An interesting puzzle of perhaps slightly higher than average level of difficulty. Paul McKenna is to be congratulated for including a scientific concept that raised the level of science based content above the usual “Newton” and “neutrino” style offerings. Let us hope we see more of that both here and in the daily cryptic.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | TAMBAC – T(A-MB)AC(k); mark of the beast=MB; Gerald Ratner’s folly; |
| 6 | KIRMESS – KIR-MESS; syrupy mixture=KIR; a fair in Froombosch; |
| 11 | OVOLI – O-VOL-I(nspire); over=O; two wings=VOL; a convex moulding; |
| 13 | OUPHE – OUP-HE; Oxford University Press=OUP; a simpleton; |
| 14 | PEREGRINATION – PERE-GR-I-NATION; Greek=GR; island=I; pilgrim’s progress perhaps; |
| 15 | ENTER,KEY – (teeny)* surrounds ERK (RAF slang for ordinary aircraftman); |
| 17 | RISP – RI(S)P; is=S; grate in Glasgow; |
| 18 | POTHOLE – PO(THO)LE; POLE-2=small tree; evidence of Council mismanagement; |
| 19 | ANTELUCAN – AN-T-(clue)*-A-N; one=AN; time=T; before=ante=A; noon=N; pre-dawn (or Richard Bingham?); |
| 23 | DAFFIER – DAFF-IE-(bake)R; contraction of daffodil=DAFF; |
| 26 | OGRE – hidden (mach)O-GRE(ek); |
| 28 | LABURNUM – L(ABURN)UM; Scots chimney=LUM; the golden chain tree; |
| 30 | EPHEMERIS,TIME – (theme is prime + e=eccentricity)*; measurement of time that is free of the irregularity of the earth’s complex rotation used by atomic clocks; the inclusion of ET (which just as GMT means Greenwich Mean Time actually stands for Ephemeris Time) plus “an astronomic concept” in the definition made for an easy solve, which I thought was a pity; |
| 31 | BLINI – BLIN(g)-I; indeed=I; pancake eaten with caviar and vodka; |
| 32 | TONAL – (nota + L=latin)*; |
| 33 | SENATOR – SEN-A-TO-R; without=SEN; area=A; rule=R; |
| 34 | EASELS – (w)EASLES; with=W; |
| Down | |
| 1 | TOPERS – TO-PER-S; a=PER; shilling=S; modern youngsters it appears; |
| 2 | AVENIR – A-V-(rein)*; tight=drunk=anagrind; fights with Frau Merkel probably; |
| 3 | MORTSAFE – (A-STROM reversed)-FE; iron=FE; protection against grave robbers before Anatomy Act 1832; |
| 4 | AIGRET – AI-GRE(y)-T; island=AIT; a spray of jewels; |
| 5 | CORK-HEELED – CORK-HE(EL)ED; EL from (b)EL(t); wanton; |
| 6 | KAIE – KAI-(chees)E; KAI=Maori for food; old word for key-1=a wedge; |
| 7 | ROAST – (bante)R-O-A-ST; slang for banter; |
| 8 | MUTE – MU(TA)TE; thanks=TA; |
| 9 | SHOOL – two meanings; 1=dialect (in places) for scoop 2=sponge; |
| 10 | SENSE – SE(NS)E; New Society=NS; |
| 12 | ON,YOUR,BIKE – concerning=ON; the ordinary=YOUR; a swarm in Scotland (keelie=scotsman)=BIKE; advice to the unemployed made famous by Tory Minister Norman Tebbit following 1981 Brixton riots; |
| 16 | LONGNINE – (ennobling without b=baron)*; a cheap cigar such as Mexican Te-Amo; |
| 20 | CRUSTA – C-(f)RUSTA; cold=C; slices=frusta; the rim of sugar around the top of a cocktail glass; |
| 21 | BRUMAL – B-(LUMAR reversed); black=B; hankie=LUMAR; related to winter; |
| 22 | GEMELS – GE(ME)LS; a pair of heraldic bars; |
| 23 | DIEBS – DI(E)BS; sheep’s bones=DIBS; North African jackals; |
| 24 | AMPLE – (s)AMPLE; |
| 25 | IMMIT – I(MMI)T; man-machine interface=MMI; infotech=IT; old word for introduce; |
| 27 | GENA – (A-NEG all reversed); the side of the face; |
| 29 | ARAR – A-RAR(e); the sictus tree; |
I agree that ET should have made EPHEMERIS TIME obvious to those with some scientific knowledge, but I have to confess that I still didn’t get it immediately even though it was staring me in the face.
In fairness to Norman Tebbit, his advice to “Get on your bike and look for work” is rather different from ON YOUR BIKE as defined in 12dn.
I have a little pile of past Mephistos that I dip into from time to time, particularly when travelling. A few days before doing this one I solved 2665, which appeared last October. It has KIRMESS and KAIE in exactly the same places as this puzzle. I thought for a while I was going bonkers!
Peter Biddlecombe
Sunday Times Crossword Editor
The way we instinctively perceive such events can be exploited. There was a investment scam a few years ago in which the scammers wrote to several thousand people claiming to have a failsafe methodology for predicting share price movements. They included a note predicting the movement of a particular share over the following week. Half the notes predicted a rise, half a fall. The following week they repeated the exercise but excluded the people who had received the “wrong” prediction. When they’d done this ten times the people still getting the letters had seen ten correct predictions in a row. The natural human tendency to see patterns and seek explanations in statistically random events meant that many of them were willing to part with their money.
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