Sunday Times 4644 by Dean Mayer

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
33:22. I started quickly on this, and had the first third or so done in about five minutes, but things changed dramatically after that. The rest of the clues proved much more resistant, particularly 9ac, 3dn and 5dn, which took an inordinate amount of time on their own at the end. I thought for a while I was going to fail completely on 5dn, but I got there eventually by trawling the alphabet.

As usual this was a very high quality puzzle from Dean and a perfect challenge for a Sunday morning. And 15ac is a thing of beauty.

Across
1 Military leader compared to short female
AGATHA – AGA (military leader), THAn.
5 I thought so — such cars may be unreliable
SOCRATES – SO, CRATES. This was my first in, because ‘crates’ for unreliable motors occurred to me straight away. Lucky because the definition is cunningly hidden.
9 Backed row about museum’s fencing?
EVASION – NOISE (row) reversed around the V&A. This was one of my last in, partly because I thought ‘fencing’ was a containment indicator, and partly because I didn’t think of the V&A for a long time.
10 Standing about, invest energy
REPUTE – RE (about), PUT (invest), E.
11 Sign book
MARK – DD.
12 Seize good girl for education in rock
SPIRIT AWAY – S(PI, RITA)WAY. ‘Pi’ for ‘good’ appears regularly, and regularly elicits objections on the grounds that ‘good’ and ‘sanctimonious’ are not synonymous. To me ‘pi’ means ‘a word for good that is only found in crosswords’ so it obviously doesn’t bother me. ‘Girl for education’ cunningly references the play and Julie Walters/Michael Caine film I have never seen. For some reason I can never quite get out my head the notion that Willie Rushton wrote Educating Rita.
13 22 years old in CV he falsified
CASH ON DELIVERY – (YEARS OLD IN CV HE)*. Another cunningly disguised definition, this time the solution to 22dn which is an abbreviation of this one.
15 Miss out on prince’s arrival
SLEEPING BEAUTY – CD, and a very fine one it is too.
17 Eat in sterile office
PREFECTURE – P(REFECT)URE. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen ‘refect’ used other than in the form ‘refectory’.
19 Surrounded by morning papers
AMID – AM, ID. ID for ‘papers’ is a Pavlovian solving response in anyone who’s spent more time doing these things than is reasonable.
20 When talking, would you let me drink?
MAI TAI – sounds like ‘might I?’ For the optimal MAI TAI experience, take white rum, dark rum, orange curacao, orgeat syrup and fresh lime juice. Shake all the ingredients with ice, then pour down the sink and make yourself a proper drink.
21 Likely to touch hat without pretence
TACTILE – T(ACT)ILE. TILE for ‘hat’ is another automatic crossword response and another word I never encounter in the real world.
23 Untidy, squalid room full of cloth and girl’s skirts
STRAGGLY – ST(RAG, GirL)Y.
24 Engagement rings available as present
DONATE – D(ON)ATE. ‘Off’ for ‘unavailable’ is common (in restaurants, for example), but ON for ‘available’? I’m not so sure. No doubt I’m missing the point.

