Saturday Times 25281 (29th Sept)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
19:37 for this one. I got off to a horribly slow start, as I just couldn’t get my mind to think cryptically at first, and every clue I looked at seemed like so much gobbledygook. 17ac was my first entry, and after 10 minutes I had maybe 3 or 4 answers in, but then finally my brain flipped into crossword mode and I polished the rest of it off fairly quickly. I hope that doesn’t happen to me on the 20th!

Hover the cursor over the clue numbers to see the clues.

Across
1 ESCAPEMENT – (Can’t see MEP)*
6 SCUD – first letters of “Sportsman’s chances under duress”.
10 DHOTI – HOT (piping) inside alternate letters of DrIp. An Indian loincloth.
11 HIT SQUADS – HITS (successes) + QUADS (yards).
12 HERO-WORSHIPPER – HERR’S (German male’s) + HIPPER (trendier), around O (love) + W/O (without).
14 HANGDOG – H(eight) + AN + GOG (ancient giant) around D(aughter).
15 ATROPHY – A TROPHY (pot).
17 SET FAIR – SET (TV) + AIR (show) around F(emale).
19 PALAVER – AVER (state) to the east of PAL (China, rhyming slang: China plate = mate).
20 ACROSS-THE-BOARD – ABOARD (on vessel) around THE (article) next to CROSS (stern). I think that’s how it must work anyway, although I don’t like cross as a synonym for stern, as much as it helps the surface reading.
23 UPCOUNTRY – COUNT (reckoning) + RY (track), next to UP (hike, as a verb).
24 KETCH – SKETCH (comic’s turn), without the S for small.
25 LOOP – LOOPY (nuts), without the last letter and reversed.
27 READ MY LIPS – RE (on) + AD (commercial) + (simply)*

Down
1 EDDY – DD (Doctor of Divinity = doctor religiously) inside EY(e) (brief survey).
2 CLOSE-KNIT – INK (something in pen) reversed inside CLOSET (secret).
3 PRIMORDIAL SOUP – cryptic definition. A mixture of organic compounds from which life on earth may have first developed.
4 MAH-JONG – MAG (Spectator maybe) around (John)*. Chinese game.
5 NATASHA – A TAN (sunbather’s end) reversed, + (has)*.
7 CHAMP – double definition.
8 DESTROYERS – (store)* inside DYER’S (cloth-worker’s).
9 SQUIRREL MONKEY – SQUIRREL (hoard) + K (a thousand) inside MONEY (cash).
13 THE SEAGULL – (Hallé, guest)*. 1895 play by Anton Chekhov.
16 PAVAROTTI – PAR (expected score) around A V(ery), + OTT (over-the-top = exaggerated) + I (one). Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor.
18 RETITLE – ROLE (part) with the O (nothing) replaced by E.T. (film) + IT.
19 PIE-EYED – E(nergy) inside PIE (food) + YE’D (you’d, no longer used).
21 RECTO – RECTOR (minister) minus the last letter.
22 THUS – E (last letter of “one”) removed from THE US (America).

21 comments on “Saturday Times 25281 (29th Sept)”

  1. Half an hour, so an enjoyable challenge without being desperately difficult.

    The PRIMORDIAL SOUP de jour was very good; and it made a pleasant change to see John used anagrammatically instead of as a synonym for a lavatory. I imagine people called Jake get similarly irritated.

    Took a while to sort out the parsing of RETITLE and PIE EYED, the latter being a term I associate with my parents’ generation whereas “wasted” definitely belongs to my son’s.

  2. Pretty straightforward, this; about 20 mins.
    Where did Helen Ougham’s blog (presumably of jumbo 999) disappear to, I wonder?
  3. Jumps for joy! 29 minutes for this one, so I achieved my 30 minute target. It’s a rare occurrence these days and almost unheard of for a competition puzzle. No quibbles or gripes. The ‘dubbing’ reference at 18dn helped me with this Saturday’s puzzle.
  5. Another limper here. 64 frustrating minutes. After 10 minutes all I had was the Chekov, HIT SQUADS and a SQUIRREL without the MONKEY. (An animal I’d never heard of – but gettable from the checkers, after I’d discounted NUTKIN as the second word) Looking back at the puzzle I can’t understand why I found it so difficult. I didn’t understand 20 across, although I had the right answer. (I would never have defined CROSS as “stern”) Ditto RETITLE, although I fiddled about with ROLE I still couldn’t make it into RETITLE, which I had down as the obvious answer. Not my day. But I got a satisfied feeling of accomplishment when I finally laid down my pen. Thanks again for the blog, Linxit. I really needed it today the crack the mysteries of my lucky guesses! Ann
  6. 40′, surprisingly fast for me for a Saturday. I thought this was a beauty; I especially liked the smooth surface readings and misleading words (e.g. piping, hike, religiously). cross=stern, though, is definitely a bit much. 25ac my LOI, thrown in after desperately playing with the alphabet. Lots of COD candidates, but I’d go for 10ac (I couldn’t get puttee out of my mind) and 12ac.
    1. You have a point. I’ve no idea why I thought there was a reversal. I’ve crossed that bit out. “Going round” is the definition.
      2. Many thanks for that. (Thought I was going a bit loopy myself!) “Going round” = LOOP: how does the part of speech work?
  8. If anyone’s still reading this …. How is ‘quickly blown’ or ‘are quickly blown’ the definition of ‘scud’?

    Thanks.

    1. Here’s the dictionary definition straight out of Chambers:

      scud1 /skud/ vi (scudd’ing; scudd’ed) (esp of clouds) to sweep along easily and swiftly; (esp of sailing vessels) to drive before the wind. ♦ vt to cross swiftly. ♦ n an act or the action of scudding; driving cloud, shower or spray; a gust; a swift runner (school sl). [Perh alteration of scut rabbit’s tail, hence meaning ‘to run like a rabbit’]

      1. If anyone’s still reading this …. How is ‘quickly blown’ or ‘are quickly blown’ the definition of ‘scud’?

        Thanks.

        1. Very good point. The clue doesn’t ask for the right part of speech. “Scud” is either the present tense of the verb or a noun meaning clouds so blown.
          I wonder if anyone will respond to this, since I’m posting several days late from the States (I work the puzzle in the NYPost, and only whenever I can rustle up a copy of that right-wing rag without contributing anything to the coffers of Murdoch & Co.).

          Sandy

  9. After I had posted my question, the penny eventually dropped.
    If clouds, for example, “are quickly blown” they “scud”.
  10. Ha,i managed to complete the puzzle but had put clove-knot in 2down which amazingly not only fit,but was a plausible answer.
    1. Well, apart from the fact that there’s no such thing as a clove-knot (there’s a knot called a clove hitch, so I know what you’re getting at, but it’s not called a clove-knot), how would you account for the wordplay? Just finding something to fit the definition isn’t enough (especially if you make it up). Nice try though 🙂
      1. A clove hitch by definition is a knot so i maintain that it was plausible if not correct.

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