Times Crossword 25,989 – Penguin Edition

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving Time: About 13 minutes. I thought I was heading for a really fast time, but then got a little held up in the NE corner, with 6dn and 8dn last to go in. Some lovely clues here, (I did like 26ac), a little racy in places (is 21dn quite rude, or is it all in my mind?) and a couple our overseas friends might perhaps struggle with – though I think Rod Hull was fairly well-known in Australia

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(–), homophones indicated in “”

ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online


Across
1 keep back – .. because keep back is PEEK, a sly look, geddit?
5 access – C(onservative) in ACES (ones) + S(ociety)
10 alternative vote – *(VET + VET + RATIONALE). One of the various voting systems the two main parties have always been too scared to consider implementing to replace “First past the post.”
11 emulate – EMU + LATE (deceased.) For those unfamiliar with the late lamented Rod Hull & Emu, see here. A lot of people thought he was very funny, but I’m not sure Michael Parkinson did..
12 glory be – RY (line, of the railway type) in GLOBE (the earth). The def. is just “my.”
13 stake out – S(ecurity) + TAKE OUT
15 Tosca – hidden in phoTO SCAnning
18 fudge – EG (say) + DUF(f), both rev. A duff is a pudding (unless you are up it)
20 abrasive – BRA (lingerie) in AS (while) + In ViEw. Nice surface!
23 skid lid – KID (child) in SLID(e) (short slippery track). A skid lid being a crash helmet
25 squalor – LO (look) in SQUAR(e) (old fogey, briefly)
26 on top of the world – a dd, penguins (in the wild) being restricted to the southern hemisphere. Beautiful surface
27 trover – (claiman)T + ROVER, the archetypal pet dog. Today’s unknown word for me, but not a difficult clue
28 Fosse Way – *(SAY SO FEW). The Fosse Way is a Roman road that goes straight across England, linking Exeter with Lincoln, via Bath & Leicester. No planning enquiries in those days..

Down

1 kraken – RAK(e) (lothario almost) in KEN, (know).
2 entrusted – ENT (hospital department) + RUSTED (degraded through inaction)
3 barrack – ARR (arrives) in BACK, to champion
4 craze – C (clubs) + RAZE (level)
6 cheroot – HERO (leading man) in COT (bed)
7 epoxy – (remov)E + POXY (poor quality). Epoxy, or epoxy resin, is a type of adhesive, Araldite being a well-known example
8 skeletal – LATE (former) + LEKS (Balkan currency, specifically Albanian). My last one in. Leks, you will be interested to learn, are named after Alexander the Great, whose name is LEKA in Albanian
9 fidgeter – *(FIRED GET). This clue took me a while to unravel
14 on and off – dd
16 Savile Row – VILE (obnoxious) + OR (men) rev., in SAW, a proverb. I’m sure Savile Row appears disproportionally often in crosswords. When did we last see Borough High St, or Marylebone road?
17 offshoot – S(pecial Branch) in OFF + HOOT (joker). Presumably to off is a US euphemism for murder
19 eclipse – C(old) + LIPS (feature), in E(xpensiv)E. A clever clue
21 squawks – SQUA(t) (short dumpy) + W(ife) + K(isse)S. I suppose kissing someone’s toes is not all that rude..
22 Friday – I + D(uke) in FRAY (brawl)
24 intro – R(iver) in INTO, digging, ie appreciating
25 schmo – SCH(ool) + MO, medical officer, a military doctor. More US slang

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

52 comments on “Times Crossword 25,989 – Penguin Edition”

  1. I thought that I had spent much longer on this than I actually did,- probably because of the inordinate length of time I spent looking at 8d before the proverbial descending coin.
  2. In 12ac how is globe = earth, when it surely = Earth?

    Edited at 2015-01-07 10:30 pm (UTC)

    1. The planet can be ‘earth’ or ‘Earth’ and all the dictionaries I have checked have lower-case as the first entry.
  3. Held up as, for 23ac I figured it was an anagram of track which led me to put in hat as a definite and waiting for a crosser for the first word. Liked the penguins and also a mention for abrasive cleverly using two meanings for wear.
    I’ve never seen why “out” is an anagram indicator, if anyone knows?
    1. But why would it not be? I’ve come across a few anagram indicators I’ve thought were stretching things a bit but I don’t understand how ‘out’ could fall into that category. Here’s one definition that I’d say covers it pretty well: Out – From an appropriate, normal, or equable state; into disharmony, disturbance, confusion, etc.
  4. A disappointing 15:05 for me. I stupidly bunged in OFF AND ON at 14dn and took simply ages to spot that this had changed to OFF AND NF when I filled in 26ac. And, like others, I took ages over SKELETAL: I’ve probably come across “lek” before, but “lei”, “leu” and “lev” were the only currencies that came to mind and reversing their plurals didn’t produce any obvious start to the answer so I was difficulty seeing how on earth to parse the clue.

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