Times Cryptic 28028

Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 28 minutes. I don’t know that having 6 double defintion clues is excessive, but having 5 of them in the Down clues in close proximity made blogging them very repetitive.

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 Object vaporised after mixing around phosphorus (10)
DISAPPROVE
Anagram [mixing] of VAPORISED containing [around] P (phosphorus)
6 Short race on your bike (4)
SHOO
SHOO{t} (race) [short]. ‘On your bike’ means ‘Go away! Clear off!’ and dates from the 1960’s
9 Rogue swimmer in sport (7)
CURLING
CUR (rogue), LING (swimmer – fish)
10 Power tool put back beside table, initially requiring support (7)
RELIANT
NAILER (power tool) reversed [put back], T{able} [initially]
12 If I die, sadly, start to sob after sun sets (10)
SOLIDIFIES
SOL (sun), anagram [sadly] of IF I DIE, then S{ob} [start]
13 Pick up cash for fur (3)
DOE
Sounds like [pick up] “dough” (cash – slang). I thought first of doe as a deer and had difficulty equating that with fur but of course doe is also a female rabbit and that accounts for the fur.
15 Corrosion wore away wheel (6)
ROTATE
ROT (corrosion), ATE (wore away)
16 Possible cause of upset in cabaret, I suspect (8)
BACTERIA
Anagram [suspect] of CABARET I
18 Briefly cook bird in wine (8)
SAUTERNE
SAUT{é} (cook) [briefly], ERNE (bird)
20 Important, flat device with push-button controls (6)
KEYPAD
KEY (important), PAD (flat – apartment)
23 Bird flying east or west just the same? (3)
TIT
Indicated as a palindrome
24 All so fine after splitting say (10)
EVERYTHING
VERY (so) + THIN (fine) contained by [splitting] EG (say)
26 Jumper for summer sport (7)
CRICKET
Two definitions, the first vaguely cryptic
27 Fashion on street, not so hot? (7)
AVERAGE
AVE (street – avenue), RAGE (fashion). ‘Not so hot’ is neither good not bad.
28 Construction of planks and beams etc   abandoned (4)
SHED
Unless I’m missing something this is a double definition, the first of which is decidedly loose
29 Snake chasing tick finding renewed energy (6,4)
SECOND WIND
SECOND (wait a tick), WIND (snake)
Down
1 Weed   moor (4)
DOCK
Two meanings. A handy relief from nettle stings acquired when tying up your boat by the river bank.
2 Remedy, golden beer bottles (4,3)
SORT OUT
STOUT (beer) contains [bottles] OR (golden – heraldry)
3 Trialresult of whiplash? (4,2,3,4)
PAIN IN THE NECK
Two meanings, with ‘trial’ in the sense of an annoying person who tests your patience
4 Win back article stolen by country after uprising (6)
REGAIN
A (indefinite article) contained [stolen] by NIGER (country) reversed [after uprising]
5 Spotless   old instrument (8)
VIRGINAL
Two meanings. The second is an early keyboard instrument resembling a spinet; it’s more usually in the plural. Here’s what it sounds like…
7 Magpie in greyish-white, colour seen from below (7)
HOARDER
HOAR (greyish-white), the RED (colour) reversed [seen from below]. According to Collins a magpie can be a person who likes collecting and keeping things, often things that have little value.
8 Where diamonds may be found   in store (2,3,5)
ON THE CARDS
Two meanings, the second said of something that is likely to happen.
11 Allow one’s mind to drift perhaps and falter as an embroiderer? (4,3,6)
LOSE THE THREAD
Two meanings
14 Truth of the matter, knickers finally found in piles of underwear? (5,5)
BRASS TACKS
{knicker}S (finally) contained by [found in] BRA STACKS (piles of underwear)
17 Throw uniform on top of sewer in anger (8)
UNSETTLE
U (uniform – NATO alphabet), then S{ewer} [top] contained by [in] NETTLE (anger)
19 Loosen tight nut, white perhaps? (7)
UNTWINE
Anagram [tight – drunk] of NUT, then WINE (white perhaps)
21 Crack shot, one from Southern Asia (7)
PUNJABI
PUN (crack – joke), JAB (shot), I (one)
22 Live wire turning up in so many devices (6)
DYNAMO
Hidden [in] and reversed [turning up] in {s}O MANY D{evices}
25 Cattle perhaps caught by the ears, heartlessly (4)
HERD
HE{a}RD (caught by the ears) [heartlessly]

