Sunday Times 4793 by Jeff Pearce

Author   nick_the_novicePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
An enjoyable puzzle from Jeff this week, not too tricky but it kept me interested throughout and the whole thing was, I thought, beautifully crafted.  Elegant surfaces abounded, but I’d probably single out the wagon maker at 27a, the instruction to the garrulous scoutmaster at 3d and the Mad Hatter at 16d as being the surfaces that I admired most.

The North American fish at 6a was unknown to me but eminently gettable from the wordplay.  I nearly came unstuck with the sea cucumber at 20d as i could not recall whether the surgical drill bit of the clue was Trepan or Treban – fortunately I called right, but it was an authentic 50/50 toss up.  Eeverything else fell into place without too many alarums and excursions.

So, with grateful thanks to Jeff for a fine puzzle, here’s how I think it all plays out…

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

Across
1 Support for players keeping an eye on the score
(5,5)
MUSIC STAND – Cryptic definition
6 Vessel follows small fish (4)
SCUP – CUP (vessel) ‘follows’ S (small), giving us a fish found off the Atlantic coast of North America, so I learned.  Better still, it’s also known as the Porgy.
9 Earth found in rabbit’s fleece (5)
CHEAT – E (abbrev. Earth) inside CHAT (rabbit)
10 Persuasive leader spotted parking in quay (4,5)
PIED PIPER – PIED (spotted) + P (parking) ‘in’ PIER (quay).  Gorgeous definition.
12 Carton rep showed off round wine stall (13)
PROCRASTINATE – *(CARTON REP) – with “showed off” indicating the anagram – going round ASTI (wine)
14 Sadly Leo leaves stately home in ruins — it’s a gem!
(8)
AMETHYST – *(STATE{L}Y H{O}M{E}) – with “sadly” signalling the anagram and the letters LEO removed (Leo leaves)
15 Requirement for an audience will briefly irritate (6)
NEEDLE – NEED (requirement) + LE which sounds like – for an audience – ‘LL (will briefly)
17 Tempt postponement of hospital department? (6)
ENTICE – ENT (hospital department) on ICE (postponement)
19 Famous crime writer’s serial killer (8)
CHRISTIE – DD:  Agatha and John of Rillington Place.  Some good friends of mine used to live in a “middle class ghetto” in W11 on what (it turned out after they bought it) was the original site of Rillington Place (demolished in 1978 in an attempt to bury the past).  Didn’t worry them, but London cabbies – who, it seems, are even more superstititious than test cricketers – refused to drive you to their front door, dropping you off at the nearest corner instead.
21 One into folding paper and leather is an artist (3-10)
PRE-RAPHAELITE – *(PAPER LEATHER) – with “folding” signposting the anagram – and I (one) also in the mix
24 Wave to entertaining guys after a concert (9)
AGREEMENT – GREET (wave to) with MEN inside it (entertaining guys) with the whole lot coming ‘after A’
25 Kid wants time to rest (5)
TEASE – T (time) + EASE (rest)
26 Old critic getting girl to leave sexy dance (4)
LAMB – ADA (girl) ‘leaves’ LAMB{ADA} (sexy dance), giving us Charles the literatus.  The pub in North London named after him is a gem – well worth seeking out if you are ever around Islington way.
27 In conversation cowboy actor put down wagon
maker (10)
WAINWRIGHT – Sounds like (in conversation) WAYNE (John of that ilk – cowboy actor) + WRITE (put down – on paper)
Down
1 Spice meat and chew oddly (4)
MACE – Every other letter (oddly) of MeAt & ChEw.  Must admit I’ve had a small jar of mace sitting in my spice rack for several years now which has never been opened (nutmeg, by contrast, I use quite a lot).  I’m sure one of our resident gastronomes will be able to educate me on what it’s usedful for….
2 Sword Penny found inside English tower (7)
STEEPLE – STEEL (sword) with P (penny – old currency – inside) + E (English)
3 Stop waffling and teach the scout knots (3,2,3,5)
CUT TO THE CHASE – *(TEACH THE SCOUT) with “knots” pointing to the anagram – and a fine anagram it is too
4 Return to see supporters inside the management (3,5)
TOP BRASS – SPOT reversed (return to see) with BRAS (supporters) ‘inside’
5 Root veg observed growing around back of shop (5)
NEEPS – SEEN reversed (observed growing back) goes around P (back of shoP)
7 Bobby left with American composer (7)
COPLAND – COP (bobby) + L (left) + AND (with) giving us Aaron the US composer
8 Leader of regiment cut after exercise but carried on
(10)
PERSEVERED – R (leader of Regiment) + SEVERED (cut) all coming ‘after’ PE (exercise)
11 Serve under first-rate cabinet-maker? (5,8)
PRIME MINISTER – MINISTER (serve) comes under (in a Down clue) PRIME (first rate)
13 Alarming message picked up from reception? (4-2,4)
WAKE-UP CALL – Cryptic definition harking back to the days before travellers had smartphones
16 Mad Hatter points to cow (8)
THREATEN – *(HATTER) with “mad” indicating the anagram + E & N (points)
18 The male carrying gold to sweetheart makes a
proposition (7)
THEOREM – THE M (the male) ‘carries’ OR (gold) + E (the heart of swEet)
20 Clinical drill good for ocean dweller (7)
TREPANG – TREPAN (clinical drill) + G (good), giving the humble sea cucumber
22 Animal has endless hunger within (5)
HYENA – HA{S} (has without its end) + YEN (hunger) ‘within’
23 Touched fabric (4)
FELT – DD

19 comments on “Sunday Times 4793 by Jeff Pearce”

  1. I sizzled my way through this one in 14:56, which is a PB for a Sunday puzzle for me. The SCUP and TREPANG were unknown creatures, but I followed the wordplay and was rewarded. I liked 16d too:-) Thanks Jeff and Nick.
  2. 22 min 10 secs. I didn’t spot the well disguised anagram “teach the scouts”. Clever. I didn’t know the sexy dance “lambada” and nor do I know any girls called Ada that I could entice to join me in an evening for some terpsichore.

