Sunday Times 4773 by Dean Mayer

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
The recent run of (relatively speaking) gentle ST puzzles continued with this enjoyable offering from Dean.

The trademark concise and elegant cluing was there as always, but for once your ‘umble blogger was able to navigate the perilous seas of a Dean Mayer puzzle without spending most of the voyage convinced that I would never reach my destination.

For those (like me) who love a nice surface, there was much to enjoy – particularly 14a, 24a, 2d, 15d and 17d. Great crop of clues, with the ingenious 2d and 17d being my personal favourites.

Thanks as ever to Dean.

Definitions underlined: DD = double definition: anagrams indicated by *(–): omitted letters indicated by {-}

Across
1 To have houses bloody demolished (4,4)
TORE DOWN – TO OWN (to have) goes around (houses) RED (bloody)
5 Fighting depression will not finish artist (6)
WARHOL – WAR (fighting) + HOL{e} (depression will not finish)
10 Ceremony’s an austere do (9)
POMPADOUR – POMP (ceremony) + A DOUR (an austere) giving the hair “do”
11 Scrap old copper to burn? (5)
DITCH – D (old copper – the penny pre 1971) + ITCH (burn)
12 Head stand (3)
RUN – DD – bit of head scratching before I managed to rumble the second usage of standing / running in an election
13 A round of applause? (3,2,6)
LAP OF HONOUR – Rather nice cryptic definition based on a circuit being round
14 When one tries to get changed in the dark (4,3,5)
NONE THE WISER – *(WHEN ONE TRIES) with “to get changed” signalling the anagram
18 Queen’s speech a religious commitment? (12)
RENUNCIATION – R (queen) + ENUNCIATION (speech)
21 England fans also helping out (11)
ANGLOPHILES – *(ALSO HELPING) with “out” signposting the anagram
23 In Too Deep lyric (3)
ODE – The answer is hidden “in” toO DEep
24 Get on news with a lady from Italy (5)
DONNA – DON (get on) + N (abbrev. News) ‘with A’
25 I drink during lecture in spring (9)
ORIGINATE – I GIN (I drink) inside (during) ORATE (lecture)
26 Remain outside area with one’s contact (6)
LIAISE – LIE (remain) goes around (outside) A (area) ‘with’ IS (one’s)
27 A sucker for power’s brainwashing (8)
AGITPROP – A GIT (a sucker – i.e. fool) + PRO (for) + P (power). I checked out GIT post solve in case there was some more specific connection with “sucker” (I’d only ever known it as a somewhat generic insult favoured by Alf Garnett when haranguing his scouser son in law) but there does not appear to be one. However, I was intrigued to learn from Wikipedia that as an insult it is “roughly on a par with ‘prat’ but marginally less pejorative than ‘berk'” – which in turn conjures up a somewhat Pythonesque image of a committee making fine-grained rulings on the relative weighting of various insults…
Down
1 Reducing volume, record band (8)
TAPERING – TAPE (record) + RING (band)
2 It might make a drunk driver pensive (8)
RUMINANT – If you put RUM IN a (driver) ANT, you might make it drunk… lovely surface, clever clue
3 Slow speech from medic — it’s boring (5)
DRAWL – DR (medic) + AWL (tool for ‘boring’)
4 Trump imitator usually seated? (7,7)
WHOOPEE CUSHION – Amusing cryptic based on “trump” being slang for the act of breaking wind. Somehow I’d missed out on this little nugget of information over the years – I’m amazed this potentially rich vein of humour was not mined more avidly when The Donald was elected (or did I somehow miss it?).
6 Stars with dream about grabbing Oscar (9)
ANDROMEDA – AND (with) + *(DREAM) – with “about” indicating the anagram – and O (Oscar) also being added into the mix
7 New way to leave behind a fast car (3,3)
HOT ROD – HOT (new) + RO{a}D (way to leave behind ‘a’)
8 City of Pakistan I see featured in stories (6)
LAHORE – AH (I see) is ‘featured in’ LORE (stories)
9 Speed control driving round the bend? No (7,7)
TRAFFIC CALMING – If it’s having a calming effect, then it’s not driving you round the bend
15 Rich family has to rely on working (3,6)
THE ROYALS – *(HAS TO RELY) with “working” signposting the anagram
16 Modified, round is a square (8)
DINOSAUR – *(ROUND IS A) with “modified” signalling the anagram
17 Not submerged, but half-way to the bottom (4-4)
KNEE-DEEP – Lovely cryptic definition based on the knee being, well, approximately half-way up towards the posterior
19 Vehicle picked up juvenile delinquent (6)
VANDAL – VAN (vehicle) + LAD reversed (picked up juvenile)
20 Old article about new programme (6)
AGENDA – AGED A (old article) goes around (about) N (new)
22 Avoid heading for runway during take-off (5)
SKIRT – R (heading for Runway) goes inside (during) SKIT (take off – as in pastiche)

