Not to say this was hard, but the ones that challenged me were all in the west. 1dn and 24dn, particularly. Thanks, setter. How did you all do?
Note for newcomers: The Times offers prizes for Saturday Cryptic Crosswords. This blog is for last week’s puzzle, posted after the competition closes. So, please don’t comment here on this week’s Saturday Cryptic.
Definitions are in bold and underlined. With the luxury of a week to do the blog, I can expand on the wordplay:
-
- synonyms and the like appear in [square brackets]
- wordplay instructions appear thus
- anagram fodder is (THUS)*, with the anagram indicator in italics
- a ⁁ symbol indicates where text is to be inserted.
| Across | |
| 1 | Drawing of son penned by father changing hands (6) |
| PASTEL – PATER changing hands gives PA⁁TEL, which then pens S [son]. | |
| 4 | Murder in manor overseen by police officer? (8) |
| DISPATCH – D.I.’S PATCH. | |
| 10 | English church enclosed by tangled privet’s open (9) |
| RECEPTIVE – E CE [English church] enclosed by R⁁PTIVE = (PRIVET)*, tangled. | |
| 11 | Sound offensive when out of order (5) |
| NOISE – NOISOME, out of OM [Order of Merit]. | |
| 12 | One nude man dancing with Eric generates interest? (8,6) |
| UNEARNED INCOME – (ONE NUDE MAN + ERIC)*, dancing. | |
| 14 | Wrongful trading involves taking extreme positions (5) |
| ULTRA – hidden (involves). | |
| 16 | Screen display of pig stuffed with 50 fish hearts (5,4) |
| SLIDE SHOW – S⁁OW [pig] stuffed with L [fifty] + IDES [fish] + H [hearts]. | |
| 18 | Really short fat hawk picked up green power unit (5,4) |
| SOLAR CELL – SO [really] + LARD [fat, short] + CELL [sounds like (picked up) SELL=hawk]. | |
| 20 | Ideal way of working came first in review (5) |
| MODEL – M.O. [way of working] + DEL [LED=came first, in review]. | |
| 21 | Rest book on object held by snake expert (9,5) |
| BREATHING SPACE – B [book] + RE [on] + THING [object] held by A⁁SP [snake] + ACE [expert]. | |
| 25 | Plunder near centre of Almedina maybe decent (5) |
| ROBED – ROB [plunder] + ED [centre of ALMEDINA]. | |
| 26 | Titanium coating very large tin and nickel conductor (9) |
| TOSCANINI – T⁁I [chemical symbol for titanium] coating OS+CAN [very large + tin] + NI [chemical symbol for nickel, this time]. | |
| 27 | Somehow feel angry expelling a nuisance from bed? (8) |
| GREENFLY – (FEEL ANGRY)*, somehow. “Angry” expelled the A before its use in the anagram. | |
| 28 | Camp unaccompanied man crossing city (6) |
| STALAG – STA⁁G crossing L.A. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | European author admitting regrets about boat (10) |
| PORTUGUESE – PO⁁E [author] admitting R⁁UES [regrets] about TUG [boat]. Double nesting. And, my LOI. |
|
| 2 | Some former customers sent back out-of-date bread from Ecuador (5) |
| SUCRE – reverse (sent back), hidden (some). “Bread” means currency, here. |
|
| 3 | Stores penny inside of bare monument (7) |
| EMPORIA – Bare MEM⁁ORIAL stores P. | |
| 5 | Rebels once returned home bearing diamonds (5) |
| ICENI – ICE + NI [IN, returned]. | |
| 6 | Criticise American male cramping Charlie’s style (7) |
| PANACHE – PAN [criticise] + A [AMERICAN] ⁁ HE [male] cramping C. |
|
| 7 | Won ton and steak one splits with editor after hours (9) |
| TRIUMPHED – T [ton] + I splits R⁁UMP [steak] + H + ED. | |
| 8 | Take notice of Scottish nut on the radio (4) |
| HEED – sounds like (on the radio) HEID [Scottish for “head”]. | |
| 9 | Fan of film clubs during endless holiday? (8) |
| CINEASTE – C [clubs] + IN [during] + EASTER [holiday, endless]. | |
| 13 | Really hot time visiting wild Lewes band (10) |
| SWELTERING – T [time] visiting SWEL⁁E [(LEWES)*, wild] + RING [band]. | |
| 15 | Island Royal Engineers Group erected fair (9) |
| TOLERABLE – ELBA [island] + R.E. + LOT [group], backward (erected, in this down clue). | |
| 17 | Sloth edges along lacking cover on headland (8) |
