Times Cryptic No 27900 – Saturday, 13 February 2021.

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There was some very clever wordplay here, but nothing to stretch the solver’s general knowledge. So, I expect success stories, perhaps achieved slowly. The number of exotic wordplay indicators struck me as unusual, with particular mention for 16ac. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle. How did you get on?

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 Shabby party dress emerged, inside out (3-5)
DOG-EARED – DO=party, GEAR=dress, E(merge)D with the “inside out”.
5 Aussie state nurses rest in the heat (6)
SIESTA – hidden answer, “nursed”.
9 Son involved in accident filling in new form wrongly (8)
MISSHAPE – S=son in MISHAP=accident, then E=“filling” in nEw.
10 PM ready to drive off on course, keeping left? (6)
ATTLEE – AT TEE=ready to drive a golf ball, “keeping” L=left.
12 What runner with handicap does is significant (7,6)
CARRIES WEIGHT – double definition.
15 Inappropriate female introduced to squad (5)
UNFIT – F=female in UNIT.
16 Find terms of legacy weird (9)
UNEARTHLY – UNEARTH=find, L(egac)Y=“terms” of the word. This is an unusual usage to mean the outside letters, but Chambers has as definition 16: a limit, boundary (archaic).
17 Solid shell of turtle breaking down rapidly (9)
STEADFAST – TE=“shell” of t(urtl)e, “breaking” SAD=down. Then, FAST=rapidly.
19 Second regular migrant back on board (5)
STERN – S=second, TERN=a (migratory) bird.
20 Unreliable way of painting people unlikely to be “detailed” (13)
TEMPERAMENTAL – TEMPERA=way of painting (with egg yolk), MEN=people, TAL(L)=unlikely, as in a tall story.
22 Flower buds preserved for larks? (6)
CAPERS – double definition: cooking ingredients, or fun and games.
23 Threatening relative outside home (8)
SINISTER – IN=home, in SISTER.
25 Precise moment (6)
MINUTE – double definition: minute detail, or just a little minute.
26 Man barred from execution, inevitably (8)
PERFORCE – take MAN out of PERFOR(MAN)CE. It took me a while to see the wordplay!

Down
1 No firm going to produce resistant wall feature? (4,6)
DAMP COURSE – double definition: horse racing, or building construction.
2 Turned up to give talk (3)
GAS – SAG=to give, as in give way. Turn it up.
3 One doesn’t believe in theft (7)
ATHEIST – the people involved in the theft were AT (the) HEIST.
4 Argued contrarily as topless relations advanced (12)
EXPOSTULATED – (S)EX=relations, POSTULATED=advanced (an idea, for example).
6 Possibly two or three for one in Bury (7)
INTEGER – EG=for one, in INTER=bury.
7 Extremely large spots itch horribly, most in patches (11)
SPLOTCHIEST – anagram (“horribly”) of L(arg)E SPOTS ITCH.
8 Fell over line making intricate jump (4)
AXEL – AXE=fell (a tree), L=line.
11 Recent burst in ladies troubled delegate to local authority (12)
DECENTRALISE – anagrams (“burst” / “troubled”) of RECENT LADIES, one inside the other.
13 Consider training pet for uncle (7,4)
REFLECT UPON – anagram (“training”) PET FOR UNCLE.
14 Year in company great, on the whole (2,3,5)
BY AND LARGE – Y=year in BAND=company, LARGE=great.
18 Something shameful done in uprising, the speaker admitted (7)
DEMERIT – TIRED=done. Turn it upside down, and insert ME. “Shamed” seems stronger than “demerit”, but near enough, I’m sure.
19 Singular lady’s providing force for lawman (7)
SHERIFF – S=singular, HER=lady’s, IF=providing, F=force.
21 Penny extracted from villain’s fraud (4)
SCAM – take P out of SCAMP.
24 Seaman from south shunned by despot (3)
TAR – I think this is a matter of taking S=south out of TSAR.

24 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27900 – Saturday, 13 February 2021.”

