Saturday Times 26202 (12th Sept) – meet Nina’s parents!

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 9:29 (including at least a minute spent at the end on 19ac), so a pretty easy puzzle despite the odd bits of Latin, chemistry and literary knowledge required. Unusually there also seems to be a Nina, with MUMMY and POPPY appearing symmetrically in the grid. Then again, it could just have been a coincidence…

Across
1 Newcastle far away? Block saying how far (9)
MILESTONE – “MILES TO NE” (north-east).
6 Simple container for water, not quite cold (5)
BASIC – BASI(n) (container for water, not quite) + C(old).
9 Poisonous element drunk a little, and another element swallowed (7)
MERCURY – MERRY (drunk a little) around CU (copper, another element).
10 A reason not to arrange for a wife, maybe (7)
CONSORT – CON (a reason not to) + SORT (arrange).
11 Defiant expression, rejecting fodder (3)
YAH – HAY (fodder) reversed.
12 Film a particular fielder (3,5,3)
THE THIRD MAN – THE (a particular) + THIRD MAN (cricket fielding position, deep behind square on the off side. 1949 film by Carol Reed, starring Orson Welles.
14 Ring belonged to woman briefly (6)
WASHER – WAS HER(s) (belonged to woman briefly).
15 Thought I was digging to bury silver (8)
IMAGINED – I + MINED (was digging) around AG (silver).
17 Worker encloses fine channel: that’s a bit rich (8)
AFFLUENT – ANT (worker) around F(ine), FLUE (channel).
19 Clearing out, not started, is pressing (6)
URGING – PURGING (clearing out) minus the first letter. My last one in, and I must have spent a minute on it going through the alphabet.
22 One option drunk when taking in the cricket? (5,6)
PINOT GRIGIO – (I option)* around GRIG (dialect word for a cricket). A loose &lit.
23 One found among the pages of Dickens (3)
PIP – I (one) inside PP (pages). Semi-&lit, as PIP (nickname of Philip Pirrip) is the main character in Great Expectations.
25 Died in apparent poverty, not going willingly? (7)
DRAGGED – D(ied) + RAGGED (in apparent poverty).
27 To produce a larger harvest, perhaps, a sudden occurrence (7)
OUTCROP – double definition, although unsurprisingly you won’t find the first in any dictionaries!
28 Fold paper lengthways at first, and stuff into mouth (5)
PLEAT – P(aper) + L(engthways) + EAT (stuff into mouth).
29 Not the first show of colour spread out about one (9)
REDISPLAY – RED (colour) + SPLAY (spread out) around I (one).

Down
1 One having child’s body preserved (5)
MUMMY – double definition.
2 Trees concealed by poplar and chestnut (7)
LARCHES – hidden in popLAR, CHEStnut.
3 Dirt from sink found on barrel (11)
SCUTTLEBUTT – SCUTTLE (sink) + BUTT (barrel). “Dirt” in the sense of rumour, gossip etc. US slang apparently.
4 Gas produced by cattle, extremely gusty, rising in their stomach? (6)
OXYGEN – OXEN (cattle) around G(ust)Y reversed.
5 Come specially round church house, to see this artwork? (4,4)
ECCE HOMO – (come)* around CE (church), HO (house). Latin for “behold the man”, a common artistic subject portraying Jesus just before the crucifixion.
6 Don’t allow pop group to finish early (3)
BAN – BAND (pop group), minus the last letter.
7 Son, grown up, a chilly figure (7)
SNOWMAN – S(on) + NOW MAN (grown up).
8 Always quarrelling, plenty of these in a fall (3-3-3)
CAT-AND-DOG – the fall being rain, as in the expression “raining cats and dogs”.
13 One that fixes a sort of lock, say, in a stiff condition (5,6)
RIGOR MORTIS – sounds like “rigger” (one that fixes) + “mortice” (a sort of lock).
14 Finished getting prepared for the cold (7,2)
WRAPPED UP – double definition.
16 Unexpected visitor rattled tin — not so polite (8)
INTRUDER – (tin)* + RUDER (not so polite).
18 Flourish; if cooler, manage (7)
FANFARE – FAN (cooler) + FARE (manage).
20 Beard’s not a hazard (7)
IMPERIL – IMPERIAL (a style of beard named after Napoleon III), minus the A.
21 Ancient criminal gaoled (3-3)
AGE-OLD – (gaoled)*. A lot of people on the Forum admitted to reversing the words and causing havoc in the bottom half, but luckily I already had the G in place when I looked at this.
24 Girl like her father? (5)
POPPY – i.e. POPPY = like POP.
26 Ted would be very disappointed with this paunch (3)
GUT – put it with TED to get GUTTED (very disappointed).

8 comments on “Saturday Times 26202 (12th Sept) – meet Nina’s parents!”

  1. Knocked this one over without too many dramas, albeit at a glacial pace relative to our blogger!

    Enjoyable puzzle with some pleasing wit, clever clues and very nice surfaces (particularly liked 20dn, 26dn, 10ac). Did not know GRIG, albeit the answer was clear from surrounding wordplay and checkers.

    Thanks to setter and to Andy for the blog.

    1. After bottling GRAVES during the week (the week that was), I managed to enter ‘Pinot Grigot’ this time round. Once it was the ‘Ayredale’ (sic) hound that did for me, now it seems anything in the vineyard is my graveyard.
  2. Agree with Nick – a steady but pleasant stroll, although slightly distracted by that well-known film ONE SHORT LEG. Thanks to all.
  3. Only 30 minutes for this one, which is good for me on a Saturday. My only puzzlement was over YAH as “defiant expression” which I have managed to avoid all these years unless followed “-boo and sucks to you”.
  4. 19 minutes, but no idea how Pinot Grigio worked, that was biffed. The others were a pleasure to solve. Good to see me clued without being something to do with fruit.
  5. About twenty minutes for a genial Saturday offering. MILESTONE was neatly clued, and maybe it signalled an anniversary for MUMMY and POPPY. PIP for COD!
  6. All week long I’d thought my error was POPPY, and that it should have been ‘popsy’; now I finally notice that for some reason I threw in ‘millstone’. I’d like to think it was a typo. 22ac was my penultimate OI, but I finally remembered ‘grig’, making 18d the LOI. Fun despite the error, and nice to get a Saturday puzzle done so quickly.
  7. about 40 minutes in a go and a half. Held up by plonking in the not quite working BUNDLED UP instead of WRAPPED UP. There is something disconcerting for me about mistakes like that. Having some of the crossing letters work perfectly (D and P) seems to block out my thinking that the others might need a re-think. thanks, Andy. Thanks setter.

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