Times Cryptic No 28050 – Saturday, 07 August 2021. Who was Carl Foreman?

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For the second week running, we had a reference to someone I hadn’t heard of, and once again I didn’t need to know who they were. He directed wrote The Bridge on the River Kwai. Otherwise the puzzle was easy enough, but not too easy and I got through it in slightly better than standard time. I particularly liked 16dn.

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.

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

Across
1 Fellow hot — better taken outside (4)
CHAP – CAP=better, outside H.
4 Tailored suits come with alteration initially discussed (10)
CUSTOMISED – anagram (with alteration) of SUITS COME + D from D(iscussed).
9 Appease pair, needing sedative, going without it? (10)
PROPITIATE – PR=pair, OPIATE outside IT.
10 Response from congregation almost put right (4)
AMEN – AMEN(d).
11 Assume leading role at school: wield the axe! (6)
BEHEAD – BE HEAD of the school.
12 Female in metallic fabric not good for ex? (3,5)
OLD FLAME – F in (G)OLD LAMÉ.
14 Gleaming ring held inside worth a lot (4)
HALO – hidden.
15 Slow to see accident as British capital drawn into fight (10)
RUBBERNECK – B for British + BERNE = a capital, in RUCK.
17 Criminal given tail’s finding group after him? (10)
VIGILANTES – (criminal) anagram of GIVEN TAILS.
20 Shoot person showing remarkable talent (4)
WHIZ – double definition. Speed, or skill.
21 Cleaner fuel that draws well? (8)
CHARCOAL – CHAR + COAL.
23 Archdeacon in time to repay (6)
AVENGE – VEN in AGE.
24 Plant where solitary workman at last relieved (4)
ALOE – ALONE minus the N from (workma)N.
25 Pedant and stoic clash explosively (10)
SCHOLASTIC – anagram (explosively) of STOIC CLASH.
26 Fine results when going beyond this surprisingly simple diet? (5,5)
SPEED LIMIT – anagram (surprisingly) of SIMPLE DIET.
27 Back trouble unknown in diminutive Jedi master (4)
YODA – ADO=trouble, Y=an unknown. Backwards.

Down
2 Savoury sauce artist fed to Andalusian beauty? (11)
HORSERADISH – HORSE=an Andalusian, for example. RA=artist. DISH=beauty.
3 Look to keep very quietly cooking one’s pizza topping (9)
PEPPERONI – PEER keeping PP, ON=cooking, I=one.
4 Paint entrance for speaker in French department (4,3)
CÔTE D’OR – sounds like COAT DOOR. Actually, Côte-d’Or, the department, is hyphenated.
5 Bloomer from principal in West Bank city? (4-2-9)
STAR-OF-BETHLEHEM – STAR=principal, etc.
6 Unsettled round greenery where last rook departs (7)
OVERDUE – O is round, take the last R out of VERDURE.
7 Given lift when grouse endlessly seen in island group (5)
SAMOA – AS=when, ‘given lift’, + MOA(n).
8 Centrist’s head in the sand — one never learns (5)
DUNCE – C from C(entrist) in DUNE.
13 Caller copying Doctor Celsius mixed big drink (11)
MOCKINGBIRD – M.O.=doctor, C=Celsius, (mixed) anagram of BIG DRINK.
16 Some American territory that’s just off The Needles? (3,6)
NEW JERSEY – freshly knitted!
18 Topless drinking bout offers excitement (7)
AROUSAL – (c)AROUSAL.
19 Foreman maybe embraced by group blushing? (7)
SCARLET – CARL (Foreman) in SET.
21 Democrat leaving republic, extremely upset, sees anarchy (5)
CHAOS – CHA(d), SO ‘upset’.
22 Make good your sins an hour after midday? (5)
ATONE – AT ONE P.M.

15 comments on “Times Cryptic No 28050 – Saturday, 07 August 2021. Who was Carl Foreman?”

  1. Just realized I didn’t parse NEW JERSEY, it was so obviously the answer. I appreciate your succinct explication, which reveals the excellence of the clue. I also ignored my utter ignorance about what “Foreman” was about in the clue for SCARLET.

    Edited at 2021-08-14 12:54 am (UTC)

  2. I thought of new jersey, but still didn’t connect with knitting (I tend to think of a jersey as the shirt worn by an athlete). I didn’t know that The Needles are a group of rocks off the Isle of Wight. Excellent clue, indeed. On the other hand, there’s YODA. I also didn’t know who Foreman was–thought he might have been a boxer.
    1. In the UK they have Jerseys and Guernseys (Gansey) fancy-patterned, old-fashioned knitware, which are referred to as ‘jumpers’ by the hoi-poloi – sweaters otherwise. A football ‘jersey’ derives from the aforementioned knitwear. These were originally worn by the ‘Goalies’, who often stood around for hours with nothing much to do in the freezing cold, except pick the ball out of the back of the net and have ‘ciggy’/ ‘fag’! There is also a finer machine-knitted ‘jersey’ woollen cloth for discerning ladies. And then there are Cardigans ‘cardies’………balaclavas….. over here athletes wear vests and footballers have ‘kit’. It’s another world!

