Sunday Times 4862 by David McLean

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
5:48. The easiest Sunday puzzle I can remember. I didn’t really mind: I’ve been on holiday and have been far too busy doing nothing to find time for crosswords. In fact as I finally sit down to write this blog on Thursday evening I haven’t solved any of this week’s daily puzzles. Edit: I’ve done all the puzzles now. Crikey, it was a tough week, wasn’t it?

It might be straightforward but this is a fun puzzle of high quality. A lot of the surface readings are particularly smooth.

I can’t help feeling I’m missing something obvious and/or clever in 18dn.

Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, anagram indicators are in italics.

Across
1 Like robes theologian puts on
ADDS – AS (like) containing (robing) DD (Doctor of Divinity).
4 If knackered, siestas can help
ASSISTANCE – (SIESTAS CAN)*. Great clue!
9 Pioneer of the pneumatic drill?
GROUNDBREAKER – or, um, GROUND BREAKER.
10 Smack with speed? There’s no good in that!
WALLOP – W (with), gALLOP.
11 Ultimately feeble with cold and still delirious
ECSTATIC – feeblE, C, STATIC.
12 Ageing aunt lethargically embraces challenge
GAUNTLET – contained in ‘ageing aunt lethargically’.
14 One might be full of spirit, but mean
MEDIUM – two definitions, one slightly cryptic and not accurate if you ask me. Full of something.
15 Go forth or go back, but not right
EGRESS – rEGRESS.
17 Fashion editor covering lines being this?
MODELLED – MODE(LL), ED. Semi-&Lit. The ‘lines’ in question being lines or collections of clothing.
19 One sticking their bill into another’s business?
INVESTOR – just a cryptic definition, I think. My first attempt at this one was INVOICER, which seems to fit the definition better. I suppose the ‘bill’ here is cash: a dollar bill, or whatever. As a description of investing this seems a bit tenuous but this is a crossword so a little creative license is allowed.
21 Do something with, essentially, worst players
ACTORS – ACT (do something), wORSt.
23 Tiny talent I’ve wasted in a negligent manner
INATTENTIVELY – (TINY TALENT IVE)*.
24 Get married? Give it a rest!
SETTLE DOWN – DD: tie the knot/it’s your own time you’re wasting.
25 Southern nurse making tired leader go: “Get off!”
SEND – S, tEND. I’ll be with you in a minute, let me just get this email off.

Down
2 Influential person upset by graduate’s opinions
DOGMA – reversal of GOD, MA. ‘Influential person’ seems a bit weak for GOD, but it’s used to describe a person who is revered and hence presumably influential.
3 Liberal tucking into hot and fruity loaf
STOLLEN – STOL(L)EN.
4 City on a plain wrecked by first of storms
ANNAPOLIS – (ON A PLAIN)*, Storms. The capital of Maryland and the scene of some key events in the early history of the US. George Washington famously resigned his commission there in 1783.
5 Guinea pig’s seen in a field, of course
SUBJECT – triple definition.
6 Stops and shoots
STEMS – DD.
7 Difficult week in a place where the patient might be tested?
AWKWARD – A(WK), WARD
8 Conservative and I uttered rubbish in confidence
CERTITUDE – C, (I UTTERED)*.
13 A right nice guy meeting hip earl from Cordoba?
ARGENTINE – A, R, GENT (nice guy), IN (hip), E (earl).
14 I’m on a diet after shocking intervention
MEDIATION – (IM ON A DIET)*.
16 European six-footer tackles prop with style
ELEGANT – E(LEG), ANT. The prop is a LEG, the six-footer (insect) is an ANT.
17 Soldier shot with engineers in battle
MARENGO – MAN (soldier), GO (shot) contains RE (Royal Engineers).
18 Notes such as A, C and D
LETTERS – why not B?
20 Championship match interrupted by vacuous tomfool
TITLE – TI(TomfooL)E.
22 Material colourful writer initially abandoned
RAYON – cRAYON.

25 comments on “Sunday Times 4862 by David McLean”

  1. No hang-ups that I can recall, nothing noted other than the nice surfaces of 4ac and 23ac, and ‘COD’ next to 1ac.
  2. I was uncomfortable with this. It seemed too vague.

    Can anyone confirm no ANTEATERs have bills?

  3. Another member of the ANTEATER Club, of which I think there will be many more members before the day is through. An answer which is, I humbly suggest, considerably more creative than the clue…

    Welcome back to K with his blistering time!

    1. Thanks! Looking at the leaderboard it seems I was very much on the wavelength with this one.
  4. I found this neither as easy nor as satisfying as other commenters. I finished all but 3dn and 10ac in 30 minutes but gave up on those two overnight and still struggled to come up with them on resumption the next morning. I didn’t like INVESTOR or SEND and thought the LETTERS clue was feeble.

