Times Cryptic No 27984 – Saturday, 22 May 2021. Geographically challenged.

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I was stumped by 12ac. The rest was Saturday standard. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle. How did you all get on?

[Read more …]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 struck through.

Across
1 Famous European family retreating in food resort hotel (8)
HAPSBURG – GRUB + SPA + H for hotel, all “retreating”.
5 State offers something worth having — it’s right to join in (6)
ASSERT – R for right, in ASSET.
10 Horrible attritional aims in dictatorship? (15)
TOTALITARIANISM – anagram (horrible) of ATTRITIONAL AIMS.
11 It’s an arm, not the head, that adapts slowly (7)
EVOLVER – drop the first letter from rEVOLVER.
12 Ornament in part of south London by road junction (7)
MORDENT – ornament is a musical term, new to me, of which MORDENT is a type. MORDEN is in South London, T junctions are everywhere. I didn’t know either the answer or the district, so I had no hope of getting this one.
13 Man bound by special call connected with the priesthood? (8)
CLERICAL – ERIC is today’s man. Put him in an anagram (special) of CALL.
15 Mother performing as a legendary friend (5)
DAMON – DAM + ON. A reference to the legend of Damon and Pythias.
18 One’s crossing river to see lots of territory? (5)
ACRES – ACE’S, crossing R for river.
20 Clear one bad clue may get this! (8)
RIDICULE – RID=clear + I=one, then an anagram (bad) of CLUE.
23 Weird globules, finally fading away — able to break down in water? (7)
SOLUBLE – anagram (weird) of GLOBULES, after removing a G=fading, finally.
25 Short communication about a daughter being not the sort you want? (7)
LADETTE – LETTEr around A+D.
26 Awkwardly cope with music centre that features modern electronics (8,7)
COMPUTER SCIENCE – anagram (awkwardly) of COPE MUSIC CENTRE.
27 Poor-quality pitch — what’s unusual in that? (6)
SHODDY – ODD=unusual in SHY=pitch.
28 Pieces of artwork Greek character inscribed in gents naughtily (8)
ETCHINGS – CHI in anagram (naughtily) of GENTS.

Down
1 Conditions for favourable growth? It means one shouldn’t have cold feet (6)
HOTBED – double definition, the second fanciful. I didn’t know the literal meaning of this word. It turns out to be a bed of earth heated by fermenting manure, for raising or forcing plants.
2 Grim-faced worker penning book — something to earn fast buck? (9)
POTBOILER – PO + TOILER penning B for book.
3 Wild animal mostly existing in captivity to make money (7)
BOLIVAR – BOAR “captivating” LIVe.
4 Part of machine soldiers set up on pile of rocks (5)
ROTOR – RO=OR ‘set up’ + TOR = pile of rocks.
6 Disfigured king, frightened to go about (7)
SCARRED – SCARED ‘about’ R=king.
7 Chosen group among the literati (5)
ELITE – hidden answer.
8 Worker in the office for a while — smart, not initially alluring (8)
TEMPTING – TEMP, sTING=smart (not initially).
9 Conservative was first to hold seat and was overcome? (8)
CRUMPLED – C + LED, holding RUMP.
14 Circle is not put in a difficult situation (8)
CORNERED – double definition. Unlike squares, circles don’t have corners.
16 What could produce ailment? No hormone (9)
MELATONIN – anagram (could produce) of AILMENT NO.
17 A hundred cushions in East End churches? They are hung up in the vestry (8)
CASSOCKS – C=Roman numeral for one hundred. HASSOCKS=cushions. Drop the aitch, as per crossword convention.
19 Dull sort of editor failed to get to grips with English (7)
SUBDUED – SUB-editor, DUD holding E=English.
21 Like a rogue in the money, did wrong, getting imprisoned (7)
CADDISH – anagram (wrong) of DID, in CASH.
22 Petition park to rear type of cactus (6)
CEREUS – SUE + REC “to rear”=written upwards, not downwards.
24 Dance to get leg under or leg over? (5)
LIMBO – LIMB + O.
25 Composer that’s unknown’s turning up in reading material (5)
LISZT – Z in LIST On edit: Elly’s comment suggests a better parsing … Z’S in LIT for literature, all reading upwards.

19 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27984 – Saturday, 22 May 2021. Geographically challenged.”

