Sunday Times 4834 by David McLean

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
8:07. Unusually straightforward from Harry this week. Less unusually a fun puzzle with some witty clues. I think my favourite was 26ac, just because I like to see words like that in these things. I had one or two minor queries which I’ve mentioned below but nothing to frighten any horses.

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

Across
1 Sweet missive about me is dross ultimately
ETON MESS – reversal of NOTE, ME, S (is), drosS. A mixture of broken-up meringue, strawberries and cream… and not a bad definition of Brexit.
5 Silver Lining band’s having a boozy musical party
RAGING – R(AG)ING. Not a meaning of ‘rage’ I was familiar with, but ODO has ‘enjoy oneself at a party or other lively gathering, typically with drinking and music’ which is a pretty exact fit.
10 Country inn — a great building
ARGENTINA – (INN A GREAT)*.
11 They might be tall drinks served after Tango
TALES – T, ALES.
12 Conservative article by editor given some stick?
CANED – C, AN, ED.
13 Flasher in coat I’d sadly seen by river
INDICATOR – IN, (COAT ID)*, R. An indicator in a car, in this case.
14 Run-of-the mill president Angolan leader upset
PEDESTRIAN – (PRESIDENT, Angolan)*.
17 Partner declared winning position on board
MATE – DD.
19 Heavy Yank scoffing the last of goulash
THUG – T(goulasH)UG.
20 A smell hanging around: perhaps, credit youth?
ADOLESCENT – A(DOLE)SCENT. I was initially puzzled by the definition of DOLE but I think the idea is that it (unemployment benefit) can be paid in the form of a tax credit. I don’t know if this is actually the case.
22 One’s in competition with East German exile
OSTRACISE – OST (east German), RAC(I’S)E.
24 Old car bishop must get out of to wind up?
ANGER – bANGER.
26 Infant’s small problem Penny’s ignored
ICKLE – pICKLE.
27 Son tucking into nut pastry and Boost?
HEAD START – HEAD(S), TART. For any non-UK solvers wondering Boost is a brand of cholcolate bar.
28 Unpleasant sort of sailor snatching paintings
TARTAR – T(ART)AR.
29 Noble legion in want of bit of leadership
COUNTESS – COUNT(Leadership)ESS.

Down
1 Freedom fighter maniacs petition to change
EMANCIPATIONIST – (MANIACS PETITION)*.
2 Music producer of Heart?
ORGAN – DD. The second definition is by example, as indicated by the question mark.
3 One provides reception food to follow minute iced starter
MINIDISH – MIN, Iced, DISH.
4 Sort of book with some horrific scenes: rejected!
SCI-FI – contained reversed in ‘horrific scenes’.
6 Military volunteers sent north nail assault
ATTACK – reversal of TA, TACK.
7 Sick with a kid that’s fidgety, perhaps
ILL AT EASE – ILL, A, TEASE.
8 Corporation complaint: register it as not incorrect
GASTROENTERITIS – (REGISTER IT AS NOT)*. I’m not very keen on this definition. ‘Corporation’ means the tummy, and particularly refers to a pot belly, which is not really the same thing as the intestines.
9 Support worker seen on public transport
HANDRAIL – HAND (worker), RAIL.
15 One on horse is possibly Democratic carpetbagger
DRUG-TAKER – D, RUG TAKER. Because taking a rug is the same as bagging a carpet. Neat.
16 Sign of danger: Tory embracing Balls and Labour leader
RED LIGHT – R(ED, L)IGHT.
18 One making hits popular by the Blockheads
ASSASSIN – ASS ASS (a pair of blockheads), IN.
21 Ramshackle town best-loved by half-cut lags
FAVELA – FAVE, LAgs.
23 English singer associated with Love andMuse
ERATO – E, RAT (snitch, singer), O.
25 Hazardous place one might take their rest
GRAVE – two definitions, one very slightly cryptic in the sense that it has a double meaning.

29 comments on “Sunday Times 4834 by David McLean”

  1. I have no memory of this, but I’m pretty sure I went offline early and then spent quite some time finishing. I’m sure ETON MESS (NHO) took me a long time, although my LOI was RAGING (DNK). Also DNK ICKLE or, of course, Boost. Having learned here some time ago that corporation=stomach, I gave no thought to 8d; but I suppose it would be odd to say, eg, that one’s corporation hurt? Does anyone actually use the word, by the way?
  2. I agree with keriothe about GASTROENTERITIS and with Kevin in that I don’t think ‘corporation’ is used much, if at all. In the same way, EMANCIPATIONIST is not a word that trips off my tongue much.
    MINIDISH was my LOI as I’ve never heard of the word before.
    I did like COUNT(L)ESS but my COD was ICKLE only isnasmuch as I’ve failed to spot clues like that in the past.
    1. I didn’t think anything about it at the time, and was about to respond to Martin that the word has meaning in a US context; but it probably doesn’t, although of course ’emancipation’ does; as does ‘abolitionist’. (’emancipationist’ is not in ODE or the New Oxford Amer. Dict.)
  3. Quite straightforward for David, as you say K. 26 minutes. LOI and COD to ICKLE. I needed the crossers before constructing FAVELA and deciding that I knew all along. So it also went with RAGING. Thank you K and David.
  4. 27 minutes, so dead easy for me. MER at the clue to 25dn as to my mind it mixes termininology – one goes with one’s, not with their.
  5. Ah, nous avons changé tout çela, Jack. ODE regularly uses ‘their’, presumably to avoid ‘his’ or ‘his or her’. E.g. sv hypochondriac: ‘a person who is abnormally anxious about their health.’
    1. I think Jack is objecting to the mixture of ‘one’ and ‘their’. This is a sort of modern equivalent of the formulation ‘one might take his rest’, which you do see but has always struck me as awkward and old-fashioned.
      1. Exactly my point. Thanks for responding to it. I’m well aware of the non-gender-specific use of ‘their’.
        1. OK. Seems like the same thing to me, but then ‘one’ isn’t really in my idiolect (‘One might take one’s rest’ sounds even less natural than ‘One might take his rest’.) Agreement in English is something of a mess. (‘One might take their rest’ sounds pretty awful.)
  6. ….in Brazil, and indeed many FAVELAS. I failed to break the clue though, and resorted to aids to finish this puzzle.

