Times Quick Cryptic No 2820 by Jimmy

Solving time: 5:19

My first time blogging Jimmy on this, his ninth puzzle. Having averaged 6m 21s for the first eight, I found this marginally on the gentler side with no unfamiliar words amongst the answers.

There are a few bits of hopefully reasonably well-known GK – Paul’s role in The Beatles; James Bond’s drink of choice; and, the most popular chemist in Crosswordland.

And did you spot both current and previous UK Prime Ministers being namechecked?

I hope you all enjoyed it as well – let me know how you got on….

Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones].

Across
1 Opening of fete, not just an amusement park (7)
FUNFAIR – First letter [Opening] of F{ete} then UNFAIR (not just)
5 Tech entrepreneur’s posts (4)
JOBS – More or less a double definition – imho the ‘s is superfluous

Entrepreneur Steve Jobs (1955-2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc.

7 Old druid drained rum (3)
ODDO (Old) then the internal letters of D{rui}D are removed [drained]

In the 1560s, rum was canting slang [thieves’ jargon] meaning “excellent, fine, good, valuable”. By 1774, it had also come to mean rather the opposite: “odd, strange, bad, queer, spurious,” perhaps because it had been so often used approvingly by rogues, in reference to one another.

In recent years, wicked has taken the opposite journey, meaning both bad and good…

8 Time with eg Rishi, wild and ferocious (8)
TIGERISH – Anagram [wild] of T (time) with EG RISHI

Not sure I’d apply this adjective to our most recent ex-PM…

10 Class securing university meeting place (5)
FORUMFORM (Class) containing [securing] U (university)
11 Skill getting into car, one James Bond might order (7)
MARTINIART (Skill) getting into MINI

In total, throughout Ian Fleming’s novels and short stories, James Bond orders 19 vodka MARTINIs, 16 gin MARTINIs and, in the book Casino Royale, 1 Vesper (a MARTINI made with three measures of Gordon’s gin, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet, shaken very well until ice-cold, then garnished with a large thin slice of lemon peel).

13 Arrogant and elated Ruth (6)
UPPITYUP (elated) PITY (Ruth)

I knew the word only from Roger Hargreaves’ Mr. Men series of children’s books. Mr. UPPITY was originally released in 1972.

Since 2021, the character has been re-titled Mr. Snooty as the word UPPITY has racial connotations – see www.etymonline.com/word/uppity for more detail.

15 Strategy, something expected of diplomat in charge (6)
TACTICTACT (something expected of diplomat) IC (in charge)

i/c as an abbreviation for “in charge” is used especially in military contexts e.g. “the Quartermaster General is i/c rations”

17 Back from nightspot, walk unsteadily? Rubbish (7)
TWADDLE – Last letter [Back from] of {nightspo}T, then WADDLE (walk unsteadily?)
18 Female who’s good at spelling? (5)
WITCH – A gently cryptic clue where ‘good at spelling’ here means ‘good at performing spells’

Given the identity of today’s setter, could this clue be classed as a ‘Jimmy riddle’?

20 Give president weapons and somewhere to sit (8)
ARMCHAIR – To give a president weapons would be to ARM the CHAIR – president here in the sense of the person presiding over a meeting
22 Gospel writer initially lacking craft in the Bible (3)
ARK – The Gospel writer is MARK – remove the first letter [initially lacking]
23 Daughter with musical ability certainly not going for a song! (4)
DEARD (Daughter) with EAR (musical ability)

Going “for a song” (All’s Well That Ends Well III.ii.9) means being sold very cheaply indeed – in Shakespeare’s play, the clown refers to a melancholy man having sold a “goodly manor for a song”.

24 Chemist’s brought in toothpaste urgently (7)
PASTEUR – Hidden [brought in] in toothpaste urgently

Our favourite Crosswordland chemist.

Down
1 Mistakes when serving tofu with last of nuts (4,6)
FOOT FAULTS – Anagram [nuts] of TOFU and LAST OF

FOOT FAULTS exist in many racket sports, though most likely to be known of from tennis.

My LOI – took a few moments to twig that “last of nuts” in this case was not the letter S.

2 Hurried up, pinching police officer’s bottom (5)
NADIRRAN (Hurried) reversed [up] containing [pinching] DI (police officer i.e. abbreviation for Detective Inspector)

In astronomy, the NADIR is the “imaginary point of the celestial sphere vertically opposite to the zenith of the sun”. The sense of the “lowest point” of anything is recorded by 1793.

3 Tried case of arsonist enticed to do wrong (9)
ATTEMPTED – Outside letters [case] of A{rsonis}T then TEMPTED (enticed to do wrong)

Is it so wrong to take that third cream cake having been TEMPTED?

4 Government concerned with eg uprising, arresting one million (6)
REGIMERE (concerned with), then EG reversed [uprising], containing [arresting] IM (one million)

Nice use of ‘uprising’ as a direction – apposite as this is a ‘down’ clue

5 Shock agreement from German, right? (3)
JARJA (agreement from German) R (right)
6 Maybe Paul McCartney’s No 1 for Beatles — Help! (7)
BASSIST – First letter [No 1] for B{eatles} then ASSIST (Help!)

A definition by example (DBE) – Paul McCartney was the BASSIST for The Beatles

9 Problem with hotel Keir sorted out for traveller who doesn’t pay (10)
HITCHHIKERHITCH (Problem) with anagram [sorted out] of H (hotel) and KEIR

And our current PM takes his bow…

12 Saw dork or drunk showing what may hold drivers up (9)
ROADWORKS – Anagram [drunk] of SAW DORK OR
14 Couple going around river, that is plain (7)
PRAIRIEPAIR (Couple) going around R (river), then IE (that is – abbreviation of Latin id est)
16 Give a makeover to clergyman and a politician (6)
REVAMP – REV (clergyman) and A MP (politician)

A VAMP was originally the “upper part of a shoe or boot“. From the 1850s, to RE-VAMP was to “provide a shoe with a new VAMP“.

19 Hint — he leaves the running competition (5)
TRACE – HE leaves THE RACE (running competition)
21 Gracious and firm queen (3)
CORCO (firm i.e. abbreviation for ‘company’) R (queen i.e. abbreviation for ‘regina’)

‘Gracious’ here is an exclamation!

 

78 comments on “Times Quick Cryptic No 2820 by Jimmy”

  1. 7:33 a good time for me, but it’s not an especially challenging one. I liked BASSIST and HITCHHIKER the best. thanks both!

  2. We found this another friendly offering from Jimmy, although it delayed us
    more than his previous offerings. Foot fault and twaddle were among our LOIs.

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