Sunday Times 4779 by Dean Mayer

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Preparations on the Sunday for the NYE event Mrs No Vice (if ever there was a misnomer…) and I were hosting meant I did not get around to this one until New Years Day. Tackling a Dean offering at the best of times invariably takes me to the edges of my competency: tackling one in the aftermath of a party of heroic proportions might be regarded as downright foolish. But, fortunately this particular puzzle seemed less tricky than many from Mr. Mayer, although the last couple (1dn and 21ac) only fell into place after I’d put the paper aside for a couple of hours and gone for a walk across Hampstead Heath in an attempt to clear the addled brain.

Not that there was (in retrospect) anything particularly dastardly about either of these clues, just rather good misdirection – 1dn had me fixated on golf clubs and pregnancy (an odd combination of thought patterns) and 21ac had me trawling through Irish history. But I managed to get there in the end, cursing my stupidity as the light eventually dawned.

Anyway, yet another fine puzzle from Dean (as ever, the economy and elegance of the cluing was superb). Particular favourites were 4dn (conjuring up a kind of Hogwarts image) and the very elegant 19a where I spent an age looking for a chap’s name.

So here is how I think it all works. Thanks as ever to Dean for a fun puzzle, and a Happy New Year to one and all.

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

Across
1 Drug cops out to keep it back (8)
SEDATIVE – EVADES (cops out) with IT ‘kept’ inside, all reversed (back)
5 Leave work, given push (3,3)
OPT OUT – OP (work) + TOUT (push)
10 Dad getting over friend’s outrage (5)
APPAL – PA reversed (Dad getting over) + PAL (friend)
11 Pinpoints rocky island that’s private (5,4)
NAILS DOWN – *(ISLAND) – with “rocky” signalling the anagram – + OWN (private)
12 Turning around for a chat (12)
CONVERSATION – CONVERSION (turning) goes ‘around’ AT (for). At least, I assume that’s how it works, but I must admit I struggled to think of a usage where AT could be substituted for FOR. Best I could come up with was the usage in pricing – “cake at a pound a piece / for a pound a piece”, but there maybe something obvious I have missed.
15 Flatter type of cable (4)
COAX – DD, the latter being the short form of COAXIAL
16 Biker out in France, she runs German pub (10)
BIERKELLER – *(BIKER) – with “out’ signposting the anagram – + ELLE (in France she) + R (runs)
18 Petty thief? (3,7)
CAT BURGLAR – Cryptic definition, based on a cat being a pet
19 Man possibly heard in corridor (4)
ISLE – Sounds like (heard in) AISLE (corridor)
21 Future leader’s great deal over Irish cause (4,8)
HEIR APPARENT – HEAP (great deal) goes around (over) IR (Irish) + PARENT (cause)
24 Please return what? (4,5)
COME AGAIN – DD
25 Saw too much within a second (5)
MOTTO – OTT (too much) inside (within) MO (a second)
26 British pure dairy product (6)
BUTTER – B (British) + UTTER (pure)
27 Worried about unopened stock in wine store (8)
CELLARED – CARED (worried) goes around (about) {S}ELL (unopened stock – i.e. without first letter)
Down
1 Knocks up a wedge full of cold chicken (10)
SPATCHCOCK – TAPS reversed (knocks up) + CHOCK (wedge – as in “chocks away!”) with C inside (full of cold)
2 Extremely dire rubbish about close relatives? (10)
DEPENDANTS – DE (‘extremes’ of DirE) + PANTS (rubbish) ‘about’ END (close). The question mark is significant as a dependant might not necessarily be a relative.
3 Farm tool creating lines in a row (6)
TILLER – LL (lines) ‘in’ TIER (a row) – & Lit, I guess
4 It appears to go on the face (9,5)
VANISHING CREAM – Pleasingly whimsical cryptic definition – I like the somewhat Harry Potteresque idea of a tube of cream that only appears when required for application and then disappears again…
6 Drink up and linger for a piece of cake (8)
PUSHOVER – SUP reversed (drink up) + HOVER (linger)
7 Order parts for old instrument (4)
OBOE – OBE (order) ‘parts’ to let in O (old)
8 Can baby finally wee? (4)
TINY – TIN (can) + Y (babY finally)
9 Very fresh apricot goes in cake (8,6)
VICTORIA SPONGE – V (very) + *(APRICOT GOES IN) with “fresh” indicating the anagram
13 It may be a zombie — I’ll return fire (5-5)
FLESH-EATER – SELF reversed (I’ll return) + HEATER (fire)
14 Plastic or, it’s hoped, cloth? (10)
PRIESTHOOD – *(OR ITS HOPED) with “plastic” pointing to the anagram
17 Female need to have large mature body (8)
FUSELAGE – F (female) + USE (need to have – as in “I could use a drink”) + L (large) + AGE (mature)
20 Man is one left to support old lady (6)
MAMMAL – L (left) is at the bottom of (supports) MAMMA (old lady)
22 Small vehicle that one might pick? (4)
SCAB – S (small) + CAB (vehicle)
23 Miss or Mrs, initially the other (4)
OMIT – First letters (initially) of Or Mrs + IT (the other – i.e. a bit of rumpy pumpy…)

