Sunday Times 4890 by Robert Price – ouch!

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
36:54. An absolute stinker from Bob this week. I had most of it done within about 15 minutes but I was left with two or three unsolved in the NW, NE and SW corners and cracking those remaining clues was like pulling teeth. I can’t remember which they were now but the rather obscure ABULIA and UMBRA were among them, as were the less obscure but cunningly clued IAMBUS and HUBCAP and the ‘how did that take me so long to see’ STUNTMAN and GANDER.

I can’t, hand on heart, say I enjoyed all of it, but a stiff challenge like this is very welcome from time to time and when I eventually finished I was exhausted but full of admiration. But let’s not have one of these every week please setters!

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

Across
1 Pigeonhole providing stylish envelopes
CLASSIFY – CLASS(IF)Y.
5 Fish topped with better nuts are protected by this
HUBCAP – cHUB, CAP. The nuts in question being those attaching the wheels of a car, of course. This was one of my last in: it took me forever to consider the right kind.
9 English cricket side finally win in great style
ELEGANCE – E, LEG, A(wiN)CE.
10 Feel weak university degree reflected loss of willpower
ABULIA – reversal of AIL, U, BA. Another of my last in. I got it eventually from wordplay and checkers, but I had no idea about the definition.
12 One wearing a king’s spun fabric garment
TUNIC – reversal (spun) of C(I)NUT.
13 Shrink the cuff before it’s embroidered
THERAPIST – THE, RAP, (ITS)*.
14 For those over thirty they may record fine results
SPEED CAMERAS – CD. I know this to my cost, having been caught doing 35 in a 30 area recently. Actually it didn’t really cost me anything other than time: I did a speed awareness course.
18 Wine put in as meat’s being cooked
ASTI SPUMANTE – (PUT IN AS MEATS)*. A rather loose definition.
21 Taste before swallowing trendy fruit
TANGERINE – TANG, ER(IN)E.
23 Murder’s gripping new clues
HINTS – HI(N)TS.
24 Foot passengers may use this in the wee hours?
IAMBUS – or a 1am BUS, arf.
25 Marked pieces prepared by a learner
ESPECIAL – (PIECES)*, A, L.
26 Butcher’s sort of bird
GANDER – DD. Massive penny-dropping/self-kicking moment for me when I finally figured this one out.
27 Liqueur from India sporting neatest bottles
ANISETTE – I (India) contained in (NEATEST)*. A liqueur similar to Pastis or Sambuca that I have only ever encountered in crosswords (unlike the other two).

Down
1 A holiday island’s round coin
CREATE – CRE(A)TE.
2 Getting on stage in gigantic clothes
AGEING – contained in ‘stage in gigantic’.
3 Ship containing a leak is protecting artworks
SEASCAPES – S(E(A)SCAPE)S. Tricky wordplay here.
4 Look to score or accept the consequences
FACE THE MUSIC – two definitions, one whimsical.
6 Shade of offence, say, over being ignored
UMBRA – another fiendish clue: an obscure answer (albeit not hard to guess at) with tricky wordplay. Here it’s UMBRAGE with a reversal of EG (say, over) removed.
7 Dog leads to rival yours and mine
COLLIERY – COLLIE, Rival, Yours.
8 Page with complex maths hiding an illusion
PHANTASM – P, (MATHS)* containing AN.
11 Hot drinks and exercise provide punishment
TEACH A LESSON – TEA, CHA, LESSON.
15 Unique runner left in a game
MATCHLESS – MAT (runner), CH(L)ESS.
16 Item that’s removed before old copper
FARTHING – THING preceded by FAR (removed).
17 Actor’s valet, under arrest
STUNTMAN – STUNT, MAN. I think this was my last in. Is a STUNTMAN an actor? I suppose so, but it didn’t occur to me for what seemed like an eternity!
19 Show finishing early forgoing a charge
INDICT – INDICaTe. More tricksy wordplay.
20 Tragic part of a drug dealer’s confession?
ISOLDE – or I SOLD E. Wagner innit.
22 Best buddies regularly skipped study
ETUDE – bEsTbUdDiEs.

21 comments on “Sunday Times 4890 by Robert Price – ouch!”

  1. I submitted off leaderboard, as I’d lost track of the time. I don’t know how many clues I’d solved when I went offline at 30′, but my last 4 in were GANDER, UMBRA, ABULIA, & LOI HUBCAP. Really annoyed at myself for coming up only with GANNET when I had the G and knew ‘butcher’s’. NHO ABULIA, of course, and I dithered over MA/BA until I got UMBRA. Like Keriothe, it took me a long time to find the right nuts. Very tough, but nothing to complain about (I failed to parse MATCHLESS only, never thinking of MAT for ‘runner’). But it was a relief to find today’s puzzle.
  2. I was under the impression that 17dn was STOPPARD (pard? under arrest) but it was his STUNTNAN that prevailed. My LOI

    No time – but plenty to savour.

    FOI 22dn ETUDE

    COD 16dn FARTHING

    WOD 5ac HUBCAP those sort of nuts!

  3. 17D was my LOI too. Unfortunately, I never thought of STUNTMAN and figured there must be an actor called STANDMAN unknown to me. But there wasn’t. I enjoyed the workout, I remember. Some very tricky wordplay. I had UMBRA from early on but couldn’t see why apart from the shade bit. I’d never heard of ABULIA either but that one was easier to just trust the wordplay.
  4. …I had to use aids for 1d and 17d so, really, a DNF.
    It took me 10 minutes to solve my first clue so I knew I was in for a hard time.
    Thank you, keriothe, particularly for 15d
    COD to SPEED CAMERAS although IAMBUS was very good, too.
  5. Very hard work but completed without aids (which seemed unlikely at one time) after taking a break overnight and returning to it refreshed in the morning when everything fell suddenly into place.

