Saturday Times 24604 (July 31st)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 31:37, so very tough but entertaining. I found it very hard to get into last Saturday, with only four answers entered in the first eight minutes. All the clues have smooth surfaces, and there’s no obscure vocabulary required. All the difficulty comes from the cleverly disguised clueing, which is a direct result of the surface readings. Good to see after a string of easier Saturday puzzles. This one gave me a sense of achievement on finishing it.

Across
1 VINEGARISH – V + GARISH (loud) around IN E.
6 SLIP – triple definition. I didn’t know this meaning of “nod”, but Chambers gives one definition as “to make a careless mistake through inattention”.
10 CONCEIT – ONCE inside CIT(e).
11 OBOISTS – (is boost)*.
12 LOVING CUP – LOG (enter) + C(lubs) + UP (in high spirits), all around VIN (French wine).
13 KOOKY – KO (punch conclusively) + OK (fine) + (part)Y. Great “lift-and-separate” clue to a word that can’t be easy to clue well.
14 KINDA – KIN + (to)DA(y). Definition is “Informal sort of”, and the DA is formed by the letters between O and Y (old and young initially) in the word “today”. I’m going to call this a Marmite clue, as I like it a lot but think there are others who may hate it! Either way, kudos to the setter for what I think is an original idea.
15 PITCH INTO – PIT (hollow) + CHIN (feature) + O.T. reversed (reactionary books).
17 LOSE COUNT – “Loos” (ladies, perhaps speaking) + COUNT. Great definition “Have to go back to one”, with the ‘s just a link to the wordplay.
20 ROOST – cryptic definition. PERCH would also fit the clue, but I only thought of that afterwards, by which time I’d already confirmed it with NEOLOGISE.
21 HOKUM – last letters of “loatH tO yanK yoU froM“.
23 CHILDHOOD – CHID (dressed down) around L(arge), + HOOD (bonnet).
25 RANSOME – RAN + SO + ME (the 5th and 3rd notes of the scale, the 4th being FA). ME is usually spelt MI, but Chambers gives it as an anglicized spelling. The author is Arthur Ransome, who wrote the Swallows and Amazons books. Popular man – he also appeared here a couple of weeks earlier in puzzle 24592.
26 BALDING – L (Ulster’s second letter) + DIN (row) inside BAG.
27 ZOOM – ZOO (the Ark, for one) + M(ile).
28 IRIDESCENT – I RIDE (One’s carried up) + SCENT. [ On edit after jon88’s comment. ]

Down
1 VOCAL – double definition, one by counter-example.
2 NON-EVENTS – got this just from the definition. No idea how it works. [ But jerrywh does! “Entitled” has NON-EVEN T’S, whereas “statutory” does not. Another “Marmite” clue I reckon. Jerry can’t decide whether it’s fiendishly clever or just silly. I’m on the “fiendishly clever” side, even though it defeated me. ]
3 GREENHAM COMMON – GREEN (lawn) + HAM (poor in parts) + COMMON (as in the phrase “as common as muck”). Site of the former US air base in Berkshire, which was famous for the Women’s Peace Camp located outside it.
4 RATE-CAP – CAP (crown) underneath RATE (judge). Definition is “force to reduce charges”, as when the government set a limit on what local authorities can charge.
5 SHOT-PUT – SHOUT (turn to get drinks) around PT reversed (pint up).
7 LASSO – HE removed from LASHES + O(ld).
8 PUSSYFOOT – i.e. a PUSSY FOOT, ref. the pantomime character taken from the fairy tale Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault.
9 YORKSHIRE DALES – YORKS (gets out, i.e. with a yorker, a cricket term for a full-pitched ball which goes under the bat and hits the stumps) + HI (welcome) + RED (wine) + ALES (beers). Great charade clue.
14 KILOHERTZ – “killer” (one that would end life) + “hurts” (mars). “Some say” neatly sidesteps the dodgy homophone trap.
16 NEOLOGISE – (in eg loose)*.
18 UNCLEAR – NUCLEAR with the U moved up.
19 TWIN BED – WIN (land) inside DEBT reversed.
22 KENDO – K (bottom of parK) + END (boundary), above O (ball). Japanese martial art of swordfighting, similar to fencing.
24 DIGIT – computer enthusiasts DIG I.T.

17 comments on “Saturday Times 24604 (July 31st)”

  1. 2dn: I think that entitled has “non-even t’s”, whereas statutary does not. I am undecided as to whether this is a fiendishly clever clue or a rather silly one…
  2. Solved in about 22 minutes, so tricky enough to keep Jimbo happy on a Saturday. I couldn’t explain 2D, but like the clue now that I understand it.

    Nod is as in the potentially puzzling phrase “even Homer nods” – which does not mean that he’s fallen asleep.

  3. I can’t remember the last time I took so long to solve a single clue in a puzzle – around ten minutes, I think.

    Total solving time was nearly an hour, but an hour of real enjoyment. With most puzzles it’s mostly about getting to the finish line. A few, like this one, demand that you stop and admire the view along the way.

    I loved KINDA in a “you are awful.. but I love you” kinda way.

    1. Sorry, just ripped off your comment header for the main entry title. Hope you don’t mind. 🙂
      1. I’m positively flattered. And you know what they say: good writers borrow, great ones steal.
      2. But it just dawned on me that it goes against the new sanction on using answers in blog titles.
        1. Oops, that didn’t occur to me at the time. Sheepishly removed again (after Pete’s email).
  4. 90 minutes hard graft. Didn’t understand SLIP as I only knew the ‘voucher’ definition.
  5. I’ve been wondering all week quite what folk would make of some of this and particularly the KINDA clue and the non-even “t” bit. I thought both clever and original, although NON-EVENTS took a very long time to fathom – one of those that came to me whilst doing something else entirely some time after finishing the puzzle.

    This for me is what Saturday puzzles should be like every week – well blogged Linxit and thank you and congratulations setter.

  7. I thought that this was a lovely puzzle, which kept me interested until the 90th minute final solve. As Sotira said, we had occasionally to stop and smell the roses!

    I didn’t understand 2d either, but the answer couldn’t be anything else. Too many cracking clues to nominate a COD.

    We should have more of this standard on a Saturday: today’s is of comparatively inferior quality!

  8. An email which, if I’d read it properly the first time, would have obviated the need for anything to dawn on me.
  9. Yes, this was a really good puzzle, 44 mins. Favourite clues VINEGARISH, CONCEIT, CHILDHOOD, RANSOME, BALDING, GREENHAM COMMON, YORKSHIRE DALES, TWIN BED, KENDO, DIGIT. While I was fairly sure about NON-EVENTS, did not understand it till coming here.
  10. Re 28a, there seems to be an extra S in the breakdown. Might “One’s carried up” be read as “I RIDE”?
  11. It was only when I saw this blog and didn’t recognise VINEGARISH that I remembered I’d never got round to finishing this last week. So I went back to it and have just spent a very enjoyable half hour completing it. Frustrating not to complete this because of the inadvertant cheat, but I greatly enjoyed what I did.
    There is loads of very inventive and just slightly unusual clueing in it. Just to pick out a couple of examples, “punch, conclusively” for KO and “feature projecting” for CHIN are very nicely weaved in to throw you off the scent just that extra little bit.
    I had one quibble, which was that a rate cap can’t really be said to reduce a charge, but having enjoyed the puzzle so much I’ve decided not to mention it.
    So thank you very much setter.
    Today’s, by contrast, took me 11 minutes, which is a Saturday record for me. However I rather needed that after the trials of the week.

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