Times Cryptic No 26844 – Saturday 30 September 2017. Slow and steady.

Author   branchPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
For me this puzzle was a delight! No impossible clues, very few “gimme”s, and most hard enough to challenge. I expect the all-star solvers will find it easy, and the journeymen will get there at a measured pace. A different mix of clues too … three double definitions.

There are numerous contenders for the clue of the day, but I’ll give it to 22ac, with an honourable mention to 19ac because I like the word! Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle.

Clues are reproduced in blue, with the definition underlined. Anagram indicators are bolded and italicised. Then there’s the answer IN BOLD CAPS, followed by the parsing of the wordplay. (ABC)* means ‘anagram of ABC’, {deletions are in curly brackets}.

Across
1 Devoted woman with more frumpy clothing I left a long way away (4,5)
DOWN UNDER: a NUN is devoted, clothed with DOWD{i}ER. Since I am down under as I type, I’m not convinced it’s far away from anything that matters.
6 Emotionally affected, having had an operation? (3,2)
CUT UP: double definition, the second whimsical.
9 Demonstrate against head of state? Caution! (7)
BOOKING: BOO the KING, or get booked for foul play.
10 Bishop burned with ire, fuddled with malt (7)
LATIMER: (IRE MALT*). Burned at the stake in 1555.
11 Take advantage of reversing area in part (3)
TAP: Put A in PT=part, and reverse it.
12 Cheers, putting out resolute “Aye” (3,3,5)
SEE YOU LATER: (RESOLUTE AYE*).
14 Touchy companion maintains resistance without limit (6)
FREELY: FEELY goes with “touchy”. Add “R” for resistance.
15 Alcoholic drink by all means to be ingested, not extreme (8)
MEASURED: add SURE to MEAD.
17 Doorstop placed back in bank from some way away (8)
REMOTELY: TOME backwards (the doorstop of choice in academia perhaps), placed in RELY (the bank of choice in crosswordland).
19 Enemy besieging castle, missing every other platform (6)
FO’C’S’LE: FOE around (“embracing”) CSL, being the odd letters of “castle”. Didn’t the answer look strange without the apostrophes!
22 Family all but condemned in secret (11)
CLANDESTINE: CLAN / DESTINE{d}.
23 Be reliably informed head’s to be sacked immediately (3)
NOW: KNOW, beheaded.
25 Clever remark spread around about something irrational (7)
EPIGRAM: MARGE backwards, around PI.
27 Burst of anger at explosive piece of verse (7)
STROPHE: STROP / HE=high explosive.
28 Handle danger as horse bolts (5)
TREAT: THREAT without the H{orse}.
29 Ray, I assumed, picked up a generous invitation (2,2,5)
BE MY GUEST: sounds like (“picked up”) BEAM I GUESSED. If they don’t sound the same when you pronounce them, assume we already know that.

Down
1 Maiden forced to eat up (5)
DEBUT: “tubed” backwards – as of hunger strikers, I suppose.
2 Ring found in small sort of cushion (7)
WHOOPEE: HOOP in WEE.
3 Not protected, but treated civilly, perhaps, about answer (11)
UNINSULATED: A for answer, in UNINSULTED.
4 Miner clear about nit needing a going over (6)
DIGGER: EGG inside RID, all “going over”.
5 Be supinely accepting consequence of no lottery win? (4,4)
ROLL OVER: the second appearance of a double definition.
6 Creature climbing across the leads? (3)
CAT: first letters of each word.
7 For the Devil, time less busy in absence of yours truly (7)
TEMPTER: T for time, then EMPT{i}ER. I felt vaguely uncertain about the definition, for no good reason. There are so many other tempters about! In the words of Oscar Wilde, “I can resist anything except temptation.”.
8 Game is good during separate journey (9)
PARTRIDGE: PART = separate / RIDE = journey, with G inside.
13 Become angry, so be unable to blow nose? (4,4,3)
LOSE ONE’S RAG: the third appearance of a double definition, the second again whimsical.
14 In tree top see, at last, bird (9)
FIRECREST: FIR / CREST, with {se}E inside.
16 Two seconds before, British crowd suddenly assembled (5,3)
FLASH MOB: in a FLASH (“moment”) / MO (“moment”) / B{ritish}.
18 For ancient tribesman, result of attack by bird now extinct? (7)
MOABITE: I’m sure it would have hurt to be bitten by a moa, but I don’t expect any Moabites suffered that experience west of the Dead Sea.
20 Space between cells wrong, programs declared (7)
SYNAPSE: sounds like SIN / APPS, since “synapse” is pronounced with a short “y”.
21 Ultimately girl is a bit short but nimble (6)
LISSOM: L for “{gir}L” / IS / SOM{e} (“short”).
24 Pull away with the others (5)
WREST: W{ith} / REST.
26 Despicable man cuts judge short (3)
RAT: RAT{e} = judge.
 