83 comments on “Times Cryptic 28028”

  1. Off to a slow start (FOI TIT), then fairly steady progress. But I had difficulty in the SW, with UNSETTLE, CRICKET, UNTWINE, & LOI BRASS TACKS taking a lot of time. Also couldn’t remember if it’s IN or ON THE CARDS, and had to wait for SHOO to make up my mind. A pun is a joke, and a crack is a joke, but is a pun a crack? And getting down to BRASS TACKS isn’t getting to the truth of the matter.
    1. Kevin let’s get down to brass-tacks English-style, “Getting to the heart of the matter’ ESL on-line.
      Mind lad, ’tis best uttered wi’ a Yorkshire accent.

      Edited at 2021-07-13 03:49 am (UTC)

  2. LOI SHOO—get outta here! I didn’t remember the expression for the longest time.
    POI HOARDER and antepenultimate SOLIDIFIES, one of three I had near the end with all the crossers but that I still had to ponder a while. Up to that point, I was making good time. I empathize with Kevin on PUN, which I didn’t see as “crack” until I saw JAB as “shot” (and how timely).
    On these shores, it’s “in the cards,” not ON THE CARDS, but the British idiom certainly fits the clue better.

    Edited at 2021-07-13 03:21 am (UTC)

    1. Yes, Brewer’s has ‘In the cards’ as the equivalent American version so I’m glad I never heard of that or I might have been wondering about which to put if I didn’t already have the O-checker in place. Separately with similar meaning there is ‘In the stars’ (‘next July we collide with Mars’ – Cole Porter).
      1. In the stars/cards actually makes better sense with its connotations of fortune telling.
        1. In one of his Bobship’s many rewritings of the great Blood on the Tracks song ‘If you see her say hello’, he has the line, ‘ Oh, I know it had to be that way, It was written in the cards.’
  3. Jack – you took issue with me yesterday for encouraging the speedier QCs (not the SCC!) for having a shot at the 15×15.
    I had managed it in just 14 mins which is rather fast for me these days. You further stated that even after 50 years of dedicated solving there were five words with which you were not familiar. After 60 years of dedicated solving I knew OBSIDIAN, AMICE and Andrew MARVELL (some have said he wrote parts of Shakespeare), with only LAPLACE and MARA unknown, but the answers was easily done as per invariant.

    We should ever encourage the speedy over the weedy and hopkinb proved my point with an 11:35 minute solve! Wow! He was backed-up by plymouthian1 and invariant who both did pretty well. I wasn’t asking folks to finish it – just have a go! Experience is everything in crosswordland.

    However, I would not recommend today’s 15×15 to the QCers, even though I know all the words – and I suspect you do too. Your 28 mins is a slight improvement – my 22 minutes is heading in the wrong direction!

    My proof? Mr. Snitch was at 59 yesterday and this morning is at 107.

    Edited at 2021-07-13 03:48 am (UTC)

    1. I have never heard that Andrew Marvell had ever been dragooned into the ridiculous theories questioning the authorship of the Man From Stratford, and desultory Googling tonight has turned up nothing. (FWIW, Shakespeare’s death is recorded to have occurred four years before Andy Marvell was born.) I have heard, though, of such theories roping in the estimable Christopher MARlowe.

      Edited at 2021-07-13 04:44 am (UTC)

      1. Doh! I ever get ‘The Passionate Shepherd to his love’ and ‘His Coy Mistress’ muddled. One Marlowe, One Marvell; Meldrew
        1. I hear the merry jingle! The King be not far behind?

