Sunday Times 4441 (10 Jul 2011)

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: About 3 days! I started on Sunday evening and finished on Wednesday lunch-time.

Without doubt, I found this the hardest Sunday puzzle since I took over the blog back in January. There was some pretty devious wordplay – 8, 10, 29 for instance. Although I made it harder than it was by putting in two wrong answers at 6 & 26 which held up the NE & SW corners respectively.

There were some new words for me to add to my repertoire – TETRODE, IMPOST & HEAT SINK.

This was probably a bit too hard for me to properly enjoy. I don’t mind them of this difficulty on occasion, but I wouldn’t like to see it become standard.

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

Across
1 CH + A + P – I wasn’t aware that a ‘cove’ was a slang term for a person, but the the wordplay was pretty clear
3 BR (brother) + AS (for instance) + STACKS (a lot), ‘stretching’ being an insertion indicator
10 BURLESQUE = Band + (SURELy)* + QUitE – I wasn’t sure about the definition – Is there a Broadway show called ‘Burlesque’? If so, I couldn’t find any mention of it. Burlesque as a style may be available to see on Broadway, but it certainly isn’t where most people would look for it. Or is there a pun here that I’m missing?
11 A(IS)LE
12 INEPT = IT about PEN rev
13 IMPOST + Endless Row – ‘impost’ = tax was a new word to me.
15 LEONINE = (ONE-LINEr)* – ‘about a big beast’ is the definition. I confused myself for a while by assuming 16 would begin with THE and pencilling in a T at the third position
17 TETRODE = (TO DETER)*
19 Tenor + WEAK + EDward – although ‘tenor’ seems a little superfluous, as TED for Edward would be perfectly acceptable
21 BARBEL + L – Although I couldn’t find it listed in any online dictionary as being hyphenated. It’s always listed as one word.
22 BEFRIEND = Bowled + (REFINED)*
24 DEB(U)T
27 ENTRY = GENTRY (country set) with the huntinG removed
28 SNOW-WHITE – cute cd
29 SPRINGTIME – Not sure if I’ve got the parsing right. I read it as SPRING (well) + (MakE + IT)* where ‘hot’ is the anagrind
30 STYE – hidden
Down
1 CABRIOLETS = BRIO in (CASTLE)* – I was trying to get ELAN into something for quite a while
2 A + ERIE
4 REQUITE = RE about EQUITy
5 STEWPOT = TOP(WET)S rev
6 TEARS = (TASER)* – I had STARE for a while which held up the NE corner no end. On reflection, I guess a taser would provoke a somewhat stronger reaction than just a hard stare!
7 CASSEROLE = (CREOLE)* about ASS
8 SHinED
9 HEAT SINK = (THINK SEA)* – ‘Do’ is the anagrind
14 HELL + OTHER + chilE – ‘Good day’ is the definition
16 ONE BETTER – dd – Go like this to beat / a punter
18 TURN + DOWN
20 DEEP-SET – rev hidden
21 BAD + FOR + M
23 cRAYON
25 BUILT = anagram of SUITABLY with SAY removed (cast), ‘theatrically’ is the anagrind
26 MEWS = “MUSE” – I had the wrong homophone written in for ages.

11 comments on “Sunday Times 4441 (10 Jul 2011)”

  1. 65 hard-fought, but in retrospect, enjoyable minutes. Although I certainly don’t want to return to the old ST style, I’ll second Dave’s hope that they’re not all going to be this tough henceforth. The anagrinds seem to be getting more varied: e.g. ‘romantic’ in 1d, or ‘hot’ in 29 (and thanks, Dave, for explaining that one). And 8d, 10ac, and 25d all used the same device of indicating deletion–take IT away, IN leaves, cast SAY–although I don’t think spotting it in one clue helped me solve another.
    About 25: I remember one of my early attempts in the clue contest, where I tried to indicate the deletion of H,M by saying something like ‘Queen departs’ or ‘Her Majesty leaves’ or something. The judge frowned on this, because the H and M were not adjacent. Is the deletion of S,A,Y similar here? Should I expect a similar kind of clue in the daily puzzles?
    1. Isn’t the difference that in ‘cast say’, the actual letters are referred to, while in your examples the deletion is at a kind of remove (‘Queen departs’ certainly, ‘Her Majesty leaves’ less so). The sort of thing that used to be allowed 50 years or so ago but is now, thankly, not permitted. Think of those anagrams of synonyms and other requirements to enter the setter’s mind!
  2. Slightly off-message, but has anyone managed to sign on to the latest ST cryptic? I keep getting “invalid status response : 500”.
    Back to 4441, this is a good’un and big step up. PB must be cracking the whip!
    2. “Cracking the whip”: Not really. I test-solve all the crosswords and do various dictionary/reference book checks afterwards (a process which should have de-hyphenated BARBELL but somehow didn’t). This can result in a few changes to the version sent to me after discussion with the setter, but the intention is to let the setters keep their own styles.

      On things like “cast say”, I don’t mind crossword language sometimes being a bit poetic. After all, “the French” for LE/LA/LES would never be seen outside crosswords. As the comments here indicate, there’s no easy way to decide consistently which poetic/imaginative usages are fair.

      Peter Biddlecombe, Sunday Times Puzzles Editor

  3. Agreed, a real toughie and some of it, dare I say, a bit unfair. E.g., how can “Cast say, suitably” mean “delete ‘say’ from ‘suitably'”? Equally, how can “Hunting finally banned, the country set” mean “delete G from GENTRY”?
  4. ‘having cast say’ or ‘casting say’ or ‘say cast'[=’say’ having been cast] would work, except that the clue would be gibberish. But if it’s participle + noun, it needs to be present participle, and if the participle is to be past, it needs to follow the noun; at least I can’t think of counterexamples.
    Would you accept ‘The country set, hunting finally banned, lobby’? I think I would, which makes it harder for me to reject the clue as given.
  6. About an hour’s very hard work for me with a good proportion of answers going in without the wordplay being understood and by the time I finished I had lost interest and didn’t bother to go back and unravel them.

    I think burlesque became well-established on Broadway in the first half of the 20th century and lots of well-known artistes started in it including Sophie Tucker, Al Jolson, Fanny Brice, WC Fields and its most famous practitioner who took it to new heights (or some would say, depths) Gypsy Rose Lee. It was banned in NYC in 1942 but continued in somewhat seedy clubs devoted entirely to striptease. I note we have a question mark in the clue which may just about save it but it still seems a bit dodgy if there’s no burlesque to be found on Broadway these days.

  7. One of the best things about this blog is the discovery that you were not the only one having problems. I started this morning with my first cuppa and gave up after 26 minutes with only a few isolated clues filled in. I returned to it after lunch and managed to complete the grid but with no understanding of ENTRY, REQUITE, SHED and BUILT. I felt quite depressed about my general ineptitude but coming here has cheered me up. I had the same problems with some of the clues as most other people. Total solving time: 59 minutes.

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