Saturday Times 25089 (18th Feb)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 28:41, which seems pretty quick now, looking at the times posted on the forum! Only a minute or so behind Pete Biddlecombe will do me. There were hints last week that this was a cracker, so I made time on Sunday rather than attempting it bleary-eyed on the Monday morning commute, and I’m glad I did so. Even the little 3-letter fillers had tricky clues, with 11A my last in. A couple I’m struggling to fully explain too (16D & 17A), but I’m sure help will be at hand.

Across
1 PUTSCH – PUTS (places) + (e)CH(o). German word for a military coup.
4 ABROGATE – (to grab a)* + E (pill).
10 PIE IN THE SKY – PIE (shepherd’s – note the ‘?’ at the end of the clue to justify the DBE) + IN THE SKY (fired up).
11 NOB – O (round) inside last letters of paiN, numB.
12 LASSOER – LASS (female) + O’ER (poet’s “finished”).
14 ANOTHER – A(nswer) + NOT HER (his).
15 CHIEF CONSTABLE – CHIEF (arch) + CONSTABLE (painting). Busy is Scottish slang for a policeman.
17 ON ONE’S DOORSTEP – I can’t quite work this out. Definition is “To hand”, then it’s ON (over) + ONE’S (service?) + DO (make) + ORSTEP (fresh poster). So how does “service” give us ONE’S??? Edit: O (over) + NONES (service). I really should have got that! Thanks, Kevin.
21 SELL-OFF – FOLL(i)ES (ornamental buildings, minus the I) reversed + F(ollowing).
22 IN ORDER – hidden in “minor derailment”.
23 TAT – TAT(i), the old director being Jacques Tati (1907-82). He appeared as an actor in another recent puzzle too.
24 OLIGARCHIES – (lie chairs go)*
26 KEEP STEP – EPSTE(in) (sculptor without the IN) inside KEP(i) (miltary cap, mainly).
27 X-RAYED – X-RATED (adult) with the T (smuT finally) replaced with a Y for yen.

Down
1 POPULACE – LACE (cord) underneath POP-U(p) (window displaying ad, cut).
2 TOE – sounds like “tow”.
3 CONE OFF – C(arbon) + ONE-OFF (something unique).
5 BUSMAN’S HOLIDAY – cryptic definition.
6 OXYMORA – OX (steer) + (mayor)*.
7 ANNIHILATED – ANN (girl) + I, then IL(l) (endlessly indisposed) inside HATED (couldn’t stand).
8 EMBARK – (j)ERK (Yank wanting first) around MBA (business degree).
9 CHARIOTS OF FIRE – CHAR (woman who does) + IOT(a)S (very small parts lacking a) + OFF (high) + IRE (passion). First one in – film (8,2,4) was enough, although I did also see it started with CHAR…
13 SKINNY LATTE – (tank in style)*. Not the most likely-looking anagram fodder, so this one needed most of the checkers before I got it.
16 APPRISED – another one I can’t quite see: Definition “informed”, A (article) + PaPeR + “IS ED” (runs one?) Edit: Yes, “runs one” (a paper, that is) = IS ED. Thanks to Jack for pointing out the obvious to me! What was I thinking?
18 NEOCONS – (one)* + CONS (does).
19 REOCCUR – RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary, renamed in 2001, hence “old”) + CO(v)ER (shield, very neglected), all reversed.
20 TSK TSK – T(u)SK twice, without the 2nd letter. Not in Chambers or Collins, but I found it in the 2-volume Shorter OED.
25 IVY – IV (Roman 4, a square) + (predator)Y.

14 comments on “Saturday Times 25089 (18th Feb)”

  1. over=O, service=NONES, is what I got–just now. DNF, though; never got 1d or 12ac, after well over an hour and a half.
  2. 2 hours with substantial resort to aids after an hour. Puzzles like this make me want to give up so I’d rather they were published as Club Monthlies where I wouldn’t even bother to try solving them.

    You seem to have answered your own query re 16dn, Andy but just in case: IS ED = ‘runs one’ i.e. the paper previously mentioned.

  3. A torment and a delight. But couldn’t see reoccur at the end and wrote in riotcar as an old police shield – who knows? A marvellous time set by our blogger. Mine was about 90 minutes on and off, or forever with the error. Disappointed in the plural oxymora since I once had a furious argument with a bright pupil who knew the second part came from the Greek neuter moron, plural mora, meaning stupid; I asked him if he’d refer to teachers such as myself as mora or morons. But it seems he was (doubly) right.
  4. I’m at the opposite end of the spectrum from Jack on this. I wish every Saturday puzzle was like this one. A marvellous challenge that demanded maximum effort, technique and the benefits of experience. When I finished after 40 minutes I had a real sense of achievement. Many thanks to the setter.
  5. I’m with jack on this. 2 hours plus aids for the last three. As a middling handicapper I really don’t want my confidence destroyed by being forced round Carnoustie in 100 plus.
    1. Glad I’m not alone. There are plenty of really challenging puzzles out there for those that want that level difficulty.

      The final straw here was my last in, 18dn, which even the on-line solvers couldn’t crack with all the correct checkers in place. They only offered NIOBOUS.

      But even that wasn’t the final straw for last weekend’s crossword solving. That was still to come on Sunday.

      1. >…
        >There are plenty of really challenging puzzles out
        >there for those that want that level difficulty.

        Where?

        The thing about this puzzle is that it was a 15×15 with answers that should be in most Times readers’ vocabulary (with the possible exception of OXYMORA – but those familiar with the plural of TETRAHEDRON presumably wouldn’t have had too much difficulty with that). The difficulty came from the ingenuity of the clues, which (unless things have changed since I was a member) is quite different from the Club Monthly puzzle which almost always seemed to have easy clues with rarefied answers.

  6. 25:58 here for a hugely enjoyable puzzle, suitable for a Championship final. My compliments to the setter.

    Actually I agree with both dorsetjimbo and jackkt. I wish every Saturday puzzle was like this; but on the other hand I can see that if it takes me (and PeterBiddlecombe!?) over 25 minutes – and, like Andy, I avoided tackling this when I was tired – then even some quite experienced solvers are probably going to find it hard going, and casual solvers are likely to find it beyond them.

    Perhaps once a month (on the first Saturday of the month, say) would be a reasonable compromise?

  7. I heeded the warnings that this was a particularly tricky puzzle and wasn’t expecting a quick solve. It turned out to be a leisurely stagger but I got there in the end. I knew all the vocab, including the service at 17a, but didn’t get the OER of LASSOER. I probably would have seen it eventually but by then the answer was obvious. My longest delay was 20d where I was trying to justify TUK TUK by removing the S instead of the U from TUSK. But I failed to make the conection between a means of transport and a sound of disapproval, so rather hesitantly put in the correct answer. 79 minutes
  8. I thought this was a very good puzzle, which 17ac demonstrates in microcosm. Although I was quickly onto the ‘at hand’ meaning, and although the enumeration was very helpful, it still proved elusive. The only (relatively) weak clue for me was 16dn, which was too contrived for my taste, even though I was able to parse it. 4 was a good anagram, but my COD goes to X-RAYED, regardless of the enumeration which makes it much easier than it would be in a Mephisto. 84 minutes. And I have to say, in my opinion, nothing like a Club Monthly.
  9. I love puzzles like this! Took about an hour, 50% more than normal, but just brilliant.

    And I finished it completely and parsed everything correctly; as often as not I have 2 or 3 empty spaces in the daily puzzle.

    Isla

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