Sunday Times 4868 by David McLean

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
17:01. I have had a very busy week so left this very late, and now can’t remember much about it. I also can’t see why it took me so long: looking at the clues now they all seem very straightforward. But then it’s always easy when you know the answer, isn’t it?

Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, anagram indicators are in italics.

Across
1 Passion killer that’s a cause of problems
HEADACHE – DD.
5 Wearing head coverings is restricted
CAPPED – and another straight DD.
9 Ever sat in theatre’s cheapest area?
STEERAGE – ST(EER)AGE.
10 Eat mostly in the morning, knocking back veg
MARROW – reversal of WORRy, AM.
12 Country Lawrence revolutionised without trouble
EGYPT – reversal of TE (Lawrence of Arabia) containing GYP (trouble).
13 What male angler will do on front to secure catch?
SHELLFISH – Secure, HE’LL FISH.
14 Commute into Acapulco due to work
OCCUPATIONAL – (INTO ACAPULCO)*.
18 Group of stars seen with the Artful Dodger?
LITTLE DIPPER – two definitions, one a reference to the Dickensian pickpocket (dipper).
21 European dons scathing about doctrine
TEACHINGS – E contained in (SCATHING)*.
23 Club foot’s swelling, but not at the tip
UNION – bUNION.
24 Where one might see a comic during Glastonbury set
INTENT – IN (a) TENT being where you might see a comic at Glastonbury. Do they have comedians at Glastonbury? I only know it as a music festival but I have never been.
25 He priced up crack
DECIPHER – (HE PRICED)*.
26 Ancient teacher, after essential bit of surgery, gets well
GUSHER – surGery, USHER. An archaic word for an assistant teacher, apparently.
27 When cream turned thus, one mustn’t sniff it
ASBESTOS – AS (when), BEST (cream), reversal of SO. A slightly odd definition but no doubt accurate.

Down
1 A way to get cuddle off Scots lass? Do it quickly!
HASTEN – H(A ST)EN.
2 Yes, ITV primarily broadcast repeats
AYE AYE – sounds like “I” (first letter of ITV), twice.
3 Somehow impractical PM leaves without crisis
ACRITICAL – (ImpRACTICAL)*.
4 Grandiose way to describe a soprano?
HIGH-SOUNDING – two definitions, one barely cryptic.
6 A bit of vehicle trouble could result in exercise
AVAIL – A, Vehicle, AIL. I was puzzled by this definition but it is in Lexico, albeit marked as ‘Indian’.
7 Medicines entertaining doctor finally distributes
PORTIONS – PO(doctoR)TIONS.
8 Declining personal mount, duke takes the van
DOWNHILL – D (duke) is in front of (takes the van) OWN, HILL.
11 Trousers for big organ players?
PEDAL PUSHERS – again one straight definition (for women’s calf-length trousers) and one mildly cryptic one.
15 Lacking in education? I endure it, surprisingly
INERUDITE – (I ENDURE IT)*.
16 Conservative hating taking off a dress
CLOTHING – C, LOaTHING.
17 Books one found amongst maps for city below sea level
ATLANTIS – ATLA(NT, I)S.
19 Sharp intellect leads to happiness (in theory)
WITH IT – WIT, first letters of happiness in theory.
20 Island with very large harbours close to Timor
ANDROS – AND (with), OS (very large) containing timoR. I’m not sure if I knew this island or not. There are lots of Greek islands ending OS.
22 Horse dealer who’s bent must avoid force consequently
HENCE – H, fENCE.

24 comments on “Sunday Times 4868 by David McLean”

  1. I didn’t finish this in one session, and, like our esteemed blogger, I’m not sure why. My LOI was HASTENS, which I finally put in without parsing, and then kicked myself (figuratively; I’m not that nimble) when the penny dropped; HEN for “female” doesn’t strike me as particuarly Scots, but seems it is, anyway.

    I hesitated at ACRITICAL, pronouncing which it seems to me could maybe leave one open to being misunderstood. But it’s sort of in the same category as INERUDITE, for which “unlearned,” say, seems a handier substitute.

    1. Yes, as I found via Google (I can’t sv the ODE because I don’t have it). However, “hen party,” for example, is not a particularly Scots expression. In Scots, “hen” can refer to a girl (‘lass,” as here) but also a full-grown woman.

      Edited at 2019-09-22 03:15 am (UTC)

      1. This little thread of posts reflects exactly the thought process I went through on this definition of HEN but it was late and I was in a hurry to get the blog up!
    2. Neither of you have evidently ever heard of Rab C. Nesmith, The Big Yin nor Rabbie Burns!

      ‘sv’hen’3 in ODE’ The catalogue number is not required hereabouts!

  3. I don’t remember much of this, but I think I rather plodded through it. I could make no sense of 26ac, and flung in GUSHES (‘gets well’, I suppose). DNK GYP, but the checkers made it a safe bet. PEDAL PUSHERS no problem, although I couldn’t distinguish them from Capri pants. I’ve always associated Glastonbury with the Arthurian legend; I’m not sure I even knew there was a festival there. (Having looked it up, I see that there isn’t, strictly speaking.)
  4. Mostly straightforward but with a few words to check afterwards including ACRITICAL, ANDROS, INERUDITE and the unknown PEDAL PUSHERS as trousers – I knew them only as cyclists – and USHER as teacher.

    I also wondered about ‘exercise/AVAIL’ and could only think that if you avail yourself of certain facilities you exercise your right to use them, but wasn’t convinced the two words really work in a direct substitution.

