Saturday Times 25741 (22nd March) – blasts from the past!

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 14:25. It’s always very helpful to have the perimeter lined with 14-letter entries, and I was able to put all four in pretty quickly. Not a puzzle for youngsters though – a few of the answers are from before I was born, and I’m 50. Still, they’re all very gettable from the wordplay and by no means obscure.

Edit: There’s a Nina in this one (thanks for the tip-off, Niall). This puzzle coincided with the Listener Setters’ Dinner, and four (I think) of the entries are the names of old Listener puzzles:

1ac TAKE IT FROM HERE (Listener 3090 by Ricshaw – 28/03/1991, the appropriately-titled first Listener to appear in the Times)
14dn SARTORIAL (Listener 3112 by Hand in Glove – 24/08/1991)
1dn THE MORNING POST (Listener 3125 by Ploutos – 23/11/1991)
26ac CALLED TO THE BAR (Listener 3135 by Salamanca – 01/02/1992)

Are there any others that I’ve missed?

Across
1 TAKE IT FROM HERE – TAKE (remove) + IT (perhaps the PC element) + FROM (of) + HERE (present). A BBC Radio comedy show that ran from 1948-1960.
9 ECCENTRIC – (entire, CCC)*. Definition: Odd one.
10 RHONE – R (writing, say, as one of the “three Rs”) + hone (polish). French river over 500 miles long, so the definition (one following long course) is accurate.
11 OASIS – O (love) + AS (when) + (v)IS(a). Definition: a quiet spot.
12 LIP-READER – LIP (spout) + RE (about) + RED reversed (Russian revolution), around A. Definition: a specialist interpreter.
13 NONESUCH – (unchosen)*. Can also be spelt without the E. Definition: perfect example.
15 SALAMI – AMI (China, i.e. friend; to France, i.e. in French) next to SAL(t) (old sailor, briefly). Joining words like “by” or “on” are often used to mean “next to” without really indicating whether it should be placed in front of or behind the next bit of wordplay. It used to catch me out every time. Definition: preserved meat.
17 NO MORE – hidden reversed inside “hero monument”. Definition: dead.
19 COCKCROW – CROW (bird) after COCK (lift, e.g. to cock one’s head). Definition: when night ends.
22 PANTOMIME – TO + M(onsieur) + I’M (the writer’s) inside PANE (glass). Definition: show.
23 HOURI – HOUR (time) + I. Which leaves “passed on faithful female companion” as the somewhat cryptic but very precise definition.
24 STASI – STASH is drug store, replace the H for heroin with an I for one. Short for Staatssicherheit, or State Security, the East German secret police.
25 FREE-TO-AIR – (of RTE One are)*, & lit. Definition is the whole clue. “& lit.”, short for “and literally”, which I believe was coined by Ximenes (one of the pioneers of cryptics) to refer to this type of clue.
26 CALLED TO THE BAR – CALLED (christened) + TOT (infant) + HE (boy) + BAR (but). Slightly cryptic definition: invited to be brief.

Down
1 THE MORNING POST – sounds like “the mourning post” (not a very good job by the sound of it!). A daily newspaper which was published 1772-1937.
2 KICKS IN – “KICK SIN”. For some daft reason I originally had “KEEP SIN” for this, thinking the miscreant intended to continue his life of crime! ECCENTRIC soon put me straight though. Definition: comes into effect.
3 INNES – IN (home) + NES(t) (cosy one, unfinished). Hammond Innes (1913-98), British novelist. I’m sure I read a couple of his books back in the 80’s, but can’t remember which ones now.
4 FORELOCK – FORE (warning) + LOCK (canal section). Lovely humorous definition, “that could be for tugs?”
5 OCCUPY – CO (care of) reversed + CUP (something awarded) + Y(ears). Definition: take.
6 HORSEBACK – (broke cash)*. Definition: being taken by Arab on this?
7 RHONDDA – “ADD NO HR” all reversed. Definition: place in Wales.
8 REAR-VIEW MIRROR – REAR (seat) + (I’ve)* + W(ith) + MIRROR (paper). Definition: part of vehicle.
14 SARTORIAL – L(arge) + AIR (song) + OT (books) + RA’S (artist’s), all reversed. Another cryptic definition: for a fitting person?
16 LOVE ME DO – LOVE (duck) + O (duck) around MED (sea). A Beatles number (in fact their first single) from 1962.
18 MONTANA – ANATOM(y) reversed (body cut up) around (taxatio)N. Definition: state.
20 RHUBARB – double definition. The second is apparently what actors say repeatedly on stage to pass for indistinct background conversation.
21 MIFFED – F-FED (stuttering start for US bank) after MI (note). Definition: put out.
23 HITCH – double definition.

9 comments on “Saturday Times 25741 (22nd March) – blasts from the past!”

  1. I really enjoyed this trip down memory lane, finishing with the Beatles number that peaked at 17, if I’m not mistaken. 64 minutes, appropriately enough!
  2. 43 minutes for this very enjoyable puzzle though I was completely stumped on how 15ac worked. The Morning Post was still mentioned in the masthead of the Daily Telegraph when I first started reading it.
  3. Approximately 20 mins for this one because I didn’t time it properly. The only other note I made says that MIFFED was my LOI.
  4. Thanks, Andy. I always learn something useful about solving technique from your longer blogs. This was about an hour; was able to work TIFH, but did have to check Rhondda when I was done. Just thinking we’ve seen Monsieur (and his pal, Signore) a lot in the past couple weeks.
  5. 22:24. I was grateful that the ancient radio programme was clued fairly this time.
  6. 29 minutes. Very enjoyable. I hastily put in MORNING STAR for 1d then remembered that it isn’t an ex-newspaper (I occasionally see it in my local newsagents). The correct publication was obvious once I’d thought about it. A good puzzle for us oldies! Ann
  7. Thanks for a great blog Andy – really informative.

    Pleased to have got this one all correct except was stumped by LOVE ME DO – notwithstanding having half the checkers in place by the end! (And I can’t plead “before my time” as this was an integral part of the sound track of my childhood… Just failed to pick up on “number” as a pointer to tune).

    Anyway, really enjoyed the tussle – particularly liked The Morning Post and Rhubarb.

  8. 3dn : I thought of Michael Innes (pseudonym of J.I.M Stewart 1906-94) one of my favourite detective story authors.
  9. Is the definition of a good crossword clue one where the clue still looks good AFTER you read the explanation? And go “Aahhh!” rather than ‘Aargghhh!” Then a poor clue would be one where you’re pretty sure you’ve got it but you can’t work out why it’s right so you’re kind of stymied right there. I put SALAMI and COCKCROW in the latter and FORELOCK and KICKS IN among others in the former.

    But I know from having a go at setting that clues which are both hard and good are unbelievably time consuming to create.

    Pity we Aussies don’t have a lot of depth in the setting dept. Then I wouldn’t have to go consulting pomme pals for eg TAKE IT FROM HERE. As for Wales . . .

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