Sunday Times 4878 by Robert Price

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
14:29. Nothing too difficult here, but there’s a smattering of unusual words and tricky wordplay that slowed me down a bit but also made for a fun and interesting solve. I also caused a bit of a problem for myself by misreading 5ac and confidently writing in CRUISER.

My last in by some distance was 9ac, VIE. The answer was obvious but for some reason I was very wary of submitting without understanding the wordplay. Eventually I gave up and did, realising (as seems to be the case rather often) how it worked a few seconds later. Quite the penny-dropping/self-kicking moment.

So thanks again to Robert for another excellent puzzle, and here’s how I think it all works…

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

Across
1 Insects place wings in this
LOCUSTS – LOCUS, ThiS.
5 Warship topped by British fighter
BRUISER – B, cRUISER. I’m not sure how I managed to misread this clue as indicating CRUISER: carelessly, I suppose.
9 No place for second in film contest
VIE – moVIE. Anyone else spend as long as I did trying to do something with an S?
10 Suffer drinking tea and start to exhibit pain
STOMACH ACHE – STOMA(CHA)CH, Exhibit. I was a bit confused by this clue for a while, taking ‘suffer’ to indicate the first word and then wondering how to fit the tea in.
11 Fool and Lear, say, show no resentment
TAKE IN GOOD PART – TAKE IN (fool), GOOD PART (Lear, say). I’m not sure Lear would be a GOOD PART for Will Ferrell but you get the idea.
13 Libertines pinching youngster’s food items
ROULADES – ROU(LAD)ES.
15 The one that went to market on foot?
BIG TOE – CD, reference to the rhyme in which each of the various toes has its distinct role to play, including going to market, having roast beef and going ‘wee wee wee wee’ all the way home.
17 Fire’s gone out, almost cold inside
EXCITE – EX(C)ITEd.
18 Sudden changes of mind about penalties
CAPRICES – CA, PRICES.
20 Senseless, as Van Helsing was
OUT FOR THE COUNT – Van Helsing is a vampire hunter in Dracula, who got his own movie starring Huge Ackman in 2004.
23 Stunt spread in papers as expected
ANTICIPATED – ANTIC, I(PATE)D.
24 Sign a letter as it is read out
CUE – sounds like ‘Q’.
25 Helter-skelter or rapid delivery by chute
AIRDROP – (OR RAPID)*. The first anagram in the puzzle!
26 Put Dawson in a show, perhaps for keeps
CASTLES – or CAST LES. Geddit?

Down
1 More than one can rock when running the Conservatives
LAVATORIES – LAVA (rock when running), TORIES.
2 Verify chip in bill-paying situation
CHECKOUT COUNTER – or CHECK OUT (verify) COUNTER (chip).
3 America charging liner reduced fare from Asia
SUSHI – S(US)HIp.
4 Increasingly polluted sewer emptied, saving pet cat
SMOGGIER – SeweR containing MOGGIE.
5 Guiding light European inspired by an artist
BEACON – B(E)ACON.
6 A pin-up, her novel reveals less content
UNHAPPIER – (A PIN UP HER)*.
7 International body in US, iconic, involved with cruelty
SECURITY COUNCIL – (US ICONIC CRUELTY)*.
8 Regretted being impolite on the phone
RUED – sounds like ‘rude’.
12 Who mount gemstones for luxury travellers?
JET-SETTERS – JET being a gemstone of sorts, and the setting of stones being synonymous with mounting them.
14 Craftsman provided to cut work of a painter and decorator
ARTIFICER – ART(IF), ICER.
16 Inadequate jerk going after film pioneer
PATHETIC – PATHE, TIC. I only know PATHE as a logo you used to see before movies, but the company has a long and illustrious history as a pioneer in various aspects of filmmaking.
19 Support for new setter?
PROP UP – PRO PUP. A neat clue, with a nicely cruciverbal surface meaning.
21 Lawyers getting firm on closing bars
CODAS – CO (firm), DAS (lawyers).
22 Reporter’s caught out by a challenge
HAKA – HAcK, A.

