Sunday Times 4540 (2 Jun 2013) by Tim Moorey

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: I don’t know as I solved offline and forgot to check the time.

I had most of this solved in about an hour, although I was being distracted by the TV at the time. But I couldn’t fathom the last two – 4a & 7d so I left them and came back to them the following day.

It was all very enjoyable, with quite a few rather saucy clues thrown in. I thought 13a and 8d were both very good, but my COD goes to the cheekiest of the day – 17d – for making me laugh!

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

Across
1 A + SA + P
4 STABLE + MATE
9 UTTER NONSENSE = (TURN + ONE’S TENSE)* – ‘Balls’ is the cheeky definition
10 bRIGHTOn – ‘Marches’ being the border region of a country
11 I DO, LATER – This one made me chuckle a bit
12 FAR + MING
13 SEE YOU = “Cu”
14 GO + SPELl
16 SHAMBLE = (MABEL)* after S + H
18 BRUNEL + LO – Not a wine I’ve come across before, but it seemed the obvious answer from the wordplay
20 RAND(R)Y – Another cheeky one. Romeo is R in the NATO phonetic alphabet
22 HEIRS APPARENT = (PERHAPS IN + E + ART)*
23 SWINESTONE = (IS NEW)* in STONE – Another word I didn’t know, but that I could work out easily enough
24 SOHO – I’m guessing this is two words for ‘broadcast’ and ‘excited’ but with the last letters removed – SOW/HOT perhaps? Seems a bit weak to me. Am I missing something?
Down
2 SAUDI = (US AID)*
3 PITCHER – dd
4 SARTORIAL = (AS TAILOR)* about R – a neat &lit
5 ADORING = DO in (A + RING)
6 LASS + O
7 MAN + DATEd
8 THEREFORE = (THREE)* + “FOUR” – ‘so’ is the definition
12 FLOORS + HOW
13 STAIRCASE = (SCARIEST)* about All
15 PENSION – dd
16 SCORPIO = (IS POOR Car)* – I do vaguely remember the Ford Scorpio from the 80s & 90s.
17 BONKERS – dd – Mr Moorey was clearly in a cheeky mood today
19 LISTS = LOTS (parking areas) with O replaced by IS
21 RE + TitCH

8 comments on “Sunday Times 4540 (2 Jun 2013) by Tim Moorey”

  1. re 24ac: yes, SO(W) = broadcast (seeds), and HO(T) as in under the collar..
  2. 16 minutes of great fun, especially the laugh out loud penny dropping moment of 17d.
  3. No time as I was sunning it down the pool. The wine was last in, though, and I was pleased I was quickly onto the definition in the so = therefore clue. A year or two ago, that would have stymied me. Similarly, I was quickly onto the bats clue but here the setter had the last laugh as I couldn’t get past nuts and bananas. Even though the clue was, um, in the clue, and even though I am familiar with the Moorey style, it still took ages for the penny to drop.
  4. 32 minutes, so quite a straightforward solve by my standards.

    Not sure that I entirely understand 7dn. Why does “Member” = MAN?

    10ac turned up again in the Telegraph on Wednesday as “Fine resort on the South Coast abolishing boundaries”.

      1. Yes, I considered that but thought it was stretching things a bit on the single letter abbreviations front. Still the answer was clear enough so it doesn’t really matter.
        1. I thought of “MP”. Of course that involves taking only part of a familiar abbreviation, so your point probably still stands. Since starting to do Mephisto I think I’ve lost sight of what’s a reasonable abbreviation and what isn’t!
          1. “member” is listed under M in Collins English Dictionary. In Mephisto, any abbreviation recorded in Chambers is fair game.

            Edited at 2013-06-10 04:17 pm (UTC)

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