Every clue was gettable, though some took effort to bring to mind. Those who were on their game should be reporting fast times. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle. How did you all get on?
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 underlined. (ABC)* means anagram of ABC. I use italics to mark anagram indicators in the clues, and ‘assembly instructions’ in the explanations.
| Across | |
| 1 | Submarine possibly in Kentish Town (8) |
| SANDWICH – two meanings. The first was a struggle, because to me sandwiches are made with flat bread, not rolls. Obviously the world has moved on! The second was another test of UK geography, but of course you can get the answer without that. | |
| 5 | Boor accepts gents perhaps like revealing garments (3-3) |
| LOW-CUT – LOUT accepts W.C. = water closet (toilet). | |
| 9 | Informally, handle place crooks are awfully mean (8) |
| NICKNAME – NICK = where at least some of the crooks are + (MEAN)*. | |
| 10 | Wise female thus carried by people on the wagon (6) |
| ATHENA – THEN=thus, carried by A.A. = Alcoholics Anonymous. | |
| 12 | Not quite a place to catch opera motif (5) |
| THEME – go to THE ME(T) to listen to opera. | |
| 13 | Travelling near Thailand’s capital in clean transport (9) |
| ENRAPTURE – (NEAR)* + T(hailand) in PURE=clean. | |
| 14 | Way to make money transfer? Qualified banks succeeded (4,4,4) |
| HAND OVER FIST – HAND OVER=transfer + FIT=qualified, banking (surrounding) S=succeeded. | |
| 18 | One’s broadcasting time, so long at first, kept within limit (5,7) |
| RADIO STATION – ADIOS=so long + T=time, within RATION=limit. | |
| 21 | Building that’s essential to see? (9) |
| CATHEDRAL – consulting the dictionary, I found that for ceremonial occasions, the bishop sits in a seat called a CATHEDRA, so a bishopric (aka a see) needs a building called a CATHEDRAL to hold it. | |
| 23 | Contact a head teacher finally in leading position (5) |
| REACH – EACH=a head, as in “sixpence a head”. R from (teache)R is in leading position. | |
| 24 | Adapt firearm removed from its case (6) |
| EVOLVE – (R)EVOLVE(R). | |
| 25 | Service still no good (8) |
| EVENSONG – EVEN SO=still + N(o) + G(ood). | |
| 26 | Part of family relations for chirpy little creature (6) |
| SISKIN – SIS(ter) + KIN. It’s a type of finch. | |
| 27 | Being very harsh, like ruler overwhelmed by shame (8) |
| ASPERITY – AS=like + E.R. = the late queen, overwhelmed by PITY=shame. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Moonlight maybe somewhat luminous on a tapestry (6) |
| SONATA – hidden. | |
| 2 | What horses may do in pound (6) |
| NICKER – two meanings: neigh, or currency. | |
| 3 | Began swimming in lush American lake (9) |
| WINNEBAGO – (BEGAN)* in WINO=lush. I know of the travel vehicle, but didn’t remember/know that it’s named after a lake. | |
| 4 | Praising butterfly hiding tail on the blue side (12) |
| COMMENDATORY – COMMA=a type of butterfly, hiding END=tail + TORY = someone on the blue side. | |
| 6 | Being performed, dance is accessible (2,3) |
| ON TAP – ON=being performed + TAP=the type of dance. | |
| 7 | Sweet and innocent lady’s seen in 3-D (8) |
| CHERUBIC – HER seen in CUBIC. | |
| 8 | Take off a piece of underwear concealed by judge (8) |
| TRAVESTY – A VEST concealed by TRY. | |
| 11 | Coward’s work is to support fighting man (7,5) |
| PRIVATE LIVES – PRIVATE supported by LIVES=is. | |
| 15 | About to seize ten thousand pounds? It’s in banks in America (3,6) |
| RIO GRANDE – IO=ten + GRAND=a thousand pounds, seized by RE=about. | |
| 16 | Goes forward or returns (8) |
| PROCEEDS – two meanings. Physical movement, or financial returns. | |
| 17 | Issues of leader brought down in mutiny (8) |
| EDITIONS – SEDITION, with the first letter moved to the end. | |
| 19 | Vessel brought up crude oil in port (6) |
| NAPOLI – NAP=pan (vessel), brought up + (OIL)*. | |
| 20 | Hanging loose around hotel, having a long nap (6) |
| SHAGGY – SAGGY around H=hotel. | |
| 22 | End section of teeny violin periodically scratched (5) |
| ENVOI – alternate letters of t E e N y V i O l I n. | |
Seems SISKINs, lately, are proliferating.
Our Astro_nowt must find that aggravating.
I bunged in WOEBEGONE at first for the lake. (It’s fictional, and that’s not even how you spell it—it has to look like a word ripped off from the disappearing Natives.)
I have no recollection of this, which I did over lunch, taking maybe 30′. DNK the horsey NICKER. Note that Town is capitalized in 1ac; Kentish Town is a part of London, not a town in Kent, although SANDWICH is a town in Kent.
