Sunday Times 4639 by Tim Moorey – the amorous setter…

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
A game of two halves for me. First pass through the clues resulted in about half the grid being completed (a highly unusual state of affairs), then the scoring rate slowed right down as I doggedly ground out the rest of it.

The homophone at 23dn might have caused a bit of eyebrow action in some quarters, but it worked for me. 20dn was excellent, and all in all an enjoyable puzzle so thanks to Tim – and I’m sure we all wish him well in his romantic endeavours!

Definitions underlined, anagrams indicated by *(–), DD = double definition

Across
1 Do gaffes regularly? They may (4)
OAFS – Cryptic clue with the answer derived from every other letter (“regularly”) of DO GAFFES
3 Ready to absorb large amount in real business (5,5)
BRASS TACKS – BRAS[STACK]S. Ready cash (BRASS) absorbs STACK (large amount), and we get down to the nitty gritty…
10 Newspaper run briskly in temporary accommodation (9)
TIMESHARE – TIMES (Newspaper) + HARE (run briskly)
11 Publicity for short period of time? (5)
PROMO – PRO (for) + MO (short period of time)
12 Patience, for example, Met show? (5)
OPERA – DD. The G & S opera and the type of entertainment that will likely be showing at the New York Met (as opposed to at your local nick in London)
13 Friendly person is one getting abuse (8)
ISLANDER – I (one) + SLANDER (abuse) and cryptic definition – one from the Friendly Islands
15 Humiliating offence breaks one ugly woman (7)
ABASING – A_BA[SIN]G. SIN (offence) “breaks” into A BAG (one ugly woman – hmm, one for the Les Dawson fans, I suppose…)
17 Conservative MP, big in California? (7)
REDWOOD – DD, the second one slightly cryptic. The true blue member for Wokingham, and the towering Sequoia tree, native to California
19 Hot money for cybercriminals (7)
HACKERS – H (hot) + ACKERS (money)
21 Inflamed swelling, temperature dropping? Call for injection with this (7)
SYRINGE – STY[RING]E. STYE (inflamed swelling) without its T (temperature dropping), with RING (call) injected. “injection” doing double duty here
22 Fellow’s training a monkey in Africa (8)
MANDRILL – MAN (fellow) + DRILL (training) for this splendid beast, the male being notable for the brilliant blue and red colouring of the area around its genitals and rear end, and bright yellow beard. Chaps sporting dyed hair and a bit of ink, eat your hearts out – this is the real deal…
24 Trouble since Greece brought in (5)
AGGRO – AG[GR]O. GR (Greece) “brought in” to AGO (since)
27 Gas man finally following a right turn (5)
ARGON – A + R (right) + GO (turn – “your go”) + N (MAN finally)
28 Hill exercise is sufficient for wrecks! (9)
TORPEDOES – TOR (Hill) + PE (exercise) + DOES (is sufficient)
29 Entertainer has relations in Germany (4,6)
FOLK SINGER – FOLKS (relations) + IN + GER. When I first read the clue I thought we might be in for a classic Sunday Times ‘ello ‘ello moment here, but it was not to be
30 Queue’s said to follow this series at peaks (4)
ATOP – DD, first one quite ingenious (well, I thought it was until I saw someone on the Forum referred to it as an old chestnut!). Anyway, for anyone not familiar with the trick, Q (“Queue’s said”) would logically be the next in the series A to P

