Sunday Times 4631 by Jeff Pearce

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Some cricket, a spot of erotic entertainment and a glimpse of a rare furry animal, all within sight of the Severn – a Somerset lad’s perfect day out.

Thanks to Mr. Pearce for an enjoyable puzzle with plenty of wit and some engaging surfaces – particularly liked 11d, 8d, 21a and 17d. I suspect many of the senior pros here will have found this one pretty straightforward and I would think there will be some very fast times from those who run the stop watch. But (unlike some on the Times club forum) I’m certainly not complaining, particularly as this was my first blog of a 15×15 having cut my teeth on the weekday Quickies. I anticipate significantly choppier waters in the weeks ahead…

As a newcomer to the Sunday blogging gig, may I apologise in advance for any gaffes I might have made: all advice and corrections most gratefully received.

Definitions underlined, dd = double definition, anagrams are *(–)

Across
1 Hide outside pub stifling a tense laugh (10)
CACHINNATE – INN (pub) + A + T (tense) all inside CACHE (hide). A word that I vaguely recognised as it emerged from the cross checkers and wordplay in the clue, but I needed to validate it at the end
6 Chieftain found back in Grimethorpe (4)
EMIR – Reverse hidden – GRIMETHORPE. First one in, and conjured up a pleasing image of a splendidly bedecked Arabian potentate sitting amongst a Yorkshire colliery brass band enthusiastically playing a euphonium
9 In store men cooked soup (10)
MINESTRONE – *(IN STORE MEN) with cooked as the anagrind
10 Needle returned with small knife (4)
KRIS – IRK (needle) reversed (returned) with S (small). The first component of today’s Malaysian armoury (although it is apparently also found in Indonesia and elsewhere)
12 Part of coaster nearly at the back (6)
ASTERN – A (not very) hidden type clue – COASTER NEARLY although I must admit I spent some time thinking through ‘Stack’ based answers (Masefield has a lot to answer for…) before spotting the obvious
13 Imposing university start to grow dangerous organism (8)
SUPERBUG – SUPERB (imposing) + U (university) + G (start to grow)
15 Running pipe to dodgy canteen (11)
MAINTENANCE – MAIN (pipe) + *(CANTEEN) with dodgy as the anagrind
18 Understanding an order (11)
ARRANGEMENT – dd – part of the soft underbelly of this puzzle
21 Delivery from pal on island (8)
CHINAMAN – CHINA (pal = mate = CHINA in Cockney rhyming slang) with MAN (island) giving us the unorthodox slow left armer’s delivery in cricket. I could wax lyrical about the merits of the Chinaman (and lament it’s demise as one of the great eccentric art forms of the game) but in deference to those who find cricket anathema, I shall refrain. Suffice to say Brad Hogg cuts a heroic figure perpetuating the Chinaman in first class cricket, but he and his kind are an endangered species
22 Doctor finally has a remedy without poison (6)
CURARE – CURE (remedy) going round (without) A and R (Doctor finally). Curare is a poison used (so I have learned) as part of modern anaesthetics, and is also (somewhat more dramatically) the preferred poison for putting on the tips of arrows and spears by South American tribesmen who engage in that sort of caper
24 TV channel (4)
TUBE – Straightforward dd, provided you managed to ignore the byways triggered by thinking of the more exotic TV abbreviation
25 Taking off for a show? (10)
STRIPTEASE – I believe this is what is called a cryptic & lit (but always wary of this terminology). At this point I have to doff my cap to Sotira. In what must surely be one of the greatest blogs ever to grace this website (when I was new and impressionable) Sotira referred to strippers as “ladies of deciduous habit”. I vowed publicly at the time to use and promote that phrase whenever possible. I have managed so to do in idle chitchat on several occasions over the last few months, but this is the first time where I have had the opportunity back here at the fons et origo, so to speak
26 Bone with neat calcium on the outside (4)
COXA – CA (calcium) around (outside) OX (neat – one of those Crosswordland words). The coxa is the hip bone
27 Doddery grandpa gets lad round for a plant (10)
SNAPDRAGON – SON (lad) surrounds (round) *(GRANDPA) with Doddery being the anagrind

