Sunday Times 4681 by David McLean

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
I found this one highly enjoyable but quite tough. A pleasingly eclectic cast of characters are on display – Bowie, Dryden and a zombie with nasty habits are all presented for our delectation and delight – and we are also treated to a homophone that borders on the outrageous and a number of elegant clues.

Plenty of humour and whimsy of the type that certainly keeps me happy – really liked 2dn and the wonderful 13dn. 25ac was also a particularly inventive clue I thought, although some might say there is a redundant word in there.

Thanks very much to “Harry”.

Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–)


Across
1 Pull back jemmy, perhaps to get this? (4)
LOOT – TOOL (jemmy, perhaps) reversed (pull back) revealing what the burglar (traditional user of a jemmy) is seeking. I think ‘pull back’ is also doing double duty by pointing us to the mode of deployment of the tool in order to get to the loot. Cunning.
3 A film actor in pieces centred on the mum (10)
MATRIFOCAL – *(A FILM ACTOR) with “in pieces” as the anagrind
10 Criminal chap with joint setters reported (9)
FELONIOUS – Homophone (indicated by ‘reported’) of FELLOW (chap) + KNEE (joint) + US (setters). Some might find this a bit borderline (particularly given the emphasis on the second syllable when the answer is enunciated), but it worked for me
11 Pointer one wouldn’t want to take to heart? (5)
ARROW – …unless it’s one fired by Cupid, possibly. Straight cryptic clue.
12 Traditional food loch hotels reinvented (2,3,3,6)
OF THE OLD SCHOOL – *(FOOD LOCH HOTELS) with “reinvented” as the anagrind
14 Shape cut by small glacial ice shafts (7)
MOULINS – MOUL[D] (‘shape’ cut – i.e. last letter removed) + IN (by) + S (abbrev. small). Maybe I’m being picky or missing something, but struggled to see how ‘by’ gives us ‘in’.
16 Riseof brilliant sportsperson on board (7)
SURFACE – surf ace (brilliant sportsperson on board). Very nice
17 Are you (through wine) kind of lippy? (4-3)
RUBY RED – R U (are you – SMS-speak) + BY (through) + RED (wine), giving a colour of lipstick that can be hazardous when encountered by a chap in a white shirt
19 Serious Republican about to load Colt? (3,4)
FOR REAL – R (Republican) + RE (about) ‘loaded’ inside FOAL (Colt)
20 Cooler product found in East End salon? (3,11)
AIR CONDITIONER – Dropping the “H” in the East End hair emporium
23 Idealistic nurses of the highest class? (1-4)
A LIST – Hidden in (indicated by ‘nurses’) ideALISTic
24 Swimmer passed if swimming hard (9)
SPADEFISH – *(PASSED IF) with “swimming” as the anagrind, plus an H (hard) on the end
25 Boring parts can haunt glorious poet (4,6)
JOHN DRYDEN – DRY (boring) ‘parts’ (i.e. comes between) JOHN (can – both slang for toilet) and DEN (haunt). I was a bit unsure what the ‘glorious’ was doing – initially I thought it might somehow be linked to the Glorious Revolution around JD’s time – but subsequent checking reveals he was referred to as “Glorious John” by Scott and others. Minimalists might argue whether the ‘glorious’ is strictly necessary, but I guess it adds a bit more colour and texture to the clue.
26 Sudden surge in energy-consuming circuit (4)
LEAP – LAP (circuit) ‘consumes’ E (energy)
Down
1 Fifty humming Romanies holding fine tune (4,2,4)
LIFE ON MARS – L (fifty) + *(ROMANIES) with F (fine) also in the mix – “humming” being the anagrind – giving us the Bowie classic
2 Briefly inform warrant officer about new hooter? (5)
OWLET – TEL[L] (briefly inform) + WO (warrant officer) all reversed (about) – lovely surface, gorgeous clue
4 When guards ask opinion over striking lads (7)
APOLLOS – AS (when) goes around (guards) POLL (ask opinion) + O (over – cricket abbrev.) – Apollo being an alternative to Adonis as the epitome of a good looking sort of cove…
5 Is reluctant concerning relative boxing in street (7)
RESISTS – RE (concerning) + SIS (relative) surrounding (boxing in) ST (street)
6 Daft American cop describing what zombie may do to girl? (7-7)
FEATHER BRAINED – FED (American cop) going round (describing) EAT HER BRAIN (what zombie may do to girl). Not being privy to the dietary preferences of zombies, the (decidedly disturbing) reference was somewhat lost on me; however, it went in easily enough on definition and cross checkers.
7 My stripped-down play worried United (9)
CORPORATE – COR (my) sPORt (stripped-down play – at least, I think that’s how it works) + ATE (worried)
8 Dirty spring coming up short on depth (4)
LEWD – WEL[L] minus its last letter (spring coming up short) ‘on’ D (depth)
9 Certain produce nobbled and not returned (14)
UNRECIPROCATED – *(CERTAIN PRODUCE) with “nobbled” as the anagrind
13 Business complaint of long-standing croupier? (10)
DEALERSHIP – DD – the second a delightfully whimsical offering from the same family of occupational hazards as painter’s colic and (conceivably) Potters Crouch
15 Rub this in after running, not cricket! (2-7)
UN BRITISH – *(RUB THIS IN) with “after running” as the anagrind
18 Run out of brut? Very bad show (7)
DYNASTY – D[R]Y (brut) with R – run – removed + NASTY (very bad). I’m sure the overall surface reading of the second half of the clue was entirely intentional… Good stuff
19 Gear aboard large eastern vessel (7)
FRIGATE – RIG (gear) inside (aboard) FAT (large) + E (eastern)
21 Perhaps Smash Hits magazine’s last report? (5)
NOISE – NO. 1’S (smash hits – as in top of the pops) + E (magazinE‘s last). Ingenious (which equates to “took me a long time to get it…”)
22 Spiritual trip experienced on joints primarily (4)
HADJ – HAD (experienced) on J (Joints primarily). A pleasingly mischievous surface that hopefully will not upset anyone

