Sunday Times 4786 by David McLean – what’s the story 12dn?

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
20:59. I seem to have found this quite tricky, but I can’t remember anything about the solve. I’ve had a ridiculously busy week and didn’t get a chance to do the blog until last night after watching Death of Stalin (highly recommended) with the older 60% of the family. I had to look up the answers for most of the clues, which gives you an idea.

I do remember loving 22dn, and I loved it just as much the second time round.

Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (THIS)*, anagram indicators like this.

Across
1 Bishops on vacation drinking like fish
BASS – BishopS containing AS.
4 Finish cool pint with me after work
COMPLETION – (COOL PINT, ME)*
9 Capital of Tobago undergoing rebuilding
BOGOTA – (TOBAGO)*.
10 Blood group screened by staff on call for bypass
RING ROAD – RING (call), RO(A)D.
11 Sandwich filler finished butter and last of piccalilli
PASTRAMI – PAST, RAM, piccalillI.
13 Honourable church organist’s first US number one
HONCHO – HON., CH, Organist. I don’t think of HONCHO as a particularly American term but Chambers does.
14 Openly gay footballer hosting society ball
OUTSWINGER – OUT(S), WINGER. A cricket clue.
16 No power to free oneself of guilt or desire?
URGE – pURGE.
17 One seen in brass bath with naked man?
TUBA – TUB, mAn.
18 I acted a lot differently in wedding dress
TAILCOATED – (I ACTED A LOT)*.
20 Mozart? He was a hit with the ladies!
SCORER – DD.
21 Do this if I’m shocked about boyfriend?
KEEL OVER – reversal of EEK, LOVER. Semi-&Lit.
23 Upset stomach I had after slice of lamb cut off the leg?
MUTILATE – reversal of TUM, I, then ATE following Lamb.
24 Nurse and model making first time last for hours
SISTER – SITTER, replacing the first T with hourS.
26 Writer puts up tenor inside those top-flight lodgings
PENTHOUSES – PEN, HOUSES containing T (tenor).
27 Heads of state ignorant to extremist plot
SITE – first letters (heads) of ‘state ignorant to extremist’.

Down
2 Song and dance act led by original member of Abba
ADO – Abba, DO (act).
3 Display of tennis?
SPORT – DD.
4 Bread and tea with dad and relations round
CHAPATI – CHA, PA, reversal of IT (relations, nudge nudge etc).
5 Harried men in Kings Cross expecting trouble?
MORNING SICKNESS – (MEN IN KINGS CROSS)*. Nice definition.
6 Left a Parisian and dear French chap eating at oneish?
LUNCHER – L, UN, CHER.
7 Cat with natural bent to avoid conservative (creepy sort)
TARANTULA – (cAT, NATURAL)*.
8 Chopper maintenance
ORAL HYGIENE – CD.
12 A cold flat that you must inhabit? It gives one the needle
ACUPUNCTURE – A, C, PUNCTURE containing U.
15 At first I worried about heading to laughably old elevator!
STAIRLIFT – (AT FIRST I)* containing Laughably.
18 Fuss over service area that might raise the roof
TORNADO – TO-DO containing RN, A.
19 Places test-match players may try to get in rucks
CREASES – almost a DD, but I would call the first – cricket-related – definition just about oblique and cryptic enough to qualify as wordplay. It’s trying to get you to thing of rugby, of course.
22 When one’s to follow central plots in Band of Brothers?
OASIS – AS, I’S following plOts. The band of Liam and Noel, of course. Wonderful clue.
25 Worry copper’s round to take off bachelor
EAT – bEAT.

19 comments on “Sunday Times 4786 by David McLean – what’s the story 12dn?”

