Times Cryptic 27914

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 30 minutes. There were quite a few less than familiar words here but the wordplay was always helpful and fair so they didn’t delay me long.

Yesterday Ulaca dedicated his blog to Jim Biggin (Dorsetjimbo) who sadly died recently. I should like add today’s blog to that dedication because Tuesday was Jim’s regular slot in the TfTT schedule from his very first contribution on 20th November 2007 until 5th  August 2014 when he decided to retire from the weekday blog and I moved across from Fridays.  He then  blogged the Mephisto puzzle regularly for the next 7 years and also of course continued to educate and amuse us with his wise and witty contributions to discussions about 15×15 puzzles. RIP Jimbo.

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 Taxi reversed by such drunken oenophile? (7)
BACCHUS : CAB (taxi) reversed, anagram [drunken] of SUCH. An oenophile is a lover of wine and Bacchus was the God of same.
5 Drink that has a charm about it (6)
MOJITO : MOJO (charm – e.g. amulet) containing [about] IT. A Cuban cocktail. I didn’t know this meaning of ‘mojo’ as it seems more commonly used these days in the sense of having power or influence.
8 Doctor scowled at sign of nervousness (4,5)
COLD SWEAT : Anagram [doctor] of SCOWLED AT
9 Hurts to lose a second battle of wits (5)
CHESS : {a}CHES (hurts) [to lose ‘a’], S (second)
11 One business area’s last resort (5)
IBIZA : I (one), BIZ (business), {are}A [last]
12 Port Vale disheartened to be involved in ultimately brutal Irish game (9)
LIVERPOOL : {bruta}L [ultimately], then V{al}E [disheartened] contained by [involved in] IR (Irish), then POOL (game)
13 Pause and almost sneeze eating unknown soup? (8)
GAZPACHO : GAP (pause) containing [eating] Z (unknown), ACHO{o} (sneeze) [almost]. Crazy surface reading!
15 Old Scottish swimmer discards small item of clothing? (6)
ONESIE : O (old), NES{s}IE (Scottish swimmer – pet name for the Loch Ness Monster) [discards small – ‘s’]
17 Successively caught and put away (6)
INTERN : Sounds like [caught] “in turn” (successively)
19 Island sailor with a vessel returning from part of India (8)
GUJARATI : I (island) + TAR (sailor) + A + JUG (vessel) all reversed [returning]
22 Race K9 around park regularly? (5,4)
GRAND PRIX : GRAND (K – 1000) + IX (9) containing [around] P{a}R{k} [regularly]. For those wondering about the surface reading, K9 was a robotic dog in Doctor Who and spin-offs, and from what I remember of it I can’t imagine it racing anywhere.
23 Ladies back adopting new jargon (5)
SLANG : GALS (ladies) reversed [back] containing [adopting] N (new)
24 Creature, rumour has it, needs oats primarily (5)
RHINO : R{umour}, H{as}, I{t}, N{eeds}, O{ats} [primarily]