    In Private Eye mode (or possibly Dean Mayer on a cheeky day) I had convinced myself that the second word at 5ac would be COD which presented insurmountable problems with 8dn until corrected.

      1. Now I cone to think of it, that was exactly my reasoning as I hadn’t solved 6dn to give me the ‘U’ checker. I even had CODCAP written in!
  6. ….but I wasn’t suffering from ABULIA when I took a time-out after 21 minutes with 5A/4D remaining. It was simply brain freeze. I came back some hours later, and almost 3 minutes later it was mission accomplished.

    The wee hours for me are between 4 and 6am, but we won’t go there. I can only dream of a 1am bus, as the last one for me is 10.15pm and then thanks only to a subsidy.

    Selecting COD was difficult, but I must give a photo-finish silver medal to SPEED CAMERA.

    FOI ASTI SPUMANTE
    LOI UMBRA
    COD ISOLDE
    TIME 23:40

  7. 24:09. Done online so no notes, but I remember having to check ABULIA before submitting and being unable to parse UMBRA, so I’m pleased to see that was right. HUBCAP was my LOI too. I liked COLLIERY.
  8. 35 minutes, with LOI the constructed ABULIA. A confession from an old idiot. When I was a toddler, I swallowed a FARTHING. Fortunately, all things must pass. Its descent was monitored anxiously by my parents, as they weren’t that well off. COD to IAMBUS with special mentions to SPEED CAMERAS, HUBCAP and ISOLDE, all great clues. Super puzzle. Thank you Robert and Keriothe.

    Edited at 2020-02-23 09:19 am (UTC)

  9. In the end I gave up and didn’t submit, though I had actually pencilled in LOI HUBCAP. NHO chub, which didn’t help. I have “did not enjoy” scrawled on my sheet. Sometimes a puzzle that doesn’t suit me coincides with a bad mood and the whole thing leaves me annoyed, and this was one of those, I think…
  10. I managed to construct the unknown ABULIA but failed to parse the runner bit of MATCHLESS. Liked HUBCAP and SPEED CAMERAS. Was pleased to get ISOLDE, UMBRAGE and IAMBUS. Agree this was the toughest puzzle yet set by Bob, and was relieved to finish it without aids. 50:29. Thanks Bob and K.
  11. DNF. I had a couple still to get after I’d been at this one for over an hour and saw no prospect of resolving them so I ended up using aids to finish it off. I biffed umbra without understanding the wp. I threw in matchless without full understanding. Stuntman took forever as did getting the right sort of nut to work out hubcap. I think it must have been iambus and abulia that I had to look up. A tough puzzle just beyond the limits of my solving ability which made it a bit frustrating.
  12. Have just managed to find my physical copy of this puzzle -must develop a better system.
    FOI was ETUDE; I think I started on paper at the bottom.I got quite a few in my first session and I see I had 6 left at 5.15pm. FARTHING,STUNTMAN and IAMBUS were followed by my last 3- UMBRA, ABULIA and finally HUBCAP.
    Early on I’d had Capri as the island for 1d which gradually became impossible. Like others,NHO ABULIA.
    COD to either IAMBUS or ISOLDE -probably the latter, a drug clue I liked.
    Finished around 6pm-perhaps a sterner test than Robert’s previous puzzles, but worth the effort.
    David

    Edited at 2020-02-23 03:33 pm (UTC)

  13. Can someone please help me with how ‘hubcap’ is parsed – I can’t figure out from his explanation. I got it from the definition but don’t get the ‘fish topped with better’ meaning. Thank you.
    1. Hi anon, sorry if my explanation wasn’t clear. It’s sometimes hard to judge how detailed to be but please don’t hesitate to ask.
      CHUB, the fish is ‘topped’, i.e. has it’s top taken off. Then ‘better’ as a verb indicates CAP.
  14. Thanks Bob and keriothe
    Had a different solving experience to most here – still took around 80 minutes to get through it though – and enjoyed every one of them. Lots of very clever clue constructions !
    Was able to get through without any references until my third last answer – SPEED CAMERA. Knew it was a cd that involved something requiring British local knowledge, but couldn’t get whether it was scholarly achievement or what – its 60 kph (used to be 35mph I think, so was never gunna get that).
    Was able to then immediately get SEASCAPES and finally TEACH A LESSON to finish it off.
    1. I was in Australia a little over a year ago and I found the driving experience incredibly unsettling. I live in the UK but for various reasons I drive abroad a lot so I am very accustomed to driving on the right. In Australia, surrounded by visual information telling it that I was abroad, my subconscious mind desperately wanted to drive on the right. It was quite scary and really weird!
      1. Hi keriothe
        Hope that you had a good rest of your time over here other than the driving experience. It’s been close to 20 years since I’ve been to the UK and found driving over there a pleasure after getting used to the etiquette of what lane to be in on the big motorways.
        It was in the US where I found it weird, but only when I wanted to turn left and right at intersections – oh, and getting out of San Francisco on to a main highway !
        1. I had a fantastic time. I was in Sydney and Melbourne visiting old friends I hadn’t seen for ages. Quite a few of my friends married Aussies and they all seem to have ended up there, for understandable reasons.
          The driving thing was weird because it was as if my own mind was double-bluffing me. I never have a problem driving on the right, although in North America (and I drive quite a lot in Canada) I agree that intersection etiquette is hard to get used to.

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