Sunday Times 4707 by Dean Mayer

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Another super puzzle from Dean this week, showcasing the trademark economy of cluing, witty oddball definitions and sheer inventiveness of our tormentor. Several top notch clues, with 3A, 20A, 25A and 14D all outstanding in my book.

For me this was one where (aside from a couple of unknown words which – unfortunately for me – happened to intersect at 19D and 23A) most of the answers went in reasonably quickly, but the devil was in the detailed parsing. Here is my best shot at unravelling it all, but I look forward to being corrected where necessary as I found myself frequently operating at or beyond the edges of my competence during the parsing process!

Across
1 Mess about in rescue vessel on lake (4)
LARK – ARK (rescue vessel) follows (on) L (abbrev. lake)
3 Killers that woman also reported (10)
HERBICIDES – HER BESIDES (that woman also) – with “reported” putting us on the ‘sounds like’ track. Terrific clue – whimsical definition giving (me at least) misdirection and a gorgeous homophone.
10 Search weird sorcerer (7)
RUMMAGE – RUM (weird) + MAGE (sorcerer)
11 Squeaky clean? No son (7)
UNOILED – UN{S}OILED – “clean” – loses its S (no Son)
12 See one’s pants go slack (6)
LOOSEN – LO (see) + *(ONES) with “pants” as the anagrind.
13 How thrilling is extended bike stunt display? (8)
WHEELIES – WHEE (how thrilling – imagine it with an exclamation mark following) + LIES (is extended)
15 Rogue sniper claims one sort of killing (5,10)
CRIME PASSIONEL – *(SNIPER CLAIMS ONE) with “rogue” as the anagrind
18 Sewer needs essential liquid, then a ladder (6,3,6)
NEEDLE AND THREAD – NEED (essential) + *(THEN A LADDER) with “liquid” as the anagrind. At least, I think that’s how it works. Once the penny dropped regarding ‘sewer’ as one who sews, we were clearly into anagram territory. The “needs”, however, in the surface threw me somewhat when it came to the precise parsing.
19 Around 1pm, flog a guide (5,3)
STRIP MAP – STRAP (flog) goes ‘around’ IPM.
20 Rub salt on circular parts (6)
ABRADE – AB (salt – as in seaman) then AD (circular) ‘parts’ RE (on). Particularly cunning (and tight) wordplay, I thought – which roughly translates as “took me an age to work out exactly what was going on here”.
23 Mooring post you measure on river (7)
RYEPECK – YE (you) + PECK (measure – a close relative of the bushel as I recall) ‘on’ R (river), giving us the quaintly named mooring for punts. Despite having fallen off more punts than you could shake a pole at on the Cam, this was a new term to me. Fortunately the answer was pretty inevitable from the wordplay and cross checkers.
24 Offer houses with a charity (4,3)
BAND AID – BID (offer) ‘houses’ AND (with) + A
25 Crossing ravines, scans for good air quality (10)
CATCHINESS – CATS (scans – as in CAT scans) goes around (crossing) CHINES (ravines). Loved the definition.
26 Just over 50 in US city (4)
ONLY – O (over) then L (Roman 50) ‘in’ NY (US city)
Down
1 Missing man caught, held by all-round rogue (4,5)
LORD LUCAN – *(ALL ROUND) – with C (caught) also in the mix – and “ROGUE” as the anagrind. The death certificate has now been issued, but the mystery endures…
2 Lover runs rings around yours truly (5)
ROMEO – R (runs) + O O (rings) going around ME (yours truly)
4 Quits contest without finishing (4)
EVEN – EVEN{T} (‘contest’ without its final letter)
5 Ignore hurry, as in “endure” (5,5)
BRUSH ASIDE – RUSH (hurry) + AS inside BIDE (endure)
6 Naughty dog might be so protective (5,2,3,4)
CLOSE TO THE BONE – DD, the first being synonymous with ‘near the knuckle’ and the second picturing the canine jealously guarding its treat
7 Affair and, ultimately, marriage? (9)
DALLIANCE – last letter (ultimately) of anD + ALLIANCE (marriage)
8 Very sorry about drinks (5)
SODAS – SO (very) + SAD reversed (sorry about)
9 It’s so long even if it’s short (8,6)
FAREWELL SPEECH – Cryptic based around “so long”
14 Item on sole of slipper? (6,4)
BANANA SKIN – One who slips might have… very neat, droll cryptic
16 Seriously, I’m almost home (2,7)
IN EARNEST – I NEAR NEST (I’m almost home)
17 Last pair of horses in posh accommodation for racing event (6,3)
LADIES DAY – ES (last pair of horsES) in LA DI DA (posh) + Y (which I think is probably a slang abbreviation for YMCA – accommodation – but I’m not too sure about that…)
19 When climbing, fears icy pinnacle (5)
SERAC – CARES (fears) reversed (when climbing – given the context of a Down clue). Another unknown for me, but when the C and S hove into view then the possibility arose and it sounded feasible as a word.
21 Over cooker, alight (5)
AGAIN – AGA (cooker) + IN (alight)
22 Bird, single, 21 (4)
IBIS – I (single) + BIS (musical term meaning ‘repeat’ or ‘again’ – being the answer to 21 Down)

32 comments on “Sunday Times 4707 by Dean Mayer”

  1. Took me ages, as usual, but I had it all correct, or would have if I’d paid more attention to what I wrote: for some reason (thinking of Olivia?) I wrote in ‘Ryebeck’. DNK LADIES DAY, and wondered about the Y; Nick’s interpretation is better than anything I could come up with, anyway. Somehow remembered LORD LUCAN, and somehow recognized SERAC as a possible word. Clueless with ABRADE, once more Nick to the rescue.
    1. If you say so… Ha. In Britain, OK… I found it in Collins. Was thinking it might be specific to those aga cookers that I’d never heard of before becoming a Times cryptic addict. Thanks.
      1. “In” for “alight” has been the subject of discussion many a time here and I think some contributors still remain to be convinced. But there’s probably no controversy about a fire being “out”, so it may be argued it’s logical that “in” would mean the opposite.
        1. Thanks to McText and jackkt for the insights into “alight”. I should have mentioned this one in the blog, as it was something that bamboozled me when I first came across it a year or so ago in another puzzle.
  4. I think the Y in 17dn simply makes LA-DI-DA (posh) become LA-DI-DA-Y, perhaps a variation on LA-DI-DA-ish?