    Glastonbury is known to me only as a ‘music’ event (not the sort that I’d want to listen to) but Wiki advises: In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts.

    1. Yes ‘avail oneself of’ was the only example I could think of and I agree that it doesn’t really match.
      I’m not entirely convinced by the meaning given in Lexico either: the definition is ‘to use or take advantage of (an opportunity or available resource)’. You don’t exercise opportunities or resources.
  5. ….HEADACHE to solve, and it certainly killed my passion long before the end ! In fact it was DOWNHILL all the way after the first dozen or so answers had gone in.

    DNK this usage of “usher”, or that “portion” could be used as a verb. SHELLFISH and INTENT were only parsed long after the battle was finally won. That took three sessions – I initially paused with 9 clues left at 22:30, but failed to time the other two visits accurately.

    I now have a vision of a bewigged Jack glaring at defending counsel as he asks “….and what IS the Glastonbury Festival ?”

    FOI STEERAGE
    LOI AVAIL
    COD INTENT (I just didn’t see the clever use of “set”)
    TIME : Probably 45-50 minutes (I usually do three puzzles in that sort of time, so it must have been trickier than we’ve given it credit for !)

  6. I was 50 minutes on this, not always on wavelength. I’m still trying to understand if I’ve missed something on INTENT. I think COD must go to HEADACHE. The first roller coaster I ever rode was the LITTLE DIPPER at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, which now apparently is the Blue Flyer, so the puzzle did bring back happy memories, which is maybe why I took so long. One of the clues I remember enjoying when I first tried cryptics at school was ‘Egotishtical’ for SHELLFISH. Sorry, that’s ASBESTOS I can manage. Thank you K and David.
  7. I don’t have much memory of this either. No real problems but not convinced by IN TENT or ‘up’ as an anagram indicator.
  8. About an hour and fifteen for me, having roundly mucked up the NE on my first pass by entering “SPEARFISH” at 13a. Well, the spear side is the male side, and I leapt to a conclusion. Happily I did get 6d AVAIL eventually despite the “r” I had at the end, and finally parsing SHELLFISH made me smile.

    I can assure everyone that the Comedy Tent at Glasto is a well-known area among festival-goers as a good place to shelter from the rain, as long as you don’t mind the small but not insignificant chance of seeing Arthur Smith in his birthday suit…

    (To get an idea of the scale of the event, Buzzfeed have some aerial photos from a couple of years ago. You wouldn’t get everyone in the comedy tent at once…)

    Edited at 2019-09-22 08:38 am (UTC)

  9. I wrote “Heavy weather” at the top of my paper copy. I failed to parse 1D not recognising the containment indicator and had to look up USHER to confirm 26A. LOI AVAIL. But I did enjoy a few – EGYPT, AYE-AYE and DOWNHILL. Thanks K and David. 26:12
  10. I found this hard going too, and like Kevin, failed to understand 26a and flung in GUSHES. Worked out PEDAL PUSHERS, but had to google them to confirm they were actually trousers. 41:31. Thanks Harry and K.
  11. I can normally get onto DM’s wavelength but I struggled with this. I wasn’t helped by assuming that 1a started HEART. Anyway I decided not to discard the puzzle on Sunday night and kept coming back to it for a few minutes, finishing with a flourish on Wednesday evening. As Keriothe says, once you know the answers it seems easy. Probably the sign of a good puzzle.
    My last few were LITTLE DIPPER (a guess as I know nothing of the night skies),TEACHINGS, INTENT, GUSHER and LOI HENCE.
    It was worth the effort. COD to HEADACHE. David
  12. 41:51. I found this tricky in places. DNK that sense of usher in 26ac, thought I might be missing something with the clue for intent and the only Andros I know of is the Townsend who played for Spurs and is now at Palace. I have ticks at 14ac, 18ac, 21ac and 25ac as clues I particularly enjoyed.
  13. ANDROS at 20dn is in the Bahamas NOT Greece! And was decimated by Hurricane Dorian last week! Am I the only one around here who collects Bahamian postmarks? My FOI.

    LOI 27ac ASBESTOS which is a Greek Island.

    COD 25ac DECIPHER

    WOD 11dn PEDAL PUSHERS

    Kev, you’ve never heard of Glastonbury! Purcell did a gig there in 1688. I am astonished. How are you on Woodstock?

    1. It’s also a Greek island. I’ve never heard of either so I’ve no idea which the setter intended.
    2. Yes it is a Bahamian island, but I think you’ll find there is also a Grecian island of Andros in the Cyclades… See here.
      1. From the Telegraph a couple of weeks ago:
        “Introducing Andros, the Greek island that moves at a different pace”.
        It sounds very nice.
  14. Unlike most of the contributors here, my solving time is measured with a calendar rather than a stopwatch, but I did eventually finish it. I was baffled by 13a for a long time, even looking up the habits of the male angler fish (which is seriously weird!) before the penny dropped.
  15. Thanks David and keriothe
    Found this one very tough and even looking back over the clues afterwards, it still locked pretty hard ! Took over an hour of actual time across half a dozen sittings.
    INERUDITE, USHER, ANDROS, GYP, PEDAL PUSHERS and ACRITICAL were all new terms for me.
    Still it was an excellent puzzle where the nuances of words used brought about many penny dropping moments.
    Finished with AVAIL (cunning and oblique definition), SHELLFISH (which raised a grin when finally saw how it worked) and ANDROS (the unheard of island in either Greece or Bahamas) as the last few in.

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