Times Cryptic 27968

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 34 minutes. Many thanks to mohn2 for updating the template script to suit my new blogging style so that I don’t have to remember to press Enter after every answer.

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 Might one pass with those standards kept up? (6,7)
FLYING COLOURS
FLYING (kept up), COLOURS (standards – flags)
8 Country where capital’s neither opened nor closed (4)
IRAN
{t}IRAN{a} (capital of Albania) [neither opened nor closed]
9 For example, Tommy and soldiers, those working together (10)
COOPERANTS
COOPER (for example, Tommy), ANTS (soldiers). This word looks silly to me without a hyphen (as does ‘cooperate’) but some of the usual sources sanction it. Here’s Tommy’s famous Bottle/Glass routine.
10 Tree trunk enthusiast (8)
CHESTNUT
CHEST (trunk), NUT (enthusiast). Does anyone remember the Chestnut Tree Song? They don’t write ’em like that any more!
11 Brute force said to break good man (6)
SADIST
Anagram [force] of SAID, contained by [to break] ST (good man – saint). I don’t recall seeing ‘force’ used as an anagrind before, but it’s in the Chamber’s list.
13 Possibly, lewd queen worried doctor (10)
ADULTERATE
ADULT (possibly, lewd), ER (queen), ATE (worried)
16 Two Georges taking a test (4)
VIVA
Take your pick of VI + V (two Georges), A or V + IV (two Georges), A
17 Figures, slightly retrograde (4)
DATA
A TAD (slightly) reversed [retrograde]. Unaccountably my LOI!
18 Instrument shaken roughly about, mine inspiring ridicule primarily (10)
TAMBOURINE
Anagram [roughly] of ABOUT MINE, containing [inspiring] R{idicule} [primarily]
20 Witness watching over, perhaps? (6)
ATTEST
Alternatively spaced as AT TEST (watching over, perhaps – attending a cricketing test match)
22 Game played with associated board, cheat and get low grade (8)
CRIBBAGE
CRIB (cheat), BAG (get), E (low grade)
24 Animal seen moving around Pacific native (10)
MELANESIAN
Anagram [moving around] ANIMAL SEEN
26 Fracture   that’s the same! (4)
SNAP
Two meanings, the second as in the simple card game in which players race to say ‘Snap!’ as they identify cards of the same rank.
27 Marry and make a splash? (4,3,6)
TAKE THE PLUNGE
A definition plus a cryptic hint. Something of a DBE as ‘taking the plunge’ might be deciding to do almost anything after a long period of uncertainty and deliberation. A more usual saying for marriage would be ‘tie the knot’. Edit: Having just come across the same definition in one of the weekend puzzles (not Times or ST) I decided to investigate further and have confirmed that Collins specifies ‘get married’ as one of the meanings.
Down
1 Wood terribly dry, then a water supplier on the way (4,7)
FIRE HYDRANT
FIR (wood), the anagram [terribly] of DRY THEN A. These are points along a road (way) allowing easy access to water mains in case of fire.
2 Contrary to opinion, week appears, ultimately, a long time (5)
YONKS
{contrar}Y, {t}O, {opinio}N, {wee}K, {appear}S [ultimately]
3 Party in minutes ending in government — probable landslide? (2,7)
NO CONTEST
CON (party – Conservatives) contained by [in] NOTES (minutes of a meeting), {governmen}T [ending]. An easy victory or walkover.
4 Native American people almost as tribal, oddly, in European country (7)
CROATIA
CRO{w} (native American people) [almost], then A{s} T{r}I{b}A{l} [oddly]
5 United team is in the driving seat, reportedly (5)
LEEDS
Sounds like [reportedly] “leads” (is in the driving seat)
6 Kind of door finished twice? (2-3-4)
UP-AND-OVER
Two words meaning ‘finished’. Doors providing vehicular access to garages.
7 Egyptian god, determined (3)
SET
Two meanings. The Egyptian god ‘Set’ is also known as ‘Seth’.
12 Redeeming quality in old batsman after keeper’s job? (6,5)
SAVING GRACE
SAVING (keeper’s job – e.g. in soccer), GRACE (old batsman – W.G.)
14 General claims as support for property transaction (9)
LEASEBACK
LEE (General – Robert E) contains AS, then BACK (support)
15 Moving a lot, I’m one on the move! (9)
EMOTIONAL
Anagram [on the move] of A LOT I’M ONE
19 Device locating companion in part of New England (7)
MACHINE
CH (companion of honour) contained by [in] MAINE (part of New England)
21 Message lovely and short in the end (5)
TWEET
TWEE (lovely), {shor}T [in the end]
23 Creature putting leg under twice (5)
BISON
BIS (twice – encore!), ON (leg – cricket)
25 Take in tenants every so often (3)
EAT
{t}E{n}A{n}T{s} [every so often]

