Times Cryptic No 27330 – Saturday, 20 April. Don’t try this at home.

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For some reason, I was never comfortable working on this crossword. (Sorry, setter. It wasn’t you, it was me, I’m sure.) On the first pass, I only got two answers, and for most clues I couldn’t even see a possible definition or what the wordplay might be. I muddled through in the end, but I’m marking myself an F.

I made things harder for myself by pencilling in EMBOLUS at 14ac. It did after all have MB (doctor) and US (American), and an embolus is a clump of cells. Three points of agreement seemed compelling! Of course, I couldn’t explain the E – – OL in the answer. And worse … I was, as you can see below, working with an incorrect or incomplete definition.

In fact, on looking through the blog, I think it’s fair to say that this puzzle featured an outstandingly well disguised set of definitions! Look for example at 1, 6, 12, 14, 20 and 26 across, and 3 and 9 down. The definition that utterly delighted when I finally saw the answer was 20ac. Special mention! The uncertainty principle was worth a smile too. I also loved the clever juxtaposition in 10ac. Thanks to the setter.

Clues are in blue, with definitions underlined. Answers are in BOLD CAPS, then wordplay. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’. Deletions are in [square brackets].

Across
1 Male dog is cuddled by computing pro with file? (10)
MANICURIST: MAN, then CUR_IS is “cuddled” by IT.

6 Give a wave to mass retailer on the way back (4)
PERM: M (mass), REP (retailer) all reversed (“on the way back”). A small quibble: the sales reps I’ve encountered have all worked for wholesalers, not retailers. The people talking to the end customers are salespeople to me. Perhaps this a difference in usage between countries?

10 A greeting from abroad, going west? (5)
ALOHA: “hola” is a Spanish greeting. Going right to left (i.e. “west”), A_HOLA becomes ALOHA. And of course, Hawaii, the home of the “aloha”, is a long way west of the UK. Brilliant clue! On edit: by “going right to left” or “going west”, I mean written backwards.

11 Intimate a new baby with many siblings is in litter (9)
PALANQUIN: PAL, A, N[ew], QUIN.

12 Ship rocking when in colder harbours or weak swell (8,6)
CHINLESS WONDER: anagram (“rocking”) of (SS WHEN IN COLDER*), where SS is a ship.

14 Medic’s injecting bodily fluid in American’s cells (7)
MOBILES: BILE (bodily fluid) “injected” into MO’S. The definition refers to cell phones, of course.

15 A measure of acid, when current, leads to a disorder(7)
APHASIA: A, PH (pH is a measure of acidity), AS (when), I (electrical current), A.

17 Turkey’s leader confirmed as touchy? (7)
TACTUAL: T[urkey], ACTUAL. I didn’t know the answer, and struggled with whether “confirmed” is “actual”, but I suppose it’s OK. And, “tactual” is of the same form as “visual” and “aural” for example. The one slightly disappointing clue for me.

19 Pasting fancy lace on sack the wrong way (7)
DEBACLE: DEB=BED (sack) the wrong way; ACLE=(LACE*), “fancy”.

20 Scatter articles from Spanish American writer (4,10)
ELLA FITZGERALD: EL and LA are the Spanish articles, FITZGERALD (F. Scott, or Zelda) is the American writer. And, of course, Ella was the supreme scat singer. Delightful definition!

23 Hollow blocks harden and contract (9)
INDENTURE: DENT “blocking” INURE.

24 Signal recalling the marines (5)
ALARM: . à la (“recalling”), RM (Royal Marines).

25 Attic maybe concealing right anorak (4)
GEEK: a Greek concealing the R.

26 Crackpot here begins to give name in uncertainty (10)
HEISENBERG: (“crackpot”) anagram of (HERE BEGINS*). Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle is a major concept in quantum physics.

Down
1 Beef — love digging into piece (4)
MOAN: O (love, or zero) in MAN (chess piece, perhaps).

2 Hope no novel writer’s appalled by the novel (9)
NEOPHOBIC: “novel” (HOPE NO*), BIC.

3 Water sport for Norman, say, a remote activity (7-7)
CHANNEL-SURFING: whimsical definition (since Normandy is on the English Channel), then a just slightly less whimsical one.

