ST 4238 (Sun 19 Aug) – Chicken pox

Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 20:44, one mistake (9ac)

A disaster, mostly because 5dn (“An improvement on medical attention” (10)) took me nearly 15 minutes but also because having finally got there, and correctly guessed 24dn after some thought, I was undone by a 50/50 guess at 9ac. Still, at least I feel better than I would have if I’d given up on 5dn.

* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.

Across
1 DICK + E,N,S
5 POL (= rev. of LOP) + LACK – I’ve seen this fish before but wasn’t quite sure, which didn’t help my cause with 5dn.
9 WYANDOTTE; (A NEW DOTTY)* – not the easiest word to clue perhaps, but having ‘dott’ in both anagram and answer seemed so weak that after some deliberation I guessed ‘woandytte’.
10 ACORN (hidden, semi-&lit)
12 BEFUDDLE; (DELUDE + F[i]B)*
14 REPRESENTS; (PEERS)* in RENTS
16 INCH (double definition) – Scottish islands are essential crossword knowledge; as well as this general word, it’s useful to remember Iona and Arran in particular, as well as Skye, Tiree, Eigg, Rum, Coll, Mull, Lewis, Uist, Islay, Jura, Staffa and probably others I’ve forgotten.
19 SHOOT A HEAD
22 BEAM-ENDS – ‘on one’s beam-ends’ apparently means ‘in distress’, from the same phrase applied to ships when dangerously inclined.
23 BURGLE; rev. of RUB + LEG*
27 COUNT + DOWN – strange surface reading.
28 E (= ‘The Orient’) + (LEARNT)*
29 BE(RAT)ES

Down
1 DAWDLER; (EDWARD + L[eave])* – ‘X first’ = ‘first letter of X’ is standard for the Sunday Times.
2 CHAIN (cryptic definition)
3 ENDORSES; (RED NOSES)*
4 SATE; (EATS)*
5 PREVENTION (cryptic definition) – as in ‘prevention is better than cure’. Why this took me so long to get is unclear, though being doubtful about the first and especially the third letter didn’t help. I was also side-tracked by wondering if ‘on’ could be ‘pre’ or ‘pro’ at the beginning. Only having been through the alphabet on the 4th and 6th letters did I properly consider why this might be the answer.
6 LE + AGUE
7 A + VOID + ANC (= CAN*) + E
8 KENNET + H – ‘his head’ = H; cf 1dn. The Kennet is a tributary of the Thames near Reading.
13 METHODICAL; (I AM CLOTHED)*
15 PRE-MATURE – ‘minority’ referring to those under 18.
17 B(A)LUSTER
18 FABER + GE (rev. of E.G.) – the publishing house is Faber and Faber.
20 DUENNAS (cryptic definition) – Spanish governesses or guardians.
21 TEND ON
24 GROUT (double definition) – ‘coursemeal’ is not actually a word, but that wasn’t why I struggled with this one. The definitions (from Chambers) are ‘course meal’ and ‘to grub with the snout’, neither of which I really knew, but this looked more likely than ‘groat’, ‘grott’ or various other options.
25 CUR + B

One comment on “ST 4238 (Sun 19 Aug) – Chicken pox”

  1. This was a tricky one. I managed to guess the WYANDOTTE at 9a correctly but this was more luck than judgement. I know there are a few correspondents on this blog that abhor the obscure word anagrams. This was such a one but there were no comments.

    Only a brace of omitted “easies”. There was a blog with ALL clues included recently – and they will be in the future – but only 2 omissions is a sign of a toughie.

    18a French showed the way but dashed off elsewhere (4)
    F LED. Darned unreliable these Gallic types.

    26a Plump for a game of golf (5)
    ROUND. Double definition showing you don’t have to be in top condition to play golf?

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