Saturday Times 24383 (Nov 14th)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
No time recorded last week, but I think it was around 20 minutes. I made a bit of a hash of 14D, putting in STAN at the end, which helped with 27 but not 20 or 24. This setter made a habit of putting wordplay elements in the wrong order, which I’ve reflected in the clue explanations. No complaints about that particularly, but it was noticeable.

Across
1 INCAPABLE – IN + CABLE around P.A.
6 STROP – PORT + S(on) reversed.
9 SORORAL – SOR(e) + ORAL. Unusual word, but same root as sorority so not too hard.
10 GALILEO – I + LEO (sign) next to GAL(lon).
11 MUNCH – MUN(i)CH.
12 OFFSPRING – OFF (start, think e.g. horseracing) + SPRING (well).
14 RUT – double definition. Does = female deer.
15 SANDRINGHAM – SHAM around AND RING.
17 JACK RUSSELL – JACK (This Is The House That Jack Built) + “rustle”.
19 BUN – BUN(g). Sweetener = bribe.
20 SARGASSUM – SUM (problem) after S.A. (it) + R(uns) + GAS.
22 ISLAM – LAM (big impact) next to IS (lives).
24 HAWKISH – WK inside HI + SH
26 ROAD HOG – (go hard O)*, &lit.
27 NOYAU – YON (that) rev. + AU. A liqueur made from brandy flavoured with almonds or peach kernels.
28 BEHEADING – A DIN after HE, all inside BEG.

Down
1 IN SUM – i.e. means the same as IN SUMMARY
2 CORONET – COR (My!) + O(ld) + NET
3 PURCHASER – CHA inside PURSER
4 BALLOONISTS – (tools in labs)*
5 EGG – double definition.
6 SALOP – POL(ice) + AS, all reversed. The old name for Shropshire.
7 RALEIGH – ALE inside RIGH(t)
8 PLOUGHMAN – P(ressure) + LOUGH (mere) + MAN (mortal).
13 FORCED MARCH – FORCED (what’s made) + M(iles) + ARCH, &lit.
14 RAJASTHAN – AJAR rev. + (hasn’t)*
16 NULLIPARA – hidden reversed in “feAR A PILL UNderstandably”. First time I’ve seen this word, but we’ve had PRIMIPARA before meaning a woman having her first baby.
18 CARAWAY – AWAY underneath CAR.
19 BOLSHOI – OH SLOB rev. + I. Appeal to couch potato – brilliant. I was chuckling to myself about that for ages.
21 ADIEU – AD + I.E. + U
23 MAGOG – MAG + O.G. (own goal).
25 HUB – U inside HB (pencil lead).

10 comments on “Saturday Times 24383 (Nov 14th)”

  1. After finding the previous Saturday 24377 easier than most I think I’m in for the opposite experience with this one. I could not get my head round it and it kept me occupied for some 40 minutes (far longer than the next day’s Mephisto, of which more tomorrow). I kept grinding to a halt and then solving 2 or 3 only to stop again. Looking back afterwards I simply couldn’t see why that should have been!

    In the end an enjoyable if slightly frustrating solve. I particularly liked ROAD HOG and BOLSHOI

  2. I don’t have a lot of time during the week but usually get this more or less out during a Satuday afternoon with some use of aids. However I made very little progress with this and even with a few answers cribbed from others who had asked in Answerbank I was left with about a quarter unsolved.
    Well done those those solved it unaided.
  3. Twenty minutes sounds pretty good to me. For the second week in succession I did not finish until Monday. The SW was the problem where, at 14. I persisted for too long in trying to form an anagram from just hasn’t. The crosscheckers, sargassum and noyau were new to me and had to bet got from the wordplay. I guessed that sargassum comes from the Sargasso sea but, actually, the reverse is true.

    Last in was rut, which could not be anything else but there was a long pause before I realised why.

  4. I thought this was terrific fare for a Saturday. It took me the best part of an hour. Lots of grinning at the sheer cunning of it, as in “people taking up basket” for BALLOONISTS. There was a charming homophone in Jack Russell, and a neat surface in MUNCH. Groan of the day when IN SUM clicked.
  5. I thought that this was a cracking puzzle, although it took me well over an hour to crack it!

    Like Jimbo, looking back it is difficult to know why.

    JamesM

  6. Lost my print-out unfortunately. I know I found it easier than the previous Saturday and think I finished well under the hour though I may have used aids for the last one or two.

    I certainly remember I enjoyed it.

  7. I agree this was another cracking Saturday puzzle. HUB & RUT were particualrly nasty. When the three letter clues are this good, you know you’re in trouble. Before posting this I looked at the clue for RUT again, having ticked it, and couldn’t see for the life of me how it worked. Thank heavens we have bloggers to remember these things for us. COD to FORCED MARCH
  8. 15:18 for me. An exceptionally fine puzzle, full of delightful clues – I particularly liked 4D (BALLOONISTS). My compliments to the setter.
  9. I’d like to endorse all the praise for this puzzle. It took me a lot longer than some here, 85 mins. Only 2 or 3 solved in the first half hour, then it got a bit easier and I saw things that made me wonder why I’d not seen them earlier.

    Clues I marked as esp good HAWKISH, ROAD HOG, BEHEADING, BALLOONISTS, PLOUGHMAN, BOLSHOI.

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