          Edited at 2021-07-13 09:00 am (UTC)

    2. I was sounding a note of caution yesterday because in that forum in particular people have widely differing perceptions of ‘easy’, but I was very pleased to read the favourable results reported by the three solvers who responded positively. I might add though that anyone who can solve the main puzzle within 15 minutes ought perhaps to be attempting it every day as a matter of course assuming they have the interest and the time available.

      Btw, you know this already, but the use of ‘weedy’ or other disparaging references to solvers and their efforts has no place in this forum.

      Edited at 2021-07-13 05:15 am (UTC)

      1. This was a quote from Terry Thomas. I will avoid the ‘w’ word in future – can we still use SCC? And what of McBain?
        1. Since you ask I have no particular opinion on SCC, but I thought it was a term invented by a group of solvers to refer to themselves. Those who don’t wish to be included under that umbrella don’t have to be, and it’s not for others to brand them as such. The other matter will be dealt with by moderators should the need arise but at this moment it’s not an issue.
          1. OK Self-deprecation is just fine for the members of the ‘Slow Coach Club’. However the ‘Whippets’ are denied any form comment on the performance of others, unless to praise the ‘Greyhounds’. I do have a particular opinion that users on these forums should not be openly using ‘aids’ on a daily basis; neutrinolanders. Opinions matter!

            1. I don’t understand your comment re “openly using aids.” Admitting to having been stuck on a certain word and to having resorted to Google, Chambers Word Wizard or even the print edition of Chambers is a typical part of reporting one’s solving experience, regardless of whether that report involves a clocked time. And, certainly, if a clocked time is reported for a solving experience that involved recourse to aids, it is more honest and consistent with the ethos here to “openly” confess such.
            2. I think it is an individual decision as to whether or not to use aids. My personal rule is not to use them but I pass no judgement on anyone who does.
            3. As you say, self-deprecation is fine, and that goes for all at whatever level, as are comments on others’ performances in order to praise or encourage. But in a forum that aims to be a friendly and safe place to discuss crossword puzzles I can see no reason why it would be thought necessary to comment adversely on someone else’s best efforts.

              Edited at 2021-07-13 08:45 am (UTC)

              1. I commented on McBain’s ‘best efforts’ on the QC last week and was promptly deleted! Poison Wyvern’s surely living up to his name!
                A couple of years back someone emulated Donald Trump doing the London Times, on this blog – that’s when I started reading it. It was amusing! But it was soon stopped in case it offended the snowflakes!
                1. It’s not to do with snowflakeism (I see “snowflake” as a pejorative term, btw), it is just to do with keeping on topic, which here is crosswords and not politics. Is that so very hard to do?
                  1. ‘Politics’ is part of everyday life – the interaction of people. It is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of relationships between individuals.
                    1. I agree with your definition, pedwardine. Nevertheless, I don’t consider it difficult to leave politics out of my blog posts about crosswords and neither do the vast majority of posters.

                      Also, there is a great difference between discussing politics and discussing politics online. It’s not a surprise that the moderators of this blog don’t want to court the latter. (If you’ve been on the internet longer than five minutes, you should know what I’m talking about.)

                      1. Thumbs down from horryd! It’s been awhile!

                        Anyway, discussions about politics on the internet are possibly the quickest way to turn conversations acrimonious. There are plenty of places to have uncivil discourse on the internet if you want it, and I can’t blame the moderators for trying to maintain a little civility here.

                        If you find this discussion too anodyne for your tastes there’s nothing stopping you from starting Times for the Times “After Dark” where you can discuss the crosswords and whatever else you like. I think the two could exist happily side by side and I’m sure there are people in this forum who would enjoy that.

                        Edited at 2021-07-13 04:26 pm (UTC)

  4. I had too much trouble with DOCK (or was it DUCK?), SHOO, HOARDER, and RELIANT, and just couldn’t put it together.
  5. What Kevin said. Trouble in the SW with UNSETTLE, CRICKET, UNTWINE (is unthock a thing? does russ mean white, or red?) BRASS TACKS and last one in SHED. With its decidedly dodgy definition – DDD?
    So fast start slow finish. Liked solidifies as it was hard to get even with clear instructions, but COD to everything.
    Thanks setter and blogger.
  6. Time 22 minutes for a fairly chewy puzzle, but no harsh words.

