Times Cryptic No 27732 – Saturday, 1 August 2020. Feast your eyes on these 7dns.

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This felt like a typical Saturday offering. When solving on paper, I often look at the clues at the bottom of the page first, and so my FOI was 25dn. I didn’t know the reference at 4dn, but I chuckled when I looked it up!  Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle.

Notes for newcomers: The Times offers prizes for Saturday Cryptic Crosswords. This blog is posted a week later, after the competition closes. So, please don’t comment here on the current Saturday Cryptic.

Clues are blue, with definitions underlined. Deletions are in {curly brackets}.

Across
1 In communist land, conservative almost a sitting duck, perhaps (9)
INCUBATOR – IN CUBA, TOR{Y}. A cute definition: the duck is sitting on a clutch of eggs.
6 Holding this to drink in study? (3,2)
MUG UP – double definition, one literal, the second metaphorical.
9 Drawing room? (7)
ATELIER – cryptic definition … rather unsatisfying, I thought, because I saw the answer early on but wasn’t comfortable until the crossing letters confirmed it.
10 In hearing, judiciously consider African country excellent (3,2,2)
WAY TO GO – WAY sounds like WEIGH, TOGO is in Africa.
11 Constant, endless mob in Circle Line (5)
CHORD – C is the constant, HORD{E} is the mob.
12 Dear old husband maybe mulling things over (9)
EXPENSIVE – EX (old husband, maybe), PENSIVE.
14 Become hard, as quiz questions are? (3)
SET – double definition.
15 Improbable promise of high tea? (3,2,3,3)
PIE IN THE SKY – we’ve seen this idea recently. Now as then, people may question how likely airline food is to feature pies!
17 Seriously engage old aeroplane with no luggage (4,2,5)
COME TO GRIPS – COMET, O, GRIPS. Apparently, the de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world’s first commercial jet airliner.
19 His poetry no-go, his prose uneven? (3)
POE – two forms of wordplay: the odd/uneven letters of P-r-O-s-E, or dropping TRY (go) from POE{TRY}; and a literal definition which seems a rather unkind assessment of his writings!
20 Paid for part of education, covered by two features of card (7,2)
CHIPPED IN – credit cards feature a CHIP and a PIN. Let them cover ED.
22 Gas is round precinct (5)
OZONE – O (round), ZONE (precinct).
24 Like the M25, said to have got built in at intervals (7)
ORBITAL – again, take the odd letters, this time of B-u-I-l-T, and put them in ORAL.
26 Rabbit is more carefree (7)
BLITHER – two definitions: a verb  pronounced with a short I and meaning ‘talk nonsense’, the other an adjective with a long I meaning ‘happier’.

I struggled with the first definition, because I could only think of BLATHER, but the dictionary says BLATHER, BLITHER and BLETHER are all variants of the same word! I took some reassurance from the expression blithering idiot.

27 One appearing in Wagner partial to Bayreuth agent (5)
HAGEN – hidden answer. I didn’t know the character, but he appears in Götterdämmerung, the fourth and last of Wagner’s Ring cycle.
28 From a foreign capital, your biscuit (9)
ABERNETHY – A BERNE, THY. Thank you, setter, for spelling this out!

