Saturday Times 25412 (2nd March) – C-C-C-Crikey!

Posted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time – off the scale, and I made a mistake with 24ac. Probably around 45 minutes, but I’d stopped counting by then. I actually noticed the C-Nina after the first half-dozen clues went in – COCKCROW, CRAM, COCA, ACCURACY, FLICKS, ALICIA… and so it continued. 18A, 21D and 26A were the only 3 answers without a C, but luckily they had very clear wordplay and weren’t a distraction. My only real problems were 15A (I put HOIST in at first for some reason, I in (g)HOST?), which gave me a real headache with 3D, as it looked reasonable but nothing would fit. And 24A, where I basically gave up with and stuck in the only thing I could think of – I’M COLD, making it probably the worst cryptic definition in the history of the cryptic crossword! What you might “state” if you’d bought a new jumper but hadn’t put it on yet! I knew it had to be wrong but put it in anyway (even typed it in online so I could prove it was wrong), then the correct answer came to me a couple of hours later when I was thinking of something else.

Best puzzle of the year so far for me, despite my struggles with it.

Across
1 COCKCROW – COCK (haystack) + R(un) inside COW (farm animal).
5 FLICKS – F(emale) + LICK’S (light coat’s, as in a lick of paint, for example).
9 ACCURACY – CC (cubic centimetre = mini-volume) inside AU (gold), + RACY (lively and entertaining).
10 ALICIA – I (one) + CIA (spies across pond) next to A + L(ake).
12 CAESIUM CLOCK – COCK (tap) around [E (key) inside (musical)*. The UK time standard is based on one of these, which isn’t expected to gain or lose a second in 138 million years.
15 HOICK – HOCK (a German white wine) around I(sland).
16 OUTSOURCE – OUT (blooming) + SOURCE (sounds like “sauce”).
18 REPUDIATE – RE PUD I ATE. I think I’ve seen this clued similarly before, but still a fun clue.
19 DISCO – D.I’S CO (detective’s business). Get down and groove, man.
20 HOLY ALLIANCE – HE (fellow) around (in a locally)*.
24 IN CALF – cryptic definition, brilliant and too good for me!
25 OK CORRAL – hidden reversed inside “popular rock opera”.
26 EASING – AS (like) + IN (home), inside (th)E and G(rand).
27 DÉCLASSÉ – LASSE(s) after DEC (Jan’s predecessor). A French word meaning “having lost social standing”.

Down
1 CRAM – double definition.
2 COCA – first letters of “Caucasus Or Central Asia”, snow being slang for cocaine.
3 CARJACKED – CARED (bothered) around JACK (one of the clubs perhaps).
4 OCCASIONALLY – OCCASION (bring) + ALLY (friend).
6 LILAC – CALL (drop in) reversed around I (one).
7 CYCLO-CROSS – CYCLONE (huge blow) minus two compass points + CROSS (go to the other side).
8 SHACKLETON – HACK (knife roughly) + LET ON (made out), all after S(earch-party). Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic explorer.
11 CUT THE CACKLE – (take electric clutch)*
13 CHURCH MICE – punning cryptic definition, based on the saying “poor as a church mouse” and the fact that electronic mice are moved around on mats.
14 GIN PALACES – GP (General Practitioner = doctor) around IN, + A + LACE’S (tie’s).
17 OLD SCHOOL – OLD (used) + SCHOOL (train).
21 ALL-IN – GALLING (annoying), minus the G’s.
22 ARCS – SCRAP (a bit) reversed without the P for quietly.
23 CLUE – (bal)L inside CUE (something used to pot).

20 comments on “Saturday Times 25412 (2nd March) – C-C-C-Crikey!”

  1. Yes, off the scale for me too and I didn’t quite finish parsing all the clues. At 19 I thought ‘business of investigating’ might be ‘discovery’ or ‘discovering’ and I still don’t understand ‘gay’ at 14dn.

    Does the presence of a lot of Cs make it a NINA? If so, that’s something I’ve learnt.

    Testing stuff and certainly not dull!

    Edited at 2013-03-09 02:27 am (UTC)

  2. About 3 days. Fiendish and brilliant.

    CHURCH MICE will stay in the memory a long time.

    Thanks (and curses) to the setter.

    Edited at 2013-03-09 03:09 am (UTC)

  3. Found this tough. Didn’t know DECLASSE or HOLY ALLIANCE but the wordplay was clear enough. I’m guessing that “gay” in 14D has the intended meaning of bright/colourful – Chambers describes a GIN PALACE as “showily pretentious”, which isn’t quite the same for me. I also hesitated at OLD SCHOOL meaning square, as the latter tends to have a negative connotation. I don’t get the second half of the clue for 13D – what’s the justification for the word prayer (“Poor creatures that are moved around on prayer mats?”)?

