Saturday Times 24281 (18th July)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
27:38 for this masterpiece of cruciverbalism. It’s going to take a while to write this blog because there’s a discussion point in nearly every clue. I just hope I can remember how all the wordplay worked, because it took a while after I finished last week to fully understand them all. The difficulty was all in clever use of alternative meanings of words, and well-disguised wordplay and indicators rather than obscure vocabulary. A lot of use is made of changing the part of speech of a word between the surface and cryptic readings, which is sometimes hard to spot. 11A had me stumped for ages, although it’s one of the simpler constructions in the puzzle.

On edit, corrected the number for ORWELLIAN and added EMBED, which I missed out before. I’m surprised nobody spotted the error, you’re normally more sharp-eyed than that!

Across
1 SEQUESTERED – QUEST inside SEE RED. One of the last to go in.
7 MUG – double definition-by-example, but the surface makes it a good clue.
9 DROMEDARY – (roamed)* in DRY, &lit.
10 SCOWL – COWL after S(ervice).
11 CREATES – E in CRATES.
12 NAIL SET – AILS (is suffering) is the stuffing for NET (bag). A nail set is a tool for punching the head of a nail below the surface.
13 EMBED – MBE’D (honoured, as it were) after E (drug).
15 ORWELLIAN – A(rea) inside O.R. (soldiers) + WELL (effectively) + IN (home). After is used in the sense of “in the style of”.
17 TOUGHNESS – UGH (it’s awful) inside (stones)*.
19 PRESS – PRE-S.S. Railroad as a verb is the definition.
20 ANTACID – (it can)* inside AD.
22 COMMAND – COMMA (the one after “Direct”) + N(ot) D(irect). For once I spotted this trick straight away, although in the past I’ve been left completely stumped.
24 LORDS – LO (see) + R(uns) + D(eliverie)S. A very apt &lit. to appear during the Lords Ashes test. Tough luck, Aussies 🙂
25 GRAPESHOT – R inside GAPES (goggles) + HOT (baking).
27 NOD – NO + D(eep)
28 WITH KNOBS ON – cryptic definition. I remembered seeing this answer recently, but looking back it was as long ago as June 6th (another contender for puzzle of the year).

Down
1 SAD – D(efinition) supporting S.A. (sex appeal=it). The actual definition is the answer to 11D.
2 QUOTE – QUO(rum) + ThEy. Damage is slang for cost, if anyone’s puzzled by this one. As in the phrase “What’s the damage?”, meaning “How much do I owe you?”
3 EVERTED – EVER + TED
4 TRANSPOSE – (one’s parts)*, &lit. Great clue.
5 RAYON – RAY ON
6 DESKILL – DESK (official position) + ILL. I’m not sure if “downgrade” is an adequate definition here though – Chambers gives it as “to remove the element of human skill from (a job, etc) by automation, computerization, etc)”. Could be an upgrade!
7 MOONSHINE – MO + ONE around SHIN. Definition is “still makes it”.
8 GELATINISED – (giant diesel)*
11 CRESTFALLEN – C(onservative) REST + ALL in FEN.
14 BLUSTERED – ST (way) inside BLUE (down) + RED (Bolshevik).
16 WISECRACK – WRACK around 1 SEC.
18 HACKSAW – I think this relies on using HACK as an adjective, for which there’s no justification in Chambers, i.e. a HACK SAW would be a banal adage. Hopefully there’s another explanation.
19 PAMPERO – PAMPER + O. A violent south-west wind on the pampas.
21 DIGIT – DIG + I(nstrumen)T.
23 APHIS – A + P(e)S(t) around HI. Yet another &lit.
26 TEN – last letters of eighT, ninE and eleveN. Brilliant clue and well spotted by the setter.

26 comments on “Saturday Times 24281 (18th July)”

  1. After an hour I gave up and used aids to solve 12,13,14 and 17 and I got 6dn wrong even after on-line assistance. Several others, such as 24 and 25, I had correct but didn’t understand and was past caring by then so I didn’t persevere trying to explain them. All in all a real toughie and today’s wasn’t much better.
  2. This was a great holiday puzzle. I was able to settle down out of the wind and really enjoy myself for 35 minutes before running over the clues again to get a full appreciation. Thanks for making such an effort Linxit and thanks to the setter for a good mental workout.
  4. Yes, very difficult to get going with today’s puzzle. Have the last 2 weeks been a bit more difficult than average. July 11 and 13 were the last puzzles I found reasonably ok.
  5. I have no idea of my time for this. I managed to finish it but not in one sitting. In fact, I regard it as an accomplishment that I finished it correctly (today’s too). Many clues parsed completely non-obviously, with crafty hard-to-spot definitions.
  6. First time I’ve left a comment after finding this lovely blog a few weeks ago. I was pleased with myself getting all but deskill (and guessing nail set) – but I’m not happy with wisecrack. It had to be the right answer, but I think of it as a noun, ie something funny, rather than an adjective, funny. Or am I missing something?
    1. Welcome to the blog. ‘Funny’ can be a noun, as in ‘made a funny’.

      I thought this was a brilliant crossword, full of invention. I can’t remember my time – quite long, but if flew by.

      Tom B.

  7. Around 40 minutes for a terrific puzzle. I do’nt think I’d come across the ‘comma’ trick before, and loved it. GRAPESHOT has a wonderful clue – surreal and clever as a crateload of monkeys. Thanks to setter and blogger alike. Great work.
  9. Linxit – huge thanks for your extensive blog; and to all contributors for your kind comments.

    I have to admit a “grrr” moment though. The grammar at 1D is incorrect – “supports” should be “supporting/will support” or similar. Entirely my mistake, a failure to double-check what was written. Hope it didn’t spoil anyone’s enjoyment.

  10. Must agree with the above, however it was a shade to tough for my aging brain, so I had to go to the aids too frequently for my liking. Last in was NAIL SET, which I had never heard of (only nail punch).
  11. Another vote of thanks to the setter – I failed to keep my copy, but my vague memory is that it took me just over 20 minutes.
  12. Loved this one, 40m plus, had to trawl Chambers for nailset, and check deskill; no prob with hack as adjective, eg hack journalist.
  13. Regardless of the fact that it would not fit in with 14D, also managed to get NAP as well.

    Where does “NO” come from? Not?

    1. The clue was “Never a tip for deep sleep”, so NO comes from “never”.
      1. Sorry to appear dim, but what is the relation between TED and “spread grass so it will dry”.

        I understand that “always” is equivalent to “EVER”.

        Thanks

        1. The charade is:

          EVER (always) + TED (spread grass so it will dry) = EVERTED (inside-out)

          1. I can understand how the two parts are joined, however what has “TED” got to do with “spread grass so it will dry”

            Is “TED” a type of grass?

            Thanks

              1. Apologies!

                I thought I had looked it up. Can’t remember seeing it in the OED/Collins, but will have another look.

                Thanks

  15. 15:44, with two mistakes.  Not knowing EVERT or TED, I thought of EVERSED at 3dn, leaving me with C.E.S.S at 11ac, where I hazarded CHEESTS.  Afterwards, once I’d found that it was EVERTED, CREATES sprang immediately to mind.

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