Down
1 One article put in bag, not the last for boy (5)
ISAAC – I (one), then A (article) put in SAC{K}.
2 Smoke rings in rock (7)
CHEROOT – OO (rings) in CHERT.
3 Secures trophy, pocketing pounds? I can’t see it (5,4)
BLIND SPOT – BINDS, POT ‘securing’ L (pounds).
4 The race of Man? (5-6)
THREE-LEGGED – a cryptic definition, with reference to the flag of the Isle of Man. Cute!
5 Top of hill, not the first in series (3)
ROW – BROW, without its first.
6 Old Mexican’s refusal in the morning to get up (5)
MAYAN – NAY in the AM, all needing to “get up” backwards.
7 Guinea’s principal parrots are beauties (7)
GLORIES – G{UINEA}, LORIES. Lorrikeets I know, LORIES I don’t, but apparently they are related.
8 Convert polyester into a new form (9)
PROSELYTE – anagram of POLYESTER. I assumed ‘convert’ was the anagram indicator as I shoved this in, but no … it’s the definition, and ‘new form’ is the indicator.
13 Writers on island puffed endlessly, entitled to payment (11)
PENSIONABLE – PENS (writers), IONA (island), BLE{W} endlessly.
14 Drop brainless type at end of match that may precede Ashes (9)
SACKCLOTH – SACK (drop … a cricketer perhaps). CLOT, {MATC}H. I liked the definition, referring to ‘sackcloth and ashes’!
16 Scholar may disappear into thin air: so? (9)
HISTORIAN – anagram of THIN AIR SO. ‘May disappear into’ is a very unusual anagram indicator.
18 Result once of the functioning of the Dartmoor sewers (7)
MAILBAG – cryptic definition. Apparently prisoners in Dartmoor Prison used to sew mailbags.
19 Support the mad OT character (7)
PROPHET – PROP (support), anagram of THE.
21 Head needs name plate (5)
PATEN – PATE (head), N{ame}.
23 Like an aristocrat, could one say, ahead of his time? (5)
EARLY – an Earl might at a stretch be described as earl-y? We had a pun on earl-y only a few months ago.
25 Tragic character (not Romeo!) that’s slowly trampled by the herd (3)
LEA – LEA{R} is of course the character. The definition refers to Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard:

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

26 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27732 – Saturday, 1 August 2020. Feast your eyes on these 7dns.”

  2. DNK ABERNETHY, but the wordplay left no doubt. Didn’t know that the M25 was an orbital, but I did know ORBITAL. And I didn’t know the connection to the IOM. COD to MAILBAG or ORBITAL.
  3. A slow time, even for me, so I think I must have had a snooze half way through. I didn’t know the ‘rock’ at 2d, the ‘biscuit’ or ‘One appearing in Wagner’ so did as instructed by wordplay for each. I liked the references to the triskele in 4d – nothing to do with the TT as we were presumably meant to think – and to “Elegy…” in 25d.
  4. Enjoyable. I seem to have missed all my life that ‘way to go’ is an expression meaning ‘excellent’, in fact I didn’t know it as a particular expression at all other than one might say something that’s not yet complete has ‘some way to go’. Also, whilst not having a problem with BLITHER, I wondered if ‘rabbit’ (as in ‘rabbit and pork’ = ‘talk’) has quite the same meaning. Blithering is talking nonsense whereas ‘rabbit’ is talking loquaciously, but not necessarily nonsense.

    I didn’t get the Grey’s Elegy reference at 25dn, so thanks for that, Bruce, as it explains the presence of ‘slowly’ which had puzzled me, and the rest of the definition which had seemed a bit odd anyway.

    1. I suppose this is an Americanism–never thought about it one way or the other, but it’s been part of my vocabulary for decades. I’ve always assumed that it’s “[That is the] way to go”=”Well done!”
      1. Yes – Chambers and Oxford both have it as American. It feels to me like a relatively recent usage, or is that just a sign of how long it used to take for Americanisms to reach the outside world?
          1. Ah yes, but if “relatively recent” means “not in use when I was young”, that still leaves you many decades to play with!
      2. In that circumstance I’d be more likely to echo Mr Punch’s catchphrase: “That’s the way to do it!”.
    2. In the film “Top Gun” I seem to remember that when Tom Cruise turns up in full dress uniform to carry away his lady love, one of her colleagues yells out “way to go!”
      1. I rather think that was An Officer and a Gentleman, and therefore Richards Gere. Way to go!
        1. You’re quite right, Z! Wrong film, wrong actor! But apart from that….
          Salvador Dali painted a work called “The Persistence of Memory” which featured some floppy watches. My memory appears to be as floppy as those watches.
  5. A solid effort… nice to see a mention of the pioneering Comet aircraft. Not many realise that it carried on flying until the late 1990s, and in fact until 2011 in its military Nimrod configuration.
    Speaking of prizes, I notice that the prize for this crossword is now a Waterstones voucher .. when I won last year it was a WH Smith voucher. Wonder when it changed. Still only a measly £20 though 🙂
  6. Having studied it for “O” Level English Literature in the early 60’s, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is by Thomas GRAY. I suppose it’s another dodgy homophone !

