Times Cryptic 28220

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

DNF. This was a very odd puzzle in that I completed three-quarters of it quite comfortably in a little under 20 minutes and then ground to a complete halt with 7 words missing around the NE segment where only 8dn and 16ac had gone in easily. With no progress after another 15 minutes I resorted to aids for two answers, both unknown to me as it turned out, and tried to continue. I had been hoping for a kick-start, but the checkers provided by these answers didn’t help me at all with the remaining clues. Eventually I threw in the towel out of sheer frustration, something I can’t remember ever happening to me on a blogging day. I wonder if others had problems?

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 Zero in maths worried Hardy, for one (6)
THOMAS
0 (zero) contained by [in] anagram [worried] of MATHS. I lost a little time here ruling out ‘Oliver’ which had been my first thought.
4 Mistake to eat a cut of lamb that’s salty (8)
BRACKISH
BISH (mistake) contains [to eat] RACK (cut of lamb). This was the first one I eventually resorted to aids for. I’d have said I’d never met it before but it has come up twice, in 2016, and in 2018 (with almost identica1 wordplay). I didn’t mention it in my comments on either occasion.
10 Brisk run expands one’s whole self-image? (7)
ALLEGRO
R (run) is contained by [expands] ALL (whole) + EGO (one’s…self-image). My first one in today.
11 Physical structure shortly to be seen moving west across northern state (7)
MONTANA
ANATOM{y} (physical structure) [shortly] reversed [to be seen moving west} and containing [across] N (northern). Unable to get a handle on the wordplay and without any checkers other than the final A, this one proved too tricky for me. The definiton was obvious but unhelpful.
12 Wretched dwelling, not large, in seaside resort (4)
HOVE
HOVE{l} (wretched dwelling) [not large – l]. Just along the south coast from Brighton, this has been part of the City of Brighton & Hove since 2001.
13 Spitting as article breaks piece of equipment (10)
IMPALEMENT
A (article) is contained by [breaks] IMPLEMENT (piece of equipment). The apparently eccentric definition was beyond me and prevented my seeing the straightforward wordplay.  ‘Spit’ in this sense needs to exist as a verb for this to work as a literal definition, and eventually I found it in Collins: to impale on or transfix with or as if with a spit.
15 Declare liable for docking cat (9)
PRONOUNCE
PRON{e} (liable – prone to fail at solving clues) [for docking], OUNCE (cat)
16 What’s needed for job — a steel tack (5)
BASTE
Hidden in [what’s needed for] {jo}B A STE{el}. Not the usual meaning of ‘baste’ here either; it means ‘to sew loosely’, as does ‘tack’. Easily spotted as a hidden answer though.
18 A year after “essential,” stale (5)
MUSTY
MUST (essential), Y (year). Surely the comma needs to go after the inverted commas?
19 Moving eyes, trademark completion of portrait: his? (9)
REMBRANDT
REM (moving eyes – Rapid Eye Movement), BRAND (trademark), {portrai}T [completion]. I understand it’s a feature of some Rembrandt portraits that the eyes appear to follow the viewer around the room.
21 Sickness moving one indeed to eat right, being concerned with nutrition (10)
ALIMENTARY
AILMENT (sickness) + AY (indeed) containing [to eat] R (right), moving I (one) becomes ALIMENTARY. ‘Alimentary, my dear Watson’ was the punch-line of a Muir / Norden joke many years ago.
23 Some animals fancied each way at the start (1,3)
A FEW
A{nimals} F{ancied} E{ach} W{ay} [at the start]
26 Proposed law from long ago in force (3,4)
OLD BILL
OLD (from long),  BILL (proposed law – in the UK Parliament). When it passes into law, a bill becomes an Act of Parliament. ‘Old Bill’ is slang for the police force, often specifically The Met.
27 Lose it completely, chucking policeman in river (7)
EXPLODE
PLOD (policeman) contained by [chucking in] EXE (river). More slang for police, this time from the rather dim bobby in Enid Blyton’s Noddy books.
28 Regularly ruin board game, introducing new complexity (8)
RICHNESS
R{u}I{n} [regularly] + CHESS (board game) containing [introducing] N (new)
29 Youngster in cot, perhaps with sharp edge (6)
BLADED
LAD (youngster) contained by [in] BED (cot, perhaps)
Down
1 Temperature, along with skin blemish, remains (5)
TRASH
T (temperature), RASH (skin blemish)
2 When clear outside, start to lift one blind (9)
OBLIVIOUS
OBVIOUS (clear) containing [outside] L (left) + I (one)
3 Mythical vessel is back, crossing river (4)
ARGO
AGO (back) containing [crossing] R (river)
5 One unable to fly into a passion turns to the bottle (7)
REMUAGE
EMU (one unable to fly) contained by [into] RAGE (passion). This was another one that beat me. I had considered both the elements of wordplay (emu and rage) but as I didn’t know this unlikely looking word meaning the periodic turning or shaking of bottled wine, I was unable piece it together. I was convinced by ‘turns’ that something needed to be reversed. The word has never appeared before in the TfTT era, even in a Mephisto.
6 Run and hide in tell-tale city (10)
CANTERBURY
CANTER (run), BURY (hide). In another puzzle I would have really enjoyed this clue, but my lack of checkers and feeling of desperation setting in prevented me solving it. The definition refers to Chaucer of course.
7 Statue that is stuffed with paper item (5)
IMAGE
IE (that is – id est) containing [stuffed] MAG (paper item). This should have been obvious but I couldn’t find anything meaning ‘paper item’ to put between the I and the E.
8 Try and attend to nurse patient’s last sign of life (9)
HEARTBEAT
HEAR (try) + BE AT (attend) contains [to nurse] {patien}T [‘s last]. My last entry before becoming stuck. All seemed well at that stage and with only 7 answers to go I fully expected to complete the grid within my half-hour target.
9 Stone structure puzzling old people (6)
DOLMEN
Anagram [puzzling] of OLD, then MEN (people). Another unknown, but I expect it has come up before.
14 Post Office insanely resited for remote islander (10)
POLYNESIAN
PO (Post Office), anagram [resited] of INSANELY
15 Assistant forbidding bringing dog over for hair styling (9)
POMPADOUR
POM (dog), PA (personal Assistant), DOUR (forbidding). ‘Pom’ coming up last Thursday helped.
17 Keeping calm if dragons run wild (9)
SANGFROID
Anagram [run wild] of DRAGONS IF
19 Chatters away but sounds insecure (7)
RATTLES
Two meanings
20 Nightmare as revolutionary spirit rises (6)
MURDER
RED (revolutionary) + RUM (spirit) reversed [rises]
22 In this group of languages charge is incomplete (5)
INDIC
INDIC{t} (charge) [incomplete]
24 Savage conserves energy to use as a weapon (5)
WIELD
WILD (savage) contains [conserves] E (energy)
25 Old friend is a gem (4)
OPAL
O (old), PAL (friend). One from the QC to finish on!