24 comments on “Sunday Times 4773 by Dean Mayer”

  1. As Nick says, this was a very enjoyable puzzle, with 17d evoking a chuckle. I mentioned this to Dean on Twitter and he said it made him laugh too. It was nice to find out how approachable the setters are at the York gathering. There were lots of cunning clues which took me time to get my head round, so by the time I’d completed, 47:28 had elapsed. Fortunately I didn’t have any errors. I missed the reference to a Driver Ant and wondered how the last bit of 2d worked, so thanks for that Nick. I also looked GIT up after submitting to see the exact definition. A class puzzle. Thanks Dean and Nick.
    1. The Ant seems to have troub;led quite a few of our pals today (see comments below). I must have been lucky, as I somehow recalled this from another crossword a couple of years ago. An unusual occurrence, as I generally think “hm, must remember that one as it’s bound to crop up again” and then promptly forget all about it…
  2. This wasn’t gentle for me; unlike Nick, I was convinced I’d never finish, and indeed finally just flung in RUMINANT & RUN because I was sick of staring at the blank squares. I should have twigged to RUN, but I would never have solved RUMINANT. Wondered about GIT=sucker, too, and DNK ‘trump’ or TRAFFIC CALMING. Liked LAHORE, although ‘City of Pakistan’ does rather invite biffing, Karachi, Rawalpindi, and Islamabad being out of the picture.

    Edited at 2017-11-26 05:53 am (UTC)

  3. Collins says the meaning of “trump” pertaining to flatulence is strictly British slang, which would limit, alas, its use this side of the pond.
    1. Don’t know about the Totalitarian Republic of Trump but here in Canada TOOT is the polite expression.

      Unless you are the my partner’s 2yr old niece. She was climbing on her chair as we sat down to lunch (10 mins. after meeting her for the first time) when she looked me in the eye and announced with a grin “I’ve just done a bum fart”.

      Such announcements should be compulsory so people with a delicate constitution could evacuate the area. ;>) ;>)

      Tom (and Janet). Toronto.

  4. Enjoyable enough with some rather fine surfaces. I also didn’t know (or perhaps remember) the driver ant.

    I was a little puzzled by “religious commitment” = RENUNCIATION as it occurs ro me that renunciation is surely more of a denial than a commitment, but I’m not over familiar with all that stuff and perhaps my thinking on the matter is a bit skewed.

    Edited at 2017-11-26 05:38 am (UTC)

    1. I was delighted to be asked to be Godfather to the son of some friends. What I was not prepared for was a rather stern looking vicar staring at me during the baptism service and demanding “do you renounce the Devil and all his works?” Seemed like a big call at the time, but equally it was a bit late to bail out… I felt I had made a commitment of sorts, albeit I decided to adopt a more restrictive view of the exact scope of “his works” than that which the vicar might have had in mind.
  5. Brilliant as usual from Anax.COD DINOSAUR.Jacktt,the other meaning of RENUNCIATION is in my Oxford(not the ‘condemnation’ one)
    Ong’ara,
    Nairobi.
    1. As well as the ODE def and examples, participants in some Baptism and Confirmation services are asked to renounce evil.
  6. I completely missed the driver ant reference although now I’ve looked it up I recall them as “siafu” in The Flame Trees Of Thika, in which the family had to stand their beds in sardine tins full of water to prevent being overrun while asleep. Ugh. I created an obstacle course for myself by having “torn” down in 1A for much too long. I refuse to speak the name of the current occupant of the White House. 25.11
    1. I’d forgotten all about ‘The Flame Trees of Thika’ after all the decades since I read it; thank you for reminding me of it. A friend of mine of that time, who was doing his doctoral research on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, was once, ah, driven out of his thatched hut by a troop of ants. (He also learned to check, before entering it, where the lizards were. If pretty much everywhere, fine; if all concentrated at one end of the roof, that meant a snake at the other, and he would ask his local assistant, who had a club, to come in and bash the intruder.)
  7. 16:12. Not too many problems with this, although I had no idea about the driver ant in 2dn. I initially put WHOOPIE CUSHION at 4dn but somehow managed to spot the error when checking my answers.

