Saturday Times 26082 (25th April) – absolute belter!

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 26:47, mainly held up by my last three in (5ac, 10ac and 8dn). I actually got off to a fairly fast start to this one, but I kept stopping to admire the brilliant wordplay and surface readings, so it wasn’t really conducive to a sprint! 10ac threw me off a bit. I had ?M-?R??, and the only thing I could think of to fit was GM-FREE. I wasn’t convinced enough to put it in, but it clouded my thinking when looking at 8dn.

Anyway, congratulations to the setter, this was a beauty.

Across
1 Penny given fresh trim and set (8)
PREPARED – P(enny) + RE-PARED (given fresh trim).
5 Appropriate lessons at end of course (6)
SNATCH – (lesson)S + NATCH (of course). This and 8D held me up for ages!
9 Books on early Biblical event were powerfully illuminating (8)
FLOODLIT – LIT (books) next to FLOOD (early Biblical event).
10 Unpaid acting PM shot? No! (2-4)
AM-DRAM – AM DRAM (i.e. a morning shot rather than a PM one).
12 He and I get into such rows! (8,5)
PERIODIC TABLE – cryptic definition, He and I being the elements helium and iodine.
15 Assembly ends on Saturday with agreement (5)
SYNOD – S(aaturda)Y + NOD (agreement).
16 Influential businessmen of old girl corrupted with cash (9)
OLIGARCHS – O(ld) + (girl, cash)*.
17 Harness rodent, carrying very small rope back in (9)
REINVOLVE – REIN (harness) + VOLE (rodent) around V(ery).
19 Bertie’s no saint? He was to Lady Florence (5)
WOOER – WOO(st)ER. In the PG Wodehouse books, Lady Florence Craye is Bertie’s regular fiancée, although he always manages to escape!
20 Maybe greeting King, recklessly firing secret rounds (5-8)
GRIEF-STRICKEN – K(ing) inside (firing secret)*. Greeting is a dialect word for crying.
22 After check, I fasten pipe up (4,2)
CHIP IN – CH(eck) + I + PIN (fasten).
23 In most of Ireland, clear backing for satire (8)
RIDICULE – EIR(e) (most of Ireland), around LUCID (clear), all reversed.
25 Dancer pulled this handy trick, mostly (6)
SLEIGH – SLEIGH(t) (handy trick, mostly). “Dancer” being the name of one of Santa’s reindeer, of course.
26 Girl embraced by Count in Russian novel (3,5)
THE IDIOT – HEIDI (girl) inside TOT (count). 1869 novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Down
1 Secretaries go after publicity that’s flaky (4,6)
PUFF PASTRY – PA’S (secretaries) + TRY (go), after PUFF (publicity). A much better clue than the one for last Saturday’s 8D, in my opinion.
2 Such people like collecting bottles? (3)
ECO – hidden in “like collecting”, &lit.
3 With Christian’s upbringing one’s made to look human? (7)
ANDROID – AND (with) + DIOR (Christian) reversed.
4 Magic potion: i.e. one kiss and I fell for Dicky! (6,2,4)
ELIXIR OF LIFE – (IE I X I fell for)*. In the anagram fodder, one=I and kiss=X. Dicky is the anagrind.
6 State main variation: baseless prejudice (7)
NAMIBIA – (main)* + BIA(s) (prejudice, “baseless” i.e. minus the last letter).
7 Time-keeper raised Trade Union rights and so on: impasse (6-5)
TURRET-CLOCK – TU (Trade Union) + RR (rights) + ETC (and so on) + LOCK (impasse). Slight quibble in that Chambers gives it as two separate words, other dictionaries may vary. Didn’t bother me as the term was new to me anyway!
8 In an instant turning up gas rings (4)
HOME – MO (an instant) reversed, inside HE (Helium, gas). Brilliant clue, couldn’t see it at all till the end, as I didn’t have 10A or 5A either until then.
11 Perch little boy astride his cycle, maybe, and suddenly get rolling (6,2,4)
STRIKE IT RICH – SIT (perch) + RICH (little boy) around TRIKE (his cycle, maybe).
13 US editor’s job, perhaps, is for the duration (7,4)
RUNNING TIME – double definition, the first referring to Time magazine.
14 Like red wine, if getting round in, or bitter (10)
ASTRINGENT – AS (like) + TENT (red wine) around RING (round).
18 Expression in French here’s no good (7)
VOICING – VOICI (French for “here’s”) + NG (no good).
19 Site with changing facility for surfers straddling a one kilometre beach (7)
WAIKIKI – WIKI (site with changing facility for surfers) around A + I (one) + K(ilometer). Famous beach in Hawaii, although the surfers referred to in this clue are of the Internet kind.
21 Plays, but not loudly in truth (4)
ACTS – FACTS (truth), minus the F for forte (loudly).
24 Queen’s possibly reared lion cub occasionally (3)
UNI – alternate letters of “lion cub”, reversed. Queen’s University, Belfast, I presume.

