Sunday Times 4562 (3 Nov 2013) by Jeff Pearce

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: About 45 minutes.

It took me quite a long time to unscramble the wordplay in 10a, a common problem according to the forum. The only reference that I didn’t know was to the painter Ingres, but I had it worked out fairly early on anyway.

I liked the misdirection of 14d, but 25a gets my vote for COD for its smooth wordplay.

cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this

Across
1 UNSOPHISTICATED = (I ACTED)* after (UN + SOPHIST)
9 CUR + LING
10 ARAMAIC = AI (brilliant) after RAM (hit) all in A + C (Celtic)
11 ERNiE
12 PENTAMETER – Although there’s nothing particularly cryptic about it, unless I’m missing something.
13 THESE(U)S
15 DINGBAT = DIN (row) + BAT (club) about G (German)
17 P(O)INTER
19 BURGLAR = GRUB rev + LARd
20 ARCHBISHOP = ARCH (Cunning) + B (black) + SHOP (rat) all about I (one)
22 SEA (Blue) + peTer
25 CHO(C)ICE – It has a separate definition – ‘Usherette may offer this’, so it isn’t an &lit, but it feels like one because the wordplay fits the surface so well. My COD
26 T + ARSIER – It seems these days, the one slightly irreverend clue is de rigueur for the ST puzzle. Although this is quite tame by recent standards!
27 DUTCH ELM DISEASE = (TIME SECLUDED ASH)*
Down
1 UNCLE = UNCLEAN with A + womaN removed
2 SERENGETI = (GREEN TIES)*
3 P + AIR
4 INGRES + S – I hadn’t heard of the French painter, but it sounded plausible and fit the checkers
5 T(O)ASTED
6 COAL MINER = (CAMERON + L + I)*
7 T(R)ACT
8 DECORATOR = (OR RED COAT)* – I’m not sure about ‘blue’ as an anagrind, but sometimes you have to be a little more forgiving with &lits, and semi-&lits like this one.
13 TAP DANCED – cd
14 ESTABLISH = (HEAT BLISS)* – A well-disguised definition
16 BALL (fun time) + ERIN (Ireland) + A
18 RU + S + SELL – Ken Russell was the controversial film director
19 BLOTTo + ED
21 Criticise + LOUT – A yahoo is an uncouth and brutish person, derived from the race of the same name encountered by Gulliver on his final travel to the Country of the Houyhnhnms
23 TORTE – rev hidden
24 IRIS = I + SIR rev

9 comments on “Sunday Times 4562 (3 Nov 2013) by Jeff Pearce”

  1. I wasn’t too long about this one, spending only 35 minutes on it, but technically it was a DNF as I needed aids to get 26ac, a word I knew I’d never heard of so I cut my losses.

    I was unable to explain 10ac as I assumed ‘initially’ was required to claim the ‘C’ off ‘Celtic’ leaving the rest of the clue unsatisfactory. I get a bit tired of obscure single-letter abbreviations turning up. And whilst I’m having a grump, I think 12ac is rubbish.

  2. Similar experience to Jack’s – 41 minutes with a check at the naughty clue. Incidentally, it’s ‘de rigueur’ – say no more!
  3. Just over 12 minutes, though ARAMAIC (only word that fitted) went in on a wing and a prayer. I remain unconvinced that Celtic (unqualified) gives C, though I await with interest something like “Celtic, sort of” to clue either P or Q.
    And, come on, arsier, whatever next?
  4. Quite quick apart from the TARSIER. Never heard of the animal or that use of the comparative. Always assumed it meant being (more) flukey rather than (more) irritable.
  5. Fortunately I knew TARSIER, so I was able to work backwards to infer that there was an adjective ‘arsy’; although when I looked it up afterwards I got only the flukey meaning Mctext mentions (my Japanese dictionary gives that as an Oz meaning, by the way). Didn’t ‘tarsier’ show up recently, maybe in a Concise? Thanks for explaining SEAT; couldn’t parse it to save my life.
  6. I always enjoy Jeff Pearce’s puzzles, so I raced through this before coming unstuck at 26a and 19d. When you’re sitting on a ferry with just the newspaper and a pen at hand, ‘tarsier’ is not a word that comes easily to mind.

    And while I’m about it, ‘blott’ is blotto mostly, not blotto briefly, n’est ce pas?

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