13 comments on “Sunday Times 4779 by Dean Mayer”

  1. This doesn’t seem to have left much of an impression on me; I’ve only noted on my copy that I didn’t know BIERKELLER or VICTORIA SPONGE, and that FLESH-EATER was my LOI. CONVERSATION went in without my noticing the ‘for’-AT problem, and I can’t think of a better explanation than Nick’s.
  3. Took 80 minutes on this. Normally I’m nearer Dean’s wavelength. I was held up on ‘for’ to mean ‘at’ on CONVERSATION although the answer was clear. I settled for a no doubt incorrect memory of 1961 O level Latin, that they both would be translated as datives. I also put COAX straight in but struggled to make it synonymous with FLATTER. I never fully parsed HEIR APPARENT, not seeing ’cause’ as parent. At least I did parse SPATCHCOCK. LOI FLESH-EATER. COD COME AGAIN although I enjoyed VANISHING CREAM and VICTORIA SPONGE. Hard work but worth the effort. Thank you Nick and Dean.

    Edited at 2018-01-07 07:51 am (UTC)

    1. I also went down the same O level Latin road as an initial (quasi) justification for AT/FOR. I’m still not convinced my pricing based example really works, but hey…
  4. Whizzed through this in 15 minutes, liked CO-AX and VANISHING CREAM and had to pause to decide whether it was DEPENDANTS or ENTS. SPATCHCOCK sounds like a rude word but isn’t.
  5. I had most of this done in 40 mins but my last few, 13 & 14dn, 19 & 27ac took me another 18 mins on top of that so I finished just under the hour. I finally saw the heater bit of 13dn and then twigged the I’ll return bit. This then led me to the correct type of man in 19ac. I then saw what type of cloth 14dn involved (is that metonymy?). I then finally got 27ac where I hadn’t quite got the Def “in wine store” as opposed to just “wine store”. FOI 10ac. LOI 27ac. I really liked the Uxbridge dictionary-ish “petty” in 18ac but COD to the very neat 9dn.
    1. Yes, I think Cloth for Priesthood is metonymy. Reminds me of the lovely Thurber essay “Here Lies Miss Groby”, with “the thingy for the thing contained” which then transmuted into “the thing contained for the thingy”, resulting in the angry wife threatening to “hit her husband with the milk”…
  6. I found this a bit less taxing than Dean’s usual offerings and was duly grateful, coming home in 27:35. Due to the rather busy festivities, I can’t even recall where I did this puzzle let alone where I started and finished. I did like VANISHING CREAM and CAT BURGLAR though. SPATCHCOCK stuck in my memory from a previous outing, and I didn’t need to parse it. I think it may have been my LOI once I had the crossers. Thanks Dean and Nick.
  7. Sounds like rather a good party Nick. I remember very much liking the zombie and having a struggle with the HEIR APPARENT and the BIERKELLER, the latter self-inflicted. There was a “ratskeller” (which was as unpleasant as it sounds) in the cavernous basement of the soon-to-be-demolished hotel near Times Square where I took the NY bar exam eons ago. Desperate for refreshment as we were it was so uninviting we went home instead. The sponge was excellent. 23.33
    1. Yes, I think Ratskellers are an example of things that work well in their native environment but really don’t travel (bit like most Greek alcoholic beverages – Ouzo, Metaxa, Retsina etc.). There was one in Sydney when I used to live there – not a great experience! But, I spent many a happy evening in the old Munich Ratskeller which has to be one of the world’s great drinking spots – and indeed Ratskellers in many other German towns. And the whole concept of converting Council Chambers into bars is very appealing…
  8. My notes say that at 1h I’d hit a wall with plenty left over, but I came back to it later in the day and polished it off quite quickly. I wish there was some button I could push in my brain that had the same effect as taking seven hours off, but apparently there isn’t… Thanks to Nick for sorting out my final few question marks, from the obvious-once-you-see-it CAT/petty relationship to the less obvious “parent”/”cause” equivalence…
  9. What a difference a day makes! On 24 December I was well short of completing David McLean’s Christmas puzzle. On 31 December I had my first ever Dean completion. He is a setter I have struggled with in the past.
    LOI was Coax which came to me during a word trawl -just one left, had to find it.
    One or two I couldn’t parse (Conversation, Flesh Eater) so thanks Nick.
    And some excellent amusing clues, so thanks Dean. David
    1. Well done on cracking a Dean puzzle for the first time – great achievement!

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