Saturday Times 26100 (16th May)

Posted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 12:15, helped by the two 15-letter answers going straight in. 1ac was tricky to parse and I had to wait until all the crossers were in. Some grammatical oddities in the grid – 28ac and 9dn are two examples of reduplication (something I came across on StackOverflow.com while looking for the answer to a technical programming problem – they have lists of other questions on the right which range from the esoteric “Is every closed curve in 3D a geodesic on a genus-0 surface?” to the bizarre “How do you fight a Nazghul?” One was “is there a name for words like chitchat, zigzag etc”, so I followed the link to find out). Maybe there’s also a word for words like 11ac, which look like their meaning! Answers on a postcard…

Across
1 In skipping tutorial, boy gets round girl (8)
ROSEMARY – IN removed from SEMINAR (tutorial), inside ROY (boy).
5 Tyrant executes leading journalist coming from the East (6)
DESPOT – TOPS (executes) ED (leading journalist) reversed (coming from the East).
10 Welsh actor eating fish and game in artists’ place … (10,5)
BURLINGTON HOUSE – BURTON (Welsh actor) around LING (fish) + HOUSE (game). Home of the Royal Academy.
11 … will dine out in posh eatery at last, awkwardly (10)
UNWIELDILY – (will dine)* inside U (posh), Y (last letter of eatery).
13 At school it may be called a cylindrical moulding (4)
ROLL – double definition.
15 Occupied area of England once, and most of Wales, oddly (7)
DANELAW – (and, Wale)*
17 Forth — a river surrounded by rolling downs? (7)
ONWARDS – A + R(iver) inside (downs)*.
18 Sound made by simple feline, one living in burrow (7)
MEERKAT – sounds like “mere cat” (simple feline).
19 Capricious European kings, Greek by the sound of it (7)
ERRATIC – E(uropean) + RR (kings) + ATIC (sounds like ATTIC, Greek).
21 Cereal having a certain appeal before work (4)
SAGO – SA (a certain appeal) + GO (work).
22 Adequate set of songs about youngster’s first transport (5,5)
FAIRY CYCLE – FAIR (adequate) + CYCLE (set of songs) around Y(oungster). Apparently a small bike for children, so it’s semi-&littish. Never heard the term before myself.
25 Chap with friend, one touring 10, a broadcasting centre once (9,6)
ALEXANDRA PALACE – ALEX (chap) + AND (with) + PAL (friend) + ACE (one), all around RA (see 10ac). AKA the Ally Pally, former home of the BBC.
27 New judge attends function taking place in tower (6)
DONJON – N(ew) + J(udge) inside DO (function), ON (taking place).
28 Husband long constrained by spiteful woman’s gossip (4-4)
CHIT-CHAT – H(usband) + ITCH inside CAT (spiteful woman). I found out only yesterday that this is an example of an ablaut reduplication.

Down
1 Overthrow of monarch sure to have an adverse effect (7)
REBOUND – ER (monarch) reversed + BOUND (sure).
2 Way to address gentleman convict finally released from jail? (3)
SIR – T (last letter of convict) removed from STIR (jail).
3 Effeminate fellows accepting help, as it were (10)
MAIDENLIKE – MEN (fellows) around AID (help) + LIKE (as it were).
4 Falsify papers for firm (5)
RIGID – RIG (falsify) + ID (papers).
6 Genuine German dramatist, not British (4)
ECHT – BRECHT (German dramatist), minus BR(itish). It could be argued that German is doing double duty here, but this German word’s in my English dictionary and it means genuine.
7 Like a fat cat or dog roaming Arctic? (11)
PLUTOCRATIC – PLUTO (dog) + (Arctic)*.
8 Archer is about right, training climbers on it (7)
TRELLIS – TELL (archer) + IS around R(ight).
9 Porter, possibly, outside a large house where nuts may be stored (4-4)
COAL-HOLE – COLE (Porter possibly) around A + L(arge) + HO(use). One definition of nut is “a small lump of coal”. This is also a rhyming reduplication (see 28ac).
12 Shrub wife planted on grassy area south of Bury? (11)
WINTERGREEN – W(ife) + GREEN (grassy area) underneath INTER (bury).
14 Way to frame remark about airmen’s proficiency in fencing? (10)
SWORDCRAFT – ST (way) around WORD (remark) + C (circa, about) + RAF (airmen).
16 Moderate Tories protecting secure wildlife reserve (8)
WETLANDS – WETS (moderate Tories) around LAND (secure).
18 Hot stuff gathered for inspection, do we hear? (7)
MUSTARD – sounds like “mustered” (gathered for inspection).
20 Male Anglicans on time to welcome Liberal pope (7)
CLEMENT – CE MEN (male Anglicans) + T(ime), around L(iberal). Any one of 14 popes, although the last one died in 1774.
23 Arrive at range (5)
REACH – double definition.
24 Some cherish a longing for a saint’s aura (4)
HALO – hidden in “cherish a longing”
26 Remains found in wood (3)
ASH – double definition.

6 comments on “Saturday Times 26100 (16th May)”

  1. 12 mins. MAIDENLIKE and ROSEMARY were my last two in, although both were biffed and then parsed post-solve. The same goes for ALEXANDRA PALACE.

    Thanks for those question examples at the top of your blog Andy. I’m afraid the “is every closed curve …….” one is the equivalent of gibberish to me.

  2. My print out has ’15 mins’ written on it and seems all correct, and I remember parsing ROSEMARY and enjoying the puzzle. As for genus-0 surfaces and Nazghuls, I have no idea either. regards pip
  3. For some reason bunged in ‘Alexandra Parade’; as with BURLINGTON HOUSE, I’d probably heard of the palace sometime, but had no idea it was connected with the BBC, or BH with the RA. Which made the cross-referencing of the clues all the more irritating. Also DNK 22ac, and I’m glad to see that Andy there in Fairy Cycle Central didn’t either. Odd, come to think of it, that the term is ‘reduplication’, rather than ‘duplication’; now, ‘coal-hole coal’ would be a reduplication. For what it’s worth, nazghuls are, if memory serves, the undead ringwraiths of ‘Lord of the Rings’. I don’t know how to fight them; live and let be undead is my motto.
    1. Ditto from Australia…never heard of Burlington House (probably it has been mentioned in the blog before? but if so I didn’t remember) or Alexandra Palace, so except for 1 ac – BID – the two 15s were my last ones in. Parsed AP, but not BH, which I got wrong (BARRINGTON HOUSE – BARRIE the famous welsh actor?)
      SO unsatisfying puzzle

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