I think the T is just extra misdirection. I have never understood why that is allowed, but to leave a letter that should be capitalised in lower case is not..
I assumed that the T was to mislead, although I imagine it didn’t have much of an effect on non-UK solvers.
65m 02s. My only written comment from last week is that it took me ages to get a foothold.
My only queries were with RADIO STATION, REACH and COMMENDATORY so, thank you, Bruce.
In 26ac I thought ‘relations’ would be ‘it’ as they sometimes are.
2d: NHO NICKER in the sense of neighing.
19d NAPOLI. That’s the second Italian version of an Italian place name we’ve had recently. Dean had FIRENZE in a recent Sunday cryptic.
COD: HAND OVER FIST and SHAGGY.
43 minutes for this with the last 8 of those spent on ENRAPTRURE and CHERUBIC. So often I am stuck at the end with two intersecting clues.
I see now why SISKIN came fairly readily to mind in yesterday’s aviary of a puzzle.
I managed to finish this enjoyable puzzle in about an hour. LOI was an unparsed REACH.
I left NICKER till the end not knowing the horse sense.
CHERUBIC and LOW CUT were a significant hold-up.
I too wondered about having the foreign spelling of places in this English crossword. Is there a rule about this?
And what is the English spelling of Lyons? It seems to vary based on what ( paper etc. ) you are reading .
David
I don’t think there’s a problem with foreign spellings of place names. A lot of African and Asian locations have alternative if not multiple spellings and we are often expected to cope with them, so NAPOLI is a doddle by comparison. Lyon can take an -s in English but the French spelling seems to predominate now. I’d be happy with either in a crossword.
Thanks.
Go on, tell me this one was easy peasy. Must have been for me to finish it in – ta da – 40 mins. It’s very rare for me to beat the hour. There was a whimsy to the clueing here, as if the setter was having fun. I enjoyed it too, thanks. FOI 15d RIO GRANDE, LOI 10ac ATHENA.
Still don’t get ‘Sandwich’. I know it is in Kent of course.
A submarine is a sort of roll that is often used to make a sandwich. The chain of Subway shops specialises in them. It has become a synonym for sandwich.
It is just another creeping Americanism. I remember many years ago seeing a shop in Boston (USA) that advertised “The biggest Sub in the Hub.”
I didn’t find this very east taking 27 minutes to complete. I remember trying and failing to make ADVANCES as the answer to 16D, but CATHEDRAL showed me it was wrong. LOI NICKER, which took a while to come. One tick on my copy – for SONATA, a neat definition and clever hidden. Thanks Bruce and setter.
North of one hour, so definitely found it hard. Couldn’t figure out 23ac until reading the blog, just didn’t think of that meaning for “a head”, so thanks for the explanation.
NAPOLI is one of those places where most commonly the city is known by its English name and its football team is known by its name in the respective language (see Seville/Sevilla and Rome/Roma). That at least made it slightly easier for me to get it.
I waited a long time until putting in SANDWICH, as for some reason I wasn’t convinced enough that a submarine can be a sandwich, despite having an irrational fondness for the subs made by Subway. And I needed the wordplay to get the unknown ENVOI.
COD Winnebago
No time as I prefer to just enjoy the exercise without the added pressure.
I didn’t parse THEME which went in on checking letters and def. Also, REACH.
NICKER BIFD not knowing the neigh meaning.
PRIVATE LIVES was built from WP with help from the checking letters.
I marked RIO GRANDE as my favourite enjoying the WP and definition.
Pleased to finish and all correct.
All correct in 50 minutes. I think I understood everything, but as usual I can’t really remember much about a crossword from a week ago that I solved online so didn’t have anywhere to put any notes. I too knew WINNEBAGO for the RV but did not know what it was named after, but what else would fit those checkers? I think NICKER means a different sound from NEIGH in the horsey sense, but I am no expert on horses. Living in the US, no problem for me with SANDWICH since sub(marine) is a common word for a sandwich, and I know the placename mostly for the golf course. I think it was a cinque port too.
No idea of timing as I did it over several days in odd moments. But very enjoyable. Only clue I didn’t parse was hand over fist so thanks Bruce for the explanation. My COD was shaggy which made me laugh out loud.
Can’t remember time; completed correct but not all parsed. Remembered a clue somewhere once:“Trade in Kentish Town”, answer “DEAL”, so was not taken in by the capital T, but eventually remembered that a submarine could be a type os SANDWICH, this was FOI. LOI ATHENA, which I thought of early, but took time to accept THUS=THEN. COD the clever CATHEDRAL, I enjoyed that! NHO NICKER =NEIGH. Thanks to Brnchn and Setter
Very pleased with my effort today, as all correct (and ship-shape) within about 45 mins. Saw (!) CATHEDRAL immediately; I’m conversant with ‘horsey language’, and HAND OVER FIST wrote itself in. Owned a WINNEBAGO in our ‘grey nomad’ years, and remembered that it was named after the lake, etc. etc. I think I’m getting better at this!