    Edited at 2017-11-26 02:12 pm (UTC)

  8. …was the expression my father would use, circa 1950. I can remember giggling when Grannie taught me how to play Whist. Whatever happened to whist drives? Anyway, WHOOPEE CUSHION was a write-in. To this physicist, our neighbouring galaxy produces an immediate image, the beautiful face of a youthful Julie Christie as first seen in A for Andromeda. COD KNEE-DEEP caused more a guffaw than a titter. The two stickers were RUMINANT, where the penny with the ant never dropped, and LOI AGITPROP. If discussing my intelligence, I’d rather be a GIT, if my behaviour, I’d rather be a PRAT. I think I took about 55 minutes from memory. We’re still in New York, about to head off to the cruise terminal and the Bahamas. This retirement life is all go. Thank you Nick for the blog and Dean for the fine puzzle.
    1. Boltonwanderer Sir ! I am presently writing about Nassau – the Harry Oakes murder.

      Try to go to Paradise Island – it is right next to the cruise terminals. It’s where a lot of Thunderball was filmed back in early 1965. The real trip would be to Rose Island – rather remote- between New Providence and Eleuthera. It is where a great deal of surveillance was carried out in WWII seeking U-boats. Eighty-eight in total were noted in Bahamaian waters (from the Tambach Archive) but only one ever actually seen above the water line, at Clarence Town (Long Island) in August 1944.

      Also try to visit where Sir Harry Oakes was murdered back in July 1943! It is to the south of Cable Beach on the south shore of Lake Cunninghamon the Westbourne Estate – the house is now demolished – but great views of the Harbour. Much new evidence has recently come to light on this ever enthralling case.

      You may be on a tour and have little time for all this nonsense – whatever – have a great trip!

      WOD 27ac AGITPROP COD 8ac WARHOL

      Edited at 2017-11-26 05:09 pm (UTC)

  9. Much enjoyed. I cannot begin to tell you how much I look forward to a Dean crossword with a bottle of good wine on Sunday while cooking lunch. The anagrams were particularly good, I thought. I, too, missed the Driver Ant connnection.
  10. 52:50 for me. Slow progress made around the outside before working my way in. Might’ve been a bit quicker if I’d got the two longish downs in the middle a bit sooner. I thought 14ac was terrific. 17dn and 4dn made me laugh out loud. I bunged in ruminant without appreciating the driver and wondered if ant might be a specialist golfing term. Great stuff as usual.
  11. Thanks for the blog Nick, I also failed to parse 2d.

    Your comments on 27a are interesting. I think I could just about have called my Dad a berk and got away with it if the circumstances justified it. Git or prat would have earned me a thick ear, with no right of appeal to your Pythonesque committee!

    1. Yes, I tend to agree – berk seems marginally lower down the scale. Then of course there are regional specialities – personal favourite was always the Geordie “wazzock”.
      1. Wazzock is a classic Geordie expression. If you’ve ever watched Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Jimmy Nail(Oz) comes up with lots of them. Most of them definitely non PC!!
  12. I must be getting awfully dim, because I can’t see what an ant has got to do with it. The thought of putting rum in an ant seems very odd; I’m evidently missing something. And how is a head a run? I missed the standing for election thing as well when solving, but at least that’s OK now.
    1. There is a wee creature called a driver ant (I only knew it because it has cropped up in a puzzle before and somehow it stuck in the memory bank – a rare thing!) Putting rum in one is indeed a bit of an odd notion, but seemed OK for crosswordland.

      If you head an organisation, you run it.

      1. Well I’m very surprised that the ant thing got through our esteemed but Zoilist editor. Ludicrous. imho.
  13. Don’t know about the Totalitarian Republic of Trump but here in Canada TOOT is the polite expression.

    Unless you are the my partner’s 2yr old niece. She was climbing on her chair as we sat down to lunch (10 mins. after meeting her for the first time) when she looked me in the eye and announced with a grin “I’ve just done a bum fart”.

    Such announcements should be compulsory so people with a delicate constitution could evacuate the area. ;>) ;>)

    Tom (and Janet). Toronto.

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