Times Saturday 23994 (Aug 16)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time – not recorded, as I started it in the paper while I was out and finished it later when I got in. Judging from the amount of Tippex on my copy though, a couple of mistakes held me up in the NE corner (can’t remember what they were now). Quite a lot of geographical and literary knowledge required to complete this one – it would have scored high on the old pie chart.

Across
1 THUMBS DOWN – MB inside THUS DOWN
6 WHOA – WHO = “that” + A(ccelerate). I put this in tentatively at first, and it took me a long time to come up with an explanation for it.
10 PALMYRA – PALM (Sunday) + A RY reversed. An ancient city in Syria.
11 SALLUST – SAL + LUST. A Roman historian who I had heard of (probably studied one of his texts for O-level).
12 NEW GUINEA – (w a genuine)*
13 SADDO – ADD in SO
14 MOTET – MOTE + T
15 DOLCE VITA – (lad to vice)*
17 SCRAPYARD – SCRAP + YARD
20 COMET – one of Santa’s reindeer, as is Dancer.
21 IRONS – double definition.
23 TOLPUDDLE – PLOT rev. + (m)UDDLE. A tiny village in Dorset that was home to the Tolpuddle Martyrs, who were transported for forming a trade union.
25 ADMIRER – M(arried) inside A DIRER
26 GOTLAND – GOT LAND. An island belonging to Sweden.
27 EURO – 0 RUE reversed. The Republic of Ireland’s currency is now the euro.
28 YESTERYEAR – YES + (b)etrayer*
Down
1 TAP-IN – TAPIN(g)
2 ULLSWATER – SWAT inside (f)ULLER. Second largest lake in the Lake District.
3 BAYEUX TAPESTRY – which depicts the Battle of Hastings in 1066, where King Harold was shot in the eye with an arrow.
4 DRAINED – D + RAINED
5 WASSAIL – W + ASSAIL. The only meaning still in use is to go from house to house singing Christmas carols, but the original meaning was to get drunk! A wassail bowl was filled with wassail (a type of ale).
7 HOUND – double definition. Sir Hugo Baskerville was killed by the hound in the Sherlock Holmes story.
8 ASTRONAUT – (to Saturn a)*. Nicely apposite anagram.
9 CLOSE ENCOUNTER – the Dean and Chapter would often be met in a cathedral close.
14 MASTICATE – ASTI,C (about), inside MATE. Nice definition, “to deal with mouthful”.
16 IMMEDIATE – MEDIA inside time*
18 ASTARTE – A STARTE(r). A Greek goddess, another name for Aphrodite.
19 DELIGHT – double def., the first one as DE-LIGHT. Groan…
22 ORMER – OR + MER (French for sea). A shellfish, also called abalone, and a delicacy in the Channel Islands.
24 EIDER – RED, I.E. reversed. Down is the definition.

2 comments on “Times Saturday 23994 (Aug 16)”

  1. 21 minutes very enjoyable minutes. Wasn’t sure about SALLUST but the wordplay was more than enough. Thumbs up to DOLCE VITA, NEW GUINEA and EIDER. But three cheers for the excruciating DELIGHT. Delightful.
  2. 11:34 for me. I agree with sotira: a most enjoyable puzzle. I’ve a vague feeling I may have seen DELIGHT before (if not, then something similar), but I’ll go for it as my COD anyway.

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