Sunday Times 4789 by David McLean

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
An unusually straightforward anagram at 1ac right across the grid got me off to a most encouraging start, and with the well-read earl, the heavy rock and several others on the first quick read through of the across clues rapidly following I began to wonder if this was going to be a polar opposite of last week’s snorter from The Dean.

As it turned out, the rest of the puzzle was not (relatively speaking) overly tough, although several had me scratching my head for a while in terms of the detailed parsing even though the answers seemed clear enough (particularly the ‘end of America’ device at 19ac).  I was finally left with 8dn, and with more than half the checkers already in place I still could not for the life of me figure out what the answer could be.  Eventually I figured that one of those cross checkers might be wrong, so I revisited each of them – at which point I remembered that when I had slapped in ENCHANT at 10ac I had not been able to parse it in full.  And sure enough…

Some very nice clues – particularly enjoyed the definition at 25ac, the neat cryptics at 20ac and 2d and the intriguing surface at 27ac.  So thanks very much to Harry for a most enjoyable puzzle – here’s my best shot at unravelling it all…

By the way, I hope that the formatting turms out OK: Live Journal has been doing some very strange things whilst I have been compiling this blog.  It looks OK on the Preview, albeit very odd in the actual web page where you write the blog, so I’m putting blind faith in the WYSIWYG principle…

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

Across
1 Awfully ironic pessimist like Monet? (15)
IMPRESSIONISTIC – *(IRONIC PESSIMIST) with AWFULLY signalling the anagram.  A generous gift to start with.
9 Well-read earl impolite about relations (7)
ERUDITE – E (earl) + RUDE (impolite) going around (about) IT (relations)
10 Captivate English knight with tea (hot) (7)
ENCHAIN – E (English) + N (knight – chess notation) + CHA (tea) + IN (hot – as in ‘all the rage’)
11 Fine suitable for backsliding little Barney (4)
TIFF – F (abbrev. fine) + FIT (suitable) all reversed (backsliding), with the capitalisation sending me off the scent for a while as I tried to think of a Flintstones-related explanation of the rest of the clue
12 Uncertain and without energy, you fasten time locks
(2,2,3,3)
UP IN THE AIR – U (you – text speak) + PIN (fasten) + T (time) + HAIR (locks) going around E (without energy)
13 Heavy rock can be more in your face, I heard (7)
BOULDER – Sounds like “BOLDER” (more in your face, I heard)
15 Soup and food the Queen cut with dash of
Dubonnet (7)
CHOWDER – CHOW (food) + ER (the Queen) with D in between (cut with dash of
Dubonnet)
17 Blur return to form with former member close to tears
(7)
OBSCURE – CURE (return to form) ‘with’ OB (old boy – former member) + S (close to tearS)
19 Agrees end of America must come over broadcast
(7)
ASSENTS – ASS (US rendition of arse – “end of America”) is positioned around (must come over) SENT (broadcast).  Tricky stuff.
20 Retractable spanner? (10)
DRAWBRIDGE – Cryptic definition (and a rather neat one, I thought)
22 Go bananas having been given the run-around! (4)
STAB – BATS (bananas) reversed (having been given the run-around)
25 Superior salt with value to be cut by a pound (7)
ADMIRAL – ADMIR{E} (value to be cut) + A L (by A pound).  Gorgeous definition.
26 Telephone informers about a potential lead (7)
STARLET – TEL (telephone) + RATS (informers) all reversed (about), giving a budding actor who could well become a lead
27 Act in a free way and dismantle your beehive?
(3,4,4,4)
LET ONES HAIR DOWN – If Dusty Springfield (in her early years) had dismantled her beehive then… very nice cryptic steer

