Sunday Times Cryptic 4851, 19 May 2019, by Robert Price — Scherzo in “Be Sharp” (See?)… minor

Author   Guy du SablePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
This all seemed fairly straightforward, and straightforwardly fair, but wittily engaging and elegantly clued. I doubt if anyone will have had major problems.

This afternoon at an event remembering Jonas Mekas (1922–2019), I learned that the great patron saint of noncommercial film had stayed many times during the last five decades at the hotel La Louisiane in Paris… I regret to say that I returned to the States over a week ago, though it doesn’t seem nearly so long. The avatar now replacing the one from La Louisiane shows the foot of the stairs in my apartment building, with Art Deco runes written in light on the floor. I don’t recall ever having seen, or noticed, that before in all my 27 years here. It seemed a hopeful sign… That I’m posting another such picture has nothing to do with the fact that in 2018, as some of you are aware, a much shorter flight of stairs led to my downfall.

I do (nasargam)* like this, and italicize anagrinds in the clues.

ACROSS
 1 Two short cuts to good health (4-4)
CHIN-CHIN — Salut ! That’s either CHIN[-k] CHIN[-k] or (see the first comment) CHIN[-e] CHIN[-e]—what do you think? Cast your vote now!
 5 A fake king’s in retreat (6)
ASHRAM — A + S(R)HAM, R being “Rex,” “king”
 9 Taking on family over claims it openly admits (8)
NEPOTISM — Reverse (“over”) hidden
10 Benefits after wife gives birth (6)
WHELPS — W(ife) + HELPS (“benefits”)
12 Worry as steed might bolt a lot (3,4,1,5)
EAT LIKE A HORSE — EAT (“worry” ) + LIKE A HORSE (“as steed”). The surface sense of “bolt” here is not unrelated, in a punning way, to the word’s cryptic sense in 11.
14 My turn to keep quiet (4)
GOSH — GO, “turn,” + SH, “keep quiet”
15 Writers’ articles still being reported (10)
STATIONERY — Sounds like “stationary”
17 Table item about protective fabric before lunch? (6,4)
NAPKIN RING — CD. (I looked too long for something else going on here.)
19 Instrument’s top broke, not every other part (4)
OBOE — tOpBrOkE
22 Inmates’ chests whipped as punishments (13)
CHASTISEMENTS — (Inmates’ chests)*
24 Sly person beginning to win artist’s support (6)
WEASEL — W(in) + EASEL
25 One painting over wild animals’ shelters (4,4)
MONA LISA — (ANIMALS)* with O(ver) taking refuge inside.
26 Moderately attractive (6)
PRETTY — DD. (And the dullest clue in the bunch.)
27 Smother last bit of strudel in rum (8)
STRANGLE — STRANG(L)E
DOWN
 1 Data introduced to win over meeting (10)
CONVERGENT — CONVER(GEN)T. Oxford says this sense of “gen” dates from the “Second World War (originally used in the armed services): perhaps from the first syllable of general information.”
 2 Sort of mine not left by American force (7)
IMPETUS — (-l)IMPET + US. A limpet mine is a time bomb attached magnetically to the hull of a ship.
 3 Cold serving of beer beside a climbing plant (6)
CATNIP — C + PINT,A<= (“climbing”)
 4 Speak with vet before examining body (12)
INSPECTORATE — ”Speak” is ORATE and “vet,” INSPECT” precedes it
 6 Chess or alternative involving unknown lighter pieces (8)
SCHERZOS — (Chess or)* entangling the unknown Z
 7 Take over from priest always twirling robes (7)
RELIEVE — EVER<= (“always twirliing”), with the ever-popular priest ELI dropping in
 8 Tom’s cries sounded deliberate (4)
MUSE — I hear a cat… (mews)
11 First photo’s a sprinter, given too much too soon (4,4,4)
SHOT ONES BOLT — SHOT ONE is “First photo” and a (very well-known) sprinter is a certain Usain BOLT
13 An area of sci-fi advertisers rate (10)
HYPERSPACE — HYPERS + PACE. We have hyperlinks to cyberspace, but hyperspace is not real, so far. Darn.
16 Tissue produced by soldier, upset during elegy (8)
LIGAMENT — L(GI<=)AMENT
18 Wrap up season below Wolves? (7)
PACKAGE — AGE is “season” and the PACK could be (DBE) a gang of wolves (sans the deceptive capitalization)
20 Singer able to fly flags (7)
BUNTING — DD
21 Journalist’s left skewered by a horned beast (6)
IMPALA — IMPAL[-ed, or “editor,” “journalist”] + A. My LOI, though the animal was obvious by that point. Did anyone else find this the hardest to parse?
23 Substitute seen putting feet up (4)
SWAP — PAWS<=

27 comments on “Sunday Times Cryptic 4851, 19 May 2019, by Robert Price — Scherzo in “Be Sharp” (See?)… minor”

  1. Welcome back, Guy. I still don’t exactly see where lunch comes in to Napkin Ring, but everywhere else things were clear once I climbed out of the traps that had been set, and I appreciated the precision and the crafty hiding of definitions. I got to 1a with chine chine.
    1. Hey, Paul. Thanks. Maybe we can meet up again sometime this year. I think “lunch,” followed by the question mark, is merely an example of a meal, an element of the cryptic def that, even though we have “table,” hadn’t yet entered the picture.

