Times Cryptic 28286

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 33 minutes. An interesting and mostly enjoyable puzzle that seemed to take longer to solve than the time recorded on the clock.

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 Dessert wine staff for example should return (10)
BLANCMANGE
BLANC (white wine), MAN (staff), then EG (for example) reversed [should return]
6 Count airmen attracted to gravitational pull (4)
GRAF
G (gravitational pull), RAF (airmen – Royal Air Force). A German nobleman corresponding in rank to a European count or British earl. Perhaps best known to us from the names of German battle ships such as Graf Spee.
10 Smile after tea shows anything but delight (7)
CHAGRIN
CHA (tea), GRIN (smile)
11 Vocalist missing intro holds note in number (7)
INTEGER
{s}INGER (vocalist) [missing intro], contains [holds] TE (musical note)
12 Doctor’s Scotsman becoming first scientist (9)
PHYSICIST
PHYSICIAN (doctor) becomes PHYSICIST when ‘Ian’ (Scotsman) is replaced by 1ST (first)
13 One bounding area between two American cities (5)
NYALA
A (area) contained by [between] NY+LA (two American cities – New York / Los Angeles). If I say we haven’t seen many antelopes around here recently I expect we shall be inundated by herds of them in the coming weeks!
14 Start to tour the States taking in large city (5)
TULSA
T{our} [start] + USA (the States), containing [taking in] L (large)
15 Husband in danger back in times past in old region (9)
YORKSHIRE
H (husband) contained by [in] RISK (danger) reversed [back], all contained by [in] YORE (times past). Yorkshire is an ancient region, but I suspect that ‘old’ has been included in order to mollify those of a certain disposition who might otherwise feel inclined to protest that Yorkshire no longer exists as a single administrative entity. I have no connection with the place, but since there was a similar attempt to cancel my own home county of Middlesex this sort of thing annoys me just as I imagine it does any proud son or daughter of the historical County of Yorkshire. Such places continue to exist socially and culturally despite the activities of bureaucrats and politicians who seek to destroy their identity.
17 We slither having to wriggle past (9)
ERSTWHILE
Anagram [wriggle] of WE SLITHER
20 Group ends talks that have only started after a month (5)
OCTET
OCT (month), E{nds} + T{alks} [that have only started]
21 Man‘s mistake: arithmetic presumably dropped by learner (5)
ERROL
ERRO{r} (mistake) [arithmetic presumably, dropped], L (learner). Arithmetic is one of the Three Rs of which only ‘Reading’ actually begins with the letter.
23 Really full wolves maybe to have misgivings we hear (6,3)
PACKED OUT
Sounds like [we hear] “pack doubt” (wolves maybe…have misgivings)
25 Simple man’s abandoned without pity (7)
ARTLESS
{he}ARTLESS (without pity) [man’s abandoned). Nice to be spared the usual Cockerney stuff.
26 Header missed in game after trial for Roman defence (7)
TESTUDO
TEST (trial), {l}UDO (game) [header missed]. SOED: A movable screen with an arched roof, used to protect besieging troops; a protective screen formed by a body of troops in close array with overlapping shields usually above their heads. I knew the second of these definitions for its likeness to the shell of a tortoise, and I understand that’s where the word originated.
27 Perhaps 750 grammes some amount where hops dry (4)
KILN
KIL{o} (perhaps 750 grammes – a kilo being 1000 grammes), N (some amount – an unspecified number)
28 Nobel prize-winner here begins novel (10)
HEISENBERG
Anagram [novel] of HERE BEGINS. I worked this out from anagrist, checkers and a passing knowledge of German names but I can’t say I’ve ever heard of him. Dorsetjimbo would have had something to say about that. Sorry, Jim!
Down
1 King leaving reinforcements in Lancashire town (5)
BACUP
BAC{k}-UP (reinforcements) [King leaving]. This may be a problem for our overseas friends as I’ve barely heard of the place myself! Its only claim to fame seems to be  that it is the best preserved cotton town in England.
2 Flower thoughtless Hindu god sent up (9)
AMARYLLIS
SILLY (thoughtless) + RAMA (Hindu god) reversed [sent up]
3 Clown is already prepared for Henry VIII role (8,6)
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Anagram [prepared] of CLOWN IS ALREADY. One of Shakespeare’s lesser-known works written in part by John Fletcher, at least according to Wikipedia. One point of interest is that the pyrotechnics demanded in one scene resulted in the Globe theatre catching fire and burning to the ground.
4 Regular payment: some should cover night in Paris (7)
ANNUITY
ANY (some) containing [should cover] NUIT (night in Paris – yer actual French)
5 Good old surgeon showing sparkle (7)
GLISTER
G (good), LISTER (old surgeon – Joseph Lister). He died in 1912. I wonder what is the cut-off point after which people no longer need to be defined as ‘old’, considering that by Times convention they are all dead anyway?
7 Endless trouble recalled about a style compared with rap (5)
RAGGA
AGGR{o} (trouble) [endless] reversed [recalled] containing [about] A. Fortunately this came up very recently so I knew it exists as a type of music although I was unaware that it had any similarities to rap.  At least I know now that I don’t need to try it.
8 Business area with people beginning to thrive. Heavens! (9)
FIRMAMENT
FIRM (business), A (area), MEN (people), T{hrive} [beginning]
9 Makes sense with load put through stone when working (6,2,6)
STANDS TO REASON
AND (with) + STORE (load), contained by [put through] ST (stone – weight) + AS (when) + ON (working)
14 Brussels politician carried in rescue boat rides here (5,4)
THEME PARK
MEP (Brussels politician – Member of the European Parliament) contained by [carried in] THE ARK (rescue boat)
16 Present doctrine reworked to impress university (9)
INTRODUCE
Anagram [reworked] of DOCTRINE containing [to impress] U (university). ‘Impress’ as in to enlist by force or seize.
18 Dead end that is restricting motorway progress (7)
IMPASSE
IE (that is – id est) containing [restricting] M (motorway) + PASS (progress)
19 Thrills lover no longer mentions (7)
EXCITES
EX (lover no longer), CITES (mentions)
22 Length adding to value in clawed animal (5)
RATEL
RATE (value), L (length)
24 In these skimpy knickers host shows no resistance (5)
THONG
TH{r}ONG (host – crowd) [shows no resistance – r]

