Sunday Times 4604 (24 Aug 2014) by Jeff Pearce

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving Time: About 40 minutes

Not too tricky with some good clues contained herein. I particularly liked 1a & 8d, but the misleading cryptic def at 13d gets my COD.

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

Across
1 MAG + GOT – ‘youngster to fly’ is a well-disguised definition
5 FESTER – dd – Uncle Fester being one of several bizarre characters in The Addams Family
9 ROUGH’S + HOD
10 RAMP – dd? Although I struggled to find justification for ‘to swindle’. I did find a highly dubious stock market practice, but I’m not convinced it quite hits the definition required.
11 CAR + PET
12 THRENODY = (HairY + RODENT)*
14 KINSHASA = (ASIAN + Hong Kong Sect)*
16 BAGS – triple def – Gets / Trousers / A good deal (i.e. lots)
18 OSLO = LO after OS
19 Bouncers + LAC(KEY)E
21 P(AG)ANINI
22 TO + A + MAN
24 BAT + H
26 NONCE WORD = (CONDOR + WrEN)*
27 SH(A + D)OW
28 Nigella + UTTER
Down
2 ADRIATIC SEA = AA about (CIDER AS IT)*
3 G(RUM)P
4 T(oAHu)ITIAN
5 FEDORA = (OF A RED)*
6 SPRING + BrOoK
7 hELM
8 CHATEAUBRIAND = (THAI BEAN CURD + A)*
13 DOGGY-PADDLE – cd – and quite a good one
15 STOMACHED – (THAMES COD)*
17 PANTHEr + ON – A Manx cat being one without a tail
20 M(INN)OW
23 A + BOUT
25 Axe Small Holly

9 comments on “Sunday Times 4604 (24 Aug 2014) by Jeff Pearce”

  1. 13:17 .. so brief but very enjoyable. The clues are an exercise in concision.

    I think FESTER got a grumble or two on the forum, but it’s fine with me. I’ve never watched the show but I know who he is.

    For the second Sunday running I find myself craving CHATEAUBRIAND, though you can hold the Thai bean curd.

    Thanks, Jeff P and Dave.

  2. Fairly straightforward, this one. I didn’t know H for harbour but it’s in Collins, as is this definition of ‘ramp’: ‘(British, slang) a swindle, esp one involving exorbitant prices’.
  3. Generally I now take a more relaxed view of weekend puzzles so I don’t make a thing of timing myself. I noted a start time but no finish, however I don’t think this was particularly problematic.

    My unknowns were KINSHASA, H = Harbour, NONCEWORD, FESTER (re Adams Family) and ROUGHSHOD other than in the expression “ride roughshod”; I never thought about what it actually meant before.

  4. 8:48, so very easy but I thought it was a nice puzzle. Like Jack I’ve never really thought about what ROUGHSHOD actually meant. I don’t see how anyone can complain about FESTER: if you don’t know the character (and he’s very well-known) ‘go off’ and F_S_E_ could hardly be clearer.
  5. I think there’s a sort of Gresham’s Law for crosswords: a bad solution drives out a good one. At 4d, ‘Bahamian’ popped into my head, and then I couldn’t get it out for the longest time. DNK 13d, not that that mattered; in the US it’s dog-paddle. Like Ulaca, I wondered about H=harbor, but no matter. Liked 2d, and really liked 1ac and 17d.
    1. Yes indeed. To both Bahamian and to the consequent twist on Gersham’s Law. I also sometimes hear doggy-dig amongst the learner-childern and their coaches.

      Edited at 2014-09-01 12:44 pm (UTC)

  6. Ten minutes, easiest Sunday for a while; had to start Saturday’s Jumbo as well to fill in my designated coffe time. NONCE WORD was in but new to me.
  7. A nice puzzle. I said most of the rest above, other than that I had to check ramp too, and the OED has a number of variations of ramp = swindle from the 1500-1800 period. Thanks, Dave, for parsing a couple that I didn’t completely figure.
  8. A fun puzzle, if not difficult. Never seen The Addams Family but there was a playground rhyme referencing Uncle Fester that I remembered. Didn’t know the H=harbour equivalence.

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