Saturday Times 25867 (16th August)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 13:45, and it felt quicker than that while I was solving it. Most of it went in from top left to bottom right, and I don’t remember getting stuck for too long on anything. Apart from a couple that I’m not sure I fully understand, the wordplay and definitions were pretty obvious throughout – possibly a good one for beginners to tackle?

Across
1 Most distinguished head in case (7)
NOBLEST – NOB (head) + LEST (in case).
5 Ropy work, in which arm came loose (7)
MACRAME – (arm came)*.
9 Depression, a short minor illness (3)
COL – COL(d).
10 An aphorism’s coined for stroke management (11)
OARSMANSHIP – (an aphorisms)*.
11 Mysterious vampire has been beheaded and buried by soldiers (8)
ORACULAR – (d)RACULA (beheaded vampire) inside OR (soldiers).
12 Small sort of stone endless problem for horse (6)
SPAVIN – S(mall) + PAVIN(g) (sort of stone, endless).
15 Housewife starts to experience trouble, unplugs iron (4)
ETUI – first letters of Experience Trouble Unplugs Iron.
16 Watch recording: sort of reception (6-4)
TICKER-TAPE – TICKER (watch) + TAPE (recording).
18 Chambers: “a representative collection” (10)
PARLIAMENT – double definition, one cryptic; the whole made to look like a quote from Chambers dictionary, which unfortunately it isn’t.
19 Scowl and look embarrassed when company departs (4)
LOUR – COLOUR (look embarrassed) minus CO.
22 Lingerie is resurrected? (6)
UNDIES – UN-DIES.
23 Threatening to trap military grouping in swampy surroundings (8)
MINATORY – NATO (military grouping) inside MIRY (swampy).
25 27, for example, is grand affair (3,8)
BIG BUSINESS – BIG (grand) + BUSINESS (affair).
27 Cat’s back, but not tail, in picture (3)
OIL – LION (cat) reversed, minus the last letter.
28 By 8th May 1945 almost fix sacred text (3,4)
RIG VEDA – RIG (fix) next to VE DA(y) (8th May 1945, almost).
29 Problem girl gives such offence? (7)
SUMMARY – SUM (problem) + MARY (girl).

Down
1 Nothing in creed is well done (4,3)
NICE ONE – O (nothing) inside NICENE (creed).
2 Live competition in which Liverpool play caused vexation (11)
BELEAGUERED – BE (live) + LEAGUE (competition) + RED (in which Liverpool play).
3 Book used curious game symbols inside (6)
EXODUS – (used)* around X,O (game symbols).
4 Land in tree: am picked up after major alarm sounded (5,5)
TERRA FIRMA – FIR (tree) + AM reversed, after TERRA (sounds like “terror”, major alarm).
5 In opera she sings only one note or two (4)
MIMI – MI, MI (one note, twice). That’s the only sense I can make of it anyway. Heroine of Puccini’s opera La bohème.
6 Plan together to cheat father, keeping quiet (8)
CONSPIRE – CON (cheat) + SIRE (father) around P (quiet).
7 Remains no less hard (3)
ASH – AS (no less) + H(ard).
8 Width of river restricting vessels (7)
EXPANSE – EXE (river) around PANS (vessels).
13 Diva carousing with sherry, briefly a way to suffer (3,8)
VIA DOLOROSA – (diva)* + OLOROS(o) (sherry briefly) + A.
14 Pelts round squares to achieve slender physique (10)
SKINNINESS – SKINS (pelts) around NINES (squares).
17 Adjust one reason for enjoying a song (4-4)
FINE-TUNE – double definition, although the second is for the answer without a hyphen.
18 Skilled worker gets ideal job at the end of a few months (7)
PLUMBER – PLUM (ideal job) + BER (the end of a few months).
20 Faith gets a new head — a prince, say (7)
ROYALTY – LOYALTY (faith) with a different first letter.
21 To succeed, I am everywhere. (6)
PASSIM – PASS (succeed) + I’M.
24 First to propose a way to save Italian city (4)
PISA – P(ropose) + ISA (a way to save).
26 Vehicle’s performance: up and down (3)
GIG – double definition, and we’re told it’s a palindrome.

14 comments on “Saturday Times 25867 (16th August)”

  1. The X and O in 3d I took to refer to noughts and crosses.

    Either did this online or have lost my print-out. Either way, can’t recall too many problems with it.

  2. 14 mins. The only note I made said that PASSIM was my LOI so my solving experience may have been identical to Andy’s, including the way I parsed MIMI.
  3. Not a difficult one, with some helpful clues for what I thought was quite a high number of unusual words – SPAVIN, that meaning of Housewife, RIG VEDA, VIA DOLOROSA, PASSIM, MIMI.

    COD to ORACULAR

  4. In her aria Mi Chiamano Mimi, the heroine sings ‘Vivo sola, soletta
    là in una bianca cameretta’ (I live *all alone* in a white room there). Perhaps the clue can be parsed as a DD, with the literals ‘In opera she sings *only one*’ and ‘note or two’ (ie a couple of notes).

    Today’s Prize puzzle (25873) is a thing of beauty.

    Edited at 2014-08-23 12:10 pm (UTC)

  5. 17m for this, so not as easy for me perhaps as some others. I was hoping for an explanation of 5dn, but I confess to feeling none the wiser!
  6. About 20 minutes as I recall, checking the SPAVIN for its meaning once done. The MIMI clue seems clear as day to me without knowing the libretto of La Bohème; MI MI one (same ) note or two. The NATO clue took me the longest to twig.
    1. I’m afraid I still feel none the wiser!
      Edit: actually I think maybe I’ve got it now. MI MI is either ‘only one note’ in the sense that MI is one note, and DO is another. Or it’s two notes in the sense that it’s the first two notes of the ‘Ode to Joy’ melody. Hmm.

      Edited at 2014-08-23 01:27 pm (UTC)

  7. That’s how I parsed it: perhaps more technically (I’ll get in trouble here with the pros) one tone or two notes. I would have been more reluctant to think that if it hadn’t led to Mimi herself. Unlike Andy, I kind of liked Parliament, and like mohn2 very much enjoyed the vocabulary.
  8. Took me forever, as Saturdays are wont to do. But I didn’t help myself by, for instance, dividing 1d as 3,4, making it my LOI. I could swear I saw RIG VEDA recently (Guardian?), which may have helped.

    Edited at 2014-08-24 02:27 am (UTC)

  9. 44 minutes, held up by a few unfamiliar words including SPAVIN and RIGVEDA. Thought 25ac and its link to 27ac was a bit feeble.
  10. Pleased to have completed this one in around 2 hours – which is good going for me!

    Several words I did not know but in all cases managed to work them out from the clue components and cross checkers – LOUR, MINATORY, RIG VEDA, ETUI.

    Thought UNDIES was witty, EXODUS very neat, and enjoyed stroke management as a definition for OARSMANSHIP.

    1. ‘etui’ shows up every other Thursday in the NYT crossword. One of many reasons I’m tired of doing them.
  11. As one who never seems to get past beginner status, I found this very hard and got less than half out. Macrame, oracular, spavin, lour , minatory, rig veda and via dolarosa were all unknown words . Nines =squares would never have occured to me .

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