Times Cryptic No 27774 – Saturday, 19 September 2020. Another Pleasant Puzzle Saturday.

Author   branchPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
My better half and I agreed this week that the daily sudoku puzzles in our morning paper seem to be getting easier. Is it a coronavirus thing? In similar vein, it’s been quite a while since the Saturday crossword has been a stinker. Happily this wasn’t the week that changed! Still, there was much to like. I particularly enjoyed the choice of anagram indicator at 10ac. 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 Most boisterous wife longs to break mould (8)
ROWDIEST – W for wife and DIES for longs, breaking ROT for mould.
5 Chicken a little tough (6)
BANTAM – a double definition, the second relating to a small, aggressive person.
10 Fan must start in line to see player (15)
INSTRUMENTALIST – anagram of MUST START IN LINE. The anagram is indicated by ‘fan’, as in fanning a deck of cards perhaps. I loved it!!
11 Welcome the writer coming back to stay (7)
EMBRACE – ME ‘coming back’, then BRACE.
12 Zeppelin songs extremely cool (7)
AIRSHIP – AIRS for songs, then HIP for cool.
13 Easiest one to crack in my view (2,1,3,2)
AS I SEE IT – anagram (‘to crack’) of EASIEST plus I for one.
15 Saw to test on vehicle in front (5)
MOTTO – TO (second word of the clue) with MOT (test on vehicle) in front.
18 Keeper having depressing experience first dropped (5)
OWNER – the depressing experience was a DOWNER.
20 African alien hides pain, meeting Scotsman (8)
EGYPTIAN – ET, the alien, hides GYP being the pain, then IAN, the Scotsman. This meaning of ‘gyp’ is not familiar to me, but common in England I gather.
23 Italian inventor has brandy on island (7)
MARCONI – MARC brandy, ON, I for island.
25 Spend penny — allowed to go in river (7)
DEPLETE – P for penny and LET for allowed in the river DEE.
26 Time aboard cosy starship is working for scientists (15)
ASTROPHYSICISTS – anagram (working) COSY STARSHIP IS, with T for time aboard.
27 Current that reverses around one Polynesian paradise (6)
TAHITI – I for current, then THAT, all reversed and around I for one.
28 During travels notice region centred on Delos (8)
CYCLADES – AD or notice, in CYCLES or travels. Is it only me, or does this answer sound like a constellation?

Down
1 Attacker one helping to support Resistance (6)
RAIDER – AIDER supporting R for electrical resistance.
2 Hard black blocks used to be bad for fitting (4-5)
WASH-BASIN – H and B in (‘blocking’) WAS A SIN.
3 Progress initially awkward coming into trendy bars (7)
INROADS – A from awkward ‘initially’ in IN (trendy) RODS (bars).
4 Million taken in an unspecified battle (5)
SOMME – M for million in SOME.
6 This might make soccer player score, leap, cry (7)
ANAGRAM – a definition by example, since SCORE LEAP CRY is an anagram of SOCCER PLAYER. Obvious once you see it, but hard to see!
7 Sort of cross having wasted chicken portion? (5)
THIGH – T is the letter you traditionally cross after dotting your Is; then HIGH as in wasted.
8 Symbolic form amazingly apt in revamped Homer (8)
METAPHOR – anagram of APT (amazingly), in an anagram of HOMER (revamped).
9 Child tracks men on foot (8)
INFANTRY – INFANT=child, RY=railway tracks.
14 Sense agreement amongst rowing crew (8)
EYESIGHT – YES amongst EIGHT.
16 Bridged river that’s risen about metre (9)
TRAVERSED – river DART ‘risen’ to give TRAD, about VERSE=poetic metre.
17 Line up male actors in beach formation (8)
WORMCAST – ROW=line ‘up’, to give WOR, M=male, CAST=actors.
19 Rook loves hawk to destroy totally (4,3)
ROOT OUT – R=rook, O+O=two loves, TOUT=hawk.
21 Interesting now hot Romeo coming out (7)
TOPICAL – T{R}OPICAL, minus R=Romeo.
22 Against hoovers using bags (6)
VERSUS – hidden (bagged) in hooVERS USing,
24 Scoundrel giving up whiskey shows strain (5)
RETCH – {w}RETCH=scoundrel.
25 Attractive little girl reticent (5)
DISHY – DI is the girl, she’s SHY.

