Times Cryptic No 27894 – Saturday, 6 February 2021. Slip, slap, slop.

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This was a delight. Clever definitions, challenging wordplay, and some amusing surfaces. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle. My definition of the day was 12ac closely followed by 27ac, and wordplay of the day goes to 24ac. Fun!

I feel people’s times may be on the slower side, because many clues needed careful thought. Sadly for me, I fell short of that standard. The Australian Cancer Council has a skin cancer message, “slip on a shirt, slop on some sunscreen, slap on a hat.” Alas, I just slipped, by slapping in an answer I couldn’t justify (because it was wrong, of course), and sloppily not going back to rethink it! Oh, drat.

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 Driven back by hard shot, becoming cross (6)
HYBRID – BY + H=hard “driven back”, then RID=shot, as in “get rid of that”.
4 Granted health (or wealth), ought to downsize (8)
ALTHOUGH – hidden answer (“downsized”)
10 Nanny yours truly’s rushed back to assist (9)
NURSEMAID – ME’S=yours truly’s (no, don’t quibble, please; setter’s licence!). Then, RUN=rushed. Turn that all around (“back”), and append AID=assist.
11 Short races some hope to hold? (5)
RATTY – TT=races, “held by” RAY=some hope.
12 High Mass forged a major link with Islam at first (11)
KILIMANJARO – anagram (“forged”) of A MAJOR LINK + I=Islam, at first. A great definition!
14 Green, yet crop is to be cut, oddly (3)
ECO – alternate letters of yEt CrOp.
15 Writer knocking back very fine Scottish port (7)
NABOKOV – V=very, OK=fine, OBAN is the port; all “back”.
17 Such a fine meal, with seconds, to consume with relish (4-2)
SLAP-UP – S=seconds, LAP UP=consume with relish. So, no: nothing to do with SOAK UP. Silly me.
19 Their neighbours about to stop entering America (6)
CUBANS – C=circa=about, then BAN=stop “entering” U.S.
21 Advance before meeting resistance, keeping at a distance (7)
PROFFER – PRE=before + R=resistance, “keeping” OFF=at a distance.
23 Back of bureau sealed off by heavy metal bar (3)
PUB – U from (burea)U, in PB=lead, the heavy metal.
24 University developed extremely wisely by the arts (11)
ABERYSTWYTH – anagram (“developed”) of W(…)Y BY THE ARTS,
26 Cheats men, reversing sanctions (5)
ROOKS – OR=men, “reversing”. OKS=sanctions.
27 Son, drunk, kicks daughter and kitty for no good reason? (5,4)
SLUSH FUND – S=son, LUSH=drunk, FUN=kicks, D=daughter. Delightful definition.
29 Modernising, cheerful, sort of agency (8)
UPDATING – UP=cheerful, dating=sort of agency.
30 Old kingdom’s relations on mend, after setback (6)
WESSEX – SEW=mend, “set back”. Then SEX=relations. I got the E early, and thought MERCIA, but later the X made it obvious.

