Sunday Times 4466 (1 Jan 2012) – And a Happy New Year

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 34:41

I was hoping for a quick win here after 1 across went straight in, but my progress was slower than it probably should have been. I didn’t come to write this blog until several days later, and looking at it now, I can’t see what the problem was. It all looks quite straightforward and I would expect some fast times.

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

Across
1 JANUARY THE FIRST = JAN + U + (EARTHY)* + FIRST – A nice easy starter for a New Year puzzle
9 ePIC(T)URE – I wasn’t sure about ‘teaspoon’ = T. It’s tsp, surely, to distinguish it from tablespoon = tbsp.
10 BASTION = (OBTAINS)*
11 NEAT – dd – a whiff of DBE here, but the elegance of the clue excuses it.
12 ADULT + E + RATE
13 TRIPPED – dd
15 REMARKS = RES about MARK – RES was new to me. It’s a legal term for ‘an object or thing; matter’. My first thought was about = RE, but I couldn’t get it to work.
17 PRESS-UP – I’m not entirely sure about the wordplay here. ‘Squash’ is presumably PRESS, so ‘taught’ must be UP. To be up on current affairs is to be well-informed, but is that the same as taught? It doesn’t quite pass the substitution test for me. Or am I missing something?
19 CON + DONE
20 AUTOCLAVES = (VALUES A COT)* – a bit like pressure cookers for conducting high-pressure experiments and the sterilisation of instruments
22 KRIS = IRK rev + S
25 CAR(NAG)E
26 OR(DIN)AL – I didn’t know this meaning of ordinal – it’s an ecclesiastical service book
27 DELIRIUM TREMENS = (RUm + MINISTER LED ME)* – more commonly known as having the DTs
Down
1 J + A + PAN – a type of glossy black lacquer, named after its country of origin
2 NECTARINE = (ENTRANCE)* about I
3 A + RUM
4 YIELDED – dd
5 HOBBLER = HOER about BBL
6 FISHER + MAN – Mr. Jeremy Fisher is the Beatrix Potter character.
7 RA(I)T + A
8 TENNESSEE = (TEENS SEEN)*
13 TAP-DANCED – cd
14 PUSHCHAIR = (PARISH + CHUrch)*
16 RIO GRANDE = (ORDERING A)* – I’m so used to seeing ‘ordering’ as an anagrind it was hard to accept that it could also be the anagrist.
18 PLATE + AU
19 C(HERO)OT
21 TYROL – hidden in pretTY ROLling
23 S + ALES
24 IDLE – dd – Eric Idle was probably best known as the singer/songwriter of the group. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life is the most famous, but this is my personal favourite

8 comments on “Sunday Times 4466 (1 Jan 2012) – And a Happy New Year”

  1. I also wondered about T=teaspoon but it’s in Collins. I’m a hater of DBE’s but I can’t see a hint of one in 11ac, just two straight definitions, I’d have thought. I’m probably missing something. RES seemed new to me too but I studied Latin many years ago so I’m sure to have known it then.

    I shot through this one in record time for me – barely 15 minutes – unlike this week’s offering which took me 2 hours with aids – longer than I have taken to solve a Times or ST cryptic since I started contributing and blogging here over 5 years ago. I think I would like a little more consistency of difficulty level in the ST puzzle or let’s have two puzzles of different levels if they want to up the ante.

  2. 11A’s UP: I was a bit surprised by this when editing but found that Collins has “taught”, followed by the example well up in Physics. t for teaspoon was a similar suprise but seems to come from a system where “tablespoon” is represented by T.

    Two puzzles would be lovely but it’s pretty unlikely in current economic circumstances, and I’m reminded of experiences with the Telegraph’s “Toughie” — billed as the hardest puzzle on Fleet Street but sometimes easier for me than the standard offering. Diffuculty is very difficult to measure, and may be altered by editorial changes, so my focus is on ensuring that clues are accurate and entertaining.

    Peter Biddlecombe
    Sunday Times Puzzles Editor

    Edited at 2012-01-08 12:29 pm (UTC)

    1. 17A’s UP, not 11A’s. I was familiar with this meaning but forgot to support it earlier.
  3. 16:31 … JANUARY THE FIRST was far from the first one in for me. Such topical japes are so rare in The Times puzzles I forget they’re possible.

    No problem with ‘t’ for ‘teaspoon’. Personally, I prefer the upper/lower case way of distinguishing spoons – visually, I find tsp and tbsp very difficult to distinguish (my excuse for various kitchen disasters).

    Nice, entertaining start to the new year.

  4. 21 minutes online. The lacquer (or laquer, as Thackeray ould no doubt have spelt it) is one to remember for the future.

    This week’s (4467) is indeed a beast. Still have the SE to complete. You know it’s tough when all manner of cheating still leaves you short!

    1. Or you know it’s tough when after an hour or more you have less than half the grid completed and too few letters towards any of the remaining answers to use a solver!
  5. I know it’s tough when I see ‘Dean Mayer’ above the grid; 18′ and I’ve got 7 solved. But this one was a semi-breeze; 38′, with 12ac as my LOI, with a query about 17ac. I also didn’t know 6d, but the clue + checkers worked; it didn’t help that I was thinking Harry Potter rather than Beatrix, although I haven’t read a word of either anyway.

Comments are closed.