Saturday Times 25484 (25th May) – Times for The Times

Solving time 17:03, not much harder than the previous few weeks but I slowed myself down by putting in APOSTATE at 16dn without bothering to read the whole clue, which made 28 (one of the trickiest to parse) difficult. 11ac looks like it might have been a victim of editorial indecision – “a horse” or “another animal” might have been ok, but “another horse” is a bit iffy. Edit: no it isn’t – as Jack points out, it refers back to “gelding”. Objection withdrawn!

Across
1	CHARWOMAN – CHAIRWOMAN (executive) without the I.
6	ANWAR – A(ssess) + N(orthern) + WAR (battle). First name of the former Egyptian president.
9	CARET – CART (farm vehicle) around E(nergy).
10	NORTHERLY – N(ew) + ORLY (airport) around [ R(ex) next to THE ].
11	ANAGRAM – RAM (animal) following A NAG (a horse – why another?), gelding/niggled being an example of one.
12	AUDIBLE – AU (gold) + DIB (fish) + L(ak)E. My first thought was that a serious spelling cock-up had been made, with DAB as the fish! I decided to trust the setter though, and checked DIB later.
13	OUT FOR THE COUNT – OUT FOR (hunting), THE COUNT (nobleman).
17	ALL OVER THE SHOP – (has to help)* around LOVER (flame).
21	SKIPPER – KIPPER (one in doze) after S(ucceeded).
23	PEACHES – P.E. (exercise) + ACHES (is painful).
25	HAG-RIDDEN – double definition.
26	INDIA – A1 (excellent) + D(aughters) reversed, next to IN (home).
27	ROOST – ROOS (Aussie bouncers) + T(error).
28	MOMENTARY – OMEN (sign) next to M(otorway) + TA (appreciated) + alternate letters of army.

Down
1	CACHALOT – CATCH A LOT (trap a good few) minus the middle letter (or minus H for heart). French word for a sperm whale.
2	AORTA – (m)OR(e) + T(ons), inside A(rea) A(rea).
3	WATER POLO – W(omen’s) + (pelota or)*. Beware the obvious red herring in this clue!
4	MANUMIT – M(inutes) + [ I’M inside TUNA (fish), all reversed) ].
5	NARRATE – (Coleridg)E + TAR (sailor) + RAN (hurried), all reversed.
6	APHID – [ H(usband) under P(ressure) ] inside AID (help). Which reminds me I have an infestation on my roses. I’ll be getting out the Bug Gun later!
7	WORKBENCH – WORK (manipulate) + BENCH (judges and magistrates).
8	RHYMES – ME inside RHYS (Jean, the author – Wide Sargasso Sea, a prequel to Jane Eyre, being her most well-known work).
14	TALKING-TO – L(earner) inside TAKING TO (getting to like).
15	OPERATION – O(ld) + PE(ople) + RATION (helping).
16	APOSTASY – [ S(econd) + Y(ear) ] after AA (Alcoholics Anonymous, sober group) around POST (situation).
18	EARLDOM – [ M(ark) next to L(iberal) + DO (party) ], after EAR (consideration).
19	TOPONYM – TOM (Uncle in Stowe) around PONY (small horse). Shetland (pony) is an example.
20	ESTHER – S(ociety) inside ETHER (Heaven). 17th book of the Old Testament, although there’s also some in the Apocrypha.
22	PAINT – I inside PANT (long).
24	HYDRA – hidden in “filthy drain”.

7 comments on “Saturday Times 25484 (25th May)”

Only just crept in under the hour on this, and even then with one wrong at 8dn where I went for RHYMER (verses from me) making double use of ME inside a writer I never heard of so settled for Jean RHYR.

Also didn’t know CACHALOT or MANUMIT so they slowed me down too.

I don’t have a problem with with 11 as I take ‘another’ to refer back to the gelding at the start of the clue.

Edited at 2013-06-01 08:31 am (UTC)

22:08 for me, much of that staring blankly at 1dn, which I’ve never heard of. I got it eventually, but was quite surprised to find it was a word.

Thought this was quite straightforward though I hadn’t heard of MANUMIT. I knew CACHALOT from a cruise on a boat named after the Spanish equivalent (Cachalote).

I took 14 minutes to solve all bar 10a which I stared and muttered at for an age, the penny finally dropping after another 9 minutes had elapsed. Hopeless – me, not the clue!

36 minutes with the last 9 on 3 in the NW – 1d, 9a and my less in 11a. Helped by getting the long acrosses quickly.

Very enjoyable. My only query was AUDIBLE because I’ve never heard of a fish called a DIB. Like the blogger, I suspected a spelling mistake! I had only 2 left after 30 minutes but it took me another 7 minutes to get the MANUMIT/NORTHERLY crossing. M***M*T is a very odd arrangement of letters, easily found by any crossword aid. I’m pleased to have resisted the temptation… Ann

I had a real struggle to finish this and came in at over the hour eventually. Had it not been a bank holiday the towel would have been well in view long before. Oddly enough I had no problem with MANUMIT thanks to Ben Jonson and watching my sons production of The Alchemist in Liverpool. Epicure Mammon at one point says Lungs I will MANUMIT thee. I had never heard of the word before or since until now!

Comments are closed.