 

52 comments on “Times Cryptic 28286”

  1. A gentle ramble through this with my second coffee of the day, began with GRAF, (As Jack mentioned, the Spee helped with this), and continued with RAGGA ad NYALA. STANDS TO REASON was soon biffed, and the RHS populated nicely. HEISENBERG accompanied me during my first year at Uni, so there was no doubt where he was going. A steady plod through the wordplay saw the LHS filling up nicely and CARDINAL WOLSEY brought the proceedings to a close. 20:32. Thanks setter and Jack.
  2. Initially had SILO down for the hops dryer — it also has 750 grammes, but couldn’t make the rest of it work. Corrected when THEME PARK showed up.

    I’d also bunged in FUNDAMENT and PHYSICIAN which screwed up my GLISTER and INTEGER for some time.

    Got there in the end but by a somewhat circuitous route.

  3. Possibly my quickest ever solve; yesterday was definitely my best. A few leaps of faith, notably BACUP, which rang only the faintest of bells. But overall good fun and nice to see physics featuring.
    1. Congratulations on your times this week! In case you don’t know, you can find your top 10 according to the SNITCH (along with other data about your performance) here: https://xwdsnitch.herokuapp.com/solvers/702. According to this, yesterday was a PB and today was certainly in your top 10.
  4. Irritated to complete today’s puzzle, only to discover I’d put in KILO rather than KILN. Since I only knew of hops drying in oast houses, I failed to understand the reference. I’m always caught out by these cryptics that require you to take 3/4 of the word or phrase to work with, as in this case, and then substitute something else. PHYSICIST would have done for me also, had it not been for GLISTER, but I was so pleased to have worked that one out, I failed to return to the confusing KILO for another look.
  5. 27 minutes, so a very good time for me. And a very easy puzzle, except for one or two traps I fortunately didn’t fall into (never heard of GLISTER, but I decided it was more important that I had also never heard of a surgeon called LITTER. And RAGGA could perhaps have been something else, but luckily it wasn’t. And BACUP was the remaining unknown, but the wordplay was kind enough.)

    Edited at 2022-05-10 04:20 pm (UTC)

  6. 19.16. This wasn’t too hard but I dawdled through it, dragging my feet here and there to unravel some of the parsings where I had a little uncertainty.
  7. Enjoyable enough but my LOI was a guess and REGNA didnt seem any more or less possible than RAGGA though admittedly missing the wrong end. NHO the correct solution and I doubt I’ll remember it in future either.

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