Saturday Times 24640 (September 11th)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 13:07. Would have been an even quicker solve if I’d heard of the children’s game. Pretty standard fare I thought – nothing to complain about really, but no stand-out clues either.

Across
1 DAD’S ARMY – cryptic definition for the old comedy series. Privaye Pike was played by Ian Lavender. Here’s the obligatory clip.
5 CHASER – hidden in “Catch a server”.
9 RINGTONE – RING (proves you’re engaged) + TONE (contraction of Anthony).
10 FISCAL – double definition. Fiscal drag is “the means by which the inland revenue automatically benefits from any increase in earned income without any increase in taxation rates”.
12 VICIOUS CIRCLE – VICIOUS + CIRCLE.
15 TOTEM – TOTE + M(ale).
16 ROAD TESTS – (started so)*
17 VENERATOR – R.A. in VENETO + R(enaissance).
19 MINIM – “sent back unaltered” = palindrome.
20 PRISONERS’ BASE – last one I got. I had PRISONERS in quite early, but it took me a while to think of a suitable word to fit ?A?E, as I’d never heard of the game.
22 RUSKIN – RUSK IN. I was always very partial to Farley’s Rusks as a child. The Victorian critic was John Ruskin.
23 ABATTOIR – RIOT + TAB + A all reversed.
25 PLEDGE – PL(ace) + EDGE.
26 DESPOTIC – (topside)* + C(old).

Down
1 DERIVATIVE – double definition. “Any financial instrument (e.g. a futures contract or option) giving rights or obligations to an underlying asset or liability”, or a differential coefficient in mathematics.
2 DUN – DUNDEE minus the river Dee.
3 ART FORM – ART (thou) FOR M(otorway)?
4 MINISTRATION – R inside MINI STATION.
6 HAIRCUT – IR + CU inside HAT.
7 SECRET SANTA – SECRET + SAN + T.A. (Territorial Army).
8 ROLE – sounds like “roll”.
11 DISAGREEABLE – (desirable age)*
13 CUT-AND-PASTE – (stand-up act)* + (jok)E, semi-&lit.
14 ASYMMETRIC – (Society may)* + METRIC.
18 RAILING – RILING around A.
19 MISSTEP – MISS + TEP(id).
21 PROP – R inside POP (to pop is slang for to pawn something).
24 OFT – 0 + F.T.

12 comments on “Saturday Times 24640 (September 11th)”

  1. Not too hard this one (forgot to record a time), though I had to look up “prisoner’s base” in Chambers, not having heard of it either. And I’m not quite certain about “to grab” as a hidden word indicator. That and “Secret Santa,” another novelty, were last in!
  2. Much the same experience, standard fare. I didn’t know the game or the Santa reference so had to verify them in the dictionary. Reasonable enough puzzle though.
    1. I’d never heard of it then either, I see! Looking back through the comments I can remember the puzzle quite well now, but obviously that bit of information didn’t stick.
    2. Proof, as if further proof were needed, that my memory is sinking fast. If it comes up again at Christmas will I know it then? Probably not. Woe is me!
      1. This makes me feel much better about the composer I managed to forget the other day when he came up for the second time in as many months. Now what was his name…
  4. 5:45, held up only by ignorance of FISCAL drag (10ac) and – like linxit, dorsetjimbo and ulaca – failure to remember PRISONER’S BASE (20ac) from its appearance in June.  I didn’t know Pike from DAD’S ARMY (1ac) either.

    I don’t like the use of “this” to refer to part of the answer in 9ac (RINGTONE) – nor, for that matter, do I like what I assume is meant to be the definition (“I heard it on the phone”).

    In 4dn (MINISTRATION), is MINI indicated by “railway”?  If so, why?  (The equation “MINI = miniature = miniature railway” would surely be too loose, so I feel I must be missing something.)

    And finally, in 24dn (OFT), “Consistently” doesn’t ring true as a definition.

  5. You’re quite right.  A halt is “a minor stopping place on a local railway line” (Concise) or “a railway station not fully equipped” (Chambers).
  6. 40 minutes for me and not much to add. Didn’t know the kids’ game and learned about Secret Santa from the DVD of the magnificent Office – pity Ricky Gervais has played the same part ever since – sent over by my mother 6/7 years ago.
  7. This took me just over 20 minutes and I’d agree very standard fare. For once my memory didn’t fail me and I remembered Prisoner’s Base from June, which helped quite a bit.
    Anyone who did the jumbo got two answers in one from 19ac.

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