Times Cryptic No 27756 – Saturday, 29 August 2020. Never a dull clue.

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In spite of the setter’s self-deprecation in 5ac and 10ac, this was a very entertaining puzzle. The five double definitions really stood out. At first sight, I thought a couple of other clues were DDs too, but the discipline of writing the blog cleared out that fallacy! 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 Journalist twisted short question (7)
DEBRIEF – DE=ED twisted, BRIEF=short.
5 Lack of interest in wine in time of prosperity (7)
BOREDOM – RED=wine in BOOM=time of prosperity.
9 Make-up neophyte smeared onto lip, finally (9)
PHENOTYPE – P={LI}P, finally, followed by (smeared) anagram of NEOPHYTE. I didn’t realise what the definition meant until I solved the anagram!
10 Tense — as lines may be? (5)
DRAWN – double definition no. 1.
11 Train or bus (5)
COACH – double definition no. 2.
12 Moving of one near US base (9)
NEFARIOUS – (moving) anagram of: OF I(=one) NEAR US.
14 Communications agreement (14)
CORRESPONDENCE – double definition no. 3.
17 According to the circumstances, open or closed? (2,3,4,3,2)
AS THE CASE MAY BE – double definition no. 4.
21 Two things put on six of diamonds? (9)
SHORTSTOP – on a baseball diamond, the shortstop position is number 6. SHORTS and a TOP are two things one might put on, although not necessarily to play major league baseball, which involves long pants, often tucked into one’s socks.
23 Escape scalpel, operation being mostly unnecessary (5)
ELOPE – answer hidden in {scalp}EL OPE{ration}.
24 Shift horse’s strap that’s trimmed at the front (5)
ALTER – {H}ALTER, trimmed.
25 Something opened inviting nervous dentist initially to prod canine (3,6)
BOW WINDOW – IND=first letters of ‘inviting nervous dentist’. IND ‘prods’ BOWWOW=dog=canine.
26 Wader: free paw poking fish (7)
LAPWING – (free) anagram of PAW ‘poking’ LING=fish.
27 Dope entering battle, forgetting the first rule (7)
REGENCY – GEN=dope ‘entering’ {C}RECY. The Battle of Crecy, 1346.

Down
1 Case of dramatist hosting great show (6)
DEPICT – DT=the case of D{ramatis}T. It ‘hosts’ EPIC=great.
2 Standing up below worker, Scandinavian monarch cross (7)
BEEFALO – BEE=worker. FALO=OLAF standing up.
3 Press hack, for example, loco! (4,5)
IRON HORSE – IRON=press, HORSE=hack, for example.
4 Wonderful first part, second parts pie in the sky? (6,5)
FLYING START – S=second ‘parts’ a FLYING TART=pie in the sky. Ho ho.
5 Extra final word? (3)
BYE – double definition no. 5.
6 Finding method actors, head for rehearsal (5)
RADAR – RADA=the home of aspiring actors, R=head of R{ehearsal}.
7 Heart of stone in witch, bully (7)
DRAGOON – O=the heart/centre of stone. Put it in DRAGON=witch.
8 Title restricting popular politician (8)
MINISTER – MISTER is a title. Here it ‘restricts’ IN=popular.
13 What might once have inspired peaceful protest? Blood, for example, might (6,5)
FLOWER POWER – blood is a example of a FLOWER=thing that flows. POWER=MIGHT. Ah, the swinging sixties!
15 Very loud fan shortly needing to be repaired (9)
DEAFENING – (to be repaired) anagram of FA{n} NEEDING.
16 US post-war planner, name associated with war lobby (8)
MARSHALL – MARS=the god of war. HALL=lobby. The Marshall Plan, named after U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall, supported the reconstruction of Europe after world War II.
18 After tango, domesticated pig up for a dance! (3-4)
TWO-STEP – T=TANGO in the NATO alphabet. WOSTEP =PET SOW, ‘up’ since this is a down clue.
19 Open up mountain accessed by lane (7)
BROADEN – ROAD in BEN.
20 General direction for play (6)
LEEWAY –Robert E. LEE was a Confederate General. He’s getting bad press in these days of the Black Lives Matter movement. WAY=direction. The definition is ‘play’ in the sense of ‘room to move’.
22 Bones sailor found on ship, oddly (5)
TARSI – TAR on the first and third letters of S-h-I-p.
25 Generous wedge served up (3)
BIG – yes, I checked: a GIB is a wedge: ‘a plain or notched, often wedge-shaped piece of wood or metal designed to hold parts of a machine or structure in place or provide a bearing surface, usually adjusted by a screw or key.’

29 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27756 – Saturday, 29 August 2020. Never a dull clue.”

