ST 4391 (Sun 25 Jul) – An almighty mess

Author   talbinhoPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 3:44

A very strange puzzle. Most of the clues are fine and some are good (at least by Sunday Times standards), but there are three that seem to be faulty: 1ac (SHIPMENT), 12ac (ALMIGHTY) and 21ac (SCEPTRES); the first two of these (plus TREPANS at 5dn) accounted for the last 45 seconds or so, and only the first could be a printing error. If anyone can offer explanations I would be grateful.

My apologies for the late appearance of this blog – the cyber-rug was whisked from under me before I’d sent a copy to Peter.

* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.

Across
1 SHIPMENT; (HIP + MEN) in ST – my last entry, primarily because the clue to this (in the online version) appears to lack a definition, unless I am missing something. Maybe there was a word missing (perhaps ‘load’ after ‘chaps’?).
6 POS(T)ER – ‘hint of’ for ‘first letter of’ is an indicator usually reserved for advanced cryptics; it’s not allowed in the daily puzzles.
9 FRET (2 defs)
10 GREAT DANES; (TEA GARDENS)* – nice anagram.
11 MIRROR; R.R. (= Rolls Royce) after M1 (= ‘motorway’) + OR (= ‘yellow’, in heraldry)
12 ALMIGHTY – this seems to be clued as ‘reverse of I’M’ in ALIGHT (= ‘rest’), + Y[ard], but that gives one ‘I’ too many.
14 HALF-NELSON; [nel]SON – wordplay in the answer.
16 THAW; (WHAT)*, semi-&lit
18 PEA + R
19 VERTEBRATE; (EVER[y] + BATTER)*
21 SCEPTRES; (RESPECTS)* – surely ‘some staff’ isn’t the same as ‘some staffs’?
23 PATENT; PAT (= ‘stroke’) + E.N.T. (= Ear, Nose and Throat)
25 DRAWBRIDGE (cryptic definition) – a spanner being something that spans.
27 THIN[g]
28 C(O)URSE – the definition includes the question mark, because soup is just one example of a course.
29 EYE + LINER – unless ‘look-out’ is a slang word for the eye that I’m not aware of, this is a very strange definition (‘highlight for look-out’).

Down
2 HERMITAGE; (THE MIRAGE)*
3 PATER; PATE + TEACHE[r]
4 EAGER BEAVER; (AVERAGE BEER)*
5 TREPANS; (PARENTS)* – I couldn’t remember this word and needed the ‘A’ of 12ac before entering it.
6 PET; T[ime] after P.E.
7 S + LAUGHTER
8 EVENT; [s]EVEN + T[ime] – the second use of ‘time’ for T in three clues…
13 MANTELPIECE; MAN (= ‘Chap’) + PIECE (= ‘gun’) around rev. of LET (= ‘allowed’) – …and another appearance of ‘chap’ for MAN, as in 1ac where ‘chaps’ gives MEN.
15 FIRE + P + OWER
17 ATTENTIVE; (TENTATIVE)*
20 RESID(U)E
22 C + ARGO
24 TUTTI; TUT (= ‘Show disapproval’) + rev. of IT
26 RYE (hidden)

7 comments on “ST 4391 (Sun 25 Jul) – An almighty mess”

  1. Heartily agree with the comments on inaccurate and incomplete clues, which seem to be becoming more frequent with the ST. “Some staff” almost gets away with it, as staff in its manpower sense is almost a plural. But “sceptres” plural it ain’t. Almighty and shipment are just errors. TREPANS also my last in. Annoying.
  2. 24 mins. I spotted the lack of a definition in 1ac and had a big query over 12ac but didn’t bother spending time trying to justify. What’s the point with an ST puzzle? Could you please explain the non-guitar meaning at 9ac?
    1. I think if pieces of rope or string ‘fret’, they could be said to ‘split up’, although ‘split’ or ‘split apart’ might be more common. I hesitated over this one too and only wrote it in once I had the checking letters.
      1. Thanks. I found ‘wear away by rubbing’ but couldn’t imagine how this applied. Your suggestion of it happening to rope or string makes sense.
  3. 1 across. The clue ends groovy chaps 22. 22 down is “cargo”. Cargo means shipment – this gives the definition.
    1. That may well be true in the newspaper, but the online version ends “groovy chaps”.
  4. Missing defs, bad anagrams, “hints” for first letters … methinks the real ST is being invaded by the setter of the soi-disant ST in the Weekend Australian. Both prize puzzles and both, for the most part, that form of rubbish which will not decompose by itself.

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