Times Cryptic No 27762 – Saturday, 5 September 2020. Put a sock in it!

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This was a smooth solve, with quite a few cluing devices that will be familiar to experienced solvers but may challenge newer hands. I am always amused by the use of “Oxford” in the style of 2dn – hence my headline. I most liked 21ac, with style points for 10ac. My last few in were 15ac, 23ac and 12dn. 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 Radiant internet user’s letter? (8)
EMISSIVE – do we use E-MAIL to send an E-MISSIVE?
5 Some turned a Cranach over in gallery (6)
ARCADE – backwards hidden answer.
8 A business, one that’s going to shrink (10)
CONTRACTOR – double definition, the second jocular.
9 Scruff‘s threads close to threadbare (4)
NAPE – NAP or “threads”, followed by the E at the end of “threadbare”.
10 Theatrical endeavours giving rise to star? (10,4)
PERFORMING ARTS – the answer is a cryptic clue for STAR= ‘performing’ (anagram of) ARTS.
11 See enigma’s first code is getting cracked (7)
DIOCESE – anagram (‘cracked’) of E CODE IS, where the E is the first letter of Enigma.
13 Come before king during sports meeting (7)
PREDATE – R=king in PE=sports, then DATE=meet.
15 Reversing car, took in fuel to burn (7)
CREMATE – I couldn’t do anything with this until I followed Mrs. B’s usual advice, to write it backwards! The car is a MERC, which backwards gives CREM. ATE=took in fuel.
18 More than one holding tablet speaks (7)
ESTATES – E is the crossword setter’s tablet of choice. STATES=speaks.
21 Dishonest wife married in buff: an ominous sight, in the main (6,8)
FLYING DUTCHMAN – LYING=dishonest. DUTCH=wife in CRS. M=married. Put all that in FAN=cooler buff.
22 Dip doughnut in pudding ingredient (4)
SAGO – SAG=dip. O=doughnut.
23 Paid to follow card game (10)
CLUBFOOTED – CLUB=card. FOOTED=paid. It took a while to think of this meaning of “game”.
24 Record-breaking European is to toughen up (6)
ANNEAL – E=European ‘breaking’ ANNAL=record. Strangely, it seems annealing can make something either harder or softer. Go figure!
25 Seller sent back bunch of coppers by necessity (8)
PERFORCE – PER=REP=seller, ‘backwards’. FORCE=bunch of coppers.

Down
1 Bolted door’s opening with key, at first (7)
ESCAPED – ESCAPE=the computer key. D=Door’s ‘opening’.
2 Meal not starting with fish one maybe found in Oxford (5,4)
INNER SOLE – {d}INNER is the meal ‘not starting’. SOLE is the fish. ‘Oxford’ here is a shoe, of course.
3 Grasping fellow with arrogance, monsters rising up (7)
SCROOGE – EGO=arrogance, ORCS are the monster. Write them all backwards (‘rising up’ instead of down).
4 Title of volume, one by philosopher (7)
VICOMTE – V=volume, I=one, Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier COMTE was the philosopher.
5 Divine abode’s invaded by soldiers? That’s concerning (2,7)
AS REGARDS – ASGARD’s an abode of gods, from Norse mythology. Insert RE=Royal Engineers.
6 Coin on the far left or in the middle (7)
CENTRED – a CENT is a coin. RED is on the far left.
7 Top side playing for initial sum of money (7)
DEPOSIT – anagram (‘playing’) of TOP SIDE.
12 Very bad day, in a topsy-turvy state (9)
SATANICAL – SAT{urday} is the day. ANI is an anagram (‘topsy-turvy’) of IN A. CAL{ifornia} is the state.
14 Switch around raised vent in measuring instrument (9)
ALTIMETER – ALTER is to switch around. TIME=EMIT (‘vent’) raised.
16 Judge drops old burden (7)
REFRAIN – REF=judge. RAIN=drops. ‘Old’ signals that the definition is an archaic usage.
17 Employ a criminal for a post in village (7)
MAYPOLE – anagram (‘criminal’) of EMPLOY A.
18 Calm, or just losing it (7)
EQUABLE – EQUITABLE, losing IT.
19 I’m disgusted, aristocrat admits, to dress down (4,3)
TICK OFF – ICK=I’m disgusted. Put it in TOFF.
20 One in dire need is lacking a date (4,3)
SINE DIE – I=one in an anagram (‘dire’) of NEED IS.

29 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27762 – Saturday, 5 September 2020. Put a sock in it!”

