Saturday Times 24293 (1st Aug)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 13:45, so a bit easier than the previous two weeks. A fairly steady solve, no major sticking points, just a few places where I had to go back for another look when there were a few crossing letters.

Across
1 SCUFFLED – CUFF in SLED
6 WOOLLY – double definition.
9 E-FIT – F(orce) inside TIE reversed. Used to be called a photofit before they had computers.
10 ROGUE STATE – ROTE around GUEST,A(rea)
11 ATTACHMENT – double definition, spam being the junk email rather than the meat.
13 APEX – APE + X
14 TRAPDOOR – DOOR (panel) next to PART reversed.
16 ESDRAS – hidden in “StoriES DRAStically”.
18 GAMBIT – BIT after GAM (school of whales).
20 COMATOSE – (come to as)*, &lit. Liked this one a lot.
22 JADE – “Jay’d”. A bit contrived, I thought.
24 FREE SPIRIT – double definition.
26 CANDELABRA – CAN DELA(y) BRA
28 GREY – odd letters of GaRgErY. Joe Gargery was a blacksmith in Dickens’ Great Expectations, but that’s irrelevant here.
29 STORMY – ST OR MY. The surface is nonsense, but it’s a good idea.
30 GENERATE – (green tea)*

Down
2 CAFETERIA – FETE + R inside CA(lifornia) and IA (Iowa)
3 FAT CAMP – M inside FA + PACT reversed.
4 LURCH – double definition, the second as in the phrase “to be left in the lurch”.
5 DOG – DO + G
6 WHEAT GERM – (grew them a)*. I always thought this was one word, but Chambers gives it as two.
7 OUTWARD – OUT (revealed) + WARD (councillor’s responsibility).
8 LITHE – LIT + H.E. (His Eminence, cardinal’s title).
12 EARACHE – R.A. inside EACH + E. Liked the definition, “Listener’s smart”.
15 OUT OF PLAY – double definition, “in touch” meaning over the line in e.g. rugby.
17 ABSTINENT – (in test ban)*, with force as the anagrind. I thought that was a bit unusual, but it’s in Bradford’s as an anagrind, and there are a couple of meanings in Chambers that would justify it.
19 BLENDER – B(ritish) + LENDER. Hmph! “Bank, possibly” = LENDER? Not lately they aren’t!
21 TRIGGER – OUTRIGGER with OU (French for where) removed.
23 ADAPT – AD + APT
25 SWAIN – I in SWAN. Jonson referred to Shakespeare as the “Sweet Swan of Avon”.
27 BUG – initial letters of Bother User Group.

7 comments on “Saturday Times 24293 (1st Aug)”

  1. Likewise, a steady and rather unexciting stroll through some pretty standard fare. I hadn’t heard of FAT CAMP before and thought JADE rather poor. I tried to justify “sage” for a while but couldn’t get a fit and JADE was the only other green I could think of.

    Even easier this week. I finished it in under 10 minutes – the first time I’ve done that in several years!

  2. I’ve lost my print-out and detailed notes but I recorded 60 minutes on this one so obviously didn’t find it easy. I put SAGE at 22ac but without any conviction.

    Today’s was certainly the easiest this week for me, which came as a pleasant and very welcome surprise.

  3. I initially put ‘BLENDED’ rather than ‘BLENDER’ which led to problems with ‘STORMY’.

    As an Anaesthetist, I thought ‘COMATOSE’ very good.

  4. Didn’t time this — it was that kind of Saturday. But I didn’t think it so bad as some of the commentators above. ESDRAS is interesting because it looks like a plural (final S) but isn’t necessarily. See this link. So “book” would have done as well as “books”. “Force” as the anagind {NB spelling} was, indeed, quite odd. God forbid we should ever have a definitive list of them! Even if a bit corny (?) the anagram at 6dn was well constructed in an &lit-ish way. So it gets my COW (clue of the week).
  5. This fellow setter was held up by JADE at the end, and finally got it in the bath. But you know what? — I thought it was ‘inventive’ rather than ‘contrived’. Liked it!
  6. A rood part is a cross section? And trap door is a horizontal access panel, rather than a horizontal access (access being a noun only in non-English-speaking countries such as USA)?

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