Times 24816, 2nd Qualifier (6th April): One I prepared earlier

Author   mctextPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: see earlier post.

Not a difficult puzzle I thought. So fast times will be posted. There are a couple of complete (and intersecting) giveaways involving a well-known Pom who helped the Frog aristos keep their heads and a Beatles film.

 

Across
 1 WIDOWER. WI (Women’s Institute), DO (function), WE, R (run).
 5 FRANCE,S.
 9 V,INDICATE. Latin, vide (see).
10 KARMA. Sounds like ‘calmer’.
11 REF,ER. Reversal of the usual Engineers (RE).
12 PIMPERNEL. For obvious reasons.
14 TROUBLESHOOTER. Anagram of ‘to Seoul … brother’. (Also what epistaxis does.)
17 BESIDE THE POINT. Two defs, one a humorous reference to the fielder roughly at a right-angle to the batsman’s off stump.
21 ICE HOCKEY. Anagram of ‘choice’, KEY.
23 ADDER. ‘Ladder’ (run) minus its first.
24 GAMIN. ‘Gaming’ (playing on computer) minus its last.
25 ABOUT TURN. ABOUT is ‘connected with’; TURN is ‘revolution’.
26 DER,WENT.
27 RECITAL. Anagram of ‘article’.
Down
 1 WYVERN. W (with), anagram of ‘very’, N for ‘name’.
 2 DONE FOR. ONE F inside ROD reversed.
 3 WHIP-ROUND. WHIP (steal); ROUND (cycle, as in ‘song cycle’).
 4 REALPOLITIK. Anagram of ‘oil … like part’. (Also: José Mourinho’s controversial team selections.)
 5 FOE. O (first of ‘old’) in FE (iron).
 6 ANKLE. ‘Rankle’ minus its first.
 7 CORONET. OR (gold) and ONE (unique), all inside CT (court). (Also a device for catching a dyslexic blogger.)
 8 SMALL FRY. The dramatist is Christopher. (Stephen was only ever a drama queen; and never small.)
13 MYSTERY TOUR. Cryptic ref to the failed Beatles TV film, Magical Mystery Tour. I saw this in B&W on its first broadcast (Boxing Day, 1967) and rather liked it! But then, my parents were out and I was experimenting with substances, mostly cider.
15 ON,O,MASTIC. The gum or resin from the Pistacia lentiscus, or the tree itself; hence ‘gum tree’. The whole is “of or relating to the study of the history and origin of proper names”.
16 A,BRIDGE,D.
18 STE(A,M)ER.
19 NO DOUBT. NOD and anagram of ‘bout’.
20 B,RUNE,L.
22 OUNCE. ‘Pounce’ minus its first (P for ‘power’).
25 ART. Inclusive.

 

10 comments on “Times 24816, 2nd Qualifier (6th April): One I prepared earlier”

  1. 19′ for me, so I can only imagine the scores of people who are seriously planning on entering. A cynic might think that this was intended to be easy enough to lure such as I into pungling up the entrance fee. Still, it was fun. Luckily, WYVERN had appeared recently enough that it wasn’t stored in my memory as a river.
  2. 22 minutes, so a PB – one minute quicker than today’s effort, so am I on a roll, or am I on a roll?

    One look at Sunday’s Mephisto (make that many looks at a blank grid over 20 minutes or so) serves to remind me of the harsh truth that my technique still lags behind my GK.

  3. Yes, I remember seeing Magical Mystery Tour, too, mctext! I seem to remember being “on” cider” about that time as well! Yes, a PB for me at 34mins. Liked ABOUT TURN. That amused me.
  4. This was certainly easier but it is an Official Landmark for me as it is my first ever Times Cryptic completed without aids. Last in was ONOMASTIC. I didn’t know about the mastic gumtree and I got it from thinking of the kind of mastic beloved of builders and bodgers for sealing up bathroom sinks etc.
  5. I remeber thinking that this was easy, except for ONOMASTIC, which I found obscure both as def. and as to wordplay.

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