Sunday Times 4742 by Jeff Pearce

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
This took me a little under 10 minutes, so from my perspective at least it wasn’t a difficult puzzle. But that is no bad thing, and I really enjoyed solving this one. It’s mostly impeccably clued and there are a couple of really nice touches. I have a small query about 17ac, and a slightly larger one about 3dn, but it’s always good for us nerds to have something to talk about, eh?

Across
1 Threatening senior nurse while clutching hip
SINISTER – S(IN)ISTER. I’m not sure I knew that a ‘sister’ was a senior nurse.
5 Two guys like Rosemary?
HERBAL – or HERB and AL.
10 Campanologist might seem familiar
RING A BELL – nearly a DD, this, although you could argue the first half is cryptic if only in the sense that it’s a bit of an odd definition. So I haven’t underlined it.
11 Back in bed without this medicine
TONIC – IN contained in COT, all reversed.
12 It’s apparent that learner’s suffering!
PLAIN – L (learner) is in PAIN.
13 Share out a soft drink to one cricket side
APPORTION – A, P, PORT, I, ON.
14 Is erotic novel written on such?
ESCRITOIRE – (IS EROTIC)*, RE (on). Semi-&Lit.
17 Provokes supporters
FANS – DD. I’m not sure about the first definition here. Surely FAN here has to be accompanied by some flames, and even then if you try to provoke a fire with a fan your barbecue will not be very successful. Even in the figurative sense the flames (of rebellion or whatever) have to be provoked before they can be fanned. I’m either missing something or being too picky.
19 Laid hands on fabric
FELT – another DD.
20 Woman riding barely seen by this sole spectator
PEEPING TOM – cryptic definition referring to the story of Lady Godiva, who fared significantly better than Cersei Lannister under similar circumstances.
22 Wine on tray I ignored for something smelling sweet
ROSEWATER – ROSE, WAiTER. I didn’t know that a WAITER could be a tray, but it seemed perfectly feasible and the answer was obvious.
24 Code breaker not quite finished in the city
TURIN – TURINg.
26 America win once more
AGAIN – A, GAIN.
27 The German returned to island with note about fish
RED MULLET – reversal of DER, MULL, reversal of TE.
28 Cavalryman retiring mule in unfinished dash
HUSSAR – reversal of ASS in HURl.
29 One makes good stand with supplier of metal rod
RESTORER – REST, ORE (supplier of metal), R (rod). A rod is a unit of distance, related to the perch, used in crosswords.

Down
1 Like a money belt but unable to fill it!
STRAPPED FOR CASH – a CD and then a sort of semi-&Litish definition that relies on the initial CD. I struggle to categorise this clue really but take comfort from the fact that there’s absolutely no need to.
2 Some assassin in Japan
NINJA – contained in ‘assassin in Japan’. &Lit.
3 Perhaps a saline solution is primarily its home
SEA SNAIL – I can’t see how this works. It seems to be an angram of A SALINE and Solution. But I can’t see how ‘solution is primarily’ (as opposed to ‘solution primarily’) can indicate the first letter of ‘solution’. Did the word ‘is’ sneak in here somehow? Or am I missing something?
4 Ultimately nurse has the last word about medical procedure
ENEMA – nursE, reversal of AMEN.
6 Milk old mate put on lots of rich cake
EXTORT – EX (old mate, in the sense ‘partner’ rather than ‘mucker’), TORTe.
7 Epicure’s oral exam is in German city at start of term
BON VIVANT – BON(VIVA)N, T. I bunged in BON VIVEUR here initially, but fortunately the answer to 20ac was sufficiently clear that it didn’t slow me down much.
8 Beneath lake’s north shore Scotsmen fabricated me?
LOCH NESS MONSTER – L, (N SHORE SCOTSMEN)*. Semi-&Lit. Very neat!
9 Bull‘s about to sip gin?
CLAPTRAP – C, LAP, TRAP. ‘Gin’ for trap is one of those (many) things you see a lot in crosswords and almost never anywhere else.
15 Chilly times caught by photos from the past
COLD SNAPS – or C (caught), OLD SNAPS.
16 Having finished tune, runs to replace new piece of music
OVERTURE – OVER (finished), then TUNE with R replacing N.
18 Oddly Tony Curtis is prepared to teach
INSTRUCT – (ToNy, CURTIS)*. This wasn’t hard to solve but it’s a really lovely clue. The problem with being obsessed with speed, as I confess I am, is that you tend not to notice how neat something like ‘oddly Tony Curtis’ is. One of the great benefits of blogging is that you can’t help it.
21 Republic with war raging around it
RWANDA – an anagram (raging) of WAR surrounding AND (with).
23 Good big dipper, perhaps, but without a long hill
RIDGE – RIDE (big dipper perhaps) containing G. The use of ‘but without’ is quite unusual, I think, and I really like it.
25 Controller and provider of measured information
RULER – again, you could almost classify this as a DD but there is an intent to deceive in the second half of the clue.

