Times Cryptic 27878

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 41 minutes. I found this one fairly straightforward but with one or two MERs 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 Rocket, say: why not all there? (10)
LOCOMOTIVE : LOCO (not all there), MOTIVE (why). Stephenson’s Rocket designed in 1829 and built in Newcastle.
6 Enemy caught by Tasmanian tiger (4)
ANTI : Hidden in [caught by[ {tasmani}AN TI{ger}. ‘Enemy’ seems a bit strong, but I guess it works colloquially.
9 Unchanging, those full of beans, say in early part of tennis match? (3,2,5)
SET IN STONE : TINS (those full of beans, say) contained by [in] SET ONE (early part of tennis match)
10 Over eight thirteenths of the alphabet? (4)
ATOP : A-TO-P accounts for 16 letters of the 26 in the alphabet. 16/26 can be simplified to ‘eight-thirteenths’.
12 Fighting with chorus in challenges such as these (8,6)
CROSSING SWORDS : SING (chorus) contained by [in] CROSSWORDS (challenges such as these)
14 Chinese Revolution topping the bill, alas, ultimately for communist (6)
ENGELS : {Chines}E {revolutio}N {toppin}G {th}E {bil}L {ala}S [ultimately]. Friedrich Engels 1820-1895.
15 Lawn weed: cut the whole lot back (8)
PRUNELLA : PRUNE (cut), then ALL (the whole lot) reversed [back]. Only the Oxfords have it as a plant and there’s no mention of it being a weed, nor that it’s particularly associated with lawns, however I found this on a gardening site: Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris) is a tenacious perennial weed that loves lawns and will stick close to the ground in order to survive even the closest mowing.
17 Cow neatherd almost forced onto back of cart (8)
THREATEN : {car}T [back], then anagram [forced] of NEATHER{d} [almost]. I looked twice at ‘forced’ as anagrind, but it’s on the Chambers lists.
19 One hit by player, icon reportedly (6)
CYMBAL : Sounds like [reportedly] “symbol” (icon)
22 What could shock   more or less, for example? (4-6,4)
FOUR-LETTER WORD : Two meanings
24 Nation that had me as president? (4)
IRAN : And a cryptic hint to the alternatively spaced I RAN
25 A vale heading north, man on deviating path (2,1,7)
AT A TANGENT : A, TA-TA (vale – farewell – Latin), N{orth} [heading], GENT (man). ‘Heading’ is redundant other than for the surface reading  as ‘north = N’ would have sufficed, but I’ve tried to accont for it in the wordplay.
26 Female animals expressed milk (4)
EWES : Sounds like [expressed] “use” (milk). Chambers defines ‘milk’ in this sense as ‘obtain money, information or any other benefit from someone or something, cleverly or relentlessly; exploit’. In other words ‘take advantage of’ or  ‘use’.
27 Sweet and spicy food: wanting it with coating of saffron in bread (6,4)
BRANDY SNAP : RANDY (wanting it – nudge, nudge!) + S{affro}N [coating], contained by [in] BAP (bread). The traditional spice content is ginger, hence the alternative name, ginger snap.
Down
1 Lovely soak (4)
LUSH : Two meanings, the second in the sense of an alcoholic
2 Dance that has guru act wildly (3,1,3)
CUT A RUG : Anagram [wildly] of GURU ACT. An expression previously unknown to me. Here’s the Collins entry: New Word Suggestion: Cut a rug – to dance really well to impress others. Submitted: 28/05/2013. Approval Status: Pending Investigation. I’ve never seen that for a crossword answer before, and they still haven’t come to a decision nearly 8 years after it was submitted! It’s in Lexico as ‘North American’ with ‘Cut the rug’ as an alternative.
3 One is late (not early): only some changes holding delivery up (12)
MONOSYLLABLE : Anagram [changes] of ONLY SOME containing holding BALL (delivery – cricket) reversed [up]. ‘Not early’ because that’s disyllabic.
4 Rubbish game for King Edward, according to Wallace? (6)
TATTIE : TAT (rubbish), TIE (game). King Edward is a variety of potato. The reference to (William) Wallace  indicates the Scottish slang for the vegetable.
5 Sharp swing restricting batting, say (8)
VINEGARY : VARY (swing) containing [restricting] IN (batting) + EG (say)
7 Musical character   in one’s blood (7)
NATURAL :Two meanings. In musical notation the natural sign (♮) countermands a previous sharp or flat sign or one that’s in the key signature.
8 Completely shut off, there’s nothing exceptional about me? (10)
IMPASSABLE : Another secondary cryptic hint relying on alternative spacing: I’M PASSABLE.
11 Score doubled, perfect in one faculty? (6-6)
TWENTY-TWENTY : TWENTY (score) x 2 [doubled]. 20/20 is the measure of normal visual acuity, so ‘perfect in one faculty’. More info here if needed.
13 If food found at bottom of hole, teeth cleaner (10)
DENTIFRICE : DENT (hole), IF, RICE (food). I wouldn’t define a dent as a hole but no doubt it’s in a dictionary somewhere.
16 One leaving land, perhaps, with river on a hill (8)
TESTATOR : TEST (river), A, TOR (hill). Leaving in a Will.
18 Boy caught by wolf, one’s stuffed (7)
ROULADE : LAD (boy) contained [caught] by ROUE (wolf). Sweet or savoury, delish!
20 Bearing rocks, enter with some force (5,2)
BARGE IN : Anagram [rocks] of BEARING
21 Source of sugar working for old cook (6)
BEETON : BEET (source of sugar), ON (working). The setter perpetuates a common misconception, that Isabella Beeton was a cook. No doubt she could turn her hand to it if required (though she probably had servants to do that sort of thing for her),  but she was principally a journalist, editor and publisher, and any recipes published under her name were stolen collected from elsewhere.
23 End with jars upside down (4)
STOP : POTS (jars) reversed [upside down]