32 comments on “Sunday Times 4878 by Robert Price”

  1. The only time I’ve ever finished faster than Keriothe, and I blew it with an error too stupid to mention. Other than that, an easy one from Robert. I did make a point of reading 5ac twice, or maybe three times. I had the vague feeling that there was a Len or Lew Dawson, but had no idea who he was, if indeed he was; but ‘keeps’ settled the matter. (I looked him up afterwards, and have already forgotten who he was; or is.) Liked PROP UP and LAVATORIES.
  2. I’m confused; doesn’t ‘suffer’ indicate the first word, in which one puts ‘tea’?
    1. I meant the first word of the answer: if you assume ‘suffer’ gives you that then you are left trying to justify ACHE from the rest of the wordplay.
  3. was a northern comedian, who could gurn and hilariously play the piano off-key. As Eric Morecambe said to Andre Previn (Mr. Previous), ‘All the right notes but not necessarily in the right order!’. He was best noted for his Mother-in-Law jokes, most of which would be unrepeatable in today’s political climate.

    This was the crossword with only the top half of the grid on the print-out version, which added ten minutes to my time. Will we be getting an apology from the Ed.? I think not!

    FOI 3dn SUSHI

    LOI 13ac ROULADES

    COD 22dn HAKA the ALL BLACKS Rugby war-dance to which England successfully gave ‘the V’ to in Yokahama!

    WOD 1dn LAVATORIES – where would we be without them?

    Deduct ten minutes from 55 roughly.

    Edited at 2019-12-01 06:37 am (UTC)

    1. You describe last week’s grid as if you only got about 8 rows of it. You actually got the whole thing with the numbers and blocks missing in the lower half. I contacted a colleague when I knew about it, and it was fixed less than an hour later, as you could see by looking at the comments on 4877. One comment from you last week said that “it only took a few minutes to reconstruct the grid and add the numbers” – as I’d expect from anyone aware of the usual symmetry.

      Peter Biddlecombe, Sunday Times crossword editor.

  4. After a reasonable run at this it turned into a technical DNF as I resorted to aids for HAKA which I gather has entered the language via a sport which I don’t take any interest in i.e. most of them.

    On mother-in-law jokes, here are some classics from the old school and some from a new wave of comedians who think they’ve improved on the format. I’ll leave you to judge which are the funnier:

    1) Les Dawson: “I can always tell when the mother-in-law’s coming to stay… the mice start throwing themselves on the traps.”

    2) Ken Dodd: “I haven’t spoken to my mother-in-law for eighteen months. I don’t like to interrupt her.”

    3) Bob Monkhouse: “My wife said: ‘Can my mother come down for the weekend?’ So I said: ‘Why?’ and she said: ‘Well, she’s been up on the roof two weeks already’.”

    4) Les Dawson: “I took my mother-in-law to Madame Tussaud’s Chamber of Horrors and one of the attendants said: ‘Keep her moving sir, we’re stock-taking.'”

    5) Henry Youngman: “I just got back from a pleasure trip. I took my mother-in-law to the airport.”

    6) Les Dawson:”The wife’s Mother said, “When you’re dead, I’ll dance in your grave.” I said: “Good, I’m being buried at sea.”

    And now the new ones:

    1) “We were having tea with my mother-in-law the other day and out of the blue she said, “I’ve decided I want to be cremated.” I said, “Alright, get your coat.” Dave Spikey.

    2) “We got a new car for the mother-in-law – that Government scrappage scheme is great!” Marc Whiteley.

    3) “Getting my mother-in-law to accept a free foreign holiday was easy. The hard part was convincing her Dignitas was Swiss for spa.” Sean Lindsay.

    4) “My mother-in-law was so mean she blinded herself just to get a free dog.” Gary Delaney.

    5) “STEVE: My Mother-in-law went to the Caribbean. FRED: Jamaica? STEVE: Well I hope so, it’s hurricane season and she’s a horrible person.” Stephen Holford.

    Edited at 2019-12-01 07:46 am (UTC)

    1. Thanks for that. My mother-in-law joke was more of a joke on the family… on successive Christmases I gave them nuts and crackers, but I resisted giving them bananas. My smarty-pants sister-in-law, sussed me out, though.
  5. ….that last night a peeping Tom knocked at the door and asked me to shut the curtains” was a typical example of Les’s humour. He actually had an excellent relationship with her in real life. Hearing his off-key playing of the piano (his version of “Side by Side” was a work of genius) still cracks me up long after his death and many repeats.

    I got seven clues into this before solving one, didn’t manage to parse TAKE IN GOOD PART, and also tried to play with a missing S before the penny dropped with VIE.

    Another fine offering from Bob.

    FOI BIG TOE
    LOI HAKA
    COD LAVATORIES *
    TIME 16:28

    * “A thief broke into our police station and stole the lavatory. A spokesman said enquires were continuing, but they had nothing to go on….”

