Saturday Times 24993 (29th Oct)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 13:22, so a fairly straightforward solve for a Saturday. Clue of the day was obviously 4dn, thanks for that one, setter! Apart from that, one for the literature mafia (as opposed to the musical mafia), what with the two 15-letter across clues, and perhaps 22dn.

Across
1 FORESTALL – FALL around 0 REST.
6 GROOM – double definition.
9 THOMAS DE QUINCEY – (discotheque many)*. Author of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821). On my list of books to read.
10 AWEIGH – as in anchors…sounds like “away”.
11 FIDDLIER – I inside FIDDLER.
13 NATURAL GAS – ALGA (piece of seaweed) inside (Saturn)*.
14 BAWL – B(aby) + AWL (one piercing).
16 SETT – double definition.
17 SCREENPLAY – SCREEN (put on TV) + PLAY (sport).
19 EYESHADE – EYES (observes) + HADE(s).
20 RECESS – RECESS(ive).
23 HOPE AGAINST HOPE – ref The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) by Anthony Hope.
24 TITLE – double definition.
25 HINDRANCE – HIND (back) + RAN(k) + C(astl)E.

Down
1 FATWA – FAT (thick) + WA (bundle of notes without D (500).
2 ROOTED TO THE SPOT – sounds like “routed to the spot”.
3 STAGGERS – double definition – didn’t know the first one, but apparently it’s something that horses and sheep get.
4 ANDY – hidden in “cAN DYnamite”. A few of the Times setters know I do the Saturday blogs, but I expect it’s just a coincidence…
5 LIQUIDATED – cryptic definition.
6 GRINDS – D(eparts) inside GRINS.
7 ONCE IN A BLUE MOON – got this from the definition and enumeration, but the wordplay (worked out today) is “one sinner” + BLUE (low) + MOO (low) + (priso)N. Dodgy homophone aside, that’s wonderful!
8 MAYORALTY – MAYO (county) + RY (railway) around ALT (key).
12 BLACK DEATH – LACK (absence) + DE (“of the” French) inside BATH (a city renowned for its Georgian architecture).
13 NISSEN HUT – (sunshine)* + T(emperature).
15 INVENTOR – VENT (opening) inside (iron)*.
18 THRACE – TRACE (harness strap) around H(orse).
21 SIEVE – IS reversed + EVE (our mother (if you believe that kind of thing)).
22 ANON – NO (refusal) inside A N(ew).

6 comments on “Saturday Times 24993 (29th Oct)”

  1. Didn’t know the paving block, the harness strap or the opium eater (easily guessable from the anagrist) but otherwise I made steady progress and finished in 40 minutes. The long multi-word answers were helpful in opening the grid up.
  2. My high-school French is far behind me, but isn’t DE “of”? “Of the” would be DU, DE LA or DES, non?
  3. 43’30”, fairly good for me for Saturday (like yesterday’s, which I’m still working on). Drove myself crazy trying to figure out HINDRANCE, got no farther than HIND until coming here; for which relief much thanks. CODs to 7d and 12d. And I don’t think any of the non-lit types here could complain about Zenda being obscure; it’s probably the best-known unread novel in Cryptonia.
  4. Just over 12 minutes for this. I did a degree in English Literature, which I suppose means if I’m part of any mafia then that’s the one. However I had no idea about the prisoner reference. Fortunately “not really expect” and a few checkers gives you plenty.
    I did read de Quincey, so that one was easy at least.
  5. 12:19 for me. I haven’t read de Quincey, but I read The Prisoner of Zenda (and Rupert of Hentzau) in my early teens – which is probably the ideal age!

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