45 minutes, but a technical DNF. Much of this was straightforward and I had all but four answers within my half-hour target but I had to grind out three of the remainder and look up the fourth.
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]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I now use a tilde sign ~ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
| 1 | Wine added to menu at a fancy gastropub perhaps (11) |
| PORTMANTEAU | |
| PORT (wine), anagram [fancy] of MENU AT A. Gastropub is an example of a portmanteau word, i.e. one which blends the sounds and meanings of two others, in this case ‘gastronomy’ (relating to good food) and ‘pub’. | |
| 7 | Venomous sort, privileged American leaving wife (3) |
| ASP | |
| {W}ASP (privileged American) [leaving wife]. Let’s move on … | |
| 9 | Guru a bad actor backing Sunak? (9) |
| MAHARISHI | |
| A + HAM (bad actor) reversed [backing], RISHI (Sunak – former PM) | |
| 10 | Some constables sit around smoking in van (5) |
| POSSE | |
| POS~E (sit) containing [around] S{moking} [in van – upfront] | |
| 11 | Writer backtracks during sport discussion online (7) |
| WEBINAR | |
| NIB (writer) reversed [backtracks] contained by [during] WE~AR (sport) | |
| 12 | Leak stopper ready to check a computer network (7) |
| SEALANT | |
| SE~T (ready) contains [to check – as in ‘hold in check’ ) A + LAN (computer network) | |
| 13 | Romeo recovered from relationship with wanderer (5) |
| ROVER | |
| R (Romeo – phonetic alphabet), OVER (recovered from relationship with) | |
| 15 | Head coach wasting time — trivial problem (2-7) |
| NO-BRAINER | |
| NOB (head), {t}RAINER (coach) [wasting time – t] | |
| 17 | One wearing this, also tattered, and repellent pants? (9) |
| HALITOSIS | |
| I (one) contained by [wearing] anagram [tattered] of THIS ALSO. And breathe out… | |
| 19 | Sound wheel on German vehicle? (5) |
| AUDIO | |
| AUDI (German vehicle), O (wheel) | |
| 20 | Suspension of legal action established many new cases (7) |
| AMNESTY | |
| Anagram [new] of MAN~Y contains [cases] EST (established) | |
| 22 | Used head in familiar address (3,4) |
| OLD BEAN | |
| OLD (used), BEAN (head). A variant of ‘old boy’, ‘old chap’ etc. | |
| 24 | Caught fierce Siberian beast in its habitat? (5) |
| TAIGA | |
| Oral wordplay [caught] TAIGA (its habitat) / “tiger” (fierce Siberian beast). Taiga is the swampy coniferous forest of high northern latitudes, especially that between the tundra and steppes of Siberia. I didn’t know that tigers live there but they do, sometimes referred to as the Siberian tiger, or more commonly, the Amur tiger. The definition refers back. | |
| 25 | Disaffected by article aide lent out (9) |
| ALIENATED | |
| A (indefinite article} contained by anagram [out] of AIDE LENT | |
| 27 | Female finally able to avoid boomerangs (3) |
| DOE | |
| {abl}E + {t}O + {avoi}D [finally] is reversed [boomerangs]. A female deer, but not how the musical note is spelt. | |
| 28 | What might be Cox’s first offence? (6,5) |
| EATING APPLE | |
| Two definitions of sorts. Cox (more fully, Cox’s orange pippin) is a classic English eating apple (as opposed to cooking apple). According to some accounts of life in Garden of Eden, Eve committed the first recorded sin / offence by eating an apple, although the Bible only mentions ‘forbidden fruit’ and ‘fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil’. | |
| Down |
|
| 1 | Dog and Duck opening in the afternoon (3) |
| POM | |
| 0 (duck – nil / zero) contained by [opening] P~M (in the afternoon). Pomeranian. | |
| 2 | Alcohol treatment centre male in pub recalled? (5) |
| REHAB | |
| HE (male) contained by [in] BA~R (pub) all reversed [recalled] | |
| 3 | Seafarer, one carried by a British fleet into French sea (7) |
| MARINER | |