16 comments on “Saturday Times 26082 (25th April) – absolute belter!”

  1. Share your opinion that this was a fine crossword, Andy. Also like you had not heard of a turret clock; but it sounded plausible.

    I did especially like 19dn, with its precise but misleading definition. Wiki is itself a Hawaiian word I believe

  2. 18:25. Yes, this was a very enjoyable puzzle.
    At 19dn my first thought was that ‘facility for surfers’ was WIFI. I think I must have come across the beach before, because WAIFIKI didn’t look right and I went back and looked at the clue properly.
    I didn’t know TURRET-CLOCK either.
    I didn’t understand 5ac, so thanks for explaining it. Very clever!

    Edited at 2015-05-02 08:30 am (UTC)

    1. WAIKIKI pops up in a lot of song lyrics. Squeeze’s Pulling Mussels (from a shell) springs to mind:

      They do it down on Camber Sands
      They do it at Waikiki

      .. or if your tastes are a little more old school, Frank Sinatra, Thanks for the Memory:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWcaSLjaKDU

      (second verse) (there seem to be multiple versions of the lyrics to this song. I don’t think the original Bob Hope/Shirley Ross version included the beach)

      Edited at 2015-05-02 09:32 am (UTC)

  3. 18:14 … some belters, for sure. The definitions for WAIKIKI and STRIKE IT RICH, and the whole clue for PERIODIC TABLE are memorable.
  4. While we wait for news from The Lindo Wing … is not there a conflict in tense here between the answer and the clue?
    1. No:
      Look at the underlined definition WERE POWERFULLY ILLUMINATING. Were is the past tense of are, floodlit is the past tense of floodlight.
      The spots floodlit the stage./The spots were powerfully illuminating (on) the stage.

      Right off the wavelength, really struggled for 40:43.
      Rob

  5. 24 mins. I had a very similar experience to Andy, and AM-DRAM was my LOI after SNATCH and HOME. Devious and excellent cluing to be sure, as were those for REINVOLVE, WAIKIKI, GRIEF-STRICKEN and WOOER. The only reason I haven’t included PERIODIC TABLE is the “He” and “I” trick has been used in other puzzles fairly recently so I was wasn’t fooled, although I admit it has a superbly succinct clue.

    As far as anon’s query about FLOODLIT is concerned I don’t see a problem with the past tense for both, as in “the lights were powerfully illuminating/floodlit the area”.

    1. Agreed re FLOODLIT. Light/lit is the sort of verb that can be stative and thus equivalent to a progressive -ing form.
  6. Nice puzzle, on which because I failed to spot the hidden and then failed to check my stab at ‘Ibo’ when my last (PREPARED) fell, I sadly fell short.
  7. Slow-going but enjoyable. AM-DRAM was my first one in, so no problems here with that one. Biffed RUNNING TIME (from 2nd def), GRIEF-STRICKEN and WAIKIKI. Also didn’t know TURRET CLOCK but the wordplay was helpful. Never heard of Lady Flo re Bertie Wooster, despite currently watching the most recent TV series on DVD (must pay more attention). Wondered if OLIGARCHS as ‘businessmen’ might be stretching things a bit; I think of them as bureaucrats which doesn’t quite translate to the modern idea of business people.
    1. Dictionaries define them as a small exclusive group running a government:
      Jackkt 1, setter & editor 0.
      I’ve only ever heard the term used to describe the likes of Roman Abramovich who is definitely not part of a small group running a government, but would normally be described as a businessman. Is this a case where usage has changed, changes yet to be reflected by the dictionaries?
      Rob
  8. + 1 day and 5 hints remaining. I was stopped at the SNATCH/HOME crossing and meant to come back to it later but the weekend intervened. A really good crossword, deserving of better treatment. After reading the blog, the two I missed get my nod for joint COD.
  9. Could not for the life of me see the 5a, 10a and 8dn trio – thanks for the explanations Andy. Agree all three were excellent.

    Rest of it went in OK, and a thoroughly enjoyable solve. Particularly liked the Dicky anagram and PERIODIC TABLE was indeed a cracker.

  10. 5a I don’t think that I’ve heard anyone say or write “natch” -is this a word that exists only in crosswordland?
    1. I suspect it’s an Americanism; I definitely use it, and hear and see it often enough.
  11. Rated as ‘brilliant’ – we don’t agree but prefer ‘too clever by half’! Stumped for the first time in ages.

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