Sunday Times 4475 (4 Mar 2012)

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 48:30 was the official time, but realistically more like 30-35 minutes. I was solving online on Sunday night, but I had to go and empty the washing machine part way through and forgot to pause it.

On the whole, I made fairly quick progress through most of this, but was (as usual) held up by the last few, mainly in the SE corner. HESPERUS, FERMATAS and NOLDE which I didn’t know, HANGAR which I didn’t really understand, and PROHIBIT & ULTRAMARINE for no good reason at all.

Some good clues, but I didn’t personally feel it was one of Jeff’s best. The sports references to Tom Daley amd Gary Sobers may leave some of our American solvers struggling a little.

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

Across
1 CA + SPAR – One of the three magi who came bearing gifts to the infant Jesus.
5 SOBERS – dd – Sir Garfield Sobers was probably the greatest all-rounder in Test cricket history. His first test century was a score of 365 not out against Pakistan in 1958, which stood as the highest individual test innings for 36 years until Brian Lara topped it (twice).
9 TOADSTOOL = (OLD TOAST + brOwn)*
10 fLUTE
11 ORDEAL = ORAL about D/E
12 HESPERUS = HESS about PERU. Hesperus was the personification of the planet Venus when seen in the evening, by the Ancient Greeks.
14 GANGSTER = GAGSTER about robiN – ‘Hood’ is the definition.
16 I + O + TA
18 PISA – cd – a little obvious, but it made me smile
19 FERMATAS = F + (A MASTER)* – A musical direction that is more like a sustain than a pause, I would have thought.
21 INTIMATE – dd
22 HANGAR – My LOI as I struggled to justify it. The Vickers Viscount was an historically important plane, so ‘home for a Viscount’ will be the definition. ‘We hear’ must indicate a homophone, so I assume it sounds like HANGER. To ‘top’ someone is slang for to kill them, so maybe it’s that. That seems a little weak, but it’s the best I can come up with. Other suggestions are welcome.
24 CA(S)T
26 G(A + RIBALD)I
27 USURpER
28 TIERED = RE in (DIET)*
Down
2 ALTER(C)ATION
3 P + LACE
4 RESOLUTE = (OUR STEEL)*
5 SPLASH – dd – Tom Daley is a medal hope for the British 2012 Olympic team in the diving. He competed in Beijing in 2008 at the age of 14, but failed to place. He had already won gold in the European Championships earlier that year, and went on to win gold at the Commonwealth Games two years later.
6 B(ALL + ERIN)A
7 RUTh
8 MOTHER-OF-PEARL = (OPAL FROM THERE)* – A neat anagram, but it feels as if it’s been shoe-horned into the clue a little.
13 ULTRAMARINE = (MATERIAL + URN)*
15 GLADIATOR = GLAD + AI rev + TOR
17 PROHIBIT = PRO + IT about HIB – an acronym for Haemophilus Influenzae type B
20 BADGE + R – There were some queries on the official discussion page about the legitimacy of r as as abbreviation for rare, but it’s in my dictionary and I had no problem with it.
23 NOLDE = N + tatE about OLD – Emil Nolde was the German Expressionist painter.
25 lASS – A jack being a male donkey.

6 comments on “Sunday Times 4475 (4 Mar 2012)”

  1. Yes, I think you already have all there is to 22ac: One topping = hanger aka hangman and sounds like aircraft “hangar”.

    38 minutes for this one. BADGER was my last in. DK NOLDE or HIB but otherwise it was all reasonably straightforward.

    Edited at 2012-03-11 01:13 pm (UTC)

  2. FERMATA is defined in Chambers as a pause, from what I understand (and this is mostly from US and Canada conducting), a fermata means the conductor keeps the baton in position until the end of the note, then continues with the measure and a pause is cut off with a baton wave cut.

    There may be a reason I haven’t conducted for about two years though…

      1. Well I’m utterly unmusical so I’ll gladly bow to the wisdom of others on this one.
  3. An educational puzzle this one, with lots of not-well-knowns. I got HESPERUS and knew it from the Longfellow poem, but now I know it means Evening Star. PROHIBIT went in without understanding, HIB not clarified by my antique Chambers. FERMATA was unknown (and I sing in a choir – I shall have to enlighten the conductor). NOLDE unknown.
    HESPERUS inspired me to look up the poem. My oath, it’s bad. Gives Mcgonagall a run for his money.
  4. Fermatas was the one that stumped me. And the HIB in prohibit. I found this much easier than the previous week.

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