25 Wartime pin-up and queen on galley (9)
KITCHENER : ER (Queen) on KITCHEN (galley). An example of the ‘A on B = BA’ convention that applies to Across clues in Times cryptics, though not necessarily in Sunday Times puzzles. In Down clues ‘on’  simply means ‘on top of’ (see 3dn). Lord Kitchener famously appeared on recruitment posters during the Great War alongside the slogan ‘Your country needs YOU’.
26 Starts with leader moving to the back— that’s a nice touch (6)
CARESS : {s}CARES (starts) becomes CARESS when the first S (leader) moves to the back. I don’t think ‘scare’ and ‘start’ means the same thing although one might start as the result of a scare.
27 Humble origin of crane fly (7)
CHASTEN : C{rane} [origin], HASTEN (fly]
Down
1 Vocal supporter of British monarch’s terrible reign framing a century (7,6)
BACKING SINGER : B (British) + KING’S (monarch’s) + anagram [terrible] of REIGN, containing [framing] A + C (century)
2 Company left airhead in German town (7)
COLDITZ : CO (company), L (left), DITZ (airhead). I’ve not met ‘ditz’ before but apparently it’s a back-formation of the more familiar ‘ditzy’.
3 Socks on top of a book (5)
HOSEA : HOSE (socks), A. Book of the Old Testament.
4 Nick, with your old-fashioned support, is unobtrusive (8)
STEALTHY : STEAL (nick), THY (your old-fashioned). ‘Support’ is just a positional indicator meaning ‘underneath’.
5 Reason second up-and-coming musical is cut short (6)
MOTIVE : MO (second – just a mo), then EVIT{a} (musical) [cut short] reversed [up-and-coming]
6 Beginning to jump over a vehicle and a tree (9)
JACARANDA : J{ump} [beginning], A, CAR (vehicle), AND, A. Mainly found in tropical and subtropcal locations.
7 Shocks priest, ultimately, with brief penitence (7)
TREMORS : {pries}T [ultimately], REMORS{e} (penitence) [brief]
10 Joiner hawked bottom of wardrobe on phone— smooth! (9,4)
SOLDERING IRON : SOLD (hawked), {wardrob}E [bottom], RING (phone), IRON (smooth)
14 Where one might land a drug— bar to the north of city (9)
AERODROME : A, E (drug), ROD (bar), ROME (city), with ‘north’ as a positional indicator
16 Idealistic and somewhat unusual to dispense with tee? (8)
QUIXOTIC : QUI{te} {e}XOTIC ((somewhat unusual) [to dispense with te-e]
18 Artisan could become empress (7)
TSARINA : Anagram [could become] of ARTISAN. Chestnuts are a little early this year!
20 Not for   touching? (7)
AGAINST : Two meanings
21 Slows down and snaps on the radio (6)
BRAKES : Sounds like [on the radio] “breaks” (snaps)
23 Common sound coming from some Bosch washers (5)
SCHWA : Hidden in [coming from some] {bo}SCH WA{shers}. SOED: The neutral central vowel sound /ə/, typically occurring in unstressed syllables, as the final syllable of ‘sofa’ and the first syllable of ‘along’.

