Sunday Times 4525 (17 Feb 2013) by Tim Moorey

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 25:31 – with one mistake.

On the whole I found this quite straightforward. I’m not sure if it was easy, or if I just got on to the setter’s wavelength quickly. Some of the wordplay was certainly quite clever, maybe even a little too clever in places, and I didn’t understand all of it until post-solve. I didn’t know KEYPAL at 22d, so I put in PENPAL without really having a good reason to. I guess I didn’t want to spoil a decent time by thinking about one last clue for another 15 minutes or something. Besides, like I said, there were other clues I didn’t understand at the time as well.

Generally, I’d say I enjoyed it. The pick of the clues for me are probably 25, 28 & 30. Of these, 25 took me the longest to understand, but once I had I rather liked it, so I’ll give it my COD.

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

Across
1 CHELSEA TRACTOR = (A HORSE + CART ETC + London)* – &lit
10 REMIT = TIMER – I wasn’t sure about ‘forward’ as a definition. I can’t really see how that works.
11 ACROPOLIS = Athens + CROP + (SOIL)* – another &lit
12 MUSTERED = “MUSTARD”
13 GRUNGE – a type of rock music = Gibraltar in (G + RUN + E)
15 O + KING – I took me a while to work out what word this was supposed to be. Giving something the OK would be Oking.
17 CHARISMA = CHAR (daily, as in cleaner) + IS (lives) + MA (degree)
19 DEFIANCE = DE (of French) + FIANCE (partner before marriage)
20 NOTED = When Ted Heath left there was NO TED
23 EVER SO = (SOIREE)* with V replacing I
25 DOORSTEP – It took about 24 hours post-solve for the penny to drop with this one. A doorstep is a thick slice of bread, and bread to a Frenchman is ‘le pain’. Now I’ve got it, I think it’s very clever and I really like it.
28 PUT IN HOCK = PUTIN (Vladimir, Top Russian) + HOCK (wine) – ‘pop’ is the definition. To pop is to take something to a pawnbrokers, as in the nursery rhyme ‘Pop goes the weasel’.
29 MARGE = EG (say) + RAM (jam, as in stuff inside) all rev
30 LONDONDERRY AIR = LONDON + “DERRIERE” – It’s an old gag, but a good one.
Down
2 HAMPSHIRE – The county that contains the River Test.
3 LATTE = FLATTER without the FR around the outside
4 EVANESCENT = (AN + ESC) in EVENT
5 TO(R)E
6 A + S + PERS(I)ON
7 TALe + ON
8 RASHER – dd
9 TROMSO = (MOTORS)*
14 CASEWORKER = (CARER SO WEAK)* without A (one) – &lit
16 GLISSANDO = (LONG SAID)* about S (Sweden)
18 METATARSI = ME (Yours truly) + TATA (so long) + RSI (Repetetive Strain Injury) – Plural of Metatarsus, the little bones so often broken by footballers
21 DAPPER – PAD (block) rev + PAR (a)
22 KEY PAL – This was my mistake. I put in PENPAL without really understanding it, but I couldn’t think of anything better. I wasn’t overly surprised to find it was wrong. It’s KEY (important) + A in PL, a keypal being the modern electronic version of a penpal. There has been a lot of discussion on the forum over the enumeration of this one. The general consensus seems to be that it’s one word. I’ve not come across it before so I can’t say.
24 EAT IN = NEAT GIN without the initial letters
26 cRUMMY
27 CO-ED = COACHED without (A + CH)

4 comments on “Sunday Times 4525 (17 Feb 2013) by Tim Moorey”

  1. 70 minutes with probably the last 15-20 of those puzzling over 22dn. According to OneLook, KEYPAL is one word in every available source other than a computing manual at netlingo.com.

    There was some really great stuff here, DOORSTEP, for example but I was less impressed with the reliance on international car registrations to clue individual letters – three times, Italy at 23, Spain at 13 and Sweden at 16. It strikes me as somewhat lazy.

    Unfortunately for Mrs Thatcher “NO TED” did not describe the situation prevailing when PM Heath left office. He stuck around, bitter and sniping at her from the back benches for years to come.

    I’m not familiar with every possible usage, but Collins Thesaurus lists ‘forward’ under REMIT.

    Edited at 2013-02-24 06:35 am (UTC)

  2. Excellent puzzle – an hour and a half for me with pen pal. Although I didn’t know key pal, it’s clued so clearly that there’s really no excuse. The enumeration seems rather irrelevant to me in these circumstances. Grunge is the standout clue for me. Thanks to Tim and to Dave for the parsing of eat in.

    With Test cricket coming to the Rose Bowl in Soton in 2011, 2 takes on an added dimension.

    Edited at 2013-02-24 07:49 am (UTC)

  3. I thought this was at the easier end of the spectrum for a Tim Moorey, though I carelessly put in CAREWORKER instead of CASEWORKER. I hadn’t heard of KEYPAL but I couldn’t think of any alternatives to fit the wordplay so in it went. I did like DOORSTEP, also the “Top Russian wine” construction in 28.
  4. Like Dave, I must have been on the setter’s wavelength and finished in my target time of half an hour.

    Speaking of wavelength, I immediately warmed to the puzzle on discovering TROMSO. This station was on the dial of my old wireless set, along with Hilversum and Riga; it’s still in the attic, if Mrs J_F_L hasn’t thrown it out. If I switched it on, I wonder if through the crackles and whistles, I might hear ITMA or Lord Haw-Haw.

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