Sunday Times Cryptic 4889, 9 II 2020, by Dean Mayer — Do I have to spell it out?

Author   Guy du SablePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Well, it never fails. My biographical note has been posted with this blog now for only a matter of some weeks, and it will soon be out of date, and in a most distressing way. A little over a week ago, I unceremoniously received the sudden, utterly unexpected and deeply disturbing news that The Nation magazine is discontinuing its crossword puzzle, a tradition since 1943, of which I have been the faithful steward for uncounted years. I entertain a slight hope (a stubbornly insistent fantasy) that the decision (an austerity measure!) will eventually be reversed… after our legions of fans, so many of whom subscribe just for Joshua and Henri’s creations, make themselves heard. (There are such people out there, I just don’t know how many…) I am still baffled by the evident lack of empathy for our readers, as well as for us, evinced by those who made this decision; initially, the puzzle creators were not even given the time (just a few more weeks) in which to arrange a graceful exit. While the puzzle has been only a very small part of my job, it was one that was dear to me, and it was especially difficult to learn of its termination via email.

So I was glad last weekend to escape from my dire meditations into this engrossing puzzle, which I thoroughly enjoyed—right up to the end, where I was disappointed to confront an unknown foreign word (clearly some bygone foreign currency…), C_U_E_R_ clued by a cryptic definition, with no wordplay assistance for filling in the blanks. (An anagram would have been super, but I also came up with another possibility, which I give below.) It’s true that one could guess that the word might begin with CRUZ and would probably end in O, so I may have been driven to use an aid mostly by fatigue.

I indicate (marangas)* like this, and italicize anagrinds in the clues.

ACROSS
 1 Restraint suggested in Sydney on vacation (10)
SIMPLICITY — S(IMPLICIT)Y, since we’re to take “Sydney on vacation” to mean “Sydney vacated” (S[-ydne]Y)
 6 Was revolver 9 inches in length? (4)
SPAN — DD, but the first one’s being an archaic dialectical form may be what occasions the question mark. Of course, I had SPUN until I remembered that the whole thing had to be parsed.
 9 Frank is 16 (4-6)
FOUR-SQUARE — 42
10 Be aware, I refuse to be heard (4)
KNOW — Sounds like “no”
12 A defence of simple answers? (4)
PLEA — Hidden
13 Treasury’s former auditor given audition (9)
EXCHEQUER — EX, “former” + CHEQUER, which sounds like “checker or “auditor”
15 Longing to hug judge, acceptable here but a reason for mistrial in America (4,4)
HUNG JURY — HUNG(J)(U)RY
16 Is it a nice view if one’s never there? (6)
STANCE — Take every instance of “i” out of the phrase “Is it a nice,” and you get the answer—defined, unusually enough, only in the (exact!) middle of the clue. For its originality alone, this gets my COD award.
18 Go over what appears in eruption (6)
REHASH — R(“EH?”)ASH
20 Tabloid covers mad Zaire overlord (8)
SUZERAIN — (Zaire)* inside SUN, the notorious redtop
23 Infamy screwed up debater (3,6)
BAD REPUTE — (debater)*
24 Crack a potty (4)
GAGA — GAG, “crack” + A
26 Annoyed about name given to fountain (4)
EROS — SORE<=”about” The one in Piccadilly Circus.
27 Soft material bad for bare bum (4,6)
FOAM RUBBER — (for bare bum)*
28 Fly making use of dead wood (4)
DASH — D(ead) + ASH, “wood”
29 Does anything but order beer for charity event? (6,4)
JUMBLE SALE — JUMBLES, “Does anything but order” + ALE, “beer”