  6. 39 minutes with LOI HAKA. I often think when a setter uses a drug reference in a clue that it’s a bit like infant school children saying rude words in lavatorial humour. I’ve obviously stuck at that phase of development with my COD LAVATORIES. I did like PROP UP too, and of course the reference to Les Dawson.
    “In awe, I watched the waxing moon ride across the zenith of the heavens like an ambered chariot towards the ebony void of infinite space wherein the tethered belts of Jupiter and Mars hang, for ever festooned in their orbital majesty. And as I looked at all this I thought… I must put a roof on this toilet.”
    Yet another good Robert offering. Thanks to him and to you, K.
  9. 21:29. “Very witty”, I wrote at the top. I did this on paper having to fill out the rest of the grid first and having just put an X in the missing dark squares instead of filling them in, I found it harder to see. (MO)VIE my last one in…. not sure why. Lots of ticks on my copy. One of ARTIFICER, PROP UP and ANTICIPATED my favourite or is it LAVATORIES, HAKA or PATHETIC? Thanks Bob and K.
  10. I have not much to say here, as the minor hiccup with the printed version led to me doing the online version sitting up at my computer last week. That all went quite well—I managed this in 24:16—but it meant I didn’t make a single note about this puzzle, as I hadn’t prepared any means of scrawling my usual marginalia…

    If I swap to the computer version full time, I’ll either have to stop commenting on the weekly puzzles or find myself a note-taking habit I can stick to!

    1. I do these (except the Jumbi) online, and then print a copy and write in the answers. A daily waste of a sheet of paper and some ink, but I can live with that; my carbon footprint is pretty small.
      1. At some point I’m sure I’ll have to start doing them the new-fangled way. Perhaps when I’m good enough that the harder puzzles don’t end up all scrawled over with anagrams and other workings-out! I can get away with doing the QC without having to write anything down, but not a harder 15×15!

        As a geek, the first solution that springs to my mind is solving on a larger iPad with a note-scribbling application open to the side of the puzzle, perhaps literally scribbling with an Apple Pencil, but I only have a teensy old iPad Mini so that’s not an option at the moment…

        1. I don’t see why you should have to. I certainly have no intention of solving on-line. Even if they were to remove the print option there are ways around that as was the case with the QC which ran for a year or two before it had a Print button.

          Edited at 2019-12-01 11:39 am (UTC)

          1. I like pen and paper, but I don’t mind computers too much, and as my eyes are getting older I can see that having a variable font size and a screen that’s always well-lit could be a definite advantage. Plus my current luxury of doing them stretched out on the sofa like a Roman emperor while eating my toast probably won’t last much longer—I may be headed for a bus commute where typing will be preferable!
            1. Indeed, and we all have our routines. I’m not averse to computers either and in fact I spend far too much of my time looking at screens, especially if one adds in TV viewing, so for me solving crosswords using pencil and paper comes as a welcome change. I also have older eyes with problems queuing up to make life more difficult if I’m spared, so I have invested in some excellent reading lamps to ensure maximum visibility.

              Edited at 2019-12-01 01:01 pm (UTC)

              1. My one addition to the decor in my lounge this year was a nice bright spotlight for reading at the crossword-doing end of the sofa 🙂
  11. There were several clues where I couldn’t see the parsing, the one that gave me the biggest doh! moment being AIRDROP. I wondered what helter skelter was doing in the clue. Never saw the anagram. Biffed TAKE IN GOOD PART too. I also spent ages trying to take an S out of something at 9a, and had to wait for the checkers before putting in the first thing I thought of. HAKA held me up for quite a while at the end. 42:15. Thanks Bob and K.
  12. I made heavy weather of this. For a while I had a battle between Brawler and Bruiser and then got in a jam with Pickles when I needed to get on board with Castles.

    COD: CASTLES.

  13. 45:12. I struggled to crack a few of these clues and was probably a bit slower than I should’ve been. The puzzle was good fun though. Enjoyed out for the count.
  14. Thanks Bob and keriothe
    Finished in just under the hour across three sessions and found it pretty hard work. Work with a lot of fun involved with it though !
    Particularly enjoyed the clever word play in many of the clues with ‘aha’ moments after the BIG TOE, LAVATORIES, OUT FOR THE COUNT and VIE (and was another S hunter).
    Finished in the NW corner with ROULADE (where was working with RAKE instead of ROUE for too long), that LAVATORIES and VIE the last couple in.

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