Saturday Times 24598 (July 24th)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 13:18. Nothing too difficult here. One brilliant hidden reversal though, but pretty standard fare apart from that. Today’s is another kettle of fish entirely.

Across
1 TRANSEPT – SEPT after TRA(i)N.
5 STOCKS – double definition.
9 RESTRAIN – REST (stop) + RAIN (fall).
10 WALLOP – double definition.
12 UPSET – UP (winning) + SET (some games, i.e. of tennis).
13 YOUNGSTER – (got nurse)* next to (da)Y.
14 SIX OF THE BEST – as there are six players in a volleyball team, I guess. If you’d have asked me I would have guessed seven. SIX OF THE BEST used to be delivered by a teacher with his cane. I’m old enough to have suffered this puinshment at the hands of the headmaster of my old grammar school. Can’t even remember what I did to deserve it now. Must have been bad though – the usual punishment was a detention, with Saturday detention for more serious misdemeanours.
18 OCTOGENARIAN – hidden reversed in “marijuaNA, I RAN, ‘E GOT COllared”. Full marks for imagination on the setter’s part!
21 GRENADINE – (Meandering)*
23 OLIVE – (tomat)O + LIVE (to be).
24 TOM-TOM – hmmm, why would even Siamese twins share the same name? Easy enough to get the answer, but it doesn’t work for me.
25 STEALTHY – TEAL + T(ell) inside SHY.
26 AGREED – AGED round RE.
27 UNBEATEN – UNEATEN around B(eaten), &lit.

Down
1 TURN UP – URN (vessel) in TUP (sheep, specifically a ram).
2 ASSESS – A + E in SSSS (seconds).
3 SURE THING – (eight runs)*. The surface reading is highly unlikely, but not impossible. An all-run four is occasionally achieved at larger cricket grounds, which would become eight with four overthrows.
4 PRIVY COUNCIL – amusing cryptic definition, the throne being a nickname for a toilet.
6 TWANG – W(estern) in TANG. The Tang dynasty ruled China from 618-907 AD.
7 CULOTTES – C(lothing) + (outlets)*. A divided skirt apparently.
8 SEPARATE – APES rev. + RATE.
11 BUSTER KEATON – (soak, brunette)*. My favourite silent movie star, unbelievable stunts. Here’s a sample.
15 ELABORATE – ORATE underneath E + LAB.
16 GOLGOTHA – LOG rev. + GOTH (man in black) + A. Another name for Calvary, where Jesus was crucified.
17 STREAMER – double definition.
19 DIKTAT – KID rev. + TAT. “An order or statement allowing no opposition”, from Chambers. Literally German for “something dictated”.
20 KENYAN – KEY (guide) around N, + AN.
22 ADOBE – AD + O.B.E. Interesting word. It can be the dried mud the brick is made from, the brick itself, or a house made of the bricks.

9 comments on “Saturday Times 24598 (July 24th)”

  1. An easy puzzle with a setter that may have a fetish – WALLOP, UNBEATEN, SIX OF THE BEST!! I agree on TOM-TOM – we have twins in the family and the last thing they or we would want is to give them the same name!
  2. Wallop conjured memories of Middle, Nether and Over near Andover. A sign of the times, perhaps, that I know adobe only from its modern acrobat incarnation. Have finally learned how to spell ‘diktat’ thanks to this puzzle, which I didn’t time but took a lot less time than today’s – just completed with a feeling of great satisfaction.

    8 runs was more common in the old days when the whole field was used – no ropes brought in to the edge of the square – and when players smoked 60 Rothmans a day and were far less fit. To qualify for 8,the batsmen would need to have crossed on their 4th run when the throw was made.

    1. A song for every occasion, me. If once heard, who could forget Pat Boone’s hit?

      “It was a moonlit night in old Mexico. I walked alone between some old adobe haciendas. Suddenly, I heard the plaintive cry of a young Mexican girl. You better come home, Speedy Gonzales…”

      and ending with

      “Hey, Rosita – come queek – down at the cantina
      they giving green stamps with tequila!!”

      1. This one took me a solid hour. RH was easy, NW needed some thought but I was bogged down seemingly for ever in the SW. No aids needed though.

        Today’s took me 90 minutes and I still have two possible answers for 6ac so maybe both are wrong.

  4. This was a roam in the gloam! Only GRENADINE gave me (a short) pause for thought.

    Today’s was a challenge, but most enjoyable.

  5. Nice and easy except that I had SIT ON THE SEAT for 14ac. Wasn’t happy with this but thought of the naughty seat and a coach leaving a reserve on the bench. Not very likely really.
  6. “Six of the best” was not familiar to this American. I guessed “six on the left,” thinking that perhaps a volleyball team selector has to pick a team to play on a particular side (right or left) of the court, and that perhaps the subject (or the administrator) of a beating could specify which buttock was to be caned!

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