DOWN
 1 Filter paper is raised aloft (4)
SIFT — IS<=”raised” above FT, “paper” (traditional Times reference to the Financial Times)
 2 Tearful girl left at home (7)
MAUDLIN — MAUD + L + IN
 3 Failure to hold down good job in insurance (4,8)
LOSS ADJUSTER — ”Failure” is LOSER, “down” is SAD, “good” is JUST: LOS(SAD)(JUST)ER
 4 A Brazilian’s real ancestor (8)
CRUZEIRO — Nowadays Brazil uses the real. CD. But how about “Church upset over posh nonentity taking one in as Brazilian’s real ancestor”?
 5 Most of the people in an ancient kingdom (6)
THRACE — TH[-e] + RACE, “people”
 7 Bird shooter bags one seabird (7)
PENGUIN — PEN, “Bird” (specifically, a female swan) + GU(I)N
 8 City bank blocks corrupt owners (3,7)
NEW ORLEANS — (owners)* with LEAN, or “bank” inside. Merriam-Webster gives “bank” as a word “related to” LEAN but not as a synonym; but at Thesaurus dot com I found both “bank” and LEAN listed under the noun “gradient,” meaning “slope.”
11 Measure of frostiness if judge is reported (7,5)
WEATHER GAUGE — WEATHER “is reported” as (sounds like) “if” + GAUGE, “judge”
14 Desperate brothers notice biscuit (10)
SHORTBREAD — (brothers)* + AD, “notice”
17 What Spanish name confused black fairy? (5,3)
QUEEN MAB — QUE, “What [in] Spanish” + (name)* + B(lack)
19 Awful shelters—no time for them (7)
HIDEOUS — HIDEOU[-t]S
21 Garble, struggling with a branch of maths (7)
ALGEBRA — (Garble)* + A
22 Puzzle sounds oddly fair, initially unsolved (6)
SUDOKU — SUD comes from the odd letters in SoUnDs, then we have OK, “fair” + U[-unsolved]
25 I agree to be tortured regularly (4)
TRUE — Employment contract? Alternate letters in ToRtUrEd

35 comments on “Sunday Times Cryptic 4889, 9 II 2020, by Dean Mayer — Do I have to spell it out?”

  1. ….I put SPUN for 6ac because I was unable to make anything else of it.
    Some nice clues including FOUR SQUARE (my COD), STANCE, SUDOKU and HIDEOUS (my LOI)
  2. Like Martin, I had SPUN, and since I never got WEATHER GAUGE or STANCE, I didn’t bother to go back and think about it. I had GAUGE all right (GAUZE seemed pretty unlikely), but never caught the ‘if’. Is there such a thing as a weather gauge? It measures weather? STANCE was a beautiful clue, I now see; never would have come up with the solution.
    Today’s from Robert was a toughie, too; but at least I was able (finally!) to finish it.
    1. Come to think of it… I was taking the setter’s word for the definition, but the only one I can find now in any source has nothing to do with frost. Wiktionary: “(obsolete) (naval) An advantageous position of one sailing vessel with respect to another, because of the direction of the prevailing wind, that allows it to maneuver for an attack, etc.”
      1. The naval meaning is not in either of our reference dictionaries, so I would be reluctant to use it instead of a meaning that makes sense without looking anything up.
        1. Yet if you look up “weather gauge” this is the only thing that comes up that has “dictionary status.” It’s in Merriam-Webster, which is very mainstream (The Nation‘s reference now, though I preferred our more prescriptive previous source). In contrast, the other sense seems somewhat “green paint.”

          The second definition for “weather gauge” in M-W is “: a superior position : ADVANTAGE
          got the weather gauge on him now“

          I can only wonder why this hasn’t made it into other sources.

          Edited at 2020-02-16 09:47 pm (UTC)

          1. Chambers has both of these meanings, and an alternative of GAGE – in fact, Lexico has the nautical definition, with example using that spelling, but listed under GAUGE(noun 3). I can’t see how it has anything related to temperature.

