.
9 In dark, wounded badly, duck remains flattened (8)
ROADKILL : 0 (duck) contained by [in] anagram [wounded] of DARK, then ILL (badly)
10 Sheep knocked over Yankee woman held in reverence (4)
MARY : RAM (sheep) reversed [knocked over], Y (Yankee – NATO alphabet)
11 Ridiculous means by which Brazil may be entered? (12)
SLEDGEHAMMER : Cryptic definition. ‘Using a sledgehammer to crack a nut’ is taking  ridiculously excessive measures to solve a minor problem. ‘Brazil’ here is the nut reference.
13 Free one for the French rugby player (6)
UNLOCK : UN (‘one’ for the French), LOCK (rugby player)
14 Chap drinking beer, seldom “discontented” northerner (8)
DALESMAN : DAN (chap) containing [drinking] ALE (beer) + S{eldo}M [“dis-content-ed”]. An inhabitant of the Dales in Northern England, principally in Derbyshire and Yorkshire.
15 Democrat given answer not right to lose heart (7)
DESPOND : D (democrat), {r}ESPOND (answer) [not right – r]
16 Climate warmed with this shelter plunged into river? (7)
DETENTE : TENT (shelter) contained by [plunged] DEE (river). That is to say, the political climate following the cold war, perhaps.
20 Bird with speed making turn to catch bat (8)
WHITECAP : W (with) then  PACE (speed) reversed [making turn], containing [to catch] HIT (bat). Never ‘eard of it.
22 One to avoid, Luke at last in contact with his father? (6)
EVADER : {Luk}E [at last], VADER (his father). I assume this is Star Wars stuff that everybody in the world knows about except me so I’m not going to research it. However I’d have said that an EVADER is someone who’s trying to be avoided rather than ‘one to avoid’. Presumably the people he’s evading don’t want to avoid him?
23 Broken phial outside a site that’s ancient in city (12)
PHILADELPHIA : Anagram [broken] of PHIAL containing [outside] A + DELPHI (site that’s ancient)
25 Lightly-cooked part missed in savoury dish (4)
RARE : RARE{bit} (savoury dish) [part – bit – missed]
26 This has plot penned by a woman (4,4)
ADAM BEDE : BED (plot) contained [penned] by A + DAME (woman). The definition is &lit, Adam Bede being the title of a novel written by Mary Ann Evans using the pseudonym, George Eliot.
27 Equestrian discipline is habit coming with time (8)
DRESSAGE : DRESS (habit), AGE (time)
Down
2 One tested bomb aboard chopper heading north east (8)
EXAMINEE : MINE (bomb) contained by [aboard] AXE (chopper) reversed [heading north] + E (east)
3 Bloke with pistol has terrorised treatment centre (4,8)
GUY’S HOSPITAL : GUY (bloke), anagram [terrorised] of PISTOL HAS. One of the big central London hospitals.
4 Spies on family to obtain material (8)
MOLESKIN : MOLES (spies), KIN (family)
5 Hear about ancient format Sophocles deployed (7)
TRAGEDY : TRY (hear) containing [about] AGED (ancient)
6 Artist in break spent fighting? (6)
WARHOL : WAR (fighting), HOL (break – holiday)
7 Company   unlikely to collapse (4)
FIRM : Two meanings
8 Criminal taking in brother in Tuscan city (8)
FLORENCE : FENCE (criminal – handler of stolen goods) containing [taking in] LOR (brother). The Bunterism ‘Lor!’ as an expression of surprise came up in the puzzle I blogged last Tuesday but I don’t think we’ve seen it very often. ‘Cor!’ is the more usual one.
12 One to keep order at sea, mum seconds calls to arrest a sailor (6-2-4)
MASTER-AT-ARMS : MA (mum), S (seconds), then TERMS (calls) contains [to arrest] A + TAR (sailor)
15 Stress less, taking drink before performance (8)
DOWNPLAY : DOWN (drink), PLAY (performance)
17 Poetic device exemplified in Keats and Yeats? (3,5)
EYE RHYME : &lit.  Words that look as if they should rhyme but when spoken they don’t.
18 Tramp circling rocky ridge finds amphibian (4,4)
TREE FROG : TROG (tramp – walk heavily) containing [circling] REEF (rocky ridge)
19 Ace song employs two pianos put to practical use (7)
APPLIED : A (ace) + LIED (song) contains [employs] PP (two pianos)
21 Computer programmer ropes in good old chap (6)
CODGER : CODER (computer programmer) contains [ropes in] G (good)
24 Denisovich perhaps one person leading way (4)
IVAN : I (one), VAN (person leading way). One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is a novel by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

71 comments on “Times Cryptic 27776”

