Solving time: About 20 minutes. Fortunately I had a Jumbo to do as well, or I would have been twiddling my thumbs for half of my son’s swimming lesson.
I found this very straightforward. There were only two words I didn’t know – MARABOU & BASTINADO, but these were both quite gettable from the wordplay. I’ve not looked at the stats for it, but I would imagine there will be lots of fast times. I generally like the easy ones, but I would have preferred something a little more challenging. But then, maybe I was just on the right wavelength today.
cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | F(A + M)E – Iron = FE is so well ingrained with me now that I wasn’t fooled by the neat Heavy Metal disguise. |
| 3 | NAMBY-PAMBY = MAN rev + BY (via) + MB in PAY. That’s discharge as in ‘discharge a debt’. |
| 10 | AURIC – hidden – I didn’t know this actually meant ‘made of gold’, I just knew it as the first name of the Bond villain Goldfinger. |
| 11 | SEX MANIAC = (A MEXICAN’S)* = ‘one obsessed with it‘. |
| 12 | ROARING FORTIES = (RAINS GET RO-RO IF)* – As desperate and strained an anagram as I’ve ever seen. |
| 14 | CH(I |
| 15 | MARABOU = RAM rev + A + BOU |
| 17 | DR + A + STIC |
| 19 | REFUSE + D |
| 20 | VIRTUAL REALITY – cd |
| 23 | HANSOM CAB = (BACON + HAM + S |
| 24 | I + MAG + |
| 25 | CHRYSOLITE = (SHORTLY ICE)* – I hadn’t heard of chrysolite, but I had come across chrysoberyl, which is much the same by all accounts, so it seemed very plausible. |
| 26 | GO AT |
| Down | |
| 1 | FRATRICIDE = (CEDAR + FIR + IT)* |
| 2 | MARGARITA = GRAM rev + A + RITA |
| 4 | ASSEGAI = ASS + I about (EG + A) |
| 5 | B(OX)ROOM – ‘Neat’ = bovine animal = cow or ox is one I tend to forget, and it threw me here for a while until the penny dropped. |
| 6 | PLASTER OF PARIS = (OPERA STARS FLIP)* |
| 7 | MA(I)ZE |
| 8 | Y |
| 9 | ACTION STATIONS – cd – Conflicting meaning ‘within a conflict’ |
| 13 | SUNDAY BEST – cd – ‘better for wear’ as opposed to ‘worse for wear’ |
| 16 | BASTINADO = (BATONS AID)* – Whipping the soles of the feet. |
| 18 | CHANCE + L – For those not familiar with the classic board game Monopoly, it has two decks of event cards – Chance and Community Chest. |
| 19 | RARE + BIT |
| 21 |
|
| 22 | CHI + C |
The ST cryptic has always, at least in my recollection, been rather different to the daily version in a number of ways. One of those differences, its propensity for seeding the crossword occasionally with bizarre and/or plainly wrong clues, has now been eliminated, and it is of course difficult not to applaud.. and who, taking over as editor, would not seek to do just the same?
In a strange way though, I am beginning to miss the errors somewhat! I will not ask for them back, but at the least, I do hope that the Sunday offering manages to retain its sense of individuality and does not become a clone of the weekday version.. the concise seems able to do so, so there is hope that this can too. Anyway, if it breaks the occasional “rule,” I will try not to be the one to complain!
Peter Biddlecombe, Sunday Times Puzzles Editor
With the disappearance of errors from the ST under the new dispensation, the one thing that continued to bother me was the awkwardness of many of the surfaces. That seems to be going, too, and on that condition, I’m glad to see the STs having a different character from the dailies.
Wonder what ro-ro had to do with the surface reading?
As far as I know it refers to roll-on roll-off ferries and railway wagons for transporting automobiles.
Thought it might have referred to wheel configuration on diesel electric locomotives but, on thinking about it, remembered they are co-co and bo-bo.
Trains get ro-ro………would have made some sense with a signal to eliminate the T.