Sunday Times 4627 by Tim Moorey

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
I don’t have a proper time for this, because I got interrupted half-way through, but I spent a total of about 15 minutes on it. This included a few minutes at the end puzzling over 6dn, until I realised that my hastily bunged-in DISECT at 6ac didn’t work.

Not really much to say about this: it’s pretty standard fare, with a smattering of unfamiliar words but nothing that should cause undue problems.

Across
1 One endless complaint about lacklustre inspiration
AFFLATUS – FLAT contained in A FUSs. I thought this rather obscure word must have come up before, because I solved the clue almost immediately, but I can’t find any evidence that it has. I wonder how I knew it.
6 Cut out organ part and remove piano from consideration
RESECT – RESpECT.
9 What we all pass by beginning to rile aristocrat
PEER – PEE (‘what we all pass’, tee hee), Rile. Of course PEERs aren’t necessarily, or indeed mostly, aristos these days, but a seat in the House of Lords still costs quite a lot of money.
10 Russian leader’s edict is classified
PUT IN ORDER – or PUTIN ORDER. ‘Invade Crimea’, for instance, or ‘give me that steel company’.
11 Call in at once to order shelving
CANCELLATION – (CALLINATONCE). ‘Shelving’ doesn’t really mean CANCELLATION, but it’s close enough I suppose.
14 Polish annoyed when one of two Poles arrested? Partly
YES AND NO – (ANNOYED)* containing S for south. ‘Polish’ is the (slightly strange) anagrind.
15 Well and good, I’ll indicate your seat at the match
GUSHER – G, USHER.
16 Tons in bags?
STACKS – S(T)ACKS. &Lit.
18 Calming influence finally found in second case
SEDATIVE – influencE contained in S, DATIVE.
20 Political grouping dismayed a pal terribly
LIBERAL PARTY – (APALTERRIBLY)*. Another rather strange anagrind: ‘dismayed’.
22 Old Queen and English authoress made a little contribution
DID ONES BIT – Queen DIDO, then NESBIT, author of The Railway Children, many other books for children and some for adults.
24 Daughter separated from cruel guy gets a good guy
HERO – HEROd.
25 Goes hungry retaining little energy? These should help!
FEASTS – F(E)ASTS.
26 Green minerals (type finally clear in Chambers)
PERIDOTS – P(typE, RID)OTS. Appropriately Chambers has ‘chamberpot’ for ‘chamber’. I had heard of these stones, but had no idea they were green.

Down
2 Ten working in awful serfage? These aren’t!
FREE AGENTS – an anagram of TEN contained in an anagram of SERFAGE.
3 Treasury minister in cricket ground with top Government members
LORD CHANCELLORS – Put George Osborne in St John’s Wood and you get Chris Grayling. Or Thomas (Cardinal) Wolsey and Thomas More, during the reign of Damian Lewis.
4 Ousted Head quietly went first
TOPPLED – TOP, P, LED. Not sure why there’s a capital H in ‘Head’.
5 Rested for a day
SAT – DD.
6 Norway replaces Italy, messing up administration
RUNNING – N (Norway) replaces the I (Italy) in RUINING.
7 Married musicians with limitations
STRINGS ATTACHED
8 School managed without parking
CO-ED – COpED
12 Person who’s bashed our ears?
AROUSER – (AROUSER)*. A kind of semi-&Lit, I think. I suppose if someone bashed your ears it would, er, wake you up.
13 Don’t sustain grassland and ban bull
LEAVE TO ROT – LEA, VETO, ROT.
17 Parts of a larger group fixed loans externally
SUBSETS – SUB(SET)S.
19 Blood pressure drug, mostly slow to act
DILATOR – DILATORy.
21 Assistant’s suggested course of action: the last shall be first
AIDE – IDEA with the last letter moved to the beginning.
23 Roll in bed alongside partner, at first
BAP – first letters of bed alongside partner.

8 comments on “Sunday Times 4627 by Tim Moorey”

  1. Is it true that the toilets in the House of Lords are labelled PEERS and LADY PEERS?
    I’ve never been there, so have nothing to go on.

    Edited at 2015-02-08 02:30 am (UTC)

  2. I had more trouble coming up with ‘fuss’ to justify AFFLATUS than AFFLATUS itself, which for some reason I’ve come across often, almost always coupled with ‘divine’. I had a senior moment trying to come up with not Chamberlain the other one, but it passed at last. I’m still trying to figure out how 6d works; it seems to, until I try parsing it carefully. Shouldn’t there be, say, an ‘in’ before ‘messing up’?
    1. Yes, I think you’re right. I read it with a sort of silent/implied ‘in’, but it doesn’t seem entirely satisfactory.
  3. What’s the point of a classical education when the best you can come up with is ‘ifflatus’? Not helped that I was in weekday mode, where the clue would I think be impermissible.
  4. Like Keriothe I thought I had seen AFFLATUS recently but on checking I think I was misremembering INFLATUS from a Mephisto a couple of months ago..
  5. A bit easier than most weekend puzzles at the moment, for which I was rather grateful. I thought 7dn was particularly good but I was not helped by not knowing either of the first two Acrosses. Glad I’m not alone in thinking something was missing from 6dn.

    Edited at 2015-02-08 06:05 pm (UTC)

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