Saturday Times 25418 (9th March)

Posted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 16:16, figuring-out-all-the-wordplay time much longer! This was a really good puzzle, not too tricky but a few answers went in without full understanding. The setter hit a purple patch in the Downs, with 7 and 12 standing out for me.

Across
1 DOOLALLY – DALLY (dwadle) around LOO (smallest room) reversed. Apparently a corruption of Deolali, an Indian town. The expression my parents used to use was “doolally tap”.
5 SALAAM – MA (mother) + ALAS (unfortunately), all reversed.
10 PUNCTUATION MARK – (amount in cut)* inside PARK (put in place).
11 SUPERSONIC – U PERSON (posh type) inside SIC (so).
13 PHEW – P(astries) + HEW (chop).
15 TROCHEE – OCHE (darts mark) inside TRE(e) (wood, not quite).
17 HISTORY – HIS (man’s) + TORY (right).
18 GRIEVED – EVE (girl) inside GRID (crossword).
19 DIARIST – AID (help) reversed + (w)RIST (joint, without the W for wife). Anne Frank, famous for her Diary of a Young Girl.
21 SPAN – SPAIN without the I.
22 HORSEWOMAN – (who’s on mare)*
25 RUSSIAN ROULETTE – cryptic definition.
27 CANINE – (in)C(isors) + A + NINE (square).
28 INTERNET – In + TERN (flier) + ET (and in French).

Down
1 DEPOSIT – IS reversed inside DEPOT (warehouse).
2 OWN – SOWN (broadcast), minus the first letter.
3 AFTERSHAVE – AFTERS (pudding) + HAVE (eat).
4 LLANO – ON (switch) + ALL (everything), all reversed. It seems to me that putting the reversal indicator “over” in the middle like that means it only applies to one or the other, not both. [ Edit: of course, as Jack points out, with “switch” as the reversal indicator and “over” defining ON, it all works perfectly. ]
6 ARNO – A + R(iver) + NO. Italian river which flows through Florence.
7 ANACHRONISM – (a Cornishman)*. Cornishman Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) invented the world’s first railway locomotive in 1804. Great clue.
8 MAKE WAY – A KEW (garden centre) inside MAY (spring).
9 FINISHED – (if end is nigh)*. Very well-disguised anagram fodder, &lit.
12 PRODIGAL SON – PRO (supporting) + DIG (love) + ALSO (and) + (redemptio)N. See Luke 15:11-32. Another great &lit clue.
14 OSCAR WILDE – O(n)E (gutless individual) around SCAR (stigma) + WILD (passionate).
16 END POINT – (noted nip)*
18 GASTRIC – TRIC(e) (moment, minus the last letter) with GAS (wind) above it.
20 TANGENT – GENT (chap) with TAN (shade) above it.
23 SPOON – SOON (just around the corner) around P(ensioners). Old name for a three wood in golf.
24 FINN – hidden in “elf in Norway”. Espoo is Finland’s second largest city.
26 TON – “down then?” implies NOT up. Great clue for a tiddler.

8 comments on “Saturday Times 25418 (9th March)”

  1. 4dn: I think ON is clued by ‘over’ and ‘switch’ is the reversal indicator.

    An excellent, if not particularly hard Saturday puzzle that I completed in 32 minutes. I failed to parse 12dn and 26dn, so thanks for explaining them, and I never got round to looking up Trevithick at 7dn. My first thought for ET at 28 was Latin!

    Edited at 2013-03-16 08:09 am (UTC)

    1. The benefits of a classical education, Jack! Of course Latin works too in this case. As for 4dn, I couldn’t see past my original thought of switch=ON.
  2. This parable was the (non-Mothering Sunday) lectionary reading for Sunday 10th. Perhaps the setter is a man of the cloth.
    Loved anachronism.
    Geoffrey
  3. Jack encouraged me to try this puzzle and I’m very glad that he did – thanks Jack, it was worth it for 12D on its own closely followed by 7D (its not often that RT gets a mention because he is overshadowed by Stevenson’s Rocket)

    The puzzle demonstrates that degree of difficulty is not the sole criterion. Many of these clues are beautifully crafted so that you setter as well.

    1. Hi jimbo. While I was in the UK last autumn I had a long chat with a Cornishman (not *) from Hayle about Trevithick and his contribution to the mining industry. This chap was especially proud of RT’s association with the old Harvey & Co. engineering works in the town and the peerless beam engines they produced. It was a side of Cornwall I hadn’t really thought about before – its role as a centre of engineering excellence.
      1. Hi Sotira. That period of UK history (say 1750 to 1900) is quite remarkable with the Brunels (father and son) Stevenson, McAdam, Bazelgette, one can go on and on. Almost every part of the country became a centre of engineering excellence and these guys exported their skills (Trevithick was associated with South America)

        Interestingly almost exactly 200 years later in 1950 the second “industrial revolution” started as computers moved out of the scientific-military worlds and into commerce and industry. We are still part of that revolution of course and it will be a while before one can gain the same perspective of this one as is now possible for the first one

  4. 22:05 .. don’t remember the solving experience but I had to pop in to add another endorsement for ANACHRONISM – memorable anagram and a lovely image to demonstrate the meaning. Thank you, setter, for that one.
  5. 34′, very fast for me for a Saturday. A couple of barely remembered words, DOOLALLY and OCHE, somehow found their way to consciousness, but I’m afraid I didn’t know of Trevithick, and wasn’t sure about Eurostar either. But it was enough to spot the anagrist. Now that I understand the wordplay, I’ll join in the chorus of praise for the clue. I also hadn’t parsed PUNCTUATION MARK & PRODIGAL SON (I wondered what was cryptic about the clue), so thanks, Linxit, for the enlightenment.

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