Sunday Times 4777 by Jeff Pearce

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
I found this to be an enjoyable, steady solve which featured a trot around the globe to several of my favourite places (Tasmania, the US eastern seaboard, the Channel Islands and Yorkshire) and which had the added bonus of a Jabberwocky reference.

Nothing too tricky, although the parsing of 13a left me somewhat perplexed and I look forward to being put right on exactly how that works.

Merry Christmas to all the gang, and thanks to Jeff for a nice puzzle.

Across
1 Oddie’s last part after Goodies I included in paper
(8)
TREATISE – E (OddiEs last part) comes after TREATS (goodies) ‘with I included’
5 Reject a mushroom in Jersey etc — it’ll make you
retch (6)
IPECAC – Put A CEP (a mushroom) ‘in’ CI (Channel Islands – Jersey etc.) and reverse (reject) the whole lot. Having followed the reasonably clear instructions I came up with a word that looked very odd indeed, but checking later revealed it to be a syrup used to induce vomiting in people who have swallowed poison.
9 Spooner’s wet bread — firm and sticky dish (4,4)
CHOP SUEY – The dish that the good Reverend might refer to as SOP (wet bread) CHEWY (firm and sticky)
10 Copper, like gold, is toxic stuff (6)
CURARE – CU (copper) + RARE (like gold) gives the toxin of choice for those firing poisoned arrows through blow-pipes. I did wonder a little at the “rare / like gold” equation on the basis that an awful lot of people have a bit of gold jewellery about their person, but decided I was probably being too pedantic. And anyway, “copper, like rocking-horse dung…” is a less smooth surface.
12 Parasite left flower in Yorkshire (5)
LOUSE – L (left) + OUSE (flower – river – in Yorkshire)
13 American soldier wraps a kind of snack (9)
GARIBALDI – This one stumped me in terms of the exact parsing. GI (American soldier) goes around (wraps) A + RIBALD. But for this to work, “ribald” would somehow have to be gettable from “kind of”. Don’t see it myself, but I’m sure I’m just being a bit slow on the uptake. As ever, I look forward to enlightenment from my learned friends…
14 Green politicians stifle expression of joy and take on
state (3,9)
NEW HAMPSHIRE – NEW MPS (green politicians) goes around HA (stifle expression of joy) + HIRE (take on)
18 Now’s the time for presents on tree for staff tips (9,3)
CHRISTMAS BOX – CHRISTMAS (now’s the time for presents) + BOX (tree), with a reference to the old tradition of giving servants and tradespeople a “box” of cash / food etc. on St Stephen’s Day
21 Plays international without racket and it’s an unfair
match! (2,7)
NO CONTEST – TEST (international – as in test match) preceded by NO CON (without racket)
23 Manage to go round small European harbour (5)
NURSE – RUN (manage) reversed (to go round) + S (small) + E (European) giving the verb as in nurse / harbour a grudge
24 Pub invested in strong port (6)
HOBART – BAR (pub) goes inside (invested in) HOT (strong) giving us the delightful state capital of Tasmania, the port of which will no doubt be appearing on the news coverage in a few days time at the end of the annual Sydney / Hobart yacht race
25 Set on eating this? (2,6)
TV DINNER – If the TV (set) is on and you are eating, then you may well be having…
26 BBQ accessory cook finally found in drain (6)
SKEWER – K (cooK finally) ‘found in’ SEWER (drain)
27 Small change found in extremely pretty old
instrument (8)
PSALTERY – S (small) + ALTER (change) are ‘found in’ PY (extremes of PrettY), giving a kind of zither that I recall cropping up a lot in the Old Testament (usually in concert with the sackbut and the dulcimer)
Down
1 Grapple with gear (6)
TACKLE – DD
2 Journalist wraps up neat American book (6)
EXODUS – ED (journalist) goes around (wraps) OX reversed (neat up) + US (American)
3 Touring Seattle by ship is cheap (9)
TASTELESS – *(SEATTLE) – with “touring” signalling the anagram – alongside (by) SS (ship)
4 Heavy tool required to break emerald and hard gems
(12)
SLEDGEHAMMER – *(EMERALD GEMS), with H (hard) also in the mix and “to break” signposting the anagram
6 Dead plant gone missing (5)
PLUMB – PLUMB{AGO} – AGO (gone) is missing from the flowering shrub often used in rockeries. The definition might be non-obvious – think ‘dead centre’ / ‘plumb centre’
7 Have tea with modest man of the cloth … (8)
CHAPLAIN – CHA (tea) + PLAIN (modest)
8 … and another almost cut bit of witty verse (8)
CLERIHEW – CLERI{C} (another man of the cloth – ‘almost’) + HEW (cut)
11 Sip rum nervously then start to sample slithy things
heated on these? (6,6)
PRIMUS STOVES – *(SIP RUM) – with “nervously” indicating the anagram – + S (start to Sample) + TOVES (slithy things – as in the Jabberwocky). Lovely stuff.
15 Wood flyer? No, a wader (9)
SPOONBILL – SPOON (wood – old style golf club) + BILL (flyer)
16 Chant USA when rallying for Bush (8)
ACANTHUS – *(CHANT USA) with “rallying” signalling the anagram
17 Venue for those that cue Miller’s play (8)
CRUCIBLE – DD, the first being a reference to the Sheffield Crucible where the major snooker championships are held. I suspect the snooker reference may be off the radar of our friends across the pond, but the Miller reference was generous enough.
19 Grovel with item of jewellery in church (6)
CRINGE – RING (item of jewellery) ‘in’ CE (church – of England)
20 Almost sending aristo into a state (6)
NEARLY – EARL (aristo) goes into NY (a state – New York)
22 New First Lady possesses rare self-confidence (5)
NERVE – N (new) + EVE (first lady) ‘possessing’ R (abbrev. rare). R for rare is not an abbreviation that crops up much in real life (other than, possibly, on waiters’ notepads I guess) but it comes up often enough in crosswords.

