Sunday Times 4552 (25 Aug 2013) by Tim Moorey

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 53:03 – I lost quite a bit of time on this one by starting it late one night when I was too tired to concentrate properly. I continued the following day and did much better.

Two clues particularly jumped out at me today. 1a for its marvellous misdirection, and 23d for it’s clever inclusion of a TV chef. So I’ll gi ve my COD jointly to the pair of.

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

Across
1 SAY(ER)S – A particularly clever and misleading clue. How many, like me, immediately pencilled in ELLERY thinking – It surely can’t be that simple can it. I quickly realised that, no, it couldn’t. Dorothy L. Sayers, the creator of sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, is the writer.
5 FELL FLAT = FLAT (matt) after FELL (northern hill)
9 MALEFACTOR = ROT + LAM about CAFÉ all rev
10 NOOKy – That’s Y (yen) removed from NOOKY (it, in its most euphemistic sense)
11 MEGA = A + GEM all rev
12 HEADSHAKES = “HEAD SHEIKHS”
14 ESTHER – hidden
16 M(ODER)ATE
18 FACE DOWN – cd – DOWN (as in short, soft hairs) on the FACE
20 SPRUCE – dd
22 PERSPIRATE = gingeR in (APPETISER)*
24 SO-SO – dd
26 DonATE
27 SOPRANINOS = (PRISON AS + O + N)
29 LEINSTER – hidden
30 ENGULF = (veNGEFUL)*
Down
2 AWARE = ACE with WAR replacing C
3 E + YEW + ASH – I don’t think this works because of the word ‘two’. It isn’t ‘two English trees’, it’s ‘English two trees’, but ‘English trees’ would have been quite sufficient. I don’t really understand why the setter felt obliged to add the word ‘two’.
4 SMASHEROO = MA’S + HERO in SO – Is that really a word? Well, I for one, am not about to start using it!
5 FIT – dd
6 LORIS = IS after (L + OR)
7 F + UNFAIR
8 ANORECTIC = (REACTION)* + Claret – I’m not familiar with this alternate spelling of ANOREXIC, but it wasn’t a big leap.
13 AR(MEN)IA
15 STALEMATE = (MALE)* in STATE
17 DESPERATE = (NEED REPAST)* with the stallioN removed
19 EASTERN = (SEA)* + TERN
21 RA(SPIN)G
23 INSET = (STEIN)* – I like the use of ‘Rick’ as an anagrind to make the name of the famous TV chef.
25 SEOUL = “SOLE”
28 PER – hidden in both proPERty and exPERt

6 comments on “Sunday Times 4552 (25 Aug 2013) by Tim Moorey”

  1. I tried ‘ellery’ too, I admit it. And SMASHEROO is a word, although it’s among a large bunch of words that I’ll never use. I don’t, or at least didn’t, have a problem with EYEWASH: English X and English Y can be expressed as English X Y, no? Still, ‘English trees’ would have been better, I agree. Is Tim Moorey making a point of including a naughty clue in each ST? I thought NOOK was cute, but still. Rick Stein was lost on me, I’m afraid. All in all, sort of a ho-hum feeling about this one.
  2. A rather middle of the road puzzle in which I singled out exactly the same two clues as Dave

    I agree 3D works better without “two”

    23D reminded me of one of my own clues from some years ago based on the then well known golfer Curtis Strange: “Curtis Strange – a country boy”

  3. 40 minutes parsing as I went, so a very rare faster time for me than for the blogger.

    Beard / face down also works with reference to an alternative meaning, i.e. confront, as in ‘beard the lion in its den’. I think this meaning of ‘face down’ came up very recently.

    Edited at 2013-09-01 07:42 am (UTC)

  4. Mr CS has been ‘tidying’ again so I can’t find my solved grid with the time written on it. Don’t think it took me more than 15 – 20 mins though. I too was in the ‘write in Ellery’ club.
  5. It took me a while to get going on this one, but after a slow first half I picked up speed and finished quickly, except for sopraninos which I’d never heard of.
    I agree with Dave on 3d – ‘two’ is superfluous and a little misleading.
    11a was one of my last in, as I’ve always taken ‘mega’ to mean extremely large, not good.
    Ditto 28d: I thought ‘per’ meant ‘for each’ or ‘by way of’. The clue wasn’t difficult to solve, but where does ‘a bit’ come in??

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