4 Turning some crasser perfume bottle up (7)
REPRESS: reversed hidden answer (“turning some”).

5 Polish area of icon’s head in lit up aisles (7)
SILESIA: I (head of icon) in “lit up” (AISLES*).

7 At first, Ezra Pound could be an ass (5)
EQUID: E (Ezra at first), QUID.

8 Awe-inspiring underground worker, one with special powers (4-6)
MIND-READER: MINER (underground worker) “inspiring” DREAD (awe).

9 Where drinkers go and make advances too (4,3,7)
INTO THE BARGAIN: drinkers go INTO THE BAR, then GAIN (make advances).

13 Dash to confess about affair (10)
SMATTERING: SING around MATTER.

16 What harvester has: welcome recovery period (4,5)
SICK LEAVE: a harvester might even today have a SICKLE. AVE was a Latin greeting.

18 Leaves disconnected phone around middle of den (7)
LETTUCE: CUT TEL “around”, then [d]E[n].

19 Stray she-cat, with head covered by diamonds (7)
DIGRESS: [t]IGRESS, with head covered by D.

21 By Hollywood location, delve regularly for scoop (5)
LADLE: Hollywood is in LA, then odd letters of DeLvE.

22 Sticks up for superior (4)
SMUG: GUMS “up”.

32 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27330 – Saturday, 20 April. Don’t try this at home.”

  1. I got there eventually, but the struggle went on for 1:37:58. I think that’s the longest a 15×15 has taken me since the first Times puzzle I attempted. I liked the Uncertainty Priciple clue too. I didn’t understand the meaning of Scat, but got Ella regardless. I also toyed with EMBOLUS having had one myself a coupe of years ago, but it wouldn’t parse properly. A really tough one which I’m relieved to have got all correct. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  2. Took me over an hour, and then I had a typo. LOI LETTUCE, which I biffed; never would have come up with TEL. I have no notes on my copy, other than ‘COD’ by a half-dozen clues. I think I’d pick ELLA as the top one.
  3. Most enjoyable crossword for ages. I love all the off-beat definitions that are hard to spot: scatter, give a wave, weak swell, American’s cells, appalled by the novel etc. And uniformly great surfaces, not a weak clue amongst them.
    Very difficult, well over the hour compared with usual aim of 20 minutes.
    Thank-you setter, and well-blogged brnchn.
  4. I have COD ticks by eight clues in my notes and, yes, ELLA was the pick of my bunch, too, Kevin.
  5. My notes start with “Tough!!”
    Thanks, Bruce, especially for MOAN and LETTUCE.
    A bit like Kevin, I have COD ticks against 8 clues but my favourite is ELLA “SCATTER’ FITZGERALD. Brilliant.
    I don’t mind saying I sought help with four clues: CHINLESS WONDER, TACTUAL, NEOPHOBIC and CHANNEL SURFING.
  6. This puzzle went the other way into major key. 56 minutes with LOI MOBILES. COD the terrific ELLA FITZGERALD. I never cared for her Scat that much though. APHASIA and MANICURIST were good clues too, and you’d expect me to have a special mention for Heisenberg. Sadly, it appears that the wave form is being collapsed at Bolton Wanderers with position established and momentum leading us off to hell at the speed of light in a handcart. DNK but guessed correctly EQUID and TACTUAL.Thank you B and setter for a tough but enjoyable puzzle.
    1. You must be upset at the current state of a club with a very distinguished history.
  7. This took ages but the struggle was enjoyable enough and even quite rewarding at times. I didn’t really understand the ‘going west’ part of the ALOHA clue.

    I have an absolute and utter aversion to scat singing so I avoid the lovely Ella when she’s in that mode and tend not to think of her in those terms.

    1. I’ve added a postscript in the blog to say:

      On edit: by “going right to left” or “going west”, I mean written backwards.

      1. Thanks. I understood your original explanation but failed to spot the significance of ‘going west’ whilst solving. We seem suddenly to be required to know more Spanish these days, beyond EL for ‘the Spanish’.
  8. ….INTO THE BAR(a)GAIN, because strong drink would have helped me massively in solving this absolute cracker of a puzzle. Even though at times I thought it was all G(r)EEK to me, and I parsed a fair few after I’d biffed them (apart from MANICURIST – thanks Bruce), I eventually finished successfully, albeit well outside my 20 minute target. Definitely a Championship Final standard puzzle which would have been a DNF in those circumstances.

