This was a smooth run. Only one clue needed extra thought. Even that wasn’t too “knotty” (pun intended). How did you do?
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 | Request by our side, backing out of position (5) |
| ASKEW – ASK by WE, backing. | |
| 4 | One’s handle in one’s hand? (9) |
| AUTOGRAPH – cryptic definition. | |
| 9 | Match kit put round in bundle with each uniform (9) |
| TROUSSEAU – O [round] put in TRUSS + EA + U. I blinked at this use of “truss”, but definition 3 in Chambers says a truss is a bundle of hay or straw of a certain specific weight. |
|
| 10 | Pick up from pound and bring home? (5) |
| LEARN – L [pound] + EARN [bring home]. | |
| 11 | One kilojoule used in web printing method (3,3) |
| INK JET – I [one] + KJ [kilojoule] in NET [web]. | |
| 12 | Press drive off sounding klaxon (8) |
| SHOEHORN – SHOE [sounding like SHOO] + HORN [klaxon]. | |
| 14 | Often reflect different political position (4-2-6) |
| LEFT-OF-CENTRE – anagram, different: (OFTEN REFLECT). | |
| 17 | Rundown area, one with glitz, surprisingly (8,4) |
| TWILIGHT ZONE – anagram, surprisingly: (ONE WITH GLITZ). I’m only familiar with “Twilight Zone” as the TV series, but the dictionaries confirm that this meaning is the primary one. |
|
| 20 | Old wordplay good editor deleted (8) |
| EXPUNGED – EX [old] + PUN [wordplay] + G [good] + ED. | |
| 21 | Brother maybe holding muscle in back and one elsewhere (6) |
| BICEPS – SIB [brother, maybe] holding PEC [pectoral muscle], backwards. | |
| 23 | Cast out performing the complete works (5) |
| CANON – CAN [cast out, as in “discard”] + ON [performing]. | |
| 24 | Tangoing, perhaps, grabbing Victor beforehand (2,7) |
| IN ADVANCE – IN A DANCE [tangoing, perhaps] grabbing V [Victor, in the phonetic alphabet]. | |
| 25 | Superficial courtesy poet’s lies ruined (9) |
| POLITESSE – anagram, ruined: (POETS LIES). | |
| 26 | Class, fourth grade, severely rebuked (5) |
| RATED – RATE [to grade, as a verb] + D [fourth class … A, B, C, D]. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Article that halved troubles in the colonies? (3-5) |
| ANT-HILLS – AN [article] + TH [THAT, halved] + ILLS. | |
| 2 | Pirate to steal and kill (5,3) |
| KNOCK OFF – three definitions, although the first two are close to synonyms. | |
| 3 | Used to be several books, with a newer set repeatedly retaining old tip on economy (5,3,4,3) |
| WASTE NOT WANT NOT – follow these assembly instructions very carefully: WAS + TEN [several] + OT [a set of books] + W [with] + A + NT NT [a newer set of books, twice] retaining O. | |
| 4 | State to show unsteadiness after removal of head (4) |
| AVER – WAVER after removal of head. | |
| 5 | Critical of contact with work (5-3-2) |
| TOUCH-AND-GO – TOUCH [contact] + AND [with] + GO [work]. | |
| 6 | One again attempting to ring vet briefly, after info about elderly dog (6,9) |
| GOLDEN RETRIEVER – GEN [info] about OLD + RETRIER [one again attempting] to ring VET, briefly. | |
| .7 | Long distance runner’s leg under floor mostly (6) |
| AMAZON – ON [the leg side, at cricket] under AMAZE [floor], mostly. | |
| 8 | Getting sharper, husband having to lose weight (6) |
| HONING – H + OWNING, losing W [weight]. | |
| 13 | Row about slaughter of animals in kitchen areas (10) |
| SCULLERIES – SERIES about CULL. | |
| 15 | Bow made by couple with nothing negative to say? (4,4) |
| LOVE KNOT – LOVE [nothing] + KNOT [sounds, so say, like NOT]. | |
| 16 | Debts sorted each day as framework for retirement (8) |
| BEDSTEAD – BEDST [anagram, sorted, of DEBTS] + EA + D. | |
| 18 | Leaves here, the scene of a storm? (6) |
| TEACUP – two definitions: one literal, the other metaphorical. | |
| 19 | Network IP addresses finally turning up in a sort of column (6) |
| SPINAL – LAN [nework] + IP + S [addresseS, finally] turning up. | |
| 22 | Yankee porter, maybe provider of key (4) |
| YALE – Y [Yankee, in the phonetic alphabet] + ALE [porter, maybe]. | |
Thank you. Especially for the interesting dictionary research about “bundle” = “truss”, and Twilight Zone.
I think for the long charade in 3d, we also need “with a” = “WA” (between OT and NT).
Thank, for both.
DNK TWILIGHT ZONE (ODE’s corpus examples are all of the more familiar TZ). I liked LEARN; lovely surface.
TRUSS was familiar in the usage ‘trussed up’ when describing a chicken or turkey tied up ready for the oven. I’ve also heard it applied to a shabbily or ostentatiously dressed person.
The usage of TWILIGHT ZONE wasn’t known to me, though as a family were fond of reworking this phrase as the TWIGLET ZONE when it comes to a certain tasty snack.
29 minutes, so another Saturday puzzle at the easier end of the spectrum at least for me.
I was amused by ‘severely rebuked / RATED’ as there was a dispute here towards the end of April with several contributors querying its validity (surely that’s ‘berated’? was the argument). If I remember correctly the same definition of ‘rated’ came up again the very next day, and now here it is again! Anyway it’s in all the usual sources so it’s perfectly valid.
I’m glad the setter didn’t clue TRUSS as “ex-PM” as very few of us would have got it.
21.16
I thought this was a superb puzzle. Consistent difficulty; some great surfaces; and a decent number of pdms (for me anyway). Blocked at the end with BICEPS and the first part of the KNOT. Bunged in the former from definition but had to come here to understand it. COD to LEFT OF CENTRE
Thanks Setter and Bruce
Don’t remember any real problems with this one.
– Likewise unfamiliar with what exactly a TWILIGHT ZONE is
– Didn’t bother parsing WASTE NOT WANT NOT
– Not sure I could identify a LOVE KNOT
Thanks branch and setter.
FOI Aver
LOI Love knot
COD Honing
FOI YALE, with steady progress thereafter around the grid, ending with the NE corner 4a and 7 and 8d . LOI AMAZON. I liked GOLDEN RETRIEVER, BEDSTEAD and BICEPS. No unknowns, apart from the given sense of TWILIGHT ZONE, which I got from the famous TV series of that name.
30.40 Mostly quite quick but LOVE KNOT and AMAZON took five minutes each. I thought Amazons running was one of the many gaps in my classical knowledge. The penny dropped hours later. Thanks piquet.
I remember this being fairly easy but a week later I forget the details. I was bemused by TWIGHLIGHTZONE since I only know the old TV series, which I guess repurposed a phrase and then was so successful that it became the meaning of the phrase. I biffed TROUSEAU from “match kit” so never bothered to see if the wordplay worked (I had a couple of checkers). It was a week ago so I don’t remember much else.
Delayed myself for a long time by confidently writing in SIGNATURE for 4 across and thinking I was off to a flying start. Penny finally dropped when none of the crossers worked. But I still think SIGNATURE is a valid answer.
26 across – took the ‘d’ as fourth letter of ‘grade’
That works too!