Saturday Times 25753 (5th April)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 16:15, which rang a bell, and yes it was indeed exactly the same time as last week’s, to the second. Apologies that this is brief but I’m writing this on Friday morning (before 7am) as I’m off for the weekend shortly afterwards and won’t be back till Saturday night. Only thing I can say about this puzzle is that there seemed to be an awful lot of container-and-contents clues compared to usual.

Across
1 SPIGOT – SPIT (image) around GO (fit). Def: plug.
5 SEDIMENT – SENT (ecstatic) around DIME (bit of money). Def: settled matter.
9 MAIDENHAIR – (ahead in)* inside RIM reversed (westward border). Def: fern.
10 WAVE – sounds like “waive” (surrender). Def: signal.
11 MORIBUND – RIB (chaff) inside MOUND (heap). Def: on the way out.
12 SADDLE – SAD (down) + D(a)LE (valley, dropping A). Def: load.
13 APSE – S (last letter of business) inside APE (take off). Def: recess.
15 NAVIGATE – GATE (barrier) next to IVAN reversed (tsar in revolution). Def: direct.
18 PRESSURE – PURE (good) around [RE (on) + S(outh) + S(mall)]. Def: force.
19 OPEN – O (round) + PEN (enclosure). Def: spread out.
21 AFFECT – CT (court) after GAFFE (blunder) minus the G for good. Def: influence.
23 EVIDENCE – DEN (hole) inside DEVICE (scheme) minus the first letter. Def: support.
25 FLAG – double definition.
26 PROGENITOR – (ignore port)*. Def: founder.
27 SOBRIETY – SOY (sauce) around [BRIE (cheese) + T(omato)]. Def: serious quality.
28 DOTING – NIT reversed (fool back) inside DOG (trouble). Def: indulgent.

Down
2 PIANO – AN (article) underneath I (current), all inside PO (river). Def: soft.
3 GODLINESS – D(emocrat) + LINE (policy), all inside GOSS (chitchat). Def: piety.
4 TONGUE – G(l)UE (stick without L for length) following TON (fashion). Def: speech.
5 STAND ON CEREMONY – (censor may not end)*. Def: act formally.
6 DERISIVE – SIRE reversed (upset father) inside DIVE (disreputable bar). Def: taunting.
7 MOWED – MO (second) + WED (link). Def: cut.
8 NOVELETTE – V (see, short for Latin vide) + E(nglish) + LETTE(r) (character, without the R for right), all after NO (refusal). Def: romance?
14 PORTFOLIO – PORT (wine) + F(ine) + OLIO (mixture). Def: case.
16 GEODESIST – (to see digs)*. Def: surveyor.
17 MULTIPLE – MULE (cross) around [L(arge) + TIP (gratuity)]. Def: many.
20 BIG END – GEN (information) inside BID (order). Def: part of engine.
22 EAGER – hidden in “Bronze Age reconstruction”. Def: anxious.
24 CROWN – CROW (boast) + N(ew). Def: honour.

12 comments on “Saturday Times 25753 (5th April)”

  1. SPIGOT my LOI; for me a spigot is a faucet/tap, not a plug, but the checkers settled the matter. DNK BIG END (although now that I think of it, I may have come across it once here). I said in the forum that I wondered if there would be objections to 22d, but maybe at long last the pedantic claim that ‘anxious’ does not mean ‘eager’ has gone the way of (some) other pedantic claims.COD to 11ac.
  2. An excellent puzzle that I completed in 42 minutes. I enjoyed the very precise wordplay and clue construction. It took me a while after the event to establish how 23ac worked but it was rewarding to persevere and get there eventually. 16dn was unknown so I needed all the checkers in place first.

    On ‘spigot’ the SOED has:
    1 A small peg or plug inserted into the vent hole of a barrel or cask; a small tap or outlet controlling the flow of liquid from a container.

    Edited at 2014-04-12 05:28 am (UTC)

  3. Don’t know about being on the setter’s wavelength but definitely the same zone as Linxit as I solved it in 16:20.
  4. 27 mins so I found it on the trickier side for some reason. My notes say that I took ages to see the wordplay and definitions for my final two, PRESSURE and EVIDENCE.
  5. DNF, and even with a whole week almost DN get a start. Mostly due to my syntax; I counted 10+ clues where either I didn’t know the sense of the word as clued (spigot-tap), or can clearly see the connection but just wouldn’t myself use the words as synonyms enough for the penny to drop (saddle-load, maybe Kevin’s anxious-eager). And 10 is too many misses to get from the checkers. Interestingly, I also agree w Jack that the wordplay was precise and enjoyable, allowing for my weak knowledge of usage.
  6. 45 minutes , with a number from the literals, eg the 5s. Can’t see any problem with anxious/eager, and my complete lack of DIY skills and knowledge means spigot could be clued as anything and I’d be none the wiser.
    1. Anxious/eager/keen all fit “I’m ________ to do something or other” so I can’t see a problem either.

      I also have no knowledge of DIY but I do know a bit about tapping barrels of ale! There’s a Tom Lehrer lyric that also helps:

      “Turn on the spigot,
      Pour the beer and swig it,
      And gaudeamus igit-ur”

      (Bright College Days)

      1. I’d forgotten that one. I have a 4 CD set, The Remains of Tom Lehrer, haven’t listened to them for years! Brilliant songs.
        1. Andy, I have that set too. It’s on Disc 1: Studio Recordings (Album: More of Tom Lehrer 1959)and also Disc 2: Live Performances (Album: An Evening Wasted With…1959).

  7. 28:31 on the club timer. Just the right sort of trickiness for a Saturday puzzle in my book. I’m in agreement with ulaca on anxious/eager and SPIGOT. Ignorance can be helpful at times.
    MAIDENHAIR and GEODESIST were complete unknowns that had to be constructed from wordplay. The latter looked more likely than GEOSEDIST but I hit submit with trepidation.
  8. I cannot see the word SPIGOT without thinking of the classic Peter Cook/Dudley Moore sketch about the one-legged auditioner for the role of Tarzan. Surely available on Youtube.
    1. Oh, yes.. “I’ve got nothing against your right leg… but then again, neither have you!”
      Great stuff indeed

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