Times Cryptic No 27828 – Saturday, 21 November 2020. On your marks. Get set. Fizz.

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As a gentle warm-up for the Online Championships, this should have hit the spot perfectly! I hoped those who tried the championship would have fun, though I wouldn’t be one of you! Neither time zone nor ability made it a temptation for me, but in any case, it didn’t happen. Apparently only the dreaded gremlins had success. Next time, we hope!

Meanwhile, this puzzle. It went in smoothly, except for the NE corner, where my early guess that the game might be Nintendo was a hindrance! I enjoyed the geography lesson at 14ac, and the anatomy lesson at 3dn. I didn’t know the noisy bird was noisy, but got the answer regardless. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle. Let’s take a look.

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}. Add your introduction here
Definitions are underlined in italics.

Across
1 100 and too old for insurance protection (8)
COVERAGE – C for 100, then OVER AGE.
9 Game bird returned to new home (8)
NINEPINS – N for new, INS is an old expression for home. (I needed the dictionary to confirm that, to explain where the S came from.) Insert PEN backwards (bird, aka prison). On edit: … or, you can go with Guy’s simpler and more sensible explanation below. Thanks, Guy.
10 For food, consume lamb at last in shopping centre (8)
MEATBALL – EAT is consume. B is lamB “at last”. Put them in MALL.
11 Beginning to assess bad experience, having time to drink (8)
AMARETTO – A is the beginning of “Assess”. MARE is an old expression for a bad experience. (Yes, another trip to the dictionary.) Then T for time, and TO.
12 Torch left burnt residue in passage (10)
FLASHLIGHT – L for left and ASH in FLIGHT.
14 Sebastiano in Piedmont town? On the contrary (4)
ASTI – hidden answer. I didn’t know the town although of course the wine appears regularly in these parts, but the clue is neat!
15 Suggestion husband ignored: discourteous to butt in (7)
INTRUDE – (h)INT, RUDE.
17 One making loud calls from severely cold north (7)
BITTERN – BITTER (severely cold), N. Again, I didn’t realise bitterns are so noisy.
21 Go mad for an alcoholic concoction (4)
FLIP – double definition.
22 Something from flora — and from fauna recalled in secluded spot (10)
CORNFLOWER – the fauna is a WOLF, ‘recalled’. Put it in a CORNER.
23 Writer knocked back one drink at pub, then second (8)
RABELAIS – 1 (one) ALE BAR, all ‘knocked back’, then S for second.
25 See in addition the docked canine (8)
EYETOOTH – EYE, TOO, TH(e).
26 Chance one day to cut stress (8)
ACCIDENT – 1 (one) and D (day), ‘cutting’ ACCENT.
27 This, invariably lethal, used for starters in fight? (8)
STILETTO – T(his) I(nvariably) L(ethal) in SET-TO = fight.
Down
2 Please write down scheme for avoiding partition (4-4)
OPEN-PLAN – O, PEN, PLAN.
3 Muscle former singer used to carry spades (8)
EXTENSOR – EX (former), TENOR ‘carrying’ S for spades.
4 German certainly seen in an unknown Dutch football team (4)
AJAX – JA in A | X.
5 Swell up? Leg near exploded! (7)
ENLARGE – anagram (exploded) of LEG NEAR.
6 Petty criminal appearing as the knife is wielded (5,5)
SNEAK THIEF – anagram (wielded) of AS THE KNIFE.
7 Reluctance shown by girl taking lead from source in government (8)
DISTASTE – DI, then lead from S(ource) in STATE.
8 Privileged pupil engages southern citizen (8)
ESTONIAN – ETONIAN ‘engages’ S.
13 Boy curtailed shout with man entering part of cathedral? (4,6)
LADY CHAPEL – LAD, then CHAP entering YEL(l).
15 Wicked inside where tango gives way to foxtrot (8)
INFERNAL – INTERNAL, with an F replacing the T.
16 Jam blind mouse would have liked? (8)
TAILBACK – ho, ho. Need we explain?
18 Barsetshire writer to wallow in drink (8)
TROLLOPE – ROLL in TOPE.
19 Informer stopped by those working for Resistance (8)
RHEOSTAT – RAT ‘stopped’ by anagram (working) of THOSE.
20 System controls pressure on events at Wimbledon (7)
PRESETS – P, RE, SETS.
24 Judge almost correct: one would use laser sword (4)
JEDI – J, EDI(t).

35 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27828 – Saturday, 21 November 2020. On your marks. Get set. Fizz.”

  1. SNIPE is the bird, and then N(ew) and IN are also going back.
    This uses both “I”s, as the blogger’s explanation did not.

    Edited at 2020-11-28 01:06 am (UTC)

  2. For some reason I have no notes on this; even had to look up my time. ‘Barsetshire writer’ rather a gimme.
      1. Well, I know the names of most of them–many of them–the problem usually being that I don’t know what’s to be found inside them.
  3. No problems with this one except I had trouble parsing STILETTO. My interpretation of NINEPINS is the same as Guy’s.
    COD to TAILBACK as it made me laugh.
    Thanks, as ever, Bruce.
  4. Didn’t find it the gentle stroll our blogger did, or know who or what or where Barsetshire was. Had trouble in the SE: Jedi the only one in there for a long time, and I’ve never seen a star wars movie. Eventually spotted a few, reverse engineered to get the cryptic, and done.
    Mare known as a modern usage short for nightmare, usually sportsman interviewed after a disastrous performance: “I had a bit of a ‘mare out there today.”
  5. Isla, you sound rather proud of never seeing a Star Wars movie!? So how then did you manage to pop-in Jedi!? Have you seen or heard of ‘Briarpatch’, ‘Hairspray’, Breaking Bad’, ‘Little Dorrit’? I have never seen the ‘Teletubbies’ but I wouldn’t dare tell a soul!

