Sunday Times 4447 (21 Aug 2011)

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: Just over an hour.

Apologies for the late blog. I meant to post it earlier but it slipped my mind. I found this a bit of a struggle. There’s still a few elements I don’t quite understand – the R in BURLESQUE, the REP in SALES REP, and the definition in 7d. On edit: The R in BURLESQUE has now been explained. There were a couple of words I didn’t know and had to guess at – APTEROUS and QUALE.

This was one of those puzzles that I can’t quite decide whether it’s very clever or too contrived. Overall, I don’t think I liked it very much, and didn’t get much enjoyment from solving it, but there are certainly some very clever individual clues within it.

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

Across
1 CLOSE + FINISH – 2 synonyms for end
10 OLIVEr
11 LOWER CASE – dd, the second of which is cryptic
12 DODDERING = ODD in DisputE + RING
13 THE F.T. – that’s job as in a bank job
14 EL PASO – rev hidden
16 Pimm’s + RESERVE
18 APTEROUS = (SUPER + Arsenal + TO)* – I didn’t know the word, but once I’d established the anagrist, this was the only likely candidate
20 STEP UP = PUPpETS rev
23 LANKY = LAY about Near Knockout
24 BURLESQUE – I think this is an attempt at an &lit, but it’s too wordy, and with too awkward a surface, for my liking. I’m not sure why ‘term for theater’ would be R (an abbreviation for Rep, perhaps?), nor indeed if there’s any significance of the American spelling of theatre being used. Assuming that is where the R comes from, then it’s R in (BLUE)* + Skirt + QUitE. ‘Term’ is being used here to mean end, as in terminus, an unusual meaning but a perfectly acceptable one. So it’s the last letter of ‘theater’, hence the American spelling. Thanks to Tim.
26 SCARLATTI = (L + CASTRATI)*
27 AWARD = WAR in A + D – I didn’t think it was acceptable any more to use the national identification codes found on those stickers seen on the back of cars, which is presumably where the A & D come from. But then, maybe that’s just the Times rather than the ST where pretty much anything goes.
28 PETER GRIMES = (TRIPS EMERGE)* – The ill-fated fisherman from Benjamin Britten’s opera of the same name
Down
2 LA(I)RD
3 SEEDERS = (REcESSED)*
4 FILLIP = “PHILIP”
5 oNE + WAGERS
6 SPRITES = (PaSTRIES)*
7 GOLD MEDALLIST = (GLIDED MOST)* about ALL – although I didn’t really understand the definition. Is Tim Moorey a gold medallist?
8 SALES REP – ALE in SicknesS, but why REP = ‘made up’ I’m not sure.
9 CENTRE SPREADS – a reference to ‘middle-age spread’, something I’m very familiar with!
15 PE(TUN + In)AS
17 SUN + Browning + A / THE (articles)
19 ROYAL WE = “ROYAL WEE” such as might be found in a palace chamber pot.
21 THEM + A + GIft
22 TRYING – dd
25 QUALE = EQUAL with the E moved to the end

13 comments on “Sunday Times 4447 (21 Aug 2011)”

  1. I had the same problems with BURLESQUE and SALE REP and as yet there’s been nothing in the Club forum to confirm that there were errors in the clues.

    I took the American spelling ‘theater’ as an indication that we were looking for a strictly American theatrical format. Fortunately BURLESQUE came up recently and started a lengthy discussion on what it involved so it was fresh in my mind.

    I didn’t enjoy it much either although the ROYAL WE raised a smile.

  2. The only conclusion* I can see is that “term” is used in the (archaic?) sense of “limit, end”, which would also explain the American spelling, so that it’s “R”, not “E”. Not sure I remember coming across this usage before but I think I’ve convinced myself.

    *no pun intended

    1. I just came back to post something similar but you beat me to it, Tim. It doesn’t have to be archaic. Chambers first definition of Term is ‘an end’.
      1. Yes, of course. I have seen this construction used before (and it stumped me then, too) so I should have spotted it this time.
  3. 65 minutes, and I can no longer remember why. I had the same doubts about e.g. ‘made up’, R, etc. I don’t think I can recall clues of the form ‘bit of skirt’ and ‘spot of browning’ to indicate initial letters; is that just my memory? There’s a huge literature in philosophy these days on qualia (plural, and much more common form, of ‘quale’), and I strongly advise everyone to avoid it; that and the huger literature on consciousness: two areas of human nature where no advances have been made.
  4. I think the “could me be” just refers to someone who glided most amazingly to overshadow everyone (i.e. won)
  5. Hit POST too fast.

    The SALES REP one works by “a” being “per” ($5 a head). So it is “a”=PER case of sickness=”SS” up so SSREP and then bung in the ALE

  6. …and in one of those odd optical illusion things, I just noticed that “in” is erroneously repeated in the clue but I never noticed when solving.
  7. Thank you very much for all the clarifications. I had the same questions as y’all – plus a few!
    One correction, if I may:
    Apterous = (SUPER + A(rsenal) plus TO*)
    Regards,
    Adrian Cobb
  8. 39 minutes with question marks by the same clues that seem to have bothered everyone else. I’m glad I’m not alone! I have a smiley face doodled by ROYAL WE which gave me a much needed giggle.
  9. My normal, it seems, time of 75 minutes for this, through which I learned that Peter Grimes was a fisherman. If only the Arsenal clue had occurred a week later, when United thumped them 8-2 and inter alia showed up their lack of width (‘play without wings’).
  10. I believe this is a term used to refer to the use of the first person in speeches by monarchs, e.g. Victoria’s “We are not amused”. I suppose the usage originated from the notion that the ruler speaks for the nation as a whole.

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