Times Cryptic No 28182 – Saturday, 8 January 2022. Short and sweet.

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I was struck by the number of terse definitions in this puzzle – often one word, sometimes just two letters. I didn’t know the old county – and probably don’t know many current ones! – but the wordplay pointed the way. Nothing else stretched my general knowledge, but it took some work. 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 Rescue vessel, with buoy, European stole aboard (8)
LIFEBOAT – LIFT=buoy, with E=European + BOA=stole ‘aboard’.
5 Look hard: it should be easy to spot? (6)
GLOWER – a definition plus a cryptic hint.
9 Like boxer on carpet, perhaps, accepting small carpet better? (8)
OUTSCOLD – OUT COLD=like boxer on carpet, ‘accepting’ S. Does anyone really say ‘outscold’? Well, of course, Shakespeare:

     LEWIS
There end thy brave, and turn thy face in peace;
We grant thou canst outscold us: fare thee well;
We hold our time too precious to be spent
With such a brabbler.

10 From start, goal is to hurt (6)
OFFEND – OFF=start + END=goal.
12 Old county jail, relishing being rebuilt (13)
STIRLINGSHIRE – STIR=jail + anagram (rebuilt): RELISHING.
15 Food that can be wobbly, or, equally, still (5)
ASPIC – AS=equally + PIC=still (photo).
16 Very good Society commonly differs (9)
SAINTLIKE – S=society + AIN’T LIKE.
17 Salesperson recoiling from risk, maybe (9)
PERCHANCE – REP ‘recoiling’ + CHANCE.
19 Female vet helping bears (5)
ETHEL – hidden in (v) ET HEL (ping).
20 State of old Hilary, for example, on journey with back trouble (5,8)
OUTER MONGOLIA – O.U. (Oxford University) TERM=could be Hilary + ON + GO + AIL ‘back’. I gather other universities don’t have a Hilary term.
22 What men assume, mostly, party whip goes around for (6)
CRAVAT – CAT=whip ‘around’ RAV(e)=party. It’s a very long time since I’ve seen anyone assume a cravat!
23 For exercise, sits on a hard floor (8)
ASTONISH – anagram (exercise): SITS ON A H.
25 Ham deliveries going to cook (6)
OVERDO – OVER + DO.
26 Cosmetic craft used by the writer before an audience (8)
EYELINER – EYE=sounds like I (before an audience) + LINER=craft of the sea-going kind.

Down
1 In going places at different stages of life, thousands hurry (4,6)
LOOK SNAPPY – insert K=thousands in LOOS + NAPPY. Places to go, for young and old!
2 One newspaper covering a second match (3)
FIT – F.T. covering I. Technically, I suppose, it’s a lower case ‘i’.
3 Rural bus stops early: a pain (7)
BUCOLIC – BU(s) + COLIC.
4 Everyone in a lake comes ashore wet? (3,3,6)
ALL AND SUNDRY – A + L=lake + LANDS=comes ashore + UNDRY=wet, jokingly.
6 Remained the shortest time a fan of Labour? (7)
LEFTIST – LEFT + 1ST=the shortest time, in some competitions.
7 Means, nonetheless, to follow wife to this place (11)
WHEREWITHAL – W=wife + HERE=this place + WITHAL=nonetheless.
8 Olympic logo’s top right part possibly to completely alter (4)
REDO – the top right ring of the Olympic logo is a RED O. Feel free to check!
11 English boy’s running after wine, woman and song (2,4,4,2)
AS TIME GOES BY – ASTI=wine + MEG=a woman + anagram (running): E BOYS.
13 Do permit as one’s ordered (11)
IMPERSONATE – anagram (ordered): PERMIT AS ONE.
14 One complaining, with alarm, sailor’s wasting time (10)
BELLYACHER – BELL=alarm + YACH(t)ER.
18 Breaking into applause, waving bat, one’s hugging bowler? (7)
HATBAND – anagram (waving): BAT inside HAND.
19 For one grand, begin operating simple fare (3,4)
EGG ROLL – E.G.=for one + G=grand + ROLL=begin operating. (‘let’s roll!’)
21 Horse circled by green parrot (4)
ECHO – H in ECO.
24 Pub that’s trendy granted extension (3)
INN – IN extended by another N.

28 comments on “Times Cryptic No 28182 – Saturday, 8 January 2022. Short and sweet.”

  1. Must have been hard-ish to take that long.
    Thanks, Bruce, for explaining LOOK SNAPPY, ASPIC and LEFTIST.
    I had written “is that a word?” in my notes against OUTSCOLD but, I might have expected Shakespeare to have used it!
    FOI: BUCOLIC
    LOI: BELLYACHER (but I do NOT like the word YACH(T)ER!)
    CODs to SAINTLIKE, ALL AND SUNDRY and REDO.
      1. Hello,
        I saw your message yesterday but didn’t understand it! My avatar needs refreshing? Sorry, don’t get it. So I decided to do nothing about it. Please elucidate!
  2. Enjoyed AS TIME GOES BY. Seeing the blog I realise that I had parsed LEFTIST incorrectly when solving as: LEFT + 1 Second and Time.
    1. I parsed it differently again. Someone who has “remained the shortest time” must have departed (left) first (1st)
    2. My personal fave – the Olympus Ad Featuring Omar Sharif and Sam Kelly.

      But Fiat Strada ‘Robots’ is the most famous and Silk Cut ‘Zulu’ the most controversial!
      Back in the day it gave three days work to 95 black actors, most of whom were struggling to earn a living.

