Saturday Times 25586 (21st Sept)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 19:22, but I wasn’t on great form at the time so it probably wasn’t as hard as that indicates. I didn’t notice it while solving, but there’s an error in 8dn, with the cryptic not accounting for the second S (unless I’ve missed something). [ Edit: I missed something – see below. ]

Across
1 SATIRIST – IRIS (bloomer) next to SAT (day), then T(roubles).
5 ODESSA – alternate letters of “good feasts” + A.
10 MACEDONIA – MACE (club) + DON (put on), + A1 (first class) reversed.
11 STRIP – double definition.
12 BASS – BRASS (money) without the R.
13 PETRIFIED – PET (animal), + I.E. (that is) behind FIR (tree) reversed, + D(itch).
15 ALLEGIANCE – E.G. (such as) inside ALLIANCE (union).
17 ZEUS – US (America) after ZE (a foreign pronunciation of “the”).
19 ACHE – ACE (one) around H(ospital), &lit.
20 HONEYEATER – ONE (individual) + Y(en) inside HEATER (warmer). A genus of birds common in Australia.
22 HEBRIDEAN – HE (chap) + BAN(g) (brief report) around RIDE (journey).
24 GITE – IT (just the thing) inside (A)GE(n).
26 NIXON – double definition – Richard Nixon and “NIX ON”, ref the guy from the Hans Christian Andersen story The Emperor’s New Clothes.
27 LOCKED OUT – LOCKE (philosopher) + DO (party) + (b)UT.
28 RISING – IS inside RING (group operating illegally).
29 ROUNDS ON – ROUND (plump) + SON (boy).

Down
1 SAME – hidden reversed in “Housemaster”.
2 TICK ALL THE BOXES – double definition, the second a bit tongue-in-cheek.
3 REDESIGN – (denigrates)* without A and T (tips from ArchitecT).
4 SUNUP – cryptic indication for NUS (students’ union) = SUN UP, definition “First thing for Harvard”, just indicates the Americanism.
6 DUSTIN – DUST (clean) + IN (home).
7 SERVICE STATIONS – (visitors can’t see)*.
8 ASPIDISTRA – (P(oison), dart is I)* + A, which almost works but doesn’t account for the 2nd S. Oops. [ Edit: oops indeed, but on my part, not the setter’s. It’s ASP (source of poison) + (dart is I)*. Thanks nangle177. ]
9 PASTICHE – PAST (finished) + CHE (revolutionary), around I.
14 MARATHONER – (another)* inside MAR (month). What a horrible clumsy-looking word.
16 ABOVE ALL – A BO(w)L around VEAL (meat).
18 PEA GREEN – AGREE (fit) inside PEN (felt-tip perhaps). My LOI, and I was almost tempted by SEA GREEN from the checkers until I saw how it worked.
21 FINNAN – FIN (portion of it) + NAN (bread). A type of smoked haddock.
23 NACHO – NA (not available) + CHO(p) (cut short).
25 STUN – NUT’S (Head’s) reversed.

7 comments on “Saturday Times 25586 (21st Sept)”

  2. Yes, I think it is ASP + *(DART IS I).

    About 20mins, would have been a bit quicker had I spelled 15ac right the first time. Good crossword, but my answer sheet is totally blank.. no queston marks, but no exclamation ones either!

  3. Oops, should’ve known better – they don’t make mistakes very often. Don’t know how I missed that!
  4. About 35 minutes but with an error discovered on reviewing the wordplay earlier today. I originally had DEUS at 17ac. I agree with comments re ASP at 8dn.

    I’ve seen a reference to the Emperor’s new clothes somewhere else this morning!

  5. 17 mins and I didn’t make any notes other than the time itself for the second straight week, so I must have thought it was another vanilla puzzle. I don’t recall having a problem with the parsing of ASPIDISTRA. I thought the clue for GITE was clever.
  6. 24:41, a terrific score for me on a Saturday, which I blew by making a totally unaccountable typo (‘aspidistry’) and putting in ‘pounds on’ instead of ROUNDS ON. Lots of discussion in the club forum about ZEUS
  7. As per Jerry pretty much, but without the fast time. Only thing I marked was “for Harvard” which puzzled me. So thanks for making that clear.

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