Saturday Times 25909 – (4th Oct): Villa Rides!

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time approx. 12 minutes (I had a bit of a backlog on Monday but managed to get this and four others done on the 1 hour train journey to London – great practice for next weekend). Anyway, with DEATH WISH (Charles Bronson) at 1ac and Herbert LOM appearing in 10ac I thought we were on to a theme, but it didn’t pan out. The subject line above is the only film they appeared in together.

Across
1 Hankering to get involved with Hades? (5,4)
DEATH WISH – (with Hades)*, so a nice anagram &lit to start us off.
6 Message about island retreats
CABLE – C (about) + ELBA (island) reversed.
9 Insignificant person gets out of bed to prepare for surgery (5,2)
SCRUB UP – SCRUB (insignificant person) + UP (out of bed).
10 Italian poet following Herbert in films (7)
LOMBARD – BARD (poet) after LOM (Herbert in films).
11 Bringer of good luck missing first course (5)
ASCOT – MASCOT (bringer of good luck), minus the first letter.
13 Penning English paper, an item remains (9)
LEFTOVERS – E(nglish) + FT (Financial Times, a newspaper) inside LOVERS (an item).
14 Teacher runs with class in Yorkshire town (9)
DONCASTER – DON (teacher) + R(uns), with CASTE (class) inside.
16 Beginning, not ending, as luminary (4)
STAR – START (beginning), minus the last letter.
18 Servant starts to milk Alderney in dairy (4)
MAID – first letters of Milk Alderney In Dairy.
19 Lose water that’s heated – dry out (9)
DEHYDRATE – (heated dry)*.
22 Grave robber almost trapped by bear or dog (9)
STAGHOUND – GHOU(l) (grave robber almost) inside STAND (bear).
24 Captured by group of soldiers, left in the dark (5)
UNLIT – L(eft) inside UNIT (group of soldiers).
25 Small collar around a vegetable (7)
SPINACH – S(mall) + PINCH (collar) around A.
26 Black performer lacking right material (7)
BATISTE – B(lack) + ARTISTE (performer) without the R for right.
28 Old Testament character, New Testament incident (5)
EVENT – EVE (Old Testament character) + NT (New Testament).
29 Theatre cat rejected mysterious crop (5,4)
SUGAR CANE – GUS (theatre cat) + ARCANE (mysterious). Ref. TS Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.

Down
1 Shed was adequate for storing small wheels (7)
DISCARD – DID (was adequate) around S(mall) + CAR (wheels).
2 Musical composition that’s inspired (3)
AIR – double definition.
3 Customary attire: undies and loose tops (8)
HABITUAL – HABIT (attire) plus first letters of Undies And Loose.
4 Spirit initially expresses life force (5)
IMPEL – IMP (spirit) + first letters of Expresses Life.
5 Stay on river, so to speak (4,5)
HOLD FORTH – HOLD (stay) + FORTH (river).
6 Improve board (4,2)
COME ON – double definition.
7 Loaf in club bar for pioneer (5,1,5)
BLAZE A TRAIL – LAZE (loaf) inside BAT (club), RAIL (bar).
8 Customer finally swimming under sea? Not entirely (3,4)
END USER – (under se)*.
12 Use bits of tin and nickel on island, having cleared out store (11)
CANNIBALISE – CAN (tin) + NI (nickel) + BALI (island) + S(tor)E.
15 A poet, oddly trendy, reported colours (3,6)
TED HUGHES – odd letters of TrEnDy, + HUGHES (sounds like hues). Former poet laureate.
17 A tuxedo and overcoat left out for regulator (8)
ADJUSTER – A + DJ (tuxedo) + ULSTER (overcoat) minus the L for left.
18 Unmissable stone in French museum (4-3)
MUST-SEE – ST(one) inside MUSEÉ (French museum).
20 Old chestnut, say, about male that is very severe (7)
EXTREME – EX (old) + TREE (chestnut, say) around M(ale).
21 Scotch rower’s bench (6)
THWART – double definition.
23 Start replacing tons with grams in correct code (5)
DEBUG – DEBUT (start) with the T(ons) switched for a G(rams).
27 Music required by ice-skaters (3)
SKA – found inside ice-SKAters.

10 comments on “Saturday Times 25909 – (4th Oct): Villa Rides!”

  1. I forget my time, but I don’t recall this as particularly difficult, except for 21d. Which I got immediately I looked at my printed copy after submitting. I was rather surprised to find Herbert Lom in a clue. And who did he only once appear with, Andy? Thanks to your helpful use of red letters, I now notice that there are 3 clues involving initial letters; rather a lot, no?
  2. Mostly straightforward to solve but a few problems parsing because I didn’t know the required meanings of SCRUB (insignificant person) or THWART (rower’s bench). BATISTE was also unknown or forgotten.
  3. 14m. I didn’t know Lom or the rowing bench, but the answers were clear. I don’t think 1ac is quite an &Lit, because ‘hankering’ has no role in the wordplay.
    1. Poor old Herbert. Think Commissioner Dreyfus in the Clouseau series and a young member of the Ladykillers gang.
      1. Ah yes, Dreyfus. The Ladykillers means nothing to me I’m afraid, beyond having vaguely heard of it.
  4. THWART slowed me right down for a 28.30 finish. It’s an innocuous looking but awkward collection of crossers (only one fitting word in Chambers) and I didn’t know the rower’s bench definition, nor did scotch=thwart come readily to mind. Stellar solving, George!
  5. 15 mins. CANNIBALISE was my LOI, but my notes say that I had more problems in the SE with DEBUG, BATISTE, SUGAR CANE and SKA all taking some time.
  6. Pleased to have managed to complete this one in a couple of hours (a stellar time for me!)

    Did not know GUS the theatrical cat, but slapped in sugar cane for all the other obvious reasons. Fortunately knew THWART due to time spent years ago rowing in an eight in a very trad rowing club where old chaps with big moustaches and outlandish blazers talked about these items.

    Thanks for very neat blog Andy.

  7. I had a problem this morning with this site. Blocked by Live Journal. But the problem seems to have resolved itself eventually. A very enjoyable 29 minutes. Btw, I remember Herbert Lom as a very good Napoleon in the 50s Hollywood version of “War and Peace”. The one with Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda as Natasha and Pierre. They don’t make films like that any more! (Fortunately?) Ann

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