Saturday Times 25508 (22nd June)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 22:04, a bit slow for me but I solved it on the train after a long day at work and I was having trouble staying awake! Lots of good clues here; I particularly liked 9dn and 24dn, also the anagram at 25ac and the lift-and-separate in 11ac.

Across
1 BOGEYMAN – (may be no G)*
5 HOT TUB – OT (books) + T(ime) inside HUB (activity centre).
10 THE CAT’S WHISKERS – cryptic definition, but why “at least four”? [ See paul_in_london‘s comment for the answer to that!]
11 BACKGAMMON – K (several hundred) + CAB (taxi) reversed (to West), + GAMMON (ham).
13 STYE – STYLE (class) without the L (learner = pupil).
15 NOTELET – TELETHON (extended charity programme) without H for hospital, reversed.
17 HAWORTH – HATH (has, old-fashioned) around W(ith), OR (gold). Haworth Parsonage was the home of the Brontë sisters, who originally used the pseudonyms Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell.
18 MASONIC – MA, SON (family members) + IC (in charge).
19 OVERDID – DR (Strangelove say) reversed in (video)*
21 LURE – RULE (custom) with the R & L swapping positions.
22 LOOK LIVELY – LOVELY (fair) around OK (green light) + L(arge) + I (one).
25 REPUBLICAN PARTY – (appreciably turn)*
27 NEEDLE – double definition.
28 HEREFORD – HERE (take this) + FORD (cross). I’ve been there to see the Mappa Mundi, a world map drawn in 1285.

Down
1 BATH BUN – BUN(g) (pared down plug) underneath BATH (where washer goes).
2 GEE – last letters of “losing the game“.
3 YLANG-YLANG – hidden reversed in “regnal years”, repeated. An Indonesian tree that produces a fragrant essential oil.
4 ASSAM – AS SAM, i.e. Samuel Beckett (1906-89), the Irish novelist and playwright.
6 OUST – JOUST (tournament) minus the first letter.
7 TRENT BRIDGE – RT reversed + (big tender)*. A test match cricket ground in Nottinghamshire.
8 BESEECH – BE (live) + SPEECH (address) minus the P for pressure.
9 CHOO-CHOO – CO (firm) around HOOCH (bootleg stuff) + O (disk).
12 CATASTROPHE – (phase, R, to act)*, the R as the last letter of Lear. An &lit, as there’s no other definition (and pretty much everybody dies at the end of King Lear).
14 SWEETIE-PIE – SWEET (pudding) + I.E. (that is) twice around P (piano, soft).
16 TECTONIC – TEC (investigator) + TONIC (shot in the arm).
18 MILK RUN – MILK (exploit) + RUN (ladder, in stockings).
20 DRY-EYED – RYE (grain) inside DYED (changed colour of).
23 KNAVE – cryptic definition.
24 ABEL – double definition: ABE L(incoln), victim of John W(ilkes) B(ooth); son of Adam.
26 ROO – M(arks) missing at the end of ROOM (space).

10 comments on “Saturday Times 25508 (22nd June)”

  1. Found this much tougher than you did and didn’t particularly enjoy it. Didn’t know MILK RUN or the Bell connection to the Brontes or that a NEEDLE is a clock component, and CATASTROPHE had to come from the wordplay because my knowledge of King Lear is purely the names of his daughters (learned from crosswords, of course).

    ABEL doesn’t really work for me. Leaving aside the merits of Adamson as a definition, I would have thought the clue should reference Jack W B or some other diminutive of John.

    As for 10A, my feeble attempt at parsing is that if you have CATS plural then you must have at least 2 of them, ditto WHISKERS, and since both are whipping implements (cat-o’-nine-tails and whisk for whipping cream, say, respectively) then you must have at least 4 of them. Wouldn’t put any money on this being right, though.

  2. Not overjoyed with this one although there is some very good stuff in it. Main gripes are the unsatisfactory definitions at 1dn and 12dn and the mysterious “at least four” at 10. I wondered if four is the minimum requirement for cat’s whiskers to do their job of registering adequate clearance through confined spaces, two at the top and one either side but it seems a bit tenuous and quite frankly rather stupid if it really is the idea. Whilst I’m at it I think 24’s rubbish too.

    Edited at 2013-06-29 11:02 am (UTC)

    1. I read it that one cat and one whisker would be two whips; plural cats and plural whiskers must total at least four. Agree otherwise, particularly being American and not knowing a Bath Bun.

      Edited at 2013-06-29 11:43 am (UTC)

        1. You’re thinking too literally. There’s no apostrophe in the wordplay, only in the answer.
  3. An hour for all bar 3d and gave up on that after scratching my head for a few minutes. As fate would have it, a friend returned from Bali on the Monday following and gave me some soap scented with, you’ve guessed it, ylang-ylang…
  4. I’d be grateful for enlightenment on 23d . A knave could part of the suit of diamonds but how does “yet he may be” work and why is may in italics? Thanks
    1. Because “diamond geezer” is slang for a nice bloke, and a knave isn’t one of those. May wasn’t in italics in the online version, but I wouldn’t have had a problem with it.
  5. I don’t do the Saturday puzzle every week but I happened to do this one and rather wished I hadn’t

    I found it irritating with 24D – drivel in my opinion – the most irritating of several irritants.

    Compare this with yesterday’s puzzle – which one would you consider the best option for a leisurely weekend solve?

  6. 14m, but with HOWARTH. I’m irritated with myself because I have made exactly the same error in the past.
    I agree with Jimbo that a puzzle like this would be rather better during the week, and one like yesterday’s (which I’ve only just finished) on a Saturday.

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