Times Saturday 23988 (9th August)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time – not recorded, but I think it was around 15 minutes.

Just brief notes on how the clues worked this week, as I’m short of time today.

Across
1 WRITE-OFF – sounds like “right off”
6 DEMIST – DEMI ST
9 SCURVY – S(ea) + CURVY.
10 LAW AGENT – WAGE inside L, ANT
11 LOVE – double def.
12 PROMETHEAN – P(ower) + ROME in front of THE, AN
14 ABERDARE – A B(ritish) ER + DARE
16 NOON – alternate letters of “in Cologne”
18 FRAU – (a fur)* – German for wife.
19 ONE-LINER – ONE LINE + R(ailway)
21 HUMDINGER – HUM + G in DINERS
22 GIDE – E, DIG reversed. André Gide, French writer.
24 BIG NOISE – Double def.
26 ROOFER – fairly obvious cryptic def.
27 UNABLE – (Bus lane)* minus the S (double bend).
28 FIRMNESS – RM inside FINE SS
Down
2 RECTO – found in the middle of diRECTOry
3 TURNED ROUND – double def.
4 OLYMPIAD – diplomacy* without the C
5 FALL OVER ONESELF – cryptic def.
6 DOWNER – D(epression) + OWNER
7 MUG – GUM reversed.
8 SINGAPORE – “singer” + PORE
13 HUNTING DOWN – W(ife) inside HUNTINGDON
15 BERMUDIAN – DIA(l) inside number*
17 MEASURER – MEASURE + R
20 ON FIRE – FIR in ONE
23 DRESS – (war)DRESS
25 NOB – N + O.B. – in cribbage, you get an extra point for having a jack of the same suit as the cut card. This extra point is known as “one for his nob”.

5 comments on “Times Saturday 23988 (9th August)”

  1. 24 minutes. Enjoyable and quite challenging. The wordplay in 13a was tough, but the penny finally dropped. Favourite clues 21 HUMDINGERS and 9 SCURVY.
  2. Didn’t finish this. Not an admirer of 21A – OED has “hum” to mean smelling bad, not good, and the clue had “restaurant” not “restaurants”, which made it all a bit hard. Got 8D OK but Singapore is a city state, not a capital. In 18A the “in” helps the surface but I don’t think it should be there for the wordplay. In 15D surely the islander should be Bermudan, not Bermudian?
  4. In cribbage the dealer gets “two for his heels” if the cut card IS the Jack. Using this logic one for his nob probably means “one for his head”. NOB, therefore, does NOT serve as a literal for Jack? Just sayin’ – I did put NOB in with a shrug.

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