Times Cryptic No 27528 – Saturday, 07 December 2019. Three’s a crowd.

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What a delight. No obscure general knowledge except perhaps 12 or 20ac, but much to puzzle and surprise the solver. My LOI was 21dn, after an alphabet trawl and some subsequent head scratching.

My clue of the day was 1ac for its sheer cleverness, although the well disguised definition at 3dn deserves a mention. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle.

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

Across
1 Which logo, oddly, appears to apply still? (4,4)
HOLD GOOD – “logo oddly” does indeed HOLD ‘GOOD’, as you can see when you look. I got there only after trying and discarding many other ideas.
5 What has banks in Ireland demanding pound, dubious about euro? (6)
LIFFEY – if not the Shannon, what’s a river in Ireland? L for pound, IFFY about E for euro.
9 Something on a plate? Holds forth presents again (8)
REGRANTS – REG (registration number, or ‘something on a plate’), then RANTS. A strange-looking word, I thought, but it’s in the dictionary.
10 Strong beer, ultimately, with which to fill mug up (6)
STURDY – [bee]R in STUDY (mug up).
12 Female professional backed personnel meeting that handles light regulation (4,9)
IRIS DIAPHRAGM – IRIS is today’s woman. PAID is professional; write it backwards. HR is the rebranded personnel department. AGM is a meeting. DNK the expression – it’s a component for optical devices.
15 “Softly softly” approach at first by copper, that’s refreshing! (5)
CUPPA – CU (copper), PP (softly, softly), A[pproach].
16 Angel abandoning first century cemetery here (9)
ARLINGTON – the first cemetery location I thought of. [d]ARLING, TON.
17 Article Catholic’s perhaps written about United States (9)
ANNOUNCES – AN (article), NON-CE’S (Catholic’s, perhaps), written about U[nited]. I do like the need to separate United and States!
19 Asian language fit to contain cipher, mostly (5)
AZERI – A1 (fit, indeed very fit), containing ZER[o].
20 Frenchman who wrote that novel in English once EU goes for? (6,7)
EUGENE IONESCO – (IN E ONCE EU GOES*), ‘novelly’. Once I had I-N-S-O, I vaguely remembered IONESCO. I needed more helpers to guess the first name.
22 Eggs containing good one and one that’s raw (6)
ROOKIE – ROE containing OK and I.
23 Current money primarily going to sick people (8)
MILLRACE – M[oney], ILL, RACE.
25 On huge roundabout no more! (6)
ENOUGH – (ON HUGE*), ‘roundabout’. A nicely disguised anagram.
26 Foreigner needing our monarch’s confident expression of her power? (8)
AMERICAN – I can’t really imagine Her Majesty saying, ‘AM E.R., I CAN’. Hence the question mark, I suppose.

Down
1 Crustacean’s birth camera briefly shot (6,4)
HERMIT CRAB – (BIRTH CAMER-*), ‘shot’.
2 To get protection from cold, slowly follow one inside (3)
LAG – not one, not two, but three definitions! Lagging pipes, lagging behind, or an old lag.
3 Piano and sound system providing pop for mum? (7)
GRANDPA – GRAND (piano), P.A. (sound system).
4 Winning over jolly, round fellow in black cape (12)
OUTBALANCING – OUTING (a jolly), around B (black) + ALAN + C (cape).
6 Happening to need tip after missing hot shower (2,5)
IN TRAIN – ’INT (hint, missing h for hot), RAIN.
7 Ancestors: kind, accommodating people, finally at rest (11)
FOREMOTHERS – FORM (kind, as in ‘a kind of whatever’), ‘accommodating’ E from [peopl]e, then OTHERS (rest).
8 Show inconsistency regularly displayed by polygon (2-2)
YO-YO – every second letter of by polygon.
11 Lack of sophistication in ship limits manoeuvring (12)
PHILISTINISM – (IN SHIP LIMITS*), ‘manoeuvring’. The definition doesn’t seem to me to capture the essence of the word.
13 Melancholy character of writer — in one line old wounds recalled (2,9)
IL PENSEROSO – PEN (writer), in I L (line) SEROSA (O[ld] SORES, ‘recalled’).
14 Fool upset about extreme poem from Australia? (10)
ANTIPODEAN – NANA ‘upset’ around TIP ODE.
18 Mounting unease, perhaps initially: condition of course attached (7)
UPGOING – UP FROM U[pset] P[erhaps], then GOING (condition of [race]course).
19 Cancel a run round (7)
ANNULAR – ANNUL, A, R (run).
21 Elder for one hour shunning a crowd? (4)
TREE – T[H]REE, shunning H for hour.
24 Discharge from rescue vessel in sound (3)
ARC – sounds like ARK.

23 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27528 – Saturday, 07 December 2019. Three’s a crowd.”

