ST 4303 (Sun 16 Nov) – Wasted chance

Author   talbinhoPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 4:05

This might have been a PB but for 19dn (DONE IN), where I couldn’t think of the right sense of ‘wasted’, and 20ac (POMANDER), a word I didn’t really know. The clues included seven complete anagrams and generally very straightforward wordplay.

* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.

Across
1 SPOT CHECKS (half-cryptic definition)
7 MAPS; rev. of SPAM
9 LAVENDER; (RED NAVEL)*
10 UR(S)INE
11 BRIDGE (cryptic definition) – not sure why the exclamation mark is needed here.
13 CARO(USE)L
14 BELOW THE BELT (2 defs)
17 EASTER SUNDAY; (TRY A SUDANESE)*
20 POMANDER; (PARDON ME)* – this looked like it had to be an anagram but I wasn’t convinced I had the right word, which didn’t make 20dn any easier.
21 LETTER (2 defs)
22 GEMINI; rev. of E.G., + MINI
23 EIGHTEEN – two less than 20 (a score).
25 [w]ANTS – correctly question-marked, as ants aren’t necessarily workers.
26 ENTERPRISE; (I REPRESENT)*

Down
1 P.E. + A + GREEN
3 TIE; “THAI”
4 HEDGE (2 defs) – ‘hedge’ = ‘Put off’? Just about, I suppose.
5 CORACLE; CO + (CORAL)*
6 SQUIRRELS (2 defs)
7 MOSQUITO NET; (QUESTIONS TOM)*
8 P + INTER – the playwright Harold Pinter.
12 DROMEDARIES; (ORDER MADE IS)*
15 TEST + DRIVE[r] – ‘wood’ = ‘driver’ as in golf.
16 CATERERS; (TERRACES)* – rather wordy.
18 EARN + EST
19 DONE IN – wordplay in the answer (‘done’ is in ‘Londoner’). I just couldn’t see this, ‘wasted’ = ‘exhausted’ didn’t occur to me and I concentrated on other senses such as ‘drunk’, ‘blew [money]’, or ‘wasted [on someone]’.
21 LAGER; (REGAL)*
24 TAR (hidden backwards)

14 comments on “ST 4303 (Sun 16 Nov) – Wasted chance”

  1. Probably my fastest ever completion having only started to do these recently. Perhaps I’ll get the watch out next time.

    Strangely enjoybale for being so quickly solved.

  2. At 3:38 I think this was almost certainly a PB for me. (If I’d realised I was that fast, I’d have clicked my stop-watch as soon as I had all the squares filled in, rather than, as usual, taking the extra few seconds to check my answers.)

    No problem with POMANDER, but I was stupidly slow getting BRIDGE for 11A (I thought of FERRY immediately and wasted valuable seconds trying to think of a synonym before giving up) and, like others, slow to get DONE IN.

    1. Cool – I had a weekend away last week with my family and I did this with my dad (who doesn’t normally do crosswords). I seem to remember he got BELOW THE BELT and POMANDER straight-away.
      Glad there wasn’t anything dodgy to try to explain away – but I don’t think I’ve converted him, though.
  5. I finished this in rather good time for me then tried to submit the solution on line. Not for the first time I got a ‘technical problem’ message with the options to report the problem or return to he home page. Am I missing something as in having to be a member of the Crossword Club in order to be able to submit solutions or is it just a problem on the Times’ end?

    I’m asking here rather than starting a new thread on the subject.

    thanks

    Bob in Toronto

    1. I never submit online solutions, so I’m afraid I can’t really advise on this; but don’t you have to be a member of the Crossword Club anyway just to see the puzzle?
      1. I can see and download the Sunday and Saturday puzzles. Go to Crossword Club and
        you’ll see page listing winners and links to Mephisto, The Listener etc.. Click on the links to the Saturday and Sunday puzzles and the Listener.
        I am not a member.
  6. I tried logging out and managed to access the puzzles in the way you describe (this was a bit of a surprise actually – I thought those puzzles were only available to members!).

    I then tried submitting a solution to the Sunday Times puzzle and got the same ‘Technical Error’ message as you. Thinking about it, this makes sense: when logged in, the website uses your login details to enter you into the prize draw (or at least, there is no method of attaching a name or any other details to a submission). So it looks as though you do have to be a member of the Crossword Club to submit a solution.

    Hope this helps!

    1. That makes sense. A club membership has been promised me for Christmas so
      it’s free weekend puzzles until then, unless they catch on. Kind of you to pursue this

      Obrigado

      Bob in Toronto

  7. sorry for bring dim but what is PB? I put in dredge instead of bridge because dredging a river for navigation purposes has the effect of changing the banks of a river.
    1. ‘PB’ is sporting jargon for ‘personal best’!

      I didn’t know that ‘dredge’ could also be a noun, meaning a machine which dredges. I think this has a strong claim as an alternative answer.

  8. This may have been a PB for me too – as I don’t time myself I can’t be sure. It was also of great comfort after Saturday’s toughie where I was doubting my ability to solve cryptic crosswords. My FOI was MAPS at 7a and LOI CATERERS at 16d. No problem with 20a POMANDER or 18d DONE IN.

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