Saturday Times 26142 (4th July)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Limped home in 23:05 for this one, where I never really got on the setter’s wavelength. First one in was STEEPISH, when I spotted that “one’s husband” meant it probably ended in -ISH, but until then I had just gone blank – the clues might as well have been written in Chinese! Solved on the train on Monday morning, after I’d already rattled off the Times and Guardian puzzles in about 10 mins each, so I can’t really claim an off day. Anyway, looking through it again this morning I see no great difficulties, maybe a mostly uninspiring set of words but no dodgy clues.

Across
1 Those we know succeeded after Tory diplomacy (8)
CONTACTS – CON (Tory) + TACT (diplomacy) + S(ucceeded).
6 Went for it in the past, moving right to the front on street (6)
STROVE – OVER (in the past) with the R moved to the front, next to ST(reet).
9 Small dog bites priest returning to mass (4,2)
PILE UP – PUP (small dog) around ELI (priest) reversed.
10 OK’ing a criminal’s last communication from Ayrshire perhaps (8)
ALLOWING – A + (crimina)L + LOWING (communication from Ayrshire perhaps – i.e. the breed of cattle).
11 Religious book unnerved atheist to some extent (4)
VEDA – hidden in “unnerved atheist”.
12 Culinary habit that divides the nation? (4,6)
COOK STRAIT – “COOK’S TRAIT”. The body of water separating North from South Island in New Zealand.
14 Arm unruly mob with rifle (8)
FORELIMB – (mob, rifle)*.
16 Made fizzy drink from honey (4)
MEAD – (made)*.
18 Time traveller going backward and forward (4)
PERT – T(ime) + REP (traveller), all reversed.
19 Sent message about sport from the East having rough character (8)
TEXTURED – TEXTED (sent message) around RU (sport) reversed.
21 Failing police clad in unkempt fashion (10)
PECCADILLO – (police clad)*.
22 Means of achieving closure as used in Lords & Commons (4)
HASP – AS inside HP (Houses of Parliament, an abbreviation I don’t think I’ve seen before, but it’s in Chambers).
24 After energy-packed move, one’s husband’s pretty demanding (8)
STEEPISH – STEP (move) around E(nergy) + IS (one’s) + H(usband).
26 Sample spice, initially in staple food, informally (6)
TASTER – S(pice) inside TATER (staple food, informally).
27 It’s tricky holding rod back securely (6)
SNUGLY – SLY (tricky) around GUN (rod) reversed.
28 Deserving wife taken out of script by the author (8)
MERITING – WRITING (script) minus the W for wife, next to ME (the author).

Down
2 Single nurses in clinic initially suspended (2,3)
ON ICE – ONE (single) around first letters of “in clinic”.
3 Their capture without resistance could be beneficial (11)
THERAPEUTIC – (their capture)* minus one R for resistance.
4 Monk to beat Street Arab that’s run away (8)
CAPUCHIN – CAP (beat) + URCHIN (street arab) without the R for run.
5 Israeli celeb rarely found out of bed? (4,2,9)
STAR OF BETHLEHEM – could be referring to an Israeli celeb, but it’s also the common name of the Ornithogalum genus of flowering plants.
6 Feature in press records raised dust from eruption (6)
SPLASH – LP’S (records) reversed + ASH (dust from eruption).
7 Naked when depicted by artist ignoring limits (3)
RAW – DRAWN (depicted by artist) without the first and last letters.
8 Vocalists’s top register’s clear (9)
VINDICATE – V(ocalist) + INDICATE (register).
13 Yankee lodger’s sound and is sexy, they say! (6,3,2)
RUMOUR HAS IT – sounds like “ROOMER” (Yankee lodger) + HAS IT (is sexy).
15 What Bunter’s done apparently reported throughout school (9)
OVEREATEN – sounds like “OVER ETON” (throughout school).
17 Sacked college employee, possibly one dealing with foreigners (8)
EXPORTER – EX-PORTER.
20 Anomaly left out of ancient song (middle omitted) (6)
ODDITY – OLD (ancient) without the L(eft) + DITTY (song) without the middle letter.
23 Birds flying east into Hull (5)
SKEIN – E(ast) inside SKIN (hull).
25 What’s used to record work so nothing’s lost (3)
ERG – ERGO (so) without the O (nothing).

7 comments on “Saturday Times 26142 (4th July)”

  1. 15 mins, so I appear to have been on the setter’s wavelength if your time is its normal benchmark Andy. COOK STRAIT was my LOI after SPLASH. HASP took a while to see, and I usually associate the HP abbreviation for the Houses of Parliament with the picture on the HP Sauce bottle. PERT also took longer to see than it should have done because I was initially looking for a palindrome.
  2. I don’t remember this one causing much trouble. It took 20-odd minutes, which means I was striding along and not limping. COOK STRAIT is good and STAR OF BETHLEHEM passable. All in all a sound but uninspiring crossword. Like Andy, HP sauce sprang to mind for HASP.
  3. 24:06. I struggled with this too, and wasted ages at the end convinced that the ‘divides’ in 12ac indicated some sort of culinary method beginning CHOP S___I_. At the same time I was convinced that ‘they say’ in 13dn was a homophone indicator. When you’re stuck like that the trick is often to abandon whatever assumptions you have been making, which I did eventually. An alphabet trawl got me COOK STRAIT and then I bunged in RUMOUR HAS IT from checkers before seeing the definition, kicking myself, and getting on with my day.
  4. About 35 minutes this morning. Ten of those minutes spent on NE corner because I couldn’t see STROVE. The whole thing was a bit of a struggle for me. Pleased to finish. Ann
  5. 5dn was my only shudder in this otherwise ordinary puzzle. Israel may wish to claim it, but Israeli it is not!
    1. There is also a Bethlehem in Galilee. Some people think that this one was the Bethlehem: it’s a lot closer to Nazareth.
  6. HP abbreviation – heard of HP sauce? – picture of Houses of Parliament on bottle!

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