Times Saturday 25173 (26th May) – Times for The Times

Solving time 7:48. Well, they don’t come much easier than that, especially on a Saturday! Having said that, I don’t think this was a bad puzzle. There weren’t any bad clues, and the few bits of tricky vocabulary were given helpful wordplay.

Across
1	FACE TO FACE – FACET OF ACE.
6	OVEN – not hard to find in “Beethovenian”.
9	RENEWAL – REAL (material) around NEW (modern).
10	TRIPLET – LET (allowed) nex to TRIP (a journey).
12	SCOUR – SOUR (acid) round C (circa, about).
13	CHASTENED – C(onservative) + HASTENED (went quickly).
14	ACT OF PARLIAMENT – this one seems a bit woolly to me but I think “Bill approved” is the definition, then ACT (part of play) + OF PARLIAMENT (in both houses).
17	LAY DOWN ONE’S ARMS – (w[~~eapon~~]s and slay no more)*
20	GRAND-AUNT – G(irl) + RAN (managed) + DAUNT (intimidate).
21	GRIEF – G(ood) + (b)RIEF (short without the B).
23	FAIENCE – FENCE (dodgy dealer) around A1 (very fine).
24	PANNIER – ANN (girl) inside PIER (support).
25	EWER – (s)EWER.
26	DUNDEE CAKE – DUNDEE (i.e. Crocodile Dundee, a film character played by Paul Hogan) + CAKE (lady’s finger perhaps). To me lady’s finger is another name for okra, but Chambers says it can also be a small finger-shaped sponge cake. Great surface reading!

Down
1	FORESTALL – FORES(t) (most of trees) + TALL (lofty).
2	CANTO – CATO (censor) around N(ew).
3	TOWER OF LONDON – (for one old town)*. Brilliant anagram.
4	FELUCCA – FE (iron) + LUCCA (Italian city).
5	CATCALL – CATC(h) (mostly understand) + ALL (every).
7	VOLUNTEER – (new true love)*
8	NOTED – NOTEPAD (see 19) without PA.
11	INTRANSIGENCE – (green stain in c~~ape~~)*.
15	THYLACINE – (in the clay)*. Another name for the Tasmanian tiger (officially extinct since the 1930’s, although there are still occasional reports of sightings).
16	TASK FORCE – T(ime) + ASK FOR (request) + C.E. (church).
18	NOUVEAU – NO UV (quite the opposite of a light) + EAU (French water).
19	NOTEPAD – DON (lecturer) around A PET (a favourite), all reversed.
20	GAFFE – GAFFE(r).
22	IBIZA – I (one) + B(alearic) + I(sland) + Z (unknown) + A(rea).

6 comments on “Times Saturday 25173 (26th May)”

45 minutes. Didn’t know the the city or the sailing boat or the ceramic but as you say, the wordplay was helpful.

51 minutes, held up by the 15/23 crossing, knowing neither word, and need to get the tiger before deciding between FAIENCE and ‘feaince’.

No problems here. Didn’t get DUNDEE CAKE (I’ve heard of Crocodile Dundee, but hadn’t heard of the dessert) or FELUCCA (didn’t know Lucca or felucca).

I looked up several things like GAFFER, IBIZA, THYLACINE, etc as I went along, to make sure these were actually things!

Loved the surface of 14ac. Thanks, linxit!

….putting the letters in logical-seeming places. Unless you actually know the word, it’s hard to be certain. ‘Thycaline’ sounded right, didn’t know the Greek root.

8:11 for me, slowed by trying for a clean sweep and failing miserably! With T-Y in place at the start of 15dn, I half-remembered THYLACINE, but couldn’t convince myself it was right and bunged in THYLECIAN instead on the basis that IAN seemed a more likely ending. (Doh!) I might have failed on DUNDEE CAKE as well (or finished in an even slower time).

Nice puzzle, though.

19′, which made this far and away the fastest Saturday cryptic I’ve ever done, which rather worried me,as I don’t see any evidence of me drastically improving. I never did figure out how SCOUR worked; thanks for that, linxit. COD to FAIENCE.

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