    FOI ARGENTINA – not Brazil !
    LOI N/A
    COD ASSASSIN (a track not by Ian Dury, but Marillion)
    TIME 13:15 with cheat on FAVELA

  7. at 1ac was my FOI – even M&S did one! Probably still do!?

    COD 26ac ICKLE

    WOD 19dn FAVELA

    LOI 3dn MINIDISH

    25 mins

  8. I was going to comment that I don’t remember seeing the word EMANCIPATIONIST in a US context. You have abolitionists, as you say, and the Emancipation Proclamation, but not this. But I was far from sure and it was late so I couldn’t be bothered to check.
  9. A quick run through in 21:11 for me, so definitely on the less difficult end of the spectrum. Can’t remember much about it now, but I remember chuckling at ICKLE. Thanks Harry and K.
  10. 22:37 I raced through this and thought I was heading for a quick time but got briefly stuck on a few at the end – anger, grave and countess in the SE – so ended up outside 20 mins. Also thankful for some clear wordplay at 28ac where ‘unpleasant sort’ was too vague a definition by itself for me to have got Tartar.
  11. Another enjoyable puzzle from David McLean with a musical theme in the clues. I was not quick but I got all of it bar 29a where the Countess failed to appear. I had a question mark against Raging but it was OK I see.
    I’ve rediscovered Heart recently. I like the stripped down versions of Alone and These Dreams from the live concert in Seattle (on Youtube). Ann and Nancy Wilson are under- appreciated perhaps. I hear the ticking of the clock …
    David
  12. Corporation: rare in speech certainly, but in the dictionaries and hard to resist for deception purposes. As far as I can tell from our usual reference dictionaries, their definition of the paunch/belly that it it’s equated with does include the intestines. I’m sure “tummy trouble”, for instance, would include intestinal problems.
    1. The dictionaries indicate a humorous way of describing a fat paunch, which to me suggests it’s concerned with the exterior appearance. You wouldn’t say ‘I’ve eaten so much my paunch is full’, just as you wouldn’t describe lung disease as a breast disorder.
      Having said that, I’ve never encountered ‘corporation’ outside crosswords so can’t say I’m sure how it would have been used.
  13. 18:20 and typically entertaining from our setter. I liked THUG and HEAD START, with COD to ARGENTINA. Was tickled to see ICKLE too. Thanks David and K.
  14. Easy solve here, too. I smiled at, but didn’t particularly care for, Ickle.

    I’m 100% with Jack on “one’s”. I’m sympathetic to the emotion behind the use of ‘their’ as gender neutral, but it still grates on the ear. I find I often substitute ‘his or her’ which sounds better, but definitely identifies me as a foggy and a pedant to my youngest colleagues.

      1. You framed it well: I thought the cluing was cute, but I don’t really like words like Ickle or Kerplop or Achoo in the grid.
        1. Fair enough. I really like seeing informal and new-fangled words like this. Better than all that musty old Latin and bible stuff!
  15. 20 minutes on this, finishing with MINIDISC and so a green square. Perhaps I should have read the clue.
  16. This from HM Gov website:

    ‘Check if you’re eligible for Universal Credit. If you are, you could get Universal Credit at the same time or instead of ‘new style’ JSA.’ (where JSA [Jobseeker’s Allowance] = dole)

    I declined to click any links or investigate further, as my attempt to top up my UK pension recently took me over a year, many letters and phone calls, multiply-readjusted sums to pay and almost led to my demise before I got any benefit whatsoever.

    I’m not sure it was a good idea that I saw I, Daniel Blake just before I started the arduous process.

    1. I did briefly try to check whether unemployment benefits are paid as tax credits but came across similar stuff and gave up quickly. Universal Credit is very new and has only been ‘rolled out’ to small numbers of people (with shall we say qualified success) so far, so I discounted the possibility that it was what the setter intended. But I suppose it might have been.
  17. Thanks David and keriothe
    Another old puzzle just finished – I’m so glad that they don’t go off !!
    Started off with SCI-FI which I had seen in a different reverse hidden clue in another crossword within the last week. It was helpful to get the two long anagrams down each side quite early on as well. Even so, it took over an hour across two sittings (which I have to say were quite interrupted).
    I have seen ETON MESS in puzzles before and must say it does sound quite appetising. Liked the clues to THUG and DRUG TAKER.
    Finished down in the bottom of the grid with ANGER (quite clever), GRAVE (took a while to see the ‘hazardous’ part of it) and ICKLE (which I didn’t know and thankful for the wordplay to generate a lookup to check the word).

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