No typos – something always worth mentioning in the context of The Sunday Times. Pretty straightforward – only one unrecognized word (7D). Some of clichéd Usual Suspects (Essen cropped up again, L for student, N for north, CE for church) and one clue’s soundness (25A) leaves me a bit uneasy. Perhaps a touch more anagrams than the norm — the first 4 or 5 I solved were all such.
Across
| 1 |
CHINESE CHECKERS – anag(“chicken” + “cheese” + “r”) where the “r” is “retailer finally” and “stocked” indicates containment. All too hastily I filled in the other Chinese game “Chinese Whispers” and had to backtrack later. |
| 9 |
LIO+NESS –anag(“oil”) + the canonic loch. |
| 10 |
SUR+REAL – French for “on” + REAL which is Brazilian currency (had to check that). |
| 13 |
GR+APPLE – I think the wordplay for this is abbrev(“Greek”) + APPLE of my eye for “pupil”. But I might be wrong? |
| 15 |
EPI+CURE – anag(PIE) + a remedy. |
| 17 |
A(SEP)SIS– Several months and relatives to choose from. |
| 18 |
U(LYS)SES – anag(“sly”) inside of USES for “practises” where “aboard” indicates just barely containment. |
| 25 |
MU(L+CHE)D – I’m a bit troubled by the wordplay here since it’s not an &lit and the definition “doing agricultural work” is in the middle of the clue – not to mention the fact that the parts of speech don’t match (past tense vs. present progressive). CHE is our perennial revolutionary of course and “first light” yields L, with “wallows” indicating containment. Other interpretations? |
| 27 |
NEWFOUNDLAND DOG – Awkward surface: but wordplay is NEW FOUND for “recently discovered”, L for “novice”, AND for “with” followed by DOG for man’s “best friend”. “This one” is the definition: a specific kind of dog. |
Down
| 1 |
CAL(I)F – Alternative spelling for caliph. “Neat” is only ever a cow in cryptics– so a “young neat” is a calf. |
| 3 |
E+DEN – “end of the” yields E and I suppose DEN for “earth” where animals build their homes (go to earth). |
| 4 |
ESSEN+CE – Two idioms in a single clue: our canonic German city and Church of England. Nice touch including the other German city famed for its Eau de. |
| 6 |
CURIOSITY – Cryptic definition: it’s what kills the cat. |
| 7 |
ELEMI – anag(“Emile”): didn’t know this was a perfume but the anagram was unavoidable. |
| 13 |
GU(ARDSME)N– anag(“dreams”) inside of GUN. |
| 16 |
UNSPOTTED – Double definition: one of the last I filled in. For some reason I find these kind of clues hard to spot when two such unrelated meanings share the same spelling. |
| 18 |
S(WIND)ON – There are actually a couple of English S????ON towns: S(HILT)ON, S(TILT)ON where the containee is also a word. Of course I thought of both of those first. |
| 19 |
UTEN(S)IL – anag(“Lutine”) containing S which is “start” of “striking”. When I see an unfamiliar proper name, I immediately suspect anagram. Too bad I didn’t realize that it was HMS Lutine and thus appreciate the “vessel” allusion. |
| 23 |
S+CRAG – SCRAG is the “lean part” of an animal’s neck. I suspect that S for south is the “way” and “peak” is CRAG. |
I also had the same problem with “mulched”. I couldn’t see it could be anything else by “doing agricultural work” seems a poor definition and it wasn’t in the right place. But I couldn’t see any other way the clue would work.
— paul
12a (Stagnation)* exasperated rival = ANTAGONIST
20a Exaggerates importance or review of (mad satires)* = DRAMATISES
22a Functions of leaves = GOES (works and departs)
2d (I clean out)* vigorously, to counter disease = INOCULATE
5d Landlord given time, now a prisoner = HOST AGE
8d Off (piste, pals)* find dried vegetables = SPLIT PEAS
14d Yellowish-green wooly (coat is hip)* = PISTACHIO
21d Let a student down = A L LOW
24d The route up north, open wide = YAWN (way up = yaw, n)