Down
2 Country garden oddly given nothing
GRENADA – odd letters in GaRdEn, then NADA.
3 One spiked boot embodies support — button it
TRACK SHOE – T(RACK, SH)OE. This was one of my last in: it took me much longer than it should have done to see both the definition and TOE meaning ‘kick’.
4 Clay, material in pots
ALI – contained (‘potted’) in ‘material in’. A super clue with another cleverly disguised definition, using the beginning of the sentence to disguise the name.
5 IT business unsuitable for setter?
SUNRISE INDUSTRY – CD. A ‘new and rapidly growing industry, often based on electronics’ according to Chambers. Not a term I knew, perhaps because it’s fallen out of use as companies in the relevant industries have graduated from plucky fresh-faced challengers to dominant global behemoths crushing all before them. It took me a long time to get past dogs and crossword compilers to the right kind of setter, so this was my last in.
6 Bananas provided in cereal — bit strange
CERTIFIABLE – IF (provided) contained in an anagram of CEREAL BIT.
7 A hotel in mountain area
ALPHA – ALP,(H)A. Yet another cunning definition.
8 Translated, say, true form of English
ESTUARY – (SAY TRUE)*. See here.
12 Dismiss or, initially confused, await dismissal
SEND PACKING – fancy that, a spoonerism that doesn’t mention the Reverend.
14 Discharge? No, it’s a star rising
EMANATION – reversal of NO, IT, A, NAME.
15 Alert without old boy’s help
SERVANT – obSERVANT. Help in this sense.
16 Move to block explosive weapon
TRIDENT – T(RIDE)NT.
18 Overweight wife given a death sentence?
FATWA – FAT, W, A. The question mark signals a definition by example: other FATWAs are available.
22 Caught taking too much fish
COD – C, OD. Is OD indicated by ‘too much’ or ‘taking too much’? Either will do.

10 comments on “Sunday Times 4644 by Dean Mayer”

  1. Ironically, perhaps, 5ac was my LOI, ‘crates’ not occurring to me until God knows when. COD to 12d, partly because, as keriothe notes, the clue avoided mentioning the Rev. Also loved 13ac and 15ac.
  2. Must admit I was quite relieved this one did not come round on my blogging watch – it unerringly exposed the flaws in my game, and the limits of my lateral thinking!

    Battled on and was finally stumped by 5dn, 15ac and several others went in with a shrug of incomprehension. Masterful stuff, as ever, and thanks for a superb blog Keriothe.

  3. Wonderful stuff. At this rate DM is going to need an Auriga to whisper momento homo in his ear. Or maybe Statler and Waldorf shouting “That was terrible” from the gallery.

    Torn for COD between the Spooner-free Spoonerism, the COD (the other kind) pairing and the SLEEPING BEAUTY.

    In one of Martin Jarvis’ memorable readings of the William Brown stories, William pronounces SO-CRATES just so. Ever since hearing it, I’ve found it hard to say the name any other way.

    Great blog, keriothe. Thank you. I enjoyed your take on how to make the perfect MAI TAI as much as I enjoyed the clue (which was a lot).

    Edit: I forgot to mention another feature of this puzzle — something I always look for and almost never see: one clue, one line. A triumph of concision which is indeed most outstanding.

    Edited at 2015-06-07 11:04 am (UTC)

  4. Very disappointed, having cracked and understood everything else, to fall at the final hurdle, 20ac. Before the T-checker went in I was working on CAN-NAI, then switched to CAN-TAI but as I never heard of the drink it proved impossible for me to make the final leap of logic to the correct answer.
  5. The record shows I spent three-quarters of an hour on this, and if memory serves, it was a very pleasant way to spend more time than expected on the Sunday morning crossword. EVASION was last in, a) because it was tricky and b) I could only see SERVICE INDUSTRY even though I quite rightly didn’t have any confidence in it.

    In homage to William, not to mention Bill & Ted, I insist in pronouncing Socrates the same way.

    P.S. Re: 24ac, in one of my former lives as a licensee, I was regularly asked by beer-drinkers “Is the [insert guest ale of choice] on?”.

    Edited at 2015-06-07 10:04 am (UTC)

    1. Thank you. I’d forgotten Bill & Ted (that’s egregious, Dude, How could I?), who simply cemented this as the definitive pronunciation.
    2. Ah yes, thank you. I just had to think of beer. Although after last night’s birthday party I don’t really want to think of beer just now.
  7. Great blog Keriothe – thank you.
    Wish I’d read up on the SOCRATES thing, might have tried something different, but it does remind me of a former work colleague who suggested the Greek god of television was called Radiotimes. Right wag, was Trevor.
    Love to all.
  8. That capcha thing is a real pain. Somehow its URL got pasted in the comment.

    It wasn’t So Crates who thought, it was his younger brother Des. Therefore, he is the solution.
    Rob

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