Times Cryptic No 28002 – Saturday, 12 June 2021. Don’t miss it!

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There was concern among comments on last week’s blog about a (to be fair, very mild) suggestion that this puzzle was harder than the week before.

Maybe it was, but I found it a delight, so I hope no-one gave up on it without trying! There were cleverly disguised definitions like 12ac, 18ac, 27ac and (my favourite) 8dn. There was cute wordplay at 15ac and 19ac. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle. How did you all get on?

As a suggestion, how would you all feel if we posted the blog for the previous Saturday as soon as the solutions are published, on Thursdays? That should reduce the chance of comments about the subsequent Saturday’s puzzle! Let me know in the comments section below.

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.

[Read more …]Clues are blue, with definitions underlined. Deletions are (in brackets).

Across
1 Neighbourhood facility in doubt, briefly (7)
QUARTER – ART in QUER(y).
5 Live comedian by church entrance (7)
BEWITCH – BE + WIT + CH.
9 Twelve months in Scottish resort (3)
AYR – A Y(ea)R.
10 Foreigner’s complaint about a doctor in quiz broadcast (11)
MOZAMBIQUAN – MOAN about A + MB in an anagram of QUIZ, ‘broadcast’.
11 What one’s called on to arrange with a free minute (8)
FORENAME – anagram ‘to arrange’ ON + A FREE M.
12 Happy laughter leading to outrage (6)
UPROAR – UP + ROAR.
15 Pants one’s expecting to be up (4)
DUFF – up the duff = pregnant.
16 Duty seen as unfair, to take most of the strain (7,3)
STEALTH TAX – STEAL + TH(e) + TAX.
18 Had deer, when tailed, escaped across lake? (10)
BAMBOOZLED – BAMB(i) + OOZED ‘across’ L.
19 What of Roman Britain’s capital? (4)
QUID – double definition. Latin vocab, or UK currency.
22 Very little food left after I have ended fast (6)
LENTIL – LENT=fast + I + L. I assume the definition is implying that individual lentils are small.
23 Company taking off in parts of Stranraer, of Lothian (8)
AEROFLOT – cunningly hidden, and a clever definition.
25 One doing concert tours was deranged church employee? (11)
GRAVEDIGGER – GIGGER ‘tours’ RAVED.
27 Sort of request that has no weight (3)
ISH – (w)ISH.
28 Very deep article has girl reflecting on past (7)
ABYSSAL – A + BY + LASS ‘reflecting’=backwards.
29 Powerful figure of French fighter something too much to take? (7)
DEMIGOD – DE + MIG + O.D.

Down
1 Muscle needed to carry very loud English drunk (7)
QUAFFED – QUAD ‘needed to carry’ FF + E.
2 Member of service personnel waving a frantic arm (11)
AIRCRAFTMAN – anagram ‘waving’ A FRANTIC ARM.
3 Note Dynasty actor’s skill? (6)
TIMING – TI + MING.
4 Noisy show has dull finish — a visiting artist snoring? (10)
RAZZMATAZZ – MAT + A ‘visiting’ RA + ZZZZ. I dithered over how to spell the answer!
5 Dislodge from behind piano (4)
BUMP – BUM + P.
6 Cat on stage after somersaulting dogs (8)
WHIPPETS – WHIP + STEP ‘somersaulting’.
7 Tense, short letter (3)
TAU – TAU(t).
8 Cross bears hinder mad axeman (7)
HENDRIX – anagram of X + HINDER, ‘mad’.
13 Guilt one’s tortured with bound to be shed? (11)
OUTBUILDING – anagram of GUILT + I + BOUND, ‘tortured’.
14 Graduate at bank mostly goaded for wearing shorts? (10)
BARELEGGED – BA + REL(y) + EGGED.
17 Judge fair Spanish girl’s capacity for humour (8)
JOKINESS – J + OK + INES’S. We’ve had discussions before about whether to spell the name with an S or a Z.
18 Upset a group such as Amnesty, put up in Italian city (7)
BOLOGNA – A + N.G.O. + LOB, ‘upset’.
20 Came down to the sea as day was dying (7)
DITCHED – D + ITCHED.
21 Persecution, from memory, coming after purging of generals initially (6)
POGROM – ROM after P(urging) O(f) G(enerals).
24 What American might offer to settle it? (4)
BILL – a banknote is a BILL in America, and could be used to pay the bill before the pandemic. Now we all pay by card or phone.
26 Clown losing hat: which you like? (3)
ANY – (z)ANY. I hadn’t thought of ZANY as a noun, but it can be. I think the definition is as in: This one? That one? Which (do) you like? Any!

30 comments on “Times Cryptic No 28002 – Saturday, 12 June 2021. Don’t miss it!”

  1. Thanks, brnchn — there were a couple where I was not sure of the parsing. Lots to like; I was held up in the SE because Now (“do it” No weight) occurred to me before Ish. And in a clever puzzle like this having plausible but wrong crossers is deadly.
  2. I had no idea what to do with 15ac, never having heard the phrase ‘up the duff’. Liked WHIPPETS, HENDRIX (fortunately axe=guitar had come up here recently), GRAVEDIGGER.
  3. Absolutely brilliant all round, very tough but satisfying. Though I don’t understand the definition of ANY – an alphabet trawl had only AMY as an alternative. And does 15ac need one more word on the clue… this? Hendrix my COD, but plenty of stiff competition.
    Thanks all.
  4. I found this very hard with most of the difficulty focused in the SW corner.