    Edited at 2019-08-11 03:55 am (UTC)

  5. but TWO errors!
    I put SENT instead of SEND so that was mea culpa but, like ulaca and brnchn I put ANTEATER.
    I thought the puzzle was so straightforward that I made no note on it. Mmmm.
  6. ….SETTLE DOWN now, as Ken Goodwin used to say on “The Comedians”.

    Never considered “anteater”, although I did think of “supplier” when I only had the R in place.

    I agree with Keriothe that LETTERS could be very subtle, and we’re all missing the point. Otherwise it’s just a very weak clue.

    FOI ADDS
    LOI ACTORS
    COD ASSISTANCE (I chuckled !)
    TIME 10:24

  7. I hope that if we ‘d wanted ANTEATER as the answer, we’d have used “snout” rather than “bill” – more clearly belonging to a mammal rather than a bird, and in Collins at least, the one of the two with the human nose you were supposed to think of as an informal definition. On the other hand I suppose there could be confusion with bee-eaters. Survey of email entries later, I think.

    Edited at 2019-08-11 09:26 am (UTC)

    2. As well as the whole bill aspect of this, what does an ANTEATER have to do with business? Can’t see it myself, but then I would say that wouldn’t I?
      Is there anything going on with 18dn? Why no B?!
      1. Details, details! It just fit the letters and someone somewhere in the world has surely called its snout a bill at least once. Chambers, take note.
  8. Not that easy for me.I could not remember the battle and had MORENGO before checking the parsing. INVESTOR only emerged when I had all the checkers and seemed right once I’d thought of it. I did consider some animals but probably not Anteater. I constructed ANNAPOLIS but had no recollection where it was; I once tried to learn the state capitals but didn’t get north of Louisiana.
    LOI was GAUNTLET, a major d’oh moment as once again I missed the hidden. Mainly enjoyed this. Took me about 150 minutes over 2/3 sessions. David
  9. I originally had ANTEATER at 19a but a nagging doubt caused me to reconsider during proofreading, at which point I though of INVESTOR and deemed it a more likely answer. STEMS held me up at the end, but the whole thing was done and dusted in 30:18. Thanks Harry and K. Cracking time K!
  10. 16:37 I found this a breeze but there were certainly a couple of gems along the way. I knew Marengo as Napoleon’s horse, didn’t realise it was also a battle. I did wonder if it was going to be Lepanto, where Cervantes lost the use of his arm. Surely there must be something more going on at 18dn than just notes of the scale v letters of the alphabet? Can’t see it though.
      1. I didn’t mean my comment to be particularly adverse: I’m just puzzled by the missing B!
  11. I was frustrated with this clue because there has to be a more interesting explanation? I wondered about ‘Nb’? Not a ‘b’ or something similar? Notes? Editor please help.
    1. There was nothing in the setter’s notes about this and I didn’t think of anything either, except that as a sequence of musical notes, A C D seems a bit more interesting than A B C. So I’d count the slightly exotic choice as a bluffy attempt to make the clue a bit harder.
  12. to the Editor. 18dn LETTERS! Somewhat random! I remember HIJKLMNO (5)many moons ago – quite brilliant – but this spoilt my day.

    Neither was I enamoured with the crosser 21ac ACTORS! IKEAN tosh!

    FOI and COD 4ac ASSISTANCE

    LOI NA

    WOD LETTUCE

    Mood Meldrovian – roll on Monday!

    Edited at 2019-08-11 06:25 pm (UTC)

  13. I toiled for over 40 minutes with this disentangling the effects of a highly possible but erroneous INVOICER for 18A, leading to an unlikely CUTIE for 20D. Furthermore, an equally unlikely, but plausible to my mind (anagram of editor “covering” ll (lines)), TROLLIED for 17A (would Pete sue for defamation of character?) led to the relatively unknown battle of TORENTO for 17D. What a mess! At least I got it all right eventually, once I twigged ELEGANT and MEDIATION. And count me another mystified by the apparently random selection of A,C and D. I’m sure we must all have missed something – I was hoping for enlightenment here!

    Edited at 2019-08-11 09:39 pm (UTC)

  14. Thanks David and keriothe
    Been a while since I’ve done either a Times or Sunday Times puzzle and was sadly out of sorts, taking over 80 minutes to do it and signed up to the ANTEATER club, although not happily. Had misgivings about that one and the LETTERS one.
    Finished in the left side with that LETTERS, CERTITUDE and MEDIUM the last few in.

Comments are closed.