Sunday Times 4572 (12 Jan 2014) by Dean Mayer

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 57:25

A tough one from Dean this week. I wasn’t keen on 11a at all, and 24a wasn’t great either. But otherwise I thought there was plenty of good stuff here. I liked the Catherine Tate reference in 21d, although it was perfectly gettable for those who didn’t get it.

A few on the forum complained about the obscurity of Joe Loss, but I thought he was quite well known.

17a was particularly clever so I think that gets my COD.

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

Across
1 OR(BIT)AL
5 BALLIOL = BALL (party) + L after (I + O) – A college of Oxford University
9 PER SE + CUTE
10 GRASS – dd – Bent being a type of grass
11 SOLECISTICAL – A solecism is either a breach of good manners, or a mistake, either of which I suppose ‘booby’ might qualify for depending on the meaning being used – either as breast or slip-up. Something of a weak clue for a word of this length and rarity, I thought.
14 STAGNATE = NATion in STAGE (present, as in to stage a performance)
15 SIERRA – dd – Romeo comes before Sierra in the International Radio Code, not after it.
17 IODINE = OI (shout) rev + DINE – ‘I’ is the definition, as the chemical symbol for Iodine.
18 A + B(S)EN + TEE
20 ALPHABETICAL – cd – it’s how the letters of F-I-R-S-T appear
23 IDIOT = ID + I + (TO)*
24 STIMULANT = T (Reduced temperature) in SIMULANT (putting on) – Not keen on the DBE
25 NIGERIA = AIR + EG + IN all rev
26 NEEDLED = LED after NEED
Down
1 O(OP)S
2 BORE – dd
3 THE MORNING AFTER = (HEN TERM FOR GIANT)*
4 LAUREATE = (A + URE) in LATE
5 BREW + IS
6 LIGHT LITERATURE = (I AGREE TILL TRUTH)*
7 INACCURATE = CAN I all rev + CURATE – ‘out’ is the definition
8 LOSS + LEADER – Joe Loss was a famous swing bandleader
12 ESTIMATION = E + I’M in STATION
13 HANDSPRING = H AND S + RING about P (papa – International Radio Code again)
16 OBSIDIAN = (BIN AS I DO)*
19 PERSIA = PER (a) + SIAm (country that was)
21 MAIL = (AM I)* + Lauren
22 STUDy

15 comments on “Sunday Times 4572 (12 Jan 2014) by Dean Mayer”

  1. 11ac did for me; rang all kinds of alphabetical changes (was pretty sure it was -istical), but as happens virtually every time I’m reduced to that strategy, I missed the right letters. I’d agree with Dave about the clue, but it would sound like–hell, it would be–sour grapes. STAGNATE=decline? Never heard of Loss; my loss, no doubt. Thanks for explaining PERSIA, which I threw in uncomprehendingly. COD to IODINE.
    1. Yes, I agree about stagnate. I would have said that to stagnate is to fail to grow, to stay the same. Quite different from declining.
  2. I confess I didn’t like 11ac. It seemed a bit of a cop-out, a “lets not bother with wordplay, its such a long word, lets settle for a jocular cd” sort of feeling.
    I also agree about stagnate though it clearly does have a subsidiary meaning of deterioration or decay according to Collins (but not the OED or Chambers).

    Lots of good stuff otherwise though – as ever, some of the best surfaces in the business

  3. I get bored with puzzles that seem to try a bit too hard a bit too often. I got there in the end but almost lost the will to live in the process. In particular I agree with the comments about 11ac which I think is an awful clue given the obscurity of the word. Yet 3dn might still have been easily gettable from the definition and enumeration alone.

    I was pleased to remember ‘bent grass’ from previous encounters.

    IODINE seemed familiar and I found it clued as “I could be one with nothing to eat” in 24874 which I think is a more pleasing variation.

    Joe Loss was still having chart success in the 1960s with “Wheels Cha Cha” and in particular “March of the Mods” which was a dance-hall favourite and he remained active for another 30 years after that, so he’s well within living memory. It’s still a very tricky clue though if one wasn’t around at that time.

    Edited at 2014-01-19 08:48 am (UTC)

  4. I thought I was doing quite well for a Dean Mayer solve but could’t get 11a without resorting to help. just under 22 mins for the rest of it though which isn’t bad as usually I give up with several still left to solve.
  5. I agree with Jack – I often had the feeling that Dean was trying a bit too hard and not quite making it as a result.

    I had to use a dictionary to get 11A – really quite dreadful clue in my opinion. I thought “pepper” at 24A was from “pep” rather than the condiment.

    Mrs DJ and I run a local tea-dance where thanks to the magic of i-tunes we still dance to Glen Miller, Ivy Benson and the wonderful Joe Loss who I danced to live many years ago at the Lyceum in London

    1. With you about pep=stimulate. For the long answers in this puzzle, we’ve got two anagrams, and two that use clues without “construction kit” wordplay. I wonder what would have been said if we’d served up four anagrams?

      For my part, once I’d found the -TICAL (and almost certainly -ISTICAL) ending and eliminated the wrong kind of “boob” (my solving copy has “BOSOM_____ ??” next to the clue), the answer arrived easily enough for this one not to feature in the list of clues discussed with Dean for possible modification.

  6. Not my favourite one of Dean’s, but some good stuff regardless. Didn’t know BREWIS though the wordplay was pretty clear. LOI was good old SOLECISTICAL, purely because the first few checkers/blanks brought to mind “solecism” and I padded that out to make a word that fitted – not the most satisfying way to finish off the puzzle.

    COD to LOSS LEADER. Not sure how I knew Joe Loss, but I suspect that being brought up on a diet of Radio 2 may have helped.

  7. I can’t remember my time on this, but it was long and I didn’t get 11ac. I’d echo others’ thoughts in general, although the I had no problem with Joe Loss: I’d never heard of him but it didn’t stop me getting the answer. I just figured he must be someone who appeared on ITMA.
    1. The link would be a singer called Paula Green who starred on ITMA and almost certainly sang with Joe Loss and his band – now that would have been obscure!
  8. I wrote 1a, 5a, 9a, 10a, and a good share of the crosses in almost without thinking… then ran into 11a and the unknown Joe Loss, and the next thing you know I had a DNF. That Dean can be a pretty tough hombre sometimes.
    1. Yes and yes would be my guesses. Ariver isn’t a word; and it works perfectly if ‘A river’ is ‘a Ure.’
      Rob
        1. Yes, I think Rob is in Australia somewhere. We had a short exchange not too long ago about another couple of typos in The Oz. It’s bit tricky having exchanges in here tho as you need to remember what number xword blog you were typing into. JeffB

Comments are closed.