Saturday Times 26022 (14th Feb)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 14:00 exactly. No Valentine’s Day theme for the Times of course (although the word appears in a clue as part of the wordplay, sneaky one there setter). Mainly straightforward although there were a couple of tricky wordplay elements – the X in 5dn for example, which a few on the forum were puzzled by.

Across
1 Record keeping has caught sight of built-up area (9)
TOWNSCAPE – TAPE (record) “keeping” OWNS (has) + C(aught).
6 Blue, black and white colouring almost coats area (5)
BAWDY – B(lack) + W(hite) + DY(e) (colouring almost) around (coats) A(rea).
9 Bitterness controlled French heart but not English (7)
RANCOUR – RAN (controlled) + COEUR (French heart) minus the E for English.
10 Claim about stopping journalists (7)
PROFESS – OF (about) inside (stopping) PRESS (journalists).
11 Initiation of broadband connection produces viewing interruption (5)
BLINK – B(roadband) + LINK (connection).
12 What shows ten-pieced moving (or a lot more)? (9)
CENTIPEDE – (ten-pieced)*, semi-&lit.
13 In-house work getting around newspaper computer department’s conflict (8)
DISUNITY – DIY (in-house work) around SUN (newspaper) + IT (computer department).
14 Stick with pale daughter (4)
WAND – WAN (pale) + D(aughter).
17 Large mass removed from noiseless instrument (4)
LUTE – L(arge) + MUTE (noiseless), minus the M for mass.
18 Yule fowl cooked in a terrible way (8)
WOEFULLY – (Yule fowl)*. Brings back memories of my mum’s cooking…
21 The King’s residence to honour with presence and light (9)
GRACELAND – GRACE (to honour with presence) + LAND (light).
22 Place bone in hollow (5)
POSIT – OS (bone) inside PIT (hollow).
24 Did toy get soil-encrusted imp to come back? (7)
TRIFLED – ELF (imp) inside DIRT (i.e. soil-encrusted), all reversed.
25 Change concerning quiet primate (7)
RESHAPE – RE (concerning) + SH (quiet) + APE (primate).
26 Cloth width for print with dark edging (5)
DENIM – EN (width for print) inside DIM (with dark edging).
27 Household troop member to reflect support, protecting king and queen (9)
MUSKETEER – MUSE (reflect) + TEE (support), around (protecting) K(ing), then R (regina, queen).

Down
1 Beat poet’s last hour on outside broadcast (5)
THROB – (poe)T + HR (hour) + OB (outside broadcast).
2 Wife at home with suggestion has time for new mutually beneficial arrangement (3-3,9)
WIN-WIN SITUATION – W(ife) + IN (at home) + W(ith) + INSINUATION (suggestion), the 2nd N replaced with a T (time for new).
3 Outrageous form of execution? (8)
SHOCKING – double definition.
4 After less than a month, beds trees (8)
APRICOTS – APRI(l) (less than a month) + COTS (beds).
5 Termination’s accepted by secretary to produce growth (6)
EXPAND – END (termination) around X (by) + P.A. (secretary).
6 Briefly expressed disapproval about private dance (6)
BOOGIE – BOOE(d) (briefly expressed disapproval) around G.I. (private).
7 Playful wag, he re-released a Burton film (5,6,4)
WHERE EAGLES DARE – (wag he re-released)*. 1968 film starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood.
8 Cultivation of rye, steady in the past (9)
YESTERDAY – (rye steady)*.
13 Happy with loss of illumination? (9)
DELIGHTED – “DE-LIGHTED”.
15 60 Minutes covering North Dakota because it’s an American state (8)
HONDURAS – HOUR (60 minutes) around ND (North Dakota) + AS (because).
16 Unconventional, including fine Greek letters, frequently shortened (3-5)
OFF-PISTE – F(ine) + PIS (Greek letters) inside OFTE(n) (frequently shortened).
19 What was written on valentine’s borders, to ponder when rising (6)
VELLUM – V(alentin)E + MULL (ponder) reversed.
20 Supporters generally unpredictable, with following for Republican (6)
FANDOM – RANDOM (unpredictable) with the R replaced by F (following for Republican).
23 Other people’s time with next of kin? (5)
THEIR – T(ime) + HEIR (next of kin?)

11 comments on “Saturday Times 26022 (14th Feb)”

  1. didn’t know this as anything but a skiing term but not too much of a stretch. i was one of the ones who’d forgotten the x=by thing but it didn’t matter. ‘fandom’ was nice. 18.25
  2. 19 mins. TOWNSCAPE was my LOI after SHOCKING, and I seem to recall that I only parsed EXPAND post-solve. Like Olivia I didn’t know that OFF-PISTE was no longer just a skiing term.
  3. Likewise, about 20 minutes, with MUSKETEER not really parsed, and FANDOM from wordplay. I liked the centipede.
  4. 18:27 … Last in, MUSKETEER, mainly because I refused to put it in until I’d parsed it. Occurred to me at the time that it was the sort of clue it’s best not to try to explain to a non-solver.
  5. 11:20, with a couple of minutes at the end on 6ac/7dn, where I discovered that I couldn’t name a single Richard Burton film. I had heard of this one (and several others) but didn’t know or had forgotten that he was in it.
  6. 35 minutes. Checking my notes from last weekend I see I had a query against “about = of” in 10ac and I’m still wondering about it. Am I having a senior moment? If so, it’s lasted rather a long time.
    1. “The time has come,” the Walrus said,
      “To talk of many things:
      Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
      Of cabbages–and kings … “

      ?

  7. Thought I was in for a fast (i.e. less than 2 hours!) solve when the two long down answers went in straightaway, then made steady progress with much of the remainder until only a handful were left.

    But the handful put up stout resistance – TRIFLED, FANDOM, MUSKETEER, VELLUM and the X in EXPAND. Got there eventually, albeit with MUSKETEER unparsed.

  8. Nice puzzle. A bit over the hour, which is a moderate time for me. There were a couple of those words I never spell correctly – musket(ie? ee?)r and cent(i? e?)pede. Every time one pops up I think “now I have a good way to remember it”. But then I realise that remembering the clue – especially as Sotira points out this one – might be harder than just learning the word. Thanks, Andy

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