Times Cryptic 27872

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 24 minutes. Very enjoyable without being particularly challenging. I raised an eyebrow a few times along the way.

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 Putting bible back, I can’t suspect authority of church (7)
VATICAN : AV (bible – Authorised Version) reversed [putting…back], anagram [suspect] of I CAN’T
5 220-yard run with golf shot (7)
FURLONG : Anagram [shot] of RUN GOLF
9 Nervous crossing peak, in need of a pick-me-up (11)
RESTORATIVE : RESTIVE (nervous) containing [crossing] TOR (peak) + A
10 Old priest first to finish pork pie (3)
LIE : ELI (old priest) becomes LIE when its first letter (E) moves to the end [first to finish]. ‘Pork pie’ is Cockney rhyming slang for ‘lie’, more usually shortened to ‘porkie’.
11 Menial career collecting rubbish Jack disposed of (6)
FLUNKY : FLY (career – run) containing [collecting] {j}UNK (rubbish) [Jack disposed of], The Royal Family are thought to employ lots of these.
12 European pleased to find info online (1-7)
E-CONTENT : E (European), CONTENT (pleased)
14 Trait shown by English pet tucking into meal with sauce (5,5,3)
STIFF UPPER LIP : TIFF (pet) contained by [tucking into]  SUPPER (meal), LIP (sauce – cheek). I have misgivings about ‘tiff/pet’ and I’m almost certain we’ve had this before; a tiff is a minor quarrel or disagreement, but a pet is a childish sulk. Not the same thing at all in my book although one may very well be the result of the other.
17 Sharing problems aboard? (2,3,4,4)
IN THE SAME BOAT : Cryptic
21 Nothing taken from a month’s provision toasted with cheese (2,6)
AU GRATIN : AUG (month), RATI{o}N [nothing – o – taken]
23 Plan second church straddling border (6)
SCHEME : S (second), then CE (church – of England) containing [straddling] HEM (border)
25 Queen, say, regularly represented in charts (3)
CAT : C{j}A{r}T{s} [regularly]. A female cat; Tom being the male.
26 Title adopted by British author’s a clever one (6,5)
BRIGHT SPARK : B (British), RIGHT (title – right of ownership), SPARK (British author – Muriel). Most famous for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
27 Rabble drained particularly potent brew (7)
SCRUMPY : SCRUM (rabble), P{articularl}Y [drained]. Traditional farmhouse cider best kept under the counter out of the sight of passing grockles.
28 Someone sticking nose in fruit, by the sound of it (7)
MEDDLER : Sounds like “medlar” (fruit). Robert Price gave us this in his Sunday Times Christmas Jumbo: One poking his nose in heard something fruity (6)
Down
1 Confirm return of top-class racing with ideal setting (6)
VERIFY : Reverse [return] of F1 (top-class racing) contained by VERY (ideal) [with ideal setting]. I wasn’t sure about ‘very/ideal’ but then thought of ‘the very/ideal thing’.
2 Even risks reversing American vessel into position (4-3)
TOSS-UPS : USS (American vessel – United States Ship) contained by [into] SPOT (position) and all ‘reversing’
3 To hit hard, experienced hands move like this (9)
CLOCKWISE : CLOCK (hit hard), WISE (experienced). One for keriothe  kevingregg: Does experience bring wisdom?
4 Not quite    intimate (4)
NEAR : Two meanings
5 Inaccurate piracies of works as published (4,6)
FAIR COPIES : Anagram [inaccurate] of PIRACIES OF. I looked twice at ‘inaccurate’ as anagrind as I don’t quite see it, but it’s in the Chambers lists.
6 A German pursuing extremely rich banker locally (5)
RHEIN : R{ic}H [extremely], EIN (a – German).  ‘Locally’ indicates the German spelling of the river.
7 Painting efficiently’s a boring source of income? (3,4)
OIL WELL : OIL (painting), WELL (efficiently), and a rather fine cryptic definition
8 Man’s close relative leading parrot (5,3)
GREAT APE : GREAT (leading), APE (parrot – copy)
13 A fine feminine capacity for kindliness? (10)
AFFABILITY : A, F (fine – e.g. pencil lead), F (feminine), ABILITY (capacity)
15 Freed from other responsibilities primarily during duty days (9)
EXORCISED : O{ther} + R{esponsibilities} [primarily] contained by [during] EXCISE (duty), then D (days). The malign spirit is expelled and the affected person or place is set free.
16 Penalties restricting overseas party funds (8)
FINANCES : FINES (penalties) containing [restricting] ANC (overseas party – African National Congress)
18 Meaner pugilist using wrong side of fist (7)
TIGHTER : {f}IGHTER (pugilist) changes F to T [using wrong side of fist], but why ‘wrong’ side – surely ‘other’ or ‘opposite’?
19 Extremity one struggles to cut? (7)
TOENAIL : Cryptic definition. On edit: Alternatively: anagram [struggles] of ONE is contained by [cuts] TAIL (extremity) and the defintion is @lit – thanks to Paul for suggesting this. 
20 Drug-injecting worker in need of dough’s a mug (6)
BEAKER : E (drug) contained by [injecting] BAKER (worker in need of dough)
22 Record-holder, somewhat egotistical, bumptious (5)
ALBUM : Hidden in [somewhat] {egotistic}AL BUM{ptious}. Not the family one for sticking things in this time.
24 Fancy man in particular supporting wife (4)
WHIM : W (wife), HIM (man in particular)

