Sunday Times 4498 (12 Aug 2012) by Tim Moorey

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 53:57, but with two wrong, and frankly, I was quite surprised it was only two.

I rattled through the left hand side in about 15 minutes, but then got completely stuck on the remainder. There seemed quite a lot of obscure (to me at least) vocab combined with tricky to parse wordplay. By the end, I had lost interest and was chucking answers in on a wing and a prayer just to get it finished. My last two in were the short pair in the SE corner of 28/30, and it was these two that I got wrong.

Which was a shame because it was only when I looked back at some of the clues in order to write the blog, that I remembered how brilliant some of them were. But then, that’s often how I find Tim’s puzzles – excellent in parts, but overall a bit too tough for me to properly enjoy.

cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this

Across
1 wOMEN
4 CHEAPSKATE – (HE’S + A PACKET)* – an excellent &lit and my COD
9 ASYLUM – (YoU + SLAM)* – semi-&lit and another excellent clue
10 REPROVAL = RE (on) + PRO (for) + V (very short) + meAL
11 Police + ARTICULAR (about a joint)
14 KEPI = KEPT (retained) with I (International) instead of T (short time) – My last correct one in, entered without much hope as I hadn’t fully deciphered the wordplay
15 A GOOD BUY = A + “GOODBYE” (so long)
17 INBRED = (IN + ED) about BR – I was trying to remember what Ed Milliband’s brother was called, when I realised it didn’t matter.
18 C + AMBER
20 NOT QUITE = NOTE (me, perhaps, as in do re me etc) about QUIT (desert)
22 aISLE
23 ENOUGH SAID = NOUGHt in (IDEAS)*
25 IN SPADES = (PENS SAID)*
27 A + CROSS
29 P(LATER)ACKS
30 SENT = SET (company) about N (new) – Before the Euro, Estonia used the Kroon which was divided into 100 Sents. With both checkers in place, I probably would have got it from the wordplay, but I only had the N so I guessed at BAND out of desperation.
Down
2 MUSTANG = MUST replacing the first G (back of breechinG) in GANG (pack)
3 NIL = hidden
4 COMICe – Graeme Garden, former member of The Goodies and long-time panellist on I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue is presumably the comic in question.
5 nEAR
6 POP ARTIST = PARTIng in POST – ‘stylist’s division’ for PARTING was rather neat, but another that I only decrypted post-solve.
7 KNOCKABOUTS = KNOCKS (smacks) about ABOUT (on) – this held me up for a long time in the NE corner. I’ve only come across the term used to describe an ad-hoc game of tennis, etc, and never as a type of ship.
8 TRAIPSE = (PRIEST)* about A – I’ve come across ‘High’ as an anagrind before, but I find it a bit of a stretch.
12 TROUBLE SPOT = (ROUBLES + P) in TOT – The DbE is indicated by the question mark.
13 LAY INTO = (ITALY NO)*
16 BARTENDER = (A + RT) in BENDER – Another very neat semi-&lit
19 ARSE + N + A + L – Arsenal F.C. are known as The Gunners due to their historical connection with the Royal Arsenal ordnance depot at Woolwich.
21 TRIES ON – Wigan are a Rugby club so scores made by them would be TRIES. In response to a comment on the forum by someone who seemed confused by the use ot ‘tests’, test matches are played in rugby as well as cricket.
24 GRASS – dd – I confess I’ve not heard of Günter Grass, author of The Tin Drum (which I have heard of). I had assumed at the time that it was G for German + RASS (presumably an author), but now that I think about it, G for German would be quite wrong as the abbreviation for German would have to be GER or D.
26 SIC = regular letters from puSh bIcyCle – Taking every third letter from a word or phrase crops up occasionally, although it makes me wonder where the line of acceptibility is drawn. Might we see every fourth letter, or fifth, or sixth?
28 RES – a legal term for an object or thing. Found in neaRESt and deaRESt. I considered this once I had the initial R, but dismissed it as it sounded so unlikely a word. More fool I. Went for RIB in the end to fit in with BAND (q.v.) as the integral part of Adam’s mate. I realised at the time that it was probably wrong, but was fed up with staring at it.

9 comments on “Sunday Times 4498 (12 Aug 2012) by Tim Moorey”

  1. Just an hour, almost to the second, with 21d and 30ac finally, after I don’t know how long. I had to google for the SENT, something I can’t remember having done for a cryptic (other than TLS’s, of course). I can’t say I was pleased to have solved that one, especially as the clue itself–granting that one knows how to give change for a kroon–wasn’t very impressive. DK Garden, although I have (just recently) heard some of that wonderful program (“I’m Sorry”, of course, NOT “The Goodies”). 19d was a bit cheeky, what? Of course it is a Sunday. No problem with KEPI or RES, and I rather liked ‘high’ as anagram indicator. COD to 2d.

    Edited at 2012-08-19 03:07 am (UTC)

    1. Great clip. As a fellow member of EWIS, I should point out that the club’s name must never be said with a schwa – it is always Wi-GAN! (with the exclamation mark clearly articulated).
  3. This was the second of last weekend’s offerings that frankly I got bored with, the SE corner being the final straw, but for those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like, as somebody once wrote.

    I understand the town of Wigan also has a Premier League soccer team so I’m at a loss to see why Wigan is assumed to refer to Rugby League. Neither team is called “Wigan” anyway.

    As with yesterday’s Saturday puzzle I am pleased to be able to say that this week’s Sunday puzzle (by Jeff Pearce) was much more to my taste, apart from one clue to a difficult word not parsing correctly as far as I can see.

    Edited at 2012-08-19 04:58 pm (UTC)

  4. I liked 19dn, not because it was rude but just because it was straightforward, no prissy euphemisms.. I did write in kepi, but only now do I understand the clue. I agree that obscure former Balkan currencies are a step too far. If it was current, another matter perhaps. As it was, it seemed to me to be there mainly for the setter’s convenience.. though surely “sent” has a sufficient number of alternative meanings.
    Wigan IS rugby league. It is a football town to the same degree that Manchester is a basketball town

    1. You appear to have moved Estonia, Jerry!

      The “kroon” would have been bad enough, but “cent” spelt SENT was the step too far for me.

      1. It was a typo for Baltic. But in my defence, an alternative meaning of the word is: “Anywhere far, far away heading towards Russia but not quite getting there”

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