Down
1 Firm doctor engaged in battle (6)
COMBAT – CO (firm) + MB (doctor) + AT (engaged in)
2 A knight interrupts shrewd old king (6)
CANUTE – CUTE (shrewd) containing (interrupted by) A + N (chess notation of knight) giving us the king of England (and most of Scandinavia) around the end of the 10th century
3 There are no words to express such music! (12)
INSTRUMENTAL – Cryptic clue. A gentle full toss to help you get your eye in
4 Anorak – mostly green, found on road (4)
NERD – NEW (mostly green) + RD (road)
5 Dine out and get desperately lost for words (6-4)
TONGUE-TIED – *(DINE OUT GET) with desperately as the anagrind
7 Decaying bone found in knoll (8)
MORIBUND – MOUND (knoll) with RIB (bone) inside
8 Left work to see Oliver, say, but with The Omen thrown in (8)
RESIGNED – REED (Oliver) with SIGN (The Omen) added (thrown in). Very droll…
11 Be about to eat fish up in club’s spread (6,6)
PEANUT BUTTER – BE around TUNA (fish) both reversed inside PUTTER (club). Neat clue
14 Damage trap erected beneath tree to get furry critter (4,6)
PINE MARTEN – PINE (tree) with MAR (damage) and NET (trap erected – reversed). Martes Martes, a close relative of the weasel whose fur (so Wikipedia informs us with a slight air of mystery) is “highly prized in some parts of the UK”: in Droitwich, perhaps, but not in Redcar?
16 Raced over bed when on enriched heart drug (8)
NARCOTIC – RAN reversed (raced over) + COT (bed) + heart of ENRICHED
17 Before batting supporter put suitable protection on cranium (8)
BRAINBOX – BRA (supporter) before IN (batting) with BOX (suitable protection when at the crease). Nice bit of misdirection as it initially sent me looking for helmets. The great Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist tells an amusing story of an instance when, early in his career, he marched out to bat only to realise once he had reached the middle that he had forgotten his box: he spent some time going through increasingly unusual signalling to his colleagues back in the dressing room in an attempt to get them to understand his predicament and trot out with said item. (Signalling from the middle for a new pair of batting gloves is significantly more straightforward and less likely to result in arrest)
19 Get sharp pain carrying artist’s knife (6)
PARANG – PA[RA]NG. Our second Malaysian knife of the day
20 Cardinal holds rare flower (6)
SEVERN – SEVE[R]N. Never actually seen R as an abbreviation for rare in the real world, but I guess it’s used by waiters jotting down orders in a hurry
23 West Indian politician is a feeble person (4)
WIMP – WI + MP. This one (along with 20d) copped a fair amount of flak from some grumps on the Club forum as being way too easy for the Sunday Times. I await with some trepidation the revenge of the setter in future offerings!


29 comments on “Sunday Times 4631 by Jeff Pearce”

  1. Nice initial blog in the big leagues, Nick. Over for six, I’d say.
    If you were a baseball player instead of a cricketer NEAT would be more familiar – the first thing you do with a new glove is rub neat’s foot oil into it. (Then you spit in it a lot).
    PINE MARTEN was my LOI, due to thinking the tree was a FIR and the damage was a FIRE something. Otherwise some nice clues.
    1. Thanks, Paul, for the insights into baseball glove initiation rites – I’m most intrigued where one would go to purchase this substance!
      1. I think you got it from a sporting goods store – but it’s pretty much the same oil you rub into your hiking boots to make them pliable and a bit water resistant, so (if it hasn’t been replaced by something synthetic)I’m betting you now go to the camping store. It had a really good leathery smell, too.

        The related part of the ritual was putting a ball in the glove exactly where you wanted the pocket to be after you’d lubed up with the neat’s foot oil, then tying the mitt up with string and letting it sit for a while.