71 comments on “Times Cryptic 27872”

  1. 25 minutes for me, with a good bit spent on my LOI BRIGHT SPARK (Title was too tempting and I was looking for something more like “bleak house”). But I got there in the end!
  2. another technical DNF: I didn’t know BRIGHT SPARK, and I was getting nowhere looking for an author named S_A__, so I looked up BRIGHT S. That gave me the K, which gave me BEAKER. Biffed STIFF UPPER & AU GRATIN, parsed post-submission. I had the same MER with WISE=experienced. I took ‘wrong side’ to be the wrong side of “fist”, which seemed fine. (Does a fist have a side?)

    Edited at 2021-01-12 02:40 am (UTC)

  3. Oh, and 19D I read as extremity=tail with anagram of one (one struggles) cutting it (ie inside it). Plus &lit.
    1. Yes, that works too and may have been what the setter had in mind, so I have added it to my comment in the blog. Thanks Paul.
  4. Enjoyable stuff. I took ‘wrong’ in 18d in the ‘not wanted’ sense: ‘We took the wrong route’.

    Edited at 2021-01-12 02:53 am (UTC)

  5. A good workout for me without being overly hard. I parsed 19D TOENAIL as Paul did.

    Thanks, Jack, for the explanations. I had no idea of SPARK as an author.

  6. A fastish time for me, which does not at all reveal that much of this puzzle was lost on me: SPARK, SCRUMPY, the parsing of FLUNKY, FURLONG, TOENAIL, STIFF UPPER LIP, etc. But all could be reasonably figured out. I was too tired to care about proofreading and deliberating, and today I was rewarded rather than punished.

    Edited at 2021-01-12 04:34 am (UTC)

    1. I came up with SCRUMPY early on–it had been in a cryptic a while back–but I thought no, that was the thing one gathers one’s hair in; I’d also learned ‘scrunchy’ here, and clearly hadn’t learned them that well.
  7. I had BALANCES at 16D, carelessly thinking that bale could be a penalty. It’s not even spelt right, as I was thinking of bail. I then ended up with AT THE SAME PORT as my LOI, disregarding the thought that “in the same boat” seemed to work as I didn’t bother to question BALANCES. Very poor showing 🙁
  8. 18 minutes with LOI CLOCKWISE, the NW returned to after the rest completed with the VATICAN previously standing in the way of progress. COD to BRIGHT SPARK. I suppose struggling to reach your TOENAILs could form the subject of this post as well as perhaps Muriel Spark’s best book. Easyish but very pleasant puzzle. Thank you Jack and setter.

