Sunday Times 4640 by Jeff Pearce

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
15:29. I started quickly on this but then it put up some resistance towards the end. There were one or two things I didn’t know but the wordplay was fair and clear in all cases. I don’t have much more to say really, so I’ll just get on with it.

Across
1 Dodgy bank squabbled with Uni about English course
BUBBLE AND SQUEAK – (BANK SQUABBLED, U)* around E.
9 Perhaps the lorry left Spain
ARTICLE – ARTIC, L, E. The cunning definion is by example, since the ARTICLE could also be indefinite. E is the International Vehicle Registration symbol for Spain.
10 Being tight Rex lived in a tent outside
CRAMPED – CAMPED (lived in a tent) surrounding R.
11 Appeal against introduction of toxic fat
SUET – SUE (appeal), Toxic
12 Icelander left disaster movie
CINDERELLA – (ICELANDER, L)*. Probably a reference to the 1950 animated version rather than the more recent one directed by Kenneth Branagh.
13 US sailor raced back to entertain group of workers
DECATUR – RACED reversed, and surrounding TU. I wasted some time trying to think of synonyms for RACED. This Stephen Decatur, not to be confused with his father, Stephen Decatur. I had never heard of either of them.
15 Bread and sponge hors d’oeuvre
ROLLMOP – ROLL (bread), MOP (sponge). A rather posh definition for a not very posh foodstuff. Not posh, but delicious.
17 Plant is back in store
DEPOSIT – IS reversed inside DEPOT. It’s remarkable how the word ‘plant’ in a clue can introduce brain-freeze even when a plant isn’t required.
19 Comforted revolutionary commie around start of election
CHEERED – the usual revolutionary, CHE, then a RED surrounding Election.
20 One sharing top billing at gallery close to London’s National
COSTA RICAN – CO-STAR, ICA, londoN.
22 Poet grilled on the radio
BARD – sounds like ‘barred’.
25 Hot, sick and odd swallowing iodine and another chemical
THORIUM – (HOT)*, R(I)UM.
26 Swiss city — home to one Italian artist
BERNINI – BERN, IN, I.
27 Pricing scam exposed by The Sun?
DAYLIGHT ROBBERY – CD.

Down
1 Supports school’s senior officials
BRASS – as ELI is to priests, BRA is to supporters. We don’t see S as an abbreviation for ‘school’ very often, but it’s in Collins.
2 Goat with small porridge container for Goldilocks?
BUTTERCUP – BUTTER (goat), CUP. I’m not sure I’d put porridge in a cup, but then I don’t like porridge. A goldilocks is a species of BUTTERCUP, apparently. The question mark indicates the definition by example.
3 Spike left on a church
LACE – L, A, CE. As in a Mickey Finn.
4 Mother drops Mark off outside priest’s studio
ATELIER – mAT(ELI)ER. ELI is the crossword setter’s favourite priest.
5 Journo overturned drink in vital match
DECIDER – ED (journo) reversed, then CIDER.
6 A doctor gets wind around end of college dance
QUADRILLE – to QUILL is to ‘wind on a spool or bobbin’, according to Collins. Here it surrounds A DR and comes before collegE.
7 Boot out old footballer failing to finish
EXPEL – or EX-PELe
8 Had a rest with short pirate novel
KIDNAPPED – William KIDd, NAPPED (had a rest).
13 Hard working theologian swallows iced tea cocktail
DEDICATED – DD (Divinitatis Doctor, Doctor of Divinity) surrounding an anagram of ICED TEA.
14 Opera — one based in pub upset conductor
TOSCANINI – TOSCA, then a reversal of INN containing I.
16 Commando eats fish spread
MARGARINE – MAR(GAR)INE. Fortunately I had solved 26ac when I got to this or I might have bunged in MARMALADE.
18 Crow hurt MP badly while touring central Westminster
TRIUMPH – anagram of HURT MP surrounding I (the middle letter of ‘Westminster’).
19 Leaves gong inside posh room
CHAMBER – CHAR (leaves, of the tea variety) containing MBE (gong). Is a CHAMBER necessarily posh?
21 Second Conservative lie?
STORY – S, TORY.
23 Extremely sexy guy from Cardiff? – initially one’s found in bed!
DAISY – DAI (guy from Cardiff) before SexY.

13 comments on “Sunday Times 4640 by Jeff Pearce”

  1. How could I have forgotten ‘supporters’? Much as I’d wanted to. All I could come up with was ‘bears’, which I didn’t believe for a moment. I was surprised to find DECATUR (de KAY tr, in case anyone wanted to know) here; also surprised to find that he had a son (or was it father? not that surprising that he had a father, of course). He’s famous in the US, although I don’t now remember why. Probably did something. DNK ICA (20ac), but luckily I didn’t need to. Also DNK QUILL in the relevant sense, but inferred there must be some such. COD to ARTICLE. By the way, am I right in thinking that Int.Vehicle code is not used in the daily cryptics?

    Edited at 2015-05-10 02:43 am (UTC)

    1. IVR: I don’t know. I’m used to seeing it but that’s perhaps just in Mephisto.
      Decatur: I’m pretty sure it’s the son who’s the famous one, based on extensive research (i.e. reading the Wikipedia entries).
  2. Found this one relatively straightforward overall, but a couple of unknowns that fortunately could be deduced from the wordplay (DECATUR and THORIUM).

    Mark me down as another fan of ARTICLE – also liked COSTA RICAN.

  3. My time of 7 mins would appear to confirm that this one was straightforward. I didn’t know DECATUR but the wordplay was clear and helpful.
  4. Completed within my 30 minute target but with one wrong at 13ac where the wordplay could just as easily have resulted in DECUTAR – so a bad clue if one didn’t happen to know the answer. Didn’t know the ‘Goldilocks’ thing either.
    1. Hmm. Wouldn’t that have to be ‘raced to entertain group of workers back’?
  5. Never heard of the bloke with the name or the contemporary arts place, but didn’t really need to have done of either.

    Will garret ever mount a stand against atelier?

      1. One thing I wanted to — sorry, have been called to a meeting.

        Back in attic.

  6. I was very pleased to get a couple of these, and on the right track for a few more. I’m starting to think cryptically!
    1. Glad to hear it! Have you discovered the quick cryptics in the weekday Times? They’re a good place to cut your teeth.
  7. Weeks later in Toronto…….we got it from taking the “close” of BARBICAN. We knew The Barbican had some art connection but the London bit didn’t really parse unless it was a very convoluted &Lit. Is The Barbican close to The National Gallery?

    Thanks to all for the great blogs.

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