Saturday Times 26472 (23rd July)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time – not sure, a gentle 20 minutes or so with the actual paper for a change, while talking and not really concentrating on it. I then typed it in in 1:58 (submitted without leaderboard of course), thereby proving that most of the neutrinos are pretty poor typists (as I’m rubbish). Nothing very tricky here, but COD to 10A for a great cryptic def, and a mention to 3D for the toughest wordplay.

Across
1 Scotsman and his flash masculine pride (8)
MACHISMO – MAC (Scotsman) + HIS + MO (flash).
5 Very many lackeys lacking leadership (6)
OODLES – POODLES (lackeys) minus the first letter.
10 Game over if one hasn’t drawn a blank? (7,8)
RUSSIAN ROULETTE – cryptic definition.
11 It’s gone in the sauce? That’s a downer! (7)
GRAVITY – IT inside GRAVY (sauce).
12 Exercise getting journalists out of bed (5-2)
PRESS-UP – PRESS (journalists) + UP (out of bed).
13 I procrastinate, perhaps, as a devotee (8)
IDOLATER – I + DO LATER (procrastinate, perhaps).
15 Light colour / that doesn’t work (5)
LEMON – double definition. I checked the second – Chambers has “something or someone disappointing, worthless, unattractive or defective”.
18 Rear of cavity bearing fungus (5)
YEAST – (cavit)Y + EAST (bearing).
20 Appropriate payment including European currency, Austrian capital (8)
RELEVANT – RENT (payment) around LEV (European currency), A(ustrian).
23 Good time to put away red pants in private chamber (7)
BEDROOM – BOOM (good time) around (red)*.
25 Obvious one needs nursing? (7)
PATIENT – PATENT (obvious) around I (one), &lit.
26 Party beaten, I won and lost here (3,4,4,4)
LET ONE’S HAIR DOWN – (I won and lost here)*.
27 Club something to chew on, then stick (6)
CUDGEL – CUD (something to chew on) + GEL (stick).
28 Typical / colours, perhaps? (8)
STANDARD – double definition.

Down
1 Hot water bottles a good vision (6)
MIRAGE – MIRE (hot water) around A G(ood).
2 Line written up about fool and prophetess (9)
CASSANDRA – ARC (line) reversed around ASS (fool), AND. Daughter of King Priam of Troy, who had the gift of prophecy but was cursed by the god Apollo so that nobody ever believed her (because she refused to sleep with him).
3 ‘I’ in ‘ego’ up first (7)
INITIAL – I inside LATIN I (ego), all reversed.
4 Necessary figure about which I’m astonished! (5)
MONEY – ONE (figure) inside MY (I’m astonished!).
6 Source of great wealth, painting skilfully (3,4)
OIL WELL – OIL (painting) + WELL (skilfully).
7 Flower anyone can see in a large bunch (5)
LOTUS – U (anyone can see – film classification) inside LOTS (a large bunch).
8 Comprehensive school’s principal visibly upset (8)
SWEEPING – S(chool) + WEEPING (visibly upset).
9 Officer left mostly with pink clothing! (8)
CORPORAL – POR(t) (left mostly) inside CORAL (pink).
14 A must, I suspect, to eat Irish dessert (8)
TIRAMISU – (A must I)* around IR(ish).
16 Maine’s not bad for a US state (9)
MINNESOTA – (Maine’s not)*.
17 Thus dressing doctor in yellow, not entirely representative (8)
SYMBOLIC – SIC (thus) around [MB (doctor) inside YOL(k) (yellow, not entirely)].
19 Thump counter in a frenzy (7)
TROUNCE – (counter)*.
21 Experienced apostle’s heading off in front (7)
VETERAN – PETER (apostle) minus the first letter, inside VAN (front).
22 Pickled — like a plum? (6)
STONED – double definition.
24 Very old, extremely upset about end of contract (5)
DATED – DEAD (extremely) reversed around (contrac)T.
25 Put map on top of table (5)
PLANT – PLAN (map) + T(able).

15 comments on “Saturday Times 26472 (23rd July)”

  1. My printout is unblemished, no ticks, no crosses, no question marks or workings-out .. so it must have been pretty easy!
    It has some very nice surface readings, though
  2. 30 minutes, so quick for me for a Saturday. Some excellent clues with 24 taking me the longest to parse.
  3. This was easy enough, which is more than can be said for Sunday’s, whjch I must now try and finish.
  4. 9m, pretty straightforward.
    I was travelling last Saturday, so solved this on the iPad. As an experiment I tried solving it online again this morning to see how quickly I could do it the second time, a week later. The answer was a little over 3 minutes, but with an error: IDOLATOR. There is a lesson in this experience.
  5. 15 minutes, easy for a Saturday, thanks for explaining INITIAL which I didn’t dissect in detail. Liked the Russian game.
  6. which tells it all; I’ve never been this fast on a Saturday (or, generally, any other day, for that matter). But I biffed 3d.
  9. This was the easiest Saturday puzzle I can remember. Instead of struggling with it over several days, I completed it in a couple of sessions on Saturday in not much more than an hour.
    It helped that there was nothing really obscure -to me. If I see prophetess, I only have one answer and it came up here;and I saw Russian roulette quickly so had a lot to work with.
    I enjoyed this puzzle very much.
    A sign of progress for me? Perhaps , but I have completed less than half of the most recent Saturday puzzle despite having lots of time to look at it being on holiday. David
  10. This was a pleasant change for a Saturday with only 3dn INITIAL giving concern – 30 minutes.

    COD 10 ac RUSSIAN ROULETTE

    horryd Shanghai

    1. Idolator is an alternative spelling for idolater according to Chambers. Anyway, I got the puzzle all correct and I spelled it with an E. 🙂

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