Times Quick Cryptic 2027 by Oink

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Quick Cryptic
Off to a flying start, but slowed down on the right hand side a bit. My last two in were 23ac and 21dn. The answers and clues all feel pretty fresh and fun, which is quite an achievement after 2000 of these!

There are quite a few animals mentioned here, including one of the porcine variety. Jackkt has informed me that we’re due an Oink puzzle, so that’s our best guess. I’ll update the title once I have more intel.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 What might satisfy a boxer’s hunger? (3,4)
DOG FOOD – cryptic definition.
5 Indulge sailor visiting Brittany on vacation (4)
BABY – AB (sailor) inside (visiting) the first and last letters of (on vacation) BrittanY.
7 Stop Charlie finding contentment (5)
CEASE – C (charlie) and EASE (contentment).
8 Criticises a reporter’s demand (7)
ATTACKS – A, then what sounds like (reporter’s) “tax” (demand).
10 Great speed but no power (3)
ACE – pACE (speed) missing the (with no) ‘p’ (power).
11 Area Lancelot abandoned without warning (3,2,4)
ALL AT ONCE – A (area), then an anagram of (abandoned) LANCELOT.
13 Funny boy, more likely to succeed than not? (4-2)
ODDS-ON – ODD (funny) and SON (boy).
14 Some 1960s ex-Potteries pin-up (6)
SEXPOT – hidden in (some) 1960S EX-POTteries.
17 Pauses to bury revolutionary Slav (9)
INTERVALS – INTER (to bury), then a reversal of (revolutionary) SLAV.
19 One grabbed by policeman and shot (3)
PIC – I (one) contained by (grabbed by) PC (policeman).
20 Doctor locates source of food intolerance? (7)
LACTOSE – anagram of (doctor) LOCATES.
22 Two boys like Henry VIII, say (5)
ROYAL – ROY and AL are the two boys.
23 Problem doing without heroin for long (4)
ITCH – hITCH (problem) missing the (doing without) ‘h’ (herion).
24 Communist turning on soldier, one in procession (7)
PARADER – RED (communist) reversed (turning) on PARA (soldier).

Down
1 Authoritarian Adriatic lot thrown out (11)
DICTATORIAL – anagram of (thrown out) ADRIATIC LOT.
2 Enterprising school principal in India? (2-5)
GO-AHEAD – cryptic hint. GOA HEAD could be a school principal in India.
3 One frequently pulled in by the Met? (5-4)
OPERA-GOER – cryptic definition, The Met being a famous opera house and company in NYC.
4 Departs in good time but at great cost (6)
DEARLY – D (departs) and EARLY (in good time).
5 Club for a fly-by-night? (3)
BAT – double definition.
6 Airline against providing fatty food (5)
BACON – BA (British Airways, airline) and CON (against).
9 Curates clap wildly? That’s impressive (11)
SPECTACULAR – anagram of (wildly) CURATES CLAP.
12 Prize given to Republican fund manager (9)
TREASURER – TREASURE (prize) and R (Republican).
15 Pugnacious sailor has daughter with amazed expression (3-4)
POP-EYED – POPEYE (pugnacious sailor) and D (daughter).
16 Composition of mascara? (4-2)
MAKE-UP – double definition.
18 Yours truly involved in diplomacy, it’s understood (5)
TACIT – I (yours truly) contained in (involved in) TACT (diplomacy).
21 Bear with head cut off? I say! (3)
OOH – pOOH (bear) missing the first letter (with head cut off).

57 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic 2027 by Oink”

  1. 11 minutes while coincidentally eating a BACON and avocado sandwich! I was wondering who the setter was, thought it might be Oink and was pretty sure when 6d appeared. I mostly liked this a lot but as others have said, there were one or two oddities — PARADER in particular didn’t float my boat, and I never did parse POP-EYED. Now William has explained it, I really like it 😅 OOH made me chuckle.
    FOI Dog food
    LOI Ace (somehow I nearly missed it!)
    COD Dearly
    Thanks Oink and William
  2. but 6dn gave the game away. It was hardly ‘the pig’ that some folk made out. My time was 4.47 with my COD 5ac BABY.
    WOD Opera Goer.
  3. might simply have been – Chow? (3,4) or even — Chow-chow? (3,4). But then I’m not a
    setter.
  4. Made hard work of this, blame being woken up in the middle of the night by the house alarm, mouse chewing cable probably. Had dog bone for 1a, which made 4d impossible. We also joined the opera door club for 3d. Failed to think of pooh bear, so not a good day.
  5. Yes, if I was an opera-goer I’d be frequently pulled in. The one time I went to the Met I bought tickets and went in, so confused and Opera-Door was the best I could say today. 37 min a GN7, not bad for me with these testing clues. Thanks Setter Blogger and all.
  6. Ooh matron! Did anyone else think of Kenneth Williams?

    I was another with opera door, but a great puzzle overall.

  8. As some others fixated by Opera Door and NHO the Met as a NY opera venue… so didn’t get this one.
    Couldn’t get Itch or Ooh — I knew it was to long for but failed. Ooh probably only possible if you have Itch…unless Pooh bear is banging on your mantle….
    Otherwise good fun.
    COD for me was Lactose — I took ages to see that it was an anagram — doh!
    Thanks all
    John George
    1. I’m sure you know this already, but for the benefit of any newbies reading the blog, Doctor should prompt things like: Dr, MO, MB, GP… and ‘the next word is the anagrist’ (and very occasionally, Who 😉)

      Edited at 2021-12-15 07:13 pm (UTC)

  9. Had DOG BITE to satisfy a boxer’s hunger so failed on 3 & 4 down and since I’ve NHO the met as an opera house, that was that.

    Edited at 2021-12-15 06:54 pm (UTC)

  10. Doh! Got the last clue wrong. Otherwise, quick for me, less than 20 minutes for the rest of the clues.
    Once I thought of OPERA DOOR, I assumed it was something I’d not heard of, and I couldn’t unthinking it!
    BW
    Andrew
  11. Totally derailed by DOG MEAT. Never recovered from that. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
    Richard
  12. Couldn’t get a proper handle on this. Not having an identified setter proved oddly unsettling and so most went in with pencil. A late solve so lacked the stamina to resolved 23a itch and 21d ooh, so a DNF. Odd that knowing the setter gives me more confidence of the degree of double-thinking necessary. I’d always discounted the need to know. Maybe it was just being tired this evening. Possibly I should have left it to finish in the morning…
  13. It s noticeable that more and more respondents are not using an ‘avatar’. Thus their comments, often at the end of the blog as today, become an amorphous hoi-poloi, mixed in with the QAnons.

    One is far more likely to read the comments of Messrs. Rotter, Old Blighter, Cedric and Merlin than say invariant, pitcaithlie and heathrowexpress whose personalities are poorlly defined, which is a great shame.

    This hardly occurs on the 15×15.

    QCers! ‘Avatar-up’ and increase your branding — stand out from the crowd!

    With an Avatar you’re a Star! Do it for Christmas!

    On edit: see how dearhector stands out!?

    Edited at 2021-12-15 11:24 pm (UTC)

Comments are closed.