Notes for newcomers: The Times offers prizes for Saturday Cryptic Crosswords. This blog is posted a week later, after the competition closes. So, please don’t comment here on the current Saturday Cryptic.
Clues are blue, with definitions underlined. Deletions are in {curly brackets}.
Across | |
1 | Place name to mark round mount (7) |
TOPONYM – TO (from the clue), M (mark), round PONY. | |
5 | Restriction on movement of dog— nowhere near common (6) |
CURFEW – CUR (dog), FEW (nowhere near common). | |
8 | Get one who’s in debt taking in new man of property (9) |
LANDOWNER – LAND (get), OWER (one in debt) ‘taking in’ N (new). | |
9 | Chest covered by father’s jacket (5) |
PARKA – ARK ‘covered by’ PA. | |
11 | Composer’s right to abandon humorous work (5) |
SATIE – SATI{r}E. | |
12 | Having gone without can? (9) |
ABSTINENT – ABSENT ‘without’ (i.e. outside) TIN. The whole clue is wordplay, the last word is not part of the definition. On edit: I think |
|
13 | Put in water and gently boiled after a delay of seconds (8) |
IMMERSED – SIMMERED with the S delayed. | |
15 | Did cure set lad in order? (6) |
SALTED – anagram (‘in order’) of SET LAD. Wikipedia assures me you cure meat by salting it. | |
17 | Torturer is beginning to tremble after feeling sorrow (6) |
SADIST – SAD (feeling sorrow), IS (from the clue), T{remble}. | |
19 | Note worn-out spirits or low spirits (8) |
DOLDRUMS – D (musical note), OLD (worn-out), RUMS (spirits). | |
22 | Uluru’s place: rock as a ritual (9) |
AUSTRALIA – anagram (‘rock’) of AS A RITUAL. | |
23 | Copy three notes (5) |
MIMIC – MI (a musical note), MI again, and C. | |
24 | Kindle returned some week overdue (5) |
EVOKE – backwards hidden answer (‘returned’, ‘some’). | |
25 | What’s about to be planted in pot with a tropical tree (9) |
JACARANDA – CA (about) ‘planted in’ JAR (pot), AND (with), A (from the clue). | |
26 | Stupid person in school is a pain (6) |
STITCH – TIT in SCH. | |
27 | Canal Street clubs won’t open to admit unknown investigator (7) |
ANALYST – {c}ANAL, ST{reet}, with Y (unknown) ‘admitted’. The C on CANAL is the ‘clubs’ that ‘won’t open’ it. |
Down | |
1 | Splash article around some very elevated rival mastheads here? (4,5,4) |
TALL SHIPS’ RACE – anagram (‘around’) of SPLASH ARTICLE. | |
2 | Around north-east, rebuilding M1 put lots of cones here (7) |
PINETUM – anagram (‘rebuilding’) NE MI PUT. I was unsure whether this was a real word or a furphy, but at least it looked a bit like ARBORETUM. | |
3 | Somebody unimportant — or the chief? (2-3) |
NO-ONE – Diary of a Nobody? Or, the No. One Boss Man? A double definition, in other words. | |
4 | Crew ate gutted eastern fish (8) |
MENHADEN – MEN (crew), HAD (ate), E{aster}N. I harrumphed at this unknown answer because ‘to crew’ as opposed to ‘the crew’ would make it MANHADEN instead. I had to look it up. | |
5 | Worries over small pet (6) |
CARESS – CARES ‘over’ S{mall}. | |
6 | Reprove about stiffly formal, logical operation (9) |
REPRIMAND – RE (about), PRIM, AND (AND is an operator in Boolean algebra, a form of mathematical/computer logic) | |
7 | Very serious sign of what is to come (7) |
EARNEST – double definition. | |
10 | Bad accident with stain that won’t dry (13) |
ANTIDESICCANT – anagram (‘bad’) of ACCIDENT STAIN. | |
14 | Again appearing divided about good trick set up (9) |
RESURGENT – RENT (divided) about G RUSE backwards. | |
16 | Italian food free of charge on account, I note (8) |
FOCACCIA – F.O.C (free of charge), ACC. (one of several abbreviations for account), I, A (musical note). | |
18 | Misrepresent sordid gossip about thug’s head found in well (7) |
DISTORT – double nesting: DIRT (sordid gossip) around SO (well) around T (thug’s head). | |
20 | Armed criminal with no good lady, heartless like a female? (7) |
UNMANLY – {g}UNMAN (armed criminal), L{ad}Y. The definition is tongue-in-cheek, hence the question mark. | |
21 | High priest takes pilgrimage up for prophet (6) |
ELIJAH – ELI, HAJ backwards. | |
23 | Yacht haven keeping out November seas (5) |
MARIA – MARI{n}A: lunar ‘sea’ is a MARE, plural MARIA. I guessed it was something like that, and put it in on faith, then looked it up for your blog. |
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