61 comments on “Times Cryptic 28220”

  1. Another DNF to report, though I was quite persistent until finally chucking it in after 1h40. IMPALEMENT, REMUAGE, and DOLMEN all soundly beat me, and I couldn’t parse PRONOUNCE either. Annoying, given how precisely clued they were.
  2. DNF as DNK remuage. Was wondering if there was a River Ime, but then remembered the Exe. Had to “reveal” murder, and pick one in the NE to help me in that tricky corner. I chose remuage, oddly enough, which was lucky. With that in place I managed the rest. Parsing was another matter altogether. Thanks for explaining everything, Jack, and for the puzzle, setter. FOI Hove, only four on first pass. COD Old Bill, enjoyed plod being in there as well. Liked Dolmen. Time-wise – who knows? But lots of it.

    Edited at 2022-02-22 04:54 pm (UTC)

  4. I came to this late and decided to come here with the NE blank.
    Commiserations -and understanding -to our blogger.
    David
  6. An hour and a quarter (so I can certainly commiserate with Jack), and a DNF but only because of a silly typo (PPONOUNCE), which is not to say that I understood all of the clues. Lots of obscurities and somewhat strange synonyms (like IMAGE for statue). In REMUAGE I fixed on the EMU early on, but it took me a while to see the RAGE, and although I entered it with some misgivings, just as I was submitting I realised what it meant. I recall going on a tour of a Champagne winery, in Champagne, many decades ago and deciding to join the one in French because there would have been a long wait for the next one in English. They explained REMUAGE and then, at the end, shook and uncorked a bottle, spraying the contents over all the visitors with the comment “ça ne tache pas!” (it won’t leave a mark). I am still wondering if they dared to do that on the English tours, but it did seem exceedingly French at the time.

    Edited at 2022-02-22 07:08 pm (UTC)

  7. I struggled through this for over an hour, with IMPALEMENT, POI, and was then left with 5d and 9d. I flirted with RUMEAGE and REMUAGE, but neither seemed likely so I checked and found it was the latter. I managed to work out the parsing for DOLMEN, and recalled having seen it before in these parts, but inexplicably typed DOLMAN. Drat. I submitted off leaderboard anyway, but 1 pink square in 67:03. Thanks setter and Jack.
  8. Was it real or just a mirage?
    Did i just see a rare REMUAGE?
    Since it seems crossword clues,
    For odd words, are like zoos
    Terms seldom encountered “at large”

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