19 comments on “Sunday Times 4777 by Jeff Pearce”

  1. On the club forum, I inquired whether there wasn’t a word or phrase missing (to account for RIBALD), and Peter acknowledged that there was, but declined to provide the correct clue. I assumed that there’s an adjective meaning ‘ribald’ before ‘kind of’. (Just checked the forum; nothing new there. And the solution shows the clue uncorrected.)

    Edited at 2017-12-24 12:54 am (UTC)

    1. Ah well that’s a relief! The thought of an error did cross my mind, but on a couple of occasions when blogging in the past I’ve gone down that road only to end up with significant egg on face as the “error” has actually turned out to be my stupidity in failing to spot what’s going on with the wordplay. So now I just play safe and assume I’m being dumb – which is always a reasonable punt…
      1. Just checked the forum again; the clue should have read
        American soldier wraps a coarse kind of snack
  2. Rather easy on the one hand, but then I had to biff a couple on the other: GARIBALDI of course, but also NO CONTEST and CRUCIBLE (hadn’t a clue as to the venue, but ‘Miller’s play’ was, indeed generous). LOI CHOP SUEY.
  3. I didn’t know 5a but it was generously clued. I presumed that the word ‘crude’ was missing before ‘kind of’ in GARIBALDI?
  4. Also puzzled by ‘a ribald’,though l got GARIBALDI from checkers.How is grovel=cringe,please?
    Ong’ara,
    Nairobi.
    1. Both can mean ‘to act in a servile manner’; for what it’s worth, the Oxford Thesaurus of English gives each as a synonym of the other, although of course it gives a bunch of other words as well.
  5. I got through this eventually but there were just too many unknown words or references or meanings for it to feel very satisfying. I won’t list them all or I’d be here too long, but in all my years crosswording I don’t recall meeting ‘r’ for ‘rare’ before. If I did, I’ve forgotten so I doubt it’s very common in Times Crosswordland. I just checked it’s in Collins but not the Oxfords or Chambers which I thought contained every single-letter abbreviation imaginable.

    Edited at 2017-12-24 06:41 am (UTC)

  6. Took 50 minutes on this, with NE the problem area. IPECAC constructed and entered faintly. GARIBALDI entered as the only snack the right length to start with a G and end with an I. PLUMB then biffed as in ‘PLUMB lbw’, without thinking of the vaguely known PLUMBago. I do still call the baksheesh given to dustbin men, postman, newspaper lady etc their CHRISTMAS BOX. Nick, so not so much of the old. I’ll give COD to CRUCIBLE, though it was a write-in. NO CONTEST reminded me too much of the present Ashes series. Thank you Nick and Jeff.

