Sunday Times 4506 (7 Oct 2012) by Dean Mayer

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 55:37 – I found this quite tough, even by Dean’s standards.

There’s quite a bit of devious wordplay in this one, a lot of which I didn’t decipher until post-solve, otherwise I certainly wouldn’t have been under the hour. This is fairly typical Anax material – hard work, but worth persevering with.

Tricky to pin down a COD as there are several real gems in here – the &lit at 14a, the devious usage of ‘sex’ at 11a, and the excellent ‘detailed’ at 15d, but I think my personal favourite was 23a.

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

Across
1 ORCHID = “OAR + KID”
4 A + BACk + US
10 FIRST-RATE = STRAT (inf term for Fender Stratocaster, a well-known electric guitar) in FIRE (axe). There were a few eyebrows raised on the club forum about this clue. I can only assume they were questioning the acceptibility of the word STRAT. I had no problem with it myself, and I’m no guitarist. That said, for those that didn’t know, our setter is a guitarist (well, bassist anyway) in a band, so it may be that Strat is a term more familiar to him than most.
11 VI + PER – ‘Sex’ is Latin for six, hence VI in Roman numerals. I’ve not seen this technique used before, but I rather like it. It’s hard to see how it could be used for any number other than 6, though, as no other latin numbers translate so readily into English. PER is clued simply by ‘a’, as in ‘seven days a week’.
12 MIAMI = A (area) inside M1 x2
13 ABSURDISM = AB + (DRUMS IS)*
14 BERMUDA TRIANGLE = (DANGER ALBEIT RUM)* – &lit
16 ATTORNEY GENERAL – I’m not 100% sure about this one, but I think it’s just that attorney general ‘in brief’ is AG, which can be found inside PARAGUAY. This just seems a little weak to me, especially compared to the strength of the other clues. Am I missing something?
19 SALLY LUNN = SN (tin, chemical symbol) about ALLY (friend) + LUNch (lunch, just over half) – A Sally Lunn is a type of bun that originates from Southwest England
21 SEWER – hidden
23 CLONE = CL (small amount of liquid, abbr of centilitre) + ONE (I). ‘spit’ is the definition, an abbreviation of ‘spitting image’ in common usage.
24 LOFTINESS = LESS about (OF + TIN) – more excellently disguised wordplay
25 SEx + DUCE (the Italian word for leader, and a title adopted by Mussolini)
26 ASHLAR = L in AS HARd
Down
1 OXFAM = OM (award) about X (by) + FA (footballers)
2 CORSAIR = “COARSE AIR”
3 INTRIGUER = (RETIRING)* about U – ‘doctor’ is the anagrind
5 BEEF STROGANOFF = (GET BEANS FOR)* + OFF
6 C + OVER
7 S(A + P)LING
8 BANANA REPUBLIC – cd – A hand is a collective term for bananas
9 CROMWELL = CELL about ROM (gypsy) + W (with)
14 BRASS + I + CA
15 AGNOSTICS = (GOSSIp + CAN’T)* – detailed is the clever indicator of the final letter removal of GOSSIP (as in de-tailed)
17 TALLOWS = TALL (difficult, as in a tall order) + O (over, in cricket) + W (wide, also cricket) + S (square)
18 RAW DEAL – dd – always makes me think of the early Schwarzenegger movie of the same name. I don’t know why – it’s not exactly the highlight of his canon. For those who haven’t seen it, you’re not missing much.
20 Y(IE + L)D
22 RISER = (IS + E) in R x2 – R for rook or castle in chess terminology

10 comments on “Sunday Times 4506 (7 Oct 2012) by Dean Mayer”

  1. 55′, with 23ac and 26ac requiring the final 19′. Great clues both, as was 24ac; CODs to them all. I was totally stumped by 16ac–and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone–and I hope Dave is missing something, although I can’t think what. I had heard of SALLY LUNN somehow, but I had to look it up once I had SALLY _U_N.DNK STRAT, or RISER in the relevant sense. We have actually had a VI=sex clue, when I can’t remember, but probably within the last year or so.
  2. Another top class effort from Dean. I particularly liked 10ac and 11ac. When I told my wife I thought there may be complaints about using the word “Strat,” she said “Well, even I’ve heard of it so it can’t be all that obscure..” So there!
    Comments about Dean’s crossword are generally very positive, along the lines of “Hard but worth the effort,” just as Dave says. I sometimes idly wonder whether they are coloured in any way by the ST’s policy of naming the setter.. we see the name, and assumptions are made, that sort of thing. I think Dean sets for the Times as well as the ST.. it would be interesting to know if his efforts for them attract the same reactions.

    Edited at 2012-10-14 07:35 am (UTC)

  4. 48 minutes, so a rare occasion when I have beaten the stated times here (so far). Lots of great stuff but I gave up trying to explain 16ac which I had written in based on the definition and enumeration with no checkers in place. I can’t say I’m particularly enamoured with the explanation now that it is revealed but I suppose it’s fair enough and I’m just miffed that I didn’t spot it.

    I think a hand of bananas is specifically a bunch or cluster as grown together rather than a general collective term.

    Didn’t know ASHLAR but worked it out.

    We’ve certainly had axe/guitar from this setter before and I think possibly ‘Strat’, as I remembered the term.

    Edited at 2012-10-14 08:47 am (UTC)

  5. Dave – many thanks for a typically superlative blog; and to all for your comments. I’m mightily relieved that STRAT didn’t defeat too many, and particularly pleased that Keriothe should mention the Les Paul. If there are any guitars whose classic status warrant a ‘common knowledge’ tag it’s the Stratocaster and Les Paul.
    16a is as basic and, dare I say it, unremarkable as is suspected – the intention was to make this a reasonably easy gimme to open up a puzzle that was, admittedly, quite tough in places. The answer itself offers little clue-writing scope, so I kept it simple rather than battle with it for the sake of convolution.
  6. 32 minutes, but somehow I managed to type ASHLER.
    No problems with STRAT: I have a cheap old knock-off which I used to play in a band. These days I have a Les Paul… but no band.
  7. I had a busy weekend so didn’t get round to doing this until this morning. Very enjoyable. 38 minutes. No problem with STRAT so it must be fairly general knowledge. I’m no expert on guitars so if I know it… (Although I once saw a great series on BBC4 about the history of the guitar. The last programme was about the development of the electric guitar. Very educational but marvellously entertaining!) Ann
  8. I,too, saw “stroke” as meaning “or” as in “oblique” (…/…) in 1ac. Clearly there can be more than one way to skin a cat.

    I had no difficulty with 16ac. Can’t an attorney also be known as a brief?

    I like the challenge of Dean Mayer’s puzzles, and mostly can find the answer though the clue may defy complete understanding. So I saw that 24 ac. had to be “loftiness” but I still don’t understand his use of “tin” for “money”.

    I was stumped by 23 ac., so DNF. “Clone” had occurred to me as a possible meaning of “spit”, but I couldn’t begin to solve the clue. I guess the use of “I” for “one” is too much of a stretch for me.

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