I may generally have been on the setter’s wavelength with this one. My LOI and favourite clue, once the penny dropped, was 1ac. How about you?
Note for newcomers: The Times offers prizes for Saturday Cryptic Crosswords. This blog is for last week’s puzzle, posted after the competition closes. So, please don’t comment here on this week’s Saturday Cryptic.
Definitions are in bold and underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | Something modelled on The Last of the Mohicans? (8) |
| MOCCASIN – cryptic definition, since shoes are made on lasts. (Moccasins, possibly not!) Tip of the hat to the setter for the clever reference to the 1826 book by James Fenimore Cooper. |
|
| 5 | Work of art, say, outside university (6) |
| STATUE – STATE outside U. | |
| 9 | Godliness in court, within reason (8) |
| SANCTITY – CT within SANITY. | |
| 10 | Talk about not finishing — throwing up contest (6) |
| DISCUS – DISCUSS, not finishing. | |
| 12 | With such lack of foresight, I’m in front of state capital (12) |
| IMPROVIDENCE – I’M in front of PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island. | |
| 15 | What happened repeatedly in 1770 (5) |
| EVENT – twice hidden in SEVENTEEN SEVENTY. Unusual! One event in 1770: Captain Cook mapped the east coast of Australia. |
|
| 16 | After 1:50, serving American in pub is unjustifiable (9) |
| ILLOGICAL – I + L (1+50, in Roman numerals) + GI in LOCAL. | |
| 18 | Within stronghold, holding soldier who betrays others? (9) |
| INFORMANT – IN FORT holding MAN. | |
| 19 | Boxer’s beginning with crude left in fight (5) |
| BRAWL – B (Boxer) + RAW + L. | |
| 20 | Wrongly claimed way to use digit that separates two of them (7,5) |
| DECIMAL POINT – anagram , wrongly, of (CLAIMED) + POINT (way to use finger). The definition refers back to “digit”. |
|
| 24 | Disaster is repeated following first couple of crashes (6) |
| CRISIS – CRashes + IS+ IS. | |
| 25 | Exploited people bound to be found in lending business (8) |
| PAWNSHOP – PAWNS + HOP. | |
| 26 | Journal that is enlightening for insiders (6) |
| LANCET – two definitions: the well-known medical journal, or a type of window I’d NHO. | |
| 27 | Ability to see positive response in crew (8) |
| EYESIGHT – YES in EIGHT. | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | A single person is included in text (4) | |
| MISS – IS included in MS (text). | ||
| 2 | Show inclination for hypocrisy (4) | |
| CANT – two meanings: at a slant, or two-faced. | ||
| 3 | Over period, modify highly informative device (9) | |
| ALTIMETER – ALTER over TIME. | ||
| 4 | During time for learning at home, showing proficiency endlessly (12) | |
| INTERMINABLY – IN TERM (during time for learning) + IN + ABLY. | ||
| 6 | Riding (not South) behind two others (5) | |
| THIRD – Yorkshire is divided into thirds, called “ridings”: North, East and West. | ||
| 7 | Chance it in rearrangement as practical expert (10) | |
| TECHNICIAN – anagram, rearrangement, of (CHANCE IT IN). | ||
| 8 | Seasonal flower I left in wind (6,4) | |
| EASTER LILY – I + L in EASTERLY. | ||
| 11 | Head off rebel advancing incrementally (12) | |
| EVOLUTIONARY – decapitate the REVOLUTIONARY. | ||
| 13 | Police raid disrupted publication (10) | |
| PERIODICAL – anagram, disrupted, of (POLICE RAID). | ||
| 14 | Price often adjusted — that’s achievable in practice (10) | |
| PERFECTION – anagram, adjusted, of (PRICE OFTEN). | ||
| 17 | Get excited and extend hand? (2,7) | |
| GO BANANAS – cryptic hint, since bananas grow in bunches called hands. | ||
| 21 | Part of America with ocean on East (5) | |
| MAINE – MAIN + E. | ||
| 22 | Former politician providing cover for head, reportedly (4) | |
| WHIG – reportedly, sounds like WIG. | ||
| 23 | React angrily — gratuities raised (4) | |
| SPIT – TIPS raised. | ||
27:45
DNK the window, but didn’t need to. I liked EVENT, but COD to MOCCASIN; took a long time for the penny to drop.
Most enjoyable. I thought the window reference was a cryptic hint about internal medicine. I got MOCCASIN without parsing and I did not appreciate it until I saw the parsing in this blog.
Thanks B.
Just finished this. Ended up being a fail, with a typo in INTERMINABLY. I liked the ‘Last of the Mohicans?’ which I saw with a few crossers in place. Favourite was PAWNSHOP which also had the flavour of a cryptic def .
LOI was LANCET; I didn’t know the type of window either. I think it could be parsed as one of those double definition cum cryptic definition clues. The whole clue could be seen as the def, with the ‘insiders’ being the “medical profession”, or even more specifically as pointed out by KensoGhost, internal medicine specialists or physicians.
