Sunday Times Cryptic 4825, by David McLean — Four-letter word! (But is it art?)

Author   Guy du SablePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
As I set this to publish, I’m just back from the Metropolitan Museum here in New York City, where I spent some time with the sensational Eugène Delacroix. Which seems appropriate, as this puzzle reacquainted me with an artist, and I learned a few things about her in researching for the blog.

I worked through this leisurely but with steady progress, until I had only the two uncrossed squares of the mere tetrad in 3 down still blank, and suddenly so was my mind. I could only think of female first names and vainly rack my brain and ransack Google for some… literary character?… who did something that could be alluded to cryptically in this fashion…?

I do (ramasang)* like this, and italicize anagrinds in the clue.

ACROSS

 1 Screen vegetable on the turn for one? (9,6)
SCAVENGER BEETLE — (Screen vegetable)*. It’s an &lit.
 9 My face is warm and friendly (7)
CORDIAL — COR, “my” (with an exclamation point, usually) + DIAL, “face”
10 Fashion accessory Bond put on cheek (7)
NECKTIE — NECK can be “cheek” (sass), over there anyway…
11 It is my fault old soprano hampers work (4)
OOPS — OP being work, and “hampers” meaning that it is encased by O(ld) and S(oprano)
12 Reforming band to cover Cast, Mud and ELO (10)
REMOULDING — R(Mud + ELO)*ING
13 “Leader” is a possible description of Nelson (4,3)
MAIN MAN — Cryptic Definition alluding to the famous admiral, who led British forces on the bounding main. I used this term to refer to Gilles Deleuze here Friday before last, I think it was, but then wondered if this would strike anyone as a sexist phrase. I’ve read some female philosophers, too (and there are more and more of them).
15 Flying saucer? (7)
FRISBEE — Cryptic Definition.
17 Great fried sandwiches at hearty get-together? (7)
REGATTA — (Great)* on both sides of AT. “Hearty” is a form of address ascribed to sailors. “Ahoy, me hearties!”
19 High-flyer crosses avenue at first green man (7)
MARTIAN — The “high-flyer” is a bird, the MARTIN, going over “avenue at first,” A
20 Shortly where one’ll find old boy in shape (6,4)
BEFORE LONG — In the shape “oblong,” you find OB, “old boy”…
22 Those starting wars hate all truces, eh? (4)
WHAT — First letters in “wars hate all truces,” hein ?
25 Principal appealing to Miss Penny (7)
LEADING — [-p]LEADING
26 Run-of-the-mill performance on Strictly? (7)
ROUTINE — The lone Double Def., unless you count 21 (and I don’t). I had never heard of the British TV show Strictly Come Dancing, another in the very popular talent-contest genre.
27 Occasionally have on trendy new pants (5,3,3,4)
EVERY NOW AND THEN — (have on trendy new)*

DOWN
 1 Sadistic sort disgusted by love (5)
SICKO — SICK, “disgusted” + O, “love.” Ho-hum. How about “exclamation of disgust in empty studio for sadistic sort”?
 2 One absorbing shock of a source hiding IRA brief (3,6)
AIR SPRING — A SPRING (“source”) with IR(-a). Was a little confusing for a second because the word also starts with an anagram of IRA, the whole thing.
 3 Woman who earned money from her bed? (4)
EMIN — Cryptic Definition. My very last, and long delayed, one in. I suppose if the clue had said that it was art that the woman made from her bed, it would have given the game away (instead of throwing me way off the trail), but there may be a more cynical subtext. (The artists I know—including at least one who has been, like EMIN, in the Venice Biennale—would resent the implication.) I’ve known of Tracey EMIN since Charles Saatchi’s notorious “Sensation” exhibition, where she showed Everyone I Have Ever Slept With, 1965–1995. Her 1998 My Bed was bought by Saatchi for £150,000 (and later resold for £2.5 million). She has become a Royal Academician and must be rather well off, as she reportedly votes Conservative and feels her taxes are too high.
 4 Vessel girl at work filled with headless beer (7)
GALLEON — GAL, “girl” + ON, “at work,” with [-a]LE poured in
 5 Succeed in ignoring bit of blubbing and end the conversation (4,3)
RING OFF — [-b]RING OFF
 6 Teacher receiving nothing after spreadsheet that’s excellent (9)
EXCELSIOR — SI(O)R after EXCEL. Latin for “onward, ever upward,” which is the sense with which I was familiarized in my childhood by the great Stan (The Man) Lee of Marvel Comics, who passed away (you must have heard) on November 12—and as on the New York State seal. But in British parlance (says Collins), it is an exclamation, adverb (!?) and noun (as in “The Excelsior Hotel”) with the sense here.
 7 African expresses disapproval with Indian leader (5)
TUTSI — TUTS + I(ndian)
 8 Enduringly popular cut first released by Young? (9)
EVERGREEN — [-s]EVER + GREEN, or “young.” (I’d like to think this was a reference to my friend La Monte Young, though he’s never appeared on the Top 40 charts, so of course that’s preposterous. Also, very few of his works have ever been covered!)
13 Drunk liberal punches yours truly in drink (9)
MIRABELLE — M(liberal)*E. If I’d ever heard of the drink, it was here.
14 Ratty men struggling to win one Labour ward? (9)
MATERNITY — (Ratty men + I)*
16 Somewhat smart Conservative involved in blunder (9)
BRIGHTISH — B(RIGHT)ISH
18 Everyone, I must cuddle Republican quickly! (7)
ALLEGRO — ALL + EG(R)O, an adverb as well as an adjective.
19 Portion of cumin or Cajun-style chicken (7)
MINORCA — I saw the hidden word before I guessed what the definition must be.
21 Lover that has a smoking-hot body? (5)
FLAME — Har de har. The second part of this seems more a Cryptic Definition than a Double (straight) one.
23 Relationship Congress raised with Germany’s No 1 (3-2)
TIE-IN — “Congress” of the sexual sort, IT <— + EIN, “one” in Deutsch.
24 Sport heading for diving pool (4)
FUND — “Sport,” FUN + D(iving)

