Sunday Times 4577 (16 Feb 2014) by Jeff Pearce

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 42:01

I found this a good solid puzzle with some good clues and no complaints from me.

Judging by the forum comments, I wasn’t alone in my ignorance of the second definition in 19a, but the checkers and the first definition were enough to make it quite gettable. I rather like the natural surface and good disguise of 9a, so I’ll give that my COD, but the neat anagram in 14a gets a special mention too.

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

Across
1 BARRACK = RAC (Drivers) in BARK (ship) – ‘private accommodation’ being accommodation for privates.
5 HAMSTER = (R + THAMES)*
9 IRISH STEW = (RISES WITH)* – A well-disguised clue.
10 GOLEM = GOLd + ME rev
11 pARABLE
12 POSITION = POTION about IS rev
14 DEPRESSION = (PERSON DIES)*
16 OGRE = GO (turn) rev + RE (about)
18 SLAP = PALS rev
19 TENDERLOIN – dd – although ‘an area with a high crime rate’ wasn’t a definition I was aware of. Apparently it derives from an area of New York where the police ate particularly well on all the bribes they took, while the criminals had free rein.
22 AGITATES = A + GI + S all about TATE
23 BURGER = Boiled + URGE + R
26 D + OUSE
27 ATTRIBUTE = A + TRIBUTE all about T (tenor)
28 OPERATE – dd
29 PAR(S)LEY
Down
1 B(RIG)AND – RIG from ‘Twist’ seems a bit of a stretch, but I guess it’s as in ‘rig an election’ which just about works.
2 R(A)ITA
3 AC(HILL)ES – Damon is presumably the racing driver, but it could feasibly be his father Graham.
4 KIT + thE
5 HOW-DO-YOU-DO – dd
6 M(AG)P + IE
7 TALKING TO = T’ (The northern) + KING (man, as in chesspiece) in ALTO
8 ROMANCE = (MANOR)* + CE
13 ASSEVERATE = AS (When) + SEVER (break) + (TEA)*
15 PLATITUDE = LATITUDE after P
17 CROUPIER – cd
18 SO-AND-SO – cd
20 NURSE + RiskY – A ‘nursery cannon’ is a shot in billiards where both object balls are close to each other on a cushion, or in the jaws of a pocket, so the cue ball can be run gently off both of them for 2 points, without moving them, allowing the shot to be repeated.
21 GALENA = A in GLEN + A
24 GRUEL = younG + RU (game) + EL (the Spanish)
25 ATOP = AT + OP

11 comments on “Sunday Times 4577 (16 Feb 2014) by Jeff Pearce”

  1. Can’t remember the time, certainly over the half-hour. Slowed down by not knowing 4d or 20d, and by the ‘high crime rate’ of 19ac: for me, the Tenderloin (of San Francisco, anyway) was characterized by winos, old people in wretched residential hotels, and prostitutes; well, prostitution is a crime, but still. I also had trouble with 17d, since I didn’t associate croupiers with shuffling; raking, yes, shuffling, no.
    1. You’re right. I’m pretty sure that in Vegas they’re called dealers not croupiers. I don’t speak from personal experience mind you….
      1. I am happy (as is Chambers) with the concept of croupiers handling and dealing cards but not shuffling. This is done in casinos almost everywhere by machine, given that number of cards to be shuffled could consist of 4 or 5 packs.
    2. why can’t croupiers shuffle cards then, using a machine? Even if I use a hose or a brush to do it, I’m still washing the car.. not sure I can see an issue here
  2. A long solve because a good number of the definitions were just at the edge of my usage – rig/twist, croupier/shuffled – plus didn’t know that usage of cannon or the word asseverate. I thought the two operate definitions were pretty close to being the same, so I thought about that, too. I liked BURGER, and liked seeing a duck that wasn’t a teal, mallard, eider, or ‘o’.
    1. Agreed that when something is running or operating or working there’s only one definition present, so I guessed the weak CD “OVERSEE” – work, running things.

      Which made the mineral I’d never heard of impossible, but I don’t speak foreign languages like swahili, urdu, scottish or icelandic so I was never going to get it anyway – unknown answer with unknown wordplay.
      Rob

  3. 30 minutes. Didn’t know GOLEM as a robot (it appears to be a bit dodgy anyway), TENDERLOIN as a district or NURSERY as a billiard shot. I also had a query against twist/rig.

    Dave, I have sent you a message via LJ, also copied to your work email.

  4. Alas the NW corner defeated me so no gold pen for me this week. Like others I thought some of the definitions (e.g. golem) were stretching credulity a tad, but then that might be sour grapes.
    1. Chambers defines golem as
      In Jewish folklore, a human image brought to life
      A robot
      A dolt

      so looks fine to me.

      Edited at 2014-02-23 04:07 pm (UTC)

    1. I haven’t been to Vegas for over a decade, but a bit of Googling seems to suggest that hand shuffling (i.e. by croupiers) is alive and well, in particular on higher limit tables.

      (Sorry – that wasn’t supposed to be a reply.)

      Edited at 2014-02-23 05:08 pm (UTC)

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