ST 4321 (Sun 22 Mar) – Metre reading

Author   talbinhoPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 5:43

This would have been quicker if I’d known the name at 1/29/19dn instead of having to work it out from the crossing letters! Whether Mr Hopkins’ output was any good or not I’ll leave others to judge. This was much tighter than usual ST puzzles and (as far I can see) free of mistakes for a change. I understand that Don Manley writes some of these puzzles so perhaps 29ac in the bottom right is a signature?

* = anagram.

Across
1/29/19dn GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS; (ONE PHRASING MARKEDLY)*; &lit – great anagram, as Hopkins did indeed experiment with poetic phrasing and scansion; being really picky, the present tense ‘phrasing’ perhaps isn’t quite right (Hopkins died in 1889) but this is more than good enough for the Sunday Times.
4 A(BRIDGE)D
10 MIDSTREAM; (MERMAID)* around ST[one]
11 CHAFF (2 defs) – ‘to chaff’ and ‘to guy’ can both mean ‘to tease’.
12 R(EP)ACKS
14 KINGDOM; G[ood] in KIND (= ‘sort’), + O.M. (= ‘Order of Merit’, a ‘high honour’)
15 CASTLES IN SPAIN; (PAL IS INCESSANT)*
18 SEARCH WARRANTS – I think this is just a cryptic definition, punning on ‘Openings’ as in ‘opportunities’ in the surface reading and the opening of doors in the cryptic reading.
22 C + OP + SH + OP – ‘about’ = C, ‘quiet’ = SH and ‘work’ = OP[us] (twice).
24 LUMP SUM; SLUMP (with the first letter at the end) + UM (= ‘er’) – very good clue.
25 IDIOM, from IDIOT
26 INTENDANT; IN TEN (= ‘Like the PM’, referring to 10 Downing St) + DAN (= ‘fellow’) + T[ime]
28 MAT + TRESS

Down
1 G.I. + M + CRACK – this can mean ‘worthless’ or ‘shoddy’ while ‘flashy’ can mean ‘showy but empty’ or ‘gaudy’, but they don’t seem quite the same. Perhaps I am missing something?
2 RED; rev. of DER (= ‘the’ in German) – nice to see this crossing Ger[r]ard.
3 RETICULAR; (CURLIER + TA[ngles]) – from the same root as ‘rete’, a word meaning ‘network’ well-known to solvers of advanced cryptics.
5 BUMP (= ‘hit’) + KIN (= ‘relations’)
6 IN CAN – why ‘See’?
7 GRAND PIANOS; I in GRANDPA, + rev. of SON
8 DEFAME; E,F in DAME
9 VERSUS (hidden) – not sure whether I like ‘crossing’ as an indicator of a hidden answer. I suppose the idea is that the answer ‘crosses’ (in the sense of ‘bridges’) the two words ‘rivers’ and ‘usually’.
13 POSTER PAINT; (TRAIN SET POP)*
16 PYROMANIA (cryptic definition) – good one.
17 I + SOME TRY – lovely breakdown. The square root of -1 is known as ‘i’ in mathematics (and I believe ‘j’ in engineering).
20 AB + LATE – to remove surgically.
21 SCHISM; (MISS)* around CH
23 HOMER (2 defs) – a homer is a homing pigeon.
27 [f]AIL

8 comments on “ST 4321 (Sun 22 Mar) – Metre reading”

  1. The only query I had was at 13 where I was unable to find any definition that ties in POSTER PAINT with something “for kids to play with”. Firstly, although I’m sure children use it, do they “play” with it? And secondly would one define, say, a ball, as something “for kids to play with”?
  2. I seem to recall this being fairly easy, although at a week’s distance I don’t have the faintest idea how long it took. I do remember that GM Hopkins was the last one I put in; I’ve heard of him but knew nothing of him bar the name.

    I’m not sure if the “see” in 6dn is actually necessary or not. “South American, like lager” would seem to be fine. I wouldn’t say it was outright wrong, since you do see both once you’ve got the answer.

  3. Very good for the ST. Nice and tight, and would not have been out of place in the Times, except that the G M H composite would not have been allowed, even though it was nicely observed.
  5. Didn’t like “Castles in Spain” (15 across) defined as “unrealistic schemes”. As far as I know there are real castles in Spain. “Castles in the air” are unrealistic. Is this perhaps a Britishism with which I as a Canadian would be unfamiliar.
    1. Whether it’s a Britishism or not I’m unsure, but Chambers has:

      castles in the air or castles in Spain: imaginary or unrealistic plans, projects or hopes.

  6. My first anagram of “curlierta” was curtailer.

    In a sense a net curtails its contents.

  7. The only thing not SUPER about this one was the INTENDANT at 26a. I had not seen this before without the prefix. Do the Police only have SUPERs?

    Good spot on the setter from Talbinho. Don Manley owns up – and why not for such a good example of the art? Thanks to both.

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