74 comments on “Times Cryptic 27878”

  1. Never heard of ‘cut a rug’ in relation to dancing. I’d have believed wig making. But the anagram couldn’t be anything else. Also got fixated on ‘rocket’ being something to do with lettuce, especially with the L from LUSH to start.
    Like the ‘vale’ in 25a being ‘ta-ta’, thanks to Jackkt for pointing it out.
    26’54”
  2. My FOI was CUT A RUG, which was lurking in the recesses of my mind, but apart from SET IN STONE, the rest of the NW resisted for quite some time. I had more success in the NE where ATOP made me smile and opened up the corner. I then worked steadily in a clockwise direction finishing in the NW with TATTIE and VINEGARY, for which, like Keriothe I had considered VINAGARY. Fortunately I reconsidered and spotted EG for say. Nice puzzle. 33:20. Thanks setter and Jack.
  4. After 60m I retired hurt (pride) and looked at Jack’s characteristically helpful blog to find out about the lawn weed, the communist and the teeth cleaner. I can’t explain why I found this so impenetrable but I did. Tip of the hat to the setter, perhaps, as I don’t think these were obscure. Thanks to both setter and blogger today.
  5. Hesitated for a long time over LUSH, not knowing that both it and soak mean heavy drinkers (LOCOMOTIVE took a while too, which didn’t help). Didn’t parse BARGE IN, which now it’s been explained wasn’t actually that tricky, and like many others have never heard of CUT A RUG. Didn’t know DENTIFRICE either, though I don’t see any problem with dent = hole if you think of losses in income, for instance.

    FOI Anti
    LOI Lush
    COD Tattie

  6. I thought this good fun, and I’m obliged to the blogger for the information about Mrs Beeton of which I was not aware.
    Mind you, whenever her name comes up I imagine her sailing away at the end of The Great Gatsby.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  7. ….cheated with the NHO DENTIFRICE which I’d given a good five minutes thought to – I’ve managed 56 years without knowing this word for something which we use so frequently. Does anyone actually use it?

    Otherwise, after completing the bottom half in good time, CUT A RUG was no problem and then LOCOMOTION really opened up the top half.

      1. Back in the 60s, Crest toothpaste became the first toothpaste to be endorsed by the American Dental Association (I think they were the first to add fluoride), and they pushed that endorsement for all it was worth in their advertising: “Crest has been shown to be an effective … dentifrice …” That’s where I learned the word.
  8. Finished in a reasonable time with no errors and despite a brief interruption. Pretty tough and a bit unusual.

    COD: BARGE IN.

  9. I was a DNF, never got anywhere near the “wavelength”, and found it far harder than yesterday.
    Andyf
  10. A solve of fits and starts. Nothing I had not heard of but did biff quite a few. LOI was ATOP.
  11. On the tougher side of things this. I’ve definitely come across cut a rug before, though I’m not sure where (it’s not just from the song Leskoffer has reminded me of), and I know cut some rug as rather good song by The Bluetones.

    I just biffed BRANDY SNAP from “sweet” and checkers so didn’t get bogged down in the fancy wordplay and spicy element.

    The first WALLACE I thought of was the cheese-loving plasticine one, which didn’t help.

    Edited at 2021-01-19 02:59 pm (UTC)

  12. 34.16. I found this difficult and had to reverse engineer quite a few, though I did enjoy them once I’d twigged the parsings. Engels was bunged in from definition and checkers, never did cotton on to the wp.
  13. A strange experience with this one. Having done half it before lunch in about 35 mins thinking “this is a toughie”, I completed the rest of it on resumption in 4 mins flat! Does this mean that my subconscious was working on it in the background and I only had to look at it again to know all the answers. I’d be interested to know if others have the same experience
    It was CROSSING SWORDS that I had been stuck on. WOD FOUR LETTER WORD which of course word is.
    1. Yes – I often find that a break helps. The little grey cells must be whirring away in the background somehow.
      Enjoyed today’s puzzle – some nice “penny-drop” moments.
      Mike Cowking (don’t know why I’ve suddenly gone anonymous).
      1. Definitely agree. I surmise it might be because it clears some of my “locked-in” thoughts, and I can see other possibilities.
    4. Oops… replied to the wrong person.
      Definitely agree. I surmise it might be because it clears some of my “locked-in” thoughts, and I can see other possibilities.
  14. A good challenge today. I particularly enjoyed FOUR-LETTER WORD and MONOSYLLABLE cropping up together. Really struggled to see BRANDY SNAP for some reason. Otherwise testing but fair, I thought.
  15. ….going off the BEETON track, but luckily I knew my sugar beet. My main delay was at 10A/8D where I tried vainly to justify “atom” before the truth dawned.

    FOI ANTI
    LOI IMPASSABLE
    COD AT A TANGENT
    TIME 11:02

  16. Enjoyed this mainly because I finished it, but it was like pulling teeth. Nho dentifrice so alphabet trawl to find the food. Mrs Breton was a journalist! Ylsned. Next we’ll be told mrs craddock didn’t make doughnuts….
  17. Like yesterday (when I was too tired to post) I solved this in JUST under an hour (59:08). My LOI was TATTIE, which I completely misunderstood, because I too equated Wallace with Wallis and had no idea what she might have called her Edward. It was solved from wordplay, of course. Lots of other clues which held me up, like IMPASSABLE (fortunately I corrected my first entry, IMPOSSIBLE). A definite COD to CROSSING SWORDS.
  18. And just as I thought I was getting the hang of these! Really struggled with quite a few of the clues and hopeless at parsing some of those I did get from the definition, such as Crossing Swords and Monosyllable. Much harder than yesterday. Invariant

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