    Edited at 2021-01-12 07:48 am (UTC)

  9. 20 mins pre-brekker. No ticks, no crosses. My eyebrow started limbering up for some exercise, but never truly raised at: tiff, very and wise.
    Tiff is a minor argument usually, but can be a fit of ill-humour.
    Mostly I liked the ‘run with golf shot’.
    Thanks setter and J
  10. Saw a play of the Muriel Spark at Ipswich Rep at age 16, still memorable for a (back) naked view of the artist’s model. But BRIGHT SPARK went in without parsing, confirmed by the clever BEAKER.

    Really liked EXORCISED, we all need to work on our inner demons.

    FAIR COPIES is excellent, since a fair copy is the absolute opposite of inaccurate, ‘fair’ not being used in the sense of not very good. I love the English language.

    < 14′, thanks jack and setter.

  11. Just over the half hour for this. I liked AU GRATIN and , like others, a number went in unparsed. Thanks Jack for the explanations.
  14. 7:38. Lots of biffing today.
    I shared your reservations about tiff/pet, jackkt, but as myrtilus points out Collins has ‘a fit of ill humour’ as one of the definitions of ‘tiff’. News to me.
    I’m not sure why the question of whether experience and wisdom are the same thing is a question for me, but in my experience one is generally a necessary but not sufficient condition for the other.
    I wonder if Muriel Spark is known among kids these days. She was very prominent when I was a kid – we even did TPOMJB at school – but I haven’t heard mention of her for years.
    1. Only that we has ‘wisdom’ in two puzzles last week and you queried both definitions. I just wanted your take on this one.
      1. Hang on, it might have been Kevin. I’ll have to check. Just checked, yes it was! Apologies, but thanks for your view on it anyway.

        Edited at 2021-01-12 09:32 am (UTC)

    2. I was about to say that kids these days do know Spark because my older daughter played Sandy as the grown-up nun in high school. Then I realized that was more than 20 years ago. Yikes. I saw it on stage with Maggie Smith when I was in high school. Yikes again.
  15. Completely failed to parse BEAKER – I was thinking of worker as in bee, then the K could be the dough (?!), before getting stuck but bunging it in anyway. So thanks to the blogger for setting me straight.

    Also hadn’t heard of Muriel Spark, but the clue left little alternative.

    FOI Vatican
    LOI Tighter
    COD Fair copies

  16. 12.03. FOI clockwise, LOI au gratin. Along the say not too much to report. Recognised furlong as 220 yards but never worked out why, so thanks setter for putting me right.

    Nice bit of mental exercise before my physical in the park, again. I have a horrible feeling this lockdown is going to be really tedious.

    Can we have two crosswords a day to ensure fragile mental health doesn’t disintegrate completely?!

    Stay safe out there all.

  17. 11:19 Like Jackkt I failed to parse TOENAIL, thinking it just a CD. LOI CLOCKWISE as NW was my last corner. COD to FURLONG reminding me of walking on one of the gallops in Newmarket, passing the 8 furlong marker and finding out that none of my fellow walkers knew what a furlong was. So they challenged me to think of a crossword clue…. “Hankers after coat, seen on boat at a distance, worth 1000 guineas, perhaps? (5, 8)”, was my answer after a bit of thought.

    Edited at 2021-01-12 09:35 am (UTC)

  18. Sailed through this today for one of my fastest times – don’t think I’ve broken 15 mins before – NW corner took the longest to crack.

