82 saturday review Saturday December 18 2021 | the times
MindGames The Times Crossword, Latin Crossword, Saturday Quiz and
Suko are in the back of the main paper
Codeword No 4462
Every letter in this crossword-style grid has been substituted for a number from
1 to 26. Each letter of the alphabet appears at least once. Use the letters already
provided to work out further letters. Enter letters in the main grid and the
smaller reference grid. Proper nouns are excluded. Yesterday’s solution on page 80
Stuck on Codeword? To receive four random clues call 0901 293 6262 or text
TIMECODE to 64343. Calls cost £1 plus your telephone company’s network access
charge. Texts cost £1 plus your standard network charge. For the full solution call
0905 757 0142. Calls cost £1 per minute plus your telephone company’s network access
charge. SP: Spoke, 0333 202 3390 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5.30pm).
times2 Crossword No 8778
Across
1 Precious stone (5)
4 Promoted (an idea) (7)
8 Withstanding adverse
conditions (9)
9 Eg, carrots, swedes, etc (3)
10 Ooze (4)
11 I am to blame (3,5)
13 Cause to become (6)
14 Lacking in strength (6)
17 Infatuated (8)19 Went, departed (4)
22 Colour (3)
23 Period of truce (9)
24 Nag and domineer (one's
husband) (7)
25 Large tree (5)Down
1 Pulls suddenly (5)
2 Film genre (7)
3 Not as much (4)
4 Reached a maximum (6)
5 Came away (8)
6 Horizontal (5)
7 Demean; break down (7)
12 Flexible appendage (8)
13 Reincarnation (7)
15 Hairstyle (7)
16 Say as a comment (6)
18 American car type (5)
20 Eg, incisors (5)
21 Road edging (4)Solution to Crossword 87771 2 3 4 5 6 78 910 111213 14 151617 18 19 202122 2324 25HARMONIOUS
P I O N U H
TIPSTER TEMPO
R A E M H M O
IDLE GATEFOLD
A A L D N W
NIMBUS BONSAI
G I T H T N
UNSPOKEN HACK
L T G R W D E
AGONY MARRIED
R O R I E O
KNOTTINESSNeed help with today’s puzzle? Call 0905 757 0143 to check the answers.
Calls cost £1 per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge.
SP: Spoke, 0333 202 3390 (Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm).
Bridge Andrew Robson
Any time you guess, you may
guess wrong. The less you
guess, the more accurate you
will become. Admittedly, this
did not apply to my lower-
sixth physics A-level multiple
choice test. There were 60
questions and four possible
answers. A monkey ticking at
random would score 15. Oh
how I wished I were a monkey
— I scored nine. (I changed to
mediaeval history for the
upper sixth.)
On this week’s 4♠, declarer
cursed misguessing the loca-
tion of the missing queen of
clubs.West led his singleton jack of
hearts, East winning the ace and
returning the ten, West ruffing
away declarer’s king. At trick
three, West switched to a club,
declarer winning dummy’s ace.
Declarer cashed a high
spade in dummy drawing
trumps, and at trick five led a
diamond to the jack. It was
clear to lead to the jack (not to
the king) for if East held the
ace, he could have risen with it
to cash the queen of hearts.
Declarer hoped East held the
queen (promoting his king for
a heart discard from dummy).
It was not so. West beat the
jack of diamonds with the
queen and led a second club.
Declarer now needed to
guess which opponent to play
for the queen of clubs. After
some huffing and puffing,
declarer played West, who
rated to have longer clubs, for
her majesty. He finessed
dummy’s ten. No good — East
won the queen and cashed the
queen of hearts. Two down.
Drat. However, it was not
declarer’s misguess to finesse in
clubs that was his mistake.
There’s a delightfully simple
move that avoids the club guess.
Cash the king of clubs
before leading the diamond to
the jack. West wins the queen
but now has no good move.
If West leads a diamond,
you can ruff the ace (setting up
the king for a heart discard
from dummy), or ride a low
diamond exit to the king, dis-
carding a heart from dummy.
If West leads a club, the
jack-ten in dummy will win a
trick regardless of the location
of the queen. Here, East’s
queen would beat dummy’s ten
but be ruffed. You can then
ruff a diamond and dump your
heart loser on dummy’s jack of
clubs. Game made.[email protected]♠ 8 3
♥ J
♦ A Q 10 9 4 2
♣ 9 7 4 2
♠ A Q 10 7 4
♥ K 7 4
♦ K J 8
♣ 6 3♠ K J 6 5 2
♥ 9 5 3
♦ 7
♣ A K J 10
♠ 9
♥ A Q 10 8 6 2
♦ 6 5 3
♣ Q 8 5SEN
WDealer East Both VulS W N E
2 ♥(1)
2 ♠ Pass 4♦(2) Pass
4 ♠ end
(1) Weak Two — a good six-card suit
and 5-10 points.
