ST 4252 (Sun 25 Nov) – Tickled a th’ sere

Author   talbinhoPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 8:50

Mostly straightforward; some good clues today, but very Sunday-Timesey nevertheless.

* = anagram.

Across
1 TABERNACLE; (BERATE CLAN)*
7 FRAY (double definition) – not sure what the question mark is doing here.
9 PENDULUM; (DUNE)* in PLUM – the definition here is ‘Moves to and fro’ which at first seems incomplete, but I think is ok if ‘moves’ is read as a noun.
10 AN + AN + AS (= ‘resembling’)
11 ASH + CAN – a weak clue, with ‘ash’ used in essentially the same sense in both wordplay and answer.
14 COSMOPOLITAN; (SPAIN TO L COMO)* – clearly an anagram, but made harder because ‘Lake’ needs to be abbreviated to L beforehand.
20 DEVOURED; (ODD REVUE)* – as in ‘devoured a book’.
21 ODD SON
22 RETOOL; rev. of LOOTER
23 MASTHEAD (double definition)
25 [gar]DEN Y[ielding] – superfluous words in clues with hidden answers, such as ‘compost’ here, are a bugbear for some.
26 PECULATION; (UNPOETICAL)* – marvellous anagram.

Down
2 A VERSION
4 [ma]NY LON[g] – like 25ac, this clue has a superfluous word (‘legs’), but the &litness of this one probably justifies it.
5 CO(MICA)L
6 E + PAULETTE – ‘rank stars here’ is an excellent definition.
7 FRATERNISED; (REF TRAINED S[ides])*
8 A + WAITS – I only vaguely knew the word ‘waits’, meaning a group of singers, especially at Christmas, so spent a while looking for an alternative here.
12 CAMPANOLOGY; (COMPANY GOAL)* – easy if you know the word, but another decent anagram.
15 PAPER CLIP (cryptic definition)
18 END + EMIC (= MICE*)
19 SERE + N,E – ‘dry’ for SERE (a poetic word for ‘sear’) is surprisingly difficult.
21 OUSE + L
24 HIT – I think this is just a straight definition with a pun on ‘hit’/’miss’. ‘To play’ can also mean ‘to hit’, as in ‘Bradman plays the ball down to third man’, but I don’t think that’s intended as part of the wordplay.

One comment on “ST 4252 (Sun 25 Nov) – Tickled a th’ sere”

  1. Like our esteemed Talbinho my LOI was 8d AWAITS. Put in as a BIFD as I had no idea that A WAITS was A SINGING GROUP.

    Just the 4 not in the blog – all Double Definitions or (DDs):

    13a Gathers for prayers (8)
    COLLECTS

    17a Fear of arrest? (12)
    APPREHENSION

    3d Limit of one’s ambition (3)
    END

    16d State it’s a beetle (8)
    COLORADO

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