Sunday Times 4434 (22 May 2011)

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 18 minutes.

Something of a walk in the park today. My son was barely halfway through his swimming lesson when I finished, so I had to pull out an old one from my emergency stash which was a bit more of a challenge.

cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this

Across
1 REVAMP = AVER rev + MP
4 BO(THERE)D
10 A + U + CO + UR + ANT – I didn’t know this phrase but it was easily deduced from the checkers & wordplay.
11 L + EASE
12 RAPPERS – dd
14 ACOLYTE = (COLT YEA)*
15 GENER(AL + IS)ATION
18 KEEP YOUR HAIR ON – dd
22 C(HORAL)E – I haven’t come across HORAL before
24 STEEP + LE
25 LA(IR)D
26 DO + LO + MITES – ‘Travel’ = DO seems a little vague, but I guess it’s OK.
28 DAMPENERS = (PADRE + MEN)*
29 IN + HAND
Down
1 ROAD RAGE = (DORA)* + (GEAR)*
2 VAC – abbreviation for both vacation & vacuum cleaner
3 MOUSETRAP = MO + USE + PART rev – a DBE but the question mark implies this. I was expecting some obscure foreign cheese. My last in.
5 OUTLAWS = (LOUTS)* about AWe
6 HALL + O
7 READY TO DROP – dd
8 DIE + TERm
9 DAMSEL = DAM + LES rev
13 PAN + DEMON + I + UM
16 TRADESMEN = (SMARTENED)* – I’m really not sure about ‘up’ as an anagrind.
17 INCENSED – dd
19 OVERDUE – cd – you pay a fine when your book is overdue.
20 RESOLD = “RESOLED”
21 SCALED – dd
23 ADD + L + alE
27 TEAm

11 comments on “Sunday Times 4434 (22 May 2011)”

  1. My reading of it was that ‘travel and see’ = DO and ‘little creatures’ = LO MITES, but I’m not partcularly fond of that explanation either. Anyway, 24 minutes for what was probably the easiest puzzle we’ve had for quite a while.
      1. Just looked in the Club forum to read the discussion there but there’s no thread on 4434.

        4432, 4433 and 4435 yes, but 4434 no.

        I wonder if this is another example of a fault that happened a few weeks ago when some members were unable to see certain threads. Can anyone else see 4434?

  2. 28 minutes, so an oasis in a run of bad solving times in the main paper.

    I don’t get “travel” = “do” at all. “Travel to” maybe, as in “we’re going to do India this year” but not “travel” on its own unless someone can come up with an example.

    The error in the on-line clue at 8dn which lost me some time had been corrected when I checked a few hours later.

  3. There is a discussion, but, as with several others now, you have to go to the individual puzzle, click on ‘stats’ and go from there. 11 comments, mainly on how easy this was.
    And easy it was! I did it in an unbelievable 10’30”, a speed I’ll never reach again. I had (have) the same doubts about ‘do’=’travel’ as jackkt; and I’m not quite as accepting as Dave about ‘up’ as anagrind in 16d.
    1. Thanks for the tip, Kevin. I’d never have found that way in because I don’t look at stats.

      On 16ac I just checked my copy and I had a query against “up” as an anagrind too. I suppose the setter was thinking “up” as in “up in the air” but it’s agree it’s a bit dubious.

      1. Chambers has “in an excited state” and “in revolt”, as meanings of “up”, but I struggled to find these in other dictionaries, so I’ll have a think next time this comes up.
  4. I did this with interruptions yesterday pm and still managed 16 minutes – so it really must have been very easy. I very rarely get under 20 minutes. On another tack: Does anyone know what has happened to the TLS crossword on the club website. I looked on Friday and there it wasn’t!
  5. travel = do: meaning 16 of “do1” in the current Collins, as in “we did 15 miles on our walk”, which took me a long time to understand.

    The 4434 thread is currently one of the tricky ones to get to – the back door route – pressing “play” and then joining the discussion – will find you some postings. I’ve requested inclusion in the forum lists.

    Peter Biddlecombe, ST Puzzles Editor

  6. I don’t think MOUSETRAP is really a DBE. The solution is an example, of which CHEESE is the more general case.

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