Times Saturday 24203 (18th April)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time 13:33, another pretty straightforward puzzle for a Saturday (not that I’m complaining, it ‘s made a nice change the last couple of weeks). I got the two long across answers straight away, which gave me a checking letter or two for most of the downs. A couple of difficult words, AGORA (which I knew) and the second meaning of BROIL (which I didn’t). 25D might have puzzled non-Brits, but the wordplay was helpful.

Across
1 PLAN – PLAN(e)
3 DOUBLE ACTS – CA (about) reversed in DOUBLETS.
10 LOONINESS – NINES inside LOOS. The Battle of Loos took place in September 1915.
11 TRURO – “true” + O.R. (other ranks = soldiers) reversed.
12 TEARFUL – T(errible) + EARFUL.
13 DEBATE – ATE (worried) next to DEB(t).
15 COBBLED TOGETHER – double definition, one of them whimsical. Nice easy starter (well, I always look at the 15-letter clues first when they appear).
18 A DROP IN THE OCEAN – ditto! 15 and 18 were the first two to go in, which got me off to a good start.
21 RAKE UP – RAKE (roué) + UP (in court).
23 RUDE BOY – (You bred)*. Originally Jamaican slang for “a member of a youth movement wearing smart clothes”, according to Chambers.
26 ADOBE – ABODE with the B and D exchanged.
27 WRITE DOWN – “right down”.
28 FLEA MARKET – A MARK inside FLEET, semi &lit.
29 SLIP – doublr definition. Another word for a galley-proof. Is that where the Azed slip comes from?

Down
1 POLITICIAN – “Poly Titian”, although strictly spealing, the homophind suggests “Poly’s Titian”.
2 AGORA – O in AGRA. An ancient Greek marketplace (or an Israeli currency unit, incidentally).
4 OVERLADEN – OVER + L(ake) + ADEN (Crosswordland’s busiest port).
5 BASED – AS (say) inside BED. I didn’t much like AS for “say”, but Chambers gives “for instance” as one of the meanings, so I guess it’s okay.
6 EATABLE – EA(ch) TABLE
7 COURT SHOE – (so retouch)*
8 SHOT – double definition.
9 EIFFEL – F inside (I feel)*.
14 BRANDY SNAP – BRAND (make) + PANSY rev.
16 BARCAROLE – CAROL inside BARE.
17 OTHERWISE – (W theories)*
19 PRETERM – hidden in “interPRETER Must”.
20 OODLES – (p)OODLES.
22 POWER – OWER under P(ressure).
24 BROIL – double definition. I only got this with all 3 checking letters, as I didn’t know the “old quarrel” meaning.
25 CAFF – C(h)AFF. Brit slang for a café.

17 comments on “Times Saturday 24203 (18th April)”

  1. Not much to add about the crossword. We had very similar experiences with the two long ones going straight in and no hold ups after that. I rather like the more difficult Saturday puzzles (but then I don’t have to blog them!). As I don’t speak with a Cornish accent I shall eschew comment on the pronunciation of TRURO.

    The AZED slip is but a continuation of the Ximenes slip and I believe the use of the word is based upon the old printing proof that used to be produced in times of setting metal type. I recall in my early days at work being asked to “check the slip for pies”

  2. I found this was more challenging and more entertaining than the recent run of easy but dull Saturday puzzles. I liked the clue for Eiffel and the &Lit of Looniness. The homophone of Poly Titian is just outrageous.

    I don’t know if there was a deliberate trap at 25 but both C(H)AFE and C(H)AFF seem to work. I know that the dictionary only suggests “irritate” rather than “tease” for chafe but, if you look up “tease”, one of the definitions is “irritate”. Anyway, I had the more plausible CAFÉ, making an impossible E-something Market at 28. The penny only dropped when I recalled the line from Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.

  3. 33 minutes steady solve with no major hold ups. I didn’t know SLIP = galley proof at 29 nor the reference in 23. I think I heard Jimbo all the way from Dorset when he solved 11ac!
  4. I liked this crossword, entertaining. 1dn was good, I still think the setters are winding Jimbo up deliberately.. although maybe not, I don’t know what the lead time for publication is. Quite long, so Tim M said recently..
    1. I think the average lead time is something like three to six months, so any imagined response to recent events here or elsewhere is most often simple coincidence.
  5. Then you must have loved today’s – a rare under 10 for me in passenger seat of car on M20.
  6. 5:33 so definitely easier than usual for a Saturday puzzle. The bottom left was hardest and would have been much more so had I not remembered the term BARCAROLE from a previous Times crossword (#23,380, 29 Aug 2006) where it was clued as a cryptic definition (“Air propeller company in Italy employed”) which completely baffled me.

    I’ve always pronounced “Truro” to rhyme with “four-o” and “Titian” as “Titty-an”, so it’s good to be put straight (although I’m not a huge fan of ‘partial homophones’ as in 11ac).

    A couple of minor nitpicks: in 7dn the surface reading doesn’t quite work for me, ‘retouch’ is a transitive verb only so can’t really hang on the end of a clue like this. Also not convinced by ‘being’ as a link word in 13ac. But PRETERM was very good.

    BROIL: apparently the ‘heat’ meaning is from the Old French ‘bruller’ (to burn) via Middle English ‘broillen’, while the ‘quarrel’ version is from French ‘brouiller’ (to trouble) and Anglo-French ‘broiller’ (to mix up, confuse), but it seems the two are not cognate.

    1. As for the pronunciation of “Titian” there is a well-known limerick which make the pronunciation clear. You can find it by Googling the first line

      “While Titian was mixing rose-madder”

        1. You’re welcome. I was reminded of a couple of my own poor efforts from ages ago which I have just posted on my journal before I forget them.
  7. Looking at answer grid in today’s Times (Monday 27th April 2009) I was surprised the answer to 26a (clue:
    Clay dwelling with one internal switch (5))is given as ‘abode’.
    I’d sent in my answer with ‘adobe’ as a I see you do
    above.
    I’m confused!
    1. You were right. The crossword club version of the solution has ADOBE. I’ll notify the xwd ed, but unless you see anything further here, assume that ADOBE is the real answer.
  8. From Verity (Anon)
    Thanks Pete.
    But did the winners put ‘adobe’ or abode’ ??
    Is today’s answer a setter/printer error?
    1. Put it this way: If I hear that ABODE is the official answer, I’ll double my contribution to setter John Halpern’s charity fund for his London marathon run. Any solver with proper understanding of clues can see that it has to be ADOBE, and if they’d insisted on ABODE, I honestly doubt that they’d have been able to find enough “correct” solutions in the mailbag.

      Printer error I’m sure, possibly from someone looking at the answer grid and thinking: Adobe? Never heard of it, they must mean ‘abode’.

      1. Just heard from the xwd ed that ABODE is wrong and a correction will confirm this in print. Also that the solution used for selecting winners was correct.

        He thanked me for spotting it, so those undeserved thanks are passed on to Verity.

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