Saturday Times 24179 (Mar 21)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
A gentle 12:22 for this, one of the easier Saturday puzzles (although I found today’s even easier – maybe we should expect a real stinker next week). One dodgy definition (13D), a brilliant anagram (2D), and one with tricky wordplay (19A), more or less sums it up.

Across
1 STANCHION – (China’s not)*. Did this word make an appearance during the week as well?
6 PIPED – PIP (part of time signal) + ED. I don’t know whether “the pips” on the hour are unique to UK radio or not. If they are, this clue might have puzzled some of our transatlantic or antipodean puzzlers.
9 HUMANITARIANISM – HUM + ANITA + (in arms)*
10 BADGER – double definition, although both are pretty annoying and neither are the animal.
11 WEREWOLF – W(ife) + FLOWERE(d) reversed.
13 COOK STRAIT – one of those “wordplay in the answer” clues. COOK STRAIT could be a cryptic indication for ARTIST.
14 BEAU – BEA (short for Beatrix, like Trixie) + U (posh).
16 SOHO – “sow, hoe”
17 OVERPRICED – OVER + RICE inside PD (paid).
19 OUTCASTE – ACT reversed (synonym for BEHAVE, 20A) inside OUSTE(d).
20 BEHAVE – B(othersom)E + HAVE.
23 ONE-PARENT FAMILY – cryptic definition.
24 YAHOO – hidden in “manY A HOOdlum”. Originally from Gulliver’s Travels.
25 ENROLMENT – L(iberal) + MEN inside EN (small measure) + ROT (decline).

Down
1 SAHIB – first letters of “Sir As Heard In Bangalore”. &lit, obviously. Great clue.
2 ARMED TO THE TEETH – (to meet their death)*. Astonishingly good anagram!
3 CONVERSE – CON (memorise, similar to the usual crosswordese “study”) + VERSE (lines).
4 IOTA – double definition.
5 NERVE FIBRE – NERVE + FIB + RE (on).
6 PEAKED – double definition.
7 POISONED CHALICE – (coin heads)* inside POLICE.
8 DUMBFOUND – DUMB + FOUND
12 PRIVATE EYE – PRIVATE + EYE.
13 COSMOLOGY – (gloom)* inside COSY. Not a very good definition though. Cosmology isn’t a theory.
15 FREE FALL – i.e. a free fall (or autumn to us Brits) is better than a cheap summer.
18 NAVAJO – O(ld) JAVAN reversed.
21 EGYPT – G(erman)Y + P(arking), inside E.T.
22 STIR – T(ime) inside SIR.

11 comments on “Saturday Times 24179 (Mar 21)”

  1. STANCHION made an appearance in The Sunday Times 4319, blogged last Sunday. Contiguous cross source leakage (to coin a phrase) appears to happen more than you’d expect if answers were selected randomly. I’m wondering what that implies.

    About the crossword itself, I think you have it in a nutshell. I’ve only marked two clues: 13ac, which I liked and 10ac, which was perhaps my last in, because I’d fallen for the old harry trick yet again.

    1. P.S. I forgot to mention the pips. They used to be a feature of the A(ustralian)BC but disappeared years ago. Budgetary constraints, I suppose. I’m not sure if the phone up time service still exists: “At the third stroke it will be eleven thirty four precisely – pip, pip, pip”. There was something strangely reassuring about that voice. When all else was chaos, somebody well versed in received pronunciation knew exactly what time it was. – koro
      1. Do pips still work in this digital age? DAB radios and satellites systems operate on a slight delay. When the BBC take analogue down will they have to stop the pips?
  2. Agree with your comments. A straightforward, undistinguished puzzle.

    I think COSMOLOGY is better described as a collection of theories and beliefs of which the two main subsets are Physical Cosmology (which embraces big bang theory) and Religious Cosmology (which is based upon beliefs rather than facts)

    Yes, today’s is also easy – disappointing in some ways – but I guess a source of relief for some solvers after Friday’s superb offering.

  3. 9:46.  I raced through most of this and then spent two minutes staring at COOK S.R… (where I couldn’t get STRAND and SOUND out of my head) and NERVE …R. (where I hadn’t split up ‘to lie on’).  Better knowledge of geography would have sorted that out.

    There’s nothing wrong with 13 down except for the surface reading – ‘cosmology’ can function as a count noun.  The COED is nice and concise on this point, giving two senses: ‘the science of the origin and development of the universe’ and ‘an account or theory of the origin of the universe’.

    But yes, except for 13 across, this wasn’t anything special.

  4. Re the “brilliant”/”astonishingly good” anagram at 2D: “to meet their death” is not an anagram of “armed to the teeth”! There is an extra “i” in the former.

  5. I know some are referring to this as unimpressive and easy, but its the first Times crossword I’ve ever completed so I’m pretty thrilled.
    I measure my finishing times in days (not minutes) and this took 2, but I dont care 😉
    10a badger, made me smile. As did 1d sahib. Very good stuff.

    Its worth noting I was quickly brought down to earth with a thump, with the very hard puzzles during the week, none of which I finished.

    Chris, Oxford.

    1. Well done Chris. I can still remember my first completed one in 1957 – so the memory stays with you! If you keep using this blog to learn you’ll soon be solving the harder ones (and even moaning about the easiest ones).
  6. A nice gentle one where we lesser mortals can complete a Times Cryptic within an hour even with a leisurely approach. Thanks to Setter & Linxit for the blog.

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