30 comments on “Sunday Times Cryptic 4825, by David McLean — Four-letter word! (But is it art?)”

  1. Having made 2 errors on Saturday’s, I continued in that vein on this one, spelling 15ac FRISBIE (looks fine to me), and finally, stupidly, putting in ENID at 3d. As has been said here often enough, if you can’t parse it it’s wrong; clearly it can’t be said too often, at least so long as I’m here. NHO of EMIN, could make nothing of the clue, so should have settled for a DNF, but ooooooohhhh nooooo, not me. EXCELSIOR for me is the strange device on the banner that the odd young man carries in Longfellow’s poem, as illustrated by James Thurber. Haven’t we had enough of my=COR for a while?
  2. As I also put ENID at 3dn (in desperation, knowing it was probably wrong) I disagree with Kevin that it was stupid to do so as there’s no wordplay as such that would have helped, only a cryptic definition that relies on GK that some might claim is bordering on the obscure. Neither EMIN nor her so-called “art” is of interest to me, so if I’m to dredge her name from the back of my mind for a crossword answer I would need more than a cryptic reference to go on.

    I happened to spell FRISBEE correctly through a lucky guess. MIRABELLE as a drink was unknown. Minorca as a chicken rang the faintest of bells.

    Edited at 2018-11-25 06:21 am (UTC)

    1. I agree with Jack about EMIN, actually (I was assuming that whatever the requisite GK was, it was G enough for Brits); what I was thinking of was that a) I had no justification for ENID, other than that it’s a woman’s name and fits; and b) a DNF would not have lowered me even further on the leaderboard, in which I confess to having a wish to rise.
  3. I forgot to tear the solved crossword out. so I don’t have a time. Middling, I think, worse than last week’s and better than next’s (not yet seen). I remember that my LOI, also COD, was EMIN, after trying to justify Enid before the penny dropped. I’d never heard of a MIRABELLE but it sounded like it could be a cocktail. More my scene, I knew the beetle.I enjoyed this, apart from thinking that to clue EXCELSIOR as excellent via EXCEL was an overload. Thank you Guy and David.
  4. A short and 26a solve of a very humdrum puzzle. No problem with EMIN but I thought it was a poor clue as was EXCELSIOR with excellent as the definition. In fact several fell into the weak/lame category for me.
    The Young referenced in EVERGREEN is of course Will Young, the product of another TV talent show. It as his debut single as winner of Pop Idol.
      1. What, not Lester? Ha.
        Of course I had never heard of (nor, as far as I know, heard) Will.

        Edited at 2018-11-25 06:59 am (UTC)

      2. Another contemporary popular culture reference that was completely lost on me. The Rodgers and Hart musical made into a 1934 film of that name starring Jessie Matthews would be more in my line!

        Edited at 2018-11-25 07:18 am (UTC)

  5. I do the crossword on paper and then enter the answers WOL online to enter the competitions. Defeated once again by mistyping answer and not spotting it…. MONIRCA for 19d. Grr. EMIN my last – I had ENID but couldn’t make sense of the wordplay and only a prolonged search got me to the answer. I’m not a fan of that clue, but I enjoyed the rest (apart from EXCELSIOR). MIRABELLE is not something I’ve tasted or even seen. I liked MATERNITY but the clever BEFORE LONG was my favourite.

