Times Cryptic No 27114 – Saturday, 11 August 2018. Please take a ticket and wait.

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Many will have encountered difficulties with the club site this weekend, so online times may be uncertain. I solved on paper in 33 minutes, so comparable to last week’s, although it felt if anything a little easier. My LOI was 13ac, an unusual word with common letters as checkers, but my clue of the day was the very clever 9ac. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle.

Clues are in blue, with definitions underlined. Answers are in BOLD CAPS, then wordplay. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’, with the anagram indicator in bold italics. Deletions are in {curly brackets}.

Across
1 Fairly good and soft like fur (8)
PASSABLE: P (soft), AS (like), SABLE (fur). A gentle one to start.

9 Comment on what one needs to make a mate a man (8)
ANNOTATE: the 1ac honeymoon didn’t last long! To make “mate” into “man”, you need the last few letters of the word to be “AN”, NOT “ATE”. I eventually biffed this, and deferred the parsing until I got to writing this blog. Luckily this style of clue doesn’t happen often, because I always find it hard to see!

10 Get amazed with temperature in star (4)
STUN: T (temperature) in SUN (star). Not sure the definition quite works. Isn’t “to get amazed” more like “to be stunned”?

11 Good and ancient flag against which others are to be compared (4,8)
GOLD STANDARD: G (good), OLD (ancient), STANDARD (flag). A fine collection of oldies in a standard clue, one might suggest?

13 Transport complex tickets sold in a book (6)
CARNET: CAR (transport), NET (“complex”, as a noun). I’ve never heard a ticket described as a carnet in real life. Does it still happen?

14 Finished by Tuesday? That’s about right for this work (8)
OVERTURE: OVER (finished), TUE (Tuesday) “about” R (right). I liked the faint irony in the surface of the clue.

15 Being concerned about daughter’s combing and cleaning (7)
CARDING: CARING (concerned) around D (daughter). The reference is to the process of preparing wool, say, for spinning.

16 Mangle attacking player without resistance (7)
WRINGER: WINGER “without” (outside) R. “Mangle” is another word that seems to have dropped out of use in this context. Perhaps it’s the unfortunate overtones of the word’s other meaning!

20 Plot summary appearing as Arsenic and Old Lace? (8)
SCENARIO: (ARSENIC O*). A cute anagram indicator!

22 Lamp’s working with a gas that’s ionised (6)
PLASMA: (LAMPS*), A.

23 In a low bar, he’s recording for tacky band (8,4)
ADHESIVE TAPE: HES in A DIVE, then TAPE (recording).

25 Overall of satinette (4)
NETT: hidden in {sati}NETT{e}.

26 Backer for theatre and opera company, one from Hollywood, perhaps (8)
ANGELENO: ANGEL (theatre backer), ENO (English National Opera). A resident of Los Angeles.

27 Annoying learner leaving truck having broken panel over wheel (8)
WORRYING: {l}ORRY inside (“having broken”) WING (panel over wheel – what in my parts is called a mudguard).

Down
2 More than one robot car to snarl up area (8)
AUTOMATA: AUTO (car), MAT (to snarl up, as in the expression “matted hair”), A (area).

3 Fuss arising from Sinatra’s activities? (4,3,5)
SONG AND DANCE: double definition.

4 News report shot at home (8)
BULLETIN: BULLET (shot), IN (at home).

5 In which one may hear others confused about answer (7)
EARSHOT: (OTHERS*) outside (“about”) A (answer).

6 How many chess games end for prisoner, perhaps (6)
INMATE: chess games often end IN (check-) MATE.

7 Delay over a special sports meeting (4)
GALA: LAG reversed (“over”), then A.

8 Try introducing skinned badger hats (8)
HEADGEAR: HEAR (try) “introduces” {b}ADGE{r}.

12 Union organiser in company serving archaeologists? (6,6)
DATING AGENCY: double definition. The second is a whimsical allusion to carbon dating of archaeological finds.

15 Rejected actors over 42nd Street, for one (8)
CASTAWAY: CAST (actors), over A WAY. I am not sure what’s going on here. Is 42nd Street just an example of a road/way, or is there something more clever?

17 Perhaps watch theatre with one certain to scoff (8)
REPEATER: REP (theatre), EATER (one who scoffs). I knew the expression “repeater watch”, but had no idea what it was. Now I’ve checked, I don’t know why you’d want one! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repeater_(horology)

18 Men do not travel in this city (8)
EDMONTON: (MEN DO NOT*).

19 One way or another pig keeps untidy home (7)
SOMEHOW: (HOME*) inside SOW.

21 Bankrupt regretted keeping fashionable (6)
RUINED: IN inside RUED.

24 Tango leaves part of leg extended above the normal level (4)
HIGH: {t}HIGH.
 

35 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27114 – Saturday, 11 August 2018. Please take a ticket and wait.”

