Saturday Times 24167 (Mar 7th)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 14:55, about par for me. I really enjoyed this, full of excellent witty definitions and smooth surfaces. A couple of clues I found a bit dodgy, but they don’t detract from it too much.

Across
1 UPHOLSTER – UP (excited) + HOLSTER (container for drawers, nice one!).
6 MEDIA – AIDE + M(agician) all reversed. Another clever definition, ref. media circus.
9 SAVIOUR – (Various)*. I don’t think I’ve seen this (pretty obvious in hindsight) anagram before.
10 THIN AIR – T(oupee) + (IN inside HAIR). Yet another creative definition.
11 TRACE – double definition.
12 UNNOTICED – (continued)*. Excellent anagram &lit. I thought it was just a rather weak cryptic definition when I first wrote it in!
13 FACTOTUM – ACT inside FO (Foreign Office), plus TUM (one might rumble).
14 ARCO – hidden in “familiAR COncerti”. A musical direction meaning “with the bow”, to mark the end of a pizzicato passage.
17 USER – US(h)ER.
18 BASELINE – BASE (mean) + LINE (business). I thought this was a fairly weak &lit compared to the rest of the puzzle, but maybe I’m missing some subtlety.
21 DALLIANCE – (horri)D + ALLIANCE.
22 CIGAR – 1 + G(et) inside CAR.
24 IN ORDER – double definition, one cryptic (brothers = monks).
25 MAKE WAY – A KEW inside MAY. Slightly flawed, as May != spring.
26 GREBE – E(nglish) + BERG all reversed. Ref. Alban Berg, Austrian composer.
27 KING’S LYNN – KING + SLY + NN. Maybe a tough one for non-Brits?

Down
1 UPSET – UP (winning) + SET (place).
2 HAVE A SCREW LOOSE – two definitions, smoothly run together.
3 LOOKER-ON – (OK + ER) inside LOON.
4 TORTUOUS – (OUT + ROT) reversed, + US.
5 ROTUND – (fa)T(ty) inside ROUND. I don’t think this works either as a definition + wordplay or as an &lit. The cryptic grammar is missing something (or I am!).
6 MOIETY – I.E. inside MOT, + (funn)Y.
7 DUAL CARRIAGEWAY – CAR inside (a war, ideal guy)*.
8 AERODROME – A + (fe)E + ROD + ROME.
13 FOUNDLING – (unfolding)*. That’s three very good one-word anagrams in this puzzle, none of which I can remember seeing before.
15 SALESMEN – (nameless)*. Make that four!
16 TEACAKES – (tr)EAC(ly) inside TAKES.
19 RIDDLE – double definition, although really it’s just the noun and verb definitions for the same thing.
20 ANORAK – proper double definition.
23 RAYON – RAY + ON.

6 comments on “Saturday Times 24167 (Mar 7th)”

  1. Agreed, an inventive puzzle that was fun to solve.

    At 18A I thought “out beyond this” was a tennis reference and the cryptic as you’ve got it. I also puzzled over 5D. It’s easy enough but it’s as if there’s a bit missing. Anyway congrats to the setter, particularly on some of those definitions and anagrams.

  2. Really nice mix of vocab in this one, with a few underused words – FACTOTUM, DALLIANCE, FOUNDLING and one of my favourites MOIETY. Very enjoyable puzzle with fine anagrams.

    COD 13a FACTOTUM – that “one might rumble” ruse is brilliant.

  3. As above – nice vocab and anagrams. “Anorak” in that sense also appeared in a clue in last week’s Mephisto.

    I would give the setter the benefit of the doubt at 19dn. “To riddle” can mean “to solve a riddle” which I think prompts linxit’s comment, but I think what is intended in “sort out” is the second meaning of “to separate with a riddle” (ie to sieve).

    I held myself up by plunging straight in with FIRST at 1dn – “Well that’s a first!” being a response to a surprise result, and obviously also the “winning place”. Fortunately 9ac was easy and unambiguous, but I wonder if anyone else did the same?

    1. I also had FIRST at 1D until I solved 1A. This took me well over the hour again, which seems to be the norm for me on recent Saturdays, but at least I didn’t need to resort to aids.

  4. A new word for me – gettable from a good clue at 6d.
    At 5d ROTUND was gettable from the literal “Portly” but exactly how “about fatty’s middle” clues RO T UND beats me. This was my LOI.

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