Sunday Times 4490 (17 Jun 2012) by Jeff Pearce

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 35:42

A good standard puzzle, I thought. Quite a few straightforward ones to get you started, but a few more interesting ones to slow you down a bit. I liked the deception at 10 when I eventually decrypted it, and the misleading definition at 17 which I’ll give my COD.

I think the only words I didn’t know today were CHASUBLE & MARTINET.

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

Across
1 RING + SIDE
5 PROMPT – dd
9 CHASUBLE = (USe + BLEACH)* – I didn’t know the word and held myself up for ages thinking it was the bleach that was endless instead of the use. My LOI
10 UMBRIA = I in (RUMBA)* – I failed to spot the 6d reference until some time after finishing, as did quite a few people on the official forum.
12 LILAC = CALL rev about I
13 CAR + NATION
14 REST + AU(RA)TEUR – Gordon Ramsay is the restaurant owner and holder of 12 Michelin stars in total.
18 TAR + A + MASALA + TA
21 REG + IS + TERSe
23 IDLE + R – Eric Idle was best known amongst the Monty Python team as the one who does most of the songs – like this one
24 ICARUS – cd – Icarus famously flew his home-made wings too close to the sun, melting the wax and sending him plunging to his death. His father Daedalus built the labyrinth in which the minotaur was imprisoned, but was then imprisoned in it himself (with Icarus) after helping Theseus.
25 COQUETTE = (QUOTE)* in CT + E
26 GATHER – dd
27 ASPERITY = A + S + (PYRITE)*
Down
1 RECALL – dd
2 N(EARL)Y
3 S(OUR)CREAM – Munch’s painting sold last month for $119,922,500
4 DELICATESSEN = DELICATE + NESS rev
6 RU + MBA – Rugby Union / Master of Business Administration
7 MARTINET = (INMATE)* about RT
8 TRAINERS – dd
11 TROUBLE SPOTS = ROUBLES + POT in TreacherouS
15 ATTRIBUTE = A TRIBUTE about T
16 STARtLING
17 FRA(GRAN)T – I spent quite a while trying top put MA into something.
19 G(LUTE)I – that’s bum-cheeks to most of us
20 CREE + PartY
22 SAUCE = “SOURCE”

6 comments on “Sunday Times 4490 (17 Jun 2012) by Jeff Pearce”

  1. 44 minutes for this mostly excellent puzzle and I spent ages, culminating in a “d’oh” moment, working out what was going on at 10ac.

    My only unknown was FRAT within 17dn. CHASUBLE I knew from the Reverend Canon of that name, one of the characters in ‘The Importance of being Earnest’.

  2. 21:36, but one error: at 17d I came up with the wrong old woman, putting in ‘nan’ instead of ‘gran’, leaving me with nothing but ‘pregnant’ to put in. This is the price I pay for doing this online; I stop thinking and start looking at the clock. Surprising to find FRAT; I assume this institution is purely US?
  3. 21 minutes – right up my street with the Classical and the clerical, even if I needed half as long again to parse UMBRIA.

    Today’s Anax was a different kettle of fish entirely…

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