63 comments on “Times Cryptic 27968”

  1. Off to a very slow start, FOI 27ac. Thanks to Jack for LOI IRAN, which I never did parse. NHO Tommy Cooper, DNK where United is. I did know GRACE, the only cricketer I do know. Biffed a few, parsing post-submission.
    1. Kevin, There are several Uniteds – so Leeds isn’t always the answer:
      Oxford United, Boston United, Sheffield United, Manchester United, Scunthorpe United, Newcastle United, West Ham United, Colchester United, Torquay United, Peterborough United, Southend United, Carlisle United, Hartlepools United, Rotherham etc.

      They are mainly found in the Northern part of England as many of them came out of Working Men’s and Industrial Railway Clubs.

      A list of well-known cricketers is available on request.

      There is only one Tommy Cooper!

        1. There’s only one United, and they’re from Manchester. All the rest are imposters.
  2. 10:28, so considerably quicker than the Quickie, helped by the Anglocentric trio, LEEDS, COOPERANT and SAVING GRACE.

    Thanks to Jack for parsing IRAN.

  3. This seemed to all go in very easily. My LOI was also DATA since it took me too long to see it.
    1. Likewise – needed an alphabet trawl to come up with “a tad”. 27 mins overall, which is not bad for me. Helped by the cricketing references and good old Tommy C, I’m sure.
  4. It’s an old chestnut that a good man is a St. They never seem to be good women.
    In 9a, I was expecting Tommy to be an example of an opera, which fitted nicely into COOPERANT, but left CONT unexplained until the man in the fez emerged from the recesses of memory.
    24’05”
    1. They are not necessarily good, either. Just pleased the pope .. St Thos. More, a case in point.
  5. Arose early for a change and parsed with 1ac.

    FOI 27ac TAKE THE PLUNGE

    LOI 20ac ATTEST (a verb!)

    COD 9ac COOPERANTS – I do prefer a hyphen myself

    WOD 2dn YONKS – how long is a YONK – ten years?

    I prefer Eddie Waring’s magnificent UP-AND-UNDER to the UP-AND-OVER at 6dn

    Three card games:- 22ac CRIBBAGE, 26ac SNAP and 23dn BISON for a minor NINA!

    Edited at 2021-05-04 03:43 am (UTC)

  6. I was well off the wavelength for the second day running so again just pleased to eventually finish. The NW corner gave me the most trouble until FIRE HYDRANT unlocked it. I enjoyed “water supplier on the way”. I was a bit worried about the Egyptian God I didn’t know, thinking that SAT could mean determined as in “sat in judgment” though SET seemed the more likely option and thankfully proved the right one.
  7. I’ve been living in London too long. 28 minutes, not helped by the clue numbering being wrong for three clues in the printed edition. CO-OPERANTS held me up as I thought the opera must be Tommy until I tried ‘ants’ at the end and the parsing appeared just like that. SET was not known but then was clear. COD to ATTEST. Nice puzzle, apart from the enumeration.Thank you Jack and setter.

    Edited at 2021-05-04 07:10 am (UTC)

  9. …Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?
    O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
    How can we know the dancer from the dance?

    20 mins, no dramas. I liked it, mostly Fire Hydrant.
    Thanks setter and J.

