Saturday Times 26004 (24th Jan)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 14:20, so a pretty average time for me. To get 10ac, 22dn and 24dn it helps to be an opera buff I guess (but then that is part of the “assumed knowledge” required of Times solvers). Hands up who thought something along the lines of “Mel B? Scary Spice? She’s English! And she’s still alive! What the…?” before getting the right Aussie singer in 10ac. Um, me for one.

Across
1 Large huts collapsing, in which many die (9)
SLAUGHTER – (large huts)*.
6 Offer room to build — not such an honest job? (3-2)
PUT-UP – triple definition.
9 Blocking the rejection of hot stuff, I am useful (5)
AVAIL – I inside LAVA (hot stuff) reversed.
10 Amateur Aussie singer backed to avoid a fine (2,7)
NO PROBLEM – NO PRO (amateur) + MELB(a) (Aussie singer reversed, minus the A). The singer is Dame Nellie Melba (1861-1931), the Australian soprano.
11 Adopt costume as Dick initially about to get Cat to turn (5,2)
DRESS UP – D(ick) + RE (about) + PUSS (cat) reversed. Nice Panto theme in the surface reading.
12 Religious film omits an hour, but includes a minute, of certain events (7)
OLYMPIC – HOLY PIC (religious film), minus the H but with an M in the middle.
13 Getting smaller, a maths function is comparatively easy task (7,3,1,3)
FALLING OFF A LOG – FALLING OFF (getting smaller) + A LOG (a maths function).
17 Procedure whereby doctor gets some out of the door? (7,7)
KEYHOLE SURGERY – cryptic definition.
21 Weekend nearly over, and it’s very wet (7)
MONSOON – “MON SOON”.
23 Friendly fire originally concealed by a false account (7)
AFFABLE – F(ire) inside A FABLE (a false account).
25 Caused fear, if one’s broken in? That’s just scratched the surface (9)
SCARIFIED – IF + I (one) inside SCARED (caused fear).
26 Wearing mink, say, is to come to a conclusion (5)
INFER – sounds like “in fur”.
27 What boys try to do with girls they fancy, we hear, and that’s a fact (5)
DATUM – sounds like “date ’em”.
28 Where the winning Ryder Cup putt was sunk? It’s full of junk (5,4)
GLORY HOLE – This was on the 15th for GB & Europe with Jamie Donaldson making the putt in last year’s Ryder Cup. Alternatively it’s another word for a junk room.

Down
1 Half an impasse (5-3)
STAND-OFF – double definition: the first is a rugby position.
2 A name is up on end of grave stone (5)
AGATE – A + TAG (name) reversed + (grav)E.
3 Former standard almost hit by hard writer (9)
GOLDSMITH – GOLD (former standard) + SMIT(e) (almost hit) + H(ard). Oliver Goldsmith (1728-74), best known for The Vicar of Wakefieldi>.
4 Supporter of camping trip raises part free of tax, say (4,3)
TENT PEG – PT (part) + NET (free of tax) both reversed, + EG (say).
5 Ticking off what mac no longer keeping one dry needs? (7)
REPROOF – double definition.
6 Stand in for couple yet to be identified (5)
PROXY – PRO (for) + X,Y (couple yet to be identified).
7 Mobile? Get moving then — elope! (9)
TELEPHONE – (then elope)*.
8 See rodents after turning up stone (6)
PUMICE – MICE (rodents) after UP reversed.
14 Plan for ambush we initial with a flourish (3,2,4)
LIE IN WAIT – (we initial)*.
15 Two elves, only one female, are impractically idealistic (4-5)
AIRY-FAIRY – FAIRY (elf) twice, with one F removed.
16 My Anne succeeded so (2,6)
BY GEORGE – quick history lesson: Queen Anne (reigned 1707-1714) was succeeded BY GEORGE I (1714-1727).
18 Cutting school (7)
LANCING – double definition: Lancing College is a public school in West Sussex.
19 Doubly like this rascal? (2-3-2)
SO-AND-SO – SO (like this), twice with the AND assumed from the enumeration, which is fair enough, especially with the ? at the end.
20 Sea churned up with mud is diverted (6)
AMUSED – (sea, mud)*.
22 Order includes more Italian analgesic (5)
OPIUM – OM (Order of Merit) around PIU (Italian for more, musical notation).
24 Comic singer an expert on love (5)
BUFFO – BUFF (expert) + O (love). More strictly a comic actor in an opera, but I guess they all sing as well.

9 comments on “Saturday Times 26004 (24th Jan)”

  1. First time I’ve managed to solve one in less than an hour – so either this was pretty straightforward or I am getting better!

    No problem with Dame Nellie, a local icon here in Oz. Brings to mind when I first introduced my (about to become) wife to my parents in the UK. My intended was a feisty Sydney girl, and my parents very English with a view of Australia fixed from their 1920’s schooling . After a few minutes of polite chit chat, Dad asked his about-to-be daughter in law “Yes, Sydney, heard there is an opera house there. Often wondered – where do you import your singers from?”

    Several clues to savour, none more so than 16 down.

    Edited at 2015-01-31 10:37 am (UTC)

  2. 12 mins. I was very much on the setter’s wavelength and finished back in the NW with the AVAIL/GOLDSMITH crossers.
  3. 15 mins of steady work.

    On Saturdays, I do treeware and get the Deadly Killer Sudoku out of the way before going to the crosswords. On the same page as the Killer is the most recent Listener crossword solution and I see today that the solution to 4328 is a blank grid. You could have just cut it out of the paper and sent it in. Talk about minimalism! I see that George sorted it out but look forward to his comments on the thought process (George vs. the Listener Crossword)

    Edited at 2015-01-31 12:02 pm (UTC)

    1. You did have to solve it first though, to get the message to remove the perimeter and every other row and column, which left a further instruction to delete everything and send in a blank grid! An easy one for John Green to check though!
  4. Just crept in under my 30 minute target on this one. I’ve never come across the precise meaning of “scarified” required here; I always assumed it was simply a variation of ‘scared’. Also I didn’t understand ‘half’ in 1dn although I was vaguely aware of the rugby term. I don’t think much of the cryptic at 17ac; although the answer was a write-in I can’t make much sense of the wording of the clue. But maybe I’m missing something.
  5. I have no idea how long this took me, since it took days of on-again-off-again struggling with 17ac and 18d, two DNKs that interesected to boot. Finally, after running through the alphabet enough times, I came up with 18d, which gave me 17ac. Also DNK the rugby meaning of STAND-OFF (I don’t know the rugby meaning of anything), or the intended meanings of GLORY HOLE–although like Vinyl, I knew another one.9ac and 10ac were cleverly constructed, but the surfaces were pretty odd; I agree with Jack about 17ac.
  6. 25 minutes, so a rare sub-30 for a Saturday. Did a double take at GLORY HOLE to check this wasn’t a Private Eye.
  7. Glory hole also has a sexual meaning which disturbingly fits with the American slang meaning of junk.

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