Sunday Times 4751 by Jeff Pearce

14 comments on “Sunday Times 4751 by Jeff Pearce”

1. I’m finding it more and more difficult to remember details of individual puzzles done a week or more ago. However my time of 32:50 indicates that I didn’t struggle with this one, and a grid of all blue letters shows I managed to finish all correct. PENCIL CASE is still highlighted so I assume it was my LOI. I suspect KELP was my FOI. OTTO went in on a wing and a prayer. I do seem to remember some mental contortions to get ARCHDEACON. Thanks Jeff and Nick.
2. I thought at first that ‘big-headed’ referred to Fischer–but that would still have made it redundant. But kingfishers have big heads (for their size); so the definition is ‘big-headed and beaky sort’.
   1. I think you must be right Kevin – but I must admit I’ve never really thought of this lovely bird as being characterised by a particularly large head.
      1. Oddly enough, I always have; think of them in comparison, say, to hawks or pigeons. Wikipedia says that all 114 species are characterized by large heads and pointy beaks.
3. Like John, I don’t recall much of this–no notes on my copy, other than ‘terse clues’. And like John, my time suggests there wasn’t much to slow me down; but I liked a number of the clues for their economy, like 17d and 23d, and especially 10ac.
4. I had this one complete in 29 mins and 40 secs, so fairly gentle for a Sunday. FOI 6ac. LOI 1ac. COD 5dn which I would agree is semi&lit. Glad when I realised I wasn’t looking for an actual Victorian personage at 15ac because none came readily to mind. For me, 11dn brought back fond childhood memories of the eponymous cartoon from the 1980s which Kenneth Williams narrated and voiced all the characters including Mavis Cruet the Fairy, Arthur the Caterpillar and Evil Edna the Witch (a walking television set). I don’t know if it was limited to a UK audience only.
5. So OTTO is a perfume?The wordplay clearly leads to it but only knew it as a German name.This was a fairly easy Jeff effort.
   ONG’ARA,
   NAIROBI.
   1. We’ve had it before, or I probably wouldn’t have got it this time. You might be more familiar with ‘attar’, of which it’s a variant.
6. I forgot to note a starting time for this one or record whether it gave me any problems but judging by the neatness of my entries in the grid and the lack of annotations or workings elsewhere I think I must have found it straightforward.

   I note that last time the clue to OTTO came up it was in 4715 and this time it’s in 4751.

   Edited at 2017-06-25 06:28 am (UTC)

7. Having finished the Saturday puzzle on Saturday (not a common occurrence) I had time to have a go at this.
   A couple of long clues went in easily (11d and 3d ) and so I had a foothold.
   I was not sure about Otto or Apostate but could not see anything else. Struggled a bit with 15a but got it finished and sent it in. Enjoyable challenge. David
8. A pleasant puzzle; my notes tell me my FOI was 6a, though I seem to remember getting PENCILCASE almost immediately but not being sure enough to write it in until I got some crossers. I didn’t note my LOI, but the scrawlings make it clear that PEREMPTORY and APOSTATE needed some working out. I might have been the simpler CHAT, though, just because I didn’t know the birds…

   41 minutes overall, and, more than that, my very first solid week of Monday-to-Sunday under-an-hour correct completions, which was nice. This week I’m not doing so well, mind…

   Thanks to setter and blogger.

9. ….so quite easy for a Sunday.

   It’s a very different story this week!

   1. You’re telling me!!
10. I did this in just under 9m but with a mistake that is so stupid I’m too embarrassed to tell you what it was.

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