Sunday Times 4916 by Dean Mayer

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
29:22. I found this extremely hard, for reasons that I can actually put my finger on for a change. Dean’s cryptic definitions are often tricky, and I was particularly slow in seeing them in this puzzle: 13dn is probably the most extreme example (it took me forever) but 22ac and 7dn also held me up for some time. Completely unknown words and phrases in 12ac, 24ac and 2dn (which had to be painstakingly constructed from the anagrist) also caused me problems, and the puzzle is riddled with deceptively oblique definitions of familiar words.

Deception is the setter’s job though, and I didn’t find anything unfair in any of this. There’s an awful lot of very clever stuff as we have come to expect from Dean, and it’s always nice to have a challenging puzzle on Sunday when you’ve got time to savour it. It felt like I was making unnecessarily heavy weather of it though, so will be interested in how you all got on.

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

Across
1 Tread, soft one
PACE – P, ACE.
3 Retreat from tooth-puller?
IVORY TOWER – IVORY (tooth), TOWER (puller). The equivalence between tooth-puller and IVORY TOWER is far from obvious and very clever.
10 Reduce sharp pain
CURTAIL – a pair of oblique references here: neither sharp=CURT nor pain=AIL will be the first synonyms you think of. Perfectly good ones though.
11 Fruit off trolley?
BANANAS – two definitions, one mildly cryptic if only in so far as it’s trying to deceive you into thinking of a physical trolley. An unusually easy clue, make the most of it!
12 Fight in members’ lobby?
PASSAGE OF ARMS – I had never heard this expression so needed all the checkers to make the link between ‘lobby’ and PASSAGE.
14 Game stuffed with hot veg
CHARDS – C(H)ARDS. This took me forever because in all my years of cooking and eating chard I have never seen or heard it referred to in the plural. To me this is like saying ‘spinaches’. I love chard. Separate the stalks from the leaves, cook the former with garlic, chilli and lemon zest, then add the leaves, wilt them down and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.
15 Works a little magic on certificates
CONCERTI – contained in ‘magic on certificates.’
17 Condemn CEO’s salary?
EXECRATE – or EXEC RATE, geddit? This is a bit of a chestnut, but it took me ages to remember it, which was I think an indication that my brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders.
19 Short old French person eats tea cake
GATEAU – GA(TEA)Ul. Another reasonably straightforward clue that took me forever, which in turn caused me huge problems with my last in, 13ac.
22 Freedom fighter’s sacrificed to become one
PRISONER OF WAR – I went down all sorts of blind alleys with this one before realising that it was just a cryptic definition.
24 Old man is an old friend
PAISANO – PA, IS, AN, O. Another unknown word, fortunately with very clear assembly instructions.
25 Cunning ploy — aim for exhibition centre
OLYMPIA – (PLOY AIM)*. I used to live a stone’s throw from OLYMPIA, but this still took me an embarrassingly long time to see. Another indication that I was being a bit dopey last Sunday.
26 Guess magic includes juggling etc
CONJECTURE – CONJURE (magic, as a verb) containing (ETC)*.
27 One pruned spring flower
IRIS – I, RISe.

Down
1 Dip in fence around pit
PICKPOCKET – PICK(POCK)ET.
2 The cardinalship converted one in religious sect
CHRISTADELPHIAN – a completely new term to me, and we often complain about obscure words clued with anagrams, but it seemed completely clear to me where the letters needed to go. I needed all the checkers first though.
4 Water may flow along this very narrow street
VALLEY – V, ALLEY.
5 Influence of chain turning in cycle
RUB OFF ON – reversal of OF FOB contained in RUN. RUN=cycle is a bit oblique but I think they meet in the sense of a run/cycle of concerts or plays. Or possibly something to do with computers?
6 Type of sex requiring whip and 80 per cent skill
TANTRIC – TAN, TRICk. The type practised by Sting in his over-sharing phase.
7 One should keep clear of driving rain
WINDSCREEN WIPER – CD.
8 Product of volcano after right eruption
RASH – R, ASH. An eruption on the skin.
9 Crossing Arizona, water may be such a danger
HAZARD – H(AZ)ARD. ‘Water may be such’ to indicate HARD is a little oblique! Fortunately the main definition isn’t.
13 Bar code?
LIQUOR LAWS – CD. This was my last in, and even once I had all the checkers it took me a while. I was somewhat thrown by the fact that this is, as far as I’m aware, an Americanism. You don’t see the word ‘liquor’ at all much in the UK and we have licensing laws.
16 Free, as cotton weaving
AT NO COST – (AS COTTON)*.
18 Destroy old male removed from brood
RUINATE – RUmINATE.
20 Soon, Gordon Bennett will return as an alias
ANONYM – ANON (soon), reversal of MY (Gordon Bennett).
21 I’m more funny in my own story
MEMOIR – (IM MORE)*. This is another simple clue that took me forever to see and once again suggested that the old grey matter might not be in mid-season form.
23 Very long shot after one point
EPIC – E PIC.

31 comments on “Sunday Times 4916 by Dean Mayer”

  1. I was surprised to find myself coming in 10 minutes ahead of Keriothe, but then I knew PASSAGE OF ARMS, PAISANO, and even CHRISTADELPHIAN, and didn’t know that LIQUOR LAWS, which I shot in immediately I read the clue, was an Americanism. (Speaking of Americanisms, I was lucky to remember as I was typing WINDSHIELD WIPER that it’s SCREEN not SHIELD.) Like K, I was puzzled by the S of CHARDS; as is my spell checker. I had a MER at PAISANO, which I believe means countryman (if the country is Italy or Spain), akin to Landsman. ‘Paisan’ is used for ‘friend’. This was another of Dean’s paragons of brevity: 4.6 words per clue for acrosses, 6.4 for downs. Maybe 10ac for COD.
    1. Second definition in Collins, “Slang | comrade; pal”
      That’s the American English entry!
      For British English, it’s the first definition, with “a fellow countryman” coming second.

