Saturday Times 26160 (25th July)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Apologies for the delay in posting. Solving time 13:22, solved online for a change and scraping onto the leaderboard in 100th place – although Magoo in 6:10 is probably the best genuine time in 68th place! Damn neutrinos! Anyway, strange puzzle this – easy to get going with the four 14-letter entries (including some great anagrams), loads of double definitions, and some really tricky areas. I think 1ac/1dn were my last two in.

Across
1 Force to obey diet successfully? (6)
REDUCE – double definition, the first of which I suppose I knew.
4 What I sell includes publication reflecting military planning (3,5)
WAR GAMES – WARES (what I sell) around MAG reversed (publication reflecting).
10 Bereft, if dog is lost? Don’t agree (3,2,6)
BEG TO DIFFER – (bereft if dog)*.
11 Half-heartedly cross bar (3)
ROD – ROOD (cross), “half-heartedy”.
12 Chill requires drugs — first three failed, then one succeeded (7)
ICINESS – MEDICINES (drugs) minus the first three letters, then S(ucceeded).
14 Horse breaking into canter deviating a lot (7)
TRANCHE – H(orse) inside (canter)*.
15 How sunlamp may feel on part of body — right behind (3,2,4,5)
HOT ON ONE’S HEELS – two defs, the first a bit whimsical.
17 A loathsome fiend I avoided, dreadful burden (3,3,2,3,3)
OLD MAN OF THE SEA – (a loathsome fiend)*, minus the I. Great anagram for a demon who’s met in Homer’s Odyssey as well as in Sinbad the Sailor.
21 Fine received by criminal, one with a glazed look? (7)
FAIENCE – A1 (fine) inside FENCE (criminal).
22 Detectives are inclined to spread out (7)
DISTEND – DI’S (detectives) + TEND (are inclined to).
23 Long time in prison, about to be released (3)
AGE – CAGE (prison), without the C for circa (about).
24 In gap between flights perhaps not quite coming down to earth? (4,7)
HALF LANDING – another double definition, this time with the second one whimsical.
26 Unforgiving if Bible is so defective? (8)
RUTHLESS – I guess if there was no Ruth it would be missing a few pages!
27 Something from tea girl preserved? (6)
TANNIN – ANN (girl) “in TIN”, i.e. preserved.

Down
1 Awful mistake set in stone (8)
RUBBISHY – BISH (mistake) inside RUBY (stone).
2 Appreciate having to enquire more closely (3)
DIG – double definition.
3 Near home, bad weather going to do this? (5,2)
CLOSE IN – and another.
5 Staff laid aside adapted very well (2,3,2,1,6)
AS FIT AS A FIDDLE – (staff laid aside)*.
6 Cause of disease and cause of death not initially related (7)
GERMANE – GERM (cause of disease) + (b)ANE (cause of death, not initially).
7 Mystery damage on unknown instrument (4,7)
MARY CELESTE – MAR (damage) + Y (unknown) + CELESTE (a musical instrument). The instrument I know as a CELESTA, but this is an acceptable alternative spelling according to Chambers.
8 Earth doubly wet (6)
SODDEN – SOD, DEN (two meanings of “earth”).
9 Items destined for sewer maybe creating uncomfortable feeling (4,3,7)
PINS AND NEEDLES – and another double definition. Has Rufus been moonlighting? Probably not – the rest of this puzzle’s quite tricky in places!
13 Sharp order — one chap supporting ruling (11)
INTELLIGENT – TELL (order) + I (one) + GENT (chap), all under IN (ruling).
16 Charge leader about rude remark — managed to fix it (8)
CARDIGAN – CA (about) + [DIG (rude remark) inside RAN (managed)]. This is the infamous Earl of Cardigan, who led the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War.
18 Doctor going round a department at hospital left analgesic (7)
MENTHOL – MO (doctor) round ENT (a department) + H(ospital), + L(eft).
19 Call for attention with clinic regularly near, praise be (7)
HOSANNA – HO (call for attention) + SAN (clinic) + N(e)A(r).
20 A decent-sounding business (6)
AFFAIR – sounds like “a fair”.
25 Some rain normal in Jamaica, for one (3)
INN – hidden in “rain normal”.

