Sunday Times 4519 (6 Jan 2013) by Tim Moorey – Toughest of the year so far!

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: About an hour of solving time.

I started this online at my desk at work on Friday lunchtime, but printed it out after about half an hour and went to the kitchen for a change of scenery which sometimes helps. I had all but three done after an hour (1d, 11a & 16a), and these came soon after. If I deduct the time it took to print it off and then fill in the ones I’d done (it really should do that itself!) I probably spent about an hour working on it.

There were a few words that I didn’t know, or at least was only vaguely aware of, that I had to get from the wordplay – AGANIPPE, ACKERS & ADNATE (the first few pages of my dictionary are now well-thumbed!), also HAVERS in 23a & Sonny ROLLINS were unknown to me. I had no problem with 19a, however, which seemed to be a sticking point for many on the forum. I obviously grew up watching the right TV programs!

The overall feel of the puzzle was that it was quite tough. No one can argue that it is the toughest Sunday puzzle of the year so far, but I suspect it may remain so for a while.

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

Across
1 RAP + A + CITY
5 RIP + Stimulate
8 ECHO – hidden
9 FFESTINIOG = FF (following) + (SITE)* + GO IN rev
11 crACKERS – Not a term I’ve come across. According to the OED it originates from 1930s British army slang, probably an alteration of Arabic fakka meaning ‘small change, coins’
13 AGANIPPE = (APPEArING)* – The name of a fountain associated with the Greek Muses, and said to be a source of poetic inspiration
14 BASTARDS = STAR (leading) in B (British) + ADS (publicity) – ‘love children’ makes a good definition
16 ADNATE = Allotments + (wANTED)*
17 PENCIL – cd
19 BULGARIA – dd – Probably a slightly unfair clue as you’ll either know this or you won’t. An automatic write-in for me, but then I grew up watching The Wombles. Uncle Bulgaria was the patriarch of the family, but they all had geographical names – Orinoco, Tomsk, Wellington, Tobermory, etc.
21 POLITICO = LIT (turned on) + I all in POCO (Italian for a little)
22 BRIDGE – dd – a pontoon being a floating bridge as well as a card game
23 HAVER(SACK)S – HAVERS is a Scottish slang term for nonsense, which I didn’t know, but this was the only type of sack I could think of that fit the checkers.
24 NAME – dd
26 EDAM = MAD rev after entreE
27 I + SLANDER – Rùm is an island in the Scottish Hebrides
Down
1 REC – rev hidden – My LOI, although I don’t know why it took me so long to see it. I guess I was thrown off by the use of ‘regularly’. It’s used as an abbreviation for Recreation Area and just means a small local park.
2 PROTESTS = (POTTER’S)*
3 CUFFS – dd
4 THEBANS = THE BANNS with only one N. The banns of marriage are the public announcement of an impending marriage, chiefly within the Church of England.
6 INN SIGN = (GIN’S)* in INN
7 SHOT-PUTTING = SHUTTING about Olympic Title Presentation
10 TR + AVAIL
12 CHAPERONAGE = (ORANGE + PEACH)*
15 ROLL(IN)S – Sonny Rollins is a US jazz saxophonist.
18 CHIMERA – Not quite sure about this one. I guess it’s MI rev in (C + HERA), but are Me and Mi ever interchangeable? Mi is the musical note, but I can’t find me listed anywhere with that definition. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong places.
19 BRONCOS = BR (British Rail, old railway) + COS (firms) about ON
20 ALIGNED = (LEADING)*
22 BASRA = (ARABS)*
25 MAR = RAM rev

14 comments on “Sunday Times 4519 (6 Jan 2013) by Tim Moorey – Toughest of the year so far!”

  1. I wondered about the musical notes but I think it’s “ME” as in “I’M showing up”.

    I cracked most of it in 35 minutes but I was left with problems in the NE quarter starting with not remembering how to spell FFESTINIOG correctly – I had it with 1xF and 2xN so you can imagine the havoc that wreaked with the clues that crossed it. In the end I resorted to aids. “Calliope” being a muse of poetry, and my never having heard of the other one required here, added to the confusion.

    Are there not enough words in the language available to setters to avoid the inclusion of unpleasant terms for people who may be solving their puzzle?

    Edited at 2013-01-13 11:13 am (UTC)

  2. Morning, Dave. I found this fairly hard but not brutal. c35 mins.

    Re 18dn, the ODO has the third note of the tonic sol-fa listed under “me,” with the comment “also mi.” Chambers has it under “mi” with the comment “also anglicized in spelling as ‘me’ “

    Edited at 2013-01-13 11:15 am (UTC)

  3. Hadn’t heard of FFESTINIOG, ADNATE, or AGANIPPE, so I suppose it was only fair that having guessed the anagrams correctly for ADNATE and AGANIPPE that I should then misinterpret the wordplay for FFESTINIOG.

    Haver/havering features in the lyrics to “(I’m Gonna Be) 500 Miles” by The Proclaimers, though the meaning certainly isn’t obvious from the context, viz “And if I haver, yeah I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who’s havering to you”. I vaguely remember looking this up at the time.

    2. All these years I thought it was “heave up” and a reference to Scottish drinking culture!
  4. Really enjoyed this. Had some trouble with the Welsh place but 14 ac and 19dn are straight into my clues of the month list.
  5. 39m.
    I hated this puzzle, but probably only because this is just not what I want on a Sunday morning, when I’m in the mood for something a bit gentler. So all the obscurities words I didn’t know irritated me, where at another time I might have found them a stimulating challenge.
    I do though wonder if occasionally Tim Moorey doesn’t lose track of whether he’s setting a Mephisto or a daily puzzle…
  6. I had a pleasant train ride on the Ffestiniog railway once. It turns out that it goes through a dry county (on Sundays, at least back then) but trains are covered by different rules. So the volunteers who maintained the railway would ride up and back and drink beer since it was the only place for miles around you could get one.

    I was DNF. I just couldn’t see CHAPERONAGE.

  7. Much to my surprise, I got THEBANS & BULGARIA right, without having the vaguest idea of why. I was sure it was AGANIPPE, but couldn’t find it in my dictionary. But it was ACKERS was my downfall; and frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn, now that I’ve learned how the clue works. I had the same feeling Keriothe expresses: this struck me as rather more mephistoid than I care for.
  8. Keriothe’s comment:

    I do though wonder if occasionally Tim Moorey doesn’t lose track of whether he’s setting a Mephisto or a daily puzzle…

    hit the nail on the head – I have been doing the Sunday Times crossword for about 40 years and usually complete with no assistance – until recently – last year or so – during which time I have not completed a single one.

    I’m not stupid and I’m not a genius – I just want a crossword that taxes but does’nt exhaust !!

    Sunday Times crossword by Mr Moorey are not longer enjoyable so I will simply choose an alternative Sunday paper.

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