Times Cryptic 28214

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: Over an hour and I still needed aids to finish off  my last entry. The clue at 27ac suggests this may have been compiled by one of our regular QC setters.

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 Uproar about cryptics being cut back (6)
OUTCRY
Hidden in [being cut back] {ab}OUT CRY{ptics}
4 Apropos hoax, laugh, oddly reflecting “we’d give it a whirl!” (4,4)
HULA HOOP
{a}P{r}O{p}O{s} H{o}A{x} L{a}U{g}H [oddly] reversed [reflecting]. These were all the rage in the late 1950’s when I had a yellow one.
10 Chance you usually won’t have   material (7)
EARTHLY
Two meanings. You might not stand ‘an earthly chance’ at something. ‘Worldly and material’ as opposed to ‘heavenly or celestial’.
11 I say ring for the blessed commander! (7)
HALOGEN
HALO (ring for the blessed), GEN (commander – General). The halogens are a group of related elements in the periodic table, one of which is Iodine (I). ‘Say’ indicates the definition by example.
12 Extended call for peace involving a foreign ruler (4)
SHAH
SH-H (extended call for peace) containing [involving] A. ‘Shhh’ is in SOED as a variation of  ‘sh’ , so why not ‘shh’?
13 Athlete, exhausted and quiet, having not qualified (4-6)
SHOT-PUTTER
SHOT (exhausted – slang), P (quiet – music), UTTER (not qualified  – total)
15 Winger having edge on kid (9)
CHAFFINCH
CHAFF (kid – exchange humorous banter), INCH (edge)
16 Thus having easily passed acid test, getting buzz (5)
PHONE
PH ONE (thus having easily passed acid test). pH1 would be the highest level of acidity on the pH scale. ‘Phone’ as in ‘give us a buzz’.
18 Bill after turning from gas is steep (5)
BATHE
TAB (bill) reversed [turning from…], HE (gas – helium)
19 Dicky this time is buttonholed by club bore (9)
WITHSTOOD
Anagram [dicky] of THIS + T (time) contained [buttonholed] by WOOD (club – golf]. Past tense of ‘bear’.
21 Put back in control, thanks primarily to our boss? (10)
REINSTATED
REINS (control), TA (thanks), T{o}[primarily], ED (our boss – editor of The Times)
23 Shark fighters in Jaws: film replacing a western (4)
JETS
JawS becomes JETS when ET (film) replaces a + w (western). The Jets and Sharks are opposing gangs in the musical West Side Story, the equivalent of the feuding families in Romeo and Juliet on which the story is based.
26 Plant that’s excessively puffed up, but not round (7)
VERVAIN
{o}VER (excessively) [not round – o), VAIN (puffed up). My first unknown of the day but I worked it out eventually. It has come up only once before in the time I have been contributing here; that was 6 years ago, and I didn’t know it then either.
27 So the swine’s going back to work, protecting home and family (7)
OINKING
GO (work) reversed [back], containing [protecting] IN (home) + KIN (family). Dear me, such a devious definition!
28 Romantic poet translated stories about the heart in Latin (8)
ROSSETTI
Anagram [translated] of STORIES containing [about] {la}T{in} [heart]. Known to many as writer of In The Bleak Midwinter.
29 Swimmer, one you catch sleeping with leading lady (6)
ZANDER
Z (one you catch sleeping), AND (with), ER (leading lady – HMQ). This was the one I gave up on. I got the ER, but I never heard of the fish, nor of ‘catching Z’s’ meaning to sleep.
Down
1 Launches into reason for 27? (5)
OPENS
A straight definition and an outrageous cryptic hint referring to OINKING at 27ac: 0 (zero) PENS might be the reason for 0 (zero)INKING!
2 Scold, in time, one for cooking the books (9)
TERMAGANT
TERM (time), AGA (one for cooking), NT (books – New Testament). AGA is a Swedish brand of kitchen range. SOED advises that a scold is a persistently nagging or grumbling woman (rarely a man) whereas a termagant is  a violent, overbearing, or quarrelsome woman.
3 Game personnel in industrial heartland (4)
RUHR
RU (game – Rugby Union), HR (personnel – Human Relations). The industrial heartland of Germany.
5 Group of countries meeting slight problem separate (7)
UNHITCH
UN (group of countries – United Nations), HITCH (slight problem)
6 Pops out with Laurel for numerous functions (3-7)
ALL-PURPOSE
Anagram [out[ of POPS LAUREL
7 Demanding to have top lowered, is obliged (5)
OUGHT
{t}OUGH (demanding) becomes OUGHT when its first (top) letter is lowered
8 Correspondent‘s twenty-four hours in federal jail to finish (3,6)
PEN FRIEND
FRI (twenty-four hours) contained by [in] PEN (federal jail – penitentiary) + END (finish)
9 Short promotion by female that features in build-up (6)
HYPHEN
HYP{e} (promotion) [short], HEN (female). Another devious definition!
14 Violent confrontation to experience: I’m slapped on the face (10)
AFTERSHAVE
AFTERS (violent confrontation), HAVE (experience). Easy enough to solve but less so to explain if, like me, one didn’t know ‘afters’ as ‘a confrontation or physical violence between football players immediately after they have been involved in a challenge for the ball’ (Collins). ‘Afters’ for me conjures up far more pleasant visions of stodgy puddings served with lashings of hot custard.
15 One often hailed as the new Verdi in California — British! (9)
CABDRIVER
Anagram [new]  of VERDI contained by CA (California) + BR (British).
17 In agreement lasting sixty seconds, dissent’s beginning (2,3,4)
OF ONE MIND
OF ONE MIN (lasting sixty seconds), D{issent’s} [beginning]
19 Furniture item that now needs repair (7)
WHATNOT
Anagram [needs repair] of THAT NOW. A stand with shelves, used for keeping or displaying small objects (SOED)
20 What’s for watching   you might think outside (3,3)
THE BOX
Two vaguely cryptic hints. ‘The box’ is slang for a TV set, and one is sometimes encouraged to ‘think outside the box’ – to explore ideas that are creative and unusual and not limited or controlled by rules or tradition. Often needed in crossword solving, especially as a Times solver venturing into Guardian territory.
22 N African king‘s daughter embraced by goddess (5)
IDRIS
D (daughter) contained [embraced] by IRIS (goddess). Apparently Idris was King of Libya, but in my childhood it was a popular brand of orange squash.
24 Ducks out of mounting charity events around university (5)
SUGAR
RAGS (charity events) reversed [mounting] and containing [around] U (university). ‘Ducks’ and ‘sugar’ are both somewhat dated terms of endearment each best known on opposite side of The Pond, perhaps.
25 Maybe miss a year’s events, all but the last (4)
ANNA
ANNA{l} (a year’s events) [all but the last]