        Of course life has changed – back then, this would be the mid 1960s – gloves came relatively formless and the leather was just leather. So the point was to break the leather in and to form a pocket. Today, gloves are bigger, the leather has already been treated, and the pocket is “pre-formed”.

        Next thing you know they’re on to night baseball, artificial turf, designated hitters, and the ridiculous oversize baseball cap.

  2. Congrats on your first Sunday blog, Nick.

    I didn’t find it all that easy although I got there without aids eventually. Unknowns were CACHINNATE, COXA and PARANG, though I’ve probably blogged them all in the past and said I didn’t know them then either. I’m quite encouraged that as I’m typing this they’ve all got red wavy lines underneath them. I missed the ‘protection’ reference at 17dn, wondering rather stupidly what that was about.

    I also had half a query over r = rare at 20dn but it’s in Collins and on reflection I suspect it’s more to do with etymology and usage than waiter-ing, though no doubt you’re right that it’s used in that context too. I’m becoming resigned to unusual single-letter abbreviations turning up in the ST more so than in the daily, but I don’t much care for the practice.

    My only other query is at 1ac, where I think you underlined more definition than you intended, Nick, given your parsing. I only noticed that because I don’t quite get the wordplay so I looked at it very closely. CACHE (hide) is ‘outside’ [INN (pub) + A + T (tense)] and that’s enough surely? So what is ‘stifling’ doing? If it’s another enclosure indicator then wouldn’t either A or A+T have to go inside INN?

    Edited at 2015-03-08 06:46 am (UTC)

    1. Thanks for pointing out my over zealous underlining in 1a – slip of the digital pen, as it were. Fixed.

      Also fully echo your sentiments below. I was quite surprised by the intolerance on show.

      1. Glad I’m not alone! Quite apart from anything else I imagine it must be embarrassing and upsetting for the setter whose puzzles are being praised to the skies whilst Jeff is being rubbished.

        BTW the Quickie URLs this week are continuing in sequence so I’ve not sent you the link to Wednesday’s this time. It’s where you’d expect to find it.

        Edited at 2015-03-08 07:41 am (UTC)

  3. Since writing the above I went to the Times Forum to see what they were moaning about (as mentioned under 23dn) and I was absolutely appalled by most of the comments there and in particular at the opprobrium being heaped upon Jeff Pearce. I am getting sick and tired of the attitude of people who think they in some way “own” the puzzles (it’s ST on this occasion, on others it’s the Quickie and sometimes the daily Times) and they bellyache because they’re too easy /too hard / dumbed down / too arty-farty / too crickety etc etc ad nauseam.

    I’m all for constructive criticism but this failure to grasp that many many more people have to be catered for than the very few solvers (by comparison) who use the official forums, never mind the elite who compete on the leader boards and in the annual competition, is really beyond me.

    Rant over.

    Edited at 2015-03-08 07:29 am (UTC)

    1. I made a rare stop by the Forum last Sunday and was taken aback by some of the remarks.

      I don’t have a problem with people voicing opinions about the difficulty level of puzzles, or with anyone feeling a sense of ownership, but I don’t think anyone is entitled to attack individuals involved in bringing us the puzzles in such a personal way. Some of those comment were just plain nasty (not to mention unjustified and unreasoned). Probably best ignored and forgotten.

  4. 19:17. I didn’t find this particularly easy at all, and I thought it was rather a good puzzle. However I managed to type MINESTRONI, so it’s the wooden spoon for me this week. I’m not sure how I did this, because when I was growing up we always adopted an ironic pronunciation that rhymed with ‘wine drone’. We were just hilarious that way.
    Anyone who thinks the puzzle is too easy on a Sunday has no reason to complain: Mephisto is provided at no extra charge.
    Great blog Nick, thank you.