  1. This puzzle took me 34 minutes on paper. When the club site was fixed I became a neutrino and did it in 4:32. I needed all the crossers before seeing REPEATER for a watch. Never did work out ANNOTATE, so thanks for that Bruce. Liked DATING AGENCY. Thanks setter and Bruce for the blog.
  2. For some reason (probably stupidity) I put in HEADWEAR. I had a question mark at CASTAWAY, and still can’t see how it works. Calling a street a way seems odd, to say the least. DNK WING, so was puzzled by 27ac. COD to ANNOTATE.
  3. Like Kevin I had question marks but mine were against ANNOTATE and AUTOMATA. Thanks, Bruce, for ANNOTATE. That is very clever and earns my COD award. As for MAT, I just didn’t know that meaning.
    We had a MANGLE for wringing clothes in our house when I was growing up.
    Never heard of CARDING.
    I did like UNION ORGANISER.
    Regarding 3d, did Sinatra dance as well as sing? Maybe he did in “High Society”?
    I think we all had problems with the site last weekend. I managed to access the puzzle somehow and I have written down a time of 29m 15s in two sessions.

    Edited at 2018-08-18 02:41 am (UTC)

  4. Rose Wild in her “Feedback” column in The Times today has a somewhat ‘suck-it-up-guys’ piece about the changes to The Times we have just experienced and are still experiencing, I believe. I’ve offered my two penn’rth. I hope others do the same.
  5. FOI 4dn BULLETIN

    LOI 26ac ANGELINO

    COD 19dn SOMEHOW

    WOD 13dn CARNET

    7 MARTINIS and no passes.

    Edited at 2018-08-18 03:22 am (UTC)

  6. My note says: 14:13 very straightforward.
    I left ANNOTATE to the end, I saw the device early and parked it for later – good clue.
    One of the easiest Saturday puzzles I can remember.
  8. 41 minutes with LOI CARNET. I think I’ve seen signs for this/them somewhere and wondered what it/them was/were. Hesitated about FRANK being a song and dance man, but I reconciled it with memories of Anchors Away and that he caused more than a song and dance when provoked. I seem to remember him dancing with Grace Kelly in High Society too. Perhaps he’d only dance with someone called Kelly. Liked DATING AGENCY but COD to the clever ANNOTATE. Enjoyable. Thank you B and setter.

    Edited at 2018-08-18 06:38 am (UTC)

  9. I was challenged by fellow fans to tackle this puzzle against the clock on a supporters’ coach en route to watch Altrincham play at Spennymoor Town. I expected to get egg on my face and a potential DNF loomed.

    However, this puzzle was, for me at any rate, the easiest of the year so far.

    FOI PASSABLE

    LOI CARNET (DNK but obvious from the surface. My friend knew the word and confirmed it).

    Finished in 6:37 to the astonishment of all concerned, and went on to enjoy an action packed 4-4 draw.

    COD ANNOTATE (I was proud to parse that one without a struggle).

    I suppose the problem now is that I may be coerced into repeating the exercise on the next coach trip (Blyth Spartans on September 1st) at which point I’ll be presented with an absoulute stinker !

  10. At 35 mins, a PB for me today. Highly delighted. FOI EARSHOT, LOI CARDING which I have never heard of but the wordplay was fair. In Paris, a carnet is still sold as a set of ten tickets for the Metro which used to be, many years ago, in a book form. Liked the new trick at 9ac! Watch out for those in the future I think. A very enjoyable puzzle, thank you setter and b.
  11. Finished it today on a fully functioning site in a (for me) sprightly 15 mins, and that without the advantage of being able to complete it on a football supporters coach egged on by a crowd of drunken fans. My only real pause was considering whether or not AUTOMADA was a word. However, I couldn’t for the life of me (fortunately it didn’t come to that) parse ANNOTATE, so many thanks for that, sir.
  12. I am pleased to say that this is the first 15×15 that I have completed without any aids. I have no idea about time but I do not remember it taking too long. After completing I did check the dictionary definitions for CARDING, CARNET and AUTOMATA.
  13. 19:35. Nice to dip under 20 mins on a Saturday puzzle. I knew the French carnet and so it didn’t seem too much of a stretch to find it here. I didn’t know that meaning of carding but the wordplay was clear. I was unsure about mat for snarl up but once I had auto the rest followed. FOI 10ac. LOI 20ac. COD 9ac.
  16. A very quick 14 minutes and a few seconds.
    Re: 42nd St – I just read that as the name of a play (which google tells me is a musical) that is also a street, so it matches both the cast of players & the way. Quite liked it, my only MER was castaway having a meaning other than a shipwrecked person, but the dictionaries back up the setter.
    Otherwise a typically enjoyable Times puzzle, thank-you setter & blogger.
  19. Very easy (for me that means under 30 minutes, actually under 29 even). I knew CARNET from the Métro in Paris (where a carnet gets you 11 tickets for the price of 10, or at least that’s how it used to be the last time I was in Paris). I had AMENDATE for 9ac at first (I don’t even believe that is a word), but corrected it to ANNOTATE because I couldn’t solve the INMATE clue with the original version. ANNOTATE is a much more specific wordplay instruction, anyway.
    1. Once the penny drops, you will see it! The clue says to MAKE “A MATE” [into] “A MAN”. To do that, delete the “ATE” at the end of “MATE” and replace by “AN” to give “MAN”.

      So, “AN”, NOT “ATE” >>> ANNOTATE.

  21. 1 across in another Saturday puzzle (27,054 June 2 2018) is also PASSABLE.

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