Sunday Times 4606 (7 Sep 2014) by Tim Moorey

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving Time: About 35 minutes

I rattled through most of this quite quickly, although the last few were a little more troublesome. 10a was definitely my COD, although 20a, 2d & 6d were all good too.

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

Across
1 FLAT + SPIN
5 TANDEM = DEMo after TAN (beat)
10 TOP BANANA = PB (lead) in (NATO)* + AN + A – semi-&lit
11 H(ONE)D
12 French + LAWS – although I was almost tempted by FACTS at first, but the definition didn’t work.
13 CHAIN MAIL = (CHINA + MALI)*
14 EVEN + NUMBER
17 PLEAsure
19 RAGA – hidden
20 IN BAD TASTE = NB (note) in (STATE AID)*
22 SPARE PART = (APPEARS)* + RT
24 C(H)AMP
26 IDIOT = I + DOT about oIl
27 IT BEATS ME = BEAT in (TIMES)*
28 N + A + GOYA
29 REDEEMED – dd
Down
1 FIT OF DEPRESSION = (EFFIN DOORSTEP IS)*
2 ALP + H + A – ‘A’ is the definition, as in either the Greek or the phonetic alphabet
3 SWANSON + Grey – a bit of an old chestnut this one. I’ve seen this clue, or variations on it, several times.
4 ISA + AC
6 A + THEN + S
7 DON CARLOS = (LADy + CROONS)*
8 MIDDLE-AGE SPREAD – cd
9 PASADENA = PEN + A all about SAD
15 ENG + RAVING
16 MAN + DARIN
18 STOCK + mADE – although again, my first thought here was wrong – blockade. It fit the definition better, but I couldn’t justify block = standard.
21 G + ENTRY
23 TABLEt
25 AS SAM

5 comments on “Sunday Times 4606 (7 Sep 2014) by Tim Moorey”

  1. I don’t have a time for this, which suggests I found it more tricky than the blogger and probably got stuck and nodded off part way through.

    Looking back on it now I can’t imagine what caused any problems apart from the Japanese port, which was new to me but was surely gettable from checkers and wordplay. I’m not sure I appreciated that spin bowling had to be slow or that ‘in tandem’ necessarily meant ‘one behind another’ although obviously I know it must do when applied to Daisy Bell’s bicycle.

  3. 9m on the nose for this, so the second easy Sunday in a row for me. I didn’t know the singer Bobby but the checkers could hardly have been kinder.
  4. Managed to roll this one in less than two hours, which is my equivalent of a four minute mile!

    Had not seen the 6dn trick before – thought this was a cracker of a clue.

    Thanks for the blog: had missed the lead=PB in 10ac, although it went in fine from rest of clue and checkers. Other than that, no major problems

  5. All but the last few pretty quickly – and those didn’t fall. Guessing that there had to be a Nazareth somewhere in California didn’t help. Thanks for the very helpful blog.

Comments are closed.