85 comments on “Times Cryptic 27914”

  1. A pangram except for the missing F.
    Colditz nearly escaped me at 2d,having tried Cologne and Coblenz first.
    Liked ONESIE, but it took a while to see that I’d correctly assembled its ingredients as I mentally mispronounced it as ‘oh-knees-ee’ and rejected that as nonsense.
    28’41”
    1. I sometimes have the same experience when I construct something from the cryptic only to discard it as not a word then realise later it was all in the pronunciation. It makes for a good penny drop moment!
  2. Biffed GUDARATI, then checked the wordplay and thought, “DUG isn’t a vessel, is it?”. Never came back to it. Always sad to lose a good time but I know there will be more.

    Thanks, Jack, for parsing QUIXOTIC for me! That was a head-scratcher!

      1. Oh no, you too?!

        I have a Gujarati friend, and in my memory he pronounced it without the first ‘a’ entirely. In casual speech, therefore, both ‘gudrati’ and ‘gujrati’ would be pronounced the same. (I suppose so would ‘gutrati’.)

        Never having seen it in print, I back-formed the spelling incorrectly.

        That all being said, I have no excuse — you do!

      2. My first thought was BUTARATI with “tub” as the vessel. On another day I might have bunged that in so I was glad to think of GUJARATI soon after. I also considered “tun” for the vessel. Note to self — there are quite a few vessels fitting _U_ !
  4. Slow going, with ONESIE my POI (as near as dammit to a DNK), and CHESS LOI (took me forever to parse). I knew KITCHENER, but had no idea how he was a pin-up. I biffed QUIXOTIC, never did get around to parsing it; which was just as well, as I doubt I’d have figured it out on my own.
  5. 27 minutes for me. Minor holdup at the end to get my last two: CHESS and TREMORS. K9 is also the US police terminology for police dogs and K9 units. I liked the wordplay to QUIXOTIC.
  6. Looking back at the clues post solve it seems to me there were some particularly good surfaces today, my favourite perhaps being that for ONESIE, a word I don’t recall seeing in the crossword before.
    Talking of words I’ve not seen before, I’ve never seen a sneeze spelled as “achoo” and it’s not in Chambers. The only variant I can find in Chambers is “atishoo”.
      1. To my mind it’s how most people sneeze. Not sure I’ve ever heard an “atishoo”!
  7. Pleasant puzzle. Thanks for the parsing of QUIXOTIC and CHESS, Jack.
    With SLANG, I tried for a while to get LOOS backwards to fit.
    I liked GRAND PRIX and BACKING SINGER but COD to KITCHENER. I was amused by the idea of him as a wartime pin-up!
    DITZ reminds me of the true story of a friend of mine who went to Sydney Airport to collect a cat that her daughter had sent her from Queensland. When the agent asked my friend “what name?”, she said DITZY. “No madam, YOUR name!” Cue much merriment.

    Edited at 2021-03-02 06:51 am (UTC)

  8. 23 minutes, with fingers crossed for MOJITO, as I didn’t know the ‘charm’ meaning of MOJO either. I was too lazy to parse QUIXOTIC, but the rest were possible to work out. I liked ONESIE, my last in, which on first reading seemed impenetrable.

    Pity about that elusive F but you can’t have it all.

    Thanks to setter and to Jack

      1. Thanks for the link to the Muddy Waters performance – 55 years young – which I really enjoyed. Seems as though the ‘power’ sense for MOJO has evolved from the original sense of a ‘charm’ or ‘amulet’.
  9. I was just about to say that my MOJO was definitely working today, but you beat me to it Kevin! 21 mins today, 1 min better than yesterday and probably a PB. Unusually, nothing seemed to hold me up, even some of the odd words. I realise that I did not parse QUIXOTIC so thanks Jack. Very much liked KITCHENER, but COD to BACCHUS of course. I was another one frantically looking for the F, but no.

    Thanks Jack and setter.

  10. 15 mins pre-brekker.
    No ticks, no crosses.
    Not keen on the ‘a’ mojo with the dangling ‘a’ — but I know I’m the only one who cares.
    Thanks setter and J.
  11. …and finished this in 19 minutes. LOI was SLANG. I didn’t know of ‘ditz’ but there was no escape from COLDITZ as the answer, and I think I’ve heard of ditzy, or was it dizzy? COD to GRAND PRIX, even though I do consider motorsport to be an oxymoron. Good fun.Thank you Jack and setter.
  12. Quick again today.
    I have never understood the attraction of the onesie, failing, as it does, to cope adequately with predictable biological needs.
    I would say that scare/start are equivalent Jack, as in “It gave me quite a scare/start, I can tell you”

    Edited at 2021-03-02 08:11 am (UTC)

    1. Thanks, Jerry. I’ve never used ‘start’ in that way myself but I’ve confirmed it in various references now so I’ve learnt something!
    2. 6:24. No problems, and apparently very much on the wavelength today. I actually had GAZPACHO yesterday so that came easily! No unknowns for me, not even the book of the bible.
      Oops, not sure why that went in as a reply. Oh well.
      My kids are great fans of ONESIEs, but they only ever wear them in the house (basically an alternative to pyjamas, except you can apparently wear them all day) so the problem you reference doesn’t really arise.

      Edited at 2021-03-02 09:20 am (UTC)

      1. Fine time today: you know you’re doing well when your sandwiched between Jason and Verlaine!
  13. 14:40 Held up for more than a minute at the end by misreading my handwriting, thinking GAZPACHO had to start with an S. Grr. COD to GRAND PRIX.
  14. Two in a row accomplished during breakfast this week, could be I was on the wavelength or could be something in the vaccine I got yesterday. Expecting normal slow service to resume tomorrow.

