Saturday Times 24245 (6th June) – a true classic

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 33 mins, which felt pretty quick for this monster! Almost every clue was a work of art, with the difficulty purely in the deceptive clueing – I can’t see any real obscurities here. Almost a pangram too, apart from a missing J. I got the two long ones at the top to start off (11A/2D), then got 1A from the W and 3D from the T and A. I then took notice of the intricate wordplay and brilliant surface readings and thought to myself “Oh-oh, this could be tough”. I wasn’t wrong, and there were more comments on last week’s blog entry about this than there were about the puzzle under discussion.

Across
1 BEWITCHED – W(ith) + ITCH + (leav)E, all inside BED.
6 FREYA – alternate letters of “far – very far”. One of the main goddesses of Norse mythology.
9 SIT-UP – double definition, the second for “SIT UP”, i.e. the opposite of “fall asleep”, or crash (colloquially).
10 ROOSEVELT – ROO (little jumper) + SVELTE with the last letter “tucked in”. Theodore R. was nicknamed Teddy, and gave his name to the stuffed toy.
11 LIKE A DOG’S DINNER – double definition, easy to get just from the enumeration. Well, there had to be something to get us started! [ Actually, it’s LIKE (fancy) + DINNER (meal), around A DOG’S (of a pet). Thanks to vinyl1 and fathippy2 for the correction. ]
13 PROWLERS – P.R. ‘OWLERS. One of the last ones I worked out the wordplay for, although I put it in fairly early.
14 EGGCUP – EG = for one, GC = George Cross = gong, UP = rising. Fiendish.
16 UNSAFE – hidden reversed in “Relief as nudist”.
18 WAR-WEARY – WARY around WEAR.
21 MIND ONE’S P’S AND Q’S – MIND (head) + ONE’S (person’s) + P(awns) and Q(ueens) (weakest and strongest on (chess)board). Here the enumeration didn’t help at all, and I needed a lot of checking letters. The P was the key.
23 TELEGENIC – (niece get + l)*. Spot the anagram fodder straight away, but I had to write it down to get it.
25 IDEAL – I DEAL, a bit of an old chestnut, but brought back to life by the slightly saucy surface reading.
26 DRUID – DID around R.U. One for Mark Thakkar to carp about for the “without”, but I quite liked the possibly superfluous “tackling”, which improved the surface and made the definition of R.U. more specific.
27 TWO SHAKES – TAKES around (show)*. Definition is “A second”, as in “two shakes (of a lamb’s tail)”.

Down
1 BASIL – S(econds) inside BAIL (ready for security).
2 WITH KNOBS ON – double definition.
3 TOPSAIL – TOPS + AIL.
4 HARLOTRY – LOT inside HARRY.
5 DROWSY – Y(e)S + WORD, all reversed.
6 FLEXING – EX inside FLING.
7 ERE – last letters of “deputisE foR prelatE”.
8 AUTOREPLY – (player out)*, a surprisingly tricky anagram to spot.
12 NECK AND NECK – double definition, “close” as in the result of a race and “down repeatedly”, as in a pub crawl.
13 PLUMMETED – PLUM (murder suspect, ref. Cluedo) + METED (dealt), “with” being a “next to, in any order” indicator.
15 GAZPACHO – P inside GAZA (strip) + CHO(p).
17 FLOGGED – F + LOGGED. There’s that “with” again, used in the same way as in 13D.
19 WEAKISH – W + E (partners in e.g. bridge) + A + KISH (a drunken kiss).
20 PEANUT – P.E. NUT around A.
22 SILAS – SIS around LA (“the” in Nancy). Ref. Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan le Fanu. Okay, that was possibly a bit obscure, but easy enough to get from the wordplay.
24 LEU – (f)UEL reversed. Currency of Romania and Moldova.

29 comments on “Saturday Times 24245 (6th June) – a true classic”

  1. What a puzzle! It took me longer than the Mephisto that came on the following Sunday and I felt really gratified when I’d finished it.

    In got off to a roaring start with FREYA, SIT-UP, ROOSEVELT (solved from “Teddy”) and LIKE…DINNER going straight in. The NW corner quickly fell into place and most of the NE but then the going got really tough. I ended up with 8D and 14A unfinished when I had to go out. The little grey cells must have gone on working because whilst out I saw why the brilliant EGGCUP was correct and then on return finally got AUTOREPLY

    I’m not going to quibble about anything. Most of this was outstanding (PLUM=murder suspect, KISH, – what can one say?) and I just wish this setter was around every Saturday.

  2. This has to be the best Times I’ve done in a very long while and I learned the damn thing at my Father’s knee — and various other low joints. Time taken? Most of the day. It got 23/30 on my M-score. (See the blog for #24239 on the methodology here).
    EGGCUP has to be the best of the lot. And the disguised anag at 8 was superb. Actually started at 1ac and worked out what the answer had to be, but missed W = WITH and was left wondering [Anax may like this?] why “base” = BEWD. The limerick begins “There once was a woman from Bude” … could there be an alternative spelling?
    It was that sort of puzzle. So with Jimbo I have to say: “Some more please sir!”
  3. i found this really difficult and despite using every assistance known to man to finish, i now find that i entered four incorrectly. i started 11ac with make, which led to besom for 1d and the last two in were 24 lev and 26 david, probably down to sheer exhaustion. however, i felt a real sense of achievement in just understanding clues like 13ac 13d 14ac and 21ac. cod 8d as an extraordinary anagram with a great surface.
  4. All the above endorsed. Fine work.

    I was sure getting 14a would make 8d fall into place. It didn’t. It took me about 24 hours to solve the thing. Must be a candidate for the hardest anagram the Times has come up with.