Thanks to Bruce and setter
I liked the Last of the Mohicans one, but LANCET was my last one in since I NHO the window and it took me a time to think of the correct journal. As usual, I don’t remember that much about the rest of the crossword a week later.
59 minutes, so not easy for me. I struggled with LANCET although having checked it in the dictionary after the event I did know it as a window, but the reference in the clue was too oblique for me.
I also took a while to spot the reference to the saying ‘Practice makes perfect’ at 14dn.
I agonised for ages over the last unchecked letter of 4dn, where I think there is a case to be made for INTERMINABLE although I eventually took a punt on INTERMINABLY.
37m 34s
This was obviously on my wavelength. I liked THIRD and, particularly, MOCCASIN (very clever) but EVENT was my favourite. You mentioned Cook mapping the East Coast of Australia in 1770. That would have been right after he had landed here in NZ in Gisborne in October 1769, an event some Maori are still complaining about today.
MOCCASIN and THIRD were my favourites. Of course a riding can’t be anything other than a third as it’s derived from thirding.
I didn’t know LANCET was a window but I didn’t give the clue another thought as I assumed it was a cryptic reference to medics who busy themselves with our insides.
I didn’t know the derivation of Riding, which I first became familiar with on reading Walpole’s Herries Chronicles. I love the bits of knowledge one picks up here! I was also puzzled by the LANCET clue and came to the same conclusion – it’s a better clue than I thought at the time.
31 minutes, DNF. MOCCASIN surprised me by going straight in, parsed and all, and the puzzle seemed easy for a Saturday. I spoiled it with a pink square for INTERMINABLE. Like others I assumed the clue for LANCET was making an odd cryptic reference to medics. Thanks branch.
A good smooth solve until the end where I got held up by IMPRESCIENCE at 12a, which stopped me getting 6 or 11d till I changed it. It didn’t seem impossible that there was a state capital somewhere called Science, though I couldn’t think where. DISCUS gave me a bit of a MER with ‘up’. I was briefly corralled into athletics at school and the idea was definitely *not* to throw the discus up, which would have considerably shortened the distance travelled. However, it does improve the surface, even if it makes no sense.
1a Moccasin. I missed the significance of “Last” and had a ? against this one.
6d Third. I wasn’t happy with this, with a double ?? The Ridings disappeared with Grocer Heath’s local govt reform back in 1974. I would however have been happy had I realised that riding=third.
– Had no idea how MOCCASIN worked
– Didn’t know the window meaning of LANCET
– Completely missed the allusion to the Ridings of Yorkshire in THIRD
– Failed to see what ‘hand’ was referring to in GO BANANAS
No major issues otherwise. Thanks branch and setter.
FOI Statue
LOI Lancet
COD Event
25.40
A wrong PLACE for POINT delayed me longer than it should have done in the SE so a smidgeon under par but absolutely LOVED the MOCCASIN clue. Simple, elegant and a real PDM moment. One of my favourite recent clues.
That was POI with LANCET bunged in after I got to C in the alphatrawl.
Thanks Bruce and setter
Good solve, 39 mins, but with wrong final letter of INTERMINABLE.
MOCCASIN is a brilliant clue.
LOI CANT
32 minutes, so rather easy for a Saturday but very enjoyable. 1ac was both my FOI (misspelt as MOCASSIN) and my POI after I corrected the spelling and could then enter ALTIMETER as my LOI. As for LANCET, I biffed it of course, convincing myself that, as suggested by the name, it is mainly a journal for surgeons (who would be the “insiders”, geddit?). But the really brilliant clues were the 1770 one and 16ac, which follows it (for 1:50 LOCAL around GI), and a few others.
I put in MOCCASIN based on the definition ‘Something modelled on The Last’ but still don’t understand how it relates to ‘of the Mohicans’ – I wonder whether some kind person would enlighten me!
Otherwise I managed to finish this one in a few sittings with only LANCET and THIRD unparsed. Fairly pleased with that. Many thanks branch.
Several strands here, some of which you may have seen.
1. Mohicans are (American) Indians, and Indians wore moccasins.
2. Moccasins are a type of shoe, and most shoes are made on lasts.
3. “The Last of the Mohicans” was an early novel, as mentioned above.
I thought the juxtaposition of all that was brilliant!
Ah, thank you very much! Knew the book and also the shoe, but not that they were worn by Mohicans – the missing piece 🙄
After a slow start, I really got moving on this one, to finish within the half-hour. FOI CANT, which gave me the lovely PDM of MOCCASIN (great clue!), and it was all downhill from there. Held up only by the type of lily needed, and 1d, which I missed (!). DNK that ridings were in thirds (been out of the UK for too long), but only word that fitted. Did not see the brilliance of EVENT until I came here – which is why I come here. Thanks to both.