Times Cryptic No 27342 – Saturday, 04 May. A saucy little 17.

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Another typical Saturday, I’d say. No plants, no animals, just an obscure sauce. I’m deeply sceptical about the complaint at 9dn. It seems to follow the principle of, “give a dog a bad name”!

Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle. On with the blog!

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 Escorted by an idiot, as duke and duchess are? (6)
TITLED: TIT (idiot), LED (escorted).

4 Wallops Liberal moving to the right? Rubbish! (8)
COBBLERS: CLOBBERS, moving the L (liberal) to the right.

10 Bishop I love getting a bit reactionary? Details here (7)
BIODATA: B (bishop), I, O (love), DATA = A TAD (a bit) backwards (“reactionary”).

11 Silence on radio as very bright female chucked out (4,3)
DEAD AIR: DEAD (very, as in “dead/very lucky”), [f]AIR without the “F”. Surprisingly, to me at least, “bright” is the first definition Chambers lists for “fair”.

12 Charge for ring (4)
TOLL: double definition.

13 A sonnet for turbulent times (10)
AFTERNOONS: anagram (“turbulent”) of (A SONNET FOR*).

15 Chance result of Times expert going by Tube (2-7)
BY-PRODUCT: BY (times), PRO (expert), DUCT (tube).

16 Beat policemen heading back by river (5)
TEMPO: TEM = MET (policemen), “heading back”, PO = a river in Italy.

18 Sat around, having eaten old man’s grub (5)
TAPAS: TAS = SAT “around”, “eating” PA (old man).

19 Soldier’s daughter retreats in confusion (6,3)
DESERT RAT: D (daughter), anagram (“in confusion”) of (RETREATS*).

21 Novel extremely lively to begin with (10)
ORIGINALLY: ORIGINAL (novel), L[ivel]Y (“extremely” lively).

23 Auntie to take two books about Europe on vacation (4)
BEEB: B (first book), E[urop]E (Europe “on vacation”), B (second book).

26 It’s true, Seth occasionally has a funny feeling up north (7)
STAUNCH: ST = SeTh “occasionally”, A, ‘UNCH (hunch). I wasn’t aware they dropped aitches up north. Is something else going on?

27 Put heads together to make this dish (3,4)
NUT LOAF: NUT and LOAF can each mean “head”.

28 Common to see biplane flying round east? (8)
PLEBEIAN: anagram (“flying”) of (BIPLANE*) around E (east). I had to pause and think about how this answer might be spelled.

29 Confirm where international cricket fan might be? (6)
ATTEST: why, he or she is AT a TEST of course.

Down
1 Foot of Everest? I’m sure yeti lives here? (5)
TIBET: T = “foot” of [everes]T, then “I BET” = I’m sure.

2 Advice on fluffy dog from Spooner? I’m off! (6-3)
TOODLE-PIP: do the usual Spooner thing to POODLE TIP.

3 Some upset chihuahUAS Exasperate a hairy man (4)
ESAU: backwards (“upset”) hidden answer (“some”).

5 Strange time to admit army scrap (7)
ODDMENT: ODD (strange), T (time), all “admitting” MEN (army).

6 Matron’s rib broken? This might solve the problem (10)
BRAINSTORM: anagram (“broken”) of (MATRONS RIB*).

7 Revolutionary sailor inspired by old English muse (5)
ERATO: O (old), E (English), “inspires” TAR (sailor). Then it’s all reversed (“revolutionary”).

8 Become very worried about sons getting into beer (6,3)
STRESS OUT: RE (about), S+S (two sons) “getting into” STOUT (beer).

9 Staff did a runner, I hear, leading to complaint (3,3)
MAN FLU: MAN (staff), FLU sounds like FLEW (“I hear”).

14 Does this tell you what’s wrong with Conservative nieces misbehaving? (10)
CONSCIENCE: this is a strange clue!

The answer is obvious, and at first I carelessly thought the wordplay was: CONS (Conservative – this abbreviation is in Chambers), then an anagram (“misbehaving”) of (NIECES*). But of course that has one too many S’s and one too few C’s.

