Sunday Times 4439 (26 Jun 2011)

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 26:24 after a slow start

My son has stopped going to swimming lessons, but had we gone, I would have comfortably finished before him this week. It took me a while to get the first couple in, but after that I seemed to speed up considerably. By and large it seemed a pretty straightforward puzzle, with little to challenge in it. HELLEBORE, SPEEDWELL and AWN made it a little heavy on the botany for my liking, but that’s just me.

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

Across
1 CHOP + CHOP
6 P(ILL)A + Rheumatism
9 F(L)AX
10 BARBED WIRE = (I + BAR BREWED)*
11 METEOR = (REMOTE)*
12 S(HIP + MEN)T
14 COD’S + WALLOP
16 WASP = SAW rev + P
18 CEDE = “SEED”
19 HOVE + R + CRAFT
21 MANDARIN = (RAN ADMIN)* – I didn’t know this meaning of Mandarin, but there weren’t many possible arrangments of the letters.
23 IN + CITE
25 JAMES + JOY + CE
27 AC(wimbledoN)E – A nice topical reference to Wimbledon on the middle Sunday
28 TO + I + LET
29 EST(I’M)ATE
Down
2 HELLEr + BORE – ‘In bed I grow’ is the well-disguised definition, Joseph Heller most famously wrote Catch 22, but I wasn’t sure about BORE = ‘weary’, the part of speech didn’t seem right. My last in.
3 P(IX)IE – 6 refers to 6d, PIE, while 9 is Roman numerals
4 HABERDASHER = (A HERB)* + DASHER – I would have preferred the definition to be a little more specific than just ‘dealer’
5 PARASOL = PARAS + LO rev
6 PrImE
7 LAWN MOWER = LOWER (something that lows, e.g. a cow) about AWN (grassy bristles) + Meadow – I hadn’t come across AWN before, although grassy bristles is exactly what they are, but the rest of the clue was sufficient to get the answer
8 A(PRO)N
13 IMPERTINENT = (TEMP + INTERN I)*
15 SPEED + WELL
17 SAFETY NET – dd
20 VAN + DYKE
22 A LA + balMOral – The fort where Davy Crockett and James Bowie famously made their final stand against the Mexican army
24 CH + ARM
26 JET – dd

5 comments on “Sunday Times 4439 (26 Jun 2011)”

  1. 22 minutes suggests it was a slightly easier puzzle, more like the old ST days (but without the errors).
  2. 26:30 for me, exactly the same as the previous ST. No real problems, although at 12ac I persisted in thinking ‘fashionable’=’in’ for too long. LOI was BARBED WIRE. Liked 2d, 19ac, 27ac(nice surface).
  3. This is the second time I’ve tried to put this up).

    Sorry about this but I just had to share:
    Many years ago, at school we had a teacher of Russian and French who was quite a tyrant. One of his oft used phrases was “you’re as dim as Toc H lamp!”
    Other than the fact that this helped me with the clue, this has nothing to do with the crossword but I’ve never had the opportunity to mention this to anyone (outside of school chums) in my life!
    Regards and thanks for your help as ever,
    Adrian Cobb

  4. Defeated by HELLEBORE. A tough clue if you don’t know the plant. It being a plant, I didn’t. I think the part of speech is OK: if you bore someone, you weary them. Sort of.
    Something very similar happened to me with today’s. Must bone up on my botany and religious festivals.

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