  10. FLYING COLOURS? Well only in jest
    Setter 1 — Solver 0, NO CONTEST
    As the start took an age
    (First one in was CRIBBAGE)
    Then slowly I figured the rest
  11. Not only is the letter count wrong at 24a, but the online version will not allow me to enter the correct solution on my iPad.
        1. Had similar problem on Chromebook — clearing cache & cookies made it go away.
    2. Not just me then. There weren’t enough spaces to write MELANESIA under the crossword as you have to on the ipad, and however I tried to do it it just crashed. Shame as it woukdn’t have been a bad time!
      1. Hi Judy,
        Thanks for taking the time to send me a message.
        Well done if you managed a good time for the puzzle; you are entitled to regard it as a success as the glitch was beyond your control.
        Best wishes,
        George
        1. Thanks, George. These things happen! I’m always glad when I get through a 15×15 even when there’s a glitch!
  12. 24.54 but didn’t see snap and put in the ridiculous spat in desperation. In my defence- unconvincing though it is- I claim mental confusion due to the added trickery of the newspaper version I tackled.

    I had snap as 25 ac, eat as 24 dn and 24 ac listed as 9 letters not 10. That really was a conundrum and meant I took ages before realising melanesian did in fact fit. Anyone else have the same issue?

    Still thought it was a good puzzle though and have now calmed down sufficiently to stop kicking the wall over snap.

    2. All these were incorrect in the newspaper version too, as above.
      1. Thanks. By the way, congrats on promotion. We’ve fallen away since Vaughan got injured but hope springs eternal for the playoffs and another trip to Prenton Park South- if only virtually.
        1. We’re not up yet. We loused it up last weekend and now have to win at Crawley on Saturday. We’ll be seeing each other in the play-offs.
          1. Hadn’t realised Morecambe could still catch you. Crawley could be difficult. Fingers crossed for both of us.

  13. FOI: 27A TAKE THE PLUNGE
    LOI: 21D TWEET

    I usually start from top but struggled to begin with and settled on 27A after which the answers came thick and fast.

    Thank you, jackkt and the setter

  14. 12:27 I thought I was going to be a lot slower after a pedestrian start but I eventually got on a roll finishing with SET. COD to the shaken TAMBOURINE. Is CHESTNUT a chestnut?
  15. Easy enough for me in just under 13 minutes. For quite a lot of that time I was wondering if there were some other COLOURS that weren’t FLYING, as I couldn’t make sense of the dependent entries. The cleverly defined FIRE HYDRANT assured me that the F was OK, and I put in YONKS on the basis that it was a long time and Jack would explain the wordplay.
    The relatively benign TWEET was LOI, TWEE being not the most obvious synonym for lovely.
    Lots to like, though COOPERANT is not a word I’m likely to use much now I’ve been introduced.
  17. The numbers for the final clues across and down are to pot in the print copy, but the grid works
  18. Very gentle. I’m grateful for the explanation of Iran.

    Almost persuaded myself that SNAP should be SEAM.
    COOPERANTS does look odd. Will no doubt lead to a nightmare about fez-wearing insects.

    Thanks to Jack and Setter.

