Saturday Times 26382 (9th April)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 11:25 online, which looks like a really good time going through the stats and seeing who took longer (after the usual six pages of neutrinos)! There was some discussion on whether 23D had a superfluous word in it, presumably “back”. If you left it out the wordplay would indicate AVEHE though, so the clue’s fine as it stands. COD to 1ac for a bit of innovation.

Across
1 Great enthusiasm — not so many half-hearted, by the look of it (5)
FEVER – FEWER (not so many), “half-hearted” by turning the W into a V.
4 Rebel section taking a copper on board (9)
SPARTACUS – PART (section) + A + CU (copper), all inside SS (ie “on board”).
9 Disliked local inhabitants leaving church in unseemly run (9)
UNPOPULAR – POPULACE (inhabitants), minus CE for church, and inside (run)*.
10 What’s used for clearing / shrub (5)
BROOM – double definition.
11 Wayward lads holding men back (6)
DORSAL – (lads)* around OR (men).
12 Crooked servicemen taken in charge (8)
INDIRECT – RE (Royal Engineers, servicemen) inside INDICT (charge).
14 Sum that man arrived at slashed by 50, without reservation (2,3,4)
TO THE HILT – TOT (sum) + HE (that man) + HIT (arrived at) around L (50).
16 A verse in summer month about fruit (5)
GUAVA – A + V(erse) inside AUG (summer month) reversed. (Corrected following Keriothe’s comment)
17 Victorian craftsman releasing mass preparation for perfumier (5)
ORRIS – MORRIS (Victorian craftsman), without the M for mass.
19 There’s frivolity when Verity takes the other side (9)
LIGHTNESS – RIGHTNESS (verity) swapping R(ight) for L(eft).
21 Tons of jam taken out, applied and thoroughly spread (8)
SUFFUSED – STUFF (jam) with the T for tons removed, + USED (applied).
22 A queen borne by supporter’s one revered in India (6)
BRAHMA – A + HM (queen), inside BRA (supporter).
25 Cow’s lacking breadth of sheep (5)
OVINE – BOVINE (cow’s) minus the B for breadth.
26 Throw out flag almost adopted by Brussels — not before time! (9)
EJACULATE – JAC(k) (flag almost) inside EU (Brussels) + LATE (not before time).
27 Being one of the first presumably to admit retreat, sincerely (9)
EARNESTLY – EARLY (being one of the first) around NEST (retreat).
28 Delightful playing partners arranged to go round (5)
SWEET – W,E (playing partners – at bridge) inside SET (arranged).

Down
1 Colour of cosmetic that’s at the bottom of the pile? (10,5)
FOUNDATION STONE – “FOUNDATION’S TONE” (colour of cosmetic). I got the wrong end of the stick at first and put in FOUNDATION CREAM. Is that even a thing? 25ac got me back on track, so not much time was lost.
2 Personage meeting queen’s a treacherous type (5)
VIPER – VIP (personage) + ER (queen).
3 Agent needs to mingle to succeed (7)
REPLACE – REP (agent) + LACE (mingle, e.g. coffee with brandy, to use the example given in Chambers).
4 Second class advocate (4)
SILK – S(econd) + ILK (class).
5 A male running through inclined section of theatre (5,5)
APRON STAGE – A + STAG (male) inside PRONE (inclined).
6 Presenting bill before the fish (7)
TABLING – TAB (bill) + LING (fish).
7 Join forces and manage to involve old class (9)
COOPERATE – COPE (manage) around O(ld) + RATE (class).
8 New location of permanent stairs not entirely clear (4-11)
SEMI-TRANSPARENT – (permanent stairs)*.
13 Self-evident blunders — all but leader for the high jump? (5,5)
FIELD EVENT – ([s]elf-evident)*.
15 Row about heroin and crack’s comparatively sparing (9)
THRIFTIER – TIER (row) around H(eroin) + RIFT (crack).
18 You reflected bilingually, interrupting the lady’s sleep (7)
SHUTEYE – YE, TU (you bilingually), both reversed inside SHE (the lady).
20 Forces taking a turn, discussions announced (7)
TORQUES – sounds like TALKS (discussions). Works for me, but I’m sure others will disagree!
23 Hurl back what Adolf’s mate brought up (5)
HEAVE – EH (what) reversed + EVA (Braun, Adolf Hitler’s mistress), also reversed.
24 Cautious European ducks all in (4)
WARY – WEARY (all in) minus the E for European.

12 comments on “Saturday Times 26382 (9th April)”

  1. I was the one who queried the necessity of ‘back’ at 23d, taking both ‘what’ and ‘A’s mate’ as within the scope of ‘brought up’, giving HE followed by AVE; which still seems feasible, but. (Rather unpleasant image in any case.) I liked the surface of 12ac, but 9ac is my COD. And TORQUES certainly does not work for me, but I’m (pretty much) resigned to these.
  2. TORQUES worked for me.

    I also got the wrong end of the stick and put in FOUNDATION CREAM initially – but it is a thing! My Mum used to pop it on with a trowel!

    COD SEMI-TRANSPARENT – a neat anagram IMHO.

    horryd Shanghai

  3. I’ve no solving time for this but the lack of workings in the margins of my print-out suggests I didn’t struggle. I fear the number of neutrinos will only increase now that a Reveal option is available on the new puzzle platform. This also applies to the Saturday prize puzzle at the moment, though I trust this is an oversight and it will be removed in future weeks. I have informed the puzzle editors today if they weren’t already aware of it. I don’t think it applies to the Sunday Times.
    1. RR has now sorted the problem of “Reveal” being available for this weekend’s Saturday puzzle.
  4. 26:28. I found this hard, but very enjoyable. I agree with you on 23dn: without the word ‘back’ the answer would have to be EHAVE or AVEHE.
    Small point Andy but I think the wordplay for 16ac is AV inside AUG reversed, GU(AV)A.

    Edited at 2016-04-16 07:06 am (UTC)

      1. I have just remembered that I agonised for ages over WARY, and eventually bunged it in without understanding it. So thanks for clearing it up!
  5. Was I the only one to enter ‘brush’ as an anagram of ‘shrub’?
    I fell for the misdirection and thus failed to complete.

    Edited at 2016-04-16 09:53 am (UTC)

  6. Implies jam removed from tons not tons removed from jam. is this just me or does anyone else have a problem with this?
    1. I think that’s a deliberate misdirection. If you read it as the T(ons) belonging to the jam, the clue does work OK …
  7. No problems with this, dallied with F CREAM for 1d as did others, but about 20 minutes of pleasure. Liked SILK for its concise-ity

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