Saturday Times 25071 (28th Jan) – Times for The Times

A bleary-eyed 24:43 on the 6:51 to Euston on Monday morning for this one. I recently changed jobs and now have to get from Coventry to Brentford every morning, and I’m never very good in the morning… I got off to a good start though, with the long 14 and 17ac both going straight in, but ground to a halt about half way as my eyes drooped and the page blurred. Zzzzz.

Across
1	DESPOIL – (poised)* + (mote)L.
5	ON PAPER – N(ew) + P(age) + APE (copy), all inside OR (hence gilt-edged).
9	FLAGSTAFF – FLAGS (plant’s) + TAFF (flower = river).
10	COMMA – double definition.
11	CAPER – double definition.
12	INTERSECT – INTER (bury) + SECT (group).
14	FOREIGN AFFAIRS – (gains offer)* around FAIR (just).
17	PLEASED AS PUNCH – (plans used cheap)*
21	CLASSLESS – double definition, one a bit cryptic.
23	TONGA – TON (heavyweight) + GA (Georgia = state).
24	ASTER – (t)ASTER.
25	BLOW A FUSE – BLOUSE (shirt-like garment) around W(ife), A, F(ashion).
26	EXCLAIM – EX-CLAIM.
27	SCENERY – S(had)Y around C.E. (church), NE(a)R (close without a).

Down
1	DEFECT – double definition.
2	SHAMPOO – HAM (meat) inside SPOO(n) (ladle finally spilled).
3	OBSERVERS – O.B. (outside broadcast) + SERVERS (tennis players).
4	LEADING EDGE – (aligned)* + EDGE (inch). Part of the blade of a cricket bat, which when hit usually lobs the ball gently back to the bowler for an easy catch.
5	OAF – (l)OAF.
6	PACER – P(ine) + ACER (tree).
7	POMPEII – POPE (pontiff) around M(arried), + II (couple). Deeper just indicates “lower down” I think.
8	ROAD-TEST – ROAST (traditional main course) around D(a)TE (fruit without a).
13	TRANSISTORS – (station,RS,RS)*, the RS’s being “runs” twice without the middle letters (doubly vacant).
15	FRUITCAKE – FAKE (not genuine) around (I cut R)*
16	SPACE-AGE – SAGE (philosopher) around PACE (momentum).
18	ELASTIC – SALE reversed + TIC(k) (credit cut).
19	CONSUME – SUM (problem) inside CONE (shape of an ice-cream).
20	BARELY – double definition, one cryptic.
22	SYRIA – AIRY (light) + S(leeper), all reversed.
25	BUM – double definition.

6 comments on “Saturday Times 25071 (28th Jan)”

20dn was my only grief: I had RARELY, perhaps putting too much weight on the ? Is the concept of a baby being overcooked if delivery is well after due date just an Australianism?

38′, quick for me for a Saturday. I was under the impression that ‘bum’ in the sense here was an Americanism; has it spread? And ‘park bench resident’ is a somewhat unfortunate definition, in that not all homeless people are bums.

50 minutes steady solve with no major delays. I agree with Kevin’s comment about the definition at 25dn.

29 minutes with the NW last to fall. Very much a fauna and flora feel to this one. Liked FLAGSTAFF – even learned a new type of iris.

I took the first part of the clue to 25d to be a reference to a part of the human anatomy, as in the theatrical expression “bums on seats”, rather than to a homeless person.

10:15 for me – one of those puzzles where I felt slightly annoyed with myself for not breaking 10 minutes.

I couldn’t decide whether 25dn referred to “bums on seats” or a homeless person. Perhaps the setter reckoned either interpretation would do.

Commiserations on your Coventry <-> Brentford commute. It sounds even worse than my Ealing <-> Bracknell commute, and, heaven knows, that was bad enough. I used to catch the 6:10 bus from Ealing Broadway so as to be in time for the 6:40 train from Richmond. This meant I was early enough to avoid the horrible kids who got on at Sunningdale to go to school in Bracknell (not I imagine where Sunningdale parents would really have wanted their children to go to school). I usually had a zizz once the train left Richmond, but I was always awake well before Sunningdale when I started the crossword, giving me a couple of stops (or three in later years when they opened a new station between Ascot and Bracknell – they must have realised I needed more time as I grew older) to finish it.

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