| IDLENESS – SIDLES [edges along, lacking cover] + NESS [headland]. | |
| 19 | African managed to carry Rod (7) |
| RWANDAN – R⁁AN to carry WAND. | |
| 20 | As lead might unfortunately be in factory or in theatre (7) |
| MISCAST – let’s call it a two-way cryptic definition: lead, the metal, might be miscast in a factory. The lead actor might be miscast in the theatre. Nice play on a word pronounced in two ways. |
|
| 22 | Books in here on vacation close to Rhyl? (5) |
| HOTEL – OT [books, as it so often is] in H⁁E [here, on vacation] + L [close to RhyL]. Perhaps whimsically, the whole clue could be definition. | |
| 23 | Playwright’s spirit that is drunk by patrol’s regulars (5) |
| ARIEL – IE drunk by AR⁁L. Ariel appears in The Tempest. |
|
| 24 | Rock music follows compere’s introduction (4) |
| CRAG – C [Compere’s introduction] + RAG [music]. My first thought was CLAY. Is clay really a rock? Is a lay just music? Shrug … never mind! |
|
Oh dear, our site outage problem has affected everyone today!
Bu this was a nice, pleasant crossword I thought, no cruciwords, no issues, just a bit easier than average. Good stuff.. re the blog, I was wondering how miscast could be pronounced two different ways – but it is lead of course being referred to. Well, it’s still early ..
Good crossword. I enjoyed ‘won ton’.
I did this over two sessions and lost track of time but I estimate about an hour. My one query was the wordplay of NOISE which I completely missed. I took the SA currency on trust.
43 minutes, all parsed except NOISE – PDM about an hour later. COD PASTEL for elegant surface.
Bruce, the H (= hours) is missing from the explanation of TRIUMPHED.
Thanks.
PORTUGUESE was a blind spot for far too long but got there in the end. Pleasant challenge.
Happily reached the end unscathed and enjoyed a tussle or two on the way. Saw the parsing of Breathing space, Noise and Cineaste only after some work – the last was only a problem as I’d misspelt it as CINIASTE. Ariel was the last as I dnk the definition was ‘playwright’s spirit’ and couldn’t work out what to do with the extra ‘spirit’ in parsing.
Yes, not easy to get on today.
Unlike at least one including blogger, thought this a bit harder than average Saturday.
Liked quite a few including 4ac DISPATCH, 26ac TOSCANINI and 8d HEED.
Did not like 11ac NOISE – both aspects too arcane; and 21ac BREATHING SPACE – just a bit too complicated? A few other gripes but not worth mention.
Looked up to fit or confirm clues with 2d SUCRE, 5d ICENI and 23d ARIEL.
Very satisfying crossword, though.
Thank you setter and branch.
33:21
Slow start–FOI 2d! LOI DISPATCH, which I didn’t get: patch=manor? Someone on the club forum queried the use of ‘rebels’ to characterise the Iceni. I liked TRIUMPHED & NOISE.
See Collins:
Patch: a district for which particular officials, such as social workers or police officers, have responsibility
Manor: a geographical area of operation, esp of a gang or local police force
Yes, it occurred to me when solving that ‘patch / manor’ would be a bit much for some, but it’s bread and butter to those of us around in the 1950s and 1960s raised on the adventures of Dixon of Dock Green and his like.
…Or The Sweeney, or similar cop TV series in the 70’s.
I found this pretty approachable, left in the end with just NOISE unparsed. Liked the subtlety of MISCAST and the Ikea construction of clues like SLIDE SHOW, TOLERABLE and TRIUMPHED. A perfectly pitched puzzle for doing on holiday in Rhodes.
31 minutes, so not too hard. I don’t remember any clues I couldn’t parse, but it’s been a week, of course, so I may have forgotten. I remember it being enjoyable.
Always like seeing themed cryptics like this — even when they’re tricky, it’s satisfying how the wordplay eventually clicks once you get a few crossing letters in place. These Saturday Times puzzles usually feel tougher but fair, which makes the solve more rewarding.