Down
1 Land within Berkshire maybe no good — put out information finally (4,4)
HONG KONG – N.G.=no good, K.O.=put out, N=information, “finally”; all “within” HOG=Berkshire (pig), maybe.
2 Bachelor, one requiring pluck when looking up girl (5)
BERYL – B=bachelor, LYRE=one requiring pluck, “looking up”.
3 Fish observed in sound (3)
IDE – sounds like EYED.
5 Commercial manager initially coming in is behind his publications (3,4)
LAD MAGS – AD=commercial + M=manager, “initially”; all “coming in” LAGS=is behind.
6 To keep mentioning Marx appropriate in public (4,2,5)
HARP ON ABOUT – HARPO Marx, NAB=appropriate=steal, OUT=in public.
7 Expecting finished article: pants (2,3,4)
UP THE DUFF – UP=finished, THE=article, PANTS=duff.
8 Upset by hoax, one can continue cooking (6)
HAYBOX – anagram (“upset”) of BY HOAX. Not a thing I knew, but interesting!
9 Guidance system sailors mostly used by day (6)
SATNAV – SAT(urday), NAV(y).
13 Force dad up when seated and try to get to bed? (4,1,4,2)
MAKE A PASS AT – MAKE=force, AP=PA “up”, AS=when, SAT=seated. Deceptive definition.
16 The flower of the aristocracy? (4,5)
BLUE BLOOD – clever cryptic definition.
18 Established Pole, losing head, has taken harmful amount neat (8)
ORTHODOX – (n)ORTH, O.D., OX=neat. Elegant clue.
20 Relative stages revolutionary eastern drama (7)
STEPSON – STEPS=stages, NO=Japanese drama “revolving”.
21 Look sullen after accepting a year’s compensation? (3-3)
PAY-OUT – POUT accepting A, Y=year.
22 Illuminating remark from copyist, copper-bottomed (6)
APERÇU – APER=copist, CU=copper. A word I recognise but wouldn’t feel confident to use!
25 Letter’s last word deviates from what’s dictated? (5)
YOURS – sounds like YAWS. The definition is as at the end of a letter: Yours, George.
28 Garden is something to dig — not large (3)
HOE – dig a HO(l)E.

36 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27894 – Saturday, 6 February 2021. Slip, slap, slop.”

  1. Good morning an’ top of the milk to you! Up with the lark!

    This was a stiff test which took me bang on the hour.

    FOI 26dn HOE – HOE street is Walthamstow’s main drag

    LOI 1ac HYBRID – no longer a plant but a modern car.

    COD 24ac ABERYSTWYTH – I was offered a place to study Geology(Petrology) at the Uni. I didn’t make it.

    WOD 8dn HAY BOX – we used to cook with one on DofE trips.

    Edited at 2021-02-13 01:41 am (UTC)

  2. Definitely on the harder end here, too, lots of fine deceptive definitions. NHO haybox or blue blood. Can I complain about the obscure foreign word clued as an anagram – Aberystwyth. Lucky guess for me.
      1. It’s a town in a different country, not in England. And a foreign-language word, I think? Welsh not English?
        1. All true! The good news is, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is too long to fit in the grid!!
  3. My notes just say “Tricky”!
    Thanks, Bruce for HYBRID and YOURS. I got them right but couldn’t parse either of them.
    My 29ac started as UPRATING. There are such things as ratings agencies!
    FOI: ECO. LOI: CUBANS
    COD: MAKE A PASS AT
    Trying to get this in and as much of today’s Cryptic before the Prada Cup final Race 1 starts….Go Ineos!
  4. Just glad to have completed it correctly! An excellent, challenging puzzle from start to finish.
  5. Very tough indeed; I went offline at 30′ fewer than half the clues solved, and went on over lunch. No idea of the time. It didn’t help that I didn’t know LAD MAGS, UP THE DUFF, or HAYBOX. Or what Berkshire had to do with anything: HONG KONG went in because I could think of nothing else with those checkers. Groaned at YOURS. Lots of good clues, like RATTY, WESSEX, HARP ON ABOUT, but COD to MAKE A PASS AT.
  6. A bit on the blue ( blood? ) side, what with making a pass at the up the duff nursemaid and the lads’ mag. Sex in the SE corner to boot. Sorry to harp on about it, but it was quite a romp in the haybox!
    42″18″
    1. I did wonder whether the setter was working on a puzzle for Private Eye, then decided to put it here instead. This was almost certainly my slowest ever correctly completed solve, and there was much to admire — the clever hidden of ALTHOUGH, and two “nearly COD’s” (KILIMANJARO and NABOKOV) stood out.

      FOI ECO
      LOI HYBRID
      COD SLUSH FUND
      TIME 38:02

  7. Re 10ac ME’S, I made a plea for ‘setter’s licence’ here yesterday which didn’t find much support, so good luck with this one! I hardly noticed that whilst solving, but elsewhere in the wordplay I wondered about “rushed” = RUN rather than “ran” and I still don’t see it. Probably missing something obvious.

