Sunday Times 4592 (15 Jun 2014) by Tim Moorey

Posted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving Time: 1:11:27

Apologies for the delay on this one. I did the crossword last weekend, but haven’t written the blog yet. I’ll rattle one off now – won’t be long.

Not much to say about this one – there were certainly some good clues – 21a, 16a & 6d to pick out a few. There were some others that I wasn’t keen on, although I notice that PB has responded to most of my moans already in the official forum, so I’ll say no more about it.

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

Across
1 CATNAP – cd – I get the idea, but I’m not sure it quite works. Cats and dogs are both domestic animals, but they’re quite different.
4 SADDER = LADDER with S for L
9 CAVA = A + VAC rev
10 WEARING OUT = (ROUTINE + WAG)*
11 STATE + R – a coin of ancient Greece, one of those words that only crops up in crosswords.
12 IN THE AIR – cd, albeit not a very cryptic one
13 INFECTION = (CONFINE IT)*
15 AGO + Government
16 CITY = part of the football team Man City, and ConformITY
17 CANDID + rACY
21 REST HOME = (MOST HERE)* – An &lit, simple but very effective. My COD.
22 ERSATZ – hidden
24 PUNCH-DRUNK – just a straight dd, I think.
25 NOAH – dd – Apparently the founder of the Merriam-Webster dictionary was Noah Webster. I didn’t know that, although as a cruciverbalist it’s probably fair to assume that I might. The checkers and the first definition were enough though.
26 SCRAP + E
27 GNEISS = (GENeSIS)*
Down
1 Concert + HASTEN
2 TOAST = TOT about (clothing) Aunt Sewing – I’m not keen on ‘starts with’ to indicate ‘starting letters of’.
3 A + TWO + R + ST
5 ARISTO – hidden
6 DOG-LEGGED = DOGGED (determined) about LEG (on, cricket side)
7 Recipe + OUTING
8 MAD + IS + ON + A + VENUE
14 ESTATE CAR = STATE in RACE rev
16 CHEQUES = “CZECHS” – I’ve always though of the Czech Republic being part of Eastern Europe rather than being central, so that threw me a bit. But I suppose if you look at a map of Europe, including all the ex-Russian states, then it is quite central, really.
18 DOES + KIN
19 CUT + LASS
20 HOLD-UP – cd
23 SUNNI = IN NUS all rev

8 comments on “Sunday Times 4592 (15 Jun 2014) by Tim Moorey”

  1. At 37 minutes this was one of my better efforts last week. I also don’t quite ‘get’ 1a despite PB’s explanation in the forum and I was going to mention 16ac which he has also dealt with.
  2. 20:46. I rather liked this puzzle. I particularly enjoyed a couple that seem to have caused others problems: 1ac (the exclamation mark forgives all as far as I’m concerned) and 16ac, which took me ages but prompted a real ‘you bastard’ moment when I figured it out. A ‘you bastard’ moment is similar to a ‘eureka!’ moment and a ‘penny dropping’ moment, but in some ways superior to either. Particularly from the setter’s point of view.
  3. I didn’t understand 9ac–DNK CAVA–and threw in ‘gala’ in sheer desperation. I never did parse CITY, but was pretty sure that I got ‘Man’s sporting partner’. I bet one finds staters tossed around in, say, Mary Renault novels; at least I imagine that’s where I came across the word first. Noah Webster was a major advocate of an American language, and pushed for various spelling reforms that still divide us. His name, though, can legally be stuck on anybody’s dictionary now.
    Isn’t this 4594?
  4. Wrote ‘don’t get’ against 1a and still don’t. Nice football combination at 16/17, where City is followed by one if it’s greatest players, goalkeeper Frank Swift, who somewhat ironically died in the Munich air disaster, after attending United’s match in Belgrade as a journalist.
    1. 1A CATNAP = Remedy for being dog tired!

      What I wrote in the club forum was: I see this one as Tim’s way of letting you enjoy the cat/dog coincidence in words about tiredness and rest. I’d count it as a cryptic definition.

      All I can add is that I think this would have been recorded with no comment at all if it had appeared 40 years ago and crossword blogs had existed then. Someone expressed similar puzzlement over (quoting from memory) “Drawing room or filling station” for DENTAL SURGERY in one of the recent “vintage” puzzles provided online on a qualifier day. When I solved that puzzle, it was my favourite clue and it’s the only one I can still remember. This kind of cryptic definition is much less common than it used to be, but unlike fill-in-the-blank quote clues, I can see no good reason why we shouldn’t have them occasionally.

      1. Sorry, only just seen this. I like CDs generally and think the clue you refer to is very good indeed, as a dentist draws and fills teeth. The association of ideas in Tim’s clue is much looser and rather random. If I was being cruel, I’d say the exclamation mark snacks of desperation.
  5. What a load of !!!!!!!!!. This fellow/setter needs to end up in obscurity like the clues
  6. We are Jan Fralick/Tom McGuirk from Toronto and we post comments anonymously occasionally. Just want to say that we didn’t post the above comment and dissociate ourselves from it completely.

    We struggled with the puzzle (didn’t finish but that’s a reflection on us, not the setter) but always enjoy the challenge.

    Thanks to all involved. Glad Dave has made a full recovery.

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