Saturday Times 26328 (6th Feb)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Tough puzzle, lots of GK required. Finished everything apart from 1ac and 2dn in about 15 mins, but then my mind had a temporary seizure and I couldn’t think of either of them. In the end I went off and solved the Guardian puzzle, came back to it and spotted them both immediately! Tieing for COD for me were two brilliant anagrams at 15ac and 5dn.

Across
1 Slow Latin number: a bit of a dog’s dinner all round (6)
BOVINE – VI (Latin number) inside BONE (a bit of a dog’s dinner).
4 Unusual jade ball dress for Arab lady (8)
DJELLABA – (jade ball)*.
10 Assumes cheerful attitude amongst journalists (11)
PRESUPPOSES – UP (cheerful) + POSE (attitude), inside PRESS (journalists).
11 What’s Auntie briefly fastened around one? (3)
BIB – BB(c) (Auntie briefly) around I (one), &lit.
12 Represents Post Impressionism’s first religious sect (7)
ISMAILI – IS (represents) + MAIL (post) + I(mpressionism).
14 One going with a bow, perhaps, far from steady (7)
AQUIVER – A QUIVER (one going with a bow, perhaps).
15 Potter’s creation: wide gem, strikingly unusual (3,5-6)
MRS TIGGY-WINKLE – (W gem strikingly)*. Beatrix Potter’s hedgehog washerwoman.
17 Poem from a new father overwhelmed by son: one entering the world (5,3,6)
VENUS AND ADONIS – A N(ew) DAD inside SON, I (one), all inside VENUS (the world). Shakespeare poem.
21 One entering Yale, maybe, established ties with US town (3,4)
KEY WEST – KEY (one entering Yale maybe) + EST(ablished) next to W(ith). Town (and island) at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys.
22 Unconventional view’s at least straight (7)
WAVIEST – (view’s at)*.
23 State / one’s going to / with complaint (3)
ILL – double triple definition (thanks Sawbill).
24 One dry summer on odd parts of the Med (11)
TEETOTALLER – TOTALLER (summer) next to odd letters of the Med.
26 S American chap with an effortlessness when speaking (8)
GUYANESE – GUY (chap) + AN + ESE (sounds like ease, effortlessness).
27 Fixed / problem with reception? (6)
STATIC – double definition.

Down
1 Roll up note with text for religious ceremonies (8)
BAPTISMS – BAP (roll) + TI (note) + SMS (text). I’m assuming “up” is in there by mistake, as nothing’s reversed.
2 Taking time out, cross bay (3)
VOE – VOTE (cross), with the T for time removed. A bay in Orkney or Shetland, normally only seen in harder cryptics.
3 Screen: a utility for displaying marine life (7)
NAUTILI – hidden in “Screen: a utility”.
5 Old master of the turntable is a good DJ who we upset (6,8)
JOSIAH WEDGWOOD – (is a good DJ who we)*. Great definition, great anagram.
6 Irish city council finally does live stream (7)
LISBURN – (counci)L + IS (does live) + BURN (stream). Third largest city in Northern Ireland.
7 Being in two minds about girl’s character (11)
AMBIVALENCE – AMBIENCE (character) around VAL (girl).
8 Black lining on the ball and chain (6)
ALBERT – B(lack) inside ALERT (on the ball). A watch chain named after Prince Albert.
9 Bound to tangle long hair that one’s lying on? (6,8)
SPRING MATTRESS – SPRING (bound) + MAT (tangle) + TRESS (long hair).
13 Drama once commentator’s been absent from second cup tie? (7,4)
MYSTERY PLAY – sounds like “missed replay”. I’m sure some will object, but I liked it. Any play depicting the life of Christ.
16 Recites nothing dreadfully obscure (8)
ESOTERIC – (recites O)*, O = nothing.
18 Left order to follow superior? (7)
UNEATEN – NEATEN (order) after U (superior).
19 Adversely affect cases by not behaving properly? (7)
DEVIANT – DENT (adversely affect) around VIA (by).
20 One wearing fleece, good for this sport? (6)
SKIING – I (one) inside SKIN (fleece) + G(ood).
25 Great deal / you’ll find at sale? (3)
LOT – double definition.

24 comments on “Saturday Times 26328 (6th Feb)”

  2. Needed aids for 4ac but otherwise got there after a long struggle so lost track of time. I take some satisfaction from having written in BOVINE at 1ac on first reading of the first clue whereas our blogger didn’t get it until the very end. One has to take small comforts where one can find them!

