Saturday Times 24831 (April 23rd)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 16:50. A bit of a curate’s egg of a puzzle – brilliant in places but spoilt by a few loose ones and fillers. I hope someone can help me out with 18D, as I can’t fully explain that one.

Across
1 MATCH – double definition.
4 JAMBALAYA – JAMB (post) + “a liar” (remarkable pork-pie (i.e. lie) producer). That one definitely raised an eyebrow – I don’t think “remarkable” quite cuts it as a dodgy homophone indicator…unless the idea was that a dodgy indicator leads to a dodgy homophone! Genius!!! Nah…
9 DESERT RAT – (trees)* inside DRAT. Specifically, a soldier of the 7th Armoured Division who served in North Africa in 1941-42.
10 CATER – CATER(pillar).
11 LEAD ON – LEAD (metal) + ON (leg side in cricket).
12 ART PAPER – (apart)* + PER (by).
14 ANDANTINO – vote for yes… AND ANTI NO. Neat idea, liked this one.
16 PASTA – TAPAS (Spanish food) rotated by a few characters.
17 ELIOT – TOILE reversed. The way the clue read, I had to wait for one of the checking letters to confirm which bit was supposed to be reversed, although it was probably 60/40 in favour of the actual answer.
19 POTTERIES – OTTER (one catching fish) inside PIES. An area of the Midlands around Stoke-on-Trent which was the centre of the British ceramic industry from the 18th century or so.
21 PLYMOUTH – PLY (keep working) + MOUTH (opening). The port in Devon from which the Pilgrim Fathers sailed in 1620.
22 GROCER – “grosser”.
25 EVANS – hidden in luggagE VAN, Somehow”. George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann EVANS.
26 IRISH BULL – (hubris)* inside ILL. Easy enough to get from wordplay, but it’s not in either Chambers or Collins. I eventually found it in the 2-volume Shorter OED, under bull – an expression containing a contradiction in terms or implying a ludicrous inconsistency. Often more fully Irish bull. Not quite the same as a non sequitur really…
27 DAMNEDEST – (EDEN MAD reversed) + ST(reet).
28 TRESS – (s)TRESS.

Down
1 MIDDLE-AGE SPREAD – double definition, although the definition of the Middle Ages as 500-1500AD is a bit loose. Most definitions say 5th-15th centuries, but maybe that’s just me being over-pedantic.
2 TESLA – ALL SET, reversed and without one of the Ls. The SI unit of magnetic flux density, named after the brilliant electrical pioneer Nikola Tesla.
3 HARPOON – HARPO (Marx, silent film actor) + ON (playing).
4 JERK – JK around ER. Appropriate neightbours as they’re together in the alphabet but surround the Q in a pack of cards. Clever clue.
5 MOTORMOUTH – MOM (American mother) around ROT reversed, + OUT (dismissed, e.g. in cricket) + H(usband).
6 ALCOPOP – A + LOP (poll) around (CO (firm) + P(reference)).
7 ANTIPASTI – N(ote) inside A TIP (gratuity) + ASTI (wine).
8 AURORA AUSTRALIS – cryptic definition. Apparently the first European explorer to journey to the southern hemisphere to happen to see and record the Aurora Australis, was James Cook on 16th February 1773, from the deck of the Resolution.
13 LIMPET MINE – LIMP (pathetic) + TM (trademark, i.e. distinctively identified) inside EINE (a German). Strangely enough, the abbreviation TM isn’t in Chambers, although the entry under trademark confirms the definition given here.
15 DAIRY FARM – MYRIAD reversed around FAR.
18 TOOTSIE – childish word for a foot or toe (Leg-end). I can’t see what “delivered in two halves” is doing there though (other than confusing me). [ Of course, it’s an instruction to take “legend” as two halves – “leg end”. In a lot of cryptics that distinction isn’t made, and it’s become a bit of an old chestnut as it is. That’s my excuse anyway! Thanks Jim and Jack. ]
20 EARSHOT – EARS HOT, as in the expression “to make someone’s ears burn”, to talk about them behind their backs.
23 CHUTE – (s)HUTE after C(hapter). Nevil Shute was the author. My dad had all his books, and I read most of them when I was in my teens.
24 FIAT – FAT (well filled-out) around 1.

10 comments on “Saturday Times 24831 (April 23rd)”

  1. Agree with all your quibbles and would add that TESLA isn’t really an electrical unit in the way that volt and amp are. I think the wierd 18D is either referring to “tootsie-wootsie” being the full baby talk phrase or is telling you to split “legend” into two halves to give “led end”. As you say a curate’s egg.

    Password rejected again!!

    1. Definitely your second option (minus the typo), in my opinion, Jim. I thought it was a brilliant clue once the penny had dropped.
  2. I thought this crossword was a high class effort, and have kept the grid for a week specially in order to make a comment.. 3dn is a beautiful construction. 4dn is too. Judging by the website lots of people have had trouble with 18dn, but I hope once it is fully understood, it will be accepted as technically correct, if nothing else. And 19ac is an &lit, or thereabouts, is it not?
    1. I meant to add, I agree with Jack in disliking yesterday’s effort, which I thought below par
  3. Just a little over the hour for me. I enjoyed it as something a bit different from the norm. Far more fun than yesterday’s tedious themed puzzle.
  4. Definitely a toughie; 89′, plus some more time to convince myself it was TOOTSIE–the penny of which didn’t drop until the next day, out of the blue. Never heard of IRISH BULL, but found it in my dictionary. I needed today’s blog to fully understand 13d. CODs to 3d and 14ac.
    I agree with Jack and Jerry about yesterday’s. I had so successfully managed to keep the wedding out of consciousness that I didn’t notice the theme. Wasn’t this the first time, among all the countless girls named Di, that Diana has been referred to in a puzzle?
  5. I didn’t get a proper time for this but I found it pretty tough and spent ages pondering 18dn. TOOTSIE seemed like the right answer but I just couldn’t see why. Once I twigged it made me laugh, which makes it a good clue in my book.
    I’m going to go against the consensus here and say I enjoyed yesterday’s puzzle (particularly “young lady who’s worked hard to pull”). I have a seven-year old daughter so there was no way the wedding (a real girl becoming a real princess!) wasn’t going to be a big part of our day so I figured I’d better make the best of it and get into the spirit of the thing. How nice to find I could do so just by doing the crossword!
  6. 13:57 for me. A most enjoyable puzzle – I wasn’t at all worried by any looseness.

    I’m with Jack and Jerry in disliking yesterday’s themed puzzle. I thought of OARSWOMAN straight away for “Young lady who’s worked hard to pull”, but didn’t have any crossing letters and wasn’t confident enough to put it in – particularly since “young” seemed otiose. Just one of many weak clues. De gustibus …

  7. I had terrible trouble with this. For me the most difficult puzzle in months. Did it in 2 sessions, each taking over 30 minutes. At one time all I had was JAMBALAYA, ANDANTINO, POTTERIES and DAMNEDEST, all in isolation. I finally gave up and went to aids for TESLA, an unknown to me. Had problems with the cryptic of CHUTE because, although I recognised the author and have read lots of his books, I thought his name actually began with a C!
    I notice this site is still refusing to recognise my password. It happened every day last week.
  8. At one time we had E _ I _ _ for 17Ac… hmmm… could be EDITH… this would fit in with EVANS for 25Ac… *sigh* And the definition part for TESLA is just plain wrong.

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