Saturday Times 26334 – 13th Feb

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
15:40 for this one, which I didn’t get around to until yesterday morning. Biffing in UNDERCOAT early on for 2dn didn’t help much, but it fit three of the crossing letters so I didn’t give up on it as quickly as I should have! COD to 13ac for the surface reading. I’ll have to dig that DVD Boxed Set out again…

Across
1 Representative backing bankrupt college (8)
PEMBROKE – MEP (representative) reversed, + BROKE (bankrupt).
6 Interfere with power for male hawk (6)
PEDDLE – MEDDLE (interfere), with the M(ale) replaced by P(ower).
9 God runs away from sculptor (4)
ODIN – RODIN (sculptor), minus the R(uns).
10 Nothing found by European bachelor in search for weapon (6,4)
COBALT BOMB – O (nothing) + BALT (European) + B(achelor), all inside COMB (search).
11 Rogue overpricing very short opera (6,4)
PRINCE IGOR – (overpricing)*, minus the V (“very” short). Opera by Alexander Borodin.
13 Blackadder’s last to take advantage of cunning plan (4)
RUSE – R (Blackadder’s last) + USE (take advantage of). One for fans of the series!
14 Relative dropping in repeatedly provides food (8)
COUSCOUS – COUS(in) twice.
16 Group of artists in coach or train (6)
SCHOOL – double definition.
18 Juvenile delinquent stripped bare (6)
UNVEIL – (uvenil)*, i.e. juvenile “stripped” by removing the first and last letters.
20 Numbers racket stopping exams (8)
ORDINALS – DIN (racket) inside ORALS (exams).
22 Bird that’s most important we heard (4)
KIWI – sounds like “key we”.
24 Five visiting resort ordered red wine (5,5)
VINHO VERDE – V (five) + IN (visiting) + HOVE (resort) + (red)*.
26 Resorted to cast iron drawer (10)
CARTOONIST – (to cast iron)*.
28 Cut in after old-fashioned look (4)
LOIN – IN after LO (old-fashioned “look”).
29 Revolutionary works for porcelain (6)
SEVRES – SERVES (works) reversed.
30 Don’t go off with drink as a souvenir (8)
KEEPSAKE – KEEP (don’t go off) + SAKE (drink).

Down
2 Colour that is seen from below blue cover (9)
EIDERDOWN – RED (colour) + I.E. (that is), both reversed (seen from below) + DOWN (blue).
3 Fruit that’s British — a Granny Smith, primarily (7)
BANANAS – B(ritish) + A + NANA (granny) + S(mith).
4 A solitary copper popped in at the right time (2,3)
ON CUE – ONE (a solitary) around CU (copper).
5 Be upset by start of boom or recession (3)
EBB – BE reversed + B(oom).
6 Star and top journalist in opposing camps (9)
POLARISED – POLARIS (star) + ED (top journalist).
7 Girl dressed up on a horse (7)
DEBORAH – ROBED (dressed) reversed + A + H(orse).
8 Stories about source of money trees (5)
LIMES – LIES (stories) around M(oney).
12 Irish lad, lacking energy departs before long (7)
GOSSOON – GOES SOON (departs before long), without the E(nergy). Never come across that before, but I saw the wordplay quickly and it looked like an Irish word!
15 Clear round left one unaware (9)
OBLIVIOUS – OBVIOUS (clear) around L(eft), I (one).
17 Original is like old material (5,4)
OILED SILK – (is like old)*.
19 One chucks out intro for Eurovision winner (7)
EVICTOR – E(urovision) + VICTOR (winner).
21 Pointers not required? Not entirely (7)
NEEDLES – NEEDLESS (not required), minus the last letter.
23 Mad freebooter’s severed head (5)
IRATE – PIRATE (freebooter), minus the first letter.
25 Blooming sappers may be bizarre (5)
OUTRE – OUT (blooming) + R.E. (Royal Engineers, sappers).
27 Gall from Sir Keith (3)
IRK – hidden in Sir Keith.

8 comments on “Saturday Times 26334 – 13th Feb”

  1. although in two sittings: a half-hour on line, stuck on two, 1ac and of all things 22ac. Came back later and instantly saw both. DNK 12d, but as Andy says, it looked Irish. I’ve marked 3 clues as COD in the margins, but I think 18ac edges out the others.
  2. I thought 18ac. would make more sense as ” stripped bare juvenile delinquent” otherwise if you jumbled juvenile then took the outer letters away it wouldn’t make sense.
  3. Struggled a bit in the SW, with GOSSOON and VINHO with an ‘H’ which was news to me as I’ve never drunk Portugese wine. Best clue UNVEIL despite the above misgivings. Under the hour by 2 minutes.
  4. Like jackkt I thought UNVEIL was a good clue. barracuda’s re-write might look better as ‘Stripped juvenile delinquent bare’, ‘bare’ being the definition, but I don’t think it’s necessary. The Portuguese wine and the British fruit were also pretty good, as was the crossword as a whole.
  5. You could jumble JUVENILE to EEVULINJ and then strip it, so technically I suppose 18ac works, but I think sidcuppa’s rewrite would be better. It’s still a good clue in a very good puzzle that took me 15 minutes.
  6. Despite solving the QCs regularly, I found this a real struggle. I got 12 clues and then gave up.
    Looking at the blog – for which many thanks – some were gettable but Cobalt Bomb, Prince Igor and the Irish lad all unknown.
    I’ll keep trying. David
  7. Someone on the blog for today’s (Monday’s) cryptic (David above?) told me I’d won a prize for this puzzle so it would seem churlish not to ccomment.

    In fact I enjoyed it very much: lots of nice short clues and no serious hold-ups, though it took me longer than it should have done to get my head round the (to me) unfamiliar VINHO VERDE. A pleasant 9:48.

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