    My mother used to buy Rich ABERNETHY biscuits in those days. They were a little posher than Rich Tea. I had to make sure she wasn’t watching if I wanted to dunk one.

    DNK HAGEN alas, nor “chert” (although I used to enjoy the occasional CHEROOT).

    FOI SET
    LOI HISTORIAN
    COD POE
    TIME 12:13

  7. No problems with this, the only two bits of unknown knowledge, CHERT and HAGEN, clear from their clues. I haven’t written a time down, but I think it was about the half hour. I’m going to have more problems this morning though. The newsagent has delivered the Telegraph. He must think I’m getting too old for The Times. Another curfew tolling the knell of parting day.
  8. I thought this was a tricky puzzle but with some excellent clues. Like Bruce, I don’t know ‘Lories’ but I do know Lorikeets; cocky little things that strut around and boss larger birds such as Rosellas.
    Ah! The Comet. Flew as a passenger on them many times. The airline I worked for at Gatwick during the 1970s, BEA, Later British, Airtours operated them.
    I liked the fact that ‘communist’ in 1ac didn’t indicate red.
    I thought ORBITAL was really good but my COD today goes to PENSIONABLE. For once, ‘island’ did not clue just ‘i’.
    Re 15ac, I have a vague memory of having a pie on Jetstar more than once, Bruce.
  9. I didn’t know the Wagnerian character, but chert did ring a faint bell somehow. Lories were familiar too. Haven’t heard of the biscuits for years, but they did spring to mind. I spent quite some time trying to shoehorn the TT races into 4d, but enlightenment duly arrived. Loved INCUBATOR. CHORD was my LOI after much cogitation. Nice puzzle. 22:13. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  10. I’d also like to thank the setter for spelling out the biscuit but unfortunately I can’t, possibly because on the rare occasions when I’ve needed to refer to one I’ve pronounced it with an A, or more precisely, 2.
  11. 16:46, but put the missing letters for 8D in the wrong order (PROLETYSE)and forgot to check. DNK BLITHER was an alternative to BLETHER, although my Dad sued to use the phrase “blithering idiots”. Lots of approving ticks on my copy. I liked SACKCLOTH and THREE-LEGGED but COD to INCUBATOR for the surface.
  12. This was my holiday treat so I had plenty of time to devote to it. And I did, but still failed to get a number of clues of which Abernethy took the biscuit.
    DNK BLITHER and I did not have enough time to reach PENSIONABLE age. Finally failed to chip in which professional golfers do frequently.
    Enjoyed the rest of it with Hagen and Chert unknown to me as well.
    David
  13. 51:34 I had a torrid time with this one, it took me ages and I got a bit fed up and frustrated with it. At 17ac dnk but could guess the old aeroplane, dnk and had to take on trust that grips meant luggage, the resulting expression felt like it was missing a preposition, I think I would usually say “get to grips with” rather than “come to grips”. Dnk but could guess the character from Gotterdammer-wotsit. Dnk the biscuits and struggled to work them out. Had no idea why the race of man was three legged could only think of Oedipus Rex and the riddle of the Sphinx so got there for the wrong reason. Dnk paten. All in all too many questions and uncertainties for me to really enjoy. I thought the clue for Poe was neat though.
  14. 15:23. A few completely unknown words in this: CHERT, HAGEN, ABERNETHY.
    I was puzzled by 4dn: I got the reference to the flag (the setter could have used Sicily too but that would have rather spoiled thee effect!) but couldn’t really see the cryptic logic of the clue. I think you just have to squint a bit.
    I also don’t get the supposed reference to Gray’s Elegy. How does ‘trampled’ come into it? I’m probably just being too literal again but if this is what’s intended it seems very loose. If you’re going to quote poetry, quote it!

    Edited at 2020-08-08 11:45 am (UTC)

    1. “We’ve still got a long way,
      we’ve still got a long WAY TO GO”

      Gerry Rafferty : “Days Gone Down”

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