  1. I usually go offline after 30′, and I may have done so here; I simply can’t remember. 22d was my 2d to LOI, as I had no idea who the Band of Brothers was, although I’ve heard of Oasis. Finally twigged to the wordplay, and assumed that the members of Oasis were brothers. Biffed 19d, remembering that CREASES play a role in cricket. DNK OUTSWINGER. HONCHO is a Japanese word (pronounced differently, of course) picked up by GIs during the occupation. I liked the elegant simplicity of 1ac, but COD to URGE.
    1. So it is. Chambers even says so, but I was in too much of a hurry to get this done to notice.
  2. Thank you, keriothe. I agree about OASIS. That was my COD. Time not worth recording as we lost internet connection for about 28 hours mid-solve.
  3. Gave up overnight with four in the SE corner unsolved (19,21,22,24) as they were too much for my weary brain. On resumption the next morning they eventually fell into place.

    Wot kevingregg said about 22.

  4. As with K and previous posters, loved COD 22d OASIS. If I’d had one, I’d have pinned up the puzzle all week on my wonderwall. 49 minutes on this with KEEL OVER also liked, ‘eek’ conjuring up images of a bubble coming out of the mouth of a school mistress standing on a chair holding her skirt when a mouse was discovered in the class room. I guess there was some casual sexism in our youth! Good puzzle. Thank you K and David.
      1. I’d forgotten that. I remember ‘Yarooh’ well enough, followed perhaps by ‘Leggo, you beasts!’.
  5. 37 minutes here, so middling for a Sunday for me. My notes tell me I parsed everything, and it all went with a nice, easy flow. I think what I most liked about this one was the lovely vocab—PASTRAMI and HONCHO to name but two. FOI 1a BASS, LOI 24A SISTER.

    At some point I’m sure I’ll get around to Death of Stalin, but it’ll probably be when it arrives on Netflix or whatever. I’ve never got into the cinema habit…

  6. 31:10. A good time for me so must have found the wavelength for this one pretty quick. FOI 1ac. LOI 19dn. I was held up by tailcoated but mainly because I thought I was looking for a fancy word for bridal gown that I didn’t know and so avoided looking at the anagrist until the last. I knew the expression “head honcho” from films and TV and so always assumed a honcho was just another word for man or worker below the head honcho. Now I see that the honcho is already a leader in their own right. Perhaps “head honcho” is just said for emphasis with the alliteration contributing to comic effect. I liked “expecting trouble” in 5dn, 7dn, 8dn, 17ac and of course 22dn.
  7. 29 min and 36 secs. Delayed by misspelling Hygiene as Hygeine making Tailcoated ungettable. I before E except after C – most of the time!
  8. I enjoyed this puzzle, with “expecting trouble” a highlight. I started with BASS and finished with TAILCOATED. I struggled with OASIS in an Indy puzzle last week, so it came easily in this one. Liked “chopper maintenance” too. 34:32 Thanks Harry and K.
  9. Some very entertaining stuff here from Talos so none of the usual moaning about cricket clues (or rugby or football). I’d just about heard of OASIS but not its components so same as Kevin on that. And thanks to him for the derivation of HONCHO – I’d always just assumed it was vaguely Hispanic. I have heard it used as a verb however (in financial circles) which is a bit wince-inducing. I was very lucky to have avoided that kind of expecting trouble so no wincing there – good one. And the imbibing bishops made me laugh. 24.57 P.S. If you are here on the 15th Keriothe I told Paul I’d be available.
    1. It’s looking very much like I will be, so pencil it in your diary. I will confirm in the next couple of days.

      Edited at 2018-02-25 02:01 pm (UTC)

  10. One of my least favourite bands so 22dn LOI

    Much the same as Jack with a pile-up in the SE.

    FOI 18ac TAILCOATED
    COD 8dn ORAL HYGIENE
    WOD GUNSLINGER

    Time: not respectable.

  11. This was a very enjoyable puzzle I thought. I liked 14a and 22d and think Honcho is a great word. It took me quite a long time to complete but worth it. Last two were 24a and 19d.
    We need Mozart in the Preston North End team. David
    PS am going to see Death of Stalin soon; please don’t give away the ending.

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