ST 4229 (Sun 10 Jun) – Blunderpants

Author   talbinhoPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 7:57, one mistake (20ac).

There are some really good clues in this puzzle, which I thought was probably the best ST crossword since #4213. I especially liked 14ac, 24ac and 18dn, but almost all are entirely sound. This probably explains why 27ac took me so long at the end – it’s the one clue where (for me) the wordplay doesn’t work properly. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I suspect editorial interference here.

* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.

Across
1 F(EVER)ISH – this is a marlin.
5 GREENS (double definition)
12 RE(LI)C – what is ‘nineteen’ doing here? (The clue as given online is: “Antique recording, about Nineteen Fifty One”.) Looks like a website mistake.
14 SEPARATIST; (IS SET APART)* – nice &lit.
17 FAIR; “FARE”
19 F + LOP – no cricket in this puzzle’s wordplay, but a nice surface here.
20 MOUNTE[d] + BANK – I possibly have seen this word before, but I couldn’t bring it to mind and wrote in ‘foundebank’, intending to have another think at the end, which I then forgot to do.
22 PAN + AT + ELLA
24 [s]ADDER – excellent surface reading.
26 [t]EASED
27 PANTIHOSE; (THESPIAN)* around O – this took me 3 of my 8 minutes at the end, but ‘worn by thespian’ meaning ‘anagram of thespian’ is unsatisfactory and out of place with the rest of this puzzle.
28 HAS + LET
29 TENE(MEN)T

Down
1 FIGURES OF SPEECH (two defs, one cryptic) – ‘on the stump’ meaning ‘in the act of giving a speech’, I think.
2 VE(N)AL
3 REST + CURE
4 SEEDS; “CEDES”
7 ENCHILADA; L in (HACIENDA)* – standard treatment.
8 STOCKBROKER BELT (two defs, one cryptic)
15 PROGNOSIS; (POOR SIGNS)*
16 TROLLOP (= ‘pro’, = prostitute) + E
18 NEGATIVE; (OVEREATING – NO)*
21 STODGE; rev. of (E.G. + DOT’S)
23 ANNIE; “INANE”
25 D(R)ONE – which, like lounger, can mean ‘an idle person’.

7 comments on “ST 4229 (Sun 10 Jun) – Blunderpants”

  1. Not sure why the PANTIHOSE clue disliked. The anagram indicator WORN may not be the best but is common (from sense RAGGED or TATTERED I suppose). Incidentally 4213 and 4229 were by the same setter
    1. ‘Worn’ as an anagram indicator is absolutely fine when used something like ‘X worn’, but this clue had ‘worn by X’ which I don’t think makes sense. But please say if I’m missing something.

      Thanks very much for the setter inside info (which I half-suspected!).

  2. 6:39 for me. As you say, some very neat clues – I particularly liked 18dn. 27ac seems OK to me: taking “worn” in to mean “anagrammed”, then PANTIHOSE is anagrammed by THESPIAN around O. (I suppose it would be possible to object to this because it isn’t specified precisely where the O is is placed within THESPIAN, but IMO that’s for the birds.)
  3. Would love to know your thinking re 28 Across – “experiences” could be “has” but how is “imperfect service” = “let” ?
  6. All five “easies” in the title:

    10a (Strange)* arrangement in Gilbert and Sullivan for robbers (9)
    G ANGSTER S

    11a Butch seen in OklahoMA CHOir (5)
    MACHO

    13a Comedy hits given credit (9)
    SLAPS TICK

    6d Negligent about young girl (6)
    RE MISS

    9d A couple of fools at home with killer (8)
    ASS ASS IN

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