Times Cryptic 28160

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 34 minutes. This was mostly straightforward with a few trickier bits that were easy enough to work around.

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 Flounder perhaps in first half, somehow striker’s finish missed (8)
FLATFISH
Anagram [somehow] of FI{r}ST HALF [striker‘s finish missed]. I biffed this one and couldn’t see how it worked until I came to write the blog.
6 Maybe spend time inside lighthouse? (6)
BEACON
BE A CON (maybe spend time inside prison)
9 South American tattoo artist called out? (4)
INCA
Sounds like [called out] “inker” (tattoo artist). ‘Ink’ is used informally with reference to tattoos.
10 Where to launch Russian commodores at sea (10)
COSMODROME
Anagram [at sea] of COMMODORES. Not a word I knew but I was aware that Russian astronauts are termed ‘cosmonauts’ so it wasn’t much of a stretch to come up with the answer.
11 Intimidate meeting about small plant (3,7)
COW PARSLEY
COW (intimidate), then PARLEY (meeting) containing [about] S (small)
13 Long facial hair has tip removed (4)
ACHE
{t}ACHE (facial hair) [tip removed]
14 Lover of Homer allowed to return message (8)
TELEGRAM
MARGE (lover of Homer Simpson) + LET (allowed) reversed [to return]. I wonder if I’m the only person in the country who has never seen the cartoon referenced here?
16 Some birthday, I remember backflipping in city! (6)
RIYADH
Hidden and reversed [some…backflipping] in {birt}HDAY I R{emember}. Capital of Saudi Arabia.
18 Wreck site visit, reportedly, with plot (6)
SEABED
SEA sounds like [reportedly] “see” (visit), then BED (plot)
20 Peter has fabricated a criminal record (3,5)
RAP SHEET
Anagram [fabricated] of PETER HAS
22 Slugs ignore rinds of meat (4)
AMMO
{g}AMMO{n} (m eat) [ignore rinds]
24 My ceramist goes to pot that’s lopsided (10)
ASYMMETRIC
Anagram [goes to pot] of MY CERAMIST
26 No country claims publicity award (5,5)
NOBEL PRIZE
NO, then BELIZE (country) contains [claims] PR (publicity)
28 Demure being almost nineteen, maybe (4)
PRIM
PRIM{e} (nineteen, maybe) [almost]
29 Second-rate tea, primarily, and where it’s put? (6)
TINPOT
T{ea} [primarily], IN POT (where it’s put?). Often used of nations and dictators.
30 Time during part of the day for sport (8)
EVENTING
T (time) contained by [in] EVENING (part of the day). Horse trials.
Down
2 Spent years breaking into deserted tourist attraction (6,3)
LONDON EYE
DONE (spent) + Y (years) contained by [breaking into] LONE (deserted). Aka the Millennium Wheel. I ‘ve had this referenced in my blog twice recently.
3 Go, reluctantly, from wild parties (7)
TRAIPSE
Anagram [wild] of PARTIES
4 Suffer at home with rogue (5)
INCUR
IN (at home), CUR (rogue)
5 That guy’s   greetings (3)
HIS
Two meanings, the second being the plural of Hi!
6 Bird overturned component for explosive device (5,4)
BOOBY TRAP
BOOBY (bird), then PART (component) reversed [overturned]. Booby is a seabird not unlike the gannet.
7 A noblewoman carries on so soon (7)
ALREADY
A, then LADY (noblewoman) contains [carries] RE (on)
8 Energy of tuba’s sound when dropping key (5)
OOMPH
OOMP{a}H (tuba’s sound) [dropping key – a]. Other Oompah instruments are available. Here’s one.
12 Sucker starts to lease another mine next to quarry (7)
LAMPREY
L{ease} A{nother} M{ine} [starts], PREY (quarry}
15 Racecourse favourite Star must step on it? (3,6)
RED CARPET
REDCAR (racecourse), PET (favourite)
17 Food specialist‘s threatening note to an artist? (9)
DIETITIAN
DIE TITIAN (threatening note to an artist?)
19 Disapproving noises heard at university party (5-2)
BOOZE-UP
BOOZE sounds like [heard] “boos” [disapproving noises), UP (at university)
21 Stew, with seconds included, in popular place (3,4)
HOT SPOT
HOTPOT (stew) containing [with…included] S (seconds)
23 I drift north from Polynesia, originally (5)
MAORI
I + ROAM (drift) all reversed [north]
25 Internet joke about new moon (5)
MNEME
MEME (internet joke) containing [about] N (new)
27 Take out some diamonds (3)
ICE
Two meanings, the first being slang for ‘kill’ as is ‘take out’

82 comments on “Times Cryptic 28160”

  1. 37:10 with one pink square for MEEME(?) at 25dn. Just could not fit an N in anywhere. Liked AMMO, BEACON and MARGE SIMPSON
  2. Should really have finished, I think I should be finishing off sub-70 snitch puzzles in an hour.

    Defeated by BEACON, BOOZE UP , and AMMO. Annoyed about the latter as I had figured out the “rinds” device which I had not encountered before.

    Saturn has 50 moons now, a side effect of the recent Cassini satellite program. The smallest is about the size of a navy warship I think. Plenty of obscure ones to learn.

    COD NOBEL PRIZE.

  3. Surprised how quickly this went. A few notes:

    TRAIPSE — wasn’t sure it meant ‘Go, reluctantly’ but it seemed the only combination of the anagram which remotely worked.

