Saturday Times 26124 (13th June)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 19:09, so a bit on the sluggish side for me. Probably just because I solved it on the way home from work on Monday, and I was a bit tired as it was my first day in a new job. Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

Across
1 Number at filling station reacting to an upset (6,6)
OCTANE RATING – (reacting to an)*.
8 Went out of bounds, struggling to find green? (7)
ENVYING – (w)EN(t) + VYING (struggling).
9 Police covering up popular officer’s convictions (7)
MINDSET – MET (police) around IN (popular), DS (Detective Sergeant, officer).
11 Polite bloke conceals weapon in clothing (7)
GARMENT – GENT (polite bloke) around ARM (weapon).
12 Terms at Old Trafford last longer than planned (7)
OVERRUN – OVER, RUN (both cricketing terms). Old Trafford is probably better known as the home of Manchester Utd, but there’s also a test match cricket ground in the area, home of Lancashire CCC.
13 Pursued everywhere, hide in the interior (5)
SUEDE – hidden in “pursued everywhere”.
14 He might repair old tuxedo eaten by dog Queen lost (3-3,3)
ODD-JOB MAN – O(ld) + DJ (dinner jacket, tuxedo) inside DOBERMAN (dog), minus ER (Queen). I thought the Doberman had two N’s at the end, but Chambers only gives that as an alternative (which is a bit odd as it’s a German breed).
16 Man injured with a club at end of game may need it (9)
AMBULANCE – (man, a club, E)*, the E from (gam)E. Definition is the whole clue, so it’s an &lit.
19 Design made of three interlocking figures primarily (5)
MOTIF – initials of “Made Of Three Interlocking Figures”.
21 Firm and dry in receding current, one brought on board? (7)
RICOTTA – CO (firm) + TT (teetotal, dry) inside AIR (current) reversed. Very misleading surface when you consider what ricotta’s actually like!
23 Rally round northern province (7)
MUNSTER – MUSTER (rally) around N(orthern).
24 Source that is beginning to supply footwear (7)
WELLIES – WELL (source) + IE (that is) + S(upply).
25 A team left late with time out, sweating there? (7)
AXILLAE – A + XI (eleven, team) + L(eft) + LATE without the T for time. Latin term for the armpits.
26 How to win at cards using arbitrary tactics? (4-8)
HIGH-HANDEDLY – double definition, the first of the cryptic variety.

Down
1 Mostly manage to retain British monarch’s head here (7)
OBVERSE – OVERSE(e) (mostly manage) around B(ritish). The “heads” side of a coin.
2 Galley test sheets discussed (7)
TRIREME – sounds like “try ream”.
3 Retirement habit’s good in nearby urban area (9)
NIGHTGOWN – G(ood) inside NIGH (nearby) TOWN (urban area).
4 Capital O? He’s on the lookout for it? (5)
ROMEO – ROME (capital) + O, “it” being crosswordese for sex. The second definition in Chambers is one of their humorous ones: “a Don Juan in the making”.
5 To set about sponsor could make one cross, sour (7)
TANGELO – TO around ANGEL (sponsor).
6 Remedy not containing sulphur and alcohol (7)
NOSTRUM – NOT around S(ulphur) + RUM (alcohol).
7 Flier: “The way to protect margins on fish” (5,7)
HEDGE SPARROW – HOW (the way to) around EDGES (margins), PARR (fish).
10 He pays landowner after wrestling with rent man (6,6)
TENANT FARMER – (after, rent man)*.
15 After surgery, male doctor and nurses sleep there? (9)
DREAMLAND – (male Dr and)*. I don’t think “nurses” plays any part other than to make the surface read like a sentence. [Edit: WC explains it correctly below – (male)* inside DR AND ]
17 What’s making graduate sick in Channel Islands? (7)
BACILLI – BA (graduate) + ILL (sick) inside CI (Channel Islands).
18 New Order of the Thistle for East European (7)
LETTISH – (thistle)*. The language of Latvia (which was formerly called Lettland apparently).
19 Millions with relatives included all of us (7)
MANKIND – M(illions) + AND (with) around KIN (relatives).
20 Clean baby with partner (7)
TOTALLY – TOT (baby) + ALLY (partner).
22 Fly half blocks ace twice in confusion (2,3)
AT SEA – TSE(tse) (“fly half”) inside A,A (ace twice).

11 comments on “Saturday Times 26124 (13th June)”

  1. Found this one quite hard work but enjoyable. Particularly liked 7dn, and the amusing homophone at 2dn.

    Put me down as another who was left scratching head somewhat with arbitrary tactics equalling high-handedly, albeit the answer was obvious enough. And I was convinced I’d missed some subtlety with the nurses in 15dn…

    Anyway, good fun, and thanks to setter and to Andy for the blog.

  2. 23 mins. I found this a little chewier than some recent prize puzzles, although I didn’t help myself by misspelling NOSTRUM as “notsrum” when I wrote it in (so I can’t blame fat-fingered syndrome), and I only saw my error when I couldn’t solve 9ac. DREAMLAND was my LOI after HIGH-HANDEDLY, and you can count me as another who was only aware of the “overbearingly” definition of the latter.
  3. 16:44. I bought some RICOTTA about an hour before solving this, so 21ac went in quickly. With 23ac there’s a mini cheese theme!
    I was puzzled by the definition of HIGH-HANDEDLY: I’ve never come across it before. It’s in Chambers but not in Collins or ODO.
    I read the definition in 15dn as ‘nurses sleep here?’ with the question mark signalling a kind of DBE.
  4. Enjoyable. I was anxious to finish this before the arrival of my builder who is repairing leak damage in the bathroom. Just finished as the doorbell rang! 33 minutes. Ann
  5. A total of 14 mins – was interrupted for 2 mins by an irritating cold caller.
    1. CS – you spend two minutes on a cold caller? I am afraid that I am a bit more brutal than you, while trying to be polite.
      1. Following something I saw on the televiaion the other week, I now ask them for their company name and phone number so that I can make an official complaint as we are registered with the Telephone Preference Service. They just put the phone down which makes a change from us doing it We’ve definitely had fewer calls since I started telling them that, as there must be some sort of sharing of lists that marks us up as being ‘difficult’
        1. Interesting! I have not tried this. Admittedly, I pick up the phone and say ‘hello’ and unless someone starts speaking within a second, I put it down. I am equally (but politely) fast if someone calls me Anthony (no-one in the world calls me that except my mum but I try not to slam the phone down on her). Something must be working somewhere since despite being at home and retired, I really do get very few of these cold callers these days.
          1. I have caller ID, so never pick up the phone for an unknown number – I can then delete if there’s no message, which is usually the case.
  6. Bit late, I know, but think it’s ….

    (after surgery, male)… inside …(Dr + And) (ie Dr + And nursing the ‘eaml’ post-op)

    Cheers,
    WC

    1. Better late than never! You’re right of course, and I should have looked at it harder. “Nurses” always* means “put something inside this”.

      I’ve edited the blog.

      * well, nearly always…

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