A better suggestion, thanks to jackkt, is CON (Italian for “with”, as in “con brio”), and then add C (Conservative) to the anagram fodder, giving (C NIECES*); but “con” by itself isn’t in any of my English language dictionaries with this meaning.

At the risk of sacrilege, is it possible the setter had a blind spot?

15 Last drink? Your very good health! (7,2)
BOTTOMS UP: BOTTOM (last), SUP (drink). The answer was so obvious, it was hardly worth parsing.

17 The sauce of these two girls! (5,4)
MARIE ROSE: two random girls, to make a sauce I’d never heard of. Fortunately, I couldn’t think of any other names to fit the helpers.

19 Money companion’s invested in play (7)
DRACHMA: CH (companion) in DRAMA (play).

20 Very fast stretch of water (6)
SOLENT: SO (very), LENT (fast).

22 Silly way Emma begins (5)
INANE: Emma, of course, begins IN AN E.

24 Become British, getting picture from police? (5)
BEFIT: B (British), E-FIT (picture from police).

25 A singer engaged in dubious activity? (2,2)
AT IT: or, spaced differently, A TIT.
 

26 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27342 – Saturday, 04 May. A saucy little 17.”

  1. 29:05 with a shrug of the shoulders at CONSCIENCE, the wordplay of which I could not fathom. Thanks to Jack for that. Changed BIORAMA to BIODATA on the last minute proof read. Phew! An enjoyable puzzle. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  2. Good puzzle, a little bit risque with TIT LED and A TIT with a third but missed opportunity for more fun at 1dn.

    Just to clarify at 14dn ‘CON / with’ is in Collins both on-line and printed editions without the necessity of a second word such as ‘brio’.

    I’m not very happy with ‘TEMPO / beat’ at 16ac as one is speed and the other is emphasis, stress or rhythm.

    Edited at 2019-05-10 11:14 pm (UTC)

      1. Ah,I see your problem now. If I need to use my phone for dictionary purposes I use a saved link to the webpage rather than an app.

        Just noticed a point for clarification re 14dn, my parsing was actually CON (with), anagram [misbehaving] of C (Conservative) + NIECES.

  3. I have almost no comments on my copy, other than a DNK at MARIE ROSE, and one at MAN FLU, which can’t be right; I must have come across it somewhere. I parsed CONSCIENCE as Jack does, with a MER at with=CON. Nothing Chambers does would surprise me, Bruce, but do they really define ‘bright’ as ‘bright’?
  4. Thanks for parsing Dead Air and (maybe) parsing Conscience. I very much liked Inane, and I’m another who assembled the only reasonable sauce possibility from two women’s names and the crossers.

    The Conscience thing, which I thought might have been a typo (though Jack is convincing), reminds me that I once read an interview with Araucaria, who said he did all of his anagrams with Scrabble tiles, because it was the only way to ensure he never made an error.

    Edited at 2019-05-11 02:08 pm (UTC)

  5. Thanks, Bruce. I biffed CONSCIENCE without giving it much thought, as you suggested. In 3d, wasn’t ESAU biblically “aN hairy man”?
    My posted time fo 52m 43s is as far from the truth as one of DJT’s dodgy claims. A starling dropped down the chimney flue of the wood burner and I abandoned the puzzle without first saving it in order to release the poor thing. Eventually, after much shaking of the flue out it came. I took it out doors and it didn’t even thank me before it flew off. There’s gratitude for you!

    Edited at 2019-05-11 04:54 am (UTC)

