Saturday Times 25873 (23rd August)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 18:30, so it must have been tricky in places. My leaky memory tells me most of the top half went in pretty quickly and I hit a wall further down, but going over it again the only two I remember having trouble with were 1D and 23D. I enjoyed the two almost-identical clues at 3D and 11D, reminds me of a Listener by Sabre a few years ago with two completely identical clues to very different words, but it’s a rare gimmick.

Across
1 Swell Green politician wearing gown (10)
DECOMPRESS – ECO MP (green politician) in DRESS (wearing gown).
6 Running rock festival’s last thing female wanted (4)
LAVA – (festiva)L + AVA (female).
9 Quiet look around Ireland moved Sicilian dramatist (10)
PIRANDELLO – P (quiet) + LO (look) around (Ireland)*. I was familiar with the name from a Listener-type crossword I solved years ago based on his play Six Characters in Search of an Author. Possibly a Crossword Club puzzle in 2006 or 2007?
10 Series of benefits assisted backward Italian province (4)
ASTI – hidden reversed in “benefits assisted”.
12 End argument that could decide title (4,10)
GOAL DIFFERENCE – GOAL (end) + DIFFERENCE (argument).
14 Second rate opening feature at Glastonbury: British war film (6)
TOBRUK – B (second rate) inside TOR (feature at Glastonbury) + UK (British). 1967 film starring Rock Hudson and George Peppard.
15 Getting such a lot of water, could give it a rinse (8)
RAINIEST – (it a rinse)*.
17 Farmworker — dashed brave soul — catching cold (8)
RANCHERO – RAN (dashed) + HERO (brave soul), around C(old).
19 Rabbit, noisily, just nibbled a bit on tuber (6)
YAMMER – MER(e) (just, nibbled a bit) next to YAM (tuber).
22 Each asset renewed, possibly depending on conditions (2,3,4,3,2)
AS THE CASE MAY BE – (each asset)* + MAYBE (possibly).
24 When coming in you returned for a walk in the park? (4)
EASY – AS (when) inside YE (you) reversed.
25 Tinker holding ale back for pirate (10)
FREEBOOTER – FOOTER (tinker) around BEER (ale) reversed. I didn’t know that meaninng of “footer”, which is (according to Chambers) a Scottish word meaning to mess around aimlessly. A bit obscure for the ordinary cryptic.
26 Pole — ladies’ man? (4)
SLAV – S(outh) (pole) + LAV (ladies), semi-&lit I suppose.
27 A number making unspecific request to caddie? (3,3,4)
ANY OLD IRON – cryptic definition for a song title which could be seen as a request for a random golf club.

Down
1 Maybe work out the facts? (4)
DOPE – what seems to be a very loose double definition, unless I’m missing something.
2 Underwear lifted in search for terrorist weapon (3,4)
CAR BOMB – BRA (underwear) reversed inside COMB (search).
3 Unladylike, this roaring? That could be the charge (12)
MANSLAUGHTER – i.e. MAN’S LAUGHTER. See also 11D.
4 Note bucks perhaps turning up in change again (2-4)
RE-EDIT – TI (note) + DEER (bucks perhaps), all reversed.
5 Land with a deposit and key to enter small apartment (4,4)
SALT FLAT – ALT (key) inside S(mall), FLAT (apartment).
7 Want ratings, therefore, for Eastenders (7)
ABSENCE – AB’S (ratings) + ‘ENCE (therefore, for Eastenders).
8 Soldier maybe traversing green, a track and a sort of canal (10)
ALIMENTARY – ANT (soldier maybe) around LIME (green) + A + RY (track).
11 Unladylike, this roaring? (5,2,1,4)
DRUNK AS A LORD – cryptic definition. See also 3D. Very clever.
13 Right to get depressed in scrapes with leading astronomers (10)
STARGAZERS – GRAZES (scrapes) with the R moved down, next to STAR (leading).
16 Lieutenant holding show got up and organised rehearsal (5,3)
TRIAL RUN – LT around AIR, all reversed, + RUN (organised).
18 Girl has a tan after travelling (7)
NATASHA – (has a tan)*
20 Teacher’s article replaced by former pupil’s hood (7)
MOBSTER – MASTER (teacher) with the A replaced by OB.
21 Up to this girl’s school to withhold name (6)
HERETO – HER (girl’s) + ETO(n) (school, minus the N).
23 Old Brit associated with church — or Yank that no longer is (4)
WREN – WRENCH (yank) minus the CH. Sir Christopher Wren, who designed St Paul’s Cathedral (amongst other things).