    FOI 2dn SORT OUT

    LOI 6dn SHOO I had it early but didn’t see shoot.

    COD PUNJABI – 21 although I would argue it is in Central Asia and not Southern Asia where one finds BENGALI

    WOD BRASS TACKS – for the well upholstered

    I’m going for a lie down.

    Edited at 2021-07-13 03:52 am (UTC)

  7. I suppose a SHED is a ‘Construction of planks and beams etc’ and it went in for me as wordplay for an ‘abandoned’ def. Happy to be told though if this parsing is incorrect. I’m more used to seeing the word VIRGINAL in the plural too even if I’m not sure I’ve ever heard one before. Thanks for the link to the William Byrd piece.

    36 minutes. I liked ‘on your bike’ at 6a (“on yer bike” might have made it too obvious) and PUNJABI.

    Thanks to Jack and setter

  8. I found this a mix of very straightforward and fairly tricky. I’d cite TIT and SECOND WIND as examples of the former, with the clear palindrome indicator for TIT and the definition of “renewed energy” jumping out for SECOND WIND. My main example of the latter was SOLIDIFIES, which needed to be painstakingly constructed — one of those clues for which on first glance I didn’t have a clue what was going on.

    COD to the excellent DYNAMO which I’d taken to be a DD and didn’t realise was a reverse hidden until reading Jack’s blog.

  9. DNF
    Pushed for time, and couldn’t come up with shed or untwine.
    Thanks, jack.
  10. 8:29. Steady solve, no problems. SAUTERNE has appeared, and surprised me, before. An obscure and no-longer-used term for a Californian copycat not to be confused with the original botrytised nectar from Bordeaux. I’m not sure if I knew the instrument or not: faintest sound of bells ringing somewhere deep in my memory.

    Edited at 2021-07-13 07:21 am (UTC)

      1. Yes we got away with it, thank you for asking. Absolutely biblical rain, three of our neighbours (one of whom had just finished a refurb) had flooded basements and one a leaking roof. The most important thing in the house (ranking just ahead of the dogs and the kids) was fine thanks to tanking and a working sump pump in the cellar.
  11. No real problems but I share Jack’s concern about the looseness of the first definition of SHED. I liked LOSE THE THREAD and BRASS TACKS, the latter as Horryd has said, should be spoken in a Yorkshire accent.
    I know the term VIRGINAL as a musical instrument from “Lady Standing at a Virginal” by Vermeer.
    1. I was all set to complain that it should really be “Young lady seated at a virginal,” but I find that Vermeer did both. Versatile, or what?
      1. In the late sixties, I had a copy of that picture on my bedsit wall, along with several other classics. I can’t remember which petrol company’s coupons I collected in order to get them. I thought then that this qualified me as renaissance man. I still do.
          1. Now would that be in the spirit of renaissance man? I think that poster came a bit later. I did have one of Brigitte Bardot be-straddling a motor bike, purely in admiration of the Harley Davidson of course.
      2. PS….My podium finishers as far as painters are concerned are Caravaggio, Modigliani and Vermeer.
  12. Enjoyable puzzle with some very fine surface readings to clues, esp SOLIDIFIES, great deception. A quibble, not at setter, but just at the English language – why do we allow SAUTERNE and not insist upon it reflecting the actual French region SAUTERNES. Can’t be just because we don’t hear the last letter, otherwise we’d go for PARI; and then sometimes we English go the other way (?!?), with MARSEILLES and LYONS … weird. Anyone know? Medieval origins…? Anyhow, enough of that; enjoyed today’s puzzle so many thanks to both setter and blogger.
    1. For the purposes of the crossword it’s allowed because it’s in Collins. As I said above it refers to a Californian copycat.
      It’s also in Chambers as an alternative for Sauternes but Chambers is wrong.

