Saturday Times 25305 (27th Oct)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 11:29, even after having only 2dn in after the first two minutes, so once I’d woken up that has to qualify as one of the easiest Saturday puzzles of the year.

As usual, hovering the mouse over the clue number will reveal the clue.

Across
1 SNATCH – alternate letters of infant inside SCH(ool).
4 ASSAULTS – sounds like “a salts”.
10 INDUSTRIOUS – IN + RIO (Brazilian location) + US (American), around DUST (powdery stuff).
11 GYM – hidden in “Podgy men”.
12 CASSATA – S(on) inside CASA (Italian for house) + TA (thanks).
14 KREMLIN – K, M (thousands) + LIN(e) (queue endlessly), around ER (queen) reversed.
15 STICKY-FINGERED – double definition.
17 PEARLS OF WISDOM – (poem’s words fail)*
21 HOUDINI – DIN (big noise) + I, after HOU(r) (45 minutes = three-quarters of an hour).
22 LATERAL – LATER (after) + AL (gangster). Definition “shoot”, as in a side branch of a plant.
23 DOT – DO (serve) + T(ime).
24 CUB REPORTER – CUE (prompt) around B(ritish) + PORTER (beer).
26 WAR BRIDE – cryptic definition. NB “trouble and strife” is Cockney rhyming slang for “wife”.
27 STEWED – STEED (horse) around W(eight).

Down
1 SUITCASE – SUIT (executive) + CA (about) + S(om)E.
2 AID – (m)AID (servant missing the first letter).
3 COSSACK – C.O. (officer) + ‘S (has) + SACK (rifle).
5 STOCKING FILLER – STOCK (store) + IN (trendy) + (girl left)*.
6 AUSTERE – AUSTER (wind from south) + E(ast).
7 LEGAL TENDER – GEL reversed (stick-up) + A + LENDER (bank, perhaps) around T(ake).
8 SIMONE – SIM (phone card, Subscriber Identification Module in full) + ONE (I).
9 BREAKFAST IN BED – reverse cryptic, “begged” (egg in bed) could be cryptically indicated by the answer.
13 SLIDE GUITAR – (is it underused Elgar)*
16 IMPLORED – I’M + PLOD (busy, both slang terms for a policeman), around RE (about).
18 RAILCAR – RAIL (rant) + CAR(p) (complain endlessly).
19 INTROIT – (trio)* around N(ew) + IT(alian).
20 SHADOW – HAD (kept) inside SOW (pig).
25 TOW – TO W(est), i.e. away from east.

4 comments on “Saturday Times 25305 (27th Oct)”

  1. Just crept in under 30 minutes. Didn’t spot the eggy business going on at 9dn but otherwise this was straightforward. I particularly liked HOUDINI.
  3. 39′, surprisingly fast for me for a Saturday, especially as I couldn’t figure out either 16d (DNK ‘plod’ and forgot ‘busy’, which I only knew from these puzzles) or 9d, which went in on checkers. It’s sheer luck that SIM was in a recent cryptic, although I would have been forced to go with SIMONE anyway.Lots of clues I liked, including 9d now that I get it, 14ac, 1d, 5d, …
  4. 9:02 for me – so not the easiest Saturday puzzle of the year for me – that was No. 25209 (7 July) – but a pleasant, straightforward solve nonetheless.

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