Times Cryptic 28058

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 44 minutes. Not so easy for me today.

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 Sugar in old Greek territory reportedly less common (8)
DEMERARA
DEME (old Greek territory), RARA sounds like [reportedly] “rarer” [less common]. I didn’t know the Greek thing but didn’t really need to.
5 One found by American poet wanting wife gone? (6)
HITMAN
{w}HITMAN (American poet – 19th century) [wife gone]. &lit. Behold the Sea itself!
8 Simple tune not bad but lacking introduction (3)
AIR
{f}AIR (not bad) [lacking introduction]
9 Indiscretion where rogue hostile after short strike over (10)
PECCADILLO
PEC{k} (strike) [short], CAD (rogue), ILL (hostile – ill will), O (over). A trifling offence, from the Spanish.
10 Change mind about Sappers being disloyal (8)
RECREANT
RECANT (change mind) containing [about] RE (sappers). Not a word I knew.
11 Some script — girl mostly follows it (6)
ITALIC
IT, ALIC{e} (girl) [mostly]
12 Stepped in time with baton (4)
TROD
T (time), ROD (baton)
14 Belief shattered with ends justifying means? (10)
DEFENSIBLE
Anagram [shattered ] of BELIEF ENDS
17 Gaunt old American put onto man in saloon (10)
CADAVEROUS
DAVE (man) contained by [in] CAR (saloon), O (old), US (American). ‘Put onto’ serving to apply the usual ‘on’ rule. Resembling a corpse.
20 Not British, Weimar dramatist is genuine (4)
ECHT
{br}ECHT (Weimar dramatist) [not British]
23 Switching starters, badger old woman for bottle (6)
MAGNUM
Nag (badger) Mum (old woman) becomes MAG NUM when the starters are switched. A Spoonerism by any other name.
24 Range of mushrooms sent back with cap trimmed (8)
SPECTRUM
CEPS (mushrooms) reversed [sent back], TRUM{p} (cap – beat, surpass) [trimmed]
25 Natural way to achieve financial independence (4,6)
EASY STREET
EASY (natural), STREET (way). A US expression of unknown origin but proabably related to the more familiar ‘right up your street or alley’.
26 Tribesman put sash round (3)
IBO
OBI (sash) reversed [round]. Two words crossword solvers are required to learn early in their careers.
27 Tenant not so keen to give up housing (6)
LESSEE
LESS (not so), {k}EE{n} [give up housing]
28 See great changes in cheaper accommodation (8)
STEERAGE
Anagram [changes] of SEE GREAT. The cheapest class of travel for passengers in the heyday ocean liners.
Down
1 Sign with a hand that’s repulsed reviewer (9)
DIACRITIC
AID (a hand) reversed [repulsed], CRITIC (reviewer). A mark or sign serving to distinguish different values or sounds of the same letter, as in é, è, ë, ē, etc.
2 Hide from huge bird with two tails coming in low (7)
MOROCCO
ROC + C (huge bird with two tails) contained by [coming in] MOO (low). SOED: Fine flexible leather made (orig. in Morocco) from goatskin tanned with sumac, used esp. in bookbinding and shoemaking. Some may remember the line in the title song from the film Road to Morocco (1942) as sung by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope: ‘Like Webster’s Dictionary, we’re Morocco bound’. No expense was spared in the making of this scene!
3 Landing stage needed to support artillery weapon (6)
RAPIER
RA (Royal Artillery) weapon, PIER (landing stage)
4 One’s relations are entertaining Eurocrat soused around noon? (9)
RACONTEUR
Anagram [soused – drunk] of EUROCRAT containing [around] N (noon)
5 Leader in Rome close to Spanish Pope (7)
HADRIAN
{Spanis}H [close to…], ADRIAN (Pope)
6 Gabby, endlessly demanding girl about five (9)
TALKATIVE
TAL{l} (demanding – a tall order), then KATIE (girl) containing [about] V (five)
7 Eschewing contact with others, start to assess note spies left (7)
ASOCIAL
A{ssess} [start to…], SO (note), CIA (spies), L (left)
13 Doing as ordered one’s coming to conclusion (9)
DIAGNOSIS
Anagram [ordered] of DOING AS, then I’S (one’s)
15 Tackle crack soldiers sent amongst leaderless group (9)
EQUIPMENT
QUIP (crack – joke) + MEN (soldiers) contained by [sent amongst] {s}ET (group) [leaderless]
16 Tons in river added to maintain pressure without planning (9)
EXTEMPORE
T (tons) contained by [in] EXE (Devon river), then MORE (added) containing [to maintain] P (pressure)
18 Answer arrived about Donne’s case in scholarly life (7)
ACADEME
A (answer), then CAME (arrived) containing [about] D{onn}E [‘s case]
19 Muddled men, fools, not quite together (2,5)
EN MASSE
Anagram [muddled] of MEN, then ASSE{s} (fools) [not quite]
21 Island century or so ago banning travel (7)
CORSICA
C (century), OR, SIC (so – thus), A{go} [banning travel – go]
22 Time’s cut short with this, might we presume? (6)
SCYTHE
I think this is a cryptic defintion, presumably with reference to the Grim Reaper