    1. I had a similar experience with a blackbird behind a gas fire. When I released it into the garden after much effort, it was immediately grabbed by a cat, which never thanked me for its breakfast.
      1. Ah, poor blackbird! Starlings are two-a-penny but not so blackbirds and their song is so lovely.
  6. I managed to complete this correctly but only after a long fight. FOI was BY PRODUCT.
    I wasn’t helped by writing CLOBBERS at 4a without pausing to parse. As a result my last two were DEAD AIR (not parsed and I’m still wondering about the Fair part) and ODDMENT-LOI after correction.
    I also wrote in CONSCIENCE without bothering to check all the letters.Overall an enjoyable puzzle. COD to 2d-rare for a Spooner clue, but I enjoyed this one. David
  7. We do drop our atches up north. My Dad, a more frequent offender than I am, used to talk of ‘igh ‘eaven in parody of this. 19 minutes for this pleasant puzzle. I didn’t know DEAD AIR as an expression. and ‘fair’ for ‘bright’ wasn’t my first port of call, but crossers gave it. I still think that the derogatory use of women’s bodily parts as in 1 across should remain an offside offence. I enjoyed TOODLE-PIP but COD to INANE by a short head from BY-PRODUCT. We once stopped at a guest house in Taynuilt for a week where dinner every night was fresh salmon with Marie Rose sauce, followed by rare beef with horse radish sauce. Delicious! I could have happily stopped another week. Thank you B and setter.
  8. Thanks – I saw what you were doing, and should have expressed it better. Now remedied I hope.

    It seems unusual that an abbreviation like “C” should be part of the anagrist without an indicator.

    Again, a strange clue!

  9. 49 minutes, starting at 1a and finishing with the combination of 10/9/13, partly because I didn’t know BIODATA. My nan, a Lancashire lass, would’ve ‘ad a ‘unch on occasion, I’m sure. Biggest margin question-mark was against 14d CONSCIENCE; glad I wasn’t alone in my eyebrow-raising…
  10. ….an ‘unch that “a unch” doesn’t truly work. My late Dad (‘Ull born and bred) always used “an” as his indefinite article when dropping his aitches. It never struck me as strange.

    I saw CONSCIENCE as Con plus anagrist, and never realised until coming here that there would be a rogue C if that were true. I prefer Jack’s version as in “chilli CON carne”.

    I thought DEAD AIR was a load of COBBLERS, but had no problems completing the puzzle.

    FOI TITLED
    LOI COBBLERS
    COD BEFIT
    TIME 10:29

  11. 14:28. STAUNCH and BIODATA my last 2 in, with a MER at associating dropped aitches with “up north” and reactionary as a reversal indicator. I didn’t much like TEMPO, which means speed, for beat either, but otherwise enjoyed this a lot. TITLED and MAN FLU both got ticks, but COD to INANE. Thanks B and setter.
  12. At 35mins today, a PB for a Saturday. For once I seemed to be on the wavelength. FOI TITLED, LOI DEAD AIR. Like others, I had never heard the expression. Did have a giggle at 25 down though. Marie Rose is the classic sauce for Prawn Cocktail. Thanks setter and Brnchn.
  13. 14dn CONSCIENCE was bifffed in – ignorance is bliss! Never has one word so predominated the discussion.

    FOI 1dn TIBET
    LOI 11ac DEAD AIR as I originally had DEAF AIR
    COD 22dn INANE
    WOD 14dn CONSCIENCE!

    Untimed.

  14. 19:50. Not too difficult. I think inane was the only one that really made me stop and think, oh and whether it was biodata or biorama. I didn’t get into the nitty gritty of properly parsing 14dn just saw the Def and anagrist comprising con and nieces and bunged it in. Didn’t stop to notice that I was missing a C.
  15. CON = “with” is in the Collins app for IOS, meaning 6.

    Also in the paper Twelfth Edition (2014)

  16. Thanks! I somehow strayed into the Thesaurus rather than the Dictionary.
  18. Thanks setter and Bruce
    Found this pretty challenging in places but an enjoyable solve. I must say that I do like the intricacies of the clues of the Times editions – usually do the FT puzzles on a daily basis on the day of publication.
    The influence of English crosswords was illustrated with the fact that TOODLE-PIP was the first entry here. Was another who lazily put CON and NIECES into the fodder without checking that all of the letters were there – not sure that I would’ve known the CON=with bit anyway.
    Finished with MARIE ROSE (that I didn’t know – assume that it is somewhat equivalent to Thousand island sauce that is mainly used in prawn cocktails here), the iffy TEMPO and DEAD AIR (another new term) as the last one in.

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