  1. No problems, although I didn’t know GIB; but then I didn’t need to, did I? Lee was, not to put too fine a point on it, a traitor; the ‘bad press’ is rather late in coming. I was really surprised at SHORTSTOP appearing; there are plenty of American baseball fans who don’t know of the numbering.
      1. Which, if you didn’t know that the positions are numbered–I,for one, certainly didn’t until well into adulthood– wouldn’t be much of a help. Not to mention that they don’t play baseball much in the UK.
  2. Enjoyed the BOW WINDOW. SHORTSTOP went straight in (probably thanks to the influence of ‘Paul in London’).
  3. I didn’t know “gib” either.
    This tiny word may have been my LOI.

    Edited at 2020-09-05 05:19 am (UTC)

  4. ….my copy of this puzzle, so only brief notes here. I realised that there was a baseball clue there pretty quickly, but toyed for a while with “short slip” before the truth dawned. Didn’t know the meaning of GIB.

    COD MARSHALL
    TIME about 10:10 from memory.

  5. …but a slow finish. Took 41 minutes on this, held up by the BEEFALO/PHENOTYPE crosser. I didn’t know that meaning of GIB either but it sounded more than possible. I got the baseball position with crossers, but of course had no idea what the six was doing there. COD to REGENCY. Decent puzzle Thank you B and setter.
  6. Discovered only on Friday that I had neglected to print and solve this one last weekend, which is a bit odd as I had done the Jumbo. I feel it may not be long now until the men in white coats will be needed!

    So I tackled this eventually with limited solving time available and got through it fairly quickly, but not within target, several of the answers going in with fingers tightly crossed. One I knew that some others didn’t was GIB as ‘wedge’ which I think may just have been something remembered from a previous puzzle.

    1. Good to know I’m not the only one worried by the onset of dementia.
      Unlike everyone else Gib (note the capital G) was no problem for me, knowing the Spanish rock claimed by Uk was wedge-shaped. Easy, and wrong. If gib as a mechanical wedge has appeared before, I’d forgotten it.
      Knew baseball players were numbered, but not what the numbers were. Otherwise, nice puzzle. The parsing of Marshall didn’t ring a bell, seems I’d bifd it from knowing of the plan.
  7. That was more like it…after the previous week’s ‘mare of a puzzle.
    Thank you, Bruce for explaining the parsing of BOW WINDOW and FLYING START. And well done for avoiding the temptation to provide an ‘alternative’ definition of ‘flying tart’.
    My favourites were TWO STEP and LEEWAY.
  8. This was enjoyable. I managed to identify the cut of the unknown GIB; BEEFALO seemed plausible but looked odd.
    Got 13 clues in my first 45 minute session and finished off at 12:15pm with 17a but with GATE and not Case. And I was a short step from SHORTSTOP with SPORTSTOP. Must improve on baseball homework;totally missed that connection.
    Ah well onto today’s puzzle, or possibly not, as my wife has just told me there are no physical papers available locally. Extinction Rebellion being blamed. David
      1. Didn’t think Extinction Rebellion got as far north of London as Cheshunt, where the printing happens.
        1. According to the BBC, distribution from Broxbourne, Knowsley and Motherwell has been disrupted.

          1. Could be problematic: I’m within a couple of hundred yards of the Broxbourne/Cheshunt site this afternoon for a Golden Wedding celebration. ER had better not get in my way!

  9. I tackled this on Saturday evening and solved it largely “top-to-bottom”. Big was my LOI too.

    On Sunday morning, for no very obvious reason, I took a blank sheet of paper and challenged myself to reproduce the completed grid from memory. I managed it, but it wasn’t easy. Curiously, some of the last clues I had solved, in the SE corner, (deafening, broaden, elope) were the hardest to recall.

    I’d be interested to know if anyone else has tried to do this.

  10. 18 or so minutes, so not too taxing. GIB turns up often enough in Scrabble and such: nice to find out what it is other than the big rock.
    I wonder if we’ll ever see another remake of the Dukes of Hazard, with their car emblazoned with the confederate flag and bearing the name Robert E Lee? As likely, perhaps, as the Dambusters remake seemingly held up forever by Guy Gibson’s dog.

    Edited at 2020-09-05 09:46 am (UTC)

  11. I got through this without too much trouble. I saw the baseball reference, although the 6 meant nothing. DEBRIEF was my FOI, and BEEFALO and PHENOTYPE brought up the rear. GIB didn’t seem unlikely so BIG went in without a qualm. An enjoyable 25:52. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  12. For this which I thought was a slightly US-centric crossie, not that I have a problem with that. Recognised that 21ac was a baseball term but only guessed it when I had all the checkers. COD 25 ac BOWWOW indeed! Than you Brian and setter.
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  15. 24:15. I found this straightforward. Gib was unknown but with only the middle letter unchecked it wasn’t too much of a stretch. I found the indirect anagram element (one standing for I) of nefarious a bit off-putting but I’ve seen it plenty of times before. Ironic that I was slow to sort out flying start.
  16. 9:28. No dramas.
    As Kevin says the remarkable thing about Lee is the relative absence of bad press. Many of America’s current problems can be traced back to the fact that the Union never really finished the job properly: John Wilkes Booth has a lot to answer for. Discuss.

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