Saturday Times 26172 (8th Aug) – not a piece of cake!

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 26:37 on the club timer, which is slow for me but none of the usual speed merchants managed under 10 minutes so it was very tricky! I was doing okay at first but got totally stumped for ages in the SW corner. 17ac, 21ac, 25ac, 27ac, the second half of 1dn, 15dn, 18dn and 24dn were all just laughing at me, and even as I gradually cracked them they put up a fight, only revealing themselves one at a time. All turned out to be completely fair in the end, just really good clues. No COD from me, as it would have to be more like a top 10 and even then I’d be missing a few out unfairly! More like this please (I’m a glutton for punishment).

Across
1 Side with expert in the paper (5)
FACET – ACE (expert) inside FT (Financial Times, paper).
4 Pieces of horse, tho’ of one yet to be slaughtered (2,3,4)
ON THE HOOF – (H, tho of one)*, the H from horse, although the phrase is usually applied to cattle.
9 Union man without deputy (6,3)
NUMBER TWO – NUM (union) + BERT (man) + WO (without).
10 Fool sewed joints, missing odd ones (5)
EEJIT – even letters of “sewed joints”. Irish pronunciation and spelling which is now in the dictionary, probably thanks to Father Ted!
11 Sort of badge perhaps press required to wear? (4-2)
IRON-ON – cryptic definition.
12 Serial killer caught by personnel is secure (8)
CHRISTIE – C(aught) + HR (Human Resources, personnel) + IS + TIE (secure). John Christie, whose crimes were portrayed in the film 10 Rillington Place.
14 Relative needing sum of money twice a year (9)
GRANDPAPA – GRAND (sum of money) + PA (per annum, a year) twice.
16 Bend over backwards, in charge of providing Irish pub fun? (5)
CRAIC – ARC (bend) reversed + IC (in charge). I was surprised to find this listed under crack in Chambers as an alternative spelling: fun, enjoyable activity and conversation, often in a pub (Irish).
17 Northerner’s short stay in Paris hotel? (5)
INUIT – 1 NUIT (i.e. one night in French, a short stay). Clever stuff.
19 Instrument changed from amber to red, briefly (9)
BAROMETER – (amber to re)*, re = red briefly.
21 Initially unsuitably clad, exchanged clothing that was lying about (8)
TRADUCED – U(nsuitably) + C(lad) inside TRADED (exchanged).
22 Pants — and comes to life? (6)
UNDIES – UN-DIES, geddit?
25 Bug, green, with large head on it (1,4)
E COLI – ECO (green) + L(arge) + I(t).
26 Bad weather expected mostly to stay in the memory (9)
RAINSTORM – IN STOR(e) (expected mostly) inside RAM (memory).
27 Vessel, small, shifts fruit (9)
STEAMSHIP – S(mall) + TEAMS (shifts) + HIP (fruit).
28 Fancies a piece of cake cut by girl coming back (5)
IDEAS – EAS(y) (a piece of cake cut) next to DI (girl) reversed.

Down
1 Sports instructor receiving note attached to weight (7,8)
FENCING MISTRESS – FENCING (receiving, i.e. stolen goods) + MI (note) + STRESS (weight).
2 Tease old group of players (5)
COMBO – COMB (tease) + O(ld).
3 Tug damaged by torpedo, maybe, reportedly first established position (7)
TOEHOLD – sounds like TOW HOLED.
4 Curse impresario at hit shows (4)
OATH – hidden in “impresario at hit”.
5 One responsible for the biter becoming bit? (5,5)
TOOTH FAIRY – cryptic definition, good one.
6 Recalled church keeping fine set of valedictory works (7)
ELEGIAC – CE (church) around A1 (fine) + GEL (set), all reversed.
7 Decorative item he passed on: ebony arrow (5,4)
OBJET D’ART – OB (short for Latin obiit, he died) + JET (ebony) + DART (arrow).
8 Following Mrs Thatcher is a change for the present supremo (6,9)
FATHER CHRISTMAS – (Following Mrs Thatcher is a)*. Great anagram, and a great definition too. But I can see an alternative (although it might be more appreciated in the Guardian): Supplier of presents from Mrs Thatcher? As if!
13 Spoil with cleaning fluid exterior to Queen’s London landmark (6,4)
MARBLE ARCH – MAR (spoil) + BLEACH (cleaning fluid) around R (queen).
15 Something superior and mysterious about cave (1,3,5)
A CUT ABOVE – (about cave)*.
18 Being sacked, or I must leave business? (7)
TOURISM – (or I must)*.
20 Brother and I overtaking abnormally large, broad runner (7)
MONOSKI – MONK (brother) + I around OS (outsize, abnormally large).
23 At first go home — carried off, we hear (2,3)
IN ONE – IN (home) + ONE, sounds like “won” (carried off).
24 Clear losing papers is obstacle to smooth progress (4)
LIMP – LIMPID (clear), minus ID (papers).

13 comments on “Saturday Times 26172 (8th Aug) – not a piece of cake!”

  1. A little over an hour of great fun, with toehold the standout clue for me. Perhaps it’s the influence of Brothers Karamazov, which I have been dipping into recently with my daughter set to take a course in philosophy in literature, but I entered monoski with a shake of the head, thinking that this must be a type of Russian bean I’d never heard of.
      1. That is why you are quicker at these things than I. While you latch onto the obvious cryptic, I’m indulging in fantastic reveries!
  2. Did fairly well in the first half-hour, after which I went offline; I have no idea how long it took me to get the rest, but it was long. Never heard of 10ac or 16ac, but the wordplay pretty much forced me to accept them. I also knew CHRISTIE, if at all, from a cryptic. I managed to top ulaca and keriothe by thinking of both interpretations of 20d (my LOI); clearly we were misled by the spelling, misling no doubt being the setter’s intention.

    Edited at 2015-08-15 04:25 am (UTC)

    1. A well known English newsreader used to tell the story of how his marriage to his sweetheart was sealed when they revealed to each other that they had both made the same mistake at an audition, rendering ‘misled’ as if it were constituted of no prefix.

      Edited at 2015-08-15 04:51 am (UTC)

      1. I have compiled a short list of words and names that are greatly improved by being mispronounced –

        MISLED
        PERICLES (silent e)
        COW-ORKER
        HERMI-ONE
        EU-GENE ONE-GIN
        DING-Y
        SO-CRATES

        No doubt there are many more that could be added.

        Edited at 2015-08-15 02:30 pm (UTC)

  3. 21 mins, so I think I was on the setter’s wavelength for this one, and I agree that it was a top quality puzzle. I eventually finished in the SE with IDEAS after MONOSKI, for which I was another 10ac who thought it was a Russian river I had never heard of until the penny dropped post-solve.
  4. One hour + one minute of hard but very rewarding work. Never knew the literal meaning of ON THE HOOF. Was very pleased to write in ELEGIAC correctly first time instead of my usual ELEGAIC which I then have to go back to correct much later, but then it had come up only a few days previously in another puzzle and I got it wrong then.
  5. The clue calls for an answer in the singular which would be INUK. Inuit denotes the nation or the people. Stuck me for a while. However, I blew it putting in e boli. Another typo takes its toll.

    Canadian colonial boy

  6. You may well be right (I wouldn’t know), but my dictionary says it can also mean a member of this people. Sometimes having specialist knowledge doesn’t help!

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