Saturday Times 24861 (May 28th)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 15:05, so about average. Mostly straightforward, although there were a couple of very convoluted wordplays that took ages to decipher (e.g. 14ac, 25ac).

Across
1 ARABIC – A + RA(b)BI (scholar disheartened) + C (mediocre grade).
5 MASSAGED – MASS (service) + AGED (old people).
9 PAYSLIPS – YAP (go on irritatingly) reversed + SLIPS (mistakes).
10 TROUGH – ROUGH (unwell) after T(ime).
11 CATNIP – PINTA (milk) + C (about), all reversed.
12 INNER MAN – hidden in “dinner manages”. Chambers has it as “the stomach or appetite (facetious)”.
14 SHELF-STACKER – (herself)* around TACK (food), and S(upermarket), although I’m not sure what indicates that the S has to go before TACK, unless it’s “at” meaning next to in no particular order.
17 ROOM AT THE TOP – MATT (dull) + HE (fellow), inside ROO (jumper) + TOP (tee-shirt perhaps). A 1957 novel by John Braine.
20 PLANT POT – ANT (worker) + P(repare) inside PLOT (part of garden).
22 RADIAL – RADICAL (innovative) minus the C from Capital. The Circle Line is a London Underground line, but that was put in just to confuse. Here it’s just a line in a circle.
23 BISHOP – IS + HOP (bound) next to B(ook).
25 HYACINTH – HY (“high”, lofty-sounding) + [I (individual) + N.T. (bible partly) inside A CH(urch)] Convoluted wordplay, but I saw lofty-sounding=”high” and in it went! I only worked out the rest just now for the blog.
26 TEARDROP – (trader)* + OP.
27 SUGARY – US reversed + GARY.

Down
2 REAGAN – R.E. + AGA(i)N. I is the symbol for electrical current in physics.
3 BUSINESSMAN – BUSMAN (transport worker) around SINES (functions).
4 CHIRPIEST – (rich)* + PIES + (die)T.
5 MASTIFF – MA + S(mall) + TIFF.
6 SIT-IN – NIT (lousy type) + IS, all reversed.
7 ADO – O(ld) with AD (bill) on top of it.
8 ENGRAVER – ENG(lish) RAVER.
13 RICE PUDDING – C(old) + DUPE (fool) reversed, all inside RIDING (part of Yorkshire).
15 TUTORIALS – (out)* inside TRIALS.
16 POOLSIDE – (Lido’s ope)*, &lit.
18 HITCH UP – H(orse) + ITCH (longing) + UP (in the saddle).
19 TASTER – O (egg) removed from TOASTER.
21 PAPER – PP (pages) around A (article), + RE reversed (about uprising).
24 HER – E(quality) inside H.R. (Human Resources, or personnel department).

5 comments on “Saturday Times 24861 (May 28th)”

  1. Around the 25 minute mark for me. Held up for quite a long time at the end by BUSINESSMAN. Big eureka (or possibly doh!) moment when the penny finally dropped.
  2. I save Saturday’s puzzle to do on the morning of the blog so it’s fresh in the memory. Today was not a good day. For some reason I failed to see 1a straight away. I always have problems when this happens.It was a very slow start and after 5 minutes I only had a few isolated answers. Then I saw ROOM AT THE TOP and things began to come together. COD CHIPPIEST which made me laugh (I spent ages trying to fit an anagram of “rich” into the answer) Staggered home in 36 minutes.
  3. Ho hum! Have just realised that I’ve probably got 4d wrong. My COD, no less. I thought the “rich food” was CHIP+PIES+(die)T. So not so amusing after all!
  4. 39′, and I put in ‘shelf-stocker’, not having thought of ‘tack’ and really just relying on the checkers. Similarly with CATNIP: I knew CA wasn’t a reversal, but didn’t know PINTA (cuppa si, pinta no); but at least there was no way to get the solution wrong. But all in all it was an enjoyable puzzle, with some nicely deceptive surfaces (1ac, 13d,5d, and of course 4d).

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