| I (one) contained [carried] by A + R~N (British fleet – Royal Navy) all contained by [into] M~ER (French for ‘sea’) | |
| 4 | Sinners go crazy for in-your-face jewellery (4-5) |
| NOSE-RINGS | |
| Anagram [crazy] of SINNERS GO | |
| 5 | Greek fellow travelled by ship to north, avoiding delta (5) |
| ELIAS | |
| SAILE{d} (travelled by ship) [avoiding delta – d] reversed [to the north]. Elias is the Greek name for the biblical prophet Elijah who is a significant figure in Greek Orthodox Christianity and culture. | |
| 6 | City University wing housing ministerial aide (7) |
| UPPSALA | |
| U (university) ~ ALA (wing) containing [housing] PPS (ministerial aid – Parliamentary Private Secretary). This was the one that did for me. I didn’t know the Swedish city although it has come up before with more user-friendly wordplay. I also didn’t know ALA as a wing-like structure in botany and zoology, so I was stymied whichever way I approached the clue. | |
| 7 | A bishop in disgrace made Lenten observance? (9) |
| ABSTAINED | |
| A, B (bishop), STAINED (in disgrace). In Christianity it’s a custom to deprive oneself of something usually pleasurable during Lent. | |
| 8 | Legendary ruler runs into trouble with gents across the pond? (7,4) |
| PRESTER JOHN | |
| R (runs – cricket) contained by [into] PESTER (trouble), JOHN (gents across the pond). Another that gave me trouble but I got there eventually. A mythical king of the Orient from the time of the crusades. He’s come up here three times before, most recently in 2017. | |
| 11 | Sympathetic what with dreamer being devastated (4-7) |
| WARM-HEARTED | |
| Anagram [being devastated] of WHAT DREAMER | |
| 14 | One secretly adored servant enclosing note, in love at last (9) |
| VALENTINE | |
| VALE~T (servant) containing [enclosing] N (note), then IN, {lov}E [at last] | |
| 16 | Croatian neighbour welcoming to New Englander (9) |
| BOSTONIAN | |
| BOS~NIAN (Croatian neighbour) containing [welcoming] TO | |
| 18 | With a will the nation gives up heroin (7) |
| TESTATE | |
| T{h}E + STATE (nation) [gives up heroin – h] | |
| 19 | Norse work returned and revised for supplements (7) |
| ADDENDA | |
| EDDA (Norse work) reversed [returned], anagram [revised] of AND. I knew EDDA from previous puzzles. |
|
| 21 | Arsenic brought in still something bakers use? (5) |
| YEAST | |
| AS (Arsenic) contained by [brought in] YE~T (still) | |
| 23 | Finish your food warm, not hot (3,2) |
| EAT UP | |
| {h}EAT UP (warm) [not hot]. For once a setter has spared us the sound of Bow bells! | |
| 26 | What may colour out-of-body experience somewhat (3) |
| DYE | |
| Hidden in [somewhat] {out-of-bo}DY E{xperience} | |
Love ‘old bean’ as an old-fashioned Woosterish greeting. I find ‘buddy’ is a popular one nowadays. ‘Pal’ seems to have a threatening Glaswegian overtone, as in ‘Do you want to say that again, pal?’
Thoroughly enjoyable, despite some of it being out of my reach. NHO PRESTER JOHN (unlikely first name) and TAIGA didn’t surface from the recesses of my mind. For some reason put PASSÉ instead of POSSE, and couldn’t come up with the second word in NO BRAINER . Liked BOSTONIAN, HALITOSIS, MAHARISHI, EATING APPLE and WEBINAR ( which was a guess).
Thanks setter and Jack
Continuing the slow progress on these Times puzzles and found one that was closer to my normal solving time with 44 minutes. Had heard of UPPSALA (but initially thought that it only had one P – had to look up the unknown PPS to confirm things – did know abut ALA as a wing). Knew PRESTER JOHN only as the John Buchan novel and had to look up the ‘legendary king’. Was also across TAIGA, although had to check the pronunciation to confirm that the Siberian tiger came into play.
Had a wry smile with the ‘repellent pants’ definition of HALITOSIS.
Finished in the SE corner with ADDENDA and ALIENATED.