    FOI 1ac COVERAGE

    LOI 14ac ASTI

    COD 27ac STILETTO

    WOD 23ac RABELAIS

    I once had the pleasure of meeting Lady Chapel-Hatpeg at a ‘well-dressing’ near Matlock.

    Time 40 minutes.

    1. Every 5 years the Australian census finds that a large minority claim their religion to be Jedi. Aside from the fact that star wars is a mass-cultural behemoth it’s impossible to be entirely ignorant of, unlike say Trollope’s literature.
  6. Thanks brnchn. An easy solve for me which didn’t fill much of the time that I had set aside for the non-appearing Championship puzzles. I liked Rabelais, and liked finding Ajax, though I think “Ja” more means “Yes”, while “Sicher” more means “Certainly”

    There are many reasons, I am sure, why horryd is glad to not live in the States. One that he may not have been aware of (until now) is that the shortish, full-of-vowels, names of many StarWars characters are God’s gift to setters of US puzzles.

    1. I’ve never watched a single Star Wars film and, though I’ve picked up a lot from osmosis, I was stuck on one of those damnable character names as I finished the New York Times Sunday biggie (even number of vowels in the four-letter word, though).

      Edited at 2020-11-28 04:43 am (UTC)

      1. Star Wars characters are the least of it; the NYT’s idea of GK seems to center around rap singers, sitcom actors and other TV names, that sort of thing. At least the Times that one knows of Trollope or Rabelais.
          1. What’s wrong with ‘center around’?
            I just noticed that I left a verb out: the Times assumes that one knows etc.

            Edited at 2020-11-28 06:19 am (UTC)

            1. Center (or centre) around has always been frowned on in Britain at least. It appears to be in common use now but I don’t think you would pass muster with The Times’ style guide. It’s also illogical. Normally one centres on something.
              1. Sorry, but you haven’t answered my question. I see nothing odd (certainly nothing illogical) about ‘center around’ (or, indeed, ‘center on’).
                      1. Martin, it’s the url that does it*. In order to post a link you’d need a higher level of user access to TftT than the basic one that all contributors have, and this is at Jonathan’s (Vinyl1’s) discretion.

                        *Live Journal also spams anything it thinks might be a url, the most usual being any message containing a full stop that’s not followed by a space.

      3. I would love to live in many parts of the USA – great food – friendly folk – fascinating history and the Irony Bypass (Beltway). I have been to and worked there many times, from Fifth Avenue to Sausalito, to downtown Atlanta, Fort Launderdale to Puerto Rico to San Luis Obispo and on to Poughkeepsie and back. My wife used to live in Dallas. And I’ve read all of Bill Bryson who I first met in London. My editor lives in Maine.
  7. I didn’t know from Barsetshire, got TROLLOPE from the rest of it (wouldn’t be necessary to have the place, but if you got that reference, by jingo, you’d sure know it couldn’t be anyone else). RABELAIS, though, was one of my last ones in.

    Edited at 2020-11-28 10:23 pm (UTC)

  8. A puzzle of two halves for me, LH easy / RH tricky, which I’m starting to think is becoming a regular pattern for Saturdays.

    The creators of radio’s longest running soap, The Archers, unashamedly pinched from Trollope’s fictional Barsetshire (county town, Barchester) when they placed the village of Ambridge in Borsetshire (county town Borchester).

  9. 31 minutes, not finding the RHS easy. I’d have given my EYETOOTH to have seen 25a quicker, RHEOSTAT brought back memories of boring early Physics experiments before it became interesting, and my LOI STILETTO was painfully parsed after being biffed. MARE as an abbreviation for NIGHTMARE is still in vogue for sports commentators when describing the bad game an unfortunate player is having, so I’ll give COD to AMARETTO. A workmanlike puzzle. Thank you Bruce and setter.
  10. Like Kinder-Suprise then?

    trollope (dot) usa publishes a delightful map of Barsetshire.
    Please purchase one and have it framed. Send me the bill and consider it my Christmas gift.
    Meldrew

  11. My usual 50mins ,or thereabouts, for a Saturday. Nothing too complicated though I did get TROLLOPE from wordplay rather than knowing of Barchester, to my shame. I liked TAILBACK and RABELAIS most. Thanks B and setter.
  12. 11:21. A gentle warm-up indeed. I have no notes on this as I did it online to practise. I remember liking TAILBACK.
  13. I am at present slowly working my way through Barchester Towers, my second taste of Trollope. And it’s a real pleasure -and topical too; a recent Times letter from Lord Lexden and 18d was my FOI.
    I see from my paper copy that the NW and SE are complete;13 done at 1.45pm. I must have finished online. I also tried NINTENDO.
    I remember STILETTO was LOI and Lady Chapel unknown. David
  14. No holdups, apart from not being able to access the puzzle until the afternoon, due to the other fiasco. 21:58. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  15. 9:24. No dramas, unlike a little later in the day.
    I didn’t know LADY CHAPEL, which sounds like a euphemism.
  17. 19.48 gentle stuff nothing too challenging, several generous, pretty straight definitions: Dutch football team, Barsetshire writer, one would use laser sword, torch…
  19. In 8 down, “citizen” seems a rather weak definition-part for ESTONIAN. Akin to clueing CARPENTER as “person”.

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