  1. That was the hardest puzzle I can remember since my early days in 2002/3.
    Thank you, Bruce for REGRANTS, ARLINGTON, ANNOUNCES, EUGENE IONESCO, OUTBALANCING and FOREMOTHERS.
    IL PENSEROSO and EUGENE IONESCO? Goodness me!
      1. My time was a false one, really, as I had to use aids in some places, but I see I wasn’t alone.
        Yes, this week’s was a lot easier!
  2. I was just over the hour on this, but needed an aid for IRIS DIAPHRAGM. I did know EUGENE IONESCO. He was name-checked by our English master Peg-leg Wakefield when we read Pirandello in our third year at grammar school, an absurdly avant-garde diversion from the usual Shakespeare, and was also regularly name-dropped in the pages of the Manchester Guardian back then. I think Michael Frayn was the worst culprit. We didn’t do any John Milton though, but I did know of IL PENSEROSO from later life. LOI and COD was TREE, parsed on the train on the way to the George. A tough challenge. Thank you B and setter.
  3. Very hard, and I used aids for the melancholy character and OUTBALANCING.

    I missed the possibility of a hyphen when parsing 17ac and thought that the setter was casting aspersions on the morals of our Catholic cousins, although unfortunately that wouldn’t have been entirely out of place with reference to some of the priesthood.

    Edited at 2019-12-14 07:47 am (UTC)

  4. ….before I finally saw this off. I’m glad I didn’t try it until Monday, as it would have sent me into the Championship a gibbering wreck !

    Six clues in before I started, I biffed IRIS DIAPHRAGM on the “what else could it be ?” principle, puzzled over EUGENE IONESCO actually being Romanian before twigging that he wrote in French, biffed “Islington” and wondered what was remarkable about its cemetery, and was puzzled until parsing it later as to why Catholics were “nonces”.

    So much clever stuff going on – HOLD GOOD was inspired, as was the triple definition of LAG, but the one that made me chuckle got my COD.

    FOI CUPPA
    LOI OUTBALANCING
    COD AMERICAN
    TIME 26:20

  5. I only occasionally try the Sat Times and I am happy if I get about two thirds solved, content if I get half solved and ecstatic if I get it all solved. This was a miserable barely got underway. Regrants, iris diaphragm , eugene ionesco and il penseroso were ones I would never have got.
    Thanks for explanations.
  6. 1hr 9mins. Like Phil I was glad I didn’t tackle this last Saturday morning and had to avoid looking and listening while astovilla1 and boltonwanderer were discussing it in The George. Even Verlaine mentioned it was tough. IL PESEROSO unknown but derived from the wordplay. An uncomprehending ISLINGTON for 16A at first didn’t help and I had to look up the author’s first name. But satisfying to complete all correctly in the end. COD to HOLD GOOD. Thanks Bruce and Setter.
  7. I studied L’Allegro and Il Penseroso for English Lit O Level, so that wasn’t too long in coming, but the rest of the puzzle was a swim through treacle with copious use of aids to finish in 78:25. Too much of a chore for me. I managed EUGENE but needed help to correct my biffed INNESCO. OUTBALANCING is really a word?? Lots of abstruseness I felt. Oh well I hope today’s is more mainstream. Thanks setter and Bruce.
    1. I was the Higgs to your boson, managing IONESCO but flummoxed by the EUGENE.

      Edited at 2019-12-14 11:25 am (UTC)

  8. I’ve read quite a bit of Milton, but have failed to memorise his major works, so that one caught me out. The IRIS whatnot was way beyond ken and I’m pretty sure I cheated to get OUTBALANCING. So, definitely in the Mighty Verlaine’s camp on this one.

    Lovely image of Villa and Wanderers going at it in the George. Obviously, the former was on claret, but the latter? Do they make a drink from mushy peas, I wonder, Podka?

    Edited at 2019-12-14 11:25 am (UTC)

        1. Fear not, I’m going to serve my smoky barbecued ribs on a bed of mushy peas and wash it all down with a McGuigan Shiraz right now:-)
    2. I was drinking Rioja, produced from Tempranillo grapes harvested from the gentle slopes of Rivington Pike.
  9. I found this one tough with a capital T and was plugging away at it on and off for the best part of 2 hours. Still needed aids to get the NHO iris diaphragm. Knew the Milton poem and had heard of the writer who sounds like a specialised agency of the UN. I see he was clued slightly differently in the print version:

    Once seeing wandering in Brussels old French writer (6,7)

    Some excellent clues. Really liked the triple definition at 2dn and the pop for mum definition in 3dn. Lots of others too.

  10. Rather late coming here today as I have been to St Anne’s on the Sea via Preston.
    A contrast to last Saturday when I had solved seven of these clues before heading to The George. This puzzle had looked very difficult to me and experienced solvers there said it was a brute or a stinker, the two words we seem to have devised for these things.
    Happily the strong beer with which I filled my mug meant I never returned to the torture of the remaining 23 clues.
    David
  11. I found this really hard but did manage to finish eventually in 57 minutes – though it felt like a couple of hours. I’ve never heard of the the IRIS DIAPHRAGM but what else could it be? And I can’t say I’ve actually heard of FOREMOTHERS but after discounting “forefathers” there was little alternative – but I couldn’t parse it. It helped that I had done IL PENSEROSO for O level in 1956. Ann
  12. The last word by a long shot! And wrong at that. Spent ages looking for a musical term meaning “ to play with a melancholy character” “ in piacevolo“ sounded right, but means the opposite unfortunately. So “ in pensecolo “ went in after 63 mins . Biffing 15a as ISLINGTON didn’t help, until Arlington was outbalanced by 4d. We’re a bit penseroso about the whole thing.

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