    I managed to make a profit on the Grand National despite my tip here, Lord Windermere, unseating his rider early on. So there will be a meal on our dinner table this evening. Lamb – and not with Ada.

    Edited at 2018-04-15 12:17 am (UTC)

      1. Great dancing! Even if I knew the lambada I’m afraid I haven’t the ability to execute it. No right feet.
    2. Fortunately, I didn’t pass a bookie’s yesterday, so your reckless financial advice was of no consequence to me. I hope nobody else was foolish enough to invest in your ill-conceived recommendation. My afternoon was wrecked anyway by Jeff Stelling in the third minute of injury time.
      1. I hope so too! Just seen your team’s result. Ouch ! It’s going to go down to the wire. One of Barnsley, your team or Jackie’s team is set for the drop.
  3. I assume this is an ST PB for me, too. Biffed 2d and 3d, solved post hoc. DNK SCUP or TREPANG. Of course Hamelin’s Pied Piper was hardly ‘persuasive’, but the definition fits nicely with metaphorical namesakes. Am I right in thinking that it’s only in STs that one can delete L E O as in 14ac?
  4. Thanks for an informative blog, Nick, especially the item about Rillington Place. I did wonder if another house would be built on the site of Fred & Rosemary West’s house in Gloucester but Wikipedia says there’s just a public walkway there now.
    My wife & I stayed in Islington for a week last July but missed the Lamb.
    My favourite clue was 1ac.
    38m 49s so something of a slowcoach in present company.

    Edited at 2018-04-15 04:37 am (UTC)

    1. 12:38 trusting to the wordplay for SCUP and TREPANG and checking afterwards. I didn’t know Agatha’s namesake murderer either – the SE corner my last ones in. I agree with you Nick this was a nice puzzle… and a nice blog too. Thanks Nick and Jeff.
  5. Possibly because I did this late evening, I dawdled through this in 23.57. No real holdups, except perhaps FELT at 23d, where I convinced myself there were a lot of fabrics to chose from and almost as many meanings of touch. A sort of slow panic set in.
    CUT TO THE CHASE my favourite in the set: a really smooth anagram.
    Cheers Nick
  6. Would you live in a house where you knew a murder had taken place? I bought one such in 1965 for £1660 (£sixteensixty) and sold it at a huge profit when the incident had disappeared into the mists of time.
  7. …only unsuitable clothing. 19 minutes on this beautifully constructed but easyish puzzle with SCUP unknown and TREPAN emerging from the deep recesses of memory to add a G too. “The fleeting hour of those who love the hills is quickly spent, but the hills are eternal.” The initial quotation and this were written by Alfred 27a, whose books are works of art in themselves and surely well enough known to have been the clue subject? COD to CUT TO THE CHASE. Sadly a rather more coarse phrase seems to have displaced this in common parlance, including my own.CHRISTIE was a write-in with the events at 10 Rillington Place written and filmed about ad nauseam in my youth. Thank you Nick and Jeff.
  8. Time for my Sunday Times 27 mins.

    FOI 14ac AMETHYST (a reminder of HMS Amethyst in ruins in Chinese waters in 1949)
    LOI 20dn TREPANG a delicacy in these parts (Shanghai)
    COD 21ac PRE-RAPHAELITE
    WOD 6ac SCUP also short version of SIDCUP

    1dn MACE is mainly used for spraying on male predators in the US

  9. 11:16. No problems with this, in spite of the unknowns: the fish, the sea cucumber and the murderer. Nice puzzle, nice blog, so thanks to Jeff and Nick.
  10. I did well on this needing only two after an hour -20d and 26a. I managed to work out Trepang (unknown) but got obsessed with the idea of Salome at 26a ( SA being taken away -leave sexy) and despite trying words beginning LAM did not manage to improve on LOME. So one wrong.
    Also DNK Scup. Enjoyed the puzzle very much. David
  11. 22:34 so quick for me too, a nice puzzle with some good stuff in. I put off the full parsing of 12ac until post-solve appropriately enough. Didn’t know the ocean dweller but did know of trepanning so not too hard to assemble that one.
  12. After a dismal DNF on today’s puzzle I remembered that I’d been away last weekend so hadn’t got my teeth into this one. I didn’t record my time, but I was very pleased to at least complete a puzzle today!

    I note I’m not along in bunging in SCUP and TREPANG from wordplay. I probably am alone in spelling AMETHYST wrong, swapping the E and the Y until I worked out 2d STEEPLE and had another run at it. Ooops.

    FOI 1a MUSIC STAND, LOI 7a SCUP but it was very closely preceded by 7d COPLAND so I could confirm my suspicion about the appropriate vessel!

    Good fun, I thought, and I always like a puzzle that leads me to new understanding of words, or in this case, names. I’d just never put two and two together and figured out why WAINWRIGHT is a common surname until today. As with many others clues, obvious once you spot it!

    Thanks setter and Nick.

    Edited at 2018-04-15 08:52 pm (UTC)

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