  1. You’ve ‘eard of WHITECAP, Jack; we had it quite recently, which is the only reason I know it. I, on the other hand, did not know LOCK or TROG in the relevant senses. I biffed WHITECAP, PHILADELPHIA, WARHOL (POI), MASTER-AT-ARMS, parsed post-submission. Having thought of -SKIN at 4d and -SMAN at 14ac, I was unconscionably slow in filling in the blanks. Even slower at figuring out BERGAMOT (LOI), where I stuck with GUM as the tree round which the cat and bird were going. So all in all I should have finished a lot sooner.
    1. Well there we are, one lives and doesn’t learn! It was in the most recently blogged Jumbo which makes it just over two weeks since I solved the clue, or more accurately, failed to solve it, as I trusted to wordplay, misinterpreted it and put WHITE CAR.
  2. I found this one difficult, and finished up in 12:27. Didn’t understand SLEDGEHAMMER but it couldn’t have been anything else.
  3. Far enough off the beam due to unusual vocabulary (lor, trog) or to words used in slightly unusual context that this seemed like an hour plus of work. Nice blog, jack

    Edited at 2020-09-22 02:41 am (UTC)

  4. Loved the mechanism for 14a. I haven’t seen this device used before, though the quotation marks in the clue appear unnecessary. ROADKILL also enjoyable, with a smooth surface, best if eaten fresh.
    Slow in the NE, finishing in 39:42
  5. As with yesterday this felt harder to me than it’s Snitch rating suggests. FLORENCE took me some time as I assumed the brother was either going to be bro or fr. At the end I was left with IVAN and ADAM BEDE and I thought I was going to be undone by a lack of literary knowledge. Fortunately a dictionary trawl threw up IVAN, after Ivor had been rejected, after which I recalled ADAM BEDE.

    I’m a sucker for an amusing definition so my COD definitely goes to ROADKILL.

  6. …If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

    20 mins pre-brekker.
    An excellent crossword in my view. My copy has no ?s, several ticks including Sledgehammer and Downplay, and only T(reef)rog in the margin.
    Thanks setter and J.

  7. Went with UNHOOK, nearly works, with hooker/hook being rugby terms among other definitions. Thanks blogger and setter.
    1. I finally put my money where my mouth was where borderline contempt for sportsball is concerned and did the same. Something seemed not quite right about it but as you say, “hook” is not completely ridiculous as a rugby term.
  8. I think i shall write a quick letter,
    And then post it off to the setter,
    When i saw the WHITECAP
    I got into a flap,
    But EVADER could not have been better
  9. Jackkt, I think you have been cryptically misled with the definition at 22ac, as ‘to avoid’ =, or near enough =, to evade. Thus ‘one to avoid’ is one who avoids, or evades. It’s The Times all over to get us to read it the other way!

    Enjoyed this one. Good weight for a Tues, I thought.

  10. with same time 41 min. I started badly at 11ac entering NUTCRACKERS only to find it was a letter short.

    FOI 4dn MOLESKIN

    LOI EVADER – that Luke! I initially assumed that 17dn was END RHYME and that Luke was perhaps DR.

    COD & WOD both 6dn WARHOL and 9ac ROADKILL!

    3dn GUYS HOSPITAL was inventively clued

  11. 13:23 An almost identical time to yesterday although the SNITCH rates this harder. I remember going for TROGs from boarding school at that place in Teesdale that is good for testing your eyesight at weekends. LOI ROADKILL. I liked the nutcracker at 11A, but COD to ADAM BEDE.
  12. A bit of a slog for me. ROADKILL was good fun. My late wife who never cooked in 33 years but drove a TVR Sagaris was given a Roadkill Cookbook by some American friends. It told you where to put the meat on different parts of the engine for various cooking times.
  13. Ha, your first sentence makes no sense to me George 🙂
    re 11ac, taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut is generally regarded as ridiculous
  14. 13:52, but with UNHOOK. I’m feeling particularly dopey this morning (one of those days when the alarm drags you violently from the deepest of sleep) so I’ll blame that for my failure to engage more than cursorily with the wordplay.
    I had a fairly long pause at the end over my last in: ROADKILL and WARHOL, both very good clues and overall a very good puzzle.

    Edited at 2020-09-22 07:12 am (UTC)

    1. Another UNHOOK here – didn’t think it quite fitted but put it in anyway. Liked EVADER and WARHOL (my LOI).
  15. Just below par for a currently par crossword. NE corner to finish, ROADKILL LOI. EVADER – spoiler alert! Was OK with literary corner in the SE, luckily.

    COD: ADAM BEDE, which was not, in fact, penned by a woman.