14 comments on “Sunday Times 4681 by David McLean”

  1. Finished under the hour by one minute. Didn’t know SPADEFISH or MOULINS. I had the same query as our blogger re IN for ‘by’, but how about “If you’re ever passing our house, please drop by/in and see us”?
    1. Ah, sloppy blogging – accidentally left out the all important reversal: thanks Kevin. Will fix up later (reluctant to edit at moment due to previous catastrophe when I managed to make the entire blog disappear for some time whilst editing on the fly…)
  3. DNK MOULINS, and couldn’t make anything of the clue. DNK 1d (I couldn’t have named a single Bowie song if my life had depended on it), but the checkers helped. COD I think to the glorious poet. Do Brits use ‘john’? (I dropped it ages ago after making the acquaintance in a period of a few months of 3 Johns.)
    1. I recall “John” being used quite widely when I was a kid growing up in England in the ’60s & ’70s, but something of a rarity these days (at least in my experience). May have been adopted by people like my father who served alongside GIs in the war, then as that generation passed on to enjoy the great Gents in the sky, the usage went with them.

      Further research (this blog certainly takes one down some unexpected byways) suggests it was an English term pre Mayflower, being a reference to one John Harrington who has a passable claim to being the inventor of the flushing toilet: other scholars agree on its English antiquity, but disagree on the origin as they attribute it to an Anglicisation of the Irish Jakes. Anyway…

  4. 20m for this very enjoyable puzzle that for me was spoiled by 14ac, an obscure term that needed a clearer clue IMO. I still don’t see how ‘by’ means IN, jackkt’s explanation notwithstanding. That fact that you can substitute one word for another in a sentence without changing the overall meaning doesn’t make the individual words synonymous. Think ‘taking the Mickey’.
    10ac is magnificently awful!

    Edited at 2016-02-21 11:11 am (UTC)

    1. Maybe I’m under a misapprehension about the ‘rules’ and conventions but although I appreciate the need for synonymous definitions of the clued word I hadn’t thought this applied in wordplay where much of the fun is to be had from looser associations, and the substitution test can provide apparent missing links.
      1. I don’t know about rules and conventions but I just don’t think ‘by’ means ‘in’. Even in your example I think ‘pop by’ and ‘pop in’ have different meanings. By the same token you could replace ‘pop by’ with ‘pop over’, but I wouldn’t accept ‘by’ as a definition of ‘over’.

        Edited at 2016-02-21 02:51 pm (UTC)

          1. Oh yes, sorry. Still, my point stands, I think. ‘Drop by’ and ‘drop in’ mean slightly different things, and ‘pop by/over’ is an illustration of the same point.
  5. Yes, that took me ages to see too, post submit. I really liked this puzzle even with the rather ho-hum MOULINS. Some homophones appeal to the cracker-joke fan in me, if they are awful enough as in FELONIOUS. And I thought JOHN DRYDEN was excellent. I’d no idea either what “glorious” was doing in there and off the top of my head thought it might be something to do with a “mute inglorious Milton” – except I’d turned over too many pages of the anthology at once because that’s Gray. 22.54
  6. A very good crossword except for MOULINS, and I’ll accept jackkt’s explanation only with reluctance, and HADJ, where the choice of ‘joints’ to give the ‘j’ seems strange. Stoned pilgrims stoning the devil? Or am I missing something? FELONIOUS, JOHN DRYDEN and NOISE are all excellent, as others have said.

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