Sunday Times 4532 (7 Apr 2013) by Jeff Pearce

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 41:33

A straightforward, for the most part offering this week. Everything seemed to be proper and above board. There seemed several particularly easy ones, especially the four across clues in the centre of the grid.

I’m struggling to find a clue that stands out as COD. I quite liked the surface of 21a, I suppose, so I’ll pick that one.

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

Across
1 ALDISS – hidden – My Dad was a huge Sci-Fi fan, and had a bookshelf full of novels by authors like Isaac Asimov, J.G. Ballard, Arthur C. Clarke and Brian Aldiss so this one leapt out at me.
4 SPRINTER = PRINT (mark) in SE (Home Counties) + R (run)
9 TIGLON = TIN (can) about GLOw – I’d heard of a tigon but not a tiglon, although Wikipedia has tiglon as the more usual spelling. It’s a lion-tiger cross.
10 ESCAPADE = ESCAPE (to fly) about A + D (dam) – I didn’t understand in what circumstances dam could be abbreviated to d, but having looked it up, it’s in the context of animal pedigrees – A dam being an animal’s mother. I hadn’t thought of that meaning.
11 CONTEMPTIBLE = (BT + IN COMPLETE)*
15 LA(R)D
16 GRAND + STAND
18 TATTERS + ALL
19 Talk + RUE
21 HARLEY STREET = (THEATRES RELY)*
24 THIRTEEN = (INTER THE)*
25 NIMBUS – hidden
26 WARDROBE = ministeR in WARD (minor) + OBE (honour)
27 climbinG + EIGER
Down
1 ARTICULATE = I + CU + L all in A + R + sTATE
2 DEGENERATE = DesperatE + (TEENAGER)*
3 S + HOVEL
5 PASSION + P + LAY
6 IN A FLASH = I + FAN rev + LASH
7 TEA + L
8 cREEL
12 PHRASAL VERB – cd
13 CARRIER (person bearing) + BAG (appropriate)
14 ADVERTISER = ADVISER about rivERTyne
17 DECANTER = DETER (check) about CAN (container)
20 ATTIRE = A + T + (TIER)*
22 STEW = WETS rev
23 TIER = I + ER after The

6 comments on “Sunday Times 4532 (7 Apr 2013) by Jeff Pearce”

  1. I second Jack’s objection to D, although I didn’t think much about it at the time. I also thought it was ligers and tigons, but with the checkers in, TIGLON seemed inevitable. DNK ALDISS; my sci-fi period pretty much ended in early adolescence, and hadn’t reached him at that point. 20d held me up a good deal, as online it said 10 not 23. A quibble on 4ac: Joining the SE isn’t the same as joining S and E. Wouldn’t e.g. ‘enters Home Counties’ have been preferable?
    1. Thanks for the explanation for 20D. unfortunately the Australian also printed the clue incorrectly.
  2. 50 minutes. Re 10ac, I don’t think much of the obscure single-letter abbreviations that seem to be appearing more frequently these days. I had thought of ‘dam’ with the meaning required here but I don’t understand why we might be expected to know the intricacies of abbreviations used in animal husbandry, FGS!

    I failed to explain 20dn but having read the blog I discovered there was an error in the puzzle I printed off where the clue clearly reads: “Habit 10 changes after a time”. Bad show.

    Edited at 2013-04-14 01:43 am (UTC)

  3. Apparently the orientation of the grid was changed, and the need to alter the 10 reference to 23 was initially overlooked. Fortunately it had been corrected by the time I got to it.. the thread in the Crossword Club forum explains it
  4. A 15 minute solve – my main hold up being the ’10’ in 20d – thank you for explaing that one – far too confusing for a Sunday afternoon.
  5. A gentle stroll through this one until LOI 12D – a cryptic definition for a phrase I’m embarrassed to say I wasn’t familiar with. Almost tempted by PARASOL (!) until a careful walk through the alphabet produced a likelier alternative. Also hadn’t heard of TIGLON or d for dam.

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