    Edited at 2021-02-13 08:20 am (UTC)

    1. Didn’t notice the RUN, but agree.
      Regarding setter’s licence, I have more sympathy for this setter, where the ‘S can be copied across literally from clue to answer. Lift and separate: setter = me | ‘s = ‘s. Yesterday was more of a grammatical argument – I was OK with it, but can see how you would argue against it.
      1. Not that I noticed while solving, but I think RUN is OK, given that the entirely ungrammatical ME’S is presumably an abbreviated ME HAS . So this person “Me” has run his course. Sort of alright?
        1. Since earlier I think run might be OK as a past participle? I have run/I have raced?
          With the ME I’m splitting the ‘S off entirely so it’s just a ‘S, not standing for anything, no grammar involved. Can you lift and separate a word in the middle: SETTER’S = SETTER + ‘S? A Guardianesque trick; things like “sweetheart” (heart of sweet) to clue E.

          Edit: Oops.. didn’t read Keriothe’s reply below before posting.

          Edited at 2021-02-13 10:48 am (UTC)

    2. What isla3 said: no setter’s licence required. Setter=ME, S=S.
      My position on yesterday’s, as I said yesterday, is the opposite of isla3’s: I didn’t really like it, but can seen an argument for it.
      RUN is the past participle of RUN: ‘I have run’. Simple as that.

      Edited at 2021-02-13 10:44 am (UTC)

  8. No time to offer. I was engrossed in the cricket as I did this. I managed to finish in a rush once it was over. The cricket was going better then than it is today. I think the Harpo Marx clue gets COD from me, but there were many other good ones too. LOI HONG KONG. DNK HAYBOX. BERYL brought back memories of Beryl Reid as well as Beryl the Peril. Thank you B and setter.
  9. This was fun. FOI ECO; and I got ABERYSTWYTH early which made me feel on the wavelength. HAYBOX unknown, but I got it.
    Last three were SATNAV,NABOKOV and the unparsed HONG KONG.
    Finished at 4.10pm after three sessions.
    COD to KILIMANJARO.
    David
    247-3 at Chennai.
    Update: 248-4.

    Edited at 2021-02-13 10:28 am (UTC)

  10. Coming back to this today I realize that there were a number of clues I had not properly parsed, so Thank you B for the clarifications. Quite tricky I thought as I spent 80 mins on it. Very enjoyable though and I was relieved to finish. I very much liked the trick with ALTHOUGH but COD to UP THE DUFF, an expression I am wont to use whenever I can. Thanks to the setter too.
    1. My wife would never have been allowed to get away with saying that .. but my daughter used it on every conceivable occasion 🙂
  11. 16:59. Great puzzle. Unfortunately one of those very frequent cases where I think I know how to spell something but don’t. In this case NABOKOV (not NABAKOV).

    Edited at 2021-02-13 10:46 am (UTC)

  12. I’m struggling to recall where I started and finished, but finish I did in 34:56. I remember a PDM as I worked out the parsing for HONG KONG, but had NHO HAYBOX. Liked KILIMANJARO and HARP ON ABOUT. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  13. Really liked this one, though it seems almost deliberately set to confuse our overseas friends.. my old Yorkshire granny used a haybox. Nowadays you would use a slow cooker instead I suppose. No wonder the planet is going to pot 🙂

      1. I never watch television that involves cooking, dancing, property sales or murder .. that doesn’t leave much, these days!
  14. 29:33. A good test, worthy of a prize puzzle and lots of fun too. The bottom half was finished first and I ended with the clever RATTY. I liked the HARPO clue best and got the biggest groan from the YOURS homophone.
  16. 91 minutes and one mistake: UP THE CUFF instead of UP THE DUFF; I simply knew neither of the meanings of DUFF needed to solve this clue, so I don’t really feel bad about it. Everything else was superb and very subtle (I do not believe, for example, that I know anyone named BERYL and the LYRE is not really the first pluckable object I would tend to think of). Very enjoyable.

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