      1. Not UKish, but remember seeing one UK Fiat ad on not-the-internet in about 1980s. Opera music in the background as all the Fiats were built by robots. Then some humungous crashes on a banked test-track, Fiats flying through the air. “Fiat: Built by robots, driven by Italians”.
        Having looked up the ad on youtube, maybe I’m remembering a comic’s version, perhaps Dave Allen?
        I lived in Italy for quite a while, let me say: Italians are far better drivers than British, Australians, Americans and others. More skillful, more precise, more considerate, and more aware. But also drive faster and more recklessly.
  3. I went offline and finished over lunch, so I have no time for this, but it probably took me quite some time. I remember the frustrating struggle to recall STIR, to parse AS TIME GOES BY (which I thought of almost immediately), and to make sense of 1d. I didn’t question OUTSCOLD, but I did wonder where the carpet came from, and thought that a boxer is seldom out cold. And do we say LOOK SNAPPY? ‘look sharp’, yes, and ‘make it snappy’, but. Still, ‘going places’ is a winner.
  4. Having tried and failed more than once to join, I am afraid this will be posted as anonymous. I think the problem is at my end so will persevere in the hope that next time I will not be anonymous!

    My parsing of “fit” was i (one) covered by FT (newspaper). I also thought “a” could be one so, FT covering a could be the solution. Either way I could not see the relevance of the word second in the clue.

    This morning, I came here for enlightenment and was still nonplussed until I started to type this comment to ask for clarification. I have now twigged that i is a newspaper. Doh!

    1. i is a newspaper, yes, and a very convenient one for setters.

      Good luck wrestling with Livejournal, in the meantime just sign a name and you will not be so anonymous, eg

      Jerry W

  5. …but it took a long time to see them on some clues, particularly OUTSCOLD. 45 minutes with LOI CRAVAT. I’ve never worn one and I haven’t assumed any tie since the last funeral I went to. There were some good clues though, with BELLYACHER my favourite. OUTER MONGOLIA was somewhere close to the Back of Beyond in my youth. I wonder if its residents thought ths same about the UK? Thank you Bruce and setter.
  6. Crap clue of the day for the scatalogical, 1dn LOOK SNAPPY!

    FOI AS TIME GOES BY – having seen Casablanca again over the Christmas break on the BBC.’Play it, Sam!’

    LOI 9ac OUTSCOLD – a parental tournament I guess?

    COD 12ac STIRLINGSHIRE – a late ‘fitba’ result Falkirk 1 East Stirlingshire 1

    WOD 3dn BUCOLIC – Boukolos is the Greek for a cowherd – named Noël

    I’ll fetch me anarak!

    Edited at 2022-01-15 08:47 am (UTC)

  7. Enjoyed this one, though despite being in my seventies I don’t think I have ever seen anyone wearing a cravat, fancy dress competitions apart.

    I remember seeing Adam Ant in one, but he was pretending to be a highwayman at the time so hardly counts.

    Failed to twig that the Hilary term was OU specific. Reasonably straightforward otherwise

    1. Despite being in my seventies too – I give you Terry Thomas, Nicholas Parsons, Gregory Peck, Dirk Bogarde and more recently – Paul Smith and Alan Partridge. Cravats are famously banned at Ascot. I dare you!
  8. Stirlingshire was ‘a bit of a do’! My COD & WOD to 14dn Bellyacher: a yachter appears a lower grade then a yachtsman, but nicely avoids the PC element if one is ‘woke’. Egg Roll was somewhat skittish and 1dn scatty!
  10. I was a DNF this week, beaten by OUTSCOLD at 9ac. Never heard of it and wouldn’t have thought of it. Other mystery solutions were 1 , 8 and 22 ac, 1 and 6 down; I made the right words, apparently, fit the squares but couldn’t relate them to the clues. Not a satisfying crossword experience, but that’s more about my level of ability, still, I fear. Live and learn.
  12. Managed to slot this one in between music sessions in a pub in the Borders. Can’t remember anything about it now(no great surprise, as much imbibing was also involved), but I did go all green in in 34:59. Thanks setter and Bruce.
  13. Twice we had ‘from’ (in 10ac and 17ac) and I couldn’t really see what it was doing. In 10ac perhaps it’s just about OK: From [wordplay] (comes the) [def] but in 17ac it just seems to be an extra word that isn’t relevant to the wordplay and is only there so that the surface makes sense. Am I missing something?
    1. I think the idea is that REP is recoiling ‘from’ CHANCE in the sense that that’s where it starts, i.e. the reversed word REP begins next to the beginning of CHANCE, it starts recoiling from there.
  14. Way off the wavelength, and very slow. e.g. Figured the U was an implicit university in “old term”, took forever to get cravat, and so on. In the end the OU bit was the only part not parsed properly, but it still took a long time.
    Sometimes it just doesn’t work for you.
  15. I was very slow getting started and only got a couple of clues in my first session.
    But I raced to a finish by 1pm with CRAVAT LOI and not fully parsed till after. OUTSCOLD not long before that. Liked ALL AND SUNDRY.
    David

    Edited at 2022-01-15 05:17 pm (UTC)

  17. One hour and twenty minutes, so not easy for me, but very enjoyable. COD to LOOK SNAPPY, easy enough to biff, but it took me a while to parse the wordplay. CRAVAT was my LOI, preceded by BELLYACHER (which I also found quite good) and ECHO.

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