71 comments on “Times Cryptic 28058”

  1. A mostly straightforward 16.56 although I gave up on parsing EXTEMPORE because I got stuck on tempo=time for some reason. There’s a song in the musical Annie called EASY STREET and I’ve always taken it to mean coming into unexpected and possibly ill-gotten wealth. DEMERARA also reminded me of an old song my father used to roar out on long car trips. Can’t remember much of it except the chorus which went: Here we sit like birds in the wilderness (repeat twice more) down in Demerara.
  2. Slowish start due to various distractions, but flowed better once I’d got stuck in.

    DEMERARA — didn’t know the Greek bit but no probs with the spelling.

    Last three in: PECCADILLO (not fully parsed); HITMAN (a ‘doh!’ moment); RECREANT (NHO).

    STEERAGE took longer than it should have.

    Smiled at SCYTHE.

    How many Weimar dramatists are there?

    1. The number has been inflated.

      [boring point ruining the gag: the widely-believed (especially in Germany) idea that inflation under the Weimar Republic created the conditions for the Nazis is a complete myth.]

  3. A 12 min DNF for me. I paused at the end over LOI recreant which was unfamiliar but the wordplay made sense and I knew miscreant so trusted it was ok. I should have paused over FOI my misspelt demarara.
  4. A puzzle that got me rereading Walt Whitman. “Leaves of Grass” was the first book I bought with my own pocket money. I’ve still got it – an American edition bought in 1956/57. Since then I’ve sung Vaughan William’s Sea Symphony several times. Wonderful poetry set to wonderful music. Re the crossword: My only query was TAL in 6d. Too vague a definition for me. 23 minutes. Ann
  5. LOI the sugar, which must not be as obscure as it seemed to me last night…
    I also thought the SCYTHE should have been sharper.

    Edited at 2021-08-17 03:01 pm (UTC)

  6. 36 minutes and I found this rather easy (unlike yesterday’s, which I thought was harder and took me nearly an hour). Like many others, I didn’t know DEME, but I read enough recipes that I was fairly sure of the spelling of the sugar. This was not really a very exciting puzzle and so I have little more to say.
  7. Didn’t like the homophone for rara (but I often have a problem with those, since different accents pronounce things differently).
    Really disliked (LOI) scythe.
    48 minutes in two sittings, well 3 if you count scythe.
    COD Morocco.
    1. The homophone has to be taken in the context of the whole word as spoken even though DEME is not clued as such. RARA on its own would likely be pronounced as in ‘rah-rah skirt’ but as part of DEMERARA it sounds like “rarer” – to my ear anyway!

      Edited at 2021-08-17 10:35 pm (UTC)

        1. Occasionally setters add ‘to some’ or something similar when indicating a homophone but I think that’s a bit pointless as nearly all are dodgy to someone.
  8. MER seeing on to as a single word. In my youff, this was always corrected. Times change.
    1. ON TO is still used where the ON bit is part of the verb (as in, say, MOVED ON), but according to dictionaries, and as you uspect, times have indeed ‘moved on’.

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