    Does anyone know how long one has to wait for TLS solutions to appear on line? I had a go at 1110 (29 January) and completed all but two answers after several mammoth sessions and lots of cheating, but I’ve now given up on them and just want to know what they are and check some of my dodgier answers. I shall never tackle another of these, btw.

    1. You have to wait 4 weeks Jack, by which time I for one can’t be bothered. There’s a small but devoted group of solvers on the Club Forum. It used to be a real lucky dip of a puzzle until PB took on the editor’s job (there wasn’t one before) a couple of years ago. In some ways I miss the old craziness.
  3. 18.47. Great stuff. One of the things I liked about this puzzle was that the GK wasn’t required, because everything was fairly clued. Never heard of a VOE? Follow the wordplay.

    Edited at 2016-02-13 09:09 am (UTC)

  4. 40-something minutes …. Same sort of struggle as linxit. I felt like all my solving weaknesses were being surgically exposed.

    MRS TIGGY WINKLE was almost my last one in, mainly because I spent ages trying to shoehorn Wee Willy Winkie in there and wondering why it didn’t fit the fodder (I now realise it’s also Willie not Willy). I have an irrational loathing of all things Beatrix Potter, the result of an aunt giving me a cutesy Potter figurine every birthday for years. I detested them, and the resentment lingers.

  6. Tough and engrossing. Liked the definitions at 1ac and 5dn among others. Not too familiar with Beatrix Potter characters but I had heard of Mrs T-W, in The Vicar of Dibley I think. COD to WAVIEST and high marks to the setter.
  7. She was one of the cover girls on Country Life last weekend by coincidence. My husband buys it ostensibly for me but I think he gets it for himself and my son-in-law. I find both of them them drooling over Scottish castles in the property pages. I use it to lean on when solving on paper. Here’s the cover: http://www.countrylife.co.uk/publication/country-life/country-life-january-27-2016

    I relished this puzzle and I agree with Andy about the Wedgwood clue. MYSTERY PLAY as a homophone doesn’t work for speakers of American English (as I’ve become) because we pronounce all the syllables, but where would be without the dodgy fun. Thanks for confirming what I thought must be the case with “up” in 1d. There were some more fanciful explanations on the Club Forum. 20.43

  8. I look at my treeware version of solving this puzzle last week and nothing now springs to mind as different/interesting. I am sure that I enjoyed it at the time. There is a discussion going on at the Crossword Club site as to whether there should be a ban on specific discussion within the week.
  9. It was a relief to finish this but it took nearly an hour. Last ones in 1a and 2d. I was trying from the start to fit BONE in but didn’t spot the definition. I was looking for an obscure dance – a beguine or something. Ann
  10. Being able to solve the QCs most days, I usually have a go at the Saturday Times crossword.
    Having got Josiah Wedgwood and Mrs Tiggy Winkle quickly I thought this might be my week.In the end it was far too difficult for me. I got most of the bottom half but none of the top. Had Tie at 11a. Would never have equated Bovine and Slow at 1a. 2d still seems almost impossible with so many meanings for Cross and Bay; I had never heard of Voe. And so on. It just goes to show I still have a lot to learn. David
    1. Just had to unspam this for some reason – nothing dodgy in there that I can see. This was probably the hardest one this year so far (at least for me it was), so don’t be discouraged. The good thing about cryptic clues is that most of the time you can put in an answer knowing it’s 100% right (once you’ve seen the wordplay). TIE had to be a guess, so my advice (which I don’t always follow myself) is try to avoid guessing!
      1. It’s the full stop but no space between the “week” and “In” – LJ thinks it’s a URL.
  11. Thanks for the kind words and tips on posting. The keycaptcha jigsaws normally prove I am human (you see these if posting anonymously)but I will watch my full stops in the future.
    A few more points on the crossword. Can Venus mean the world? I have never seen that before;and the poem was pretty obscure I thought; as was the city in Ireland. But that’s the thing about GK, you either know it or you don’t. 8d also very difficult. David
  12. Thanks for the kind words and tips on posting. The keycaptcha jigsaws normally prove I am human (you see these if posting anonymously)but I will watch my full stops in the future.
    A few more points on the crossword. Can Venus mean the world? I have never seen that before;and the poem was pretty obscure I thought; as was the city in Ireland. But that’s the thing about GK, you either know it or you don’t. 8d also very difficult. David
    1. Venus is certainly a world – I think I’ve also seen Mars referred to similarly in a clue, too.
    1. U=upper class, from Jessica Mitford’s book (title forgotten) distinguishing “U” from “non-U” words, customs, etc.

      Edited at 2016-02-15 03:42 am (UTC)

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