Down
1 Bungling home help only occasionally on time (5)
INEPT – IN (home) + EP (every other letter of – only occasionally – hElP) + T (on time)
2 Green knickerbockers? (4,5)
PLUS FOURS – Another neat cryptic definition, this one being based on what chaps used to wear on the golf course (and thus on the greens)
3 Yours truly brought up the other issue (4)
EMIT – ME reversed (yours truly brought up) + IT (the other – a second usage of this device which will irritate some of our correspondents…)
4 One who has gone off in a railway carriage (7)
SLEEPER – Two definitions, the first mildly cryptic
5 Polynesian perhaps cocaine sent into a frenzy (7)
OCEANIC – *(COCAINE) with “sent into a frenzy” indicating the anagram
6 Old Peruvian amusing people working together (2,7)
IN CAHOOTS – INCA (old Peruvian) + HOOTS (amusing people – usually seen in the singular, as in “she’s a hoot”, but here used as a plural)
7 Headdress that’s so long when one puts it on (5)
TIARA – TARA (so long – Cilla Black’s favoured farewell, I seem to recall) wraps around I (one puts it on)
8 Colleagues exchange views about Republican
opponents (9)
CONFRERES – CONFER (exchange views) around (about) R (Republican) + E and S (opponents – at the bridge table)
13 Bad tailor made a mess of pricey woollen coat (9)
BROADTAIL – *(BAD TAILOR) with “made a mess of” signposting the anagram.  Broadtail, apparently, is the fur of a very young type of lamb that is much prized and very expensive.  Never heard of it, but the cluing was generous.
14 Germany’s foremost wig manufacturer and speed
king? (4,5)
DRUG BARON – D (German) + RUG BARON (wig manufacturer)
16 A report supporting academic over arty bodyworker?
(9)
DONATELLO – A TELL (a report) goes under DON (supporting academic) + O (over – cricket abbrev.) giving us the Renaissance sculptor whose work includes a bronze David who is nude apart from wearing a helmet and boots.  Hmm.
18 Bachelor put in wrong diesel fuel for us, perhaps (7)
EDIBLES – B (bachelor) added into *(DIESEL) with “wrong” indicating the anagram
19 Area at the end of impressive driving course? (7)
AUGUSTA – A (area) comes after (at the end of) AUGUST (impressive) giving us the golf course famed for the Masters and a tradition of ultra conservatism (although to be fair, it does now seem to be making efforts to modernise it’s thinking somewhat)
21 A daughter Cambridge University let in (5)
ADMIT – A D (a daughter) + MIT (the university in Cambridge, Massachusetts)
23 Ceremonial staff continue to receive deliveries (5)
BATON – or “BAT ON” (continue to receive deliveries – i.e. continue with one’s innings at cricket rather than declaring or retiring)
24 Just adequate (4)
FAIR – DD

24 comments on “Sunday Times 4789 by David McLean”

  1. Biffed a couple that I could not make sense of: ASSENTS, PLUS FOURS (which I really should have got). And I couldn’t account for the D in DRUG BARON. DNK Barney or BROADTAIL. PS: The blog looks fine, Nick.

    Edited at 2018-03-18 02:59 am (UTC)

  2. As far as I can see I have this all correct in 37:57, but the club site still seems to think it’s yesterday despite it being 1:05am here. I did the same as Nick with ENCHANT, only reconsidering when 8d did not compute! BROADTAIL was from wordplay. STARLET was my LOI. Nice puzzle. Thanks Harry and Nick.
    1. It’s 04:21am UK time (5.21pm NZ time) and scores are still shown as “NaN”. I’m hoping someone from The Times will come along around breakfast time and sort it out.
  3. Thanks, Nick, especially for ASSENTS and DRUG BARON. As I’ve said to john_dun, the Club website is showing “Nan” for scores at present which means….???
    2. NaN indicates there is some problem with the score calculation… it stands for “Not a Number”.
  4. 45 minutes. Biffed ASSENTS, and having read Nick’s explanation, I can understand why I didn’t see it. DNK BROADTAIL but anagram was straightforward. 27 across had me thinking of Dusty’s beehive. What a voice was underneath it! Then BOULDER had me thinking of Boulder to Birmingham and Emmylou. Two of my all-time favourites in one puzzle. COD to DRAWBRIDGE. Thank you Nick andDavid.
      1. I would have had Dusty and not Amy Winehouse as Beehive Queen but I guess that’s generational. I hadn’t realised that Amy was following The Ronettes styling.
  5. I thought that DRAWBRIDGE, ASSENTS and PLUS FOURS were great clues.
    I have 100mm of snow here in north Wiltshire so chances of today’s ST turning up are slim.
  6. Agree with esteemed blogger, at the easier end of the scale, 16 minutes, no hold ups but BROADTAIL written in because it seemed likely.
  7. 19:54. Like others, I had ENCHANT at first and overwrote with the right answer once I couldn’t do 8d with all the checkers. RUG BARON was unknown and parsing 12a took a while. Nice puzzle – and blog. Thanks Harry and Nick.
  8. I couldn’t get anywhere near this one. Most of the top went in far too easily, and then most of the rest I found far too hard.

