Saturday Times 25239 (11th August)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Tricky puzzle, 22:14 to solve. A few interesting ideas, e.g. 15ac, 29ac, 17dn; a dodgy homophone at 18ac, and requiring some knowledge of art (9dn, 24dn). Overall a very enjoyable puzzle.

Across
1 BISTRO – S(al)T inside BIRO (writer).
4 ISTANBUL – (as Byzantium, until)*
10 CHINATOWN – CHIN (projector faced) + AT (attending) + OWN (private). 1974 film starring Jack Nicholson.
11 DRIFT – double definition.
12 CAMPION – CAMP (affected) + IO (satellite, one of Jupiter’s) + (transmissio)N.
13 ACREAGE – RE (concerned with) inside CAGE (prison), behind A.
14 ASCOT – A SCOT. Doyle was born in Edinburgh.
15 THOUSAND – THOU (U – “you”, say) + S + AND. M is the definition. Full marks for originality, but the surface reading is somewhat lacking!
18 MINCE PIE – sounds like “min spy”, where min is short for minute (small-time). People who like their homophones to be exact won’t like this one.
20 ELEMI – I (one), after (perfum)E inside ELM.
23 RAVIOLI – (Worceste)R + V(ery) inside AIOLI (sauce).
25 LAMPOON – O (nothing) + ON (working), after LAMP (light).
26 SYRIA – AIRY (fresh) + S (news less new (fresh)), all reversed.
27 TINKERING – TIN (vessel) + ER (queen) inside KING (her husband).
28 OVERTURN – OVERT (open) + URN (container).
29 STREET – TREE in ST, which is how “spinet” might be treated by a setter.

Down
1 BACKCHAT – BACK (second) + CHAT (bird).
2 SEISMIC – IS inside SEMI (half), C(entury). None of my dictionaries support the definition “massive”, but I think it’s OK figuratively.
3 REALISTIC – (article)* around IS.
5 SINGAPORE SLING – SINO (Chinese) around GAP (opening), + RE(i)SLING (wine with I dropped). A cocktail of gin, cherry brandy, Benedictine and pineapple juice.
6 ADDER – MADDER (more psychotic) executed, i.e. the top removed.
7 BRITAIN – IT inside BRAIN (mind).
8 LITTER – double definition, ref. the phrase “litter lout”.
9 POINT-TO-POINTER – a racehorse that runs in point-to-point races – see this picture for an explanation of the wordplay.
16 STEAMIEST – (estimates)*
17 MIDNIGHT – G is the middle letter of “NIGHT”. As a medieval Roman numeral it’s also 400, but that’s irrelevant (I have a list of them, which occasionally comes in handy for the Listener crossword).
19 INVERSE – double definition, the second as IN VERSE.
21 EMOTIVE – (hous)E + MOTIVE (grounds).
22 PRESTO – PRES(s) (urge endlessly) + TO. As others have pointed out on the forum, why the last three words of the clue? Surely “fast to the maximum” would be prestissimo!
24 OP ART – O(ld) + PART (somewhat).

5 comments on “Saturday Times 25239 (11th August)”

  1. Mostly not too hard, though elemi known only from previous crosswords.
    However for some reason I simply could not see 13ac until days later.
    so far as 9dn is concerned you definitely have the right picture, Andy, but at the time I could only think of this one, though it did the trick!
    Agree with 22dn: the last three word simply detract.

    Edited at 2012-08-18 10:13 am (UTC)

  2. After 80 minutes I resorted to aids for the final four answers.

    I should have solved all of them really as they were not unknowns but I had become bored by then. I think this set in with the realisation that having solved 9dn I was unable to account for a single word in the clue other than “horse” (I wonder if Jimbo has an opinion on that one!) and the blatant inaccuracy of the clue to 22dn. One loses faith sometimes.

    The Oxfords have “of enormous proportions” for “seismic”, which I think justifies “massive”.

    Much preferred 25245 today.

  3. 76′. Glad to see my doubts about 22d shared here. DK point-to-point, but the Creation reference convinced me. I went for MINCE PIE mainly because of the definition, being reluctant to think that it was from ‘min spy’; alas, it was. I got 5d from a couple of checkers and unthinking instinct; it wasn’t until later that I managed to parse it. Knew the drink, but it’s only thanks to linxit that I know the contents; yet one more reason why I drink scotch.

    Edited at 2012-08-23 07:23 pm (UTC)

  4. A sluggish 15:01 for me, making heavy weather of clues like 5dn (SINGAPORE SLING) where I wanted the second word to be BLANC – I was half-aware that there was a wine whose first word began with S, but was unable to think of it. (Sigh! It’s SAUVIGNON.)

    I seem to be feeling less picky than others, as I’ve no objection to either 18ac or 22dn.

Comments are closed.