    We had a Sister Bacchus in the occupational health section of my first employer many years ago. A colleague told me the Roman god connection and it stuck ever since

  15. 18.38 but for a good while I thought I was going to have a mare. FOI was slang at 23 ac which did make cold sweat a bit easier to parse later on. Almost missed Liverpool which would have been highly embarrassing as I hail from the opposite side of the Mersey. I’ll just have to blame a sloppy entering of jacaranda .

    LOI tremors. COD onesie. Enjoyable and excellently clued.

    Thanks setter and blogger.

      1. I lived in Thingwall (Wirral) in the early 1980’s — still took a while to spot “Liverpool”.
        1. From just down the road in Woodchurch. Mum still there and sisters in Barnston and Chester. Left to study in London in 72 but still connected and a season ticket holder at TRFC. Cheap if you’re an OAP like moi!
          1. EFC myself. But living down south now so rarely get to Goodison. Grew up in Warrington so the Scousers called me a “Woollyback”!!
  16. A few seconds over 20m today, so I was on the wavelength. I enjoyed the more unusual vocabulary today, with the drink, the soup and the sound. Thanks for the blog, Jack. Jimbo’s exhortation to ‘lift and separate’ comes to mind every puzzle I solve. Today it was 15ac. Thank you, setter, for the entertainment.
      1. I think it was coined many decades before that as a selling point for ladies’ lingerie. I don’t think it was unique to one particular brand, but I may be wrong about that.
        1. Oh yes, perhaps I should have mentioned that. Magoo stole the phrase and applied it cruciverbally. And wittily.
          Not that I’m an expert, but I believe it might have been the Playtex cross-your-heart thing that did the heavy lifting and separating. Personally, I was just happy if I could get the d*mned things undone, but perhaps let us not go there 🙂
  17. As I recall–it’s been a few years–we said “Ring around the rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes ashes, all fall down”.
    1. Yes, there are a wide range of alternative wordings, apparently. The Wiki entry is interesting.. I discovered from it that the idea that it was in some way linked to the Great Plague is incorrect..
      1. I imagine the Opies have something to say on the subject; alas, I no longer have my copy.
  18. Yesterday, and today! Woo-hoo! Seeing from blog comments that both are well on the easy side I may now retire back to QC Land with my record intact and not risk humiliation tomorrow… Mostly parsed but thanks for the explanations esp on QUIXOTIC which seemed to fit but I couldn’t see why. Got (even more) delayed on my LOI, CHASTEN, as I was convinced it must have an F in it to complete the pangram.
  19. First day back after two week hol. Pleased with 14’50”. Mojo still there. Such a relief when Scottish swimmer is Nessie and not some obscure word for salmon fry.
  20. JACARANDA was the only one I wasn’t entirely sure of, but it vaguely rang a bell from a previous crossword and the wordplay made it pretty clear. It wasn’t until it went in that I saw ONESIE.

    LIVERPOOL and MOJITO also took longer to come to me than they probably should have done, and it took me a few moments to figure out how INTERN worked, but otherwise this wasn’t too tricky.

