ST 4322 (Sun 29 Mar)/Second guess

Author   talbinhoPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 3:24

Pretty good this week. The anagram at 28ac would be my pick of the bunch.

* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.

Across
1 PRO + PROSITION – I hesitated here because of the definition, and am still not sure how ‘selection’ and ‘proposition’ can mean quite the same thing.
10 TONIC (2 defs) – in music the tonic note is the first note of the scale, equivalent to ‘doh’ in sol-fa notation.
11 RELATIONS – I’m never quite sure what to call this type of clue, which consists of a straight definition plus an extra bit punning on an alternative meaning or interpretation of the answer (here ‘Tale-telling’) but which, in itself, isn’t a full definition. ‘Semi-cryptic definition’ isn’t quite right because ‘kindred’ here is a full definition in its own right.
12 BALL + A DEER
13 OMEGA (hidden) – nice, but why include the superfluous ‘a’?
14 NI(E)CE + S
16 ETHEREAL; E (= ‘the Orient’) + THE + REAL (= ‘living’)
18 HYPNOTIC; (PYTHON + I + C)
20 O.B.E. + L + US – used in ancient manuscripts to indicate possibly corrupted words.
23 BAS + R.A.
24 E + CO + SYSTEM – bit of a weak breakdown.
26 CONDITION (2 defs)
27 OAKEN; (A + K + ONE)*
28 INFESTATION; (IT IS OFTEN AN)* – excellent anagram & probably the best clue of the puzzle.

Down
2 RENAL; rev. of (LANE + R)*
3 PACK + AGE – as in ‘package tour’.
4 SORBET; (OR BEST)* – I lost time here with the incorrect answer ‘second’, which doesn’t quite work because it would need to be plural to mean ‘sweet’ (in the sense of ‘second course’).
5 TOLERATE; (EEL + RAT TO)*
6 OUTCOME – I think this must be the answer but don’t really understand it. The clue is: ‘Result of removing the stopper (7)’; maybe referring to a wine stopper, and the wine coming out after its removal?
7 STAB IN THE BACK; (BAN BEST HACK IT)*
8 FORETELL; (TO FREE + L + L)*
9 ESTABLISHMENTS; (THE MINE BLASTS)* – another good anagram, but I’m not sure ‘about’ as an anagram indicator makes sense when placed before the fodder (i.e. ‘about XYZ’, rather than ‘XYZ about’).
15 EX (= ‘late’) + POSING
17 LIKEWISE; LIKE (= ‘Have a yen for’) + WISE (= ‘sage’)
19 OVATION; O + VAT + ION – nice to see ‘something charged’ rather than just ‘charge’ for ION.
21 BOYCOTT; (COT TOBY)*
22 CORNET – another clue like 11ac that I don’t have a name for, i.e. one straight definition plus half a cryptic one.
25 TOKYO; TOO around KY

3 comments on “ST 4322 (Sun 29 Mar)/Second guess”

  1. 18 minutes apart from ETHEREAL which beat me in the limited solving time available on the day.

    I too didn’t really understand PROPOSITION/Selection at 1a, or 6d, and I wondered about the plural defining the singular at 19. Still, it was quite a good puzzle for a Sunday.

    1. 6d is a bit of a stretch, but I think talbinho is correct; when you remove a stopper, stuff comes out, which could arguably be referred to as “the outcome” (cf. outflow). Nobody would ever use the word in that sense outside of the Republic of Cruciverbia.

      I think plaudits for OVATION is ok; I can’t imagine an ovation consisting of just one person offering a plaudit, but as many doing so all at once. I also can’t find a justification for selection/proposition, but it’s so obviously correct that I just assumed there must be one.

  2. OBELUS at 20a was my penultimate entry. It was gettable from the clue OK but I had no idea about the “It indicates corruption” part of the clue. Thanks so much to Talbinho for the education on that. Arcane knowledge at its best!

    Solving time probably at least 10 Talbinhos.

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