Saturday Times 25364 (5th Jan)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 12:56. First Saturday puzzle of 2013, and it’s a largely straightforward solve apart from a couple of very intricate bits of wordplay to unpick (I’m thinking of 3D and 8D).

Across
1 TUMBLEDOWN – TUM BLED (had internal haemorrhage) + OWN (admit).
6 ALTO – (a lot)*
9 JACKASS – JACKS (picking up game) around A S(mall).
10 SALFORD – hidden in “proposal for developing”.
12 DEFILEMENT – D(iamonds), then IF reversed inside ELEMENT (carbon, say).
13 ASP – ASAP (as soon as possible), minus an A.
15 EVENTS – T(ime) inside EVENS (odds).
16 SUBSIDES – SUBSIDIES (financial assistance), minus an I.
18 PARTERRE – PARTER (one leaving) + RE (Royal Engineers, army grouping).
20 TOPPLE – TOPE (drink) around PL(ace).
23 AID – AVID (keen) without the V.
24 ANY OLD IRON – ANY OLD (no particular) + IRON (club). Originally sung by Harry Champion in 1911.
26 SMACKER – double definition.
27 ATISHOO – sounds like “a tissue”.
28 NODE – NOD (agree) + (lanc)E.
29 WASHINGTON – WAN (pale), around SHIN (bone) + (got)*

Down
1 TOJO – TOO (excessively) around J(udge). Hideki Tojo, Japanese prime minister during WW2, who was hanged for war crimes in 1948.
2 MACHETE – (teach me)*
3 LEAP IN THE DARK – EA(ch) PINT HE’D inside LARK (escapade).
4 DUSTER – D(aughter) + ULSTER (coat) without the L (pounds off).
5 WASHED-UP – WAS HE DUP? (Democratic Unionist Party, one of the main political parties in Northern Ireland).
7 LEONARD – (an older)*
8 OEDIPUS REX – OED (i.e. OPENED without PEN (author)) + I (one) + PURE (absolute) + X (unknown), around S(eptember). Greek tragedy by Sophocles.
11 LOTUS POSITION – LOTS (many) + POSITION (post) around U(niversity).
14 KEEP TABS ON – “KEEP TAB, SON”.
17 GREY AREA – double definition, the first a bit cheeky.
19 RED CARD – REDCAR (racecourse) + D(erby).
21 PROPHET – PRO (for) + PET (love) around H(usband). Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam of Troy, who could see the future but was cursed to never be believed.
22 BLEACH – BEACH (play area) around L(itter).
25 SOON – SO ON (which may follow “And …”).

10 comments on “Saturday Times 25364 (5th Jan)”

  1. No major problems with this one but I came up one short (couldn’t get Parterre) and think I misspelled Atishoo as Atichoo.

    The construction of Duster mystified me so thanks Andy for explaining that one.

    Grey Area for retirement home raised a chortle! That was as good as yesterday’s Flat Cap.

  2. A straightforward solve for a Saturday (this week’s even more so!) that took me 40 minutes. I had also highlighted 3 and 8 as having very intricate wordplay but fortunately I didn’t need it to find the right answers despite having first toyed with STAB IN THE DARK at 3dn. I thought 13ac was rather good. Why are dusters traditionally yellow,I wonder?
  3. Making a rare visit here using Internet Explorer on my usual PC I have a video box showing advertisements positioned between the foot of the blog and the Comments section. Is there a control we can set to prevent this?

    I have checked the other browsers I have loaded and it occurs also in Chrome but not in Firefox, Opera or SeaMonkey.

    1. Just realised I have an add-on called Adblock running in Firefox, Opera and Sea Monkey. I’ve now installed it for IE and the adverts have gone.
  4. First one in was 10A – unfortunately with Sapporo, which also fits the clue though I suppose I should have expected some indication of it being in Japan/Asia/Far East/etc. This seemed to have been confirmed by LEONARD and it was only when it became obvious that 8D and 11D were going to need to accommodate some unlikely letter combinations that I reluctantly considered that it might be wrong.
    1. Yes, I almost mentioned that – a lot of people on the Forum admitted to Sapporo too (anagram of PROPOSA(l)), but I spotted the hidden answer immediately so it didn’t even occur to me.
  5. 23′, a Saturday pb for me. Sapporo never even occurred to me at 10ac, even though I live in Osaka (well, the suburbs of); with 7d and 8d in early, I was sure it was XFORD, though it took me quite a while, and probably 11d, to come up with the solution. I put in TOPPLE without knowing why, sure that somehow it had to be ‘tipple’ but unable, fortunately, to justify that.

    Edited at 2013-01-13 04:25 am (UTC)

  6. Alternative derivation for 4D – I was not aware of ULSTER (coat) – so I derived the answer from D(aughter) + LUSTER (coat) without the L (pounds off).
    1. Well, I briefly considered that too, but the Times would indicate an American spelling if it was used so it couldn’t be right. Still, as it leads to the right answer anyway that’s a bonus (unlike SAPPORO mentioned above, where alternative wordplay leads to the wrong answer).

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