I started well here, but the last few slowed me down dramatically! Thanks to the setter. 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. With the luxury of a week to do the blog, I can expand on how the wordplay works, so instructions copied from the clues to show how to get the answer appear thus. Anagram material is (THUS)*. A ^ symbol indicates where text is to be inserted.
| Across | |
| 1 | Papa courting flying officer in RAF (5,7) |
| GROUP CAPTAIN – anagram, flying: (PAPA COURTING)* | |
| 9 | Reportedly glowing after toddler’s first step (5) |
| TREAD – T [Toddler’s first] + READ [RED, reportedly]. Glowing red from exercise, or red like a hotplate. |
|
| 10 | Singer teasing short companion (9) |
| CHAFFINCH – CHAFFING [teasing, short] + CH. | |
| 11 | Regularly sent niece on way, arousing pity (8) |
| PATHETIC – ETIC [sEnT nIeCe, regularly] on PATH. | |
| 12 | Asleep in theatre stalls (2,4) |
| AT REST – hidden (in). | |
| 13 | Support and worry about backward adolescent (8) |
| TEENAGER – TEE [support] + NAG [worry] + ER [RE, about]. | |
| 15 | Everyone in Slough is lost (6) |
| FALLEN – ALL in FEN. | |
| 17 | Extremely frail, like porridge to be light (6) |
| FLOATY – FL [extremely FraiL] + OATY [not the first description of porridge that came to mind, but accurate enough!] | |
| 18 | Appallingly heartless Edinburgh mercenary (5,3) |
| HIRED GUN – anagram, appalingly: (EDINBURGH)* | |
| 20 | Naked Dane bitten by ape in treetops (6) |
| CANOPY – AN [naked dANe] bitten by C^OPY [ape]. (^ shows the insertion point.) |
|
| 21 | Antelope cutting thigh on edges of stump in moss (8) |
| SPHAGNUM – SP [edges of StumP] + GNU [antelope] cutting HA^M [thigh]. This was one of my last. The idea of a word starting with “SP” hovered just beyond my recall for ages, till eventually I gave up on thinking about ELAND and saw GNU! |
|
| 24 | Lovers might lose heads and control (9) |
| OVERSIGHT – lose heads from LOVERS + MIGHT. | |
| 25 | Bowl sailor over with lust? (5) |
| BASIN – BA [AB=sailor, over] + SIN. Lust is one of the seven deadly sins. | |
| 26 | Leader of union framed by pro-government journalists (6,6) |
| FOURTH ESTATE – U [leader of Union] framed by FO^R [pro] + THE STATE [government]. The media are classed as an addition to the three “estates of the realm”: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Reliable choice of cannabis for degenerate (2,2,3) |
| GO TO POT – GO TO [reliable choice: “he’s my go to guy”] + POT. | |
| 2 | Injured hero and vet totter up without a prescription (4-3-7) |
| OVER THE COUNTER – OVER THE [anagram, injured, of HERO VET] + COUNTER [totter up]. | |
| 3 | Blubber of whales possibly source of green energy (5) |
| PODGE – POD [whales, possibly] + GE [sources of Green Energy]. The “of” is just a connector. | |
| 4 | Records playful American composer (8) |
| ARCHIVES – ARCH [playful] + IVES [Charles Ives, composer and actuary]. | |
| 5 | Asian band on the radio (4) |
| THAI – on the radio, sounds like TIE [band]. | |
| 6 | Passionately arouse befuddled auntie drinking stout (9) |
| INFATUATE – IN^UATE [anagram, befuddled, of AUNTIE] drinking FAT [stout]. | |
| 7 | Educated elite and liberal A-list get in line (14) |
| INTELLIGENTSIA – anagram, liberal: (ALIST GET IN LINE)* | |
| 8 | Quietly knowledgeable about subatomic particle (6) |
| PHOTON – P [quiet] + HOT ON [knowledgeable about]. | |
| 14 | Article with suggestion regarding Italian food (9) |
| ANTIPASTO – AN [article] + TIP [suggestion] + AS TO [regarding]. | |
| 16 | Detectives covering murder (8) |
| DISPATCH – DIS [detectives] + PATCH [covering]. | |
| 17 | Agent in favour of restraining statute (6) |
| FACTOR – F^OR [in favour of] restraining ACT [statute]. | |
| 19 | Candidate originally called to get old minister on board (7) |
| NOMINEE – O + MIN on board N^EE [originally called]. | |
| 22 | Camerawoman from India ejected from jet (5) |
| ARBUS – I [India] ejected from AIRBUS. This was my LOI. I thought I didn’t know the answer until AIRBUS emerged and the wordplay fell into place; then I immediately thought “Diana”! Close, but not quite right; anyway, I must have come across Diane Arbus at some time. |
|
| 23 | Stuck-up urchin wanting cake and jelly (4) |
| AGAR – RAGAMUFFIN without the MUFFIN, backwards (stuck-up). | |
16:03
I biffed a half-dozen clues, parsing post-submission. FLOATY surprised me, but it’s in ODE. Diane ARBUS’s photographs are well worth looking at.