      And you say “chine chine”? I was not aware of the word “chine,” but it seems it means a cut (aha) of meat. Well, well, well…
      Though “chink” is also a fissure, crack, cleft, cut…, I’m wondering now which word the setter was thinking of. Maybe Mr. Price (whom we know here by at least one other name) will tell us…

      Edited at 2019-05-25 11:45 pm (UTC)

      1. Yes, I was thinking about the cut of meat.
        It would be good to get together over the summer – we should ask if any of the non-residents are planning trips through NYC

      2. I assumed CHINE too. I remember Sandy’s fall down the stairs better than I do this puzzle, but that’s not really a reflection on the puzzle. I don’t have any plans to visit NYC at the moment, but I start a new job in just over a week so you never know.

        Edited at 2019-05-26 01:37 pm (UTC)

  2. 35:43, but fell into the CYBERSPACE trap. Drat! Otherwise I enjoyed the puzzle a lot. I shrugged and moved on after popping CHIN CHIN in. Thanks Bob and Guy.
  3. I put in CYBERSPACE, with a ? I biffed a couple–4d, 11d, 21d–only solving post submission. There were a number of lovely clues, including GOSH, which is my COD, if only for not using ‘my’ to get COR. COD in the Hidden division to NEPOTISM. For what it’s worth, I assumed CHINE. Guy, you’ve got a typo at 21d.
  4. I entered CYBERSPACE without a second thought but without parsing it.
    I think a tomcat does more than mew, which is more kitten-like. A tom’s miaow is more drawn out and harsher in my view.
  5. Got CHIN{e} but missed out on HYPERSPACE. Massive biff-fest overall, bunging in answers and worrying about the parsing after completion
  6. Yum ! I’m up for it. Just over 11 minutes, a thoroughly enjoyable puzzle – pity my LOI was an incorrectly biffed “cyberspace”. No wonder I couldn’t parse it, but I never saw the correct solution at all.

    CHIN-CHIN was FOI, and I knew “chine” as cut of pork in particular.

    MONA LISA was parsed post-solve.

    In these days of craft brewing with so many weird and wonderful ingredients, 3D had me considering a CATNIP beer. I think I’ll pass on that one !

    Edited at 2019-05-26 06:01 am (UTC)

  7. …well maybe just age. Another CYBERSPACE man, wondering why. But I thought all advertisers were meant to be legal, decent, honest and truthful, and not hypers? Our season was certainly wrapped up well belowWolves. ‘We’re the one and only Wanderers’ is sounding a bit hollow. My notes say I was half-asleep while I did this, though not why. It was certainly another stimulating Robert puzzle. I took just under 50 minutes. I’m not sure if that counts as 25 minutes wide-awake. Not that I often am these days. So COD to SHOT ONE’S BOLT, which is as good a reason as any other. I used CHINK, Guy, and not CHINE, which does sound the more likely explanation. Thank you to you and Robert.
  8. Another very enjoyable puzzle from Robert Price. It did take me a while though. My notes say three sessions.
    FOI was GOSH and LOI CATNIP.
    I really struggled with 17a and had DINNER GONG as a first guess which prevented a lot of other answers until PACKAGE arrived; then I had POPLIN …
    Another struggle was 13d but happily CYBER never occurred to me. I had just drink a can of Fanta and I was feeling HYPER.
    David
  9. It seems that all my time reading both science fiction and cyberpunk paid off this week, slipping into HYPERSPACE without a second thought. An hour and a minute for me, without having parsed IMPALA, but, as Guy says, what else could it be? (Well, having already failed on today’s puzzle, perhaps I shouldn’t make statements like that with such certainty…)
  10. Really enjoying our new setter .. liked this crossword. Thought of cyberspace but had to reject it.. and count me as another chine chine .. chine is a cut, chink isn’t, really.
  11. Landed from Jamaica last weekend and did this crossword at lunchtime while falling asleep. Usain Bolt unsurprisingly was a write-in. Glad for a gentle reintroduction. Today’s certainly tested me more. Thanks all.
  12. A thoughtful puzzle deserving better than my thoughtless cyberspace, so a DNF for me in around 40 mins.
  13. Three wrong answers – which I think is quite an impressive achievement! Cyberspace – where others found themselves. Also Catkin and Whales. Otherwise I would have had a respectable time of 16:24.

    Must be pre-match nerves. Play-off final tomorrow!

    1. Let’s hope the Villa see off “Frank Lampard’s Derby County” or we’ll never hear the last of it.
  14. Chine is a very Lincolnshire ham, stuff with fermented parsley, and sliced. It is very good indeed – Youngs butchery in Boston is the best.

    I originally has 13dn to OUTDERSPACE but 15ac STATIONERY made that turn into HYPERSPACE.

    FOI 14ac GOSH!
    LOI & COD 8dn MUSE
    WOD 17ac NAPKIN RING

  15. As Robert seems to be away for the bank holiday weekend, just confirming that his notes for 1A confirmed CHINE as a cut of meat, rather than CHINK.
    1. That was beginning to seem eminently probable.
      You learn something new every day…

      Edited at 2019-05-27 03:02 am (UTC)

  17. Also went for CYBERSPACE, thinking of the sf trope of a future world run by advertisers.
  18. Thanks Robert and guy
    Normal time to finish this one at around the 3/4 of the hour by chipping away at it over a number of different times of the day.
    Enjoyed the charades that made up quite a number of the clues. Was interesting to see IMPETUS that I came across this week almost identically clued in a weekday clue from a puzzle that would have been originally published back in March over there (such is the time lag for the puzzles that I’m doing).
    Finished in the NW corner with NEPOTISM, CONVERGENT (which I thought was the best of the charade clues) and CATNIP the last one in.
  19. Well, cyberspace could be hyperspace and catkin could be catnip , of course! Congratulations to setter and blogger. Clean bowled by these two.

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