Saturday Times 24078 (Nov 22) – another belter

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 20:10. This was another in an increasingly long stretch of brilliant Saturday crosswords, probably the most enjoyable to solve yet for me. There was a lot of Brit slang in it though, so it might have been pretty tough for our overseas solvers (not that it wasn’t tough for me either though).

Across
1 SODA POP – SO + PAD rev. + OP.
5 ROADBED – AD inside ROBED. I thought this should have been hyphenated at least, but Chambers gives it as one word.
9 RESPECTABLE – RE + SPEC + TABLE.
10 ONE – (g)ONE
11 MEADOW – ADO inside MEW.
12 BEJABERS – JAB in BEERS. The Chambers definition for this confirms that it’s a facetious word attributed to the Irish, which they themselves never say – a bit like “Begorrah!” or “Top o’ the mornin'” etc).
14 FLASH IN THE PAN – FLASH = second in the sense of a short period of time.
17 CYBERSLACKING – (by single crack)*. I’d never heard of this term before, even though it’s what I do for a living (hope the boss doesn’t read this blog)!
21 AQUARIST – A + (IS inside QUART)
23 ASHLAR – LAR after ASH. More like a Mephisto clue really, with obscure words in both definition and wordplay. Luckily I knew both, probably from solving harder puzzles.
25 BOB – palindromic haircut.
26 SNOW LEOPARD – (down also per)*, another name for the ounce.
27 EARMARK – E(nergy) + ARM + ARK.
Down
1 SCRUMP – SCRUM + P(ippins)
2 DISTAFF – DI above STAFF. The female side of a family (the male equivalent is SPEAR, which also crops up occasionally).
3 PTEROSAUR – (use raptor)*. Nice anagram, but easy for anyone who’s seen Jurassic Park!
4 PATE – two definitions, taking advantage of the fact that crosswords ignore accents.
5 RUBBERNECK – (B + BERNE) inside RUCK. Neither Chambers nor Collins give this definition, but it’s the one I know (and have been guilty of myself in the past).
6 AKELA – hidden in mistAKE LAwyer. I was a Cub myself once, so no problem with that one.
7 BOOZE-UP – ZEU(s) inside BOOP. Betty Boop was a 1920s flapper cartoon character.
8 DRESSING – nice cryptic definition.
13 SHELL SHOCK – S(on) + HELL + SHOCK
15 HAILSTONE – HAILS + TONE
16 SCRAMBLE – OK assuming you’re having eggs for breakfast, hence the question mark at the end.
18 BLUBBER – double definition.
19 GALLANT – GALL + ANT
20 BRIDGE – G(room) in BRIDE.
22 RASTA – A STAR with the R moved to the front. Short for Rastafarian. It’s a Jamaican religion, so I suppose “black believer” is a fair definition.
24 FLAT – double definition, nice surface.

10 comments on “Saturday Times 24078 (Nov 22) – another belter”

  1. I agree this was an excellent puzzle. I finished in 43 minutes which is not bad for me. CYBERSLACKING is in Chambers but not in COED or Collins latest editions.
  2. I have to agree another great Saturday puzzle and today’s is also not a doddle. Long may it be so. Can’t say that I’d really noticed a lot of slang but agree ASHLAR was difficult and like Linxit I knew both LAR and ASHLAR from AZED/Mephisto.
  3. I’ve lost my notes for this but remember thinking it was a very good puzzle with some inventive clueing.

    I don’t think I’d seen BEJABERS and AQUARIST before but they were not hard to figure, ASHLAR was familiar from general reading especially about the Incas whose masons built with large interlocking stone blocks with extraordinary precision.

    Blackadder fans will remember Edmund’s impromptu explanation of “Great booze-up!”

  5. I was glad that I was able to resort to 1Across with all the checkers for 5d RUBBERNECK and 17a CYBERSLACKING. I am familiar with 5d and try not to indulge in it – although I’ve been in plenty of queues because of it. 17a was new to me but I would be fibbing if I said I’d never indulged in it. Fortunately, I work for myself so my boss is very understanding of the need for some degree of it.

    There is one answer missing from the blog:

    28a Framework where letters written out (7)
    TRESTLE. Anagram of (letters).

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