Saturday Times 25460 (27th April)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 15:55 – looking at a sub-10 for a while, but I ran out of steam in the bottom half and limped home a bit. Sorry this is a bit brief, but I’m in a hurry as usual.

Across
1 SOLD – (animal)S + OLD (out of the ark).
3 COMMISSION – MISS (pass over) + I(sle) inside COMO (lake) + N(ew).
9 RETICLE – RE (referring to) + TIC (habitual action) + L(eft) + E(uropean).
11 SLITHER – S(econd) + R(un) around LITHE (nimble).
12 PERPENDICULAR – P(ower) inside (crude plea)* + R(esistance).
14 HALVE – HALE (robust) around V (versus, against).
15 APATHETIC – PATH (course) inside TEA (meal) reversed, + I (one) + C(old).
17 RECREATED – RED (colour) around [ CRETE (island) around A (article) ].
19 BATHE – EH (come again) + TAB (flap), all reversed.
21 ELECTROMAGNET – ELECT (choose) + [ TENOR (direction) reversed around MAG (publication) ].
24 HOUSTON – H(orse) + OUST (force out) + ON (about).
25 AUSTRIA – ARIA (song) around (l)UST (desire, minus the L for line).
26 PEACEMAKER – (came)* inside PEAK (summit) + ER (hesitant expression).
27 ACRE – take the odd characters from “dancer set”.

Down
1 SHROPSHIRE – HIRE (charter) underneath [ SHOPS (stores) around R(ight).
2 LITERAL – L(earner) after LIT (settled) + ERA (period).
4 OVERDRAFT – (for advert)*.
5 MUSIC – C(lubhouse) + I (current) + SUM (total), all reversed.
6 SPILL THE BEANS – SPANS (spreads) around [ ILL (ruinous) + THEBE(s) (endlessly ancient city) ].
7 INHERIT – IN (at home) + [ TIRE + H(ard) reversed ].
8 NERD – hidden in “dinner date”.
10 CREME DE MENTHE – CEMENT (join) + HE (man) around REMED(y) (treatment, minus the Y for yen).
13 ACCENTUATE – (tune, act)* inside ACE (great).
16 AUDIOTAPE – AUDE(n) (poet mostly) around [ IOTA (small amount) + P(age) ].
18 CAESURA – R.A. (artist) after (cue as)*.
20 TANTRIC – TAN (beat) + TRIC (sounds like “trick”, deception).
22 TANKA – TANK (abode of fish) + (oce)A(nic). A type of Japanese poem of 5 lines and 31 syllables.
23 WHIP – double definition.

4 comments on “Saturday Times 25460 (27th April)”

  1. 39 minutes so not too bad (for me) considering there were a number of unknowns such as RETICLE, CAESURA, TANKA and TENOR as direction. Couldn’t make head or tails of what was going on with CREME DE MENTHE having written the answer in immediately on the basis of the literal, the enumeration and a couple of checkers. Couldn’t explain 6dn either having wrongly assumed that ‘spreads’ accounted for SPILLS in the answer. Glad I wasn’t blogging this one but solving it was reasonably straightforward.
  2. Nice puzzle. 29 minutes. I’ve never heard of RETICLE though Georgette Heyer’s ladies often put their bits and bobs in RETICULES. Doesn’t seem to be the same thing. Oddly enough, I had a problem with HOUSTON. It took me a while to spot the anagram and the dessert also eluded me – so 23d and 24a became my LOI. Thanks for the blog. Ann
  4. I had almost the identical experience to Jack’s: couldn’t make anything of CREME DE MENTHE but got it on checkers and definition, drove myself crazy trying to use ‘spills’=’spreads’ and playing with Thebes, never heard of RETICLE. The only problem I had with HOUSTON was the one time I went there; definitely high on my list of US cities to avoid.

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