      Edited at 2021-07-13 09:04 am (UTC)

  13. 28 minutes with LOI HERD. Doh! COD to BRASS TACKS. I had ON THE RACKS for ON THE CARDS for a while, a more literal meaning of ‘in store’. I’ve always thought it unfair on DOCK to call it a weed although whether it really did much good for nettle stings I doubt. It worked about as fast as time did. Decent puzzle. Thank you Jack and setter.
    1. Humans rather arrogantly tend to define a weed as any plant that they didn’t put there themselves .. docks are edible and are technically, a herb. Their efficacy in mitigating nettle stings is not supported by any science that I know of, beyond that relating to the placebo effect
      1. Apparently the sap contains an antihistamine which has a soothing effect on affected area. It does not contain any alkali which would neutralise the formic acid.
  14. An odd experience with a flying start from clue 1, freezing to a standstill mostly on the right hand side, though SHED was well-I-suppose-it-is weird. Couldn’t get past the obviously wrong Bengali, couldn’t think of the fur or its homophone cash (d’oh!), couldn’t work out what diamonds might be on (rocks? table?) and floundered with KEYPAD thinking of all the doofer words for the thing that works the telly. So a leisurely, rather frustrated 26.23.
    On SAUTERNE, I spotted the tern as a bird and thought that was it. I needed Jack to put me straight on that, for which thanks as ever.
    1. I don’t think Astro Nowt is going to be very happy at seeing a clue with two hidden birds.
      1. Yesterday we endured the PEWIT
        And today they inflicted the TIT
        A response to these birds
        Could be four letter words
        But that would offend, wouldn’t it

        I might have to excuse that PEWIT
        As there aren’t other words that would fit
        But I ask of the setter
        TAT for TIT, ain’t that better?
        Or are you just tòo full of ornithology?

  15. An odd experience today, where it was all rattling along quickly, until most of the NE corner & SHED combined to slow things down. Once RELIANT was in, HOARDER, DOE & SHOO soon followed – often the way that one can start the others snowballing. 8m 17s.

    For SAUTERNE, it’s all perfectly above board (and I think I’ve done it in my own clue-setting), but I always find it a little unsatisfactory when the removed letter then appears as the next letter in the answer anyway.

    1. I get the same feeling about clues such as that for SAUTERNE but as you say there’s nothing wrong with them. Having thought about it, perhaps I should admire them more for the extra misdirection it can bring.
  16. Yesterday I beat ten minutes for the first time and received only one heart, from pootle73. Many thanks, kind sir!

    “In a forum that aims to be a friendly and safe place to discuss crossword puzzles I can see no reason why it would be thought necessary to comment adversely on someone else’s best efforts.” jacktt earlier!

    Today I could only manage 12.44mins. COD PAIN IN THE NECK

  17. I really enjoyed this.

    I can’t say I ever notice the preponderance of a particular clue types while I’m solving (apart from anagrams maybe) but I can see how it might get tedious for a blogger.

    Never knew Hoar was a colour. Like Kevingregg, I found the SW pretty tricky, but it was well worth the effort.
    COD SAUTERNE

    Thanks to Jack and the setter.

  18. It’s probably to annoy the oenophiles, so all good, as far as I’m concerned.
    1. Was it you who declared in Russia last week that sparkling wine can only be labelled champagne if it’s been made in Russia?
    2. I am an oenophile and I was annoyed. I could not believe that SAUTERNE without an « s » existed, even in California. So a DNF. U, what do have against wine lovers?
  19. SHOO, HOARDER, KEYPAD and PUNJABI took about half the time I eventually spent on this, a disappointing 48 minutes.
  20. About half an hour, but felt dissatisfied with DOE = fur, SHED for the dodgy definition, and SAUTERNE without its S, although I accept it now I learn above it is a Californian imitation of the real thing. The rest was good, liked EVERYTHING best.
    1. Agree with comments regarding SW corner, where I had SITE and UNTWIST biffed in, and of course, couldn’t explain the wordplay. Never mind. Tomorrow is another day.
  21. Took me ages to get started. VIRGINAL eventually got me going, then I had another fallow spell until DYNAMO appeared. The teeth extraction process continued until all of a sudden I seemed to hit the elusive wavelength and answers started popping up. PAIN IN THE NECK was a big help, as was ON THE CARDS. SORT OUT was another early entry, but DISAPPROVE came late after CURLING prompted DOCK. The SW was last to fall, with a sudden rush to the line as BRASS TACKS, SAUTERNE and CRICKET led to LOI, UNSETTLE. 30:04. Thanks setter and Jack.

