Saturday Times 24933 (20th August)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 31:05, so I found it quite tricky. Some very tortuous wordplay in places, and there were a couple which I only worked out while writing up the blog, having failed to unpick them last week. Excellent puzzle, worth the extra effort. Shame about the incorrect enumeration at 1ac, although it only held me up for a few seconds.

Across
1 FOLKSONG – FOLKS (people) + O.G. (see 13ac) around N(oon). Should have been (4,4).
5 FERMAT – FEAT around RM. Pierre de Fermat, who’s best known for his Last Theorem, which was finally proved in 1995 by Andrew Wiles.
9 AUDITORIA – AUDIT (vet books) + O(ld) + AIR (show) reversed.
11 PASTA – PA’S T.A.
12 BISMUTH – IS, (gu)M(my) inside BUT, H(ard).
13 OWN GOAL – OWN (have) + GOAL (ambition).
14 ATACAMA DESERT – A + CAT reversed + A + M(ile) + A + DESERT (rat).
16 DORMITORY TOWN – R.M. (Resident Magistrate) + I (upright character) + TORY (right person) + TO, all inside DOWN (depressed).
20 ORIGAMI – A.M. (before noon) inside ORIGI(n).
21 SUBEDIT – (debut is)*
23 ASSAI – ASSAI(l). Italian for “very”, used in musical notation.
24 AUNT SALLY – ‘AUNT (Eastender’s frequent) + SALLY (sortie). “A fairground or pub game, in which sticks or balls are thrown to smash a pipe in the mouth of a wooden figure.”
25 YES-MEN – (enemy’s)*
26 SWANKIER – SKIER (winter sportsperson) around WAN (ghastly).

Down
1 FLAMBE – first letters of From Limousine As Minister’s Briefing European.
2 LODES – hidden reversed in “released old”
3 SATSUMA – MUST (has got to) + A + S(outh) (a point), all reversed, on top of A(rea). Took me a long time to work that out!
4 NORTH CAROLINA – H(usband) + CAROL (sing), inside (an intro)*. Charlotte is its largest city. Easy one for George, I should think – not too far from Asheville.
6 EXPENSE – EX-PEN’S (writer of yesterday’s) + E(xpress).
7 MISGOVERN – (removing, S)*, the S from the start of shoe.
8 TEA-CLOTH – LOT (crowd) inside TEACH (coach).
10 APOCALYPSE NOW – CALYPS(o) (short topical song) + ONE reversed, inside A + P.O.W.
14 AIR KISSES – ASSES (idiots) around IRK (annoy) + I (one).
15 ADVOCACY – AD (commercial) + VAC (break) + Y (unknown), around CO reversed.
17 IMAGINE – I’M AGIN (member of opposition’s statement) + E(nergy).
18 ORBISON – OR (gold) + O (disc) + N(ote) around BIS (literally twice, a musical direction that a section is to be repeated). Roy Orbison, American singer who died in 1988. Here’s the obligatory YouTube link 🙂
19 STAYER – ST(umped) + AYER (philosopher). A. J. Ayer (1910-89), quite popular among crossword setters.
22 DELHI – I + H(ospital) + LED (was first), all reversed.

10 comments on “Saturday Times 24933 (20th August)”

  1. 64 minutes, but didn’t get 2d until too late, so DNF. Note also that SEDOL is not only reversed and hidden, it’s hidden in reLEAsed olD BOXES (‘Metal containers having turned up’).
  2. 15:36 for me. A delight from beginning to end – my compliments to the setter.

    As a member of the English Folk Dance and Song Society for 35+ years, I don’t have any problem with FOLKSONG spelled as one word.

    AUNT SALLY is played rather differently in pubs around Oxford, where there’s a thriving Aunt Sally Association.

    I wonder if the setter intended (or even spotted) Kevin’s LEAD BOXES.

  3. Completed this am. I found it very difficult to get started and then really slow going. Last in FOLKSONG and LODES. I enjoyed the challenge though. Many thanks to the blogger – I needed his explanation for a couple of answers. 65 minutes.
  4. Sorry for being obtuse but how does “aunt” mean “Eastender’s frequent”? Please put me out of my misery!
    1. Haunt minus the H, Eastenders being East Londoners i.e. Cockneys (notice linxit’s apostrophe).
  5. This was an absolute cracker. Thank you setter.
    And thanks to linxit for explanations of DORMITORY TOWN and STAYER, which I didn’t fully understand when solving. I wasn’t familiar with RM for a magistrate, ST for stumped, or Ayer.
    Of my 43 minutes’ solving time (15 minutes more than the jumbo!), 20 were spent staring in despair at the hidden word LODES. Oh, did I kick myself.
  6. With its rather clunky surface, I thought 1ac was a bit weak, but ‘number’ is a word that gets me every time, with its ‘something which makes numb’ and ‘song’ meanings. Apart from that, as others have said, a fine puzzle, which took me 90 minutes and required three cheats.

    DORMITORY TOWN went in from the definition, but contains more useful crossword lexicogrammar in the shape of ‘upright character’ and ‘right person’, which, shamefully, I still don’t see right off as I ought to.

    1. “Upright character” reminded me of Sir Humphrey’s circumlocution in Yes Minister: “The perpendicular pronoun”.

      50 minutes. Didn’t understand ORBISON before coming here. I also lost time on this clue trying to justify ROBESON before I had the first checker.

  7. Bis as a musical direction was unknown to me, so you might say Orbison went in blind!
    I have the DVDs and the scripts of Yes Minister (and its less funny sequel). I also have access to Wikipedia, which gives the following exchange from the episode in question:

    Sir Humphrey: If local authorities don’t send us statistics, Government figures will be a nonsense.
    Hacker: Why?
    Sir Humphrey: They’ll be incomplete.
    Hacker: Government figures are a nonsense, anyway.
    Bernard: I think Sir Humphrey wants to ensure they’re a complete nonsense.

  8. Excellent puzzle. Lots of tricky wordplay. I thought the clue for AIR KISSES at 17 dn (“Detached shows of affection from idiots hugging annoy one”) was one of the best for a long time – wonderful surface read. I too am not worried by FOLKSONG as a single word, albeit that “folk song” and “folk-song” are probably more common. It was my last in but that was only because I wasn’t familiar with O.G. as an abbreviation for “own goal”. Took a long time for the proverbial penny to drop. Thanks setter.

Comments are closed.