ST 4243 (Sun 23 Sep) – Poison arrow

Author   talbinhoPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 3:23, one mistake (16dn)

I thought I was on for a PB on this one, which was probably the reason for my carelessness with 16dn. In the end, the last three or four in the bottom right held me up just too long in any case.

* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.

Across
1 THREE-LEGGED RACE (cryptic definition)
10 EARN + EST
11 T + ASK – why the superfluous ‘take’ at the beginning of the clue? The surface reading would still make sense without it.
12 SALAD CREAM; (LADS CAMERA)*
13 SCRAWNY; (SWAN CRY)*
15 A + V + O + CAD + O
17 ER(RAT)IC
22 S + WIG – ‘syrup of figs’ is rhyming slang for ‘wig(s)’.
25 SAN JOSE; JOS[h] in SANE – a pretty awful clue, ruined by the ‘of’.
27 NON COMPOS MENTIS (cryptic definition)

Down
1 TOAST (double definition)
2 RE(GIST + R)AR
4 ESTUARY (double definition) – I didn’t understand this fully while solving, but the clue splits into ‘Type of English’ and ‘flower going into the sea’. Good clue from a cryptic point of view, degraded by the looseness that pervades the Sunday Times (and made me ready to accept that the definition was just ‘going into the sea’) and also by the surface reading which doesn’t really make any sense.
5 GRENADA; (GARDEN A)* – a jarring nounal anagram indicator (‘difference’).
6 DIRECTORS (double definition, with overlap)
7 ANELE (hidden) – easy, even if, like me, you didn’t know the word ’embrocate’.
8 EX + TEMP + O.R.E.
13 STEVENSON (hidden)
14 WA[i]TER + POLO (= POOL*)
16 AR(ROW + ROO)T – not ‘arrowwort’.
18 CARVE-UP; (RAVE)* in CUP
19 DISCUS + S
21 TEN + ON
23 GA(N)GS
24 FINE (double definition)

One comment on “ST 4243 (Sun 23 Sep) – Poison arrow”

  1. This was quite an easy one – I did it in about half an hour – or 60 Talbinhos. At least I got it all correct though! I only know ARROWROOT at 16d because it was a type of biscuit. Did not know syrup = CRS for wig or wigs (syrup of figs) but it had to be SWIG at 22a. Another crossword related, otherwise pretty useless, bit of knowledge to clog up my memory cells.

    A surprise (only) 5 “easies” left out of the blog:

    9a Grow (a nutmeg)* for cooking (7)
    AUGMENT

    19a Criminal (severed)* warrant (7)
    DESERVED

    20a (I represent)* new business concern (10)
    ENTERPRISE. So possibly a Starship or at least a Space Shuttle.

    26a Fabulous beast in rUNIC ORNament (7)
    UNICORN

    3d Sheep starting to rock jug (4)
    EWE R

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