Saturday Times 24460 (13th Feb)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time – not noted, but I don’t think it was over 20 minutes. One phrase I’d never heard of was PUKKA SAHIB for an Indian gentleman, but I knew what both words meant and could work it out for myself. I was also only vaguely aware of MALPLAQUET as somewhere in France, but the wordplay made it easy anyway. The other two “difficult” words, KVASS and INDABA, I was familiar with, although I was tempted to put VODKA in at 1ac without looking at the wordplay but managed to resist the temptation. Overall a really good puzzle, although there were a couple of clues I didn’t like.

Across
1 KVASS – (drin)K + V(ery) + ASS (thick one). I haven’t tried it, but it sounds horrible – fermented rye bread, and only about 1% alcohol. Apparently they market it in Russia as an alternative to Coke!
4 TOILET SET – TEST ELIOT reversed.
9 EXPECTANT – EXTANT (still) around PEC (muscle, short for pectoral). Not too keen on this one. EXTANT means still standing, or surviving, not still on its own.
10 BOOZY – BOY around OZ.
11 YEARLY – Y (the most popular cruciverbal “unknown”) + EARLY.
12 GO TO SEED – GO TO SEE D(aughter).
14 PUKKA SAHIB – K(noc)K AS A HI, all inside PUB. Last one in, as I didn’t know the phrase, but saw the wordplay once I had all the checking letters. Didn’t hold me up though as I didn’t go back to it until it was the only one left.
16 GRAN – G(roup) + RAN(t). Great clue for something that could have been a filler.
19 YENS – N,S (couple bidding – bridge) following YE (the second person).
20 SPIDER’S WEB – (sweeps bird)*. Great surface reading to disguise the definition.
22 ROLE-PLAY – (b)OL(d) inside REPLAY. Good link to another answer – in the Times this device is rarely used for some reason, especially like this.
23 INDABA – hidden in “find a bar”. A Zulu tribal conference, now also used for an international Scout conference too.
26 IRENA – IRE (seeing red) + (cin)NA(bar). Nope, can’t agree with “Miss” as a definition for a girl’s name, at least, not when it’s being used as a verb in the surface reading.
27 URUGUAYAN – NAY (no) + AU (to the, in French) + GURU (teacher), all reversed.
28 GET SHOT OF – GETS HOOF around T(ime).
29 LOSER – (c)LOSER, &lit. Pretty good. I took it as a lamish cryptic definition when I first put it in.

Down
1 KEEPY-UPPY – PEEK rev + YUPPY. Is this full of Britisms? I’ll explain just in case. A yuppy is a Young Urban (or Upwardly-mobile) Professional. Keepy-Uppy is ball-juggling with the feet.
2 ALPHA – LP + H(ard), inside AA (the Automobile Association).
3 SICILIAN – C,I,L,I (some Roman numerals) + A(re) inside SIN.
4 TO A T – (s)TOAT
5 IN TWO MINDS – MINDS (guards) after (1 won’t)*
6 EN BLOC – COLE (Porter) reversed around N.B. Definition is “in one”.
7 SCORE DRAW – cryptic definition.
8 TOYED – first letters of “DDecember every year our tax” reversed.
13 MALPLAQUET – PLAQUE in MALT. The Battle of Malplaquet in 1709 was one of the main battles of the War of the Spanish Succession.
15 KINDLIEST – (It’s linked)*
17 NO-BRAINER – NOB + RAIN(i)ER.
18 TRANQUIL – TRAIL around N,QU (knight and queen).
21 SPLASH – double definition.
22 RUING – RUIN (undoing) + (wron)G.
24 ABYSS – A (article) + BYSS(he). Percy Bysshe Shelley probably has the most famous unusual middle name of anyone, so I doubt if many were caught out by this.
25 BUMF – BUM (tramp) + F(ine). Official papers. Short for bum-fodder, i.e. only fit to be used as toilet paper.

19 comments on “Saturday Times 24460 (13th Feb)”

  1. A sluggish 16:41 for me.

    I think EXTANT is clued by “still there” rather than just “still”. And I wasn’t worried by “Miss” for IRENA since it can mean an unmarried woman or girl.

    On the other hand I wasn’t completely convinced of “in one” for EN BLOC.

    All in all though, a very good puzzle.

      1. “Miss” can mean an unmarried woman or girl according to Collins English Dictionary (1986) (and the (online) OED). As such, it seems just as good an indication of a girl’s name as “girl” – though if you don’t like that then I don’t suppose you’d like “miss” either.
        1. Agree, “Miss” can mean that; but IRENA is the name of one such. I must have misunderstood the grammar of your sentence:
          “I wasn’t worried by ‘Miss’ for IRENA since it can mean an unmarried woman or girl”;
          and the second pronoun in particular which I read as referring to the nearest noun, “Irena”. Thought you might be on to something deep and hidden!

  2. According to my (Japanese) dictionary, ‘in 2 minds’ is UK, ‘of 2 minds’ is US. I usually remember the standard differences (laboUr, -ise, etc.), but these types are forever slowing me down.
  4. I guess what’s hard for some is easier for others. Also tempted (as on a few previous occasions!) by VODKA until I saw 1dn: which I practised for years hoping to play for Liverpool but only made New Brighton Reserves. I thought this was a great clue with its lift-and-separate between “professional” and “footballer’s”. So …

    > Is this full of Britisms?

    Guess I have to say it again, though with all due respect to those (sometimes including myself) who happen to get these puzzles on line outside the UK: this is the Times of London. Like most ex-pats, I tune in especially for the Britisms.

  5. Haven’t got the puzzle in front of me, but i do remember staring at 1dn, with all the checking letters in place, for what seemed like several days. I’ve played amateur football for 30 years, but it’s not a expression I’ve heard more than once or twice. Should have worked it out earlier from the wordplay – and I agree with mctext that it’s an excellent clue – but ‘yuppy’ escaped me as well. It’s a word i haven’t heard for a long, long time. What happened to all the yuppies?
    1. By strange coincidence I’d come across the word KEEPY-UPPY for the first time just a few days before I did the puzzle. The first citation in the (online) OED is from 1983, so I suppose it’s possible that the term wasn’t around when I was young. I see it can also be spelled KEEPIE-UPPIE.
  6. After an hour I had all the top half apart from 1ac and all the Downs in the lower half apart from 13, but by then my brain was hurting and quite frankly I was bored with it so I gave up and cheated to polish it off quickly.
  7. I thought this a reasonably good Saturday puzzle, neither a doddle nor a real stinker but with some interesting clues. About 30 minutes to solve.

    I’m with you on IRENA. I just don’t think “miss” is good enough. In addition IRENA is the acronym for the International Renewable Energy Agency so a chance missed for a far more interesting and topical clue.

    1. Kvass is very nice.
      IRENA will always be a “miss” to me I’m afraid but maybe I’ve led a sheltered life 🙂
      1. I’ve visited Russia and Ukraine but never quite plucked up the nerve to sample kvass, which always seems to be served from what looks like a miniature oil tanker, in “second rate fresh” plastic cups.

        Edited at 2010-02-23 05:30 pm (UTC)

  8. As an English Premier League nut, I enjoyed this – KEEPY-UPPY and all. The football theme did however lead to my ultimate downfall in the SW (“IRENA”) corner, as, besides not getting that, I wrote PUT BOOT IN for 26ac instead of GET SHOT OF.

    MALPLAQUET has been seered on my mind ever since the History teacher at prep school taught us the acronym BROM for Marlborough’s great battles.

  10. Good puzzle, liked the GRAN definition and much else. MALPLAQUET and KVASS were new to me but the wordplay was scrupulously fair.

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