Saturday Times 25041 (24th Dec)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
The Christmas Eve puzzle was given an extended deadline, so I couldn’t post the blog until today. 13:22 here, so not too hard with two 15- and two 14-letter entries which went in pretty quickly getting me off to a flying start.

Across
1 HOVE – HOVE(r), a seaside resort on the south coast near Brighton.
3 WAR MACHINE – WARM (close) + A CHINE (joint of meat).
10 GUNNERA – GUNNER ‘A’. A plant I knew as a I used to have one in the garden (although nowhere near as big as the ones on the Wikipedia page).
11 SPINACH – ACH(e) (pine that’s been chopped) on SPIN (slant). Hands up who thought the PIN bit was the pine that’s been chopped, and wondered how to get SACH from the rest!
12 WHITECHAPEL ROAD – (he had at low price)*. One of the lowest priced properties on the Monopoly board, and a great clue.
13 YOUTHS – SHY (nervous) reversed around OUT (striking).
14 BLACK SEA – B(lanket) + LACKS (needs) + E (tablet) + A.
17 MUTINEER – (tune, emir)*. Probably the best-known mutineer of all, Fletcher Christian led the mutiny on the Bounty.
18 ENCAMP – P.M. (premier) + ACNE (spots), all reversed.
21 LOOK BACK IN ANGER – OK (fine) + BACK (support) + INA (girl), all inside LONGER (increasingly extended). A 1956 John Osborne play.
23 OUTDOOR – OUTDO (cap) + O.R. (other ranks = men).
24 HENDRIX – HE (the man) + NIX (nothing) around DR (bones). Axeman is slang for a guitarist, and Jimi Hendrix was one of the best.
25 ALL THE SAME – triple definition in a three-word clue for a three-word answer!
26 IDEA – sounds like “eye deer” (watch does).

Down
1 HIGHWAY – HIGH (on a trip) + WA(r)Y (cautious minus the r).
2 VENTIDUCT – V(ery) + (united)* + C(our)T. A new word for me, but the wordplay helped.
4 APATHY – P (quietly) inside A,A (answers) + THY (your).
5 MISSPELT – MSS (hand-written documents) around I + PELT (rush).
6 CHILLI CON CARNE – CHILL (cool) + ICON (sign) + CAR (railway carriage) + NE(w).
7 IMAGO – ORIGAMI (paper folding), reversed and missing IR (one runs from…)
8 ECHIDNA – (chained)*
9 TELEPHONE BOOTH – (the help)* around ONE (I), BOOT (start up).
15 STAGGERED – double definition.
16 RED CARDS – double definition, the second a bit cryptic and referring to the fact that in playing cards, Clubs are black.
17 MOLDOVA – M (farm minus far) + OLD OVA (no fresh eggs).
19 PYREXIA – YR EX (your former lover) + I (one), all inside PA (old man).
20 DIRHAM – DIR(e) (mostly dreadful) + HAM (overacting). Monetary unit of Morocco, hence “change from Casablanca”.
22 OCTAL – hidden reversed in “flat copper”. The proper name for base eight, still used in computing although hexadecimal is more common.

12 comments on “Saturday Times 25041 (24th Dec)”

  1. 15:21 for me, but with one rash mistake: MISSPELL for MISSPELT.

    This is the sort of thing I dread in the Championship, though if I had access to the online OED, I’d point to the inclusion of “intr. To hurry, rush” among the definitions of “pell” – and hope to gloss over the qualification “Obs. (Sc. in later use)”.

  2. After an hour and 7 minutes, I had 8 clues unsolved; so when I resumed the attempt later, I didn’t bother to continue timing. I did manage to finish, but like Tony, went for ‘pell’, thinking of ‘pell mell’ and hoping for the best. I wonder if Whitechapel Road has appeared before; somehow I figured the property was a Monopoly property, and a couple of checkers did it. Having spent my share of dirhams in Casablanca, I got 20d fairly early; 19 took longer.
    1. It was in puzzle 24888 on 29 June last, clued, also with reference to Monopoly, as ‘Unbelievably dirt cheap, a whole property for sixty pounds!’

      Edited at 2012-01-07 05:24 am (UTC)

  3. 43 minutes mostly steady solve with a brief hold-up at the end on 1ac, 1dn and finally the unknown 10ac which I didn’t understand until coming here. So is GUNNER ‘A’ a recognised military/shooting term or purely a notional device for the purposes of this clue? I didn’t like it anyway, but then I rarely do, the ones that completely baffle me unless they are really clever.

    Edited at 2012-01-07 05:30 am (UTC)

  4. 88 minutes, done, unusually for me on a Saturday, online, as the office at home was full of sleepy heads. I have learnt the slang term for a guitarist, at least. Plus, the Moroccan currency, which might crop up in a quiz.
  5. I didn’t find this particularly hard, but sadly I did misspell misspelt, so had one wrong… in hindsight, a silly error but I noticed nothing wrong at the time.
  6. 37:12 … solved in between bouts of trying to be a little bit Nigella, a little bit Jamie, and ending up more accidental Heston Blumenthal.

    I do remember thinking this was a very worthy holiday puzzle and I love things like Gunner A (which makes me think of Spike Milligan for some reason).

    It took me most of the solve and all the checking letters to get Whitechapel Road, which shows how long it is since I played Monopoly (I always lose dismally). Over Christmas someone on TV (maybe on Have I Got News..) mentioned that Philip Green has a solid gold Monopoly set featuring his own acquisitions. I don’t imagine he loses too often.

  7. DR is bones? Is this some dice reference? Could some kind person explain this please

    I am a regular solver (30 min/very good, 1 hour normal)but like

    everyone, I like to browse the site

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