Times Cryptic No 28032 – Saturday, 17 July 2021. Not drowning…solving.

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A smooth run here, in intervals while submerged in other things, so I expect some fast times reported. The clues seem easier than usual to blog for some reason – not that necessarily made them easy to solve. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle. How did you all 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.
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Clues are blue, with definitions underlined. Deletions and commentary are (in brackets).

Across
1 Eating colleague’s tea somehow following predicament with maiden (8)
MESSMATE – MESS, M=maiden, anagram of TEA (somehow).
6 Musician bungling an exam (6)
AXEMAN – anagram of AN EXAM (bungling). The recent appearance of Hendrix was a help with this!
9 Seeking activity in clubs, Iron Man maybe involved in accident (9,4)
SCAVENGER HUNT – C=clubs, AVENGER (Iron Man was a founding member of the Avengers … but you knew that!); all ‘involved in’ SHUNT=accident.
10 A way out of the country? (6)
ABROAD – double definition. The first is A B ROAD.
11 Fibre shown by witch wearing make-up (8)
ROUGHAGE – HAG in ROUGE. Dietary fibre.
13 Stronghold surrounding ancient city is beneficial (3,3,4)
FOR THE BEST – FORT surrounding THEBES.
15 Travel around capital, reportedly (4)
ROAM – sounds like ROME.
16 Composer turned back by force (4)
ORFF – FRO=back ‘turned’, then F=force.
18 Craft that gets people talking? (10)
ICEBREAKER – double definition.
21 1940s fashion spot admits us too on reflection (4,4)
ZOOT SUIT – ZIT ‘admits’ US TOO ‘on reflection’.
22 Bachelor really put out firework (6)
BANGER – B, ANGER.
23 Together nevertheless (2,3,4,4)
AT THE SAME TIME – double definition.
25 Mates playing new viola part? (6)
STAMEN – anagram of MATES (playing) + N. Viola refers to the plant, not the instrument.
26 Records effort to make artwork (8)
TAPESTRY – TAPES=record, TRY=effort.

Down
2 Stoke use biography to exhibit footballer (7)
EUSEBIO – hidden. Never heard of him!
3 Wake up and photograph Oscar in costume (4,3,2,2)
SNAP OUT OF IT – SNAP=photograph, O=Oscar in OUTFIT.
4 You said it finally looked correct! (5)
AMEND – AMEN, (looke)D.
5 Close to grave and terrible danger — get ready! (2,5)
EN GARDE – (grav)E, anagram of DANGER (terrible).
6 Broadcast good music regularly on sailor’s unseen instrument (3,6)
AIR GUITAR – AIR=broadcast, G=good, UI=mUsIc ‘regularly’, TAR=sailor.
7 Big bird‘s bone uncovered (3)
EMU – (f)EMU(r).
8 Island opposed to another being docked (7)
ANTIGUA – ANTI, GUA(m).
12 Tough hours on a road with a slow-moving group? (4,2,5)
HARD AS NAILS – H, A, RD, A, SNAILS.
14 Run a piece about hedonist (9)
EPICUREAN – anagram of RUN A PIECE (about).
17 City understanding what the mob might hear? (4,3)
RIOT ACT – RIO, TACT. The Riot Act 1714 was repealed in England and Wales in 1967, but the phrase “read the riot act” lives on.
19 Withdraw demand about heartless teacher (7)
EXTRACT – EXACT ‘about’ T(eache)R. I wasted time on RETRACT.
20 Perhaps glasses of whiskey are drunk following verbal agreement (7)
EYEWEAR – EYE sounds like AYE=agreement, W=whiskey, EAR=ARE ‘drunk’.
22 British Prime Minister set up censor (5)
BLEEP – B=British, PEEL is the PM ‘set up’.
24 Cat‘s regular check over (3)
TOM – MOT is the regular roadworthiness check.

43 comments on “Times Cryptic No 28032 – Saturday, 17 July 2021. Not drowning…solving.”

  2. This must be a Saturday pb. Could have been under 10′, but LOI EYEWEAR took me a full 2′. I didn’t know EUSEBIO (wasn’t Eusebius a Church father?), but I knew it was a name and biffed it; I didn’t spot the hidden until after submitting! I misparsed MESSMATE at first, taking MATE for the tea and wondering where the maiden came in.

