Saturday Times 25353 (22nd Dec)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 15:31, very slow to get started (I think 23ac was the first one in), but built upwards from there and soon had it done. Nothing too tricky apart from the wordplay to 9ac.

Across
1 LOGISTIC – LO (look) + IC (in command), around GIST (essence).
6 CHOOSY – COSY (comfortable) around HO (house).
9 INSUBSTANTIAL – SUB (reserve) inside INSTANT (second) + I (current) + A(ccount) + L(eft).
10 MISUSE – MISSUS (wife) without one of the S’s, + (troubl)E.
11 PROSPECT – PROSPER (get on) minus the R for rex (king), + CT (court).
13 BRAINPOWER – R.A. (artist) + IN + P (piano, quietly), all inside BOWER (shady place).
15 OATH – H(orse) next to OAT (grass).
16 STUN – NUTS (round the bend) reversed.
18 NOBLE METAL – (men to label)*. e.g. metals such as gold, platinum, iridium etc.
21 MATERIAL – MATE (pair with) + LAIR (hideaway) reversed.
22 PEARLY – EAR (attention) inside PLY (layer).
23 CONSERVATOIRE – (Rare voices not)*
25 TENNIS – SIN (wrong) + NET (overall), all reversed.
26 APOSTATE – A + POST (situation) + ATE (put away).

Down
2 OLIVIER – OLIVE (green) + R(oom) around I (one).
3 INSOUCIANCE – CIA (spies) inside (unions)*, + CE (church).
4 TABLE – B(readth) inside TALE (yarn).
5 CAT’S PAW – C(old) + (tap was)*
6 CONCOURSE – CONCURS (agrees) around O (nothing) + (debat)E.
7 OBI – GOBI (desert) minus the G for good.
8 SOLICIT – SO (very) LICIT (allowable).
12 PROLETARIAT – PT (point) around ROLE (job), + ARIA (song) + T(ime).
14 PENNILESS – PENS (enclosures) around NILE (river) + S(pades).
17 TRANCHE – TRANCE (electronic music) around H(ot).
19 BOLIVIA – LIVI(d) (endlessly wild) inside BOA (snake).
20 AILMENT – L(arge) + MEN (fellows), inside AIT (island).
22 PUTTO – PUT (set) + TO (against).
24 NUN – hidden inside “can unpack”.

4 comments on “Saturday Times 25353 (22nd Dec)”

  1. Indeed, it was all fairly straightforward and I completed in 32 minutes. My only DK was TRANCE music which I would not have expected to know anyway as it does not fall within my very wide musical tastes.
  2. Found this much easier than some recent Saturday puzzles. No major sticking points with Cat’s Paw, Logistics and Apostate among the last ones in.

    Re Misuse – liked “missus” for wife – don’t think I’ve seen that substitution before.

  3. I forgot to mark my starting time, but I think I was about 10 minutes into it before I noticed, so maybe 46′. The only time I’ve ever seen the term ‘trance music’ was ages ago in a description of Moroccan belly dance music; fortunately, TRANCHE had appeared in a recent cryptic. I stupidly threw in ‘conservatoria’ at 23ac, and it was only when I knew it had to be PROLETARIAT that I finally got around to looking at the anagrist. OBI was new to me: I only knew ‘obeah’. Where I come from, and as every NY Times puzzle-solver knows, an obi is the sash to a kimono or other Japanese garment.

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