Times 26251 – Slippery in places

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 41 minutes

Music: Schubert, Piano Sonatas, Kempff

I spent most of the day, on and off, trying to solve Saturday’s rather difficult offering. So I was hoping for a nice easy Monday puzzle, but this one presented a few challenges. Even after solving it, I am not all that happy with some of the answers. I’m sure they’re correct, but the setter has taken a few too many liberties for me.

I had finished all but two answers in 31 minutes, but I had a wrong word at 8 down. It took a while to get that straightened out, and then to conclude that ‘slipcases’ was indeed the only possible answer for 18, and that it did indeed fit the cryptic and literal.

Across
1 RABBIT, double definition, but not the first ‘meat’ that comes to mind….I hope.
4 POTBELLY, POT(BELL)Y, where ‘potty’ is close in meaning to ‘dope’, but not an exact synonym.
10 INJUSTICE, I[effectual] + N(JUST)ICE.
11 LABEL, L + ABEL, where both ‘mark’ and ‘label’ should be taken as verbs.
12 FOUR-LETTER WORD, overlapping double definition, looking at both the number of letters and the slang meaning of ‘blue’.
14 ROWER, double definition.
16 EGLANTINE, E + anagram of GENTIAN around L[ilies].
18 SLIPCASES, SLIP(CASE)S. Both the literal and the cryptic are very vague, but fortunately this is the only English word that fits. My LOI SUITCASES.
20 CHEEP, sounds like CHEAP, as in a ‘cheap shot’.
21 BEEF WELLINGTON, cryptic definition, when presumably the boots as well as the beef are among the ingredients.
25 HEAVE, H(E)AVE.
26 TASK FORCE, hidden in [conflic]T ASK FOR CE[asefire]. I didn’t see the hidden and just biffed it.
27 TALISMAN, [juggernau]T + anagram of ANIMALS.
28 ARDENT, AR(DEN)T.
 
Down
1 RAIN FOREST, RA(INFO)REST, a bit of a chestnut.
2 BIJOU, JIB upside-down + O[r] U[ndisirable]. The literal is a bit loose.
3 INSULAR, anagram of URINALS, with another loose literal.
5 OBESE, O.B.E. + S[ublim]E.
6 BALDWIN, BALD + WIN.
7 LIBERTINE, LI(anagram of TRIBE)NE.
8 YELL, double definition. I had ‘Mull’ for quite a while, thinking it must be some obscure word for a loud noise. Yell is in the Shetlands, not the Hebrides.
9 MISTRESS, MIST + [d]RESS, very straightforward.
13 DESPONDENT, [livlihoo]D + anagram of NO END, STEP, another biff for me.
15 WHITEHALL, W(HIT, EH?)ALL.
17 LISTLESS, double definition, a definite chestnut.
19 COFFERS, C + OFFERS.
20 CONIFERS, CON(I)FERS.
22 EXTRA, E.(X)T. + R.A., a compendium of crosswordland cliches.
23 THREE, last letters of [conten]T [wit]H [thei]R [nic]E [flexibl]E.
24 CHAT, double definition, my FOI.

49 comments on “Times 26251 – Slippery in places”

  1. 15 min. SUITCASES was my LOI after MISTRESS, the latter of which was definitely a Dean Martin for me. Before any of the newer visitors to the site ask, Dean Martin stands for Depressingly Easy Answer Needing More Actual Reflection Than Is Necessary. A tad more complicated than PDM methinks.
  2. Whizzed through this until I came to the much-discussed trio of SUITCASES, POTBELLY and YELL. Those took me about as long as the rest, somehow YELL seemed most likely for 4 which led me to POTBELLY.
  3. 7:50 for me, held up briefly by POTBELLY, which (like others, and as far as I can remember) I’ve only ever come across as two words.

    I’d heard of YELL because of the tune Nan frae Yell composed by folkie Pat Shaw when he retreated to Shetland for a while. I’ve no idea who Nan was though.

    A pleasant, straightforward solve.

  6. Not that it was the answer, but for those who have a problem with this, a slipcase is an extra sort of cardboard box that provides extra protection for a ‘treasured’ book, or at least one with the publishers are trying to punt as such. Remember ‘luxury skivertex’, was it ?

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