    Edited at 2021-07-24 02:56 am (UTC)

  3. I may have come across the sportsguy’s name somewhere before, but had to double-check… I’d certainly heard of the composer ORFF, but I wasn’t aware until looking him up just now that his connection with the Nazi regime is a historical gray area… at best: ‘the American denazification authorities…changed his previous category of “gray unacceptable” to “gray acceptable”’ (Wikipedia).

    Edited at 2021-07-24 03:21 am (UTC)

  4. No trouble with Eusebio, who I suspect most people will know – he was as famous as Pele in 1960s. Orff known as the one who put “O Fortuna” to music. And because of his Australian (almost-)namesake Hans Ohff, who always sounded like a Benny Hill character. The one I didn’t know was Iron Man being an avenger, but easy enough to guess.
    Last two in were EXTRACT, also wasting time on retract, and ICEBREAKER for all its chestnutty flavour. Some nice, tricky definitions.
  5. A quick 23 minutes on this one; glad I’d heard of ORFF and that the unknown EUSEBIO was at least easy to find.

    I seem to have had a week of idle sartorial research: as well as the ZOOT SUIT prompting a chunk of internet digging last Saturday I’ve also been enjoying the pictures of Churchill in his “siren suits” since a book mentioned them on Thursday…

  6. ….but he’s only playing AIR GUITAR. The limit of my musical abilities too, as I’m just a frustrated Joe Bonamassa.

    Eusebio was definitely one of the finest players of his generation (it’s worth watching him single-handedly destroy North Korea at the 1966 World Cup !)

    FOI MESSMATE
    LOI EXTRACT
    COD AIR GUITAR (ROUGHAGE was good too)
    TIME 8:44

    1. On that day I was at Wembley watching England play Argentina. There were two separate murmurs from the crowd: the first was for the dirty tactics of the Argentines and the second was for the remarkable scoreline being posted from Goodison: 0-1,0-2,0-3,1-3,2-3,3-3,4-3,5-3.
      Some game indeed!
  7. 19 minutes on this delicious puzzle. I was briefly held up with RETRACT instead of EXTRACT. I liked the idea of 6a playing 6d, my only instrument. I can hear from the distant terraces, ‘Aye aye aye aye, Hopkinson’s better than Yashin, Freddie Hill’s better than Eusebio, And XX are in for a thrashing.’ I went to Goodison for the Portugal v Brazil game in 1966 and saw both Eusebio and Pele.Eusebio got two, Pele was kicked off the Park. COD to ROUGHAGE. Thank you B and setter
    1. I watched all the London matches live, including the final but gave my Dad my ticket for the England v Mexico match.
      But I did see TV “highlights” of that match. You’re absolutely right about Brazil being kicked off the park. Bulgaria did the same to Brazil. But Hungary were quite wonderful against them.
  8. Not heard of Eusebio? You’ll be saying you’ve not heard of Ferenc Puskas, next! 🙂
  9. FOI 11ac ROUGHAGE, LOI BANGER 22ac, once I figured out what was going on. About 50 minutes all told, but another of those where first and second read-throughs yielded nothing until the FOI somehow unlocked things. Enjoyed the musical theme. Thanks, setter and blogger.
  10. I polished this off in 27:06, but having heard of, and watched, EUSEBIO in the 66 World Cup, I carelessly thought I could spell him and typed in EUSABIO without checking the clue properly. Woe is me! Knew ORFF. Smiled at the proximity of the AXEMAN and his AIR GUITAR. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  11. I completed all but 5 clues in 18 mins but those 5 took a further 18mins.
    Like john_dun, I smiled at the proximity of AXEMAN and AIR GUITAR.
    Regarding MESSMATE, I think we’ve had MATE recently but clued as the tea, mate.
    Re 22ac, to follow the clue, surely it should be B ANGRY and not ANGER? I’m probably missing something.
    Watched all but one of the London matches in 1966, inc the final. The semi-final against EUSEBIO’s Portugal was the best game of the tournament, I thought.
    Thanks, Bruce!