    Yesterday’s answer: the Sistine Chapel is named after Pope Sixtus IV. There have been five Sixtuses so far, no-one’s been tempted to take up the next slot yet.

    Today’s question: the sort of puzzle ’52 W in a Y’; ‘2 P in a P’ is often known as a ‘ditloid’. After whose book does that term come from?

      1. Come on Angus, expand. My understanding (and also that presumably of Keriothe) has always been that Adam Bede was penned by George Eliot, and that George Eliot was really Mary Ann Evans. So what does your statement mean?
  16. I found that a challenge especially as it included such devices as LOR and TROG.
    DALESMAN and EYE RHYME were very good but COD to EVADER.
    I wonder where verlaine made his mistake?
  17. 28 minutes. Andy Who? I enjoyed the TLS corner in the SW. COD to ROADKILL with an honourable mention to DALESMAN for the seldom-used device. I put in UNHOOK first but fortunately revisited it. Enjoyable. Thank you Jack and setter.
  18. Yet another UNOOK here – one of those answers you feel sufficiently clever to have spotted you just stick it in without question. And yes, on reflection (and pinked) I know it would be hooker. Shame – I’ve nearly got to “no errors” on the big leaderboard.

    ON the plus side, I liked the TLS quality ADAM BEDE indeed penned by a woman (Angus- She just called herself George), IVAN and EVADER. And I also liked “discontented”.

    16.24 going round the grid anticlockwise and finishing with 1ac, which I didn’t recognise as a tree, though I suppose the smelly stuff has to come from somewhere

    1. No errors on the leaderboard is a pipe dream of mine. It’s very frustrating when you have a good run then an error knocks you back a month.
  19. 33.07. Definitely not straightforward for me . A few real struggles, dnk who vader was so that was a complete guess, ditto for eye rhyme. As for florence, lor for brother still don’t get that. On the other hand, I thought warhol was a brilliant clue though I think I’ve seen it on here before. Thought Adam Bede worth a citation as well.
    1. Oh, Lor! Cor! Oh, brother! are interchangeable expressions of surprise and exasperation. ‘Oh’ can be omitted from the first and last for the sake of brevity.

      Bunter was very fond of saying ‘Oh lor!’

      Edited at 2020-09-22 01:16 pm (UTC)

  20. I felt very much on wavelength (for example I only needed the S to get sledgehammer) and enjoyed this very much too. Lots of quirky stuff to keep things interesting. I was probably helped by having blogged the Jumbo referred to by jackkt and Kevin in their whitecap discussion.
  21. It must be something about my bloggings days – yet another Leighton Buzzard earthquake. That’s three in a row now. Maybe I should resign before the house falls down around me!
  22. I enjoyed this puzzle. ROADKILL made me laugh out loud. EVADER was very good too. Liked the “Discontented” device. MARY was my FOI and BERGAMOT went in last. 19:02. Thanks setter and Jack.
    1. After the reaction here yesterday re ‘authoress’ perhaps this is another development in gender denial?
  24. And even George Eliot on her wedding night. Found this tough going in places. Had no idea how ‘evader’ worked (you’re not alone, Jack); a clumsy word. Otherwise a neat enough bit of work, with applause for the (anything but a) dead duck. 28’56.
  25. A good time ruined by my falling for the trap at 13 across. Very neat. Funnily enough when I put unhook in, a little voice said to me that doesn’t quite work – but I ignored it, on the grounds that there couldn’t be two four-letter rugby words ending in k. A lesson learned. Some lovely clues, especially the Adam Bede.
    1. Les, there are in fact several other four-letter words in rugby. Ruck (not a maul), Kick, Back (player)
      Pack (the forwards) and Sack (what you do to the manager after a bad run of losses). There is of course another four-letter word oft heard on the pitch which I could not possibly mention in these hallowed pages. Watch out for these in a crossword coming to you soon! François
  26. I found this quite tough again. Nearly an hour With LOI ADAM BEDE , DNK and held up by EYE RHYME and EVADER. I liked GUYS HOSPITAL AND ROADKILL. Very clever clue. Thanks J as ever and setter. Hope tomorrow’s easier!
  27. A Washington reporter friend of ours from Texas used to play in a band called ROADKILL stew – it was awful. Speaking of bands – there used to be one called the Trogs eons ago (based on troglodytes I think) and that was the only meaning I knew of that word so I had a slight detour trying to make “slog” work. Neat puzzle. 17.14
    1. I remember the Trogs, for “Wild Thing” and “love is all around”. No worse than the rest at the time. But I also use “trog” as a verb quite often in Kirby family talk.
    2. Olivia (if I may be so bold), The Troggs (2 g’s) were actually quite a good band. Saw them a couple of times. Wild thing was famously covered by Hendrix. Outstanding. François
      2. Oh, you’re right about the Gs Francois. And there was the adaptation of a Troggs song that Bill Nighy hilariously slaughtered in that rather annoying movie Love Actually (he was the reason to watch it).
  28. Harder than yesterday, but more fun. For me, 22a doesn’t work, whether you knew the Star Wars bit or not (I didn’t). One who avoids, not one to avoid? But not difficult to see the answer.
    1. You can read ‘one to avoid’ as synonymous with ‘one who avoids’. ‘I’m not one to avoid a fight but I really can’t be bothered to get into another argument about homophones.’
  29. Last in were the crossing ROADKILL and WARHOL. Great clues both. Andy Warhol, looks a scream…
  30. Enjoyable: not the most difficult, but felt fresh with it. Like others before me I wrote in NUTCRACKERS and realised I’d have to think again; I also wrote in UNHOOK but paused before moving on, and for a change, heeded my own rule about answers whoch you can’t parse almost certainly being wrong.
  31. ….featuring Vancouver WHITECAPS, I had no excuse for being so tardy in spotting the bird. Like Horryd, I was tempted by “nutcrackers”, but fortunately realised it didn’t fit before putting pen to paper.

