Saturday Times 24436 (Jan 16th)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 13:46, pretty average puzzle really – not too hard, not too easy, but some interesting wordplay elements nevertheless.

Across
1 OVERRIDING – OVER (finished) + RIDING (up). Unusually, a 2-word cryptic indication followed by a 7-word definition.
6 SNIP – PINES reversed, minus the last letter of “foliage”.
10 SHOTGUN – SHUN around (got)*
11 VITAMIN – 1 TAM(e) inside VIN.
12 TOADSTOOL – D(etected) inside TOAST, plus LOO reversed. Got this from the definition, but it took a while to see the wordplay afterwards. “Brown bread” is Cockney rhyming slang for “dead”, and I wasted a bit of time trying to fit that in.
13 INDIA – double definition, as this is I in the phonetic alphabet.
14 NOISE – E SION reversed.
15 SPACESHIP – PACE in SS + HIP. “On board” meaning “something inside SS” is one of those crossword clichés that you learn to look out for.
17 TUCKER-BAG – (great buck)*, would be &lit if “great buck” was some sort of food! Maybe it’s a nice tasty kangaroo…
20 BINGE – BE around IN GUTTER, without the “utter” (out of it, say).
21 PRIMP – PP around RIM
23 RAZOR WIRE – RAZOR + WIRE, the communication being physical rather than electronic.
25 PLEASED – LEASE inside PD.
26 TRAITOR – TRAIT + O(slo’s) R(esistance). From Norwegian politician Vidkun Quisling, who helped the Nazis to conquer his own country and led the collaborationist government.
27 RUTH – RUT + H
28 UNDERNEATH – UNDER NEATH (a town in South Wales).

Down
1 ONSET – (resp)ONSE T(imes). Not a “hidden answer” clue, although it could have been.
2 EGOMANIAC – (A mega icon)*
3 REGISTERED POST – (sorted, prestige)*, &lit.
4 DINGOES – D (note) IN GOES (travels). Cairns is a city in Northern Queensland, and a quick Internet search reveals that you might well see dingoes there.
5 NOVELLA – NOVA around (t)ELL.
7 NOMAD – NO + MAD.
8 PINEAPPLE – the word for it in both French and German (and probably several other languages) is “ananas”, i.e. bananas without the B.
9 STRIKE A BARGAIN – STRIKE + A + BAR + GAIN
14 NOTEPAPER – ETON rev. + PAPER
16 HENRIETTA – HEN (female) + (attire)*. The second female name on the puzzle. I wonder if the setter has a couple of daughters?
18 BORODIN – DO + ROB reversed + IN. Russian composer and chemist!
19 GAZETTE – GAZE + every third letter of The TimEs. Unusual wordplay, and more often seen in barred puzzles, but not completely unknown in the Times.
22 INERT – (nitre)*
24 EARTH – EH (What!) around ART.

9 comments on “Saturday Times 24436 (Jan 16th)”

  1. 40 minutes for this one, so easier than some Saturday puzzles for me. I had most of it done in 30 but in the NW corner 1ac, 1dn, 4dn and 10ac put up some resistance.
  2. Enjoyed this one which I thought inventive, if not that hard. I liked, for example, “brown bread” as a definition of toast and the clever use of Cairns in 4dn
  3. Not much to say about this one. I completely agree with Linxit’s assessment of it. I liked the use of ananas.
  4. Is this entry correctly labelled? My paper shows it as No. 24,436.

    Incidentally, is there any chance of an index, so one could quickly locate a specific puzzle? Trial and error using the calendar is quite unreliable. Thanks for all your help.

  5. Have only just done this. In 14ac I couldn’t see what the point of the ‘In’ was: ‘In row backing East Jerusalem’, giving NOISE. The clue is perfectly sound (indeed sounder, in my opinion) without it, and I can’t see how it helps the surface.
  6. 14a. The “in” is there to make the surface more readable, as : in a row (argument), I would support Jerusalem. It wouldn’t sound the same without it.

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