Saturday Times 24418 (26th Dec)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Quite tricky I thought – solving time 28:15, although I think the main reason for slowness was the fact that I didn’t get the 14-letter answers very quickly.

Anyway, I can’t do the blog today as the competition entry period hasn’t finished yet. In fact, when I printed out today’s puzzle I noticed that you can still enter the competition from the 19th December online, which seems a bit unlikely. Can someone who got the paper confirm what the correct closing date for this one is?

Peter’s confirmed it was Tuesday 5th according to the paper, although online entry is still available today (Wed 6th). I’m inclined to ignore that and post anyway before it drops off the bottom of the first page!

Across
1 GO DOWN THE TUBES – THE (article) between GO DOWN (sink) and TUBES (pipes).
9 APPLEJACK – APPLE (eater, perhaps) + JACK (to raise). Distilled cider.
10 TIBIA – 1 inside A BIT, from the right, i.e. reversed.
11 TON-UP – double definition.
12 PUMMELLED – PULLED around M(e)M(b)E(r).
13 COOKBOOK – CO + OK + BOOK
15 UNISON – ON (being staged) next to UNI’S (Oxbridge).
17 UMBELS – sounds like ‘umbles.
19 SHREWDLY – (why reds, L)*
22 EMBRYONIC – (crime by no)*
23 CONOR – CON + OR. Just the boy’s name – I don’t think there’s any &lit element to this.
24 APACE – PA inside ACE.
25 RIN TIN TIN – hidden in “footpRINT IN TINy”. Canine film star of the 20s and 30s.
27 PLEASED AS PUNCH – PLEAS + ED + AS + PUNCH.

Down
1 GIANT’S CAUSEWAY – GIANT SWAY around CAUSE.
2 DIP INTO – INTO (digging, in the sense of being a fan) underneath DIP (sink).
3 WHELP – HELP (a hand) under W(ide).
4 TEASPOON – (to open as)*. Last one I got – very well disguised anagram.
5 ESKIMO – E (tip to forcE) + SKIM (leaf through) + O (ring). I don’t like “tongue” as a definition, as there isn’t an Eskimo language as such, but rather a family of languages such as Aleut, Inuit and Yupik.
6 UP THE ANTE – (then put a)* + (fenc)E.
7 EMBALMS – M.B. inside (E + ALMS)
8 PARDON MY FRENCH – P (quiet) + [DON (fellow) in ARMY (military)] + FRENCH (race). An apology for swearing, ref. “to swear like a trooper”.
14 BALLYMENA – “BALLY MEN!” + A.
16 CHECHNYA – CH,CH around E, + N.Y. + A
18 BOBTAIL – (bat)* in BOIL.
20 DUNSTAN – DUN (brown) + STAN(d).
21 UNTRUE – last letters of “surE yoU remembeR iT wheN yoU”, reversed.
23 CHIMP – CHI (X, the Greek character) + M(arks) + P(lace). I can’t see how “spike’s taken out” fits into it though.

10 comments on “Saturday Times 24418 (26th Dec)”

  1. Not sure whether this is the exact Q you’re asking, but the text under today’s puzzle just talks about “opened next Thursday” in the usual way.
    1. Sorry, I was a bit vague. It’s too late to worry about the 19th, I already blogged it last week without realizing. I should be blogging 24418 from the 26th today, but noticed that online entry is still open. My question is, when is it safe to blog it?
      1. According to the print version, winning entries for 24418 are being drawn on Tues Jan 5th.
  2. 23:35 for this one, despite most of my early ideas apparently being right (every jotting next to a clue on my copy came true, except for TAB???? at 18D. Nice collection of words too, which seem to make the setter’s identity pretty clear unless one of the others is having a laugh.

    On 5D, it makes little logical sense, but Oxford (Concise and ODE) has Eskimo defined as either of Inuit or Yupik, which it reckons are the “main languages of the Eskimo people”. (And ODE goes on to deal with the question of whether “Eskimo” is offensive, concluding that it’s the only term that can be understood as applying to the people as a whole.)

  3. At 23D to spike a drink is to lace it so its P(lace removed)

    An excellent and very entertaining puzzle – about 30 minutes to solve. Unfortunately it’s so long ago that I cant remember any individual clues just an overall impression of good stuff.

  4. …the setter is who I am sure you think it is, but I assure you the “thematic” entries are a pure coincidence, as far as I recall, anyway!
  5. This puzzled me too, but I now think “lace” = “spike” (as in a drink) is to be taken out of “place” to make the “p”.

    John in USA

  6. I remember enjoying this and wracking my brains over CHIMP. Went back in the memory as far as Roy Fuller’s “ABC of a Naval Trainee”:
    X is the kiss, the unknown, the fissure
    In mystery stretching far back to the ape    .
    But surely not?
    Led to a bit of discussion with another poster to this blog over BD lunch. Then, in the evening, my old man (now in his 80s) called to discuss the same thing. He used to do the Times every day until they went tabloid. But on BD, it was the only paper/crossword he could get. So a rather nice way to spend the day.

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