  19. 10:46. I had a couple today where I bunged in answers based on a quick read of the clue which turned out to be wrong:
    > 9ac COLLEAGUES: I’m sure there was a Colonel Tommy at some point and LEAGUES could be soldiers if you don’t think about it too much.
    > 20ac UMPIRE: weak cryptic definition.
    So that took a bit of sorting out. I also hesitated over 11ac where I had (SAID)*, ST and couldn’t account for ‘force’. It’s a strange anagram indicator.
    I always write COOPERATE without a hyphen. Just a personal preference. We should be thankful the grid doesn’t allow the silly diaeresis nonsense of the Nëw Yörkër.
  20. A slow start, with IRAN and CHESTNUT, then 1a went in and it flowed quickly. All done in 18 minutes ending with the awkward-sounding COOPERANTS and not twigging the Tommy Cooper reference until afterwards. The lower half seemed much easier.
    Thanks jackkt for parsing TAMBOURINE which I biffed.
  21. Right on the wavelength, so even though I’m not the first to say it, hard to avoid thinking “Just like that”. Apparently TC once went to Morocco on holiday and when he was in a market, a vendor tried to sell him a fez and did an impression of him as part of the sales pitch – not because he recognised Tommy, but because literally every British tourist who had come to his stall for decades had put the fez on and said “just like that” and he had no idea why…
  22. Nice and easy, just as well as I have to go out. However thanks for TIRANA, I had no idea, and somehow missed the A when parsing VIVA so had to come here to find out why. BTW is VIVA the word du semaine?
  23. YONKS was my flying start. The COLOURS arrived later, greatly assisted by CROATIA and UP AND OVER. I was sure 9a was going to be IRAN, but didn’t enter it until FIRE HYDRANT confirmed it. I then managed to parse it. The COOPERANTS helped with NO CONTEST, but I had to write it in before I spotted Mr “Just Like That” rather than the Rock Opera. ATTEST allowed me to see LEASEBACK, which led to LOI, ADULTERATE. Fun puzzle! 22:40. Thanks setter and Jack.
  24. Feel more like identifying with the Prince, morosely addressing whoever the crossword goddess is, than the tambourine man finishing in four minutes. The darn printed ed. told me 24 ac. was 9 letters so I knew it wasn’t the seen/animal anagram … but that was only part of the reason for a poor time. 36’41. Either everyone else is improving rapidly or I’m doing the opposite. Or both.

  25. Snitch at 72 feels about right. No difficulties, and I’m sad I failed to get in under ten.
  26. Mildly surprised at the lowish SNITCH — 70 when I looked.

    DATA was my LOI too — don’t like alpha trawls.

    Slowish start — four in on first pass but completed most of the bottom half second time through.

    1a was the sticking point for me — if I’d thought of that earlier then my time would have been far quicker.

  27. Not as easy for me as the 70 or so suggested it would be.

    TWEET, ATTEST and DATA were the ones that held me up the most.

    Though it wasn’t that long ago that completion in 22:54 would have made me v. pleased.

  28. I seem to be alone in struggling a bit with this one. Oh dear. In mitigation, I was interrupted a number of times but 50 odd minutes seems like a lifetime. FOI EAT (my first problem) SOI TAKE THE PLUNGE, and so it went on slowly creeping northwards. I did like FLYING COLOURS, SAVING GRACE and ADULTERATE. MELANESIAN was a question of throwing the letters up in the air and entering wherever they landed luckily correctly. Thanks Jack and setter.
  29. Technical DNF as it was impossible to complete 22a on my (old) Ipad. When selecting to solve, only 9 of the 10 letters were presented for completion. Pressing the tick box resulted in the app crashing. Very odd. I took about 30 mins for this and found it quite straightforward.
  30. I presume that jackkt did the crossword online! The version in the paper has missing and muddled up clues, numbering and errors. Proof reading…? Let Customer Services know in case others may be a tad annoyed!
    1. Yes, I did, and the e-paper seems to be okay too. A cause for concern as I had always understood the e-paper is a facsimile of the printed edition.
  31. Or in other words, could not see Data. FOI Snap which made me think this would be a struggle but instead it was a steady and enjoyable solve.
    Thanks to topicaltim for the wonderful story of Tommy Cooper on holiday and to astro_nowt, as always, for the limerick. And to setter and blogger.
  32. I’m not used to seeing a hyphen in “cooperate” (I see it’s a variant, not the standard, British spelling, according to at least couple dictionaries), so it never entered my mind for COOPERANTS, a word I may have never encountered before. (Must have a hyphen in “co-opt” though—quite different.)

    Easy one. SNAP(!) and IRAN were my last in. The capital of IRAN has a teasing similarity to the one used in the clue.