    Plenty went in not fully parsed though:

    RESTORATIVE – biffed with the last four checkers in place
    FLUNKY – didn’t see either of the parsing pieces
    STIFF UPPER LIP – no parsing at all
    AU GRATIN – saw the definition and went for it
    SCHEME – had CH as church and wondered whether there was some mysterious printing thing called an EME
    BRIGHT SPARK – with four checkers in place, saw the SPARK only and biffed
    VERIFY – didn’t bother parsing
    TOENAIL – didn’t quite get this

    Obviously much quicker if not spending too much time breaking the clue down, so my question is, do the speedsters at the top of the leaderboard merely look for the definition and only parse if it’s not obvious?

  19. 30m today, but struggled with the menial and the moving hands at the end, for no particular reason. Enjoyable puzzle, thank you, setter and Jack.
  20. Pretty straightforward with perhaps too many clues where one could just biff the answer from the def (yes, indeed, the true speedsters do this all the time. I try; but often then worry, and so go back and verify the wordplay. That’s why I’m not further up the leaderboard! At least, I’m sticking with that excuse for the mo…) TOENAIL was neat &Lit even if it was in before one realised …
  21. In under 15 minutes, but VERIFY only sorted out post solve (I put it in and erased it twice) and Muriel likewise. I did wonder if there was a British (or otherwise) author called PARK, because title might just be RIGHTS.

    The cleverness of the TOENAIL clue passed me by, mostly because by coincidence I indeed struggled with the occasional chore of trimming mine not 10 minutes before starting the crossword. Jung would be pleased.

    1. Park was my guess for the author – I’m gunna say “Tim” Park who wrote about Italian football, either Verona or Castel di Sangro. In my ignorance I’ve never heard of Muriel.
  22. There’s a digital image file format TIFF that might make for a cool modern DD.
    Figured we must’ve had SCRUMPY before, since I got it.
    Forgot to parse VERIFY.
    “Does experience bring wisdom?” is essentially the essay question on one of the last exams I took in high school. (There’s only one answer, and it’s obvious.) I wrote about my racist granddad.
  23. Time about 40 minutes – with a shower in the middle.

    TOENAIL at 19dn was a very smart clue IMHO – they get harder as one ages, as do most other things.

    FOI 1ac VATICAN

    LOI 8dn GREAT APE

    COD 14ac STIFF UPPER LIP – rather jolly good, what!?

    WOD 11ac FLUNKY – a favourite word of my father’s – used pejoratively at The Palace.

    Muriel Camberg remembered after she lost her Spark in 1940.

    Edited at 2021-01-12 10:42 am (UTC)

  24. OK so I was torn here and thought in the same zone across and eyeball (a ball difficult to cut in cricket….might work equally well..?
  25. FOI 7D: OIL WELL
    LOI 2D: TOSS-UPS

    Error: MEDDLAR – rushing unnecessarily, confusing answer with the soundalike; producing rotten hybrid.

    Thank you, jackkt and the setter

  26. Much biffing (in the Marsh). On the subject of classic radio comedy, 24dn ensured that today’s earworm is not music but a memorable exhange from Round the Horne, where Kenneth Williams’ mad scientist has imprisoned Betty Marsden in his lair…

    “You fiend, why have you strapped me to this operating table?”
    “Call it an old man’s whim”
    “Alright, why have you strapped me to this old man’s whim?”

  27. A bit slow considering the lack of any holdup clues at the end unusually for me. LOI LIE as I was looking for the wrong pork pie.
    COD TOENAIL brilliant in my book
  28. Despite checking I missed Affabiliyy.

    COD: Toenail. I also thought it was just a cryptic definition. It was only after reading this blog I saw it was an &lit. Elation erupted.

  29. Felt like a brisk, no-nonsense sort of workout. Liked the wrong side of “fist” device in TIGHTER. I suppose e-content must be a thing, but I can’t see the need for it any more than e-word or e-sentence – unless of course it is used ironically to mean the sort of click-bait bilge masquerading as meaningful content which seems to fill ever greater areas of the internet. 22 mins.

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