      Edited at 2021-08-14 09:35 am (UTC)

  3. I liked this one and had all but 4 or 5 clues solved in 28 mins or so; then it took another 20 mins for the rest.
    Thanks, Bruce, for RUBBERNECK and OVERDUE.
    I must have solved SCARLET quite easily but I didn’t know who Carl Foreman was.
    Favourite clues were MOCKINGBIRD, NEW JERSEY and CHAOS.
    Speaking of N.J., did I see that Bruce Springsteen’s daughter won a medal in Tokyo?
    Right, time to attack today’s and hope to complete it before the Bledisloe Cup match.
  4. 45 minutes but I fell at the last hurdle with the plant at 24ac. I’ve seen various products (shampoo etc) boasting ‘with ALOE’ but I’m not entirely sure I ever realised it is a plant.

    One correction, Bruce, Carl Foreman didn’t direct ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’, that was the superb David Lean who was awarded an Oscar as Best Director. Foreman contributed to the screenplay but was uncredited because he was on the Hollywood blacklist. Most of his work was as writer and producer, but Sam Spiegel was the producer on this one.

    Edited at 2021-08-14 06:08 am (UTC)

    1. Thanks Jack, I couldn’t remember what Wikipedia said long enough to transcribe it apparently 🙁
  5. ….Foreman, but the answer could only be SCARLET. I was also wrong-footed with my LOI WHIZ, where I almost chanced “whip” without seeing why. I always spell WHIZ with a double zee, and went to Chambers for confirmation once I’d “put my pen down” at 13:54. COD to the very clever RUBBERNECK.
  6. 39 minutes, which I felt was slow at the time. I too would always spell WHIZ with double Z as in BILLY WHIZZ. COD to RUBBERNECK. I’ve never heard of Carl Foreman either ( were Jung or Perkins too famous?) and have spent much of my life trying to avoid Star Wars, not an easy thing to do. The family once dragged me to a one-man show covering all of Star Wars in an hour. The talented actor who perpetrated this said at the end, “There’s an hour of your life you won’t get back.” Thank you B and setter.
    1. A SHORT GUIDE TO STAR WARS

      A light sabre is some kind of sword
      The Force is just physics ignored
      C3PO is a muppet
      And YODA’s a puppet
      R2D2’s the droid we applaud

  7. I didn’t know CARL Foreman either but it didn’t stop me solving the clue. I’m another who would spell WHIZ with a double Z. That was my LOI after an alphabet trawl. Liked RUBBERNECK. MNEW JERSEY was a highlight when the penny dropped too! 23:40. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  8. All done in about 50 mins so normal time for me. I liked COTE-d’OR (one of my favourite regions of France) and SPEED LIMIT best. Agree re the hyphen b. Didn’t know YODA but worked it out, likewise the Carl in SCARLET, as others. Thank B and setter.
  9. A sticky solve over 27.27, like eurcon essaying JERUSALEM first for the equally possible flower. City of Bethlehem doesn’t sound quite right for the O Little Town.
    New Jersey a fine clue. I did wonder if there was an American territory called The Solent, and whether it extended as far as The Needles.
  10. Like Lord Zed, I too fancied JERUSALEM over BETHLEHEM. New Jersey was indeed a fine clue. I have visited The Needles on three occasions. Solent University is popular with American students, I am informed by their website.

    FOI 1ac CHAP

    LOI 13dn MOCKINGBIRD from IKEA

    COD 16dn NEW JERSEY

    WOD 9ac PROPITIATE

    Plenty of ALOE growing hereabouts in Asia – shampoo (Sanskrit-massage) products – and a highly popular flavouring and constituent of commercially produced yoghurt.

    Time:- as above

    Edited at 2021-08-14 09:58 am (UTC)

  11. Thanks, brnchn, especially for Carl. I had assumed that somehow the old Norse Housecarls had evolved into a term for foreman in areas once covered by the Danelaw. I liked Rubberneck and Speed Limit.

    Edited at 2021-08-14 03:10 pm (UTC)

  12. Late to the party as usual…. In Scotland we call it being the coo’s tail. Anyway, I know I completed this and sent it off with hope. I haven’t, however, recorded my time, my FOI or LOI, my COD, or anything, so this is possibly the singularly most useless post about it ever. However, I just wanted to record that, yes, I did it!

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