20 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27774 – Saturday, 19 September 2020. Another Pleasant Puzzle Saturday.”

  1. ….but never thought of them as cool. If you’ve never heard “When the Levée Breaks” through headphones you should try it. You may wish to tie yourself to the chair. I’m told that a spliff enhances the experience, but obviously can’t confirm that.

    Once I’d stopped wondering whether 7D was a hidden, and “tedch” was some obscure Cyrillic symbol, I got through with no dramas.

    FOI AIRSHIP
    LOI WASH-BASIN
    COD WORMCAST
    TIME 10:28

  2. I never did twig to ‘Fan’, and just biffed INSTRUMENTALIST. Isn’t ‘Zeppelin’ a DBE? Not that I really care. I took ‘sort of cross’ to be a T, a tau cross; I don’t see how the letter t could itself be called a cross because one crosses it.
    1. Zeppelin is defined in Chambers as “a dirigible, cigar-shaped airship of the type designed by the German aviation pioneer Count Zeppelin” so I guess that makes it a synonym rather than a DBE, not that I care either!
  3. Thanks, Bruce, particularly for clearing up the queries I had with WASH BASIN, INROADS, THIGH AND WORMCAST. When I figured out that the definition required in 7d was ‘chicken portion’ it had to be THIGH but I couldn’t parse it.
    My notes say “Fairly straightforward but…” A week on and I have no idea what I meant by “but….”
    I agree with you about 10ac. Again quoting my notes I wrote “clever anagram indicator”.
    I toyed with ERITREAN for a while in 20ac and it took me ages to see VERSUS and ANAGRAM.
    LOI was WORMCAST and COD was INSTRUMENTALIST because of the use of ‘fan’.
    I agree with Kevin. I have no issues with DBEs
  4. Astronowt will be pleased by 26a, but not by the ornithological NE.
    6d was LOI- I saw that ANAGRAM would fit , but didn’t see how it worked for some time. Doh! Lovely clue.
    All green in 23:33
  5. …Wanderers don’t score, so I don’t leap, but I’m crying inwardly. I solved this quickly for a Saturday in about quarter of an hour. LOIs were the BANTAM/THIGH crossers. COD to the clever ANAGRAM. A pleasant puzzle. Thank you B and setter.
  6. 29 minutes. I didn’t actually know CYCLADES as a region centred on Delos but the wordplay was helpful.

    Not that DBE’s bother me unduly these days anyway (though I still point them out in my blogs) but I see Zeppelin / AIRSHIP as synonymous in general terms like Hoover and vacuum cleaner. Zeppelin himself and the company he founded were pioneers in the field.

    Edited at 2020-09-26 05:54 am (UTC)

  7. My FOI was ROWDIEST and LOI, CYCLADES, although I went back to THIGH and managed to parse it before submitting. Nice puzzle. 25:21. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  8. A quick run through in 14.25, but I liked having two 15 letter words well clued with anagrams, and WORMCAST was decent.
    I think Kevin’s right about the Tau/T cross, probably a more authentic shape than the version seen on rood screens everywhere.
  9. About 45mins today so around average for me. Loved the ZEP clue too. Great band. I actually thought they were quite hip at the time. Despite what Ginger Baker said about him, I thought John Bonham was a great Drummer. RIP. Liked the ANAGRAM clue too. Took me a while to see it. Thanks for the élucidation of THIGH B, never did parse it. Thank you setter and BRNCHN as ever.
  13. As a relative newbie trying to progress from the world of the QC to the 15×15, I always appreciate when I get a nudge that the main crossword is approachable each day.

    On a similar vein, if anyone is interested, today’s Listener is very approachable even for a beginner like me!

  15. at 7ac – what a dreadfully bastardised clue! I parsed it but left it to the end in protest.

    FOI 12ac AIRSHIP I once travelled on a train to London from Brum with Robert Plant in the buffet-car – terribly nice chap – lousy beer.

    COD 6dn ANAGRAM

    WOD 28ac CYCLADES

    Time 34 mins.

    Edited at 2020-09-26 04:27 pm (UTC)

  17. 7:41. No probs. ‘Zeppelin’ for AIRSHIP is one of those cases where the equivalence is easier to spot in the DBE direction than the other way. Like ‘Old MacDonald’.

Comments are closed.