Saturday Times 24490 (March 20th)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 16:45, about average, although the online copy I solved was made harder by missing out the clue to 12ac (although I guessed it when I had 4 crossing letters in place). The other three 14/15-letter entries were quite easy though, and I can’t remember now which bits I struggled on.

Across
1 LOFT – last letters of (wil)L (d)O (play-of)F (cricke)T. “Sky” is a verb here, meaning “to hit the ball upwards”. It’s also the name of a satellite TV company, if any overseas solvers were wondering about the surface reading.
3 AQUAE SULIS – (is as usual)* around Q. Roman name for the city of Bath. [ Edit: anagram fodder is actually (i.e. as usual)*, as pointed out below by kororareka. ]
10 TROUNCE – T(ime) + R (regina, Queen) + OUNCE (16oz in 1lb).
11 ULULATE – U(nti)L twice, + ATE.
12 MONCHENGLADBACH – I got this from M—–N-L-D—H. The clue was missing online, but I now know it was “People rejoicing with composer gathering on outskirts of Czech city (15)”, so that’s MEN + GLAD + BACH around ON + C(zec)H.
13 RIP OFF – R.I.P. + OFF (start, as in “on the off”). Definition is just “Do”.
14 ANDORRAN – RAN after AND (with) + OR (gold).
17 BONEMEAL – B(lack) + ONE + MEAL.
18 ALL-DAY – ALLAY (soften) around D(own).
21 TOTALITARIANISM – (Limitation as art)*
23 TURF WAR – cryptic definition.
24 DIE DOWN – DID OWN around E(nglish)
25 BELLYACHED – double definition; the first mildly cryptic, the second for BELLY ACHED.
26 TESS – TESS(a); Tax-Exempt Special Savings Account, to give it its full name. The solution is Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.

Down
1 LATIMER – hidden reversed in “Theorem I talk”. Hugh Latimer (1487-1555) is our bishop.
2 FROWN UPON – FR + OW (that hurt) + NUN around P.O. (petty officer).
4 QUEENS – double definition, a borough of New York and a chess term.
5 AQUILINE – A LINE around QUI (French for who). Aquiline means “like an eagle”, hence “recalling great winger”.
6 SQUADRON LEADER – (land on Red Square)* minus one N.
7 LLAMA – alternate letters of LiLy AiMs At. In the surface reading, the Wool Pack is the pub in Emmerdale.
8 STEPHEN – HEN under STEP.
9 IN THE FAMILY WAY – FAMILY inside IN THE WAY.
15 RUDDIGORE – DIG + OR inside RUDE. A Gilbert & Sullivan opera.
16 TARTARIC – TARTAR + 1 + C
17 BATHTUB – BUT + H.T. + A.B., all reversed.
19 YEMENIS – YES around MEN I
20 BRIDLE – Ok, I get “show resentment” as the definition, but don’t understand the cryptic at all. Looks like a possible homophone indicator (reading news), but after that I’m out of ideas. [ Duh, it’s B.R. IDLE as a possible newspaper headline. Thanks Niall.]
22 TYROL – (to rely)* minus the E.

16 comments on “Saturday Times 24490 (March 20th)”

  1. I think it’s BR IDLE Great puzzle, esp liked TROUNCE, ALL-DAY,TOTALITARIANISM, TURF WAR.
  2. I found this very difficult. You really need to be able to think of the name of a 15-letter city to stand a chance of finishing this. I eventually tried my trick of going away and then coming back to look at the checked letters without looking at the clue and Mönchengladbach popped into my head. I would have spelt it Munchen… but I went with the wordplay. Loft and Latimer were then KO (kick oneself) moments when I realised that the answers were in front of me.

    I did not know Aquae Sulis and I would have gone for Aquae Silus but I realised a feminine plural noun could not have a masculine singular adjective. Thanks to Mr Rollinson, O-level Latin 1962.

    I finished with Andorran, with its back to front wordplay, and ululate, where I was aware of the required meaning of keen but took a long time to get there.

  3. About average for me also, a toast and coffee solve with a pure guess of course at 12A until I eventually saw the clue (not that much else would have fitted those checking letters). I couldn’t understand how they could print the puzzle OK in the paper but get it wrong on-line (they must be double keying?). The next day they managed to leave an entire set of clues off the Mephisto – quality control, what’s that?

    Thanks for the information about Emmerdale – how many of these wretched soap operas are there? If people watch them all when do they find time to do anything else? I’m not completely happy with the wording of 26A TESS and TURF WAR is very weak. Other than those a decent puzzle.

    1. Good God, TESSAs! A type of account that only lasted a few years and became obsolete over a decade ago. What a rubbish clue. I’m probably grumpy because I remember this puzzle took me 80 minutes to solve.
  4. Last in 18ac ALL-DAY, for which I am indebted to the blogger for the cryptic, which somehow managed to elude me. Also struggled with the German city, which I know well through the Bundesliga, but which I subconsciously try to suppress, since it was, I fear, one of the teams the enemy beat on their way to collecting their 5 European Cups.
    1. Q. Who is the most unpopular Borussia Monchengladbach supporter?

      A. The one who shouts: “Give us a B!”

  5. Didn’t finish. While it had to be TESS at the final jump, I had to refuse it on the grounds that it couldn’t be parsed within my ken. At least the 50s radio program got (and is still getting) international distribution.
  6. With no clue and only M.N.H…….A.. to work with, I pencilled in the obvious, which didn’t help my cause. After a tough solve and faced with AQUAE SULIS, BRIDLE & TESS at the end, that’s exactly what I felt like doing. Eventually guessed all correctly, but I had no idea how bridle worked till this very day. Thanks for the explanation, linxit, and for other subtleties that I missed when solving.
  7. From the anagram fodder (‘as is usual’, plus Q), I went with AQUAS SULIS. Sounds and looks wierd, I realize, but where did the ‘E’ come from? Regards.
    1. The anagram fodder was “that is as usual” i.e. “i.e. as usual” around q.
  9. Bah. Like Vinyl I went for grudge instead of bridle and although Tess of the D’s was the only thing I could think of for 26 I didn’t bother writing it in as I just couldn’t justify it.

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