      Edited at 2020-08-23 01:30 am (UTC)

      1. Wiktionary helpfully says that chards are blanched artichoke leaves not chard. 2 different veges.
        Andyf
        1. Interesting. That meaning isn’t in any of the usual dictionaries though so PB wouldn’t normally accept it.
  2. LIQUOR LICENSE didn’t give me, a Yank, as much pause as WINDSCREEN WIPER, since over here, that’s a windshield. CHRISTADELPHIAN was the big surprise here. I also wondered about the pluralized CHARDS.
    It was sometime earlier this year, I think, when I first made the acquaintance of Mr. Bennett…
    Just realized now that I didn’t bother to parse RUB OFF ON at all.
    I think I’ve seen CURTAIL in two or three(?) oher puzzles this week.
  3. Brief clues are the most satisfying , particularly when the answer is long. 13d “bar code” was brilliant. Classic Dean!
    29:01

    Edited at 2020-08-23 01:51 am (UTC)

  4. 37 minutes. LOI was LIQUOR LAWS, not a term I’ve often heard, but vaguely known either from US novels or from disgruntled kids when teenagers on American trips. I saw CHRISTADELPHIAN straightaway, thinking of a many-lettered sect, but spent some time between PASSAGE OF ARMS and passage at arms. This needed the tricky RUB OFF ON for final confirmation. I too only knew of TANTRIC from Trudie and Sting. I didn’t know PAISANO at all but crossers showed how the instructions worked. COD to IVORY TOWER.I wasn’t keen on the clues for CHARDS or EXECRATE, and found this quite tough. Thank you K and Dean.
  5. Got through this in 54 minutes unaided although the unknown count was quite high for a Sunday. I wondered if there was more to PRISONER OF WAR than I could see, but apparently there isn’t.

    13dn was very slick except the term LIQUOR LAWS is unknown in this country other than in an American context, so perhaps a reference to that might have been in order – but then of course the clue wouldn’t have been so slick!

  6. Really tough but enjoyable. I felt that Dean was pushing the boundaries a bit. I love short clues so I’ll forgive the excellent LIQUOR LAWS.
  7. I only managed roughly a third of this even though I suspected a pangram was in play. At least I got that part right!
    Kathy
  8. I found this really difficult but ultimately satisfying. 16 clues done after a long first session. But I came back to it and gradually worked through it. All done without aids by 3.30pm.
    The SE section was easiest for me ( no problem with Liquor Laws) and eventually LOI was PASSAGE OF ARMS, an unknown phrase which seemed a likely answer.
    Also unknown was CHRISTADELPHIAN which was nearly last in, needing all the checkers.
    It’s amazing – you wait all your life for a Christadelphian and then a few days later another one turns up in Bolton Wanderer’s book; surely there can be no precedent for that?
    David
  9. ….and was left feeling a little disappointed. NHO PAISANO or CHARDS as a plural, and only parsed RUB OFF ON later. CHRISTADELPHIAN was an extreme OWAA and had to be written out and eliminated. My years of reading American detective novels meant that LIQUOR LAWS came to me quickly.

    FOI PACE
    LOI IRIS
    COD TANTRIC
    TIME 14:48

      1. I’m guessing that he is just confessing that he didn’t know the word but it isn’t his fault 😉
      2. OWAA I think is Obscure Word clued As Anagram.
        I didn’t think they were especially obscure? Few though.
        Andyf
        1. Oops should have mentioned that all the acronyms are covered in the glossary accessible on the right of the blog.
          Andyf
            1. Everyone can access the glossary, though how to do so can vary .. some smartphones make it tricky for example. If you PM me with details of what device you are using Kevin, I will look into it ..
          2. You must have access to a different glossary from me: OWAA doesn’t appear in mine. Stephen
  10. I found this tough, taking 53:51 to come in with 1 wrong. I had LIQUOR PASS where I took the pass to be authorisation to get into the bar, ie a code for the bar, not being familiar with LIQUOR LAWS. Thanks Dean and K.
  11. A 46 min DNF due to two stupid typos – ececrate and amonym. Very annoying. I found this tough but rewarding. Thought ivory tower was excellent.
  12. 14:10. I didn’t find this too tricky but had to check the unknown PAISANO before submitting and took a while to get PRISONER OF WAR – like Jackkt thinking there must be more too it. I thought LIQUOR LAWS clever and CONCERTI was very nicely hidden but COD to IVORY TOWER for the groan factor. Good stuff. Thanks Dean and K.
  13. Plenty to dislike here but I’ll start with Americanisms, absurd plural forms and obscure words clued as anagrams. Jeffrey
  14. I usually enjoy puzzles from this setter and this was no exception. I was held up by LIQUOR LAWS but what else could it be once I had all the checkers. My LOI. 25 minutes. Ann
  15. Thanks Dean and keriothe
    Found it almost impossible to get started with this one until finally seeing BANANAS to get the start. Loved the cryptic definitions – a very clever way to deceptively use words that need to be punctuated in a particular way to provide the answer – best example and my cod was WINDSCREEN WIPERS. The POW was a close second.
    A few new terms at 12a, 24a, 2d and 18d along with the ‘Gordon Bennett’ meaning at 20d.
    Finished in the NW corner with PASSAGE OF ARMS, VALLEY (simples in retrospect) and CURTAIL the last few in.

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