    Edited at 2021-07-24 09:14 am (UTC)

    2. It’s a verb not an adjective: to really put someone out is to anger them.
      Comments crossed!

      Edited at 2021-07-24 09:29 am (UTC)

      2. Ta! I’m a bit laet to the puzzle today as I watched the Olympic Men’s Road Race. A vicarious “British” victory! Carapaz rides for Ineos Grenadiers!
    4. Actually , I think we have had messmate recently, which made me reluctant to put it in.
  12. Does anyone know why we don’t have a 15×15 today? No 28038, on my tablet at least, is just a Quick Cryptic.
  13. 12:18. NHO EUSEBIO and it took me an embarrassingly long time to see it was a hidden.
  14. Working for me in the Times app on an iPad. Have you tried turning it off and on again? 🙂
    1. Very odd. Switched (Samsung tablet, Times app) off and on again and still it says that the crytic crossword is 28038 and it’s a quick cryptic. It’s always been there, brnchn, just that it’s not the usual type.
  16. Not Samsung, but my tablet uses the same Android app and it’s fine. Try tablet reboot and clearing cache.
    1. People often talk about clearing the cache, but I’ve never known how to do that. I did restart, which is I assume a reboot, but that had no effect. If you could tell me how to clear the cache I’d be grateful. The trouble is that if I go to the User Manual it tells me it isn’t available.
      1. On your tablet’s home screen, tap the “Settings” button – looks like a wheel cog.
        Tap “Storage.”
        In the “Storage” menu, tap “Internal Storage” or “Other Apps” or “Cached data” depending on your device.
        (Find the application you want to clear the cache of and tap it.)
        Tap “Clear cache.”
        1. Well thank you for trying, Jack, but when I am in Settings, the options are Connections/Sound/Notifications/Display/Wallpaper/Lock screen/Security/Privacy/Location/Accounts and backup/Google/Advanced features/Digital Wellbeing and parental controls/Device care. They all have small print below, and under ‘Device care’ is ‘Battery, Storage, Memory, Security. I doubt whether clicking on that is much good: it takes me to a page where I can click on Storage, but then I get a page where the choices are Documents/Images/Videos/Audio/Apps, and Advanced. ‘Advanced’ doesn’t take me to anything involving the cache.

          So goodness knows.

          I did a search and found that the Quick Cryptic which has usurped the 15×15, and calls itself Cryptic crossword No 28038, is really the TQC from Monday, TQC 1920 by Tracy.

          Of course your instructions re the cog may have referred to the home screen of the Times App, but that only leads to various things, none of which has anything to do with storage so far as I can see, so I think it was indeed my device’s home screen, as you said.

            1. Thanks Jack. Yes, that certainly works, if I want to sit in front of the desktop to do the crossword. But I really should get it sorted so that I can sit in my armchair in front of my tablet.

              Perhaps I’ll ring The Times on Monday.

              1. Presumably your tablet has a browser? Then you can log on to the club that way and solve in comfort. I often do that because in my time zone the web site comes up hours before the app.
                1. Thanks brnchn yes perhaps I’ll do that if necessary (although never having done so before I might not be able to log in to the club), but I really should get it sorted: there is clearly something wrong with The Times app.

                  Come to think of it, this is probably something to do with why the Futoshiki, which during the week I usually do before the cryptic, is on Saturdays the same one as was on Friday, completed.

                  1. My Strava App went weird on my iPhone recently, and I fixed it by deleting the App and its data, then installing it again. perhaps if you delete the Times App and reinstall it, it might solve your issue.
  17. I found this extremely easy (21 minutes), despite not having heard of the footballer (this would probably apply to most other footballers as well) and not knowing the exact connection of AXEMAN to music. Managed to fill in everything but ICEBREAKER, so I went off to get an apple to munch on while pondering, and as I was washing it, that fell into place as well. Some well-constructed clues (H A RD A SNAILS, for example).

    Edited at 2021-07-24 02:17 pm (UTC)

  18. Easy here, too the only tricky one was Eusebio, whom I half knew but never could’ve spelled if it hadnt bee hidden. Thx bruce
  19. An easy 20 minutes for me. But, despite the letters being there in front of me, I managed to mistype EUSEBIO with an A.
  20. Typhoon on the track at Hong Qiao water-water everywhere!

    In-Fa is the typhoon in China. But Who put the ‘T’ in Britain?

    DNF correctly

    FOI 5dn EN GARDE

    (LOI) 9ac lobbed in SCAVENGER SUIT – regard clubs as a ‘scavenger suit’ in Bezique! (Doh!) Iron Men do nowt for me!

    COD 16ac ICE BREAKER

    WOD 2dn EUSABIO – one of the greats -burt Bobby Charlton’s brace including a header did for the Portugese!

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