Sunday Times 4550 (11 Aug 2013) by Jeff Pearce

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: About 25 minutes I think, if memory serves.

I solved it offline while on holiday, and made a note of my time on the sheet, but later threw it away before noting my time down anywhere else.

It took me quite a while to unravel the anagram at 1d, and I liked it when I got it, so I’ll give it my COD. 6d took me ages as well. I wasn’t keen on 27a, but otherwise a quite straightforward affair.

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

Across
1 POLITICO = (I + TIC) in POLO
5 BISHOP = IS after Beer + HOP – ‘Man’ is the definition, as in chess piece
10 NEPTUNIUM = (MENU + PUT IN)*
11 LOTTO = LOO about TT (teetotal, dry)
12 INDRI – hidden – I didn’t know the word, but the wordplay was clear
13 BILLABONG = BILL (In America, cheque) + BONG (pipe) all about A
14 SWEETHEART = THE in (SWEATER)*
17 WAR + M
19 A(CT)S
20 TINSELTOWN = (L + S + WENT INTO)*
22 PLASTERED – dd
24 PEDAL = “PEDDLE”
26 NIGH + evenT
27 PERSIMMON = (SIMMER)* in PONd – apparently a stew can be ‘a fishpond or fishtank’ which is new to me. I got it from the checkers and the definition. My LOI.
28 R + EDUCE
29 BE(H)E + MOTH
Down
1 PENCIL SHARPENER = (ANNE HER CLIPPERS)*
2 LIP + ID
3 TOURISTS = (IR + STOUTS)*
4 C + LIMB
6 I’LL SAY = ILL + SAY
7 HOT + POTATO
8 PLOUGH + MAN + S + LaUNCH
9 IMPLORES = (SIMPLE)* about OR
15 ESTRANGED = ED about STRANGE
16 EPIGRAPH = (PIE)* + GRAPH
18 FLIP + SIDE
21 STATIC – triple def – ‘It can shock’ / ‘(it) can ruin the reception’ / ‘still’
23 DIR(G)E
25 DUMB + O

12 comments on “Sunday Times 4550 (11 Aug 2013) by Jeff Pearce”

  1. Around 45 minutes for this one which I found quite hard to finish off. There were several unknowns, some shared with the blogger, amongst them ID (a fish not known to Collins or the Oxfords, but Chambers has it), INDRI, BONG as a pipe to smoke cannabis, EPIGRAPH, POND as a stew.

    I’m old enough to remember when “the other side” was invented with reference to TV channels and it made sense in those days when there were only two alternatives, but I’m not sure anyone ever uses “side” in that sense now. Still it remains in the dictionaries so it’s fair enough for inclusion. I wonder if S for “school” would appear in the Times puzzle under the mysterious rules or conventions about single letter abbreviations (if they actually exist). Again it’s in the dictionaries but I did look at it twice.

    I’d go along with 1dn as the best clue of the day here.

    1. It’s probably been a couple of years by now, but I remember ID coming up in a cryptic. I’d queried it here, and was told that it’s a variant of ‘ide’, itself a fish that I had only learned of from an earlier cryptic.
  2. One missing today – Reduce. I’m slightly embarrassed to say I don’t think I’d heard of the word ‘educe’ before!
    Enjoyed unravelling these clues. Indri and pond/stew were my only unknowns.
    Dumbo raised a smile.
    Persimmon brought to mind the (persimmon) drivers that Jack Nicklaus et al used before the invention of metal woods.
    Funny to see peddle/pedal in the grid when we’ve had subsequently meddle/medal.
  3. I found this reasonably straightforward though I had to mull over 28A as my LOI because I hadn’t come across EDUCE before. Didn’t know the POND/stew connection either (and parsed it incorrectly at the time thinking stew might mean PONG), but had the good fortune to see indri in the wild a few years ago – they make the strangest sound (examples on YouTube). Another COD to hairy Anne.
  4. No time for this – lots of interruptions – but I found it tricky. I really enjoyed it, although I was conscious of some rather mephistoish stuff that might have annoyed me on a weekday.
    What is the wordplay for “nigh” in 26ac?
    1. NIGH is clued by ‘towards’ which Dictionary.com defines as ‘about to come soon; imminent’
  5. I threw in ‘acta’ at 19ac and never got around to looking at it again, so one wrong. 20ac and 27ac from definition and checkers only; seeing the explanations, I’m not that bothered by my failures to parse. DNK the potato. My COD also to 1d.
  6. i thought 22ac was a terribly neat clue. Simple but worked really well. I also didn’t like 27ac for the reasons mentioned.
    16dn took me ages because it had to be an anagram of “pie chart,” didn’t it.
  7. I should have got pond for stew, having read heaps of historical fiction (the missus collects them; e.g. she found the long out-of-print 13th Poldark while on holiday in Dingle) which are full of shambles, stews etc.

    I don’t know the TV connection with other side. I was thinking sky/heaven/other side as in ‘passing over to the’…??
    Cheers,
    grantinfreo

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