Sunday Times 4653 by Dean Mayer – which art verily a ripper!

12 comments on “Sunday Times 4653 by Dean Mayer – which art verily a ripper!”

1. Was fortunate I solved this by the pool so I don’t have to record a time. I remember finishing with ‘Ayatollah’, which I though very good, as indeed was much else. Still not convinced by the fruit clue, though, and don’t care for 5d much either, but overall this was of a very high standard.
2. Loved this one, although 11ac is problematic if Nick’s analysis is correct; and I couldn’t come up with one. I think 2d was my LOI, also. COD to 17d, which I only got rather post hoc. I was a bit surprised to see two clues (1ac and 16ac) using the same gimmick (‘frames’, ‘houses’).
3. Yes, it was a long slog and I was out of my comfort zone once an hour had passed. Not helped by having STEVEN’S, ON for “bloke works” as my first one in at 14dn where it remained for much of the time, thus preventing smooth progress in that quarter. And I’d been so pleased with myself for remembering the family of lighthouse engineers that have come up before!

   I’m not going to put myself through the torture of recalling my experiences with some of the other clues, but well done Nick for getting to grips with it all.

   Still don’t get 11ac apart from the obvious bits.

   Edited at 2015-08-09 08:56 am (UTC)

   1. STEVENS_ON has got to be right up there in the pantheon of great answers that were (sadly) wrong 🙂

      Thanks for the kind comment Jack – when I first put my hand up for the ST blog a few months ago, I’d somewhat underestimated the challenge! Anyway, been good because it has pushed me to new limits.

      Re. 11ac, I’m relieved to see that several of the senior pros here have some misgivings / uncertainties. Perhaps we will get an intervention from Mount Olympus later…

      Edited at 2015-08-09 10:15 am (UTC)

      1. You can have the intervention now, friend.
         It’s nothing more than a quirky play on the ‘ban’ idea. For the majority of clues the aim is for a complete working of definition and wordplay, but there are times when you just go with something simple and, that word again, quirky, without making things intricate. While many (justifiably) argue that the classic SGEG (9,4) clue doesn’t qualify as a proper clue at all – and let’s not forget HIJKLMNO for WATER – there was an appeal about them that made them memorable and oft-quoted. Not that the FORBIDDEN FRUIT idea will ever reach those heights, but it’s a similar clue-writing approach, intended for fun only.
         1. Thanks Dean – got it loud and clear. Time to cast off the shackles of orthodoxy…

            Thanks again for a superb puzzle.

4. Well up to DM’s usual standards, so I felt I’d done well in getting home in (just) under the half-hour, though I have to admit I shared the prevailing puzzlement with 11ac. Whenever I feel such things, I am always reminded of one of the many brilliant exchanges in Frasier, when he returns from dinner with his brother:

   Niles: It was an exquisite meal, marred only by the lack of even one outstanding cognac on their carte de digestif.
   Frasier: Yes, but think of it this way, Niles: what is the one thing better than an exquisite meal? An exquisite meal with one tiny flaw we can pick at all night.

   He hands Niles a brandy.

   Niles: Ah… quite right. To impossible standards. [They clink glasses.]

   I should freely admit that I can’t really demand perfection from anyone when I start by confidently writing in answers like TAXI RANKS, because IRAN’s a country, right, and that’s inside TANKs, with an X, and er…

   1. Thank you for the reminder of a much missed double-act.
5. 59:51. I struggled enormously with this, but I had the time so I appreciated the challenge. I got held up for ages at the end with 4dn, 5dn and 11ac. The last of these clearly doesn’t obey strict Ximenean rules, but it’s pretty obvious what’s going on, so chill out (I said to myself).
   Thanks to Dean for a thoroughly enjoyable challenge and well done to Nick for unscrambling it all.
6. This got me most of the way from Ebbsfleet to Brussels on the Eurostar — well, certainly as far as Lille —but there was a fair amount of window gazing on the way so I’ve no idea how long it really took. Last in that cursed fruit.

   I ticked a number of clues, nearly all different to the ones you singled out, Nick! My favourite was definitely the fashionable Arab at the French border.

   1. The fashionable Arab was indeed lovely – and it comes as no surprise that, in such a super puzzle, your faves were all different!
7. A little over an hour of great fun. I spent too much time thinking that SLAP ON THE WRIST is not really a rocket, until the light dawned. My wife’s family had an amah in Penang many years ago, so I struggled with the ayah bit of AYATOLLAH. Agree BEDOUIN for COD.

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