    After 9 straightforward minutes, I had two linked pairs of clues left. I’d considered WHITECAP, but, not for the first time, failed to think “w = with”. It took 2 minutes before I saw how DOWNPLAY worked, and then I realised my folly.

    A minute later I nailed ROADKILL, and my LOI followed quickly (I’d tried to shoe-horn RAPHAEL in earlier !)

    FOI MARY
    LOI WARHOL
    COD ADAM BEDE
    TIME 12:55

  32. Surprised by high snitch – after getting nothing near the top of the grid, I started from the bottom up and rarely stopped for much breath.

    Consequently an unparsed 1a BERGAMOT was LOI – happy days!

  33. Some lovely constructions here, although unfortunately I was another UNHOOK – assuming that ‘hook’ must be used for ‘hooker’.

    I was also slowed by putting DEARTH for the Star Wars clue, which obviously didn’t work with the definition. Spoilers for The Empire Strikes Back, though! It’s only been 40 years.

  34. Fell at the last fence yet again. Having never heard of “Adam Bede” I entered “Alan Deve” more in desperation than in hope and certainly not in expectation.
    That apart, I enjoyed the puzzle.
  38. Roundly defeated by this one. Fifty minutes this morning saw me having to abandon the last couple in order to head out to work. Once home I finally worked out ROADKILL and WARHOL, but it was all for naught. Even if I’d thought of “lock” as another possibility I’d probably still have guessed “hook”, I think, knowing nothing about rugby.

    I should have listened to my father when I was growing up. He knew quite a lot about the game, though he was expelled from the school!

    Edited at 2020-09-22 06:49 pm (UTC)

  39. It took me 23 mins to DNF this one with a silly error at 22ac. Just after I started my solve someone began blasting out music at high volume. It went on for 5 or 10 minutes but was enough to knock me off my rhythm and leave me feeling a step off the pace all the way through. Annoying.
  40. A very swift 18 mins but assisted by an old uni friend who has joined us in Leominster whilst on a short break. More or less he gave me the answers and I typed them in. And he doesn’t even do the Times crossword regularly …
  43. Just over an hour, but with UNHOOK and I am glad to see I am not alone. I know nothing about rugby (except that it is a ball game) and in those circumstances, HOOK just seemed a slightly more likely term for a player position than LOCK. And of course the checkers didn’t help.
  44. Whitecap: As people who know quite a bit about birds could I appeal to setters to reserve obscure and obsolescent bits of dialect for Mephisto or the club monthly? Nobody actually uses the word outside our cruciverbal world
  45. I recall from schooldays ‘hooker’ was often shortened to ‘hook’ (a bit like ‘batsman’ in cricket seems to shorten to ‘batter’ these days) so it is arguably acceptable.
    I wonder whether in competition circumstances ‘unhook’ might survive a challenge.
    I had ‘unlock’ by the way but was defeated by ‘Warhol’.
  46. I know this is late (been walking in the beatiful Peak District) but can someone please explain how Brother=Lor at 8d? The answer is obvious with the checkers of course but I couldn’t parse. Thanks all
    1. It’s annoying that LiveJournal collapses conversations so you probably missed my further explanation posted at 10:30 am yesterday. Rather than refer you back I post it again here:

      Oh, Lor! Cor! Oh, brother! are interchangeable expressions of surprise and exasperation. ‘Oh’ can be omitted from the first and last for the sake of brevity.

      Bunter was very fond of saying ‘Oh lor!’

      Edited at 2020-09-23 01:28 pm (UTC)

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