    Edited at 2018-11-25 08:45 am (UTC)

  6. Got everything apart from EMIN.
    Put Enid but then checked afterwards as not happy. I don’t think this clue works.
    David
  7. An hour and three here, and given the comments so far, I’m increasingly okay with 3d EMIN being my last one in. My first was 11a OOPS, and along the way I learned about a chicken, a drink, and a type of suspension… Thanks to rinteff for teaching me about the NHO Will Young, too; I’m more of a Neil Young kind of guy.

    Enjoyed EMIN once I got there, and also 20a BEFORE LONG. Thanks to Guy and setter.

    At least I did better last week than I did today!

  8. I gave up on EMIN, having satisfied myself that I had identified every woman’s name fitting the checkers and that none had any connection to beds I was aware of. If only it had occurred to me that women have surnames too, eh?
    Obviously in the circumstances I’d like to be able to say that the clue’s unfair but it really isn’t. It may be UK-centric GK but Emin and her bed are about as famous as contemporary artists and artworks get. Of course you might think it’s all a load of over-rated rubbish but I think that of Yeats and I was still expected to read all that guff about gyres.
  9. At the time I thought 3d was eminently gettable. From the sheer volume of her output, up to 50 books a year, ENID Blyton must have been writing constantly, and therefore in every location in which she found herself, including her bed. And she earned lots of money from her books.
  10. I’m going to reveal my ignorance here, so apologies in advance if this is a stupid question, but what about the “Names of individual living people are not used as answers” rule for 3d, or does that only apply to The (non-Sunday) Times?

    Needless to say I missed the correct answer for 3d and can’t use the ‘No living persons’ rule as an excuse. It seems an obvious one, but I can’t remember having seen the ‘Flying saucer’ clue for FRISBEE before. Another reminder of Ray Walston.

    As well as the ‘green man’, I liked the clever wordplay for BEFORE LONG.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

    1. Got it in one; ST doesn’t follow the rules of the daily cryptics, and names of living people are allowed.
  11. Didn’t enjoy this and didn’t enjoy today’s either. Actually, for similar reasons.

    Got EMIN but then I went to Art College for four years.

    A case of the King’s new bedclothes.

  12. DNF. I was another who entered Enid at 3dn on the basis of it fitting checkers and being a woman’s name. I was miles away from getting the YBA in question. Although there is clearly an art market, and Emin’s bed was clearly successful in commercial terms (however successful it may or may not be in artistic terms), the “earning money from” bit of the clue steered me far away from any thoughts of the art world.
  14. Tracey Emin that is – used to ply her trade round the back of the Excelsior Hotel? Talking of which – we not only have a living person at 3d but we also have a brand name at 6d with EXCEL = spreadsheet? Don’t get me wrong – I used an Excel spreadsheet only yesterday as it happens – but this appears to be a double-whammy of stuff that is not allowed in the Daily Times?
    1. Strictly speaking Frisbee is a brand name too although it appears to have become generic now too.
      1. I don’t think brand names are entirely banned in any cryptic crossword. If you can have “paper” in the clue indicating SUN or MIRROR (or etc etc), at least some are allowed.
  15. I found this hard going, taking 48:02 to chew my way through, with at least 10 of those spent on my LOI, 3d. Having discounted all the four letter girls’ names I could see in an alphabet trawl, inspiration finally struck as I trawled again. I guess I was lucky to get the correct spelling of FRISBEE without thinking. I knew MIRABELLE from watching the Monaco Grand Prix, but would have struggled to say what it actually was. I also had to assume that MINORCA was a type of chicken. I too raised an eyebrow at the EXCELSIOR clue. SICKO took me a while. Thanks Harry and Guy.
  16. SICKO=Sadist??

    Although EMIN is gettable of course, the clue seems unsatisfactorily vague.

    FGBP

  17. We had Black Minorcas in my long, long lost childhood in Ireland. (Along with White Wyandottes, White Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds). So I knew about that bird but not the one with the bed. ;>)

    Was reminded of a joke about Christine Keeler calling her bed a chicken farm for tax purposes. She had raised a thousand cocks on it.

    Tom McGuirk (and Jan Fralick) Toronto.

  18. Thanks David and guy_du_sable
    I worked on this for about an hour before realising that I wouldn’t get 3d in a month of Sundays – I’ve actually heard of this lady, but she was far from top of mind in this type of general knowledge cryptic clue.
    Also needed the blog to properly parse RING OFF (didn’t know of that term for ‘succeed’) and technically didn’t equate ‘hearty’ to sailor at 17a.
    Smiled at the definition for MARTIAN and liked the wordplay for BEFORE LONG.
    Apart from the ‘did not get’ EMIN, the last couple in were that BEFORE LONG and FLAME.

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