Saturday Times 24586 (July 10th) – better late than never!

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Sorry this is late, but I had major problems at the weekend, not least of which were a leaky immersion heater and a resultant power outage. The plumber couldn’t fix the leak on Saturday and had to come back this morning with more parts. Everything’s finally back to normal now though, and as there were no comments to Pete’s placeholder I might as well post it here so somebody might actually read it!

Solving time 10:57. Although this was generally quite easy for a Saturday (or indeed any day), there were a few great clues here. I’m torn between 24 and 27 for COD and I had ticks against a couple of others too.

Across
1 ALPHABETIC – (at a blue-chip)* minus the U. Clever definition seamlessly fitting with the surface reading.
6 ASPS – P(ower) in ASS.
8 LOOPHOLE – LOOP + (w)HOLE
9 HUDSON – (hounds)*. Mrs. Hudson was Sherlock’s landlady at 221B Baker Street. Slightly unsatisfactory in that “vicious” is a dubious anagram indicator, and the surface can only refer to the Hound (singular) of the Baskervilles.
10 HIED – “hide”.
11 HAILSTONES – HAILS TONES.
12 MISBEHAVE – MIS(s) + BE, HAVE (two auxiliary verbs). An auxiliary verb is one “that helps to form the mood, tense or voice of another verb”.
14 ULTRA – the clue is “Extreme intelligence”. Extreme is obviously the definition (of the prefix “ultra-“) but I can’t see what intelligence has to do with it. Help please!
17 SHARK – SH + ARK
19 ORCHESTRA – cryptic definition.
22 UNBALANCED – LANCE inside UN-BAD.
23 FARO – FAR O(ff)
24 FAMOUS – F(arm) + A MOUS(e), i.e. with its tail cut off. Brilliant – made me chuckle anyway.
25 EVENTUAL – (net value)*
26 IDLE – odd letters of InDuLgEd.
27 NINETEENTH – cryptic definition. The golf club bar is usually referred to as the 19th hole (as if anyone didn’t know that!)

Down
1 ALL THUMBS – double definition, sort of.
2 PROCESS – 0C (freezing point) inside PRESS.
3 BROUHAHA – BROU(gham) + HA HA. A French word for a commotion, possibly one of the first in that language that I learnt when I was about 10. I think we were being far too noisy in class…
4 THE SILVER SCREEN – (Their cleverness)*. Jumped straight out at me – first one I looked at and it went straight in.
5 CO-HOST – COST around HO.
6 ANDROCLES – (h)AND + (closer)*. In Roman legend, runaway slave Androcles removed a painful thorn from a lion’s paw, making him a friend for life. Years later he’d been captured and put into the arena to be devoured, but luckily for him he was put in with the same lion, who recognised him and was as friendly as before.
7 PIONEER – ONE inside PIER, &lit. At first glance I read it as a slightly awkward cryptic definition, but felt there had to be more to it.
13 BARCAROLE – CAROL in BARE.
15 AYATOLLAH – A TOLL inside AYAH (an Indian maidservant).
16 SHADIEST – S(on), DIES inside HAT.
18 HANSARD – ANS(wer) inside HARD.
20 TO A TURN – TORN around A T.U. (trade union = association for work).
21 SAMSON – SAM (Weller, Dickensian character from The Pickwick Papers) + SON (no idea who Tony is – how does this work?)

8 comments on “Saturday Times 24586 (July 10th) – better late than never!”

  1. Solved pretty quickly (5:28 from memory). I was equally ignorant about Tony Weller until someone asked about this clue by e-mail the other day.
  2. A one piece of toast and one cup of coffee puzzle that was too easy for a Saturday.

    I didn’t understand the Weller reference (too obscure surely) but it could only be SAMSON. And of course knew about ULTRA being of the right age and very interested in the subject.

    One or two taxing clues in a good Monday puzzle.

    1. Looking forward to your comments on the latest Saturday puzzle, Jimbo. I imagine one bite of toast and one sip of coffee would have been more than enough for that!
      1. Indeed, Jack. I think if one could comment immediately it might have more impact. Unfortunately a week later and most folk have forgotten the experience. I understand that only 15,000 people have registered to read the newspaper via the website so perhaps they’re trying to drum up interest via easy weekend crosswords!!

        1. I didn’t have my print-out when I read this blog and commented earlier from work. Having now looked at my notes I find I struggled a bit with 24586 only solving 8 clues in the first 30 minutes. I was then unable quite to finish it within the hour so I resorted to aids for the last two, 14ac and 15dn. I’m not looking for much more difficult than this any day of the week.

          I agree 24ac was brilliant.

  3. Yes, too easy for a Saturday, but I do like 9A HUDSON which I thought was a very attractive and amusing clue!

    It is to be hoped that you are wrong, Jimbo, because I regard Saturday as THE puzzle day. I can see us again in a debate about “dumbing down” (pace Mephisto)!

    1. Possibly, although I think we would have much less effect. The three Mephisto setters do read the blog so we were talking to the right people. I don’t think that applies to the Saturday puzzle to anything like the same extent.

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