    Regarding isla’s comment above I felt 26dn would have been better as ‘Clown losing hat: whichever you like?’, and I had already written that on my print-out to remind myself to make the point.

    Regarding the suggestion in Bruce’s intro, I’d be sorry if the Saturday blog moved to Thursdays as it would mean having no 15×15 blog to read and comment on Saturdays and that could lead to fewer contributions with two puzzles to discuss on Thursdays. Yes, I know people who wished to leave it to Saturday could scroll back but then the discussion would be fragmented over a number of days.

    Edited at 2021-06-19 04:18 am (UTC)

    1. Since ‘which’ can mean ‘whichever’, it doesn’t really matter and the surface is a little more misleading with ‘which’.
      I agree on the blogs.
  5. I hadn’t given the idea any thought, but now that I read Jack’s comment I agree with him.
  6. 45 minute on this quite tough but excellent puzzle. LOI, or more accurately, LAST ONE ENTERED was ABYSSAL. There were lots of lovely clues, and I’ll give COD to HENDRIX over BAMBOOZLED, RAZZMATAZZ and DUFF. I’ve not heard the phrase Up the Duff for a long time; one of the side effects of the Pill, I guess. Thank you B and setter.
    PS I’d keep comments as they are, on a Saturday, so we have something every day.

    Edited at 2021-06-19 06:41 am (UTC)

  8. Very enjoyable crossie. Obviously the setter had an excess of Zs to use up, resulting in some great words as mentioned above. COD HENDRIX, one of my heroes. Up the duff is an expression I use whenever I can and I also liked the wordplay for GRAVEDIGGER, very clever.

    I agree, stick to Saturdays.

    Thank B and setter.

  9. I got 19 clues in a long first session and had the top half of the puzzle done.
    In the end, I did give up but not until after a good long try.
    Could not parse BOLOGNA, although guessed it. But failed to see AEROFLOT and five others.
    Quite a big defeat for me. I rated this very hard but enjoyed it mainly.
    My favourite was BAMBOOZLED -which I was.
    David

  10. I came here to vote for publication of the blog as early as possible on Thursdays but, like kevingregg, I think jackkt makes very valid comments and he has successfully changed my mind. After all, here I am enjoying reading the blog on a Saturday. I wish of course that the outdated prize status could be removed (as others have commented, certainly in the context of the Jumbo anyway) so that we could read a ‘live’ blog on Saturdays (with all the lively crosstalk it would generate), but as things stand I now agree that this is the best way to run things.

    And I am pleasantly surprised to realise that my ossifying mind is still capable of being changed by rational argument!

  11. 15:32. Great puzzle. HENDRIX my favourite clue but there were lots of good ‘uns.
  13. I found this the most challenging Saturday for months, and I never did manage to parse 18A or 26D.

    Being pedantic, in 18D, I think ‘put up’ is the clue for ‘lob’ (as in tennis), and it’s ‘upset’ which is the instruction to run the whole thing backwards.

  15. Up the Duff is a rather English pudding! Plenty of razamattazz my COD. I was slightly bamboozled by my LOI 26dn ANY!? Answers on Saturday for me and why not inclusion in the Snitch. That would get more takers here.
    1. Sadly, I think there might be data problems with using the SNITCH for Saturdays. By the time the solution comes out the reference solvers are washed off the leaderboard by ‘neutrinos’.
  17. DNqF as I had no idea what was going on at 26dn – pathetic clue.

    FOI 10ac MOZAMBIQUAN

    LOI 26dn ANY but it was a complete guess!

    COD 23ac AEROFLOT

    WOD 15ac plum DUFF

    Where is everybody?

  18. Phew. This took about three hours in three sittings. FOI 5Ac, BEWITCHED, followed rapidly by about six more and I was cruising – or so I thought. Then I hit a wall and it was hard toil thereafter. The south-west corner was particularly resistant. LOI 17d JOKINESS, eventually, because I didn’t know that ‘judge’ was simply J, and ‘fair’ as simple as OK. NHO ABYSSAL, at 28Ac, which caused another lengthy head scratch. But made it!
  19. Pleased to eke everything out but had put in an unparsed DAFT and thought no more of it

    The recent axeman helped me with HENDRiX

    Lots to like — thanks setter and Bruce

  20. Saturday puzzle — Saturday blog. End of.

    I had to parse 3 answers after completion : GRAVEDIGGER, BOLOGNA, and ANY. Tricky but enjoyable.

    FOI BEWITCH
    LOI DITCHED
    COD WHIPPETS
    TIME 18:41

  21. 20 down — how does ITCHED mean ‘was dying’? Is no one else baffled by this? Explain please.
  22. Yes, please let’s have a blog a bit sooner after the Saturday crossword. It’s a pain waiting 10 days, after which you’ve forgotten all the clues.

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