Down
1 They may take back issues on board (10)
OSTEOPATHS – Nice cryptic clue, which sent me down several blind alleys (newsagencies and boats) until I got a few cross checkers and the penny then dropped
2 French gentlemen stopping payment for a Parisienne? (5)
FEMME – A couple of Monsieurs (MM) inside FEE (payment) giving us a feminine inhabitant of Paris
4 Quiet activity in southern English town (7)
READING – DD, the first of which does not apply whenever I read Wodehouse and chortle loudly
5 Starry McCartney’s “Back in the USSR” (7)
STELLAR – STELLA (Ms McCartney, celebrated fashion designer) + R (last letter – “back”- in USSR). I was lucky here, as my knowledge of fashion folk is, er, limited – but the lady in question used to live opposite a mate of mine in London who was quite thrilled to have such an illustrious neighbour
6 Clipped recording shows a soft goal (3-2)
TAP-IN – TAPING (clipped recording) giving the sort of scoring opportunity that Gary Lineker took with aplomb (to be fair, he also did harder stuff too…)
7 Funny fellow touring does broadcast? The end of it (5-4)
CLOSE-DOWN – CLOWN (funny fellow) going around (touring) *(DOES) – with broadcast as the anagrind – giving the conclusion of proceedings
8 Type of gin measured by the sound of it (4)
SLOE – Homophone (slow = measured), giving us the liqueur made from gin and sloe berries
9 Element found in a state (8)
ASTATINE – *(IN A STATE) with “found” as the anagrind
14 Conversation of old gipsies not working (4,6)
IDLE GOSSIP – *(OLD GIPSIES), with not working as the anagrind. A few bods in the Forum raised the objection that the “not” is redundant / should not be there, but I think it’s fine – if it’s not working, it’s broken, and broken is an indisputable anagrind…
16 Chief financial backer in Russian port (9)
ARCHANGEL – ARCH (chief) + ANGEL (financial backer)
18 Unproductive time lost in eg Dakar, capital of Senegal (4,4)
DARK AGES – *(EG DAKAR) + Senegal. The Venerable Bede and his pals might beg to disagree with the definition!
20 It’s clear your setter’s head over heels in love! (7)
SMITTEN – NET (clear) + TIM’S (your setter’s – viz. Mr Moorey’s) all reversed (head over heels) giving us the lovelorn one. Delightful surface, cunning clue
21 Poland in current upturn spend extravagantly (7)
SPLURGE – PL (Poland) inside electrical SURGE (current upturn)
23 Mentioned stupid reductions in size (5)
DENTS – The clue works on the basis that DENSE (stupid) sounds like DENTS (reductions in size – e.g. “dents in your bank balance) with the homophone indicated by Mentioned. Works for me with my somewhat lazy pronunciation, but I can imagine this might cause issues amongst those with more orthodox diction
25 Old boring taste in a French restaurant? Leave (2,3)
GO OUT – GO_[O]UT. O (old) is “boring” into GOUT (French for taste – as in “chacun a son gout”, a phrase which the songster Robbie Williams has tattooed around his neck; and good for him, for it is a fine sentiment)
26 Henry with head for figures gets one over a couple (4)
HALF – HAL (Henry) + F (head for FIGURES) gives us 1/2. Neat clue

15 comments on “Sunday Times 4639 by Tim Moorey – the amorous setter…”

  1. I thought 23 might almost have worked as either DENTS or DUNTS (dunce) with stupid as a noun and dunt ‘the mark of a heavy blow’.
  2. No solving time to offer as I nodded off. Whilst I was awake I enjoyed it. Was puzzled by the second part of the answer being hidden in 29ac until I stepped back and rethought the whole thing.
  3. Made a horlicks of this one, having to revert to aids for FOLK SINGER, where I couldn’t see past ‘film something’, which makes my excuse of being put off by IN + GER being so transparent as to be opaque unconvincing – even to me.

    A very nice blog, Nick, but, lest folks are confused – and to prevent pedant fly-by – you might want to change your ‘dent’ example to a noun. perhaps you just missed out a preposition?

  4. 25:19. I found this hard, which might explain why I put in FAFF at 26dn. I think I somehow decided that there were two (‘a couple’) of Fs at the end and nothing else would fit. It really helps to read the clue.
    When homophones are controversial it’s often because people think they pronounce consonants when in fact they don’t.
    I thought ‘found’ as an anagrind in 9dn was a bit Mephistoish.

    Edited at 2015-05-03 11:32 am (UTC)

    1. Because I don’t do many Mephistos ( I made an exception for last week’s and am halfway through without aids – wow!), I ‘found’ it odd. But I suppose it’s being used in its foundry ‘cast’ sense.

      And you’ve managed to remind me I never parsed HALF at all. So thanks to Nick – and you – for that.

      1. Glad to be of assistance!
        I wouldn’t dream of doing Mephisto without aids. I make a point of looking up any word I don’t know, which happens with most of the clues.
        1. I did actually do half in the doctor’s surgery – to which I had not taken my Chambers – but when I said aids I meant more nefarious means…

          By the way, I also had ‘astanite’ as my element. Can’t believe I will be the only one.

          1. I’m not sure why I didn’t make the same mistake: I didn’t think I had heard of the element but perhaps it was in there somewhere. It isn’t really a fair clue.
            1. I’m so often amazed to be right that it’s only reasonable that I’m amazed to be wrong occasionally.
          2. -ite is an ending for minerals rather than elements. I don’t think there are any elements with that ending.
  5. Nice blog, Nick. Nice puzzle, too. Succumbed steadily. Since I do it offline i wasn’t forced to choose the element’s spelling before I looked it up.
    1. If you’re solving online you can always check the spelling in another tab.
      1. I don’t find quite the same imperative to choose one or the other when I don’t have to press “Submit” – it’s easier done to leave a blank, call the work as finished as it’s going to get, and head for the dictionary.

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