17 comments on “Saturday Times 26160 (25th July)”

  1. Enjoyed this one with its tricky, well-hidden definitions. Wanted 15 a to be ‘Not on your nelly’. Particularly liked 1 and 16d. Ended with little DIG of all things. 53 mins. Paul’s Prize Guardian today is a thing of beauty, and a little harder than your average Paul.
  2. 15m here, and I also had the most trouble with 1ac and 1dn. I thought 1ac was a bit odd. It also took me a while to see 7dn: the CELESTE isn’t the first instrument that springs to mind, however you spell it.
    A small point Andy, but I think the definition in 17ac is just ‘burden’ and ‘dreadful’ is the anagrind. Also in 3dn I think near = CLOSE and home = IN are separate. ‘Near home’ makes for a bit of an odd definition for CLOSE IN.
    1. Lift and separate? CLOSE (near), IN (at home) — in which case it’s not a double def.
  3. 15 mins for me too. RUTHLESS, which didn’t exactly have the most difficult of clues, was my LOI after MENTHOL. I biffed REDUCE from the “diet successfully” definition and only saw how the rest of the clue worked post-solve.
  5. Had real problems finishing off with four difficult clues all in the same quarter (NW)
  6. I liked this more than the usual Saturday, probably because it was a bit quirky. Saw only one definition for REDUCE. The four long lights were good and Ann in a tin type clues always please.
  7. Put in OLD MAN OF THE SEA on the erroneous assumption that it was something to do with Hemingway, so thanks for that Andy. Would agree with ulaca that today’s Paul is a good one – I find it hard to believe that he’s a Times setter too, as his style is so recognisable (and fun) in the Graun/Indy/FT yet I’d really struggle to identify any Times puzzle as his.
    1. You’d probably struggle to identify his Graun/Indy/FT puzzles as his if you didn’t already know they were. Our minds are very good at tricking us into finding what we expect to find without knowing that’s what we’ve done.
      1. Yes and no. I did some small-scale “experiments” into this as a result of reading “Thinking fast and slow”. Can I identify a Halpern puzzle with 100% certainty? No. Am I likely to confuse a Halpern with a Squires or a Henderson or a Rogan (i.e. other setters who I consider have a distinctive style)? Also no. I’m kind of surprised at your apparent suggestion that there’s nothing recognisable to you about any particular compilers.
        1. I don’t mean to suggest that particular setters don’t have an identifiable style: they do, of course. In the same way Gevrey Chambertin has an identifiable style that is different to that of Chambolle Musigny, but if presented with a glass of each blind I would expect to get it wrong a lot, even if somewhat less than half the time. I haven’t tested this with crosswords in the way I have with Burgundy though (and the vast majority of my solving is the Times anyway), so I will take your word for it that setter style is a bit more identifiable than I thought. My impression is that it changes a lot from puzzle to puzzle, too: any given setter writes more or less ‘typical’ puzzles on any given day.
        2. I can always tell a Henderson apart from a Halpern because I can finish a Halpern.
      2. Also yes and no. In Rupert’s “The Oz” there aren’t names on the Sunday Times crossword, learn who wrote it after doing it and reading this blog. I often (not always) can pick Anax’s style, but the other setters and some Anax puzzles all seem similar.
        Rob
        ps mostly easy, stuck for a few minutes at the end with FAIENCE (unknown or forgotten) and AGE and AFFAIR – no trouble with the ones, not REDUCEd to tears like many of you.
  8. A fast Saturday, but some of the time was gained at the cost of biffing, e.g. 12ac and 17ac, which I parsed post-solve. Somehow ‘charge leader’ immediately suggested the Light Brigade, and ‘mystery/instrument’ immediately suggested MARY CELESTE (the spelling I was used to, learning ‘celesta’ late in life). And ‘flight’ always prompts ‘staircase’ now, making 24ac fairly gettable. COD to ICINESS for its neat integration of deletion instruction with surface reading.
    1. Just think, which party won the last election? They are now IN.

      Edited at 2015-08-02 10:20 am (UTC)

Comments are closed.