    FOI Bacchus
    LOI Onesie
    COD Grand Prix

  21. Def a PB for me today. Don’t usually go under 15 mins.
    Some gems I missed in my haste, especially QUIXOTIC. Needed the MOJO because I thought it was a MOJITA, never having had one.
    LOI ONESIE
  23. Now I only took 12.41 and ended up well down the list, but goodness, this was a cracker! Go back and check those clues without the pressure of solving: brilliant surfaces often miles away from the definition: start with 1 down as an example. And the K9 clue is magic. Fullest of marks to the setter.
  24. “For those wondering about the surface reading, K9 was a robotic dog in Doctor Who and spin-offs, and from what I remember of it I can’t imagine it racing anywhere.”
    Maybe true, but I did come across this entertaining clip which includes K9, in a park, with a very short bit of racing. Music aficionados may prefer to watch with the sound off.
  25. 9 across story of my life. Should really stop playing .. Just like to pay my respects to Dorset Jimbo. I was living down that way looking after my mum during her final years when i first started checking the TofT blog. I recall he was always keen on the sciences getting mentioned in crosswords which always resonated with me being that way inclined. I am still surprised by the antipathy held amongst the communtiy toward anything ‘sciency’ especially as crosswords are largely algebraic in nature. Cant usually be arsed to offer a comment as I tend to feel they will be lost in the many ‘yes i did that too. . .’ mentions but when there is a CME maybe i’ll send out a GMB to keep the Jimbo spirit alive
    1. I’m not aware of an antipathy towards the sciences — indeed many of us here are of a scientific bent. Talking of algebraic in nature, do you ever do the Listener? On occasion it is an entirely algebraic puzzle. There was a nice example Friday before last.
      1. I agree and I think AJC is wrong in suggesting that there’s an antipathy in this (i.e. the TfTT) community against ‘sciency’ clues but it has to be said that in the past they certainly seemed to take second place when it came to setting clues, and maybe Jimbo’s campaign achieved something towards rectifying that.
  26. Not really on the ball this morning but it was a good one. An uncle spent the latter part of WWII at Colditz after being on the run for some time. Awful place apparently. 16.47
    1. Over the years I have read several books about Colditz and although architecturally it definitely lacked modern facilities, I was surprised how civilised it was, some of the time at least. I mean, concert parties? Musical evenings, guards welcome?
      And many of the guards and commandants were quite human. The real atrocities tended to occur after escapes, when the Gestapo got involved.
  27. I got off to a flying start with BACCHUS HOSEA and COLD SWEAT, but had a hiccup with COLOGNE until IBIZA put me on the right track. I carried on down the LHS with barely a pause, but slowed down on the RHS. Liked GRAND PRIX a lot. KITCHENER and CHASTEN needed all the crossers. JACARANDA was almost spoiled by a careless MOHITO, but I spotted it during proof reading. CHESS and TREMORS were my last 2 in. Nice puzzle. 18:48. Thanks setter and Jack. Sad to hear of Jimbo’s passing. RIP.
  28. with a 27+3 minutes of injury time up in the the Nor’East as my ‘J’ for JACARANDA at 6dn looked more like a ‘T’. Thus I regained my MOJO at 5ac!

    FOI BACCHUS hardly the COD IMHO

    LOI 7dn TREMORS

    COD 25ac KITCHENER

    WOD 5ac MOJITO

    German towns aplenty at 2dn – early on I fancied COTTBUS but COLDITZ it was, in line with the chilled soup.

  29. PB at 20 minutes . FOI 1 ac, taxi reversed is always a sure bet. ( OH grows Bacchus grapes on his allottment. A popular variety in Britain.)
    I was putting in Cologne until I had 13ac.
    10dn lured me into carpenter territory. Lots to like here. NHO schwa but biffed it. I’m always surprised at how writing a down clue as across makes it a PDM , as with QUIXOTIC. Brain trained to read from L to R …
    My 95 year old father would have used a soldering iron many times but would have never heard of a onesie. Multigenerational clues here today .
    COD 10dn.
    Thank you to blogger and setter.
    1. That’s something I used to wonder about. Is the brain trained to go left -> right, or is it English-speaking brains? When Sudoku first became popular about 15 years back I’d check my solution: all rows, all columns. It was easy to see the 1-9 nubers across-ways, but much harder to see them down-ways. Used to wonder if people whose writing went downwards – Chinese, Japanese etc had the same problems as me, or the opposite? Is acrossways built into the human brain, or is it a cultural thing?
      1. Interesting thought. I just hope you get a reply from someone who knows the answer!

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