Sunday Times 4538 (19 May 2013) by Jeff Pearce

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: I solved offline and forgot to note the finish time. Probably about 40 minutes.

A couple of words I didn’t know here – BEADLE & AGON, but both could be worked out easily enough. The pair at 24/25 held me up for a bit at the end, but I got there eventually. I rather liked 14 when I finally got it, so I’ll give that my COD. Other than that, not much to say about it.

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

Across
1 COBWEB – dd – a weaver is a type of spider, and Cobweb was a fairy servant in Shakespeare’s play
5 STROKE – dd – butterfly being a swimming stroke
9 SELL + O + TAPE – the leading brand of adhesive tape in the UK. An example of a genericised trademark, a bit like Hoover.
10 Department + ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat)
11 B(R)EECH
12 ACAPULCO = A + (CUP + COLA)*
14 EARL GREY = EARLY about ERG rev
16 LOTS – dd – There is a French department called Lot in Southern France, named after the Lot River
18 MI + SS
19 SMOOTH + IE
21 IN CAMERA – dd
22 LOV(AG)E
24 sWARM – a swarm being a ‘group mostly workers’
26 DEDICATED = (CADET DIED)*
27 MOU(S)SE
28 PAL + LET
Down
2 O(BSE)R(V)ATION
3 WOLFE = FLOW rev + E
4 BR + OCH(U)RE
5 SEE + SAW – apparently a gnome can be a short pithy saying. I didn’t know this, but I knew a saw could be an adage, so I assumed a gnome could be too.
6 RED + MULL + ET (‘and’ continental-style)
7 KINd
8 CANARY ISLANDS = (N + SCANDAL + SYRIA)*
13 CUTTING EDGE – dd
15 LAS PALMAS = (A SMALL SPA)*
17 FOOLS + CAP
20 BEADLE = Alliance in BED (asleep) + LikeablE
23 VITAL – I got this from thinking that ‘sex’ would by VI, being the Latin word for six, but no, ‘sex’ is just IT here. So it’s IT in VAL
25 AGOn – Agon being a religious festival of Ancient Greece. I’d not heard of this but assumed something of the sort. After all, what else could the answer be?

11 comments on “Sunday Times 4538 (19 May 2013) by Jeff Pearce”

  1. 11:36, a Sunday pb, or would have been if I’d got 3d correct; all I could think of was ‘well’ for ‘run over’, clearly missing the function of ‘over’. The week’s been like that; fast times–I think I could have made Tony’s list–and one error a day. Like Dave, I went for AGO because what else? My understanding of ‘agon’ is that it means a contest not a festival (‘Samson Agonistes’, etc.).

    Edited at 2013-05-26 04:50 am (UTC)

  2. Had me going too. There’s a connection but it’s weak. The Wik, for example, reads:

    “In one sense, it [agon] meant a contest, competition, especially the Olympic Games, or challenge that was held in connection with religious festivals”.

    So a bit like saying that egg hunting is a festival.

  3. Also around 40 minutes for this one. Didn’t know or had forgotten LOT as the French province, wondered about PALLET as a mattress but eventually found it in Chambers. AGO went in on the same basis as others so far – I had no idea what the reference was.

    Edited at 2013-05-26 06:48 am (UTC)

  4. A slow and steady solve finishing with WARM, which I’ve never connected with lively. Apart from that, most trouble in the NW, where BROCHURE gets my COD. Completely at sea over the parsing of WOLFE, but it mattered not, as I’ve been familiar with this English “hero” since schooldays and visited his house in Kent, called Quebec House – just to rub it in to the Frenchies – many moons ago. 51 minutes.

    Edited at 2013-05-26 06:50 am (UTC)

    1. I wondered about that too but then thought one might say things are warming up, for example at a party that starts slowly and gradually becomes more lively. It’s in the thesaurus anyway.
  5. I enjoyed this, a good effort from Jeff although a few quite tricky.
    Anyone who thinks the M1 is a “fast road” clearly hasn’t been on it much lately!
    1. My daily commute takes in J48 to J46 and that stretch is usually quite fast.
  6. Thought this was rather harder than normal for Jeff Pearce. Didn’t know AGON or LOT. COD to the playground-haunting gnome.
  7. I found this relatively easy – which usually means slightly fewer arcane Britisisms. (Other than Scotch / Sello tape). I know Agon as one of the Ballanchine / Stravinsky ballets, which along with Apollo and Orpheus celebrate ancient art, but sadly knowing that wasn’t necessary to getting to the answer. COD 3d, mostly due to being pleased to dredge up Wolfe, whom Americans don’t know well.

    Edited at 2013-05-26 12:29 pm (UTC)

  8. On the club discussion for this one, I wrote “I can’t for the life of me see what festival signifies in 25d. I guess I’ll have to wait until TftT blogs it, by which time I’ll have forgotten.” If the connection is as mctext suggests, then it really is weak to the point of solecism. Of course, the answer can’t really be anything else, but I wasted so much time trying to justify it.

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