    Edited at 2021-07-13 11:09 am (UTC)

  22. Rubbish start followed by a rubbish mid and finally a rubbish end.

    Took the longest time to see BACTERIA, thought SHED was a poor clue unless we’re all missing some extremely crafty.

    SHOO and HOARDER last in after a trudge through the NW.

    Better luck tomorrow.

  23. I just couldn’t get started with this and even when I did get going I kept getting bogged down all over the place. SHOO, really? SHED, what? I’d forgotten stout was a kind of beer. Not the setter’s fault, I was being thick this morning so quite glad to clock in finally at 21.58. I wish we had anything remotely as effective as DOCK for poison ivy, placebo or not. I note the return of Potterman atop the neutrino board. Long time no see, or has he been using an alias all this time.
  24. Started very quickly but then got stuck in the SW corner for some reason. Couldn’t think of UNTWINE for 19dn so bunged in UNTRICE, hoping it was another word I didn’t know. Duh. In my haste at the start I had also put in MISS THE THREAD for 11dn which left me wondering how to parse 10ac RAMPART. Must try harder.
  25. 18:24 was speedy for me, but would have been quicker if not for LOI 28a SHED. An alphabet trawl for S-E- takes time! Abandoned the effort, constructed SHED as the least unlikely and put it in, though I thought the definition poor and fully expected another pink rejection slip. But no!
    Does the wife count as an aid or a handicap?

    Edited at 2021-07-13 12:41 pm (UTC)

  26. I seem to be slowing up, this took an age. Not as though anything was that difficult…
    LOI AVERAGE street is usually ST in my book. Sneaky.
  27. Like a couple of posters here, I thought SHED was poorly clued, but otherwise no complaints.
  28. ….as I’ve never seen a tailless SAUTERNES, or the power tool (a NAILER, really ?). Our SHED back in the day contained planks and beams (or parts of them) for my dad to indulge in his woodworking, but was constructed entirely of asbestos.

    FOI DISAPPROVE
    LOI SHED
    COD BRASS TACKS (despite the loose definition)
    TIME 9:32

    Edited at 2021-07-13 02:29 pm (UTC)

  29. Took forever (or a minute or so less than forever, which here of course is one hour). And I didn’t really enjoy it, full of obscure double entendres (SHED, DOCK) but nothing really surprising or witty. For a long time I was sure I wouldn’t be able to finish, until SHED, HOARDER and SHOO were finally coaxed out of the woodworks. How silly of me that I couldn’t parse UNSETTLE (I took “on top of” too literally and wondered whether SETT might be a sewer of the waste disposal sort, while NLE was ???).
  30. 36 mins and change. Never totally comfortable and took ages to get my last two- hoarder and keypad. Thought shed was going to be one of those impenetrable four letter wotsits that spoil chances of completion. As far as I’m concerned, it still is. Not one of the better Times clues tjough to be fair I think Punjabi made up for it.
    Thanks setter and blogger.
  31. Didn’t really get anywhere with this one after being fooled by a doable NW corner. One of those where I just didn’t think of doing what the setter intended, eg finding another word for race – SHOOT – and then shortening it. As a very literal thinker, I was looking for a short race… Also NHO NAILER so no chance of reversing it! Still so much to learn…. But it’s why I come here. Thanks, blogger, for the usual helpful tutorial.

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