    Respect, props, kudos etc.

  6. Stalkers disastrous for East End’s public image?
    Please explain the wordplay.
    Barbara
  7. I am sure this is the most difficult Times cryptic I have ever met. It took me somewhere in the region of two hours, the first 30 minutes of which yielded no answers whatsoever.

    After the first hour I used aids extensively which actually delayed my solving the last clue as neither Chambers Word Wizard nor Word Matcher offered an anagram of PLAYER OUT so I had discounted that possibility and wasted for ever looking for a different form of wordplay.

    So this was quite a sobering experience but I took some comfort from eventually managing to understand how all the clues worked.

  8. I sat down in the warm winter afternoon sun and ended up with hypothermia. Last in was the EGGCUP/AUTOREPLY crossing although I had no idea why SILAS, LEU or NECK AND NECK were correct. I still don’t get the connection between the necks and drinking. Somebody will have to put me out of my misery. The best I can do is a quote from Buffy the Vampire Slayer “Life is a neck, drink deep”. I thought it was down=upland hill or sand dune=neck (of land). I wasn’t going to argue with myself with fingers turning blue.

    As for the quality of the clueing I echo the sentiments already expressed.

      1. Thanks for that, Jack. That’s a little more direct than my pseudo explanation. It doesn’t appear to be in my 1979 Collins. Perhaps it is time I upgraded. Things change so quickly these days.
        1. I just checked elsewhere and it’s also in COED (informal) to swallow (a drink) and in Chambers (slang) to drink.
          1. That settles it. I’ve been a one dictionary household far too long. I’ll put all three on my Christmas list and see who takes the hint. Trouble is, it takes about twenty years for a dictionary to attain that air of authority born of constant thumbing.

  9. I seldom comment on this site although I have read the blog for about two years. However I thought that this was the best Times puzzle I have ever tried and I completed it (without books or opther aids) in about 3 hours. Most impressed with linxit’s time.

    I have to say I thought 13d PLUMMETED was absolutely brilliant: this is one I will never forget!

    JamesM

  10. Completely weird -I usually struggle to get more than a third of the weekday crossword out but I finished this on and off in about 3 hours which is fast for me. I put it down to luckily getting 11 & 21 a out early (though initially had “your” ) and 2d, it being the weekend so that I’m more relaxed and that bar 22d (last one in) there was nothing about music , literature, art, poets.
  12. Really kicking myself now as it appears I’ve missed out on a cracker of a puzzle. I’d started to tackle it last Saturday over breakfast and really struggled, with only 3 answers placed after about 20 minutes. Then I got a phone call, breakfast went cold, I went out, the crossword was abandoned and the paper finally binned a couple of days ago.

    And I didn’t get round to buying today’s paper at all.

    Slacking, Anax, you’re slacking.

    1. Wow, only 3 after 20 minutes from you, Anax! My score of 1 after 30 minutes doesn’t feel quite so bad now.
      1. Anax: I thought you may have *set* the bugger! But then 2dn in today’s (#24251) is possibly more your forté??
  13. I can only echo what other contributors have said. Truly a tour de force. I was mightily pleased to finish at all. As it was, it took just over an hour, with all the aids at my disposal. For once, it did not feel like cheating, more like a prolonged laboratory operation trying to find what makes something tick.
  14. All this enthusiasm? How about a perspective from a 2 month veteran of The Times cryptic, although already a member of Cruciverbalists Anonymous (incidentally a good alternative name for this blog).
    Got up Saturday, conscious of my problem, determined not even to think about doing the Jumbo, but changed my mind on only entering 3 answers in the daily after an hour (2 of those only lightly penned). Did the Jumbo in about 2 hours and, confidence restored, went back to the daily, and back, and back… Finished, exhausted but ecstatic, just in time to see the football highlights before going back to bed. (Like Jimbo also managed the “easy” Mephisto next day in about a tenth of the time it took to do the daily). So, no more like this please, at least for a couple of decades while I brush up my skills, otherwise I will have to remove Saturdays from my diary.
    1. Sounds a bit like my Saturdays used to be c. 25 years ago! I also did the Mephisto quicker, but by about 1 minute.
  15. 23:22 – not helped by a rash “OVER AND OVER” at 12D.

    Can’t remember any other details about the solving process, but I think it was just low gear all the way. I do remember thet 13A was one of the last answers, and my copy has “ref. S. Marner?” scrawled by 22D as the Le Fanu story was new to me.

    This puzzle added to the “Good Puzzles” section of our Memories page.

  16. Enjoyed like everyone the superb clues, and it gave just over an hour of pleasure. I had not appreciated the fine detail of some of the wordplay so thank you linxit. This Saturday I got to the garden much earlier…
  17. 15:23.  I hadn’t understood 14ac (EGGCUP) before coming here.  Yes, I don’t like “without” in 26ac any more than elsewhere, but it’s a convention I’m used to, and “tackling game” is certainly inspired – as is much of the rest of the puzzle.
  18. Stumbled across this one when doing the 7 July 2009 crossword on a flight on 7 July 2011, and seeing glowing references to it.

    Decided to save it for the return flight, and was glad that was two hours plus, as this took me 96 minutes. Certainly cracker of a puzzle, if not quite up with Good Friday 2010 in terms of difficultly. I have learned that ‘like a dog’s dinner’ does not mean the same as ‘like a dog’s breakfast’ – the prior absence of that knowledge caused me a wobble at 11ac. CODs to TOPSAIL and WEAKISH.

    Will dip into the other ‘good puzzles’ as time allows.

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