Sunday Times 4634 by Jeff Pearce

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
12:33, including a brief interlude to flip over some grilling bacon, so a pretty straightforward solve. Jeff Pearce gets some stick for producing these straightforward puzzles, but I found this one very enjoyable.

Across
1 Male judge takes in a point made by JP
MAGISTRATE – M(A GIST)RATE.
6 Just a little paper cut — what a relief!
PHEW – Paper, HEW.
9 Private champion doesn’t open up
INNER – wINNER.
10 Not working on step near to house?
DOWNSTAGE – DOWN (not working: think LiveJournal), STAGE. ‘House’ in the theatrical sense, i.e. ‘audience’.
12 You can vote on this!
ELECTORAL ROLL – CD. Because if you’re on it you can vote.
14 Slur the Spanish guitar playing
LIGATURE – (EL, GUITAR)*. Indirect anagrams are frowned upon by Ximeneans, and I believe banned in the daily Times puzzles. Having said I didn’t like something in Dean’s last puzzle because it was ‘too close to an indirect anagram’, I have to admit I don’t mind this one at all, because ‘the Spanish’ is such a clear indication of EL. As ever if the clue is readily solvable and the answer is unambiguous then compliance with strict ‘rules’ doesn’t matter as far as I’m concerned. Of course I might have felt differently if I hadn’t known this piece of musical terminology.
15 Rabbit pancake
WAFFLE – DD. I initially put something completely different in here, but was a little unsure about it. For the life of me I can’t now remember what it was!
17 Stationery item using many cards?
RUBBER – DD.
19 Tire out Ox — one for dish
TERIYAKI – (TIRE)*, YAK, I.
21 Extreme group lecturing force in a riot
LUNATIC FRINGE – (LECTURING FORCE)* (LECTURING, F, IN A)*. Thanks to anon below.
24 Middle-age spread is what motorist carries
SPARE TYRE – DD.
25 Rare Polish flower
RHONE – R, HONE.
26 Carries out some females
DOES – DD.
27 Worse for wear after Saturday night? Quite the opposite!
SUNDAY BEST – CD, and a very good one.

Down
1 Chief is regularly impatient
MAIN – every other letter in ‘impatient’.
2 Strange sign with English plant
GINSENG – (SIGN)*, ENG.
3 Drury Lane?
STREET THEATRE – one of those reverse clues where the clue is the answer, and the answer is the clue. In this case the answer that is the clue is a double definition, because DRURY LANE is both a street and the name of a theatre. The full name of said theatre is the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and it is of course in Catherine Street.
4 Singer needs wine to get going
REDSTART – RED (wine), START.
5 One drawing a famous prison
TOWER – DD.
7 What Anne Boleyn eventually had to prevent
HEAD OFF – DD. I’m glad I had finished watching the TV adaptation of Wolf Hall before I encountered this spoiler.
8 Bag rat that is heading for bait entering this dirty vessel
WHEELIE BIN – W(HEEL, I.E., Bait)IN, where ‘bag’ gives you WIN.
11 Charity train old Latvians with 7 nuts
SALVATION ARMY – the answer is obvious, the wordplay a bit less so. It’s an anagram of O, LATVIANS and then BARMY with its ‘head off’ (the answer to 7dn).
13 Made more than one, often by adding a second
PLURALISED – because when you pluralise something, you often do it by adding an S (second).
16 Assist health worker after day in bed
BEFRIEND – BE(FRI, EN)D. EN for Enrolled Nurse.
18 Strip of fabric Egyptian placed round silver dress
BANDAGE – BAND (strip of fabric), E round AG (silver). I don’t think I’ve come across E for ‘Egyptian’ before, and it’s not in Chambers, which has the most extensive range of little-used abbreviations. It’s in Collins though.
20 A crook owes me? That’s terrific!
AWESOME – A, (OWESME)*.
22 Animal policeman carries unknown to Oxford?
COYPU – CO(Y)P, U. The DBE for U is signalled by the question mark.
23 Little bit of money posted to the auditor
CENT – sounds like ‘sent’.

13 comments on “Sunday Times 4634 by Jeff Pearce”

  1. I agree, Keriothe, easy but enjoyable, and I have no problem with the indirect anagram.
  2. 11:57 … never a problem here with an easier puzzle. Done well, they’re as admirable as any head-scratching toughie.

    I think it was vinyl who pointed out the other day that when an agouti comes along there’s probably a COYPU not far behind (or in front, in published order).

    Same hesitation as keriothe over LIGATURE before remembering that anything goes on a Sunday.

    To me the stand-outs in this are the cryptic definitions, STREET THEATRE and SUNDAY BEST (nice anchor clue for a Sunday puzzle). They’re the kind of clues that got me hooked on crosswords in the first place.

    Edited at 2015-03-29 10:07 am (UTC)

  3. I’m inclined to overlook one or two minor quibbles I might have raised because I’m fed up with personal attacks on this setter in another forum. It was enjoyable and solvable, and that’s enough for me.
  4. Not sure I noticed thee indirect anagram as I was too busy wondering how a (surgical) ligature could be a slur. Didn’t hold me up much as I romped home in 27 minutes – many times faster than on today’s Deano. Especially liked DOWNSTAGE.
  5. The indirect anagram thingy wafted way over my head in last weekend’s Club Forum so I had no idea what anyone was talking about and thought they meant the relative obscurity of the musical term. The Sunday naysayers seem to have quieted down for now thank goodness so perhaps the spanking they got was effective. 15.11

    Edited at 2015-03-29 02:01 pm (UTC)

  6. Enjoyable puzzle. LIGATURE was one of my first ones in, and – like Ulaca – must admit I did not notice anything “indirect” going on: just seemed a (mercifully!) fairly well signposted anagram with a definition I happened to know from clarinet playing days.

    Took me an age to see DOWNSTAGE. For some reason I always seem to have a mental block on the house / theatre connection.

    Thanks for the blog Keriothe. Minor point – there is a typo in the answer to 4 dn (D missing).

  7. Excuse me, but how is LUNATIC FRINGE an anagram of LECTURING FORCE? Where is the “O”?
    1. Thanks anon, and congratulations on finding my – ahem – deliberate mistake. Blog amended.
  8. From JollySwagman

    Enjoyable puzzle.

    As a former clarinet player I too associate LIGATURE with the gizmo that holds the reed on. The Berlin Phil (under Karajan at least) insisted that a piece of string should be used. Clearly Berliners have more acute hearing than the rest of us and could tell the difference – either that or Karajan was more pretentious – not sure which.

    I must say I was surprised at the indirectness – Spanish “the” doesn’t have to be EL even though it usually is in crosswords – it could equally be LOS, LA, LAS,or LO – so is the indirectness “not unobvious” (to conflate Orwell and the rules of The Listener) – likewise – not sure – borderline maybe.

    Fine by me if we know to expect it – which from now on I shall.

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