I found that precise definition of PODGE only in Chambers. The surfaces here are really good; 6d, in particular, paints an amusing picture.
Done in 24:53, a couple of lookups.Had to confirm SPHAGNUM, where I knew there was a moss starting SPH, as I had ROE for my antelope. And guessed the NHO ARBUS, as BOENG didn’t look as likely. LOI was NOMINEE.
I thought the three estates were: those who fight (soldiers), those who work (labourers) and those who pray (the church)
CHAFFING for teasing ? Not heard that one, only know CHAFFING as a euphemism that would require some asterisks here.
Top half went in very fast.At 20a I misread “naked Dane” as “noted Dane”, so put in CANUTE who fitted nicely, (for CANOPY)
Avoided the trap of BOSUN (sailor) for BASIN.
COD GO TO POT
Thank god it was Saturday (again)!
Lots to like and not much to complain about here.
Especially in the across clues: 18ac HIRED GUN, 20ac CANOPY, 24ac OVERSIGHT and 26ac FOURTH ESTATE – all concise, direct and clever.
Also liked 23d AGAR for interesting complication.
Not so fussed on 3d PODGE. Had to research the CHAFFINCH and 22d ARBUS. Would be grateful for explanation of CH for companion 10ac.
Thank you setter and branch.
CH = Order of the Companions of Honour
15 minutes. Fortunately I remembered Diane ARBUS as a name, even though I knew little about her or her work. SPHAGNUM is a word I’ve only ever heard followed by ‘moss’ so this was another I didn’t have to spend too long on, helped by GNU for ‘Antelope’. Like Merlin, I avoided the lure of BOSUN for BASIN.
Thanks to Bruce, including for mentioning Charles IVES was also an actuary; I’ve just looked at his Wikipedia entry which was very interesting.
I have no notes and no question marks – the sign of a puzzle on my wavelength – I remember it as mostly straightforward, with one or two problematic ones that fell eventually with crossers. LOI ARBUS, where the photographer was barely known, but the crossers supplied airbus. Liked CHAFFINCH, AGAR, FLOATY and the subtle hidden in AT REST, but all the clues were apt and witty.
Same here no question marks. A very enjoyable puzzle.
No undue problems with this although Arbus nho. Fun puzzle.
17 mins which I think is a Saturday PB. The only problem I remember was typing in CANAPE and being puzzled as to why it looked wrong somehow.
Particularly liked GO TO POT.
Two goes needed.
– Had to trust the wordplay for the unknown SPHAGNUM
– Not familiar with Diane ARBUS, so again relied on the wordplay once I had the checkers
Thanks branch and setter.
FOI Fallen
LOI Sphagnum
COD Agar
17.57. ARBUS was slow and I spent a couple of minutes at the end trying to understand how THAI sounded like band. Thanks branch.
15:45. My fastest 15×15 ever. I will just have to remember it because it won’t get logged in the Snitch data.
1ac GROUP CAPTAIN held out to the end but everything else fell in very nicely. I liked FLOATY and GO TO POT.
Correction. My time did get logged in the Snitch data and it is there at No 1 in my top ten. I did not know it did that on a Saturday
My thanks to branch and setter.
I have lost last week’s paper so have no idea how hard I found it, bother. I think I finished, but not in pole position I imagine.
22d LOI NHO (Diane) Arbus. Now in Cheating Machine.
DNF
QC level for all but two clues (9 minutes) then just couldn’t get HAM for thigh so a couple of letters short there. Even with the A not sure I would have got ARBUS. Both nicely clued but not knowing the GK was a problem on this occasion.
My fastest and best for some time now! Figured out the flying officer right away helped, and for some reason I was seeing the definitions easily and biffed. A fair bit of ‘reverse engineering’ went on, but all accounted for, apart from ARBUS, of whom NHO, and didn’t see the AIRBUS (wasn’t expecting a name). Otherwise, all present and correct in under 30 mins.