Saturday Times 24466 (Feb 20) – tough but fair

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time, about 45 minutes in the end over two sessions. This was a seriously tough puzzle for me, and after about 25 minutes I was left with four or five clues that I couldn’t make head or tail of, so I put it down and got on with some jobs around the house instead. Came back to it an hour later and still nothing would give way, but I was determined not to use solving aids and eventually polished it off. SCARPER was last in. Fiendish but very satisfying, and the surface readings are faultless.

Across
1 FASTEN – FATE around S(uit), + N(ew).
4 CASTLES – CAST + LES(s)
9 OMANI – IN A MO (shortly) reversed, i.e. going towards west.
10 ASCERTAIN – (acts are)* + IN
11 REPROBATE – PRO inside REBATE
12 TINNY – N inside TINY.
13 HERD – “heard”
14 FORESHADOW – W(ife) after FRESH ADO around O(ld). Took me a long time to work that one out!
18 WET BLANKET – (Knew battle)*
20 ABUT – ABOUT minus the O
23 TWANG – W in TANG.
24 ASSIDUOUS – ASSIS(t) around DUO U(nited).
25 PROLACTIN – (on trip)* around LAC(k). A hormone produced by the pituitary gland, which stimulates lactation and also acts as a contraceptive.
26 GAMMA – MAG reversed + MA
27 DEMOTIC – I (current) + TOME inside CD, all reversed. Another one that went in without understanding the wordplay.
28 TORRID – RID next to TOR

Down
1 FLOOR SHOW – FLOORS (puzzles) + HOW
2 SCARPER – SCAR (damage) + PER (a). Great clue, but had me scratching my head for ages.
3 EDISON – SIDE rev. + ON
4 CACHE – C + ACHE.
5 SCRATCHY – R inside S CATCHY
6 LEARNED – EARN (get) inside LED (headed).
7 SANDY – hidden inside streetS AND Yellowish.
8 MACAROON – MAROON around CA.
15 EVENSONG – EVENS (price) ON G(ood)
16 WITHSTAND – ST inside WIT (intelligence) HAND (operative).
17 FLAGRANT – FLAG RANT
19 TEA ROOM – TEAR (rent) + MOO reversed.
21 BLOOMER – (lob)* + (more)*
22 ADAGIO – (1 inside GO) after A D.A.
23 TEPID – P inside DIET reversed.
24 ATTIC – AT (engaged in) + TIC (muscular action).

15 comments on “Saturday Times 24466 (Feb 20) – tough but fair”

  1. I’d written “TOUGH PUZZLE!” at the top of my grid so agree on that score. I don’t time myself on Saturdays and did this in bits so have no idea how long it took. The only clue I didn’t fully understand was foreshadow so thanks for the explanation.
  2. Off topic:
    This morning I visited The Australian which publishes The Times crossword after a time lag of less than a month.
    But there too it is a paid-for service but a free one-day trial is available for free upon registration.
    I went through the rigmarole and took a printout of the day’s puzzle which is actually 24440.
    I am glad to say that I very nearly completed it in reasonable time – only TONY (award) eluded me.
    I find that the write-up on that crossword here was done by the inimitable Uncle Yap. As always I enjoyed reading it and the Comments thereunder.
    1. There are a number of Australian posters on the board, and I think I would be right in saying that we have found it much more useful to subscribe to the Times crossword club in order to participate in the blog in real time.

      The only disadvantage is that the crossword is not available in Sydney until 11am (9am in the winter) so you can’t do it on the train to work!

      1. Hear hear! If you’re in the West, you get the puzzle at 8:00am (or 7:00am when the Poms are on daylight saving).
    2. I endorse what my fellow Aussies have said. I dithered for several months before taking out a subscription in January, but it’s worth the investment simply to be part of the live blog.
  3. I have noted “Pretty tricky – excellent puzzle!” on my copy.

    At 2dn I agonised over SCAMPER/SCARPER but eventually came down on the right side.

    There are several nice “lift and separate” examples at 1ac (new/tie), 20ac (touch/on), 8dn (wrapping/around) and 16dn (intelligence/operative).

    Thank you setter!

  4. An excellent puzzle – great for a lazy Saturday. I had no queries and there are none in the blog. A sign of really tight clue constructions. Well done and thanks to the setter.
  6. Enjoyed this one, and agree that it was harder than average, though I didn’t note the time down. Like Jimbo, I think the absence of questionable clues is a tribute to the setter’s skill, and in fact quite unusual, we being such a picky bunch 🙂
  7. I agree, a very enjoyable if tricky solve. I didn’t tackle this unitl the Sunday, but on the Saturday in question I had been sitting in a 19dn discussing 25ac as an additive to milk. Everything is connected to everything else.
  8. Had to verify PROLACTIN but antennae were out and for Britishisms and so got SCARPER fairly readily. Spent some time on DEMOTIC and OMANI…all this while watching the Olympics.I found it much to my liking and not too tough.
  9. Quite a bit tougher than this week’s for me, reflected in taking double the time to finish it – a couple of hours spread over a couple of days rather than an hour at one sitting.

    COD to EVENSONG (as a fan of the Sport of Kings), but SCARPER is probably better – a word redolent of my childhood.

    Managed to get the simple 4dn wrong (being too inflexible to parse ‘reserve’ as a noun), writing CYCLE instead of CACHE. (Where’s Peter’s Cultural Revolution hat when you need it?)

  10. Started off and got to 11a wihtout success. Now who is the expert in deduction? Sherlock Holmes. And who is the villain? Any fule no that it’s spelled Morriarty. Incidentally on answerbank, someone by the user name of Progolf1 spent thier entire evening putting up just about each clue in the title of their question,thus ending up with over 20 questions. Would have been much easier if they had just put “please provide all the answers” in one question .

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