  1. Had Upper Sole for the part of the shoe, which might not exist, but I was 100% sure was correct, making 1ac and 8ac impossible.
    Oh, well.
    Otherwise some very tricky stuff, really had to think the cryptics through. COD 18ac .
    Thanks Bruce and setter.
  2. I have no time for this one, having forgotten to keep track, but it took a while, I’m sure. FOI NAPE, POI SCROOGE, LOI ALTIMETER. It took me more time than it should have to recall ASGARD, and to think of ICK when I had TOFF. I liked ESTATES, but to state is not necessarily to speak, and to speak is not to state; one could ask a question or give an order, for instance. This is a distinction without a difference, but I took ‘topsy-turvy’ to indicate reversal (in a down clue) not an anagram; I don’t think it would have worked in an across clue.
  3. I had the same problem as Isla with UPPER SOLE at 2dn for far too long. I was also completely convinced it was correct until I realised it had to be something else and thought about it more carefully.
  4. No comment today. My paper along with many others wasn’t delivered last Saturday after action by Extinction Rebellion disrupted the distribution of newspapers from the Murdoch stable.
    1. I suffered the same fate, but solved the puzzle on line. It’s a tricky process on a smartphone, and my time of 24:04 would have been a little quicker on paper. I would also have notes to refer to now. A tough puzzle though, and I didn’t know the philosopher. I do also remember having difficulty in parsing SCROOGE.
    2. Thank you for reminding me why I didn’t recognise any of the answers in the blog. I thought that I was losing the plot (which I am).
  5. I found that very hard; as hard as the Saturday cryptic from two weeks prior.
    Like Isla and Jack I pounced upon (s)UPPER SOLE and only eventually came to realise it was the wrong meal.
    Thanks, Bruce, for parsing REFRAIN and CREMATE. I had to use aids for CREMATE as well as for VICOMTE.
    I was going to have a whinge about ICK as Lexico describes it as “North American” but Collins Online has it as British usage. That saves me from complaining that American usage is creeping in. We had SHORTSTOP recently.
    I’ve given double ticks to PREDATE, CLUBFOOTED, EQUITABLE and SINE DIE with the last named as my COD.

    Edited at 2020-09-12 07:58 am (UTC)

  6. Definitely a toughie. I was also held up by my UPPER SOLE until forced to rethink. I did eventually manage to finish without aids, but it took 58:48. I had to assume the existence of the philosopher. CLUB FOOTED was my LOI. Can’t remember where I started, but it could easily have been UPPER SOLE. Thanks setter and Bruce.
    1. Luckily for me, ‘supper’ is not in my idiolect, aside from the last one. Everyone so far (but the night is young) who went with (s)UPPER is a Brit; but supper/dinner is definitely not a simple UK/US difference. I’d be curious to know who eats what around 7pm.
      1. At home, we usually eat earlier and it’s called TEA. When I was a lad in the late forties and fifties, lunch was a mid-morning snack, also called baggin, dinner was the midday meal, tea as described above and supper a snack before bedtime.

        Edited at 2020-09-12 10:08 am (UTC)

          1. I used to be able to get a fish supper on the way home from the pub after 4 pints of Vaux Silver Tankard. The whole lot cost just under ten bob:-)
              1. As a 13/14 year old I used to get 30/- a week pocket money for helping my Dad in the shop. That would be in 1964/5, so when I was knocking back the beer 4 years later at 1/7 a pint, the daily wage might have been slightly higher than 10/- 🙂 I remember earning 30p per hour working behind the college bar in 1972/73, but that was a labour of love and I was on the Bar Committee and had the keys.
                1. I worked behind the student union bar as well, in 1968-71. I remember Trophy was 1s/10d a pint, Tankard 2s and Youngers Tartan 2s/3d .. but I have no recollection at all of what I was paid!
      2. I usually have my main meal of the day between 5:30 and 7:30 and would class it as a dinner, but maybe call it my tea if I ate it at the earlier end of that window or dinner at the later end. Supper would be just before bedtime. A midday meal would be lunch, but I rarely eat lunch as I’m not an early riser and have my breakfast late morning.
        2. It occurs to me that I never have dinner at all, except (very) occasionally when in evening dress and expecting speeches. Otherwise it is lunch, tea and supper, except I seldom have tea or supper either, for reasons of waistline
  7. I started this online; then managed to get a physical copy of the paper, my preferred Saturday method.
    Finding a paper was much easier than solving the puzzle.
    FOI ARCADE which got me thinking this might be OK. I solved 12 clues in my first session; but I had seven left at 4.45pm when I knew this was going to be a big DNF.
    No problem with Inner Sole but EMISSIVE ( for Radiant) never occurred to me. VICOMTE and SCROOGE would have helped but they failed to appear.
    A biffed REFEREE at 16d meant the unknown ANNEAL remained unknown. I might have got SAGO with a VAR.
    Was very pleased to get CLUBFOOTED; I’ll make that COD from the ones I solved.
    Very tough. David
  8. This took me well over an hour and I needed to put it away and come back to it a couple of times during the week to resolve everything. I was another who fell into the upper sole error. A tough solve though I think I made things harder for myself over thinking some and under thinking others.
  9. Thanks for the blog, quite a few I didn’t understand this week.

    I’m not sure what you mean by fan=cooler in 21a though. It’s fan/buff as in aficionado isn’t it?

    1. ‘Game’ as in ‘lame’. If one is clubfooted one might be said to have a gammy leg and therefore be ‘game’.

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