Sunday Times 4609 by Tim Moorey

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
7:49. Another in a run of easy Sunday puzzles. The daily puzzles have been a bit tough for the last few weeks though, so a bit of light relief is welcome.

Across
1 One to arrange publicity for a Clinton?
BILL POSTER – CD, with a reference to the Comeback Kid. I am reminded of Graffiti Lives O.K. by Nigel Rees, and ‘Bill Stickers is innocent’. It was published in 1979, when Bill Clinton was a newish Governor of Arkansas, before anyone had heard of Whitewater.
6 Greek characters taking rest-days regularly
ETAS – alternate letters in rest-days. Try to commit Greek letters to memory: they do come up from time to time. Mu is a useful one. There are some others.
9 Large country house of style announced
MANOR – this pun was the basis of a sitcom starring Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, first aired in the same year Graffiti Lives O.K. was published. I am just old enough to remember it.
10 Audit partner in defeat on board
CHECKMATE – CHECK (audit), MATE (partner). The surface describes something that can’t actually happen, but we don’t really expect crossword setters to be experts on corporate governance, and it sounds plausible enough. I was an auditor once: I try to forget the experience.
12 Cover beginning to appear out of date
AWNING – dAWNING, where D is an abbreviation for ‘date’.
13 Tabloid’s name for rabble
RAGTAG – why does this make me think of ‘Rag Tag and Bobtail’? A children’s TV show that went off air seven years before I was born. Memory is a strange thing.
16 Verity’s beginning to slip – pity
RUTH – tRUTH
17 Model cited this now, without it and with it
SWITCHED ON – anagram of CITED THIS NOW, without IT.
20 This is gained for onset of independence abroad?
FOREIGN AID – an anagram of GAINED FOR, plus Independence. &lit. Nice clue.
21 Unusual to have two army units side by side
RARE – the Royal Engineers next to the Royal Artillery.
23 Anger all round, number inside to go blank
IGNORE – a wee matryoshka clue: N (number) is inside GO, and the resulting GNO is inside IRE.
25 Birmingham’s side overwhelmed by a champion Premier League team
ALBION – A, L(Birmingham)ION. Also known as the ‘Baggies’ apparently. I don’t know enough about soccer to tell you if the surface is apt or not.
28 Attractive part of game for those in the field
APPEALING – DD. What cricketers do when they know perfectly well it wasn’t LBW but reckon that if they shout loud enough the umpire might be swayed. See also ‘triumph of hope over experience’.
29 John, a sort of councillor
PRIVY – DD. I see from wiki that there are approximately a bazillion Privy Councillors, so I’m not sure how privy it is. I expect Her Majesty just waits until the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands and Hazel Blears have left the room, and then asks Simon Cowell.
30 Fishing tackle Roger put out for these?
EELS – rEELS. ‘These’ isn’t much of a definition: I suppose this is really a semi-&Lit.
31 Subject to chance, back to racing in Asia perhaps
CONTINGENT – CONTIN(racinG)ENT. As a former auditor this is an adjective I will always associate with ‘liabilities’. You can’t forget everything.

Down
1 Boring documents etc behind head of finance
BUMF – BUM, Finance. The sort of stuff auditors produce. Some sort of slightly lewd reference seems to be de rigueur in the ST crosswords these days. Is this a deliberate editorial policy? If so, I welcome it. If not, well, I welcome it anyway.
2 House in country not finished, crates all over the place
LANCASTER – LANd, (CRATES)*. One of the houses involved in a famous fight over flowers that occurred in the olden days.
3 Some housing measure for person responsible for children
PARENT – PAR(EN)T. Fortunately the definition is obvious, but remember EM. And of course half an EM is an EN: remember that too.
4 Renewed energy for playing perhaps but not from top brass
SECOND WIND – in an orchestra, if you’re not the top brass, you might be the second wind. Although you might equally be the second brass.
5 With force unused, not so many in jug
EWER – fEWER. ‘Fewer’ is a word most commonly used by grammar pedants ‘correcting’ people when they say ‘less’.
7 Pamphlet found in agricultural vehicle or shed
TRACT – TRACTor
8 Stop redhead getting sort of ice cream
STEM GINGER – what an odd definition. I suppose it could be a sort of ice cream, but it’s not exactly archetypal. You could use the same definition for an infinite variety of foodstuffs, including my personal speciality: cornflake. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
11 African rhino with one piercing hack butchered
KWACHA – W (with), A inside (HACK)*. The currency of Zambia and Malawi, where it is 100 ngwee and tambala respectively. But you knew that, of course. I needed all the checkers to get it, but was able to put it in with confidence once I had them. ‘Rhino’ is a word for ‘money’ never encountered by me at least outside crosswords.
14 Dissolute academic lost it in dispute.
PROFLIGATE – PROF, LitIGATE.
15 Journey restricted by insubstantial illumination
STRIP LIGHT – S(TRIP)LIGHT.
18 Sort of bags water runs down?
DRAINPIPES – CD. ‘Bags’ here means ‘trousers’. There was a debate here recently about whether DRAINPIPES can be described as such, because ‘bags’ tend to be baggy, as the name implies.
19 Range of revised airfares those in the centre rejected
SIERRA – (AIRfaRES)*
22 One engaged in inept racing? It’s what Ascot could be gripped by
TIEPIN – I (one) in (INEPT)*. I thought for a while that an ascot was a type of hat, but it’s a type of tie. I can never remember the rules on capitalisation, but according to Chambers the tie doesn’t require it. Not that it really bothers me.
24 China supporting north-eastern country
NEPAL – NE, China Plate, mate, chum, mucker, PAL.
26 Drunk in Women’s Institute? Certainly not!
WINO – WI, NO.
27 To some extent agency struggled for growth
CYST – contained in agency struggled.

6 comments on “Sunday Times 4609 by Tim Moorey”

  1. I have no notes on my printed form, and no memory of this, so (and judging from my time), it must have been fairly uneventful. DNK ALBION, but it sounded like a likely enough name for a team. Do the Brits use ‘john’, too? I thought it was an Americanism. It was my word of choice until my early 30’s, when within the space of 2 or 3 months I made the acquaintance of 3 Johns, and felt obliged to drop it for ‘can’. COD to FOREIGN AID.
  2. Yes, all fairly straightforward apart from parsing 3dn which foxed me completely as I had become fixated on ARE as the measure in question. It took me so long to learn that one I now keep trying to force it into situations where it doesn’t apply.

    In my book “John” is American and should be clued as such, but I have a vested interest in not encouraging its usage in this sense as it’s my real first name.

    Indignant again about drainpipes and bags. Bah!

    As a footnote, has anyone else who selects their user pic (rather than having a default) noticed that for the past few days the picture doesn’t appear when the message is first posted, so it’s necessary to Edit and select it again?

    Edited at 2014-10-05 05:53 am (UTC)

  3. 33 uneventful minutes with ‘dawning’ last in for some reason.

    (Warming up nicely for the18th, K.)

    1. I suspect if Mr Moorey is setting on the 18th he’ll come up with something a little chewier than this!
  4. No, Brits don’t use ‘John’ in my experience. I’m sure the vast majority of people over here know it though: certainly anyone who solves these things.

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