Sunday Times 4518 (30 Dec 2012) by Jeff Pearce – Substance abuse

Solving time: 24:33 – with one mistake.

Quite a gentle Sunday solve this week, after last week’s time-consuming Jumbo. I made one clumsy mistake at 2d due to not spending enough time parsing the wordplay. I though I might be on for a much quicker time, but I slowed down a lot in the SE corner, particularly on the 19a/13d combination which were my LOIs.

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

Across
1 I(R)AN
3 STIR-FRYING = (TRY RINGS IF)*
10 GEN + RE
11 ULAN BATOR = (N + LABOUR + AcT)* – The capital of Mongolia
12 OUT OF THE WINDOW – dd
14 TARQUIN = RAT (traitor) rev + QUIN (one of five) – Tarquin the Elder and Tarquin the Proud were two of the seven legendary Kings of Rome.
15 YIELDED – dd
17 MELODIC = MEL C about (I + DO) rev – Melanie Chisholm, aka Mel C or Sporty Spice, was one of the Spice Girls
19 LIB + R(I)UM
20 SQUADRON LEADER = (DAD QUARRELS + ONE)*
23 OVER + DRIVE
24 SKI(R)T
25 NANDROLONE = (NEAR LONDON)*
26 sAGES – or possibly mAGES, although that would more usually be MAGI
Down
1 IN GOOD TIME – dd – although generally, the phrase IN GOOD TIME means ‘at the appropriate time’ which on the whole is not quickly. However, when used in the sense of ‘he made the journey in good time’ then quickly is what’s implied.
2 AU NATUREL = AUN(A)T + URE + L – I clumsily put AU NATURAL, thinking that Ural might be both a river and a lake, but it’s just a river. It was only after submission when I discovered that I had one wrong that I realised my mistake.
4 TOUGHEN = (NOT HUGE)*
5 bROADWAY
6 ROBIN REDBREAST = (BARRISTER BONED)*
7 INT(R)O
8 GA(R)Y
9 NEWFOUNDLANDER = NEW (green) + LAND (light) in FOUNDER (sink)
13 ADUMBRATES = (DUMB + RATE) all in AS (while)
16 untangleD + WIND + LING
18 CORDIAL – dd
19 LANTERN – cd – a portable light
21 QUEEN – &lit – although it took me a while post-solve to see the wordplay. It’s (QUEEN + TAILS) = (SEQUENTIAL)*, ‘run’ is being used as an anagrind.
22 DOWN – dd

5 comments on “Sunday Times 4518 (30 Dec 2012) by Jeff Pearce – Substance abuse”

  1. 20:35, but DNF, not knowing NANDROLONE; I played with the letters, but nothing looked more likely than anything else, and my dictionary didn’t come through. I suppose now I’ll go to Medline.
  2. Much the same story here in that I finished in 24 minutes (I don’t count seconds) and made a slip at 2dn. DK NANDROLENE but worked it out.

    I completely missed the point at 21 down having decided that one sees both the Queen and ‘tails’ in a sequential run of coin tosses, HMQ being ‘heads’. Oh well,it got me to the right answer and I wasn’t on blogging duty.

  3. Well I did this in under 7 minutes, so was feeling pretty pleased with myself… until I submitted. I had failed to untangle the anagram fodder correctly in 25ac and put in NANDRALONE, and like mohn2 I got the wrong party and put in LABRIUM. Hey ho.
  4. 5:39 for me. At least there are some advantages to being older, as I expect almost everyone my age has heard of LIBRIUM, and a good number have probably heard of NANDROLONE as well.

Comments are closed.