Sunday Times 4549 (4 Aug 2013) by Tim Moorey

I can’t offer a solving time, I’m afraid, as I solved this in a leisurely fashion over several sessions around the pool (or even in it!) while on my hols. With the temperature in the high nineties most of the time, I find it hard to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time.

I got through it in the end though, and without aids, so I’m relatively pleased with that.

I think the excellent surface of 10a gets my COD, but 11a was certainly timely. I rather liked the last couple of down clues as well.

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

Across
1 DISPERSE = (PRESS + ED)* about daIly
6 CHASTE = Soldier in C (corps) + HATE
9 ViscounT + OLd – short for Vertical Take-Off and Landing
10 WILD ANIMAL = (AND WILLIAM)* – I like the clever use of ‘Harry’ as an anagrind to complement the anagrist so perfectly.
11 CRICKET MATCH = (MCC HAT-TRICK)* about yorkshirE
14 STICK + LE + R
15 YOU BET – dd
16 STONES = NO (number) in SETS (groups) all rev
18 BUTTON + UP – Jensen Button was the 2009 F1 World Champion, currently driving for McLaren.
20 TALCUM POWDER = (WORLD CUP TEAM)*
22 BARBERSHOP – cd
24 TOURs
25 IN HERE – I thought of cohere and adhere quite quickly, but I’m not sure I’ve ever come across inhere as a word in its own right, just the derivative inherent.
26 PIT-PROPS = PRO (for) + P (power) all in PoInTS – I’ve never been a big fan of this sort of removal instruction; where we’re told to remove ON, but actually we are removing O & N separately, which to my mind is different. I’ve seen it enough times to know it’s allowed though.
Down
2 INTE(R)STATE
3 POL(IC)E + CONSTABLE
4 RAW DEAL – cd
5 ‘ELL – dd
6 CHA(NT)RY
7 A FISH OUT OF WATER – cd – because the EEL is hidden in okeechobEE Lake, so really I suppose it’s one of those ‘wordplay in solution’ type of clues.
8 THAW = (WHAT)*
12 MA + R + ABOUt – ‘Stork’ is the definition, as this is a type of stork. I didn’t know the word but got it from the wordplay
13 REFUSED + UMP
17 S(PL)URGE
19 TOP SPOT – a palindrome
21 DARN = (R + AND)*
23 HIP – triple def – Cool / Fruit / It can nowadays be replaced

5 comments on “Sunday Times 4549 (4 Aug 2013) by Tim Moorey”

  1. I also did this in bits and pieces, although it’s the mid-60’s here in San Francisco (where, I just learned, the yearly temperature difference between high and low temperatures averages 9 degrees), so no excuse. Never occurred to me to take ‘Harry’ as the anagrind–pushing it a bit, perhaps–so I was waiting for the explanation. DNK Button, of course; races of any type–cars, horses, greyhounds, humans–leave me cold. Re 26d: I think, although I’d like to have it confirmed, that this kind of removal is not allowed in the daily cryptics. At least when I tried it a couple of years ago in the clue contest, I was rapped on the knuckles for deleting an H, M, by ‘Queen leaves’ or something like that.
  2. LOI was DARN which, on solving, seemed darn good. (As noted by Dave, not helped by the CO- and AD- possibilities in 25ac.) Equally good was the TALCUM anagram: great spot by Mr Moorey. But clue-of-the-weekend to Harry and William in the Jag.

    The less said about the 16ac/18ac combination the better. But it’s probably what they should have done after “Between the Buttons”.

    Final note: re 22ac — Perth recently hosted the international barbershop quartet comp for ladies.

    Edited at 2013-08-11 04:03 am (UTC)

  3. My solving time was just about respectable (for me) until I got stuck on the 21/25 combination and 12dn which pushed it well beyond the bounds.

    Didn’t know INHERE or BUTTON. I’m with kevingregg on racing although in my book cars going round in circles for hours on end is worse than the other forms he mentions because, in addition to all the other unattractive qualities of the activity, the participants make a lot of unpleasant NOISE.

    Rather surprised to find that VTOL (pronounced Vee-TOL) is officially a noun according to Collins and Chambers.

    I’ve no complaint about removing ON separately at 26ac but I might have queried Kevin’s royal example as it seems somewhat different to me.

    Edited at 2013-08-11 07:10 am (UTC)

    1. I, too, would be less keen on Kevin’s example because there’s an extra logical step to go through. Here at least we were given the letters to be removed, O & N, whereas in his we would have had to deduce them.

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