    I wasn’t helped by (a) putting “YOUR” in 27a—I’d foolishly assumed that the “your” in the clue was helpfully telling me to use that in the answer rather than ONE’S—but I mostly wasn’t helped by a lack of knowledge. Specifically, I’d never heard the word CONFRERES, and had no idea that PLUS FOURS were either knickerbockers or were used on golf courses…

    So. Gave up after about two hours, and I’m glad I did, because I doubt I’d ever have finished.

    Had a similar experience with yesterday’s puzzle, too; these weekend ones seem to be proving very hard for me this month…

    Edited at 2018-03-18 11:23 am (UTC)

    1. I’m always puzzled as to whether I should put ‘your’ or ‘ one’s’ in these phrases. It almost always seems to be the latter, even though virtually no-one uses that any more – except upper class twits, I suppose. But then, it is the Times…
  9. 54 mins. Yep, I was another who had enchant at 10ac making 8dn impossible until I revisited all the checkers, found the one I hadn’t properly parsed and corrected to enchain. Even then it took a little while to work out. I did not parse the end of America in 19ac nor did I get the meaning of green in 2dn which was entered on the basis of checkers and knickerbockers. COD 20ac.
  10. When I was a little kid this was the sort of thing one’s grandmother or great aunt wore as a short jacket and I think it was known as Astrakhan or Persian lamb. So it must have been stylish in the 1920s and 30s. The method of culling seems downright cruel and nowadays the fake is very good – my tidy winter coat is made of fake and nice and warm it is. I think I did this in somewhere between 15 and 20 but I was interrupted by a phone call so clocked in at 29. Yes, the stats do need fixing – I think I may have had a typo but can’t tell for now.
  11. 10ac ENCHANT turned to ENCHAIN fairly quickly as 8dn CONFRERES insisted.

    FOI 1ac IMPRESSIONISTIC
    LOI 12dn BROADTAIL
    COD 20ac DRAWBRIDGE
    WOD ENCHANT!

    30 minutes

    Edited at 2018-03-18 12:22 pm (UTC)

  12. On the easier side, all told. I thought the end part of Assents was must = scent, broadcast, the the ‘come over’ there to make the surface read reasonably. I liked the Plus Fours. Thanks, Nick, and thanks Mr McC
    1. Yes, I initially went down the “musty” path, but was never fully convinced (must didn’t really seem like a scent to me, and Harry is generally pretty meticulous with his cluing) so I thought about it some more before writing up the blog.
  13. Very much enjoyed this. 1a allowed a very helpful way in. As a golfer with some French, Plus Fours (struggled to parse) and Confreres were well known. I then charted a similar course to others it seems. Had YOUR in 27a for a bit. Could not parse Assents. LOI was the unknown Broadtail.
    COD to Drug Baron. One hour or so. David
  14. I found this delightful, especially the characterisation of my alma mater as “Cambridge University” in 21dn (it took a moment and the biffing of the answer for the penny to drop) and the “end of America” in 19 ac. I’m number 2 on the leaderboard at 50 minutes, strangely enough, but that’s only because they took some time to fix the NaN bug.
  15. Just checked the Club Site and apart from four scores at the head of the leaderboard -two of which have one error each – the Top 100 scores are still shown as “NaN”.

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