Sunday Times 4703 by Jeff Pearce (17th July)

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
I’m standing in for nick_the_novice this week as he’s somewhere in the wilds of Colombia about 1,000 miles from a mobile signal apparently. 10:25 for this one, surprisingly quick considering the number of unknown words. The clueing was pretty helpful though, and they could all be guessed with a high degree of confidence. Too many double defs for my taste, but an enjoyable solve nonetheless.

Across
1 Tinned mutton, and after sweet, nothing at all (5,5)
FANNY ADAMS – two definitions, the second of which we had in full last Sunday if I remember correctly. I didn’t know the tinned mutton definition, or its gory derivation.
7 My / water is found here (4)
WELL – double definition.
9 Finally Jane Austen’s novel is about rare drink (8)
SAUTERNE – (JanE, Austen)* around R(are) to get a sweet white wine which I’d normally spell with S at the end.
10 Park / a large car (6)
ESTATE – another double definition.
11 Drunk means to return but lacks energy (6)
STONED – DENOTES (means) reversed minus an E for energy.
13 Woman eats food soaked in liquid — organic one (8)
ISOPRENE – IRENE (woman) around SOP (food soaked in liquid).
14 Engineer raised short veranda to see mountains (6,6)
SIERRA NEVADA – (raised veranda)*.
17 Jivaroan psychiatrist? (4-8)
HEAD-SHRINKER – another double definition. I guessed a Jivaroan must be some sort of native head-shrinker, but I’d never heard of them.
20 English general tortured worm in prison (8)
CROMWELL – (worm)* inside CELL (prison).
21 Large home with study behind tree (6)
LINDEN – L(arge + IN (home) + DEN (study).
22 Carriage contains dry glove (6)
MITTEN – MIEN (carriage) around TT (teetotal, dry).
23 19 fellow with a German mug (8)
EINSTEIN – EIN STEIN (German for a mug). Definition refers to 19D BRAINY, which Albert certainly was!
25 Tin contains an unknown colour (4)
CYAN – CAN (tin) around Y (an unknown).
26 Healer ran out drunk and hit husband (10)
NATUROPATH – (ran out)* + PAT (hit) + H(usband).

Down
2 A club serving up disorder? It’s a shambles (8)
ABATTOIR – A + BAT (club) + RIOT (disorder) reversed. Another definition I didn’t know – I only knew a shambles as a mess or muddle.
3 Conservationists protect one small egg (3)
NIT – NT (National Trust, conservationists) around I (one).
4 Parched carrying cold bitter (5)
ACRID – ARID (parched) around C(old).
5 Fish with beer on it is initially extremely flavoursome (7)
ALEWIFE – W(ith) next to ALE (beer), then I(s) + F(lavoursom)E.
6 Old veggie gets up and heads for organic shop and usual restaurant (9)
STEGOSAUR – GETS reversed + initial letters of Organic Shop And Usual Restaurant.
7 I get fired for sending crowds home cold and wet (5,6)
WATER CANNON – cryptic definition.
8 Left thing at one long address (6)
LITANY – L(eft) + IT (thing) + ANY (one).
12 Pole transferring quietly to Man City? Not yet (11)
NORTHAMPTON – NORTH (pole) + (P to Man)*. Northampton unsuccessfully applied for city status in 2000, and it remains a town despite having a population of over 200,000.
15 Willing maiden captivated by unknown king (9)
AGAMEMNON – GAME (willing) + M(aiden), inside ANON (unknown).
16 Tramp knocked back wine with priest at court (8)
DERELICT – RED (wine) reversed + ELI (priest) + CT (court).
18 In the black / ether? (7)
SOLVENT – double definition.
19 Bright blue at first, then with dark clouds? (6)
BRAINY – B(lue) + RAINY (with dark clouds?).
21 Big ship creating a queue on river (5)
LINER – LINE (a queue) + R(iver).
24 Put bed over lots of rubbish (3)
TIP – PIT (bed), reversed.

9 comments on “Sunday Times 4703 by Jeff Pearce (17th July)”

  1. of which the last 4 minutes were devoted to 8d; ‘long address’ just didn’t trigger anything. Biffed 1ac from a couple of A checkers and the ‘sweet’; no idea about the mutton. No idea about NORTHAMPTON either, but the ‘pole’ and a checker or two worked. DNK Jivaroan, of course. It took me a while to give up on ‘unknown’ meaning X,Y, or Z. All in all, a pretty easy ST; unlike Vinyl, I gave up today with two I just can’t see.
  2. Before getting STONED at 11ac the pole could have been South and 12d Southampton – except of course GK will tell us that Southampton IS a city and that the Cobblers are Northampton Town.

    I live in Newport Pagnell – part of Milton Keynes Borough. MK is a new “city” but, like Northampton, has failed to receive City status despite having a population even bigger than Northampton’s.

  3. Found this easy (like today’s), though Northampton went in with a shrug.. I wondered briefly if there was some rude connection with a north pole, via Hampton Wick ..
    I knew the shambles because of the one in York, which once had 26 butchers shops in it
  4. My print out says 19 minutes but it seemed easier than that at the time. Not that I am in a hurry especially on Sunday mornings.
    To my knowledge, the French wine appelation and village is always SAUTERNES but in California their semi-sweet white wine is called Sauterne, often sold in ‘jugs’.
  5. Straightforward apart from not knowing the tinned mutton at 1ac or ISOPRENE (which I note I also didn’t know on 28th August 2012) but it was gettable from wordplay. FANNY ADAMS came up again a couple of days later so it it was helpful to have it in mind, and ALEWIFE had turned up on a TV quiz I watched the preceding Saturday.

    Edited at 2016-07-24 10:29 am (UTC)

  6. Pretty straightforward here too, except for ISOPRENE, and that DERELICT AGAMEMNON – each of which I stared at with all checkers in place for a considerable time before enlightenment. Here’s hoping Nick does not encounter any Jivaroans.
    1. it’s in Collins …

      fanny adams
      Definitions
      Collins English Dictionary
      noun British slang
      1. (usually preceded by sweet) absolutely nothing at all. Often shortened to: f.a., FA, SFA
      2. mainly nautical (formerly) tinned meat, esp mutton

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