Saturday Times 25245 (18th August)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 15:03 – average time for a pretty average Saturday puzzle. One unknown for me at 10D, and I’d dispute the definition at 25A, nothing much else to add. COD to 3A for the apt surface reading.

Across
1 CHEF – CHIEF (boss) “heartless”, i.e. without the middle letter. Sneaky bit of French in there. Surely the guy who makes the sauce is the one who gets paid to be shouted at by the chef! Maybe I watch too many cookery programmes.
3 SKYSCRAPER – SCRAP (junk) inside SKYE (island) + R(iver). Probably more so than New York, looking at this picture!
9 ABETTER – A(nswer) + BETTER (more sensibly).
11 ECSTASY – C(aught) + ST (way) inside EASY (soft). Unusual to see it in full in a crossword.
12 PORTRAYAL – PORT (drink) + RAY, AL (small boys).
13 AGILE – I + L(eft) inside AGE (time). I’m in an agile team now. Seems a bit of a misnomer for a bunch of overweight blokes who spend all day sitting in front of a computer 😉
14 OUTMANOEUVRE – OUT (old-fashioned) + MAN (guy) + OEUVRE (work).
18 CONCATENATED – (attendance)* after CO (company).
21 ACT UP – ACT (pretence) + UP (in court).
22 EPISCOPAL – EPIC around S(aint) + OPAL (a gem).
24 WING NUT – NUT (head) next to WING (fly). As someone on the forum pointed out, it doesn’t necessarily turn easily! Sometimes a squirt of WD40 and a pair of pliers is required.
25 BERNINI – BERN (capital of Switzerland) + IN (fashionable) + I (one). I’d say he was known as a sculptor rather than as a painter.
26 GLASSPAPER – (grapples,a,s)*, the s being the last letter of process.
27 AGUE – VAGUE without the V (not very).

Down
1 CHAMPION – CAMPION (Edmund Campion, a 16th century Catholic martyr) around H(earts).
2 EXECRATE – CRATE (heap, i.e. an old car) underneath EXE (river).
4 KERRY – SKERRY (rocky island) without the S (son missing). Double definition too, as it’s an Irish county and a girl’s name.
5 SHELL SUIT – SHELL (case) + SUIT(case).
6 RESTAURANT CAR – (a carer’s turn at)*
7 PRATIE – PIE (baked dish) around TAR reversed (salt upset). Chambers calls it “an Anglo-Irish form of potato“.
8 RHYMER – HYM(n) (unfinished paean) inside R (rex or regina) and ER (the Queen).
10 TOREADOR PANTS – TO READ (study) O.R. (other ranks = men) + PANTS (rubbish). I’m not very good with women’s clothes, but these appear to be tight-fitting trousers that go down to just below the knee.
15 ORCHESTRA – (choirmaster)* without M or I (not married one).
16 STOPPING – S(econd) + TOPPING (execution).
17 ADELAIDE – A(rea) + “delayed”. Australian city named after William IV’s wife.
19 EARWIG – EG around (D)ARWI(n).
20 STANZA – ST (good man) + ANZA(c) (WW1 soldier cut down).
23 IMBUE – I’M BLUE (my unhappy profession) without the L (learner to leave).

7 comments on “Saturday Times 25245 (18th August)”

  2. Had to cheat to get T Pants, ‘though ‘toreador’ was one of my possibles. Many of those artist chaps were so talented that they could excel in more than one genre; viz. JMW Turner, who was a fine etcher as well as painter.

    Ulaca in W-s-M

  3. Nothing much to say about this but I wouldn’t like linxit to think that his excellent blog goes unread. About 45 minutes.
  4. 42′, a quickie for me for a Saturday. LOI PRATIE, which I’d never heard of, and only put in when forced to. Also DK 5d, 26ac, or ‘skerry’ (and evidently my autocorrect doesn’t know it either). I think it was only because we’d recently had campion the plant that I remembered Campion the martyr. COD to IMBUE.
  5. A slow but steady and rewarding solve taking just over the hour. I didn’t know the pants or the martyr but solved both from wordplay. Unfortunately I didn’t pay enough attention to wordplay at 25ac and I invented the painter BERLINI.

    My Visa statement arrived today and I noticed the Times have helped themselves to £35 to which they have no entitlement whatsoever, so check your payments carefully folks!

  7. Managed this in about half an hour without aids, but checked TOREADOR PANTS and CAMPION afterwards… lived in Dublin for years so pratie and skerry were easy peasy. Not the most memorable of Saturday puzzles, which usually entertain me on Sunday mornings.

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