58 comments on “Times Cryptic 28214”

  1. Lots of bemusement, and a bit of hit-and-hope. Some answers I saw easily (Shah, Hula Hoop, etc.), others took an age. LOI Vervain only reached by an alphabet trawl and familiarity with the French ‘Verveine’ (safest way I’ve found to order mint tea in France is with Verveine – ‘Verveine Menthe’ – as the straight mint teas always seem to have been sweetened. Any better tips would be appreciated!)
    NHO Idris or Zander, but they both seemed pretty likely from cluing and crossers. I think ‘catching some Zs’ is fairly commonplace, isn’t it? I’d always assumed that the ‘Z’ was a shorthand snore, so singular not an issue.
    The ‘hyphen’ penny dropped only when I had ‘earthly’, which in turn I only managed when I finally got ‘opens’ having decided that pigs may well oink with no pens – so many thanks to Jack for the far neater explanation.
    My only slight issue is whether your hailed chauffeur would be all one word. Time 24:54, paused for a couple of interruptions.
    Definitely feel like my brain has been tested, so thanks, Setter! And many thanks to Jack for the unravelling.
  2. 41:22. I found this extremely difficult – or rather, I found three-quarters of it reasonably straightforward and a quarter so extremely difficult that I didn’t put in an answer for what must have been 20 minutes. I came very close to giving up but the standard of clueing was high so I thought effort was likely to be rewarded. So it proved, with the most intractable clues (mostly in the NW) all resulting in lovely PDMs when I finally unravelled their mysteries.
    Like others I thought the OPENS/OINKING connection was to do with, er, disgruntled pigs so thanks jackkt for decoding the neater explanation.
    First class stuff.

    Edited at 2022-02-15 04:35 pm (UTC)

  3. Flippin’ eck!

    That was tough. Cheated with both ZANDER and VERVAIN to see if they were actually things. Was quite up with the Britishness of the clueing though — catching Zs; AFTERS

    Thought EARTHLY = material was a bit loose

    OINKING was a construction exercise — OPENS took a lot more thought!

  5. DNF. Gave up after straining the brain cells (both of them) for over an hour with zander still to get. Clever stuff but too brutally hard for me to enjoy all that much.
  6. Agree – brutally hard. Finished with help from husband and dictionary but we chose the wrong xander, which can be spelled either way apparently, not remembering Zzzzzzzzzz from the Beano. Husband also supplied hyphen and bathe, and checked the spelling of Rossetti for me. At least two hours. FOI Jets. Had some kind of runner for the athlete, but the *h*t meant that could be corrected, and changed organ (only word that fit) to ought, which parsed, hooray. And so on. Very enjoyable. Thanks, Jack, and setter.
  7. After 88 minutes in 2 sessions I finally submitted and had a pink square. GANDER. Drat! Thanks Jack.
  8. Got there in the end. Had to stop last night with eight clues to go, and luckily the light shone on all of them this morning. Definitely a toughie. Last letter in was the Z. The French spell the plant verveine which made it slightly confusing for me. I took the no pens to mean no pig pens , therefore oinking – but now I think about it pigs are more likely to oink if they’re put in pens, not if there aren’t any. So the inking must be right. Thanks for a real tester.

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