    COSMODROME — didn’t see it at first but jumped out second time through the clues.

    COW PARSLEY — wow, managed to nail a plant without any bother. Not sure I could pick one out from a line-up though.

    ACHE — thought about BEAR but thought again.

    TELEGRAM — you’ve missed out if you’ve never watched The Simpsons.

    NOBEL PRIZE — nice clue.

    MNEME — with all checkers, not much else it could be (having teenagers referring to dank memes does help sometimes).

    DIETITIAN — another on the ‘would’ve spelt it wrong but for wordplay’ bus. Nice clue.

  4. 28 minutes, the last few of which were spent trying to find the mistake which I was told I’d made, and eventually discovering, like Ulaca, that I’d imagined a homophone at 17dn and spelt it dietician. Wasn’t very happy with ‘tip’ indicating the first letter, not the last, but I suppose t is in a sense the tip of tache. Didn’t we have a very similar clue for ‘his’ only the other day?
  5. I’ve always spelt it that way, so wasn’t going to change just for the sake of a non homophone clue.
  6. I see MNEME is aka Jupiter XL – can we expect another XXXIX moons to appear here (not to mention all of Saturn’s etc)
  7. 23:18. I spelt DIETICIAN with a C, not knowing the alternative and assuming Tiziano (Vecelli) had a less familiar anglicised spelling, which apparently he does. So there.
  8. Count me as another UK resident that has never seen an episode of the Simpsons Jackkt! This took me nearly an hour with all the aforementioned traps and misdirections slowing me down. I invented COW PARSNIP initially (not previously mentioned), and a couple remained unparsed at the end, including BEACON and ACHE, where I was working on moust being the tip that was AWOL. It never occurred to me to shorten it to ‘tache. Thanks all, especially Jackkt for the blog, and Horryd for the many asides and interjections.

    Edited at 2021-12-14 12:26 pm (UTC)

  9. ….than today’s QC, and at least I solved it correctly. Some decent clues in here, but NHO MNEME, and initially put in ‘dietician’ until common sense prevailed.

    FOI INCA
    LOI AMMO (biffed — seen afterwards)
    COD BEACON (loved TELEGRAM and NOBEL PRIZE)
    TIME 7:38

  10. Another saved from DIETICIAN by the wordplay! HIS and FLATFISH were my first 2 in. Ploughed my way nicely through most of it but was slowed by MNEME, RED CARPET(should’ve seen that one sooner! I shall be in Redcar next to the Racecourse tonight for a folk club meeting in the Bowls Club Bar), and LOI SEABED. 17:34. Thanks setter and Jack.
  11. Enjoyable canter for twenty minutes or so, but I fell for the dietician; something I’m extremely unlikely to do in real life.

    Damp and misty in Poitiers. I ACHE for a BOOZE-UP in a HOT SPOT (not RIYADH).

    Thanks to Jack and the setter.

  12. Simpsons popular when I was young. Has some good episodes and a lot of funny characters.

    Loi oomph.
    Cod telegram

  13. 18.13. Another regulation Times solve for me. Just delayed at the end by trying to make a stew out of seconds (s) inserted into a popular (hot) place (put, set etc) rather than a popular place out of a stew with seconds inserted. Didn’t really have a clue about prim either until the P dropped into place. The grid reminds me that I saw many red-footed boobies (fortunately none in traps) in the Cayes of Belize while travelling from one dive site to another on a holiday many mnemes ago. And I cannot see booze up clued with a homophone without recalling from Blackadder II Edmund’s elaborate explanation to his puritan relations as to why, if he wasn’t hosting a debauched drinking session, someone had just shouted: “Great booze up, Edmund.”
  14. better than the brick wall I hit yesterday.

    BOOZE UP was my favourite, NOBEL PRIZE a close second.

    17:47

    Edited at 2021-12-14 03:16 pm (UTC)

        1. I don’t see your point, then. I thought your implication was that The Simpsons was something people should outgrow, as you did with this show, which Wikipedia told me was a kiddie show—which The Simpsons never was. There have, of course, often been hidden jokes for adults in kids’ cartoons and the like.

          I still enjoy The Simpsons, and you can look down your nose at me if you like. Je m’en fous !

          Edited at 2021-12-14 06:29 pm (UTC)

  16. Embarrassingly slow time of 39 minutes, even though I got off to a fast start. Biggest delay at the end was the PARSLEY clue. COW just didn’t come to mind quickly. Toyed with FOX for a while.
    I thought the clues were a very good set, particularly those to BEACON, TELEGRAM and NOBEL PRIZE. Thanks, setter, for a satisfying puzzle.
  17. Well, I got there in the end, but the Telegram, Red Carpet and Seabed quadrant held me up.
    I enjoyed the vocabulary in this and appreciated the clue surfaces.
    Thank you for the blog
    BW
    Andrew
  18. Rather enjoyed this. High 30’s, with COD beacon, which was also my LOI, and took at least 10 of my 30 minutes!
  19. I was going great guns and had three to go at ten minutes. Then the usual halt. Beacon and Already stumped me for some reason. Mneme too, though annoyingly I sort of had it straightaway. I thought it was probably a moon of Jupiter like Io, and I saw the possibility of Mneme. But I couldn’t see that a meme was an internet joke. I wasted minutes working backwards with words like E-Beam turned over. Finally it clicked that a meme was not just a serious word for something philospohical which I don’t quite underatand like trope, but is also just one of those stupid Internet pictures. I’d known it all along.

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