Sunday Times 4732 by David McLean – leave the gun

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
13:30. Another fairly straightforward puzzle this week, so another week in which I have avoided silly error. There seem to be quite a few straightforward anagrams in this one, and there is nothing terribly obscure. There were just one or two quite tricky bits of wordplay to slow me down a little and add to the interest in what was generally another enjoyable Sunday morning solve.

Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (THIS)*.

Across
1 Noble novelist hands around exotic hardcore
LORD ARCHER – L and R (two hands) containing (HARDCORE)*. The definition is technically correct, in both particulars. The surface describes something one might conceivably do at a shepherd’s pie and Krug party.
6 Idiot one battered in a chippy outside Lima
CLOD – C(L)OD.
10 A couple of guys and I shot a singer in NY
CHAPMAN – CHAP (guy), MAN (guy). I had forgotten that it was Mark CHAPMAN who shot John Lennon in New York in 1980, but the answer was clear from the wordplay.
11 One cutting a record or disc in Cleveland?
GROOVER – GRO(O)VER, a reference to Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th presidents of the USA. American democracy: it’s a shame of course but it had a good innings.
12 Running well, having eaten tons at home
SRINTING – SPRIN(T, IN)G.
13 Some remodel high-rises in an Asian city
DELHI – contained in ‘remodel high-rises’.
14 Short of millions, one retiring star …
MINUS – M,I, reversal of SUN. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in expecting ‘short of millions’ to be an instruction to remove an M from something.
15 … worried over a nude undertaking
ENDEAVOUR – (OVER A NUDE)*.
17 Curse weapon jammed by damage from use
SWEARWORD – S(WEAR)WORD.
20 When gulping half of water ice helps?
ABETS – A(sorBET)S. This was my last in, and I biffed it in the end without figuring out how it worked. I had just failed to consider that ‘half of’ can indicate the second half, as well as the first – doh!!
21 Bar supplier’s inventory including ultimate in fizz
LISZT – LIS(fizZ)T.
23 Attacker giving trouble to soldier on dope
ASSAILANT – ASS (dope), AIL (trouble), ANT (soldier).
25 Dessert tin I left resting atop rolls
CANNOLI – CAN, reversal of I, L, ON.
26 Coffee sailor found in Africa, not France
ARABICA – AfR(AB)ICA. We had the coarse ROBUSTA the other day: this is its more suave and wordly cousin.
27 Fast food one eats on a regular basis
DIET – DIET. Sometimes you might be on a DIET, but you’re always on a DIET.
28 A lean sun so unexpectedly odd in summer?
UNSEASONAL – (A LEAN SUN SO)*.

Down
1 Place one in biblical plague finally departed
LOCUS – LOCUSt.
2 Again adjust the bottom line?
REARRANGE – or REAR RANGE.
3 Government work isn’t about to be held in respect
ADMINISTRATION – ADMIRATION containing (ISN’T)*.
4 Conservative performing well? Shut up!
CONFINE – C, ON, FINE. An apposite surface reading at the moment.
5 Good time to split tip with fiancée?
ENGAGED – EN(G, AGE)D.
7 Plane, going up, or going down?
LEVEL – a palindrome, hence the same going up as going down.
8 French bums giving voice to Irish songs?
DERRIERES – sounds like ‘Derry airs’. The most famous of these French bums being the London one, of course.
9 Helpful folk song a radio mast broadcast
GOOD SAMARITANS – (SONG A RADIO MAST)*.
14 Injured pal medics lost for a while?
MISPLACED – (PAL MEDICS)*.
16 Surgery ready for business about ten to one?
OPERATION – OPE(RATIO)N. I biffed this, and have only just worked out the wordplay – with some difficulty!
18 Public speech to air on outrageous …
ORATION – (TO AIR ON)*.
19 … complaint I’d raised on mains energy
DISEASE – reversal of I’D then SEAS, E.
22 Feeling on edge? Take time out for son!
SENSE – replace the T (time) in TENSE (on edge) with S (son).
24 A rough path’s to follow after Republican gets in
TRAIL – T(R)AIL. Another rather apposite surface reading.

12 comments on “Sunday Times 4732 by David McLean – leave the gun”

  1. Not knowing CANNOLI, I was at sea at 25ac. I also didn’t know Mark CHAPMAN, but that wasn’t a problem. Otherwise nothing particularly exciting; Harry has been rather gentler to us lately than before. K, you’ve got a D missing from the anagrist at 1ac.
  2. 1ac LORD ARCHER of Weston-super-Mare the best selling novellist, once Conservative Chairman and Grantchester perjuror, wrote some tosh in his time. But his Prison Diaries I, II & III are simply excellent.
    I always assume that people whose names appear in the 15×15 are dead – but the ruling appears to be different for The Sunday Times – or am I missing something!? MY COD

    FOI 6ac CLOD LOI CHAPMAN he’s still on the go too!

    I could not parse 20ac ABETS either – obscure to say the least.

    WOD GOOD SAMARITANS

    Edited at 2017-02-12 02:26 am (UTC)

    1. The ST allows living people’s names in both clue and solution. There are a couple of other differences between the ST and the daily, but I can’t think of them at the moment.
      1. The ST is more free with brand names, setters are named .. and ST clueing is generally a little freer than the daily cryptic, a little less ruled by the dead hand of Ximenes.. which I like.
  4. 41 minutes, so pretty quick for a Sunday for me. I also took a long time to see the “sorbet”. And I wasn’t helped by misspelling “LISZT” for a while. D’oh. Everything else fell into place quite quickly, though.
  5. Had a quick look at this on Sunday. Normally DM’s puzzles are a bit too challenging for me but I got a few quickly and decided to persist. Managed to get most of it on Sunday; the rest followed during the week. My last two were Cannoli (unknown) and Abets (unable to parse). I thought there was a lot to like in this puzzle including 1a and 21a and 8d. David
  6. I don’t really think of it as dessert, more a sort of teatime treat. My son-in-law when the fit is on him gets holy cannoli donuts (don’t ask how many calories) from a Brooklyn pasticceria. I also knew it because a former broadcaster for the NY Yankees Phil Rizzuto was well known for his colourful outbursts and Holy Cannoli was one of them. CHAPMAN usually gets referred to around here with his full name – Mark David, as in Lee Harvey. I don’t know why. 16.48
    1. Those cannoli donuts sound sick, as my kids would say. There’s a natural deep-fried affinity between the two that I intuitively know would work.
      I sort of agree with you in the ‘teatime treat’ front, although the subsequent dinner would have to be a modest affair.
    2. It’s a funny thing about Americans. All their heroes and “good guys” are referred to only with their middle initials; the villains are always given their full three names. 🙂
  7. As someone already said, Harry’s getting gentler. Or maybe we’re getting the hang of him. Always a pleasure when he’s on duty though.

    Thanks for the blog K.

Comments are closed.