Sunday Times 4453 (2 Oct 2011)

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 1hr 13min

I really struggled to get on Tim Moorey’s wavelength with this one. I didn’t find it very satisfying, and I seemed to have quibbles about a number of the answers.

I wasn’t keen on 8, 10, 16, 17 or 21. But, maybe others had a different experience.

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

Across
1 CURE – dd – with an accent, a CURÉ is a french parish priest
3 ICONOCLAST = (LOCATIONS + C)* – I spotted this was an anagram quite early on, but it took me ages to unpick it. One of my last in.
10 NEWSAGENT – I’m not entirely sure exactly how this one breaks down. I think it’s S (Sun) + mAG (magazine unopened) in NEWENT (Gloucs town), making the whole thing a semi-&lit. But that leaves ‘is ordered’ apparently doing nothing. Also, is Newent well-known enough to be used? Other than being the home of the largest cul-de-sac in Europe it doesn’t seem to be noteworthy in any way.
11 RECAP = PACER rev
12 PURE + E
13 CHAP + thE + R + ON
15 RAMPART = TRAP + MAR all rev
17 ENSNARE = (iN EARNESt)* – Is this another example of the ST breaking the rules? I didn’t think it was permissible to indicate a removal from an anagrist like this when the letters being removed were not connected. If it was NEAR being removed from IN EARNEST I wouldn’t have a problem, but IT I’m afraid I don’t like at all.
19 CITADEL = (DIALECT)* – a classic Scrabble anagram that I could write straight in.
21 SELLER’S – Peter, of course, was the actor.
22 ARR + ANGER
24 BLINI = Batter + (I + NIL) rev
27 PRIMO = MO after PRInce
28 UNIoN + STALL
29 ROYAL FLUSH – dd
30 On TrIpS – Redding
Down
1 CON’S + PIRACY
2 ROWER – dd – Man of the water / one who makes a row
4 CREW CUT – dd
5 NITRATE = “NIGHT RATE”
6 CUR’S + abusE – ‘term’ here means ‘the end of’, as in terminus. I’ve seen this crop up enough over the past few months that it doesn’t catch me out any more.
7 ANCHOR + AGE
8 TAPS – rev hidden in deSPATched. Jack meaning lift up is implying the reverse, while ‘to some extent’ implies the hidden. Personally, I didn’t like this much, it all seemed a little contrived.
9 F + ACE + CARD
14 VERS(AIL + L)ES
16 MATERNITY = (INTER)* in MATY, although I’ve only ever seen it spelt MATEY. It’s in the dictionary so I guess it’s OK, but it’s another one I’m not keen on.
18 SALT + BUSH – A plant I’ve never heard of. I dislike coming up against obscure plants as well, as there are just too many of them out there.
20 L(EG + Pranking)ULL – an &lit
21 SORTIES = STORIES (lies) with the T dropped, although the word order seems wrong to me. ‘Time to drop in lies’ would be OK, but not this.
23 A + TOLL
25 INAPT = (PAINT)*
26 SPAR = RAPS rev – a real old chestnut

8 comments on “Sunday Times 4453 (2 Oct 2011)”

  1. I did keep this puzzle, unusually, as I was unsure about 10ac and also 8dn.. so thanks for the blog Dave. I think you have parsed them both correctly but I agree with you that neither is entirely satisfactory.
    OTOH I don’t have a problem with 17ac, indeed I think it is rather neat.. but then I know nothing of these “rules” you and others mention. Not sure if the ST has any, so long as the clue is seen to work. I know I wouldn’t, in Peter’s place.
  2. Like Jerry, I liked the abridged anagram at 17, while 21dn had that not unfamiliar, in Crosswordland, Yoda to it feel. The other way it might have been indicated, by hyphens, ‘Time-to-drop-lies in charges’, would have made it too obvious on first read-through, I suppose.

    I must say, I rather enjoy the Moorey puzzles – by the time I finish one, I feel that one or other of us has been on the wacky backy. I’m an atlas and map freak, and will never believe that Newent actually exists!

  3. Feeling too fragile to revisit all the horrors of last weekend’s puzzles but I recall this was an extreme uphill struggle and I must say I thoroughly dislike clues where the answer is immediately apparent but the wordplay is impenetrable, or nearly so. I have never heard of NEWENT in my life.
  4. I have never struggled over an ST like this one: something under 2 hours, maybe 110′. I had a sense of accomplishment, I suppose, at getting it done at all, and correct at that; but it felt rather Pyrrhic. Liked the cheeky 29.
  5. I’m trying to ignore comments about the solution because I won’t see this puzzle published in Ottawa for another month. I’m dying to know–what do you mean by &lit; I can’t figure it out.
    1. An &lit clue is one where the wordplay also forms the definition. So in 20d ‘For example, bit of pranking in quiet interval’, there is no separate definition as there is with most clues, instead the entire clue does double-duty as the definition as well.
      You can also get what are known as semi-&lit clues, where the wordplay forms a vital clue to the definition. There was a good example in a Jumbo from a few weeks ago – ‘A more efficient shelter for termites, primarily – should keep this out? (8)’ The first part is the wordplay A + NEATER about T, but is also part of the definition. It’s not a proper &lit, of course, because there is still a definition part to the clue which isn’t part of the wordplay. But they can be just as neat.
  6. I agree with Dave’s comments about 10ac, 18 dn & 21dn. I thought 17ac was brilliant though. And I certainly agree with another comment about hating it when the answer is immediately apparent but the wordplay is impenetrable

    I seem to be on my own with 8dn though. I saw it as Jack Sprat, minus the r (“to some extent”), in reverse (“despatched”).

    Geoff W.

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