14 comments on “Times Cryptic No 26844 – Saturday 30 September 2017. Slow and steady.”

  1. DNK 13d or 14d, but they weren’t too worrisome. I raised (slightly) an eyebrow at 1ac, but after all this is a UK puzzle. One could niggle, I suppose, at calling WHOOPEE a kind of cushion; a whoopee cushion is, but not a whoopee, but this happens often enough in clues. Since FOCSLE is an abbreviation of ‘forecastle’, it seemed a bit odd to use ‘castle’ as the source of the CSE.
  2. …as I trust shall never be put out.” I wish I could find the stockist. I’m replacing candle bulbs every few minutes with the new energy efficient ones the worst. Give me that old time religion. 44 minutes on this enjoyable puzzle. There wasn’t a light bulb moment solve but it was one of steady progress with no unknowns and everything parsed. I’ll give evocative COD to LATIMER, as I used regularly to walk past the spot where he and Ridley were burnt at the stake. Don’t give me that old time religion! Actual COD goes to DEBUT. I’m in a macabre mood. Thank you B and setter.
      1. Good advice. I’m going to, though they have a slightly different base on the bayonet cap models. Halogen ones are useless. I’ll call them the Latimers if they work OK.
        1. I’m sitting under the glow of a LED uplighter, on this grey morning, as I type. Very efficient it is too! (actually it’s afternoon now, but I had a very late awakening today and have just finished my porridge with bananas and grapes).
  3. 15:55, but with a stupid error. I know perfectly well how to spell SYNAPSE, but I appear to have followed what I thought was the wordplay without engaging my brain, giving SINAPSE.
    Whenever we hear people saying that Islam is an inherently violent religion I think of people like LATIMER, or of John Calvin having people burnt alive for believing slightly different versions of made-up nonsense.
  4. Nothing springs to mind as having particularly stimulated the grey matter during this puzzle, as I can’t remember where I started or finished. However, it was obviously no pushover as it took me 45:29 to correctly complete. I didn’t know the bird at 14d so had to rely on wordplay. Liked the idea of a MOA BITE. Shuddered at the visions conjured up by the unfortunate Bishop. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  6. Just over the hour for me. Found it tough to get going but the bottom half slowly came together before most of the NE fell into place, then the NW and finally, the last couple in the NE. FOI 19ac. LOI 7dn. COD 1ac. Rather rarely, no circles or qms on my copy to indicate any problems or queries, so it appears all understood and parsed correctly. I think I would pronounce synapse as synapse not synapse, or to put it another way, as sainapse not sinapse. I don’t know why because all the other syn- words I can think of would be sins-: synonym, synoptic, synod etc. My concise OED seems to indicate that sai and sin are both valid pronunciations of synapse whereas all the others do seem to be sin only.
    1. I pronounce SYNAPSE ‘sign apps’ too, which probably contributed to my error, even though I’m aware it can be pronounced ‘sin apps’. I think of the latter as an American pronunciation, as does Collins.

      Edited at 2017-10-07 04:29 pm (UTC)

      1. Me too. I’m glad to see I wasn’t just ignorant. I enjoyed this puzzle a lot. 14a my LOI but, when I finally saw it, it became my COD. Just under 30 minutes for me.
  7. Managed to get most of this, but not quickly.
    7d was the problem in the end.
    Could not parse Epigram and was pleased to work out Moabite. David

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