Sunday Times 4610 (5 Oct 2014) by Jeff Pearce

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Solving time: 33:06

A fairly gentle offering this week. Nothing particularly stood out for a COD, but there was nothing I hated either, so quite a vanilla puzzle I felt. But that’s not intended as a criticism. I like those from time to time.

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

Across
1 PARANG = P + RANG about A
5 MANIFESTo
9 FELT-TIP PEN = (LEFT)* + TIP + PEN
10 swEDEN – S & W being opponents at bridge
11 MESSi – The Argentine footballer generally regarded as the best in the world today
12 GOB’S + TOPPER – I’d not come across this slang term for a sailor before
14 SAT-NAV = SAT + VAN rev – semi-&lit
16 SOLUTION – dd
18 AVE MARIA = hAVE (Pearly Kings are cockneys, so they drop Hs) + ARIA about M
20 ZIT + HER
22 CRANE FLIES = (CLEANERS IF)*
24 wASPS
26 TIE (kipper, say) + Rot
27 ROCK SALMON = (MANOR’S LOCK)*
29 SEAT + BELT
30 devolutioN + ARROW – it was pointed out in the forum that ‘lacks’ implies a verb, whereas ‘lacking’ would imply an adjective. A small point, I would say, but a fair one.
Down
2 ARETE – rev hidden – I remember learning about these in geography lessons at school.
3 pARTISAN
4 GOING OVER – dd
5 MOP – although I’m not convinced that ‘polish’ is really synonymous.
6 NO NET
7 FLEAPIT = PIT after FLEA
8 ST(EVE + D)ORE
13 BASMATI = (Indian Samosas And Bhajis Then Masala And)*
15 ADVERTISE = (SEDATIVE)* abour seminaR
17 LAZY + SUSAN
19 MINARET = R in (INMATE)*
21 TRAILER – dd
23 FARCE = RAF rev + CE
25 PRO + MO
28 CUTe

23 comments on “Sunday Times 4610 (5 Oct 2014) by Jeff Pearce”

  1. I don’t have a time on this, so I must have gone over the half-hour and finished off line. I had one wrong, and thought it must be NARROW, which I couldn’t parse; but afterwards I noticed that I’d mistyped BASMATI. ARETE is yet another NY Times chestnut.DNK PARANG.
  2. Found this very easy. 12 minutes or so including pouring a coffee.
    Someone narrow lacks vision.. that seems OK to me
    1. Yes but ‘is narrow’ means the same as ‘lacks vision’. ‘Narrow’ doesn’t.

      Edited at 2014-10-12 08:52 am (UTC)

  3. Didn’t have a problem with narrow, agree with David about mop, and thought the same as Kevin regarding arête – wouldn’t have known it if not for other puzzles. Otherwise, a just challenging enough for a Sunday stroll.
    Regarding knowing due to… I’m just back in the London after a spell in the US. Dragged myself out of bed. Turned on radio3, and thought “I know that not often played piece”, and I did because, and only because, it was Finzi’s clarinet concerto. I had bought a copy at, probably Vinyl’s suggestion, last time he was the setter’s most used composer.
    1. Singing Finzi’s “In Terra Pax” at our Xmas concert. For the umpteenth time. But it is a lovely work and deserves to be more known.
      1. Thanks for that, Ann. I’m checking it out on YT and it sounds fine.

        Do you do it with orchestra and baritone solo? Might stretch our 30-strong mixed choir a bit, but we can’t sing Shepherds’ Farewell every year!

        1. We do it with an orchestra but I imagine it could work very well with organ and/or piano. The “Glory to God in the Highest” section is a glorious burst of overlapping sound. The only potential problem for a small choir is that the sopranos and tenors divide for that section. (It’s unaccompanied so lack of orchestra no problem there!) We’re doing another seasonal work which you might like. Morten Lauridsen’s “O Magnum Mysterium”. We all love it. Again, we’ve sung it before. Undivided and unaccompanied SATB. Beautiful harmonies.
          1. Oh, yes, Mortensen is a great favourite. Do you know ‘Sure on the shining night’? Copland also has a good version of the Agee poem.

            Thanks for the gen on the Finzi. Do you do it with Sop and Bar soloists? The latter especially is quite extensive.

            Edited at 2014-10-14 06:47 am (UTC)

            1. Yes, we always use soloists. It’s not a long part but it’s important. When we do the Finzi we partner it with another work with soloists so we get value for money! The baritone is doing the Faure “Libera Me” and the soprano is doing Dido’s Lament and the Easter Hymn from “Cavaleria Rusticana” (Wrong time of year but our conductor is retiring and wants to do his favourite lollipops) We’re also doing the last chorus from Berstein’s “Candide” with the soloists. (Plus the Poulenc Gloria and VW’s “Towards the Unknown Region” A mixed bag of a concert but should be fun.)
  4. 15m, with a few at the end puzzling over 30ac. ‘Quarrel’ was only vaguely familiar, and the definition doesn’t work, but in the end I just crossed my fingers and bunged it in. I was also puzzled by ‘drink’ for SOLUTION. What am I missing?
    1. I see what you mean, but if PHOTO was the answer, I’d count the still photo as “very short”, which would be an easy change to a gently cryptic definition.

      Peter Biddlecombe, Sunday Times Crossword Editor

  6. I had pretty much all the quibbles raised by others but got home in a rare sub-30 (27′) so shan’t grumble too much. The Greek arete (virtue) is well known to me, but the French less so.

    Oddly enough, I was listening to Finzi’s clarinet concerto this afternoon (gratis on YouTube) while struggling with Dean’s latest creation.

  7. DK ARETE, GOB as US sailor or PARANG (though I suspect I’d just forgotten that one). I agree with the quibbles about MOP/polish as they are quite different processes in my book.

    I also don’t understand the definition part of 23dn. Whether one finds farces amusing or not is subjective of course but they are still being written and performed today so there is no call for the use of the past tense.

  9. Just finished this. 24 minutes. A nice straightforward puzzle. I didn’t know PARANG or GOB but the cryptic made them obvious. Nice to be back on Live Journal after yesterday’s problems. Ann
  10. This is a complete irrelevance but I feel I have to share it with you erudite types… I’ve just come back from a pub quiz and we had to find an Island off Florida beginning with K which means “Bone Island” in Spanish. The “Key” bit was obvious so in desperation we put Key West. Turned out to be correct! “West” is from “Bone”. I only mention it here because this is where we discover lots of things that we didn’t know before…
  11. The idea behind 5D was that a mop has a pole as a crucial component. Puzzlement about this noted.
  12. Perhaps! Can you construct a sentence in which they perform the same function to help me broaden my mind?
      1. Hmm. Doesn’t really work for me. ‘Narrow’ is an adjective, ‘lacks vision’ isn’t. In your two examples ‘think’ has slightly different meanings to accommodate this.
          1. Fair enough. If you think ‘lacks vision’ is an adjective we aren’t going to get much further…

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