Sunday Times 4473 (19 Feb 2012) – Crashed due to pilot error

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 1:11:27

There was a lot here that I found tricky, as is often the case with Dean’s puzzles, and I was never going to post a quick time, but I get stuck in the SW corner for probably 20-30 minutes after I entered PILOT at 23. It seemed perfectly reasonable and it took me an age to convince myself it might be wrong. Many people (LOT) following good (PI) suggestion (PILOT) – a pilot being a suggestion for a TV show.

But that aside there was plenty of clever wordplay as you would expect from Dean – 9a, 7d & 16d were all good, 20a raised a groan, and the cryptic def at 22 was particularly good.

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

Across
1 GRACIOUS ME = (AGE MUSIC OR)*
6 CHEF = HE in CaFe – &lit
9 ROOF RACKS = (FOR A)* in ROCKS – very natural surface
10 SUNNY = “SONNY” – I also got held up here because I’d entered HNADICAP at 7 and failed to spot it.
11 GINNEL = INN in GEL – I believe this is a northernism. At least, I never came across the word when I lived down south, but since I’ve lived in the north I’ve heard it quite a lot. The most famous ginnel is probably the one that runs behind Coronation Street.
12 indiVIdual + PERISH
14 WILe + LAND + G + RACE – US sitcom that revolves around the friendship between a gay man and a straight woman.
17 INSPECTORATE = I + (TENT ARE COPS)*
20 LUCKY DIP – the wordplay implies that if the words are ‘initially exchanged’ you get DUCKY LIP which would be a ‘bill’. I can’t imagine anyone got this from the wordplay alone.
21 A + F + FAIR
23 G + HOST (not PILOT!)
24 HANGAr + BOUT
25 NUTS = STUN rev
26 A + SCENe + DANCE
Down
1 GARAGE = RAG rev + AGE – Garage music tends to be young, fresh and not too polished. It takes its name from the sorts of places these bands were thought to practice. Modern proponents of the style would include Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, The White Stripes & Arctic Monkeys
2 A + BO(U)ND
3 ISRAEL IN EGYPT = (GAY PRIEST)* about LINE – It sounds like it should be a number from Joseph, but it’s actually a biblical oratorio by Handel.
4 UNCO = hidden in gUN COllector
5 MISS + Insist One’s + NARY – ‘a good teacher’ is the definition
7 H AND I + CAP – pretty sneaky wordplay
8 FLYSHEET = Y (yard) + SH (shut it) in FLEET (quick)
10 SLEIGHT OF HAND = (HE HITS GOLF)* + AND
13 FLATFISHES = (F-FAITHLESS)* – If I’m going to be picky, I would say that to talk about FISHES rather than FISH we should be talking about multiple species, so flounders would strictly be FLATFISH. Flounders and halibut would be FLATFISHES.
15 MILLIGAN = I + GILL rev all in MAN – The late, great Spike Milligan was the father of British anarchic comedy
16 PSYCH OUT = PS + (TOUCHY)* – ‘cow’ is the definition as in to be cowed by something.
18 Bananas + A + BOON
19 W(R)ITH + E
22 KNEE – cd – you go down on one when proposing marriage

19 comments on “Sunday Times 4473 (19 Feb 2012) – Crashed due to pilot error”

  1. 75 minutes with ‘sandy’ and ‘liverish’ for SUNNY and VIPERISH. The second very fine puzzle of a vintage weekend. Thanks to Mr Mayer, who scares me and entertains me in equal measure. I have no problem with fishes as an alternative plural ending to fish, as in 5 loaves and 2 fishes.
  2. DNF, after well over an hour to get everything but 11ac. Now that I’ve learned what 11ac is, I’m less unhappy about not finishing. It never occurred to me to think of ‘gel’ for ‘posh lady’, although it’s been done before; I persisted in trying to force a U into the word. I also felt unsure of ABOUND, my LOI, as I wasn’t confident that abound=swell. I was surprised to find WILL AND GRACE, a US sitcom of modest appeal; is it popular in the UK?
    1. I was surprised to find this in a ST crossword. I’d never seen the show but had heard of it and knew it was Someone and Grace. Poor clue, IMO. And hopefully not the sign of things to come. Give me Idomeneo any day.
      1. Well, personally, I’m on much more familiar territory with Will and Grace than I am with Idomeneo. I have seen it, although I’m not what you’d call a devotee. But, in response to Kevin, yes, it is quite popular over here, and I have known several people who rave about it. I liked the clue. I thought it was well constructed and by no means the first reference we’ve ever had to a TV programme in the ST.
        1. I should clarify I meant the destination was poor, not the fodder. What next? Minor Aussie soaps? Downton Abbey?!
  3. My second 2-hour solve of last weekend. I might have appreciated this more if it hadn’t followed on from Saturday’s monster but at least with this one I needed less resort to aids in order to complete the grid.

    I was encouraged by getting ISRAEL IN EGYPT very early on as I have a love of all things Handelian. I’d vaguely heard of WILL AND GRACE but I needed all the checkers to dredge up the two names. I didn’t know the meaning of PSYCH OUT referred to here.

    I never ‘got’ the Goons at the time or since, and whilst I came later to enjoy Sellers’ other work and could appreciate Secombe (although I could take or leave him) I could never stand Milligan or see anything remotely funny in him whatsoever. It’s a lonely furrow to plough through this life!

