Sunday Times 4541 (9 Jun 2013) by Jeff Pearce

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: About 35 minutes offline

I had all but six in about 25 minutes, then those last ones came at a crawl. My final 6 were 12, 17, 23, 25, 27 & 29, so mainly in the SE corner.

Quite a few of these were very straightforward , I thought. 16, 18, 20 & 24 in particular would probably have been automatic write-ins for all but the most inexperienced solvers. It was described by one on the forum as facile and I can certainly see why. I’m annoyed that I allowed myself to get bogged down in the bottom corner the way I did.

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

Across
1 DEFACED = DECAF + ED all rev
5 MALEFIC = (IF CAMEL)*
9 COMPLAINT = COMPLIANT with the AI rev – An AI is a maned sloth which has caught me out before, but not this time.
10 SCAM + Pen
11 PIg + RACY
12 DEC + A + DENT – ‘going off’ is the definition. Not the usual meaning of the word, but the original one, from the same root as ‘decay’
14 DILETTANTE = (TALENTED + IT)*
16 F(L)AN
18 SACK – dd
19 DOUBLES + TOP – ‘large drinks’ / ‘lead’ – ‘violinist does this’ is the definition. I’ve heard of it, but I wouldn’t have a clue what it was!
22 PUB-CRAWL – cd
23 AD + MIRE – ‘Like’ is the definition, ‘plug’ + ‘sink in the bog’ is the wordplay
26 ORnATE
27 RE + PROBATE – I don’t think I’ve come across reprobate as a verb before, but it makes perfect sense.
28 T + R. ELLIS – Ruth Ellis being the last person to be hanged in the UK.
29 NEGLECT = GEN rev + LE + CT
Down
1 DECAPOD = D (dam) + ACE (brill) rev + POD (hull)
2 F(EMU)R
3 C + OLD CUTS – I rather liked ‘old cuts’ for ‘scars’ so I’ll give it my COD
4 DAIS = undergrounD + IS about A
5 MOTHER-TO-BE – I don’t understand this one, I’m afraid. Clearly a lepidopterologist studies moths, but other than an extremely weak play on the word ‘moth’ I just don’t see it. No doubt there’s something clever going on that someone will need to point out for me.
6 LA + S + CAR
7 FLAGEOLET = (LET LEAF + GrOw)*
8 CAP + STAN
13 CAN OF WORMS – dd
15 L + U + CUB + RATE – not a word I knew, but I pieced it together from the wordplay
17 HEAD (boss) + LONG (spread out)
18 SUP + PORT
20 PRESENT – dd
21 ORDEAL = O + DEAL about R
24 I + RATE
25 SPAN – dd – I had no idea that a span could be a pair of horses harnessed together

10 comments on “Sunday Times 4541 (9 Jun 2013) by Jeff Pearce”

  1. I found this quick and easy. Re span, a fortnight or so ago I had no idea of that meaning either, but then it popped up in another crossword, so this time it went straight in..
    1. 7 minutes? There are 32 clues. If you took 15 seconds to read, fathom, locate and write in the answer to each clue, that would be 8 minutes.
      7 minutes. Hmmm…
      1. Easy to make comments with anonymity, isn’t it?

        Wonder if you would say the same to Mr Magoo or any of the other Times Championship solvers?

        The fact that you cowardly hide behind anonymity speaks volumes.

      2. A check on the club statistics for this crossword shows Magoo in 25th place with a time of 7 minutes 9 seconds. I see one of the ‘neutrinos’ finished in 4 seconds!

        Edited at 2013-07-08 12:19 pm (UTC)

  3. I think the idea with 5d is simply that once he or she graduates, the Lepidoptery 101 student will be a ‘moth-er’. Till then he/she remains a ‘moth-er – to – be’. Rather liked it myself.

    Edited at 2013-06-16 10:39 am (UTC)

  4. I think 5d is a weak cd/dd – “mother” read as a lepidopterist (cf “birder” for ornithologist) “to be” = student plus “expecting” = pregnant.
  5. I don’t agree for a moment that this was “facile” in any respect. I completed it in around an hour but there were a number of unknowns to me that have already been mentioned, including the sloth. I’m not entirely happy with “dam” = D but I’ve an idea this has come up before and it’s an abbreviation used in animal husbandry. I certainly preferred this puzzle to this week’s offering although I solved them both in roughly the same time.
    1. I agree with jackkt that this was not at all facile. To me, this was another example of Jeff Pearce’s excellent, traditional compiling. Far preferable, in my opinion, to some of the obscurities we’ve had thrown at us recently.
  6. I, too,wondered about MOTHER-TO-BE; thank you, Ulaca. In retrospect, I think it’s quite clever; for all the good retrospect does. DNK Ruth Ellis, but with checkers it didn’t matter. COD to LUCUBRATE; which reminded me of a (no doubt apocryphal) story from my Berkeley days: There’s a huge study room in the library. Exam period, not an empty chair to be found, late at night, when suddenly one student jumps up, starts pounding the table and shouts, “Stop it! Stop it! You’re all getting ahead of me!”

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