Saturday Times 26190 (29th August) –

I had some time on my hands last weekend so decided to do this one online, having had a lot of success with that method recently. Not with this one – 29:34 on the Club timer, and one wrong to boot (25ac, and I was far from the only failure on that particular clue). That one aside, the rest was of a very high standard. Some of the clues didn’t look like cryptic clues at all, if you know what I mean, but there was also a lot of GK required – 4 or 5 of the clues could have come from the TLS puzzle.

Across
1	More sage? One desiring less herbs to begin with (5)
	WISER – WISHER (one desiring) without the H (less herbs to begin with).
4	In terms of hair, presentable student if hair’s cut (9)
	COIFFURED – CO-ED (student) around IF + FUR (hair). I thought this should have had an extra E in it, but Chambers disagrees with me. Looks like we’ve taken the French word for a hairdresser, Anglicised the spelling and turned it into a verb. To coiffure means “to dress (the hair)”, so the definition’s quite witty.
9	A good move, packing shirt, pants, suit (9)
	COURTSHIP – COUP (a good move) around (shirt)*, with pants as the anagram indicator.
10	Senior person having the same desire (5)
	DOYEN – DO (abbreviation for “ditto”, the same) + YEN (desire).
11	One who loves to catch local fish (6)
	FINNAN – FAN (one who loves) around INN (local). Smoked haddock from Scotland. I thought it was called “finnan haddie”, but that’s only given as one of a few alternatives in Chambers, although Collins agrees with me.
12	All that is found in unopened grave (8)
	EVERYONE – YON (that) inside (s)EVERE (unopened grave).
14	Substance injected by more unusual retired clerk (9)
	REGISTRAR – GIST (substance) inside RARER (more unusual) reversed.
16	Almost stop over after one’s cut rent (3,2)
	LIE TO – O(ver) after I (one) inside LET (rent). Nautical term meaning “to be or become nearly stationary with head to the wind” (Chambers again).
17	Was bather panicking at first in flood? (5)
	SWAMP – SWAM (was bather) + P(anicking). I think the question mark’s only there for the surface reading to make sense.
19	US writer — do health resorts save us? (3,6)
	DOS PASSOS – DO + SPAS (health resorts) + SOS (save us). Ditto with the question mark. John Dos Passos (1896-1970).
21	Submarine manoeuvres ensured opening for Allies (8)
	UNDERSEA – (ensured)* + A(llies).
22	Reaction to gag about new Conservative leader (6)
	HONCHO – HO HO (reaction to gag) around N(ew), C(onservative).
25	Run away from thin ham? (5)
	EMOTE – R(un) removed from REMOTE (thin, as in chance I suppose?). I got this one wrong when I submitted online, as I bunged in ELOPE (run away), meaning to go back to it later, then forgot in my relief at finishing the thing! Still think it’s a dodgy clue. Even the surface is weak. A shame in such an otherwise brilliant puzzle (or is that just sour grapes?)
26	Concealing relationship, start running (9)
	OPERATION – RATIO (relationship) inside OPEN (start).
27	Something in blood half seen — not iron, unfortunately (9)
	SEROTONIN – (seen not iron)*.
28	Volunteer as killer? (5)
	OFFER – double definition, one cryptic (gangster talk, to off somebody is to kill them).

Down
1	Cruel schoolmaster was taking in empty creek: crossing’s dodgy (8,7)
	WACKFORD SQUEERS – WAS around C(ree)K + FORD’S (crossing’s) + QUEER (dodgy). Dickensian villain, headmaster of Dotheboys Hall in Nicholas Nickleby.
2	Slight protuberance on tip of nose (5)
	SPURN – SPUR (protuberance) + N(ose).
3	Nasty people to be arranged, poorly dressed? (7)
	RATBAGS – TBA (to be arranged), “in RAGS”, i.e. poorly dressed.
4	Heads for canteen once he’s ordered salmon (4)
	COHO – first letters of Canteen Once He’s Ordered. A Pacific salmon, probably better known in the UK by crossword solvers than diners.
5	Naughty nurses on top of beggar (10)
	IMPOVERISH – IMPISH (naughty) around OVER (on top of). Great clue, sounds like the premise for a Carry On film!
6	Union not broken, perhaps, welcoming sides in dispute (7)
	FEDERAL – FERAL (not broken, perhaps) around D(isput)E. Can “union” be an adjective, as the definition requires? I’m not sure.
7	Western star of screen, regularly bloodied or upset (3,6)
	ROY ROGERS – S(c)R(e)E(n) + GORY (bloodied) + OR, all reversed. Iconic singing cowboy in the 1940’s and 50’s. They don’t make ’em like that any more!
8	Play criminal and rogue… er, beneath contempt (9,6)
	DANGEROUS CORNER – (and rogue)* + ER under SCORN (contempt). 1932 play by JB Priestley. I’d never heard of it, but managed to get it from checkers and wordplay eventually.
13	Miss Jones filmed with private capital (10)
	BRIDGETOWN – BRIDGET (Miss Jones filmed, i.e. those based on the novels by Helen Fielding) + OWN (private). Capital of Barbados.
15	Through bursary, departs on our long trip (5,4)
	GRAND TOUR – GRANT (bursary) around D(eparts) + OUR.
18	Textbook’s Iron Cross initially appearing in bold (7)
	PERFECT – FE (iron) + C(ross), inside PERT (bold).
20	Tree almost said to be in difficulty (7)
	AVOCADO – VOCA(l) (almost said) inside ADO (difficulty).
23	Part of arch, ie fallen arch (5)
	CHIEF – hidden in “arch, ie fallen”.
24	Five-one to Germany — that shows style (4)
	VEIN – V (five) + EIN (one to Germany).

