Sunday Times 4574 (26 Jan 2014) by Jeff Pearce

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: About 45 minutes

Apologies for the lateness of the blog – I just about got it posted on the right day! I was held up, like many others according to the forum, on 1d & 26a. Also on 17d as for some reason I thought a scion was a piece of jewellery. I’m sure Lara Croft was seeking a scion in one of the Tomb Raider games, and I’m just as sure it didn’t look like a plant cutting when she found it.

I’m not sure about a COD. Nothing much stands out. I quite liked 18a, so I’ll award it to that one.

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

Across
1 TRANSCRIPT = (STRIP CARTooN)*
6 IBIS – weak hidden
9 SPOILS + PORT
10 BLUe + R
12 ESC + APE
13 WORM + WOOD
15 REFRIGERATE = (FIRE EATER + Romanian Girl)*
18 INCARCERATE = RATE after IN CAR + CE
21 EARL + IE + ST
22 AR(CA)NE – I was tring to come up with a word -(RE)A-E for ages before I realised the alternative.
24 A + KINg
25 BAKED BEANS = (KEBABS AND + Egyptian)*
26 soLENT
27 TEAR(JERK)ER
Down
1 lefT + ASTER
2 ATON(C)E
3 SELF-PORTRAIT = (AIRPORTS LEFT)*
4 RI + PE
5 PERIODICAL = (COPIED RAIL)*
7 BA + L + MORAL – I didn’t know this was a hat or shoe, but it seemed plausible enough.
8 SH + REDDER
11 IMPENETRABLE = (PINE TREE BALM)*
14 AFTERS + HAVE
16 FIRE + BALL
17 SCORPION = PRO rev in SCION
19 Dress + A + MASK
20 T + EASE + papeR
23 H + ERR

4 comments on “Sunday Times 4574 (26 Jan 2014) by Jeff Pearce”

  1. I thought this was much harder than usual for Jeff Pearce, though I didn’t help myself by rejecting SCORPION at first because I couldn’t parse it (this New Year’s resolution to put parsing before intuition is proving a real bind). Also mulled over FIREBALL as I hadn’t come across that meaning before.

    COD to 26A, which I had to reverse engineer.

    1. Yes, if you look at the last Jeff P. blog that was also much harder than previously.
      I surmise that he has been asked to up his game a bit, difficultywise, and he does seem to be delivering…
  2. A rare sub-30 for me. Intuition is almost a necessity for some setters, I find – Dean, for one! (But not here, I now see, as I went with ‘tester’ at 1d, having got the T, considered ‘taster’ and completely missed the plant – one of the few I know, as well.)
  3. I spent a throughly enjoyable 48 minutes on this one.

    I didn’t know ‘nark’ as a SPOILSPORT but according to Collins this is an Australian or New Zealand usage. As with others ‘stretch of water’ at 26 took a bit of working out. As did ‘drink’ = HAVE at 14dn until I thought of “What will you have?”

    Re 25ac, according to R4 this evening the UK consumes more BAKED BEANS than the rest of the world put together! Part of our contribution towards global warming perhaps?

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