Saturday Times 24628 (28th August)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solved from the paper over a pint in a pub garden last Sunday, as I was away for the weekend. No exact time, but it felt like 15-20 minutes. The first two clues I solved gave me JOLT and AZTEC, and I immediately thought “Pangram”, and sure enough it was. A mixture of clues, some very good, others indifferent.

Across
1 PLASTIC BULLET – (Baltic S)* inside PULLET.
8 JOLT – JOT around L.
9 OXYGEN TENT – OX + (YEN around GENT) + T
10 POACHING – double definition.
11 DEARTH – (waywar)D + EARTH.
13 HISTRIONIC – (choir isn’t)* around I(sle).
16 GUNK – GUN + (sin)K
17 DIVA – DIVA(n).
18 GOBSMACKED – GO + SMACK inside BED.
20 THRESH – THRE(e)S + H(ard).
22 GAINSAID – GAINS AID
24 CONTINGENT – CONTINENT around G(ood).
26 ARID – ID (pass) next to A R(iver).
27 CHEQUERED FLAG – CHEQUE (one that’s signed) + RED FLAG (socialist flier).

Down
1 PHOTO FINISH – H(orse) inside POT + (Teenos)O + FISH (snapper perhaps) around IN, sort of &lit., but not in the 1983 Derby, which Teenoso won by 3 lengths giving Lester Piggott his 9th win in the race.
2 AZTEC – A,Z (extremes) + TEC (short for detective).
3 TWO-TIMING – O(ld) TIM inside TWIN (double) + (dealin)G.
4 CRYOGEN – CRY + OGEN (a type of melon, named after the Israeli kibbutz where it was first developed).
5 UPEND – UP + END.
6 LETHARGIC – (race, light)*.
7 TAN – double definition.
12 TENDERISING – (ingredients)*.
14 TEAKETTLE – TEAK + (f)ETTLE. Should have been (3,6) according to Chambers.
15 COMMITTED – double definition.
19 BUGBEAR – BUG + BEAR.
21 HINDU – hidden in “youth in Durgapur”.
23 SMALL – S(econds) + ALL under M(inute).
25 ORC – ORC(hard). Can be a sea-monster as well as one of those ugly brutes in Lord of the Rings.

6 comments on “Saturday Times 24628 (28th August)”

  1. I also thought there were some very good clues here. To those of us who as young lads used to tinker with motorbikes, GUNK will always be this stuff.
  2. Enjoyed this immensely, even though it took me ages and I needed to resort to aids for the Epsom Derby clue (1dn) and for 14dn, where, as mentioned, tea kettle is surely two words. COD to CHEQUERED FLAG.

    As someone who knows quite a few of the Derby winners from the early 70s onwards (as a schoolboy, I got my mother to back Morston for me at 33-1 in the ’74 event), I was particularly miffed to miss out on 1dn, but frankly it seems hopelessly esoteric. A reference to the Long Fellow would have been fairer. I’m sure the setter could have worked ‘taxed’ into the clue somehow! Topical, anyhow – the season in Hong Kong starts tomorrow.

  3. I found this mostly very heavy going and some of the wordplay impenetrable e.g. figures = threes at 20ac and orchard = gardens at 25dn. In these and other cases it was easier to solve from the definition and ignore the rest of the clue. 60 minutes in all. This Saturday’s puzzle was also extremely hard for me.
  4. A most enjoyable puzzle that had enough good clues in it to make it stretching. A two cups of coffee solve so about 30 minutes.

    I liked 12D. The scientist in me rebels against earth=element. Whenever they use it I feel it should be “old element” or equivalent. I had no idea who or what Teenoso was but as it’s the “O” that matters, so what?

    1. ‘… but as it’s the “O” that matters, so what?’

      You’re absolutely right, of course. I missed the ‘close to’ marker there.

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