Saturday Times 26346 (27th Feb)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
18:50 for this, which was quite tricky in places. The wordplay for 7dn and 26ac took some seeing (although 7dn was easily biffable). I found 16dn and 22dn harder than they should have been too. First two in were 2dn followed by 1ac, so I was off to a good start, but it was short-lived and most of it was ground out with very few gimmes. Good puzzle.

Across
1 Plant business minimal, with sterling suffering reverse (12)
TRADESCANTIA – TRADE (business) + SCANT (minimal) + A1 (sterling) reversed. A genus of plants named after the 16th century plant collector John Tradescant
9 Light turned on by doctors (5)
AMBER – RE (on) + BMA (British Medical Association, doctors), all reversed.
10 Ban translation aid in language students’ exercise (9)
PROSCRIBE – CRIB (translation aid) inside PROSE (language students’ exercise).
11 Transport English and French back aboard this? (3,5)
CAR FERRY – E(nglish) and FR(ench) reversed inside CARRY (transport).
12 In the middle of a film, daughter interrupts (6)
AMIDST – A + MIST (film) around D(aughter).
13 No odd number in service (8)
EVENSONG – EVEN (no odd) + SONG (number).
15 Short cut taken by commander in dispute once (3,3)
COD WAR – DWAR(f) (short, cut) next to CO (commander).
17 Writer showing conflicting political positions briefly? (6)
CONRAD – CON(servative) next to RAD(ical). Joseph Conrad, one of the best novelists to write in English, despite the fact that it was his third language (after Polish and French).
18 Identified dish eaten by boy (8)
LABELLED – BELLE (dish) inside LAD (boy).
20 Group of pupils oddly is not mad keen (6)
INTAKE – alternate letters of Is NoT mAd KeEn.
21 Absent-minded diarist wasted time (8)
DISTRAIT – (diarist)* + T(ime).
24 The standard of London theatre? (9)
CRITERION – double definition. A well-known theatre on Piccadilly Circus.
25 Proper old duettist (5)
PRIMO – PRIM (proper) + O(ld).
26 Apparently, trees should be planted in a dry position, it’s said (2,5,5)
AT FIRST SIGHT – FIRS (trees) inside A TT (teetotal, dry) + SIGHT (sounds like site, position).

Down
1 Measure of nectar squiffy husband imbibed (7)
TRANCHE – (nectar)* around H(usband).
2 Scientist set entire lab out at home (6,8)
ALBERT EINSTEIN – (set entire lab)* + IN (at home).
3 Ghostly-sounding retreat for hunter (5)
EYRIE – sounds like “eerie”.
4 One helping raise issue about a payment after work (2-6)
CO-PARENT – C (about), then A RENT (a payment) after OP (work).
5 Something helpful brought round for inexperienced person(4)
NOOB – BOON (something helpful) reversed. A derogatory word for someone inexperienced, usually in IT, particularly online. Short for newbie.
6 Hassle as government dept cuts pay (9)
INCOMMODE – MOD (Ministry of Defence, government dept) inside INCOME (pay).
7 Household task revolving around old loo unrewarding? (6-8)
WINDOW-CLEANING – WINDING (revolving) around O(ld), WC (loo), LEAN (unrewarding).
8 Train soldiers to resist at the front (6)
MENTOR – MEN (soldiers) + TO + R(esist).
14 Overcome by sleep briefly, stop being most lively (9)
SPARKIEST – PARK (stop) inside SIEST(a) (sleep briefly).
16 Underwear, secure inside cases (8)
PATIENTS – PANTS (underwear) around TIE (secure).
17 Embrace lover at first during a walk in the park (6)
CLINCH – L(over) inside CINCH (a walk in the park).
19 US city: unwelcome president initially avoids it (7)
DETROIT – DE TRO(p) (unwelcome, minus the P for president) + IT.
22 What’s served in Spanish bar? Milk, for example (5)
TAPAS – TAP (milk) + AS (for example).
23 Show one musical from the 1950s (4)
GIGI – GIG (show) + I (one). 1958 film starring Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier.

10 comments on “Saturday Times 26346 (27th Feb)”

  1. 20m. 1ac was one of those that seemed clear from the wordplay but unlikely to be a word, so I submitted with fingers crossed. I agree that this was a good puzzle though.
  2. Exactly an hour for me. I was pleased to get the unknown 1ac correct from wordplay. I didn’t know (or more likely had forgotten) PROSE as a passage set for translation; I think in my schooldays we just called it “translation”. RAD for “political radical” was also unknown but was useful as it turned up again in a puzzle solved only today.

    Edited at 2016-03-05 02:02 pm (UTC)

  3. This took me ages because I didn’t see NOOB as a proper word. I know “newbie” and “neo”. Finally saw BOON and the proverbial dropped. I also dithered with 16d. I was trying to fit TIE into a word meaning “underwear” as in PANTIES, SCANTIES, NIGHTIES. I liked the smooth surface at 10a. About 50 mins. Ann
  4. While solving I thought this was the best for weeks but it loses something on review. Down to a B+ from an A. COD WAR last in after DWAR took two alphabet runs. 26ac now looks a bit clunky with ‘apparently’ at the front and ‘it’s said’ at the end but 10ac is great for its surface. Happy to meet NOOB for the first time.
  5. Not sure about the objection to this as being ‘clunky’ as both of the items quoted are needed for solving. Tks for blog – needed it to fully understand AMBER. Seemed a tough enough puzzle to me.
    1. Well, I tried to persuade our resident classicist to blog it after the first week, but he can’t get hold of the paper easily on Saturdays and doesn’t subscribe to the digital version. I tried solving it for the first couple of weeks, but my schoolboy Latin hasn’t had much practice in the last 40 years or so, and was woefully not up to it!

      So the answer is no, sorry. However, if you’re offering, we’d be glad to welcome you on board.

      Edited at 2016-03-06 08:32 pm (UTC)

      1. I don’t think my Latin is up to blogging the whole crossword but I am willing to explain some of the clues if anyone wants to ask. Most of the crossword is straightforward looking up vocabulary and grammar but some clues are cryptic or semi- cryptic.

        Rita

  7. Thanks Andy. Liked Conrad, wasn’t so keen on Amidst – seemed a bit of a sameness, unfamiliar with De Trop, Noob spelled like that didn’t occur to me quickly, and of course flummoxed by the plant. So a slower go than what it might have been. Victory to the setter this week.
  8. I spent a lot of time on this and got the bottom half but precious little of the top. I couldn’t fathom the unknown 1a ; thought it ended in GA being the reverse of silver; missed Scant. 5d unknown; I had thought of Boon.And many more.
    I did manage to solve more clues than the previous two weeks so some progress. David

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