    Edited at 2013-03-09 11:02 am (UTC)

    1. At about the 50 minute mark I went and had a bath which mercifully unclogged the brain on that New Jersey thing which I thought I was NEVER going to get. I spent a long time in a fog in the SE corner having put in OLD BUFFER, on the theory that a buffer might be some sort of train (shades of the Reverend Awdry). Absolutely brilliant puzzle. As a footnote, the club board was truly scandalous that day with Magoo clocking at at #57, forsooth.

      Edited at 2013-03-09 01:00 pm (UTC)

    2. Only just spotted your question about “prayer”. Isn’t a “prayer” mat simply the sort of mouse mat that you’d move a “church” mouse around on? This was one of the clues I liked (unlike the DISCO clue – regarding which: thanks for further enlightenment).
      1. Thanks – that’s the explanation I eventually settled on too but it didn’t really do it for me, as I don’t see enough of an equivalence between church and prayer to make it work. Having said that, if this had appeared in, say, an Araucaria puzzle I wouldn’t be quibbling.
  4. Agreed – hard but fair, and a real sense of achievement in getting an all correct solution
  5. I heard this was a tough puzzle and so had a go – I don’t usually bother with the Saturday ones

    What a cracking job by the setter. It took longer than the Anax puzzle that appeared the next day spread over two sessions. My only query is, like Jack, the “gay” in 14D

    Well blogged Andy – bet you’re glad you had a week to do it!

    Edited at 2013-03-09 12:07 pm (UTC)

    1. I never realised that you don’t usually bother with the Saturday puzzles, Jim, although I know it’s rare for you to comment on them here.

      I wonder why, as you frequently seem to find the weekday puzzles too easy yet Saturdays are often among the hardest of the week, or if not hardest, the most inventive – today’s being on the easy side of course, just to negate my point!

      1. It’s partly time at the weekend and I got out of the habit a while back when both the Saturday and Sunday puzzles were poorish fare. I now make the effort to do the Anax ones on Sunday but as you recommend them, I’ll have another go at the Saturday ones. Thanks.
        1. I hope you find them enjoyable. It’s a shame the weekend puzzles attract so little comment here but the inevitable delay for competition entries to be received seems to kill people’s interest.

          Edited at 2013-03-10 09:55 am (UTC)

  6. ‘Hard but very fine’ was what I wrote beside this one. IN CALF went in without too much bother thanks to a cattle market in Kirkwall I attended 25 years ago to which my brother’s father-in-law with whom I was staying had brought a number of Charolais cross in-calf heifers for sale. Around 600 pounds a head, as I remember.
  7. Just over half an hour for this, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Absolutely superb puzzle. Thank you setter.
    I’ve only ever encountered the term GIN PALACE as a reference to a type of boat, oddly.
  8. 29:56 for me, finally taking a guess with DISCO on the grounds that it was the best thing (the only thing?) I could think of that would fit.

    I’m afraid that (such is my ignorance of things disco) I still don’t understand the definition part of the clue. I was going to ask you to explain it in words of one syllable, but since you’ve already tried that, perhaps you could could have another go with something polysyllabic if it’s not too much trouble. Also the wordplay doesn’t work for me: “business of investigating?” would do for PISCO, but DIs (assuming DI stands for Detective Inspector) can’t form a Co as they work for the Police.

    There were one or two nice clues, but this was very far from being my favourite puzzle of the year.

    1. It’s using DISCO in the sense of DISCO music rather than a discotheque, with DISCO music being something you get down (i.e. dance) to, e.g. Kool and the Gang “Get down tonight” or “Get down on it”. The wordplay is as you suspected.
      1. Thanks. This is clearly a parallel universe that I’ve had no access to. Just for the record, is “get down to” = “dance to” supported by any well-known dictionary? (I can’t find it in any of mine.)
        1. It’s mentioned in the online Merriam Webster (2 meanings – i) to perform music or dance effectively and infectiously, ii) to have a good time partying), and also the online Collins American English dictionary (to relax and take part in social activity, play music, dance, etc.) So it would seem that this is an Americanism (and my definition was perhaps too narrow).
  9. I’ve only just finished this. I started it yesterday morning, put it aside after a half hour in which I’d only got a few answers. Did more last night and finally completed it this morning. I reckon it was at least 90 minutes in total – maybe even more. I stopped counting after a while – it had become too discouraging. This was the kind of puzzle where every completed clue was a minor triumph. Loi IN CALF. I actually laughed aloud when the penny finally dropped. A hard slog – but worth it. I’m now going to attempt last Sunday’s Dean Mayer puzzle for a bit of light relief! Ann
  10. Interested to see so many who didn’t get this: perhaps original meanings of ‘lively’ or ‘colourful’ need to be flagged as archaic!
  11. Finished in 38 min today – only slightly longer than average finish time 30 min (but probably 50% of time don’t finish, can’t crack the last clue before going for aids). So not too hard for me – a wavelength thing. And parsed every clue except the prayer mat – mice haven’t used mats in living memory, directly on the desk all this century.
    Last few minutes on IN CALF. Jersey flagged cows and Channel Islands immediately, but still needed to traverse the alphabet.
    For once I beat some of the fast brigade.
    Rob

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