    Edited at 2012-02-26 07:15 am (UTC)

    1. I wondered who it was wandering about in my agoonic furrow. Now I know. On the other hand, I’ve just rewatched after many years the first series of Up Pompeii! – no, don’t, yes, no, don’t – and loved every minute. When Lurcio takes the tablet from Nausius and starts to read one of his ‘odes’, I’m putty in his hands.

      Jack, you reminded me – had to cheat to get PSYCH OUT, my last in and COD. Are you sure you don’t know the meaning, as in two boxers staring each other out? It would also be used by tennis commentators, especially if Connors was one side of the net.

      Edited at 2012-02-26 07:55 am (UTC)

      1. On PSYCH OUT, I knew it to mean to outguess by analysing the strategy and/or intentions of an opponent which I always thought fitted most sporting contexts in which I’ve heard it used, but I can see now that if it also means to cow then that may have been what commentators meant sometimes and I may have misunderstood what they were saying.

        I’m with you on Frankie Howerd although UP POMPEII! wasn’t my favourite of his vehicles. I preferred him doing straight (!) stand-up, gossiping to his audience.

        The first radio comedy I really got into was Hancock’s Half Hour and then all those wonderful years of Beyond Our Ken and Round the Horne. I think it was Milligan who prevented me even tolerating The Goon Show.

  4. I’d forgotten, but this one bothered me at the time, as to psych an opponent out is to get the better of him by some psychological means, not to intimidate him (although the effect of course could be intimidation). Stephen Potter’s ‘Gamesmanship’ is all about the art of psyching out; like praising your golf partner for the way he bends his elbow on the upswing–he doesn’t, but he’ll start thinking he does. (Whereas Jimmy Connors, of course, was just an offensive, boorish ass.)
  5. After a long time not doing the Sunday puzzle because of all the misprints and easy clues I’ve been watching the recent transformation for the better with interest.

    This is a typical Anax puzzle where I’m fortunate because I once used his website to download and complete over 30 of his old puzzles. I therefore know and understand his style and have no major difficulty in solving his always excellent offerings.

    This one took me 35 pleasurable minutes and I had no quibbles.

  6. I get demoralised the moment I see that byline. I did actually finish it after 2 or 3 sessions and felt pretty cow-like and dense. No idea how long I took and naturally there was a typo to put the lid on it. Never saw the sitcom and had completely forgotten Milligan, although my schoolmates and I found the Goons funny in our teens.
  7. Hey – 12 comments for a Sunday puzzle! Many thanks for your excellent review, Dave, and to all for your comments.
    I must confess I never watched Will & Grace as I have a fundamental aversion to US sitcoms, but its title was familiar to me. Sometimes these modern cultural references come simply from passing awareness rather than knowledge; as I say, I never watched Will & Grace but the name sprung up often enough as I perused TV listings. That’s not to say anything goes – I wouldn’t choose something more obscure, say a series only shown on one TV channel and never exported elsewhere, but I am aware than Will & Grace was popular enough to be seen by both UK and US audiences.
    My personal belief is that both modern and classical cultural references are fair game provided solvers aren’t expected to dredge up knowledge of e.g. plot-lines – that would be going too far.
    1. I may have found it hard, but it was worth it. I just found out I won a pen for it as runner up. Thanks, Dean!
  8. Got there in the end in 73 minutes after what seemed like a Titanic struggle. LUCKY DIP not understood until coming here – although I thought of it as soon as I saw it was 5,3. ISRAEL IN EGYPT my first in. Never sung it but I have the vocal score, picked up in a junk shop and kept just in case… I doubt I’ll get the chance now. Handel oratorios (except for Messiah) seem to have sadly gone out of fashion. ( I received the programme for Welsh National Opera’s next season yesterday and was delighted to see that they are reviving their staged version of Handel’s oratorio, “Jeptha”. Saw it last time but will go again. Great stuff!) My COD was HANDICAP. Brilliant clue and so obvious once you’ve seen it!
  9. Weeks later in Toronto……….

    Have to take you to task about this one.

    Definition: fly – A sheet of waterproof material that is secured above your tent to act as a barrier against rain and condensation. A fly is like an umbrella for your tent. When a tent has a fly it is called a double-wall tent.

    A fly as in a flap that covers an entrance or forms a rooflike extension for a tent or the canopy of a vehicle is a different thing I think.

    Was there a word missing in the clue in our version?

    Camper’s opening yard – shut it in quick.

    1. I have to confess I know nothing about camping, so I just took the clue at face value and assumed that a flysheet was some sort of sheet with an opening that allowed access to a tent, much like a fly in a pair of trousers.
      In response to your query, I have looked it up and I think you have a point. So far as I can see, a flysheet is a sheet that is suspended over a tent to act as a second roof and doesn’t appear to act as an opening in any way that I can see.
      I shall take the matter further…
    2. Actually, ignore everything I just said in my reply. I was looking at the definition of ‘flysheet’. But the enumeration in the puzzle is (3,5) and Collins defines ‘Fly sheet’ as ‘a flap forming the entrance to a tent’. I’ve checked a few other online dictionaries as well and they all seem to agree with this definition. Had the enumeration just been (8) then you would have been correct, but as it is I have to agree with the setter.

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