12 comments on “Saturday Times 25873 (23rd August)”

  1. 11dn reminded me of an old joke:

    Defendant: I did it because I was as drunk as a judge
    Judge: I think you mean “As drunk as a lord,” my good man
    defendant: Yes, my lord

      1. Oh, OK, here’s another one, then.. the famous QC Lord Birkenhead had spent two hours giving background to his case and a list of reasons why he should win it:

        Judge: I have listened to everything you have had to say Lord Birkenhead, but I’m afraid that really I am none the wiser.

        Lord Birkenhead: No, my lord. However, you are now much better informed….

  2. Really enjoyed this one, and managed to get it out in a shade over 2 hours.

    Thought ANY OLD IRON was superb, WREN very neat and also enjoyed the unladylike roaring device (took me a while to see what was going on).

    Put in SLAV tentatively, as it seemed a bit low rent for the Times, but hey… Could not fully parse YAMMER (missed the JUST / MERE synonym and hence the nibbled MER – but stuck it in anyway as YAM was somewhat compelling as a tuber).

    Had no issues with DOPE – DO PE leapt out at me pretty much straightaway. FREEBOOTER was a different story – FOOTER unknown but the reversed beer got me over the line, so to speak.

    Thanks to setter and blogger – terrific entertainment.

    Edited at 2014-08-30 08:27 am (UTC)

  3. To work out is to do PE, maybe.

    Me, I was done in by TOBRUK, having never heard of the Tor at Glastonbury, and so spelt it TUBRUK from a failing memory.

    Otherwise, a minor masterpiece of a puzzle, especially the repeated clue segment, another contender for the clue double of the year.

  4. A work of art, if in my case a slow burner as I needed 15 minutes to get off the mark. (Three metaphors in one sentence can’t be bad.) Almost every clue needed to be worked out from the word play. My last was also WREN, but my favourite was YAMMER. 85 minutes.
  5. This was hard work and I have no solving time as it was spread over several sessions. A few unknowns slowed me down a bit such as Glastonbury TOR and Pirandello (whose works I am familiar with) being a Sicilian. WREN was a bit of a wrench. STARGAZERS baffled me as to wordplay until a moment before I came here this morning. I know “footle” but not FOOTER meaning to faff around.

    I don’t have a problem with 1dn and see it as one literal definition (facts – DOPE) plus one tich definition, as Uncle Yap has it,(maybe workout – DO PE). Not loose in my book.

  6. 37 mins, although I made a note that I was a bit tired when I solved it. The 11dn/27ac crossers took me a while, and WREN was my LOI when I finally saw wren(ch).

    Further to Andy’s comment about identical clues there was a puzzle in the Indy, #8498 by Donk on January 9th this year, in which each pair of acrosses was clued identically but led to different answers. Calling it a tour de force would be an understatement.

  7. 24:50. I thought this was an excellent puzzle. I thought my last two in – SLAV and WREN – were particularly good. Both had me baffled for quite a while, which is impressive for such short answers, particularly where the clue only has three words!
    I had never heard of the film, and it looked pretty unlikely, but trusting the wordplay paid off.

    Edited at 2014-08-30 08:32 am (UTC)

  8. I got this one done in an enjoyable hour and small change scattered through the week, with the last going in seconds before downloading this week’s precisely at midnight. I didn’t know the dramatist, so I had a combination of p, etna, and Eire. A rather clever combination I thought, and one which ticked all the crossers, but sadly incorrect. There were a couple I couldn’t parse, so thanks blogger. More thanks, fellows sloggers, for the jokes, and thanks to Andy B for the interesting lead to a clever puzzle. On to the new offering.

    Edited at 2014-08-30 01:37 pm (UTC)

  9. DO PE was fine, TOBRUK correct but unparsed, did all the rest in 15 minutes except S-A- 26a, stared for ages and never finished. LAV for Ladies, indeed. SPAR was a sort of pole but couldn’t see why it might be right (it wasn’t).
  10. I was held up on this one by the short answers. There was a Listener puzzle just a couple of months ago based on “Six characters in search of an author”.

Comments are closed.