To enter the contest, one has to complete the crossword and take a print out the same. This has to be sent to The Times registered office with all your personal details attached. The entry to the contest can also be submitted online for members of the Crossword Club

INNER TUBE – When talking about London, central and INNER are almost synonymous, and TUBE is the mass transit system of choice in that location. The cryptic definition completes this neat clue. Anagram [desperately] of LONGED. SOED: golden - of a time or epoch: characterized by great prosperity and happiness; flourishing. FREE WILL - a reference to a 1993 film, Free Willy, about an orca in an amusement park. Not seen it,but I vaguely remembered the title. Pleasingly, the orca that played Willy was in fact rehabilitated and returned to the wild, as a direct result of the film.Another SCC appearance, soon I think I might need a regular membership. Can’t keep signing the book as a Guest.

Definitions underlined in italics, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators. Across out a subscription. Once registered, users can choose from more than 9,000 puzzles. The daily changing offers guy_du_sable : Sunday Times Cryptic 5005, by Robert Price — Take 2 puzzles and call me in the morning (just once!) [+19] APHORISM– O (old) R (Rex; king) in [horrible] ( mishap)*. Not the meaning of saw you might think of at first. EPONYM - ME reversed around PONY (25 quid); the vacuum cleaner is named after Mr Hoover (not J Edgar)Well, I have the honour and privilege to blog a new Setter today, or at least a new Setter’s name (I did think that the ‘filthy place’ in 7d might be a nod towards our regular porcine Setter).

A regulation Saturday challenge, done in perhaps slightly under regulation time. 11D stretched my knowledge of Covent Garden – do they sell roses there? 14A amused me, and 15D stretched my vocabulary. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle. How did you all get on? Definitions underlined in bold italics, ( Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators. AcrossTHREADBARE - AD (promotion) + BAR (pub, though I would not say they were the same thing) inside THREE, your number, This was my LOI. I spent fully 3 minutes looking at _O_K_D, even though I was certain the puzzle needed a Z. I’m blaming the time change. PRANCER - RAN + C(old) inside PER (for each, every). Prancer supposedly being one of Santa's reindeer.

CROSS-POLLINATE - CROSS (mongrel) + POLL (parrot) + IN (at home) + ATE (upset, as in "his failure ate away at his confidence" or similar) TRIFID—T[-imes] R[-eview] + IF, “provided” + ID, “papers”; Merriam-Webster: Latin trifidus split into three, from tri- + findere to split …Looked to me like a noun, but lo, it is an adjective.YODELLING -YELLING has the alternate letters of OdDs inserted. Debatable whether yodelling is singing - then again, remember Frank Ifield?