Saturday Times 26352 (5th March)

Posted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 14:42. Quite a mixed bag here, with literature and mythology well represented, but also a bit of sport, politics and science. A couple of relatively obscure words (I’m thinking DITHYRAMB and RATAFIA, which were mentioned in Forum comments), but I knew them – both coincidentally clued with fully-reversed wordplay. Also (as mentioned below) a brilliant prophecy in 12ac, as Tottenham Hotspur got thrashed 3-0 by Borussia Dortmund in the following week. I hope the setter’s a betting man!

Across
1 Virile man travelled initially in French south (4)
STUD – T(ravelled) inside SUD (French for south).
4 Unauthenticated first letter with copy Ralph produced (10)
APOCRYPHAL – A (first letter) + (copy Ralph)*.
9 Bluff by Tory PM reveals tortured character (10)
HEATHCLIFF – CLIFF (bluff) next to HEATH (Tory PM). Main character and anti-hero in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights.
10 Some Guinness female companions keep (4)
ALEC – hidden in “female companions”. Sir Alec Guinness, the actor.
11 Weapons manufacturer busy at last in shady nook (6)
BOWYER – (bus)Y inside BOWER (shady nook).
12 Spurs nightmare in fragile defence? (8)
EGGSHELL – EGGS (spurs) + HELL (nightmare). Prophetic surface considering what happened on Thursday night!
1 Bloodsucker following inconclusive guide (4)
FLEA – F(ollowing) + LEA(d) (“inconclusive” guide).
15 Notice key Herts town band used to make impression (6,4)
SIGNET RING – SIGN (notice) + E (key) + TRING (Herts town).
17 Limber law-breaker out to steal the kitty? (3,7)
CAT BURGLAR – cryptic definition. I remember when I was about 4 I thought that was exactly what they did!
20 Little man pockets million — a fortune! (4)
BOMB – BOB (little man) around M(illion). As in the phrase “That must have cost a bomb!”
21 Retired news provider probes map book for fabulous place (8)
ATLANTIS – ITN (news provider) reversed, inside ATLAS (map book).
23 A new resident in shelter he or she rents (6)
TENANT – A + N(ew) inside TENT (shelter).
24 Opening time brings old politician (4)
PITT – PIT (opening) + T(ime).
25 Display in marshy land upset Hugo? It’s understandable (4,6)
FAIR ENOUGH – AIR (display) inside FEN (marshy land), + (Hugo)*.
26 Brave daughter, in favour of being hugged, came closer (10)
APPROACHED – APACHE (brave) + D(aughter), around PRO (in favour of).
27 Duke to vex Duncan’s killer? (4)
DIRK – D(uke) + IRK (vex). The weapon Macbeth would have used to stab King Duncan in the Shakespeare play.

Down
2 Another belt’s given out for this? (3,5,3)
THE NOBLE ART – (another belt)*, semi-&lit.
3 Black girl, concealed, keeps time for uplifting, passionate hymn (9)
DITHYRAMB – B(lack) + MARY (girl) + HID (concealed) around T(ime), all reversed. In ancient Greece, a wild impassioned choral hymn sung in honour of Bacchus (according to Chambers).
4 Bill to go with trousers is in agreement (7)
ACCORDS – AC (bill) + CORDS (trousers).
5 Versatile writer — girls loved him to dance (6,9)
OLIVER GOLDSMITH – (girls loved him to)*. As a novelist, poet and playwright I suppose he was pretty versatile.
6 Exile concerned with stale atmosphere vacated enclosure (7)
REFUGEE – RE (concerned with) + FUG (stale atmosphere) + E(nclosur)E.
7 Keep around 50 to share (5)
HALVE – HAVE (keep) around L (50).
8 Laughing out loud about chap regularly seen in pub (5)
LOCAL – LOL (txtish abbreviation) around C(h)A(p).
13 Chain gang’s boss? (4,7)
LINE MANAGER – cryptic definition.
16 Bird, top in falconry, despoiler in forest (5,4)
ROBIN HOOD – ROBIN (bird) + HOOD (top in falconry). Strange choice of definition, a bit too mean-sounding for the legendary “noble outlaw”.
18 Liqueur available at first if a sailor’s capsized (7)
RATAFIA – A(vailable) + IF + A + TAR (sailor), all reversed.
19 Political extremist claiming to be in Paris or Tyre? (7)
RETREAD – RAD (political extremist) around ETRE (French for “to be”).
21 Brightest star / most dominant (5)
ALPHA – double definition.
22 Happy after tenancy comes to stop (3,2)
LET UP – UP (happy) after LET (tenancy).

13 comments on “Saturday Times 26352 (5th March)”

  1. A steady solve for me completed in just under an hour. I was able to put the recently learnt RAD for ‘radical’ to good use only to get caught out by it again when it turned up on Friday meaning ‘excellent’.
  2. 8:13, which is only 1.3 Magoos, so I seem to have been very much on the wavelength for this one. Still not good enough to get on the leaderboard though!
    1. I managed a similar Magoo ratio on today’s puzzle … or would have done, had I remembered to type in the middle letter of 16d, a word that perfectly describes my feelings after messing up a Saturday PB!
  3. 17:51 … found this a little tricky, not least because of several words I tend to misspell (if setters don’t provide wordplay for SIGNET RING I’m done for). DITHYRAMB is another one that I usually ‘spell’ with a bit of trial and error.

    One week on, I can never remember whether I enjoyed a puzzle. Let’s assume I did.

  4. I solved this with a friend on a train journey to watch Preston North End (someone has to). We needed some of the return journey to finish it and last in was Dithyramb thanks to careful parsing. We put Tito in at first for the old politician which caused a problem.The star (21a) caused us problems too; Astra was there for a time.
    I’ve just had a quick look at today’s puzzle and can’t even get started. Last week’s allowed a foothold. David
    1. Perhaps take another look at this Saturday’s, David? I think much of it is on the easier side of things. 5th March took me twice as long, so if you solved that you should be in with a shot at today’s.
  5. Ages since I have solved completely a Times Crossword and thought I was there until D?T?Y?A?B foxed me. That one word seemed so much harder than all the rest, bar, as mentioned, ratafia but that one seemed more gettable from the cryptic.
  6. I found this straightforward and a bit unremarkable as well – after I figured out that there are two old politicians with “t” in the third spot (Cato – 4 pols if you count the elder and younger of both). Thanks for the blog.
  7. Have made a start! A cup of coffee helped. I got 4d which led to 1a and 9a and now have solved 14 clues mainly in the top half. I will keep coming back to it over the weekend. David
  8. Solid fare, I thought. Fortunately recalled 3d from a previous puzzle, otherwise I would have been up a gum tree with this one as I could not spot the wordplay. (By contrast, 18d was unknown to me but the wordplay was generous so I slapped it in with a fair level of confidence).

    Nothing outstanding, but some nice enough clues – 2d, 19d and 25a my personal pick of the crop. I did wonder about “versatile” in 5d – seemed a bit odd, but fair enough. Thanks for the blog Andy.

  9. Dithyramb / Ratafia, no problem – came across these in previous crosswords when I was just starting out last year & they weren’t forgotten.

    I did though have The Final Act for a long time for 2d, which caused no end of problems. Also had difficulty justifying Accords for the singular agreement & then dithered over whether Accorde or Acchord were actually words.

    I got there in the end but Tipex was most definitely involved.

    Thanks to setter and blogger – a very enjoyable challenge.

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