Sunday Times 4435 (29 May 2011)

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: I don’t know – a long time. Maybe an hour and a half before resorting to aids for the last 3 or 4, and I still got one wrong!

After my son’s half hour swimming lesson (well 35 minutes) I only had 12 filled in. Another half-hour sat in the laundrette left me with about 7 to go. I struggled on for a bit longer, but eventually gave up with 1d, 10 and 16 still unsolved. Even then, I plumped for DOTTIEST at 16 because I couldn’t come up with anything better.

Loads of unknown words – RADOME, DASHPOT, HETAERA, GIRASOL plus some hideous wordplay that took me an age to decipher. It took me ages to spot the phrase at 21, even with all the checkers in place. I got stuck thinking the last word was going to be FOREST, who probably aren’t even a Premiership team.

The puzzle seemed a good deal harder than the usual standard. Certainly a world away from last week’s cakewalk. Some of the comments on the forum seemed to imply that it was close in standard to a Mephisto. I’m not so sure about that, but it was certainly tricky with several excellent clues.

I particularly liked the &lits at 2 & 18, the semi-&lit at 17d, and the clever wordplay at 20.

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

Across
1 DONATOR = DOOR about TAN rev
5 G(RABBi)AG – I’ve not heard of a GRAB BAG before, but it seemed highly plausible
9 SIGHTED = “CITED”
10 10  One found out and about on river vehicle  (7)AUTOCAR – I’m not sure about the wordplay here, but the best I can some up with is – One (A) found (anagrind?) out (UTO) and about (CA) on river (R) – I have no idea what an autocar is, presumably some kind of car, I thought it was a magazine!
11 PATENT MEDICINES = (IMPATIENCE TENDS)*
12 ThROUGH
14 CAROUSEL = ROUSE in CALifornia
17 PEN + TAG ON
18 HE(R + O)NS – nice &lit clue
21 SPUR-OF-THE-MOMENT – dd – the current top player at Spurs would be the Spur of the moment.
24 MAL(A + IS)E
25 HETAERA = (THE AREA)* – I assumed this was going to be a courtesan of some kind. I didn’t know the word, but this was the only realistic arrangement of the letters.
26 N + ASCENT
27 DONE FOR = DON/F (a couple of fellows) about E (energy) + OR (in other words)
Down
1 DASH + POT – Tricky, this, an obscure word clued with sneaky wordplay. When punctuation marks are used as part of the wordplay it’s often hard to spot.
2 NIGHTGOWN = (THING) + GrOWN – another &lit
3 TITAN = (STATION)* with SO removed – the largest moon of Saturn.
4 R(AD)OME
5 GRANDMA + L – I’ve seen enough medical dramas on TV to be familiar with grand mal seizures.
6 ART + I + CHOKE
7 BACON = NO CAB rev – Francis is the English philosopher
8 GIR(AS + O)L – Another name for a fire opal gemstone
13 GLAMORISE = (I’M SO LARGE)*
15 STONE-DEAF = (A SOFTENED)* – I’m not sure this really works as a semi-&lit. Being stone-deaf doesn’t really have anything to do with being hard.
16 POTTIEST – I guess this is POTTIES (chambers, as in chamber pots) + T (it) but how does ‘it’ = T?
17 POSTMAN + (NO STAMP)* – very neat anagram
19 SET (games of tennis) + FAIR (just)
20 MESHED – ‘Some’ becomes ‘so’ by shedding the ME – clever.
22 UGLIS – rev hidden
23 sOFTEN

8 comments on “Sunday Times 4435 (29 May 2011)”

  1. 64′, a lot of that time devoted to getting the last couple, although I can no longer remember which the last couple were. POTTIEST, DONE FOR, & AUTOCAR, probably. I never could figure out 10ac–for a long time I thought it was ‘auto'(vehicle) on ‘cam’ (river), which gave me ‘autocam’. Thanks, Dave, for the explications of 10 and 27, another that I could not figure out. I share your puzzlement over POTTIEST.
    My dictionary says that the UK equivalent of ‘grab bag’ is ‘lucky dip’, a term I’ve never heard; does that make sense?
    On STONE-DEAF, I read the clue as saying that a softened musical composition would be no good for someone who couldn’t hear it.
    This was certainly a cut or two above standard ST fare–and a COD to MESHED–but I have two quibbles:
    24ac: My understanding of ‘malaise’ is that it precisely NOT an identifiable illness like flu.
    5ac: A rabbi is NOT a priest; clergyman, fine; priest, no.
  2. T = it: ’t is shown in Collins as a shortened version of “it”. Example: Out, damn’d spot! out, I say!—One; two: why, then ’tis time to do’t

    flu: In UK usage, especially the mocking term “man flu”, “flu” can include influenza and other milder conditions.

    rabbi = priest: After looking at a selection of dictionaries, I’m happy with this – not something that I even thought of checking as part of the editing process. In everyday speech, I can’t see a distinction between “clergyman” and “priest”.

    Peter Biddlecombe, ST Puzzles Editor

  3. I thought I’d never finish and ended up bunging in answers just because they fitted the checkers. Went to aids after 50 minutes. My main problem turned out to be a wrong answer at 1a. I had MONITOR instead of DONATOR. Then, of course, there was no word in the English language that fitted M?S?POT. I’d spotted the POT bit early on. It didn’t help that I’d never heard of DASHPOT. Nor RADOME for that matter but it was easily gettable from the cryptic. I was also fooled by OFTEN – so simple but I was fixated on TAN (as in “suntan”) being the last letters. All in all, not a good day. Fun though!
  4. Much of it far too obscure for me. In many cases it was easier to get the answers from definitions alone or simply to think of words that fitted the checkers rather than to work out the wordplay. Not my idea of a leisurely Sunday morning’s entertainment.

    My access to LJ is still severely restricted and I can’t find out why. Trying to eliminate ISP problems (although every other site works perfectly)it would be helpful to know if anyone else who comes here is using Plusnet or one of its other identities (Waitrose, Madasafish, Global Internet)?

  5. I liked this one.. perhaps it appealed to my somewhat eclectic, home grown range of knowledge. At least, there was nothing I hadn’t heard of.

    I was a bit surprised to see 27ac “Northern Climb starting to develop” in the Week crossword on the Friday, and then “New climb starting to develop” here at 26ac on the Sunday. Tim Moorey is known for reusing clues, no doubt it is a very environmentally friendly practice but perhaps best not on the same weekend!

  6. CAROL IN (us)A
    except that theres NC & SC but no plain Carolina, but I’ve seen Omaha called a state in this puzzle.

    STAR IN THE ORIENT
    Don’t get to see much real football on TV here, but I don’t think (leyton) Orient are in the top division.

    Glad to see you folks found this a tricky puzzle too.

    BTW does the Sunday Times know that the Halifax Chronicle Herald publishes their crossword weeks later as “Cryptic Crossword”

  7. The Saturday Vancouver Sun also publishes the crossword some months later.
  8. The Toronto Saturday Star does the same three weeks later as a Prize xword. ($10 and has been for the last 21 years!) The people responsible for the puzzle know absolutely nothing about cryptic puzzles so pointing out mistakes gets a “We go by what we get form the syndicate” reply. On at least three occasions they have not paid out the $10 because the answer grid they got from the ST was wrong.

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