            Edited at 2020-02-18 10:37 pm (UTC)

            1. Ah, thanks! Under GAUGE, it’s in Collins too!

              13. nautical
              the position of a vessel in relation to the wind and another vessel. One vessel may be windward (weather gauge) or leeward (lee gauge) of the other

        2. Actually, it’s in both Collins and Chambers, but (as phmfantom clued me in) under GAUGE.
  3. And why does the clue specify ‘America’? ODE doesn’t, and the example sentences it gives include British and Australian English.
    1. Beats me… A litigant’s having amorous designs on the judge invalidates a case only for the puritanical Yanks? Ha
    2. Not a lawyer and know nothing about US law, but a HUNG JURY in England doesn’t indicate a mistrial. Majority verdicts are allowed in some if not all cases. Does this happen in the US?
      2. There are 50 different state court systems, so no doubt some variation. My sense is that criminal cases require unanimity, but civil cases may not. For what it’s worth, the British English example in ODE reads, “In his first trial there was a hung jury, but in the second he was found guilty.”
        1. in Scotland, I read (in Wikipedia), a hung jury is impossible in criminal cases. Of the 15 jurors, only a simple majority (8) of the original members is required. If jurors drop out because of illness or other incapacity, the trial can continue as long as there are 12, but in that case, 8 must agree for a guilty verdict to be handed down. The fatal number, in either case, is 8.
          1. So that’s 8 to convict, not 8 to have a verdict, right? A 6-6 vote and the defendant walks?
              1. Ages ago, my boss was on a jury in Berkeley, a cut-and-dried case of armed robbery or somesuch, but there was a sweet little old lady on the panel, and when the foreman asked her for her opinion, she said, “On this holy day”–it was Ash Wednesday or Maundy Thursday or whatever, “I just can’t find it in my heart”–eyes starting to roll, stifled imprecations among the other jurors–“to find this young man innocent.” Turns out she thought prison time would do him good.
            2. No doubt an expert in the subject will come along later and explain it all so I won’t bother looking it up and misunderstanding or getting only part of the picture, but I know in Scotland there used to be (and maybe still is) a verdict of ‘Not proven’.

              Edited at 2020-02-16 07:04 am (UTC)

              1. hello, judicial solver here, the clue is fine because ‘mistrial’ is not a word we use in our criminal justice system hence the American aspect to the clue, we do regularly have hung juries which is where the voting numbers are not at least 10-2. The convention is that after a hung jury there will be a re-trial to see if a different jury can reach a verdict on which at least 10 agree. If a second jury is also hung the prosecution generally give up and do not try again…a third trial after two hung juries is not unheard of but very rare. Tom.
  4. A technical DNF for me as I needed aids for for the Brazilian currency and the overlord. I failed to parse a few, but then I didn’t try too hard as I was intending to return to them post-completion but by then couldn’t be bothered. These were HIDEOUS and LOSS ADJUSTER. Also SPUN, but that was because, as I discovered today, it was a wrong answer.

    I didn’t think twice about WEATHER GAUGE because I was just pleased to find a long answer to write in. I’ve certainly heard the expression and probably used it myself on the assumption that it was any device for measuring any aspect of weather such as a barometer, or even a cutesy little weather-house with figures, one of which carries an umbrella to indicate rain when he/she ventures through the front door. For frostiness I suppose one would at least need a thermometer, but I’ve seen weather-houses with these attached.

    Edited at 2020-02-16 06:29 am (UTC)

  5. This went smoothly until the Brazilian currency. I got the real bit so I half-knew what I was looking for, but I didn’t have the gk. I do feel it is a bit unfair not to give wordplay for an answer like that. Everyone complains when obscure words are given as an anagram, but a CD is even worse.
  6. ….SIMPLICITY from Dean, and I didn’t get it here. This kept me engaged nicely on the train up to Newcastle on Friday. I had three clues left after 12 minutes, and was slow to spot REHASH, then finally cracked HIDEOUS, where I’d earlier fallen for a quite magnificent misdirection. I was convinced that “awful” was an anagram indicator, and I therefore had to remove the “t” from shelters and proceed accordingly to find a definition of “them” ! Some obscure tribe possibly ?

    My LOI was delayed for too long by avoiding the ridiculous temptation to biff “Etna” (“ate” about with “name” given ? Call my psychiatrist !)

