ST 4267 (Sun 9 Mar) – Oh Rio, Rio…

Author   talbinhoPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 11:58

Got stuck in the bottom left until I got 26ac, then it all fell out. One faulty anagram today (18ac – RIO DE JANEIRO), where the blame probably lies with the typesetter.

* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.

Across
1 SYDENHAM – a ward in Lewisham, London.
2 MAD + CAP
10 A + P + PEAL – terrible clue, with the definition ‘fetching’ being the wrong part of speech.
12 KIDNEY; (DIN)* in KEY
13 G + LO + RIO + US
15 ASS + ASS + IN + A + T[h]E[y]’D
18 RIO DE JANEIRO; (I REJOIN OAR)* [sic] – I presume this was meant to say ‘rejoined’ rather than ‘rejoin’.
23 EYELINER (cryptic definition) – pretty sure this is right, but I don’t think the second half of this clue really makes sense (‘Highlight for a look out’?).
24 TO(I)LET
26 [p]OODLES – should have got this much faster – I think subconsciously I decided that ‘wanting’ meaning ‘with ___ removed’ was too technical for the Sunday Times, but that’s exactly what’s going on here.
27 S(AU)TERNE – a white wine.
29 CHARADES; (DASH + ACRE)*
Down
1 STICKS (double definition)
3 NUMBERS (double definition)
4 ACRE (double definition)
6 ASPIRIN; (SPRAIN I)*
7 C(HERO)OT + S
8 PAL(I + SAD)E
11 FLUSTER; LUST in rev. of REF
14 CA(BARE)T – standard treatment.
16 TREETOPS – I guessed this from the ‘…other branches?’ bit, but couldn’t see why it should be ‘Safari hotel’, but this explains – it was the place where the Queen acceded to the throne after the death of George VI.
17 TOREADOR (cryptic definition) – needed the ‘D’ before getting this.
20 RO(O)STER
21 FLORID[a]
22 ATHENS; (HASTEN)*
25 L + ASH

6 comments on “ST 4267 (Sun 9 Mar) – Oh Rio, Rio…”

  2. For talbinho: in 1 ac I think the reference is to the borough in South East London, south of Dulwich, rather than to a ward of that name in Lewisham (if indeed such a place exists). Presumably we are supposed to take SYDENHAM as an anagram of “dashy men” – at least that is the only way the clue can be made to work as far as I can see. However, it is thoroughly unsatisfactory. Not only is “dashy” questionable as a legitimate word, but, more importantly, I do not see how “abut” can possibly serve adequately as an anagrind. It means, as an intransitive verb, “to end or lean (on, upon, against)” or, as a transitive verb, “to border, be positioned next to”. In both cases the image is of two things being placed side by side, which is not how “dashy” and “men” appear in SYDENHAM.

    Michael H

  3. Postscript to my earlier comment: I agree with talbinho about the faulty anagram at 18 ac and the missing “de”. In 23 ac, I agree that this is a cryptic definition: I think the idea is that eyeliner is a cosmetic application designed to draw attention to, or enhance the appearance of, the eyes, so “highlight”, with “look-out” serving as a quirky synonym for “eye” – i.e. a thing through which you look out. A bit far-fetched, I would concede.

    Michael H

    1. EYELINER: I agree that this was the intention; I’d be more inclined to accept it if “look-out” had been hyphenated.

      SYDENHAM: The paper version had “about” rather than “abut”, which is another typo in the online version. It hadn’t occurred to me that “dashy” was a dubious word, but you’re quite right. [html now corrected – thanks to linxit. I think this is the same place Michael refers to.]

  4. Yes, I did this puzzle on online, which had the unhelpful “abut”. Thanks for sorting that out.

    Fair point on “look out” requiring a hyphen in 23 ac. I think you’re right – that is really the only way the clue can be made to work satisfactorily.

    Michael H

  5. Not only did 1a have “abut” instead of “about” in the online version but the clues for 5a, 4d and 21d were missing.

    At 4d I bunged in AGRA when I had the checkers A?R? but then was able to reverse engineer ACRE when I saw the clue for 29a that uses ACRE as half of its anagrist with dash to make CHARADES. I just guessed the other two and so was pleased to have made the correct selection in both cases with MADCAP and FLORID.

    There are just the 4 “easies” left out of the blog. Fortunately these all had clues:

    9a Private place for a film (2,6)
    IN CAMERA

    28a Dainty type (is pert)* when dancing (6)
    SPRITE

    2d Choose some home-maDE CIDEr (6)
    DECIDE

    19d It’s clear I had to enter contest (7)
    EV I’D ENT

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