Sunday Times 4488 (3 Jun 2012) by Anax – Supermarket Sweep

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 40:52

An entertaining solve. Anax pairs up six different supermarkets to form the basis of three anagrams, which is quite an achievement. Plenty of other good stuff, too – 15 was my personal favourite, but also 8 and 9.

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

Across
1 DOCUSOAP = DO + CUSs + OAP – although ‘profane’ for CUSS seems the wrong part of speech, so I may have that wrong.
5 FLITCH = FoiL + ITCH – again I can’t quite see ‘spoil’ = ITCH, and this was an unknown type of bacon to me, hence this was my LOI. Actually, re-reading this just before I post it, it occurs to me that ‘spoil’ in the sense of ‘spoiling for a fight’ would be much the same as ‘itching for a fight’.
9 C(HOOCH)OO
10 PISTOL = P + I + LOTS rev
12 DISLOCATE = (TESCO + ALDI)*
13 CHEAP = CHAP about salE
15 WINDOW-SHOPPER – dd – ‘someone changing platforms’ = WINDOWS HOPPER as the version of MS Windows your computer runs is known as its platform.
18 UNREPLENISHED = (PURE LINEN)* + SHED
20 GUSTO – rev hidden in harlOT SUGgests
21 REAP + POINT
23 A + SWELL
25 DISSOLVE – dd – to dissolve into tears is to start crying, and to dissolve a company is to finish it.
26 SH + RI(M)P – a rip can be a stretch of turbulent water
27 IN SEASON = INN about StalE + AS + O
Down
1 DE(COD)E
2 CROSS(S)WORDS – 24 = WAR, which seems a little strong a word for just crossing swords with someone, but I guess it’s OK.
3 SIC + KO
4 AVOCADO PEARS = (ASDA + CO-OP RAVE)*
6 LOINCLOTH = (ON TO CHILL)*
7 TATa
8 HELIPORT = (HER PILOT)*
11 PERSPIRATION = (REAPPOINT + SIR)*
14 ESPADRILLES = (SEE SPAR + LIDL)*
16 NO PROBLEM = NOBLE (fine) about PRO (for) + M (spymaster)
17 CUT GLASS – GUT CLASS a la Spooner
19 STREWN = (WREN’S + nesT)*
22 PAST + E
24 WAR = “WORE”

12 comments on “Sunday Times 4488 (3 Jun 2012) by Anax – Supermarket Sweep”

  1. 49 minutes with no resort to aids so I was quite pleased about that (but I’m over the moon having completed 4489 today in only 19 minutes!).

    This was thoroughly entertaining and very well clued with no unknowns. Even FLITCH was within my vocabulary and I got the answer from definition and checkers. I think ‘profane’ in 1ac needs to be read as a verb for the grammar to work.

    Edited at 2012-06-10 12:56 am (UTC)

  2. I don’t know my time, I suspect because I stopped timing myself; or I may have nodded off and lost track. I also didn’t know DOCUSOAP, and it took me forever to think of DOCU–I was trying to think of a word for ‘pensioner’. It always seems to be the puzzles Dave blogs that give me the most solutions I need the blogger to explain: this time it’s DOCUSOAP, FLITCH, WINDOW-SHOPPER, & NO PROBLEM. Thank you, Dave! There’s some old English tradition about awarding a flitch of bacon to a married couple that had gone through the year without a fight; which is how I knew the word and ‘solved’ the clue.
  3. I seem to recall suggesting that your solving times would come down once you retired and stopped all that commuting. Well done Jack.
  4. Another homogenised Anax puzzle. A good quaffing wine rather than a vintage offering. Very straightforward 20 minute solve with no giggles or gasps.

    Edited at 2012-06-10 08:01 am (UTC)

  5. If only I’d done this crossword this week, when I came across flitch in the interminability that is Our Mutual Friend. By the time he got round to this one, Dickens had used up all his best plot lines, not to mention all his best names, leaving us with Rogue Riderhood, which came up the other day, and Fascination Fledgeby, which I’m secretly hoping will come up so that gaskets will be blown in Barsetshire…

    Edited at 2012-06-10 11:16 am (UTC)

    1. OMF is one of my favourite Dickens reads – maybe because I saw a TV version in the late 50s or early 60s starring the gorgeous David Mcallum (in his pre “Man fron Uncle” days) as a particularly fetching Eugene Wrayburn. Rachel Roberts was Lizzie Hexam and the late Esmond Knight was Rogue Riderhood. This serial seems to have been completely lost and is rarely mentioned in TV histories. It inspired me to read the book. Admittedly, there’s a lot of plot threads to handle but there’s some wonderful characters as well.
      1. Just found this TV serial on IMDB. I was wrong about Esmond Knight. It must have been the only Dickens serial without him!
      2. I started by enjoying, but now, two thirds of the way through, it’s quite the struggle. Great Expectations remains my favourite at this stage – having read around two thirds of his books. Tighter – certainly not overblown, which is my feeling about OMF.
        1. Agree about Great Expectations. I used to teach English in another life and found that Great Expectations, together with Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, were easily the most straightforward. I think my class would have rioted if I’d tried OMF on them!
  6. I usually find this setter’s puzzles a great challenge. Either this one is a bit easier than usual or I’m getting to be more on his wavelength. Anyway, I was pleased to come in at 32 minutes. The use of supermarket anagrams was particularly clever. Very enjoyable.

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