13 comments on “Saturday Times 26190 (29th August) –”

46 mins but I was nodding off during the solve. I agree that this was a very high quality puzzle. DOS PASSOS was my LOI after DANGEROUS CORNER and LIE TO. I considered biffing “elope” for 25ac but discounted it on the basis that I really couldn’t parse it, and I eventually saw (R)EMOTE. Tricksy indeed, and a tip of the hat to the setter for it.

A DNF, even after a second go at it. I really enjoyed what I managed to complete, but DANGEROUS CORNER was an unknown and the wordplay was too subtle for me. I also left 25a unfilled, as I just knew ELOPE was wrong but couldn’t see an alternative.

sotira says:

5 September 2015 at 11:03 AM

Having just filled in my unsolved entries for the sake of completeness (no OCD there, then) I’ve realised the other reason I couldn’t see DANGEROUS CORNER is that I had LIE ON for 16a.

Fair to call this a win to the setter.

Edited at 2015-09-05 05:05 pm (UTC)

25:13. I thought this was excellent, but that’s probably because I considered ELOPE but (for once) didn’t bung it in because I couldn’t parse it. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the clue, but then I would say that, wouldn’t I?!
My favourite in this puzzle was 1dn, because I hadn’t heard of (or more likely had forgotten) the character and had to construct it very carefully from the wordplay. People with more tolerance for – and hence knowledge of – Dickens than me will no doubt have had a very different solving experience!
I’m no expert on the matter but I think that ‘federal’ and ‘union’ are synonymous in the context of the American Civil War, where ‘Union forces’ and ‘federal forces’ would have the same meaning.

Enjoyable but difficult and I eventually had to use aids for 19ac as I knew I didn’t know the writer and I was fed up with trying to fathom the wordplay by that stage.

There may have been room for a better surface at 25ac but the wordplay was fine by me with “thin” = “remote” as in “a thin chance of something”.

Priestley’s DANGEROUS CORNER is always being revived but not as frequently as his “An Inspector Calls” which has a new production coming up in the BBC’s Autumn drama schedules.

I pecked away at this all week, eventually solving it yesterday.

I considered ’emote’ one of the easy starter clues, putting it in on sight without any difficulty. But many of them, such as the ‘Wackford Squeers’ and ‘Dangerous Corners’ clues, had to be laboriously worked out from the clues. ‘Nicolas Nickleby’ was the one Dickens novel that was not required reading in the Austen/Dickens seminar at Yale Grad school in 1977, so it’s the only one I don’t know.

ulaca says:

5 September 2015 at 12:23 PM

A shame that, as it wipes the floor with Edwin Drood and the other, Carlyle-based, historical novel. Decent BBC adaptation too.
1. vinyl1 says:
  
  5 September 2015 at 1:12 PM
  
  Well, I think we had enough work in that seminar. We read nearly the entire works of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens in one semester, plus piles of criticism and biographical material. Each student had to present a seminar paper, and write a term paper. And that was only one of the four courses each grad student took! They really made you earn your PhD in those days….

Pity “slim ham” doesn’t make sense, as “slim chance” is so much more common a collocation than “thin chance”. Had to look up Don Passos, anyway – despite, I’m sure, coming across him in Gore Vidal’s essays – so my moan is not as plangent it might otherwise have been.

I was a DNF too; a couple I couldn’t work out, and brain fog kept me from getting a couple others even where it was clear how the clue worked. Like Sotira, I’m still pleased with the ones I got. I think we’ve had ham=emote a couple times recently so I didn’t fall into the elope trap, and decided the remote/thin bit was devious but legal.

I’ve lost my copy of this one but I remember it for its difficulty and cleverness, and its prompting me to reread the trilogy U.S.A. by John Dos Passos, a favourite from many years ago. So two reasons to thank the setter.

Fortunately, I did read ‘Nicholas N’ (once), so the name was familiar; in fact all I can remember from the novel is that he ‘had but one eye, and popular prejudice is in favor of two’. Hats off to keriothe for getting it from wordplay. Biffed EMOTE (a common NYT word), although I probably toyed with ‘elope’; as Andy says, a dodgy clue, the dodginess standing out all the more as there were so many lovely surfaces elsewhere.

I’ve had this in a back pocket and had several goes – a train journey today gave me the chance to complete what I could – which turned out to be all (eventually) except emote (elope) and Dos Passos (just didn’t know and didn’t think of sos). Just thought I’d mention I DID get lie to – boats you see! Really enjoyed the struggle of this one.

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