    Edited at 2021-05-04 02:00 pm (UTC)

  33. One of my quickest times — although I was slow getting started as this was a SE to NW progression for me.
    I would love to be able to say that I finished with “flying colours” — but it was actually “chestnut”.
    Thanks Jack for the blog.
  34. Never heard of Melanesia so chose unwisely- I’m genuinely surprised that everyone else bar one has heard of the area…I had …esian but with 3 consonants left had to guess
    Shame really
  35. ….despite the dog’s breakfast with clue lengths/numbers, and having to biff two answers. I sorted COOPERANT out quite quickly afterwards, but am indebted to Jack for IRAN.

    FOI FLYING COLOURS (great Jethro Tull track)
    LOI CO-OPERANTS (join my “Save the Hyphen” group !)
    COD SADIST (Mother Teresa was a great guy)
    TIME 8:58

  36. A steady solve, spoilt at the death by the confusion over 24ac, Melanesian. Note to self: Don’t assume the letter count is correct. Invariant
  37. FOI snap. LOI Melanesian. Was very pleased to complete this, though I had help from my husband with three – leaseback, data and Melanesian. So a team effort in the end. Enjoyable if a bit difficult for me. I found the right hand side going in at first. I had no comment in mind but no idea why. Chestnut cleared that up. Several biffs, e.g. Iran, tambourine. COD saving grace, and even here I did not use all of the clue. Time to solve – ages. Thanks, Jack, and setter. GW.
  38. After a total flail (and fail) on yesterday’s main fare and a DNF on today’s QC after 13 minutes this was a bit better. Started at the bottom and worked round anticlockwise ending with DATA which rang a bell so didnt hold me up for too long

    Liked ATTEST

    Thanks Jackkt and setter

    Ps Newcastle are a United as well, so called because they were the result of two smaller teams merging: Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End. Unlike Liverpool Manchester Nottingham Birmingham and many other cities (even Bristol for goodness sake) Newcastle has since then always been a one team town

  39. DNF. Just under 16 mins to solve, the rest of the afternoon to kick myself for a typo in leasebakk. I thought the two Georges was rather novel.
  40. Six minutes 20 seconds? I quit. It takes me longer than that even to read the darn clues, let alone solve them. I’m very obviously only worthy of a much, much lower league.
    1. I wouldn’t worry about it, sbeginner, if I did I’d have given up long ago. Do your own thing at your own speed and enjoy it.
      1. Thank you, jackkt, that’s just what I needed to hear. And inspired, I have just completed Wednesday’s 27969 in 45 minutes. Yeehaw!
        1. I’m so glad to have been of help. When I first discovered TfTT most of the bloggers and contributors were speed-merchants who took part in the Times Crossword Championships, and as just an occasional contributor (I think I was still ‘anon’) I felt I was in elite company and way out of my league.

          But there was one blogger (long since departed) who I came to realise was a far less experienced solver than most, and his comments inspired me to persevere. Eventually when a vacancy arose for a blogger I thought to myself ‘I think I could do that’ so applied and much to my surprise I was accepted. That was some 12 years ago.

          I hope my skills as a blogger (such as they are) have improved over the years but I’m not sure my solving speeds are much different. I target 30 minutes and probably achieve it a couple of times a week but other days I might take anything up to an hour. That’s usually my cut-off point and if I don’t feel a breakthrough is imminent I may well resort to aids. I never race against the clock for the 15×15 as I want to enjoy it to the maximum. I try speed on the Quick Cryptic but have never managed less than 5 minutes, and that only once I think.

          Edited at 2021-05-06 09:04 am (UTC)

          1. This blog is exceptionally helpful, and intstructional. I think I’m learning nothing, and then solve a clue that I wouldn’t have been able to before, and think, there you go, yes, you are learning. It’s simply a slow and steady process and easy to get frustrated/ demotivated at times. But thanks to kind people like you, it’s still onward! Thank you.
  41. I’ve never seen this before, though I suppose it must have happened. It was glaringly obvious if you were doing the physical, paper version, maybe not online, but near the end of listing the questions, someone ‘created’ a non-existent ‘25ac’ (hence 9 letters), so all the following questions are misnumbered. Expected to see a (very small-print!) apology today, but maybe it wasn’t noticed. Enjoyed the puzzle anyway. Julian B-C

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