    FOI STANCE (lovely clue)
    LOI EROS (“duh” moment !)
    COD CRUZEIRO (which I knew)
    TIME 16:36

    Edited at 2020-02-16 07:12 am (UTC)

  7. DNF. I gave up on this when it became apparent what was required at 4dn and found a cryptic crossword to solve instead.
    1. Like Phil, I knew CRUZEIRO, so didn’t give much thought to the clue, but so far as I know the cruzeiro was replaced by the real; is an immediate predecessor an ancestor?
  8. …or maybe not. 32 minutes. Fortunately, I knew CRUZEIRO. If asked, without the benefit of the clue, I’d probably have said it was still their currency. I didn’t parse REHASH properly, having got it into my head that what appears in an eruption is ASH. Also I put an i into a Pen Gun, a shooter as used by such as James Bond, and wondered why we needed the first bird in the PENGUIN clue. LOI and COD STANCE, which was neat. I can never see INFAMY without thinking of Lurcio. Enjoyable puzzle. Thank you Guy and Dean. With the pounding rain in North London, the newspaper hasn’t arrived today. I’ll have to set my own. The only safe way to get round this place is to move on a shark. (5,3)
  10. Like others, I had never heard of the CRUZIERO so I looked it up. I also confirmed SUZERAIN before submitting. Apart from that I enjoyed the puzzle, with the rest parsed without too many problems. FOUR SQUARE and STANCE took a while to reconcile as I tried to connect the two clues. Nice misdirection Dean! HIDEOUS took a while too. I’ll add my thumbs down to 4d. 38:56. Thanks Dean and Guy. Sorry to hear about your own puzzle’s demise:-(
  11. Sorry to hear about the loss of the Nation puzzle. It strikes me that it must be impossible to measure the financial benefit of a crossword in a paper, short of cancelling it and seeing a sudden unexpected plunge in readership. (I doubt anyone at the Times knows how many people pay the monthly sub, like me, purely for the benefit of the crossword and would drop it in a heartbeat if the puzzle disappeared…)

    As for the particular puzzle under discussion, I, of course, had never heard of a CRUZEIRO, so DNF in an hour.

  12. DNF. I managed to make mess of this one in around 45 mins. I dredged up 4dn from somewhere though I had to verify its existence in the dictionary. No I put in Etna at 26ac – ate reversed around N(ame), even though there is only one word (about) to indicate either reversal or containment, not both, and even though Etna is not a fountain. This gave me an unparsed hidings at 19dn. I should’ve known I was on a hidings to nothing.
  13. I am gradually getting on to Dean’s wavelength and this was probably my quickest solve of one of his puzzles. Not all known or parsed but I was pretty sure about Cruzeiro and Suzerain. DNK Queen Mab but was able to derive it. Could not parse REHASH.
    SPAN was my LOI and it reminded of problems I’ve had with this word over the years. I thought Richie Benaud span the ball in the 1960s and this has always been my preferred past tense but I always see Spun now.
    David
  14. 4d CEUTEIRA! LOI

    FOI 25dn TRUE

    COD 16ac STANCE

    WOD 20ac SUZERAIN

    Would have been 33 mins but for the Real problem.

  15. Sad to hear of The Nation’s decision. You need a shot of a very old Irish cynical virus:

    Blessed is he who expects nothing for he will never be disappointed.

    Thanks for all your hard work at the blogs. You are much appreciated, as are all the bloggers.

    Tom (and Jan) Toronto

    1. I could use a shot of some very old Irish something, that’s for sure.
      Thanks!
  16. Thanks Dean and guy
    Two Deans in row for us down under with the strange publication of a very early puzzle the previous week. This one took four shortish sittings with help only required to find the old Brazilian currency and to check up on the unheard of ‘four-square’ term.
    Finished with NEW ORLEANS (where I thought the ‘bank’ was when an aeroplane would tilt or lean through a turn), WEATHER GAUGE and the brilliantly and originally clued STANCE as the last one in.

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