Saturday Times 24574 (June 26th)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 20:09 – should have been around 15 minutes but my mind went completely blank on 22D with ?A?O?Y. The only words I could even think of that fit were CANOPY and JALOPY, both of which were obviously wrong, and running through the alphabet didn’t help either. In the end it just popped into my head out of the blue, maybe the result of a bit of background processing after I’d consciously given up! Apart from that a fairly straightforward puzzle with good surface readings and no obscure vocabulary.

Across
1 NAPALM – NA(to) + PALM (conceal).
4 CLOBBER – COBBER around L(ine).
9 GILET – G.I. + LET
10 PORTFOLIO – (foil troop)*. The relevant definition given in Chambers is “the office of a cabinet minister with responsibility for a government department”.
11 TERMAGANT – TERM A G(ood) ANT
12 TWINE – T(erritorials) + WIN + E(nglish).
13 LIMO – MIL reversed + O
14 OCEAN-GOING – O.C. + (one aging)*
18 BASSOONIST – S(oldiers) + SOON + IS, all inside BAT.
20 OPAL – O(ld) PAL. Old chestnut.
23 TRAIN – T(ons) + RAN around I (current).
24 CANTABILE – (cabinet + l)* around A(nswer).
25 PATRICIAN – PAT (opportunely) + R(ight) + [IN around CIA]. A Roman senator would have been of the ruling patrician class rather than a plebeian.
26 OUTER – O.R. around UTE.
27 CONCEDE – ONCE inside C(a)D(r)E.
28 HYBRID – hidden in “lengtHY BRIDge”.

Down
1 NIGHTCLUB – double definition, one of them cryptic.
2 PILGRIM – I inside PL(atoon) + GRIM.
3 LETHAL – LET (obstruction) + HAL(t).
4 CARAT – CAR + TA reversed. “Unit employed among rocks” is good – less obvious wordplay could have made this a great clue.
5 OFFSTAGE – OFF + (gets a)*
6 BELLINI – BE + [IN ILL reversed]. Vincenzo (1801-35) is the composer. A bit confusing for me, as I’d only heard of the artist and the cocktail.
7 RHONE – I (middle letter of Taliban) removed from (heroin)*.
8 SPRAY CAN – SCAN (recce) around PRAY.
15 ASSONANT – A + S(second) + SON + (gr)ANT(ed). “Courage” and “carriage” are assonant words, i.e. they sound similar.
16 GOLDENROD – (drone)* inside GOLD.
17 COINCIDE – INC. 1 inside CODE
19 SPARTAN – RAPS reversed + TAN(k).
21 PAINTER – PAIN + (inves)T(iture) + ER
22 PARODY – ROD (Am. slang for a pistol) inside PAY.
23 TOPIC – TOP + I.C.
24 CRIME – CRIME(a).

2 comments on “Saturday Times 24574 (June 26th)”

  1. 71 minutes, so one of the easier Saturday offerings of late. Didn’t know GILET or GOLDENROD, but they were pretty easily got from the wordplay. Flirted with ‘bassinette’ at 18ac – misspelling it ‘bassonette’ – lured by the Mosaic connotations of reeds/bullrushes. ‘Rod’ as a slang term for a handgun seemed eminently possible, so not too many hold-ups at 22dn. COD to CLOBBER, mate.

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