    Hard work but very enjoyable apart from having two obscure answers intersecting in the SW corner.

    Edited at 2016-08-21 05:36 am (UTC)

    1. “accommodation” need to be accounted for .. I’m pretty sure Nick is right, here in Kent people go down to the Y centre in Maidstone..

      1. In my version “accommodation” is the containment indicator along with “in”. So {hors}ES is accommodated within LA-DI-DA-Y (posh).

        I’ve now checked that Y for YMCA or hostel is sanctioned by Chambers so no doubt that’s what was intended as Dean will confirm if he drops by later.

        1. It’s also in Collins and ODO. It’s quite familiar to me for some reason so I didn’t think twice about it and I’m fairly sure it’s what Dean intended.
          1. Yes, we changed the clue to have Y=YMCA (which I actually didn’t know!). The original clue had “posh(ish)” for LA-DI-DA(Y).
            1. Ah, so we are all correct, but my shot was in tune with your original clue so I claim a small victory!

              Thanks for that, Dean, you’ve made my day.

              Edited at 2016-08-21 12:29 pm (UTC)

            2. Thanks very much for clearing that one up, Dean. Always interesting to get insights into how clues evolve during the setting process. I don’t think I’d have figured out where the Y came from in “posh(ish)”!
  5. Another top class effort … I suppose if he’s in the Times Crossword, Lucan must *really* be dead …
    1. Perhaps being declared officially dead is enough… That happened recently, didn’t it?
  6. After 70 minutes I gave up with only 1a and 2d solved correctly and 1d incorrect as “lost cause”. I don’t think I’ve ever solved more than a handful of clues in any of Dean’s crosswords. I just can’t get near his wavelength.
  7. A good half hour or so for this, but much enjoyed. This felt like trademark Dean Mayer, especially clues like LORD LUCAN and BANANA SKIN, both of which were worth the price of admission.

    I seem to recall spending ages at the end unable to see SERAC, probably last encountered in Mr Edwards’ 4th year geography class along with moraines, aretes, moulins and bergschrunds. Not a very straight line from ‘fears’ to ‘cares’ but I guess it arrives through ‘anxieties’.

    Thanks for the blog, Nick, especially the explanation of that ‘Y’ in LADIES DAY, which I couldn’t make sense of at all.

    1. Thanks sotira. I’m so glad BERGSCHRUNDS did not feature in the grid: no matter how generous the wordplay might have been, I would not have believed such a word was possible!
      1. I wouldn’t know one if I fell over one (or down one?) but I’ve never forgotten that they’re a thing, for which I should thank Mr Edwards.
      2. Thanks for the blog, Nick.

        I fear that now Dean knows that you are glacially-challenged, he will be dusting off his Pingos, Kettle Holes and Roche Moutonnees ready for you in a couple of weeks time.

  8. 15:25, with a bit of dithering at the end over SERAC and RYEPECK, both completely unknown. I’ve never been on a punt in my life and as sotira says ‘fears’ for CARES is a little oblique. Not for the first time Guys and Dolls came to my aid for the measure. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a STRIP MAP either, which compounded my difficulties in that corner.
    Super puzzle. Now for today’s…
    1. This was unknown to me too and I’d originally noted there were three intersecting obscurities to complain of in the SW, not just the two I mentioned above.
      1. The wordplay for STRIP MAP was at least reasonably generous: in fact it doesn’t get much more generous than 1PM for IPM! However the suspicion that there might be another word for ‘flog’ to fit ??RA? contributed to my uncertainty over the S, and hence 19dn.
        Still, absolutely no complaints from me. The clues for the obscurities are entirely fair, even if they’re not very easy.
  9. Excellent blog, Nick. So good that I got so absorbed in it that I didn’t realise I’d actually not done the puzzle. Should be able to post a decent time (some way between a Galspray and a Jason) when I tackle it tomorrow at work.
  10. Nick – there’s an N missing in the answer to 15a (it should be Crime Passionnel). Excellent blog otherwise as usual.

    Paul G

    1. Thanks Paul. Apologies for the typo. I’ll fix it up later tonight as I once inadvertently edited the blog during the day and somehow managed to wipe out all the comments to date – which now makes me very nervous…!
  11. 20 minutes of fun, ending with the Unknown crossers SERAC and the mooring, got from word play with a hope. In spite of a few hundred hours punting when I should have been test-tubing in the labs, I had never knowingly used a RYEPECK. So many good clues but I think Her Besides takes the biscuit.
  12. From the clue challenge last April

    “Outgoing girl gets attention around US hostel (8)
    MISS in EAR Y – This clue is sound but it’s a pity that it relies on a rather unfamiliar meaning (“outgoing”) for a comparatively familiar word. Also, I am not sure how many solvers would be familiar with the informal American term “Y” for a YMCA/YWCA hostel.”

  14. I was put off by 20A, which has a much better answer than the real one! Rub salt on circular parts = TONALS = *(SALT ON), anagrind = rub, definition = circular parts (repetitive singing parts).

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