  1. Enjoyed this immensely, lots of superb wordplay throughout giving many satisfying PDMs. Never did work out performance, so thank-you for that. Took forever to see done in as tired, liked the two long anagrams decentralise/reflect upon, probably back on broad was best making stern the COD.
  2. No memory of this one, but I have a ? at 18d, querying ‘shameful’. I didn’t get the racing meaning of 1d, but luckily DAMP COURSE had come up before and I actually remembered it. Continuing with my obtuseness in seeing hiddens, I actually biffed SIESTA from the S _ A, only parsing post-submission. I did spot 4 clues using first and last letters of words: 1ac, 16ac, 7d, 17ac.
    1. I thought that SIESTA was a particularly well-hidden answer! For a while, I thought the Australian state might be South Australia, giving the S.A. around the outside. Finally the penny dropped!
  3. I found this difficult and with some very tricky clues. I had question marks against several clues so thanks for all the explanations, Bruce. SIESTA and ATHEIST count as d’oh moments.
    I had most difficulty with two lots of intersecting clues:
    SIESTA/AXEL and CAPERS/DEMERIT.
    I had the checking letters but it took for ever for the pfennigs to drop.
    I have “Very good” against MISSHAPE, PERFORMANCE and GAS with COD going to INTEGER.
  4. I did this while watching cricket, so there can be no time. I finished in NE with SPLOTCHIEST and AXEL. COD CARRIES WEIGHT. I’ve never thought of the derivation of DOG-EARED before but now I think of it all the dogs in my life have finished up with ragged ears after lives well lived. Solid puzzle. Thank you B and setter.
  5. I don’t usually come here on a Saturday, but I had to visit today to thank this setter for what I think is a tremendous puzzle. Firstly, a great choice of words: no obscure birds, plants, body parts or, um, small German cities! Secondly, lovely surfaces: they all roll off the tongue without sounding (too) forced. Finally, there are some interesting novelties in the wordplay: inside out, filling in new, terms of legacy, and the delicious hidden Aussie state nurses.
    I put ticks against v good clues and am usually sparing. For this I ticked 1, 5, 9, 16, 17, 20, 26 across and 7, 11, 13, 14, 18, 19 down and I could make a case to include more.
    Thanks again setter and brnchn.
  6. This is now a distant memory after a memorable week where I passed a significant birthday and had visions of my house coming down in a pile of rubble, but nevertheless I seem to have solved it in 24:24. I seem to remember SPLOTCHIEST taking a while. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  7. I managed to convince myself that 2D was “yap” as my first one in, (doh) and then put “axle” instead of “axel” (double doh). I sorted these errors out eventually, but was depressed by my own stupidity.
  8. 29:24. Nice one. Like Myrtillus I had plenty of ticks in my copy. COD to SIESTA for making me puzzle so long before spotting it was a hidden.
  9. 18:24, and I was totally in agreement with Myrtilus. I had 9 candidates for COD, and the winner was DECENTRALISE. The nearest miss was MISSHAPE, closely followed by the clever STEADFAST and GAS. I think there’s a real skill in producing a quality clue for an everyday three letter word. FOI was CARRIES WEIGHT, and I “fell over the line” with AXEL. Overall, my favourite puzzle of the year so far.
  10. I started this on paper but must have been distracted by the cricket as I have very few notes. I think DOG-EARED went in first.
    Once I gave it my full attention online I really enjoyed it. Quite a few problems but all done I thought by 4.15pm. Struggled to parse SHERIFF; LOI MISSHAPE after EXPOSTULATED.
    I checked before submitting and saw that I failed to get PERFORCE. I was thinking of someone who deferred things and had pencilled in something pro tem.
    David
  11. “My take on 16ac was much simpler (if you go by the blog then what is the definition?): find = unearth, terms of legacy l{egac}y, definition weird.

    Term to indicate termination is not common, but nothing like so rare I should have thought as weird = limit.”

    Not sure about this: it looks as if, while I was doing this, the blog was altered in line with what I say. My impression was that it was different originally.

    Edited at 2021-02-20 12:37 pm (UTC)

    1. All I can say is, that’s weird. No, the blog wasn’t changed. You must have misread something, since your take and mine agree exactly.

      FYI, if the blog were changed in other than a trivial or cosmetic way, it would be marked with the words “On edit:” in italics.

      Edited at 2021-02-20 07:06 pm (UTC)

  13. 38.14. Don’t remember too much about this one but from my time it clearly needed a bit of thought. On reading the blog I can see that there were some inventive clues here – emerged inside out, filling in new, turned up to give…
  14. I do Saturday’s “in arrears” thereby sparing me the inevitable failure to remember anything about the puzzle a week later.

    My thunder slightly stolen as I was about to say that this was superb — for all the reasons mentioned above.

    Thought DAMP COURSE definition “no firm going” was brilliant with an equally smooth surface, but lots of others to like such as the simple CAPERS, the amusing DECENTRALISED and many others.

    To produce a puzzle with many PDMs which is tough but at the same time perfectly solvable is a real skill

    Thanks setter and the excellent blog (as always)

  15. Well I finished 5 days, which is good for me, but I couldn’t see the full wordplay in 1,9,20,22,26 across. Thanks for the explanation brnchn

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