ST 4369 (Sat 21 Feb) – Jumble Sales

Author   talbinhoPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 5:18

I solved this online; sometimes I think it might be faster that way, but with this puzzle it was definitely slower because I spent about the last 90 seconds on the anagram at 18ac (FRANCIS DE SALES), which with pen and paper I’d probably have unravelled much more quickly. It might also have helped if I hadn’t misread the enumeration as (5,2,7)!

Most of the puzzle was sound and there were some nice clues and good surface readings.

* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.

Across
1 MAOIST; M.A. (= ‘master’), + IS in O.T. – not sure ‘master’ = MA is quite right but the intention is clear.
4 ASPERITY; A SPY (= ‘An agent’) around TIRE (= ‘[to] weary’) – at first I thought that ‘agent’ was giving REP (reversed), although I didn’t try to unravel the wordplay when solving. The use of ‘weary’ as a verb is cunning.
10 REFRESHER; RE (= ‘about’) + FRESHER (= ‘new student’)
11 GROWN; G.R. (= ‘our last king’, George VI) + OWN (= ‘have’)
12 THERMAL (hidden) – nicely concealed but I have doubts over the indicator (‘put across by’).
14 PEN[z]ANCE – nice wordplay.
15 MATERNITY LEAVE (cryptic definition) – rather transparent.
18 FRANCIS DE SALES; (DISCERNS A FALSE)* – as well as misreading the enumeration I wasted time here trying to anagram ‘Saint a discerns’. Francis de Sales was a Roman Catholic Saint.
22 F + AILING
24 EVEN OUT; EVENT around O.U.
25 A + GATE
26 SERENADER; SERENER around A D[ate]
28 RE-ENLIST; R.E. (= Royal Engineers = ‘soldiers’) + (SILENT)*
29 IRONIC; IRON (= ‘toughness’) + I + C[onservative]

Down
1 MARITIME; rev. of (I RAM), + TIME – nice clue.
2 [l]OAF – I’m sure I wasn’t the only solver to try to think of a word to fit ?ASS meaning ‘head’.
3 STEAM IRON; (RAIMENT SO)*, semi-&lit – I liked this one.
5 SCRAPPY; SCRAP + P[a]Y
6 EGG ON; E.G. + G + ON – this little (3,2) and (2,3) phrases can be problematic. I rushed into ‘leg up’ here, presumably influenced by ‘cricket side’ = ‘leg’ and ‘say’ = ‘e.g.’, and when this happens it’s easy to fail to change all the letters of the incorrect answer, as the 2006 Times Championship Final showed.
7 IVOR NOVELLO; I + V[ery] (= ‘very short’) + NOVEL (= ‘book’) + LO (= ‘look’) around O.R. (= Other Ranks = ‘men’)
8 YANKEE; rev. of NAY, + KEE[n]
9 CHILL + I
13 EXTERMINATE; (EXAMINER TEST – S[ucceeded])*
16 EASTERNER; E[ctasy] + A STERNER – ‘at a minimum’ seems superfluous here.
17 ESOTERIC; (COTERIES)*
19 INGESTS; (GEN + SITS)*
20 DREARY; DR + EAR + Y[en]
21 AFFAIR; A + FF (= ‘fortissimo’ = ‘very loud’) + AIR
23 I + DEAL
27 DON[g] – Edward Lear’s Dong with a Luminous Nose.

8 comments on “ST 4369 (Sat 21 Feb) – Jumble Sales”

  1. About two hours the first time (with clues misnumbered and the wrong grid published on-line). It took me 10 minutes the following week with the correct numbers and grid. There’s obviously no hope for me ever beating the 10 minute barrier on a weekday puzzle if it took me so long to recall the solutions to clues I sweated over only 7 days previously.

  2. Even after the stuff up last week, they couldn’t get the actual version right, with a mis-enumeration at 11 which was flagged as (9). There always seems to be one disappointing glitch or another — and I suspect there are more than a few in this week’s puzzle (4370). Talbinho: you mention the 2006 Championship article. The final quotation from Sebastian Faulks is apt:
    “With The Times I always feel when I’ve finished and go back over them that the clues were as well written as they possibly could have been. It’s a game of pedantry and it’s got to be as tight as it can be”.
    Maybe it’s about time the ST editors and setters packed up and left Sunday to the professionals. If they (the former) are responsible for the soi-disant (London) Sunday Times in The Australian, we would then all breathe a sigh of relief. This week, for example, the Pine Marten appears as a bird!
    1. Not in this week’s UK Sunday Times it doesn’t (the Pine Marten, I mean), but it was a shocker anyway. There were major issues with about half a dozen clues (I’m sure Neil will deal with them next week) and a couple at the end which I just guessed at. It was the first time for a couple of months that I’ve solved it, but it certainly isn’t improving. Shame really, because the winner’s prize is worth having and much more valuable than anything else on offer.
      1. Linxit: just for clarity. The Oz ST is a one-off and unconnected with the regular ST puzzle. It’s written by the London ST team — or so The Australian claims, for it is they that they blame when things inevitably go wrong. (“The puzzle was published as received from London” …) There is occasional Australian content (place names, etc.) but the setters obviously have no genuine local knowledge. And, this week, they don’t even seem to know about European fauna! I could go on (and on …) but it might be better simply to post an example. Will try this later today if I can.
      2. I flagged 7–that might be 8 once I figure out the one remaining word–which is a record for me. 22d, at least, I’d like to think is a simple typo, but a couple of the others I find impossible to justify.
  3. I thought this was one of the better ST efforts, and could find nothing wrong at all with it technically, and it isn’t often I can say that, by golly. Just look at today’s for example! The “at minimum” in 16dn seems a bit superfluous, but isn’t really wrong.
    So well done setter, go and talk to your colleagues about how to improve. I find it hilarious that they are able to export their general incompetence around the world.

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