(2) Splinter bid agreeing spades,
showing a singleton or void diamond
and some slam interest.Mindset by 700 Literary Quiz
1 a, b and c are sets of letters, with no letter in more than one set. The Times Literary Desk
Using ALL of the letters in the sets indicated (possibly with
repetition), and no other letters, words can be made with the
following definitions. Identify all of the words.
(a) Fog (b) Required (c) Cleaning woman
(a+b) Attitude (a+c) --- Island, Indian Ocean destination
(b+c) Loyalty (a+b+c) Orthodox superior abbots2 The Three Kings agreed to buy gifts of gold, frankincense and
myrrh, but they forgot to agree who would bring what! Caspar and
Melchior both bought one at random; Balthazar bought two
(hoping to regift the other). What are the chances that each king
was able to present a different gift?3 12M, 11N, 10P, 9N, 8I, 7S, 6A, 5R, 4L, 3E, 2U and a what?Answers on page 81All Must Have Prizes!
The following books won big
prizes this year — name each
author and the prize.
1 The Mermaid of Black Conch
2 The Promise
3 The Manningtree Witches
4 Empire of PainAnswers on page 81The Listener Crossword No 4690 Hatched? Matched? Despatched?
by Ifor
Senders of the first three
correct entries drawn will
receive Brewer’s Dictionary
of Phrase and Fable or may
choose from a selection of
other books (see below).
Send your entry with
contact details completed
to: Listener Crossword
4690 , 63 Green Lane, St
Albans, Hertfordshire AL3
6HE, to arrive by
December 30.Name ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Address .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Postcode .............................................................................. Phone number ....................................................................................................................
The top and bottom rows must initially be left empty. Four down clues each need a word to be
removed before solving; correctly ordered, the words and their clue numbers identify the theme.
Every across clue also requires removal of an extra word, of four or more letters; in clue order, these
give wordplay for the forenames of four thematic individuals. Solvers must fill the bottom row with
the surname of one of them, revealing possible answers to the title’s questions, which must be
delimited by inserting three bars. Relating the questions, answers and other three forenames
respectively, in order, will determine the thematic location that must be entered in the top row.
Changes at every stage create new words. The Chambers Dictionary (2016) is the primary reference;
34 is in Collins English Dictionary.
Across
2 One look into earth’s past ferocious fish (6)
7 Arms used for jabs keep level, regularly
within seconds (5)
11 Enormous lie about this narrow place where
splitting is simple (4)
12 Deep sound south of valley filled by lake (6)
13 Speedfreak marks fashion with intensity (5)
15 Old cultivator missing start in tough year (3)
16 Reactive base partly broken behind imitation
backing (5)
17 Sensibly moved annual with no luminance
out of lawn (7)
18 Honesty of lives rejected before nice try
ruined return (9)
21 Treatment for stiffness supplied, limiting
small journey back (8)
22 Hold nakedly insolent drunk fast (6)
24 Shield Glaswegian with reprimand (5)
26 Game of flips to take exposed active card (4)
29 One of several herbs with the intention of
superseding basil, initially (4)
31 Ambassador felt China’s internally united (6)
32 Cleaner contest with both sides in
armour (3)
33 African caught near to collapse after
returning weary (8)
34 Damn silly ratings surprisingly unknown in
regular troops (12, two words)
Down
1 Operative train — it’s as ordered (7)
3 Harvest local meadow below hotel (6)4 Jaguar with right starting handle for moving
wonderful carriage (6)
5 Present, yet ultimately set back by one
step (3)
6 Qualifying life without ring in wedding (7)
7 Lengths of drill possibly best unlimited to
accommodate lines (4)
8 School room set aside for meeting (3)
9 Pulling in, getting a closer to lower the
top (7)
10 Seated in blissful location amid peace (6)
14 Go without a day apart abandoning
career (3)
15 Gaoler losing head in dreadful flap (7)
17 Fetch last of litter to fill its container — good
(5)
19 Delicacy of two young children, the first
gripped by disease (6)
20 Teach for one class, keeping in group
responsible for rows (6)
23 Hoary seabird’s talons decapitated cod (5)
25 Wood almost beyond breaking (5)
26 Gypsies foresaw dumping aggregate in
error (4)
27 Place of another lost contribution to first
edition (4)
28 Question rudely in extremes of childish
irritation (4)
29 Anonymous female upset with men in chat
rooms (4)
30 Wander in deserts either side of Asia Minor,
disoriented (4)
Listener Crossword 4691 and solution 4688 will be published in The Times on Monday December 27.Prize options and more at
listenercrossword.comMore information about
Chambers books can be
found at chambers.co.ukListener 4687 solution on
page 80