    Edited at 2015-03-08 09:19 am (UTC)

    1. Ah, but they want this one TOO! All to themselves, me, me, me!

      Edited at 2015-03-08 09:29 am (UTC)

  5. Welcome aboard the quiet carriage of the Sunday express, Nick (not that Sunday Express!). And thank you for an entertaining blog.I did actually remember to write a comment post-solve (and before reading the Forum) last week and for once I haven’t lost it in the days since:

    ST4631 … 12:38 … very nice JP puzzle, with that characteristic smattering of not-so-common vocabulary. No doubts about the unknown CACHINNATE or COXA thanks to first rate wordplay. COD to COMBAT, an exemplary charade which looks at first glance like something else. Tip o’ the hat.

    Couple of points arising:
    1. I think I said at the time that I was sure I had stolen the “lady of deciduous habit” line from somewhere, but I’m quite happy to let you perpetuate the myth!
    2. Did you conflate two sentences in the Wiki page re PINE MARTEN? I’m not sure they’ve ever been prized for their fur here, though they were persecuted, and their habitat largely flattened south of the border.
    From the Wiki page: They are also prized for their very fine fur in some areas. In the United Kingdom, European pine martens and their dens are offered full protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

    1. Yes, I thought exactly the same of 1ac and 26ac. I like it when the word is unknown but the wordplay gets you there unambiguously. 1ac is particularly tricksy because it looks like you have to put AT inside the pub.
      23dn WIMP is an easy clue but it’s also impeccable.
        1. Sorry I saw your comment earlier but then forgot to reply to it. I think you have to put INN inside CACHE to get CACHINNE, which then ‘stifles’ AT.
  6. Incidentally Nick I would classify 25ac as a straight cryptic definition, because there’s no wordplay (unless I’ve just missed it). In an &Lit the whole clue is both wordplay and definition, as in 26ac last week: One gent involved with RADA?
  7. Congrats Nick on your first Sunday blog, it was a reasonable puzzle to get for a maiden, ideal for a cricket buff, and you survived it well. It took me 24 minutes with 1a my last one in.

    I agree with the ranting above, concerning moaners on the forum; any criticism should be constructive and take into account the wide range of solvers being catered for; and IMO the Sunday puzzles are always witty and sometimes erudite, not always the hardest but there are harder options available for masochists.

    1. Now I’m really confused. That’s the source I was quoting from re PINE MARTENs … unless I’m reading it wrong, it doesn’t suggest their fur is prized in the UK. Tell me I’m not going mad.
      1. Just realised I had a “should have gone to specsavers” moment! My sincere apologies – I missed the full stop and capital I. You are not going mad, but I am definitely losing the plot… Most embarrassing.
        1. Don’t be embarrassed. Blogging these things is much more stressful than those who have never tried it realise. Even in comments I’ve come out with some gaffes which I cringe to recall (which is why I was being tentative … I had a nasty feeling it would turn out to be me being dim, as usual). And. let’s face it, there probably is some bastard in Droitwich who prizes pine marten fur (when he’s not stealing peregrine eggs).
  9. Got it! Thanks for the full explanation. Why couldn’t I see it? (That’s rhetorical, btw).
    1. It took me ages to see it, because I just couldn’t get over the assumption that the AT had to go inside the pub.
  10. very stylish debut nick. i’m so glad jack joined martin and me – and one or two others – in remonstrating with the boors on last week’s forum. if they have the nerve to do it again i may well use less polite language towards them.
  11. One of the reasons we all come here for discussion, maybe. But I am a bit curious to see your post when you are finally goaded into letting loose, Olivia.
  12. Very nice debut, Nick. Am still summoning up the chutzpah to offer my services so well done.

    Off now to the forum to see what they have been doing to create serious displeasure here.

  13. ………..weeks later in Toronto

    TV channel(4)

    My first thought was that it was an &lit clue. Answer: “Four”. Had to have cross checkers to eliminate that answer.

    I think nick the novice should be prosecuted under the Trade Descriptions
    Act. ;>)

    Anyone buying him for a novice would get a bad bargain.

    Thanks nick (and all the bloggers) for helping us real novices parse the answers we don’t understand.

    Tom and Jan

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