Saturday Times 25544 (3rd August)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 12:55, helped a lot by getting three of the four perimeter clues quickly. Some tricky wordplay in parts (I didn’t work out how 4D worked until I started writing it up this morning), but generally on the easy side for a Saturday.

Across
1 GOODBYE MR CHIPS – double definition. The book by James Hilton was also filmed a couple of times in 1939 and 1969. I think I remember seeing the black & white version with Robert Donat as Mr Chips. Anyway, this went straight in, almost before the ink was dry on my printout.
9 DIABLERIE – DIE (fail) around I (one), ABLER (fitter).
10 RABBI – R(ight) + BB (books) inside A1 (excellent).
11 OLIVE – LIVE (survive) next to O (nothing).
12 DRUGSTORE – D(aughter), TORE (hurried) around RUGS (carpets).
13 NON-STICK – N(ew) + ON STICK (with thin handle).
15 MOTHER – OTHER (alien) next to M(an).
17 OUTFIT – double definition, the first as “OUT FIT”.
19 OBSERVES – double definition, the first referring to membership of the Royal Observer Corps. Should be past tense – they were disbanded in 1995.
22 NECTARINE – (entire can)*
23 GATED – DE-TAG (remove electronic device) reversed.
24 RUBLE – RUMBLE (suss out) minus the M for millions. I’d normally spell this with an O in it, but I was aware of the alternative.
25 INTENTION – INATTENTION (failure to concentrate) minus AT.
26 EXPERIMENTALLY – (meal inexpertly)*

Down
1 GOD’S OWN COUNTRY – “GOD-SOWN COUNTRY”
2 OVATION – INNOVATION (new feature) minus INN (pub).
3 BELLE – BELL (audible signal) + (satellit)E.
4 EURYDICE – DICE (cut up) after JURY (panel), with the first letter replaced by E(nglish). In Greek mythology, Eurydice was the wife of Orpheus.
5 RUEFUL – i.e. full of rue.
6 HOROSCOPE – sounds like “horror” (shock) + SCOPE (opportunity).
7 PIBROCH – first letters of “play in bar, receiving” + OCH (exclamation from Scotsman).
8 VICE-PRESIDENCY – VICE (grip) + P(ower) + RESIDENCY (administrative district).
14 TAIWANESE – (as we eat in)*
16 ABSENTEE – A BEE (busy type) around SENT (made to go).
18 TUCK BOX – cryptic definition, ref. Friar Tuck from the Robin Hood legend.
20 VITRIOL – TRIO (three people) + L(eft), under V1 (bomb).
21 BIKINI – BIKIN(g) + I (one). Definition refers to the atoll, not the skimpy swimwear named after it.
23 GENET – hidden in “huge netting”.

5 comments on “Saturday Times 25544 (3rd August)”

  1. I can’t say I found this at all easy but I suspect spotting 1ac early in the proceedings would have made a huge difference. As things turned out it was my my fourth from last in.

    Other obstacles were not knowing DIABLERIE or the alternative spelling, RUBLE, so I had very few checkers to help me to 1dn

    I don’t think I’d agree about the tense in 19ac because it’s perfectly possible to act in the present like the royal corps did in the past.

    Edited at 2013-08-10 08:53 am (UTC)

  2. No time recorded but I recall that I didn’t find it that easy either, despite getting 1ac immediately. At 19ac I had never heard of the Royal Observer Corps, and I didn’t see the wordplay for INTENTION and OVATION, so thanks for the explanations.
  3. Found this quite tough, with DIABLERIE and PIBROCH unknowns, though I now see that DIABLERIE cropped up about a year ago so I’ll reassign it to the “forgotten” category.

    14D brought back memories of a long argument with (mainland) Chinese immigration a few years ago when they attempted to confiscate my Rough Guide to China – the lack of a chapter on Taiwan apparently indicated some kind of anti-Chinese, pro-Taiwanese independence viewpoint.

    COD to 26A

  4. Andy’s time is outstanding. This took me 99 minutes though with only two unknowns, PIBROCH and DIABLERIE. I was held up badly by not getting the 1s. If this had been a barred-gridder, where they don’t enumerate, I may never have finished. COD to Eurydice.
  5. Slow and painful, but solved at long last. LOI OVATION; couldn’t get ‘opinion’ out of my mind for some reason. DNK the Corps, but luckily didn’t need to. ‘Knew’–in the sense that the words were tucked away somewhere in memory –PIBROCH & DIABLERIE, but couldn’t have told you what either meant, and probably would have denied that diablerie was ‘reckless charm’. As someone who spells RUBLE that way (I assume it’s the standard US spelling), I was not prepared to find it so spelled here, which caused some delay in solving. COD to INTENTION, with its lovely surface, with 9ac and 4d close behind.

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