    Edited at 2017-12-24 08:16 am (UTC)

  7. My sort of crossword in that there were no unknowns. I had not heard of ipecac but I did know ipecacuanha, the shrub it comes from, so it went in with only a slight shrug, like 13ac which didn’t seem right but what else could it possibly be? A slip-up I suppose, but there is a long way to go before getting back to the bad old days of Peter’s predecessor, when such things were a weekly occurrence.
    Happy Xmas, all, and especially to our esteemed setters, editors and bloggers. Wonder if we get crosswords tomorrow? Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I am hoping so
    1. Jerrywh, please do not take this the wrong way but “I did know ipecacuanha” is one of the reasons I come on this wonderful site. Huge thanks to every contributor, blogger, setter and editor for enriching my life.
      Seasons greetings to you all wherever you are in the world.
  8. I recall wondering where the middle of GARIBALDI came from, but as I had the checkers I didn’t worry too much as my attention was concentrated on trying to make something of the far reaches of the NE corner. In the end I was defeated by CLERIHEW and had to use aids. I vaguely remembered IPECAC from an earlier puzzle. CHOP SUEY had me puzzled until I came here as I couldn’t make the mental leap to 3-5 from 4-4 and wondered what on earth a SHOP CUEY could be. I stuck it in anyway. I actually knew the plant(by name-no idea what it looks like). The poison has come up a few times recently. Nice puzzle. Thanks Jeff and Nick. 38:06.
  9. This took me an hour and I found it quite tough. Once I found I could not crowbar emetic into 5ac I trusted the wordplay to arrive at the unknown solution. I too was flummoxed by the wordplay in 13ac, I did wonder if there was an error. Christmas box was unknown. Couldn’t see the parsing of no contest. Never been to 17dn but did go to a second round match in the 2002 B&H Masters at Wembley arena. Of all the break-building snooker talent in that year’s top 16 I managed to see a match featuring Peter Ebdon and Graeme Dott, great players but I don’t think either made a 30 break in a match that was still going into the early hours, not a great spectacle – shades of Terry Griffiths v Cliff Thorburn.
    1. I remember that match. They don’t call him the Grinder for nothing:-) I’ve never been to the Crucible either, but did get to meet Mark Selby in March when he did an exhibition at Darlington Snooker Club. A really nice man.
  10. Thank you for clearing that up – I didn’t have time to chase down the reference and had no idea what “cue” was doing in there. By the time I’d finished it was pretty clear there was an omission with GARIBALDI, and I thought it wasn’t much of a snack, but biscuit or cookie would have been too obvious. I was another trying for “emetic” but I did know IPECAC from Dorothy Sayers’s Clouds Of Witness in which Wimsey’s sister uses it for malingering purposes. 17.17

    Merry Christmas to all!

  11. This was largely accessible for me. I am used to not parsing everything so I bunged in Garibaldi without worrying; also Plumb. I also managed to work out Ipecac despite it not looking like any word I had heard of.
    I was defeated by Clerihew -never got anywhere near it and by Curare. Enjoyable puzzle. David
  12. I assumed crucible was a theatre term for prompter’s box which I wasn’t familiar with. Seemed reasonable. I had the same problems in the NE as everyone else – and I can say categorically that I did not know either of the NE plants. Based on form, I’m not likely to remember them if they come up again, either. Nice blog, Nick. Nice puzzle, Jeff. Good Christmas to all.

    Edited at 2017-12-24 04:29 pm (UTC)

  13. GARIBALDI was just one of many that got a question mark in my margin as I worked my way through, so I didn’t think too hard about it at the time. Not knowing “plumbago”, only vaguely remembering CLERIHEW and HOBART from previous puzzles, and so on…

    Although I say that, but last Sunday I was sure I’d never heard of IPECAC. Then this week I was re-watching House, and a plot point of one episode was that the poorly patient had caused many of their own symptoms by secretly self-medicating with the stuff.

    I must have seen that episode at least three times, and they not only mention the word repeatedly, but even hold up the bottle with it written on, so clearly some vocabulary just goes straight through my brain without sticking to the sides even slightly…

    Anyway. Enough rambling asides. Happy Christmas to bloggers, setters, solvers, editors, and everyone else!

    Edited at 2017-12-25 09:09 am (UTC)

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