19 comments on “Sunday Times 4742 by Jeff Pearce”

  1. Perhaps too easily solved, as I overlooked some of the nice points, and problems, you indicate. For what it’s worth, I suspect, as do you, that ‘is’ slipped into 3d. And I’d say ‘provokes’=FANS is good enough for government work. Liked ‘Oddly Tony Curtis’.
  2. 17A: the Collins “make fiercer” def doesn’t mention flames …
    3D: yes, the editorial red pen should have deleted “is” or moved it to after “primarily”

    1. I had no trouble with the absence of flames; one can fan fear of bats, to take an ODE example, or hostility, or prejudice, etc. To me the gravamen of K’s charge was that to fan X, there must be a pre-existing X, whereas one can provoke X from scratch. As I said above, I think they’re close enough to make the clue work.
    2. Fair enough, although I don’t recognise the usage: if someone referred to fanning a fear of bats I would think it odd. But as Kevin says it’s close enough for government work I suppose.
  3. I was happy enough with FANS and did think that it would work better with ‘primarily is’ but otherwise liked SEA SNAIL. Enjoyed the reference to Tony Curtis and wondered if ‘curl’ would have been a legitimate anagram indicator. Maybe that wouldn’t work for the under sixties. Finished in 18 minutes which is quick for me but did enjoy it. COD STRAPPED FOR CASH. Thank you K and setter.

    Edited at 2017-04-23 06:13 am (UTC)

  4. I got no time to worry – well 30 mins (unlike today!)

    I particularly enjoyed 14ac ESCRITOIRE my WOD

    and COD 18dn INSTRUCT with a tip of the hat to Tony Curtis.

    Next week I’m off the radar so cheers for now!

  5. For me “provokes dissent” and “fans dissent” are close enough to be comfortable.
  6. I don’t have a time but it was, for me, at the easy end of the spectrum. Nothing gave me a particular problem. Enjoyed Tony and the Loch Ness Monster.
  7. A very pleasant Sunday outing.

    The clue that raised an eybrow for me was at 9d C LAP TRAP where LAP and SIP are equated. Surely they are two very different ways of drinking, the latter involving the tongue and mainly done by dogs & cats. Ladies might sip their G&Ts but it would be a very curious sight indeed if they lapped them?

    Thanks to Jeff Pearce & Keriothe – entertaining as always.

    1. Fair point, but I think the ‘close enough for government work’ principle applies again here.
  8. A pleasant, steady, 45 mins solve for me. Eyebrow raised at 3dn which I couldn’t fully parse for the reasons mentioned. I liked my FOI 4ac even though it felt like a bit of a chestnut. I was also careful to parse bon vivant because bon viveur tripped more readily off the tongue. COD to 8dn which I thought was very neat.
  9. l agree with most of you that this was a gentle one by Jeff,bracing myself for today’s by ace tormentor Anax,l suppose.
    Ong’ara,
    Nairobi.
  10. I found this one pleasantly straightforward. It took me 23:03 to complete. Liked Loch Ness Monster. Took me a while to tease out RWANDA. Had no problem with FANS, but did wonder about SEA SNAIL. Thanks Jeff and Keriothe.
  11. Enjoyed this and managed to finish it after a torrid time doing the previous day’s puzzle.
    I also put in Bon Viveur before correction.Could not parse Claptrap so thanks for that. Sea Snail was a struggle. David

  12. Yes fans was fine I thought. A shame about the small mistake in this fun puzzle.

    Thank you for Tony Curtis in particular.

  13. Yes fans was fine I thought. A shame about the small mistake in this fun puzzle.

    Thank you for Tony Curtis in particular.

  14. Under 60 minutes in 2 sessions – another PB
    Had to print a paper copy from the digital edition because The Weekend Australian web page failed (again) to produce the puzzle.
    Working with pencil on paper seemed to inspire confidence.
    Biffed a lot but comfort myself by believing the words are known, just buried in the fog.
    Time to dump this subscription and find the source

    thank you all for the blog. most enjoyable.

    1. Plenty of reasons for dumping the Australian, only one for keeping it. Crosswords.
      1. If you subscribe to the Times (and a digital-only subscription is quite reasonable I think) you get access to the Crossword Club, and all the crosswords you could ever want to solve.
        Alternatively both the Guardian and the Independent publish a crossword every day, completely free.

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