    A mer at “bic” for “writer”. I thought they made disposable razors, and a writer is a “biro” when brand names come up.

    FOI PERM
    LOI CHINLESS WONDER
    COD MIND-READER (I hated Ella’s scatting)
    TIME 28:21

    1. They do make disposable razors but they are much better know for making the best-selling ballpoint pen in the world, having acquired the patent from… Biro.
  9. 19:30. I enjoyed this a lot and managed to avoid getting stuck as the pennies kept dropping. I agree about the great hidden definitions, esp. scatter. Nice to see Herr Heisenberg. The only uncertainty I had was that I failed to parse LETTUCE, so thanks for that Bruce. Many candidates, but I go for DEBACLE as my COD. Oh, and, furthermore, I was one of the lucky ones drawn out the hat for the WH Smith vouchers!
  10. 27:33. Tough but brilliant puzzle. Many great clues but it was particularly satisfying to (eventually) crack 26ac without any knowledge of who HEISENBERG was. I reverse-engineered the clue to figure out what the definition was and googled ‘heisenberg uncertainty principle’ post-submission. Marvellously baffling!
  11. I feel better now I see how many others found this very tough! I was only halfway through after my usual hour, and took a break and a further 45 minutes to finish off at lunchtime. I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with this one, with many clues I liked, and a few I really didn’t!

    In particular, if I hadn’t managed to put the letters in the right order for my LOI, the unknown 5d SILESIA, I might’ve had a whole case of sour grapes to throw right now… As I got it right, clearly it was instead a perfectly fair clue 😀

  12. I never normally look at the Saturday blog, but did so this time to see if last week’s puzzle really was that hard or if I had simply made an utter meal of it. Like Matt, seeing some the times from regulars I feel a whole lot better. Such a shame the Snitch can’t record Saturday puzzles, this one would have been puce coloured. Thanks brnchn for explaining 20ac.
    Rupert
  13. 56:22. Very tough. Studded with wonderfully clever hidden definitions, weak swell, scatter, etc. Glad I wasn’t the only one who struggled with this and on reflection, from what others have said, I’m pleased to have dipped under the hour.
  14. I liked the puzzle, especially the well-hidden definitions. I did this in about 20 segments between chores and other activity – seeing about one answer per session in a series of penny-drop moments. I will say that crossing Equid with Palanquin was harsh – and I never figured out (still don’t see) where the T in “quint” went to.
    1. “Quin” in English, as opposed to American quint. Quint was Roy Scheider in Jaws?
        1. Thx, Isla. I sort of thought it might be that. The danger is that if I’m not careful, every time I get an unparseable (and wrong) answer, I just assume it’s just a Britishism I’m not familiar with and I trundle blithely along to the chop.
          P.i.L
  15. Reading some of the other times, I see I can feel quite good about my 54 minutes’ solving time. What a delightful puzzle! Nothing obvious, no weak clues, very witty allusions but eminently fair throughout. This is how a cryptic crossword should be but what is hardly ever achieved so consistently. I particularly liked CHANNEL SURFING as a “remote activity” and HEISENBERG. But ELLA, the scatter, was good too.
  16. Far too hard. But 24a and 3D are particularly poor clues. The surface of 8d is the wrong way round isn’t it? ‘Dread’ should be inspiring (taking in) ‘miner’. Which obviously makes no sense but still…MrGrumpy
  17. Have been to Crewe today so late posting here.
    I thought this was a great puzzle which took me to the absolute limits of my solving abilities without totally defeating me. It was tough going but enjoyable. I see from my notes I had two left at 11:30 pm by which time I would normally have given up.
    LOI was TACTUAL because I had an error at 2d (thought ending was IA).Prior to that LETTUCE. I was delighted to construct the unknown PALANQUIN.Lots of great clues. David
    PS I solved on paper using a Bic, quite by chance.
  18. … but the parsing was an art form of its own … and didn’t need help, just lots of time, to be able to get that done !!

    Thanks setter and bruce
    This was probably above my pay grade but am glad to use whatever to get it done and sit back and appreciate the artistry of the clues in this puzzle.
    Had to get down to 21d to get a start and was able to fill a bit more of the SE corner before taking whatever clue I could get to continue through.
    I think the deceptive definitions were a standout and the construction of some of the word play similarly so.
    Eventually finished with SMATTERING and GEEK.

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