  1. I had MARGENT, a word I didn’t know before but which Wikipedia says is “is a vertical arrangement of flowers, leaves or hanging vines used as a decorative ornament in architecture and furniture design in the 17th and 18th century.” Seemed to fit, and I obviously didn’t parse… or check…

    Edited at 2021-05-29 12:53 am (UTC)

  2. 12ac is Wimbledon way in the borough of Merton. Ask for Morden South Railway Station, deepest Suburbia. Sir Joseph Bazalgette – the sewer-man – once lived there.

    FOI 10ac TOTALITARIANISM

    LOI 22dn CEREUS NHO never been to Peru.

    COD 12ac MORDENT – MARGENT as per Grinling Gibbons?

    WOD 25ac LADETTE

    Nice to see the HAPSBURGS getting an outing at 1ac.

    Edited at 2021-05-29 03:30 am (UTC)

  3. Liked this one, but as already mentioned it did have a couple of tricky ones. I have never knowingly been to Morden despite having lived in London, but I did know of it as the Southern end of the Northern Line. And knew mordent, from having learnt the trumpet at school. Tried and failed to learn, I should say.
    Nho DAMON, either, other than as a retired racing driver.
    1. I learned about the harmonic series (well, the octave, third and fifth) playing the trumpet in high school (until repeated dental extractions made me quit in frustration over a constantly changing embouchure)—I still remember the fingerings! I never got beyond second chair and don’t recall doing any fancy trills. Still, MORDENT lurked somewhere deep in my mrmory; I just didn’t get a bite when fishing for it… the London reference ringing no bells…
  4. MORDENT should be familiar to anyone who knows their musical notation though I suppose it’s possible to know how to play it without remembering what it’s called. One of its other names is Pralltriller, but that’s rather more in Mephisto territory.

    The one clue I had to cheat on was my LOI, CEREUS.

    The unnecessary ‘turning up’ in 25ac would have been cruel if the answer hadn’t been so obvious!

    Edited at 2021-05-29 05:25 am (UTC)

  5. A bit of a mixed bag, taking 35 minutes. If I hadn’t lived in Tooting for 6 months, I’d have struggled even more than I did with MORDENT. It took me a while to sue the recreation ground backwards too, and I checked DAMON afterwards. And I learnt that MELATONIN was not the same as MELANIN. An interesting puzzle. Thank you B and setter.
  6. I knew Morden but often confuse it with Merton despite living not too far away. Anyway I got MORDENT without knowing what it meant. My LOI was BOLIVAR; I was pleased to get that after a long struggle.
    But I was stung by the unknown cactus. RECESS fitted and so in it went; thinking ESS must be the cactus and petition the definition.
    And DAMON unknown. I enjoyed the HAPSBURG clue.
    David
  7. ….CEREUS !!! I was already feeling quite prickly before biffing it at the end of a strange solving experience.

    I’d already struggled generally when I did this on Sunday evening (Morden didn’t come easily, but Sarf London ain’t my strong point) and I was becalmed with seven answers unsolved after 17:44, when the timer was cancelled and the puzzle put aside. When I picked it up again on Tuesday afternoon I cleared it up inside 3 minutes.

    FOI ASSERT
    LOI CEREUS
    COD LADETTE
    TIME 20:35 approx.

  8. Struggled for 55:11 with this and then had to look up the cactus. Had forgotten the musical MORDENT, and guessed Morden, then looked it up to confirm. Toughish puzzle. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  10. Fell at the last on this one, stumped by 12ac. NHO MORDEN in London, nor MORDENT in music. Darn it. Also biffed CORNERED though I now see from brnchn’s parsing how simple – and clever – it was! Good fun, though.

    Edited at 2021-05-29 09:15 pm (UTC)

  11. I’d pencilled DELIVER in for this till HAPSBURG put me right. Thanks to blogger and setter.
  12. Didn’t know Cereus and, frankly, didn’t care to once it was the only unfilled light. Liked Limbo. thanks brnchn
  13. Also beaten by the cactus. Tried CEREES — see for petition. Close but no Hamlet

    Mordent nho but went straight in from w/p and once living closish to Morden

    My problem was the NE as one of my FOIs was a careless MOTOR which made the E family difficult. Had thought of HAPSBURG but had no idea about the parsing. Liked it when I saw it but WOD to POTBOILER

    Thanks all

  14. Does po = grim faced? I thought it was po-faced, not just po. Never seen or heard it used like that on its own.
    Thanks b.

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