Sunday Times Cryptic 4955, by Dean Mayer — slow and steady

Author   Guy du SablePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic

…wins the race!

The week before, I had been out of ink, so Saturday saw me working the five weekday 15x15s, plus test-solving two for my former Nation team, before looking at this stunning offering, where I suddenly lost momentum. I stared blankly at the page for a while, and had only a few of the shorter answers filled in when I set it aside to tackle after a good night’s sleep.

So it certainly cannot be said that I 6 thru this 9, before eventually finishing last at 12.

I indicate (a Mars nag)* like this, and italicize anagrinds in the clues.

ACROSS
 1 Reason a follower has not changed (5)
BASIS — B, “a follower” + ASIS, “not changed”
 4 Being sluggish, a pet dog rolls back over (9)
GASTROPOD — Sluggish being, rather, but the reversal suits the wordplay: DOG<=“rolls back over” A, literally + STROP, “pet”
 9 Fast 14 (2,1,4)
AT A CLIP — You have to refer to 14 for the wordplay: (CAPITAL)*, with the anagrind WORKING.
10 Deer and sheep bound for cover (7)
BUCKRAM — BUCK, “Deer” + RAM, “sheep”
11 Argument has girl coming out worried (6)
DEBATE — DEB, “girl coming out” + ATE, “worried”
12 Race track’s skilled driver (8)
GOODWOOD — GOOD, “skilled” (as in being “good at” something) + WOOD, “driver” in golf. I had never heard of this place, so this where I crossed the finish line.
14 Means to trade on A1? (7,7)
WORKING CAPITAL — WORKING, “on” + CAPITAL, “A1,” as in “Capital idea, old boy! Just brill!”
17 Ancient land, extremely dry? (14)
SUPERCONTINENT — (Ha ha)
19 Saw a head of state outside house, having gentleman around (8)
APHORISM — A + P(HO)(SIR<=)M
21 Loud noise, ultimately in head, may do so (6)
DEAFEN — DEA(F)([-nois]E)N… &lit, with a slightly odd definition (“ultimately in head”!), but that’s not uncommon when it comes to this type of clue.
23 I am playing with ants’ legs (7)
STAMINA — (I am + ants)*
24 Unscrupulous type in court. No conclusion reached (7)
CHANCER — CHANCER[-y]
25 Syntax concern in instruction book (4,5)
WORD ORDER — WORD, defined essentially as “instruction” in Lexico: “[a] command, password, or signal” + ORDER, “book” as in (Collins) “to engage ahead of time, as rooms, transportation, performers or performances, etc.”
26 Smoking? You shouldn’t have a pen (5)
TASTY — TA, “You shouldn’t have” + STY, “a pen”… This was the one I went down a fausse piste on this time, as I first had TAPER. It would have been an unusual clue (but this is Dean…), with “Smoking?” an oblique DBE; the wordplay TA, “You shouldn’t have” + PER, “a”; and another DBE, as I verified that “taper pen” is a real phrase specifying a style of writing implement. Oh, well…

DOWN
 1 Help youngster to come out and challenge private (4,4)
BEAR DOWN — BEARD, “challenge” + OWN, “private”… “Come out” in quite a different sense than the girl does in 11.
 2 Song, right after a big chorus, for a cuckoo (11,4)
SCARBOROUGH FAIR — (a big chorus for a)* + R(ight)
 3 Finding this gemstone requires patience (9)
SOLITAIRE — This is basically two definitions, the jewel and the game (patience), folded into one sentence to make a sort of CD.
 4 Good mimic makes you yawn (4)
GAPE — G + APE
 5 Web areas advance, given the same power supply? (10)
SUBDOMAINS — SUB, “advance” (subsistence allowance) + DO, ditto, “the same” + MAINS, “power supply”
 6 Flew as fighter pilot, in a way (5)
RACED — R(ACE)D
 7 For a new salon, creates things (8,7)
PERSONAL EFFECTS — PER, “For a” + (salon)* + EFFECTS, “creates”
 8 March in Paris, from out of Paris (6)
DEMODE — DEMO, “March” + DE, “in Paris, from”… Looks odd without the accent (demodé).
13 Sugar etc extremely good for cooking dessert (3,7)
EGG CUSTARD — (Sugar etc + G[-oo]D)*
15 I point and shout “Rover!” (9)
ITINERANT — I, literally + TINE, “point” + RANT, “shout”
16 Mean to cross river with a fish (8)
STINGRAY — STING(R)(A)Y
18 City had not been prepared for rising (6)
WARSAW — WAS RAW <=“rising”
20 “P” breaks for cool beast (5)
RHINO — RH(IN)O
22 Surgery reminder in Christmas card (4)
SCAR — Yes, it’s going to be quite a year… Hidden.

23 comments on “Sunday Times Cryptic 4955, by Dean Mayer — slow and steady”

  1. Hard going, but by God I made it. I’ve got ‘COD’ written by 7 or 8 clues, but if pressed I’d choose RHINO, which I only parsed after submitting. Terrific puzzle.
  2. This setter has been pretty gentle in his recent appearances but this one was back to the expected degree of difficulty, with interest. Very tough and took me over two hours to get out and all parsed.

    I’ll pin the tail on the donkey and go with GASTROPOD, my last parsed, as COD but it was a matter of take your pick. Really excellent.

    Thanks to Dean and Guy

  3. A tasty offering . Dean at the top of his game. What’s he smoking?
    LOI was BEAR DOWN, with a satisfying pdm, and yet another nod of appreciation to the setter. Thanks also to Guy.
    A gastropodial time: 46’22”.

  4. 31 minutes, without fully parsing BEAR DOWN. COD to BASIS. I’m not an habitual racegoer, but Glorious GOODWOOD really does live up to its name and I found it much more pleasant than Ascot. The taste of nutmeg on an egg custard is truly one of life’s great sensations. A very fine puzzle. Thank you Dean and Guy.
  5. This defeated me, which was disappointing. When Dean Mayer first came aboard on Sundays, I found him impossibly oblique and subsequently swerved his offerings completely. Then a few months ago, I challenged myself and blow me if I didn’t finish first one, then another and another….I thought I’d got cleverer! But no, bletchleyreject tells it true in that DM had got easier for a spell there! Interested to see where he goes from here. Congrats to all those who are up to him.
  6. I’m used to solving the weekend puzzles on paper intermittently during the week. I’m not used to struggling right up to the wire though. I thought I wouldn’t finish this several times but another answer came to me and I pressed on. Thoroughly enjoyed so many of the clues after I managed to strip away the deception. Ended up not parsing RHINO and DEAFEN so thanks for the explanations.
  7. Finished in a little over the hour. Great crossword. I particularly liked the long clues, and the clever link between 9ac and 14ac. I know GOODWOOD for the Goodwood Festival, a terrific display of classic cars. LOI RHINO (another great clue) after the WORD ORDER was sorted. Thanks Guy and setter.
  8. ….and I walked away after 15 minutes with only a third of it done — and four of those biffed. I eventually needed three visits to see it off. Thanks to Guy for parsing GASTROPOD and RHINO. In the end my efforts were in vain due to a fat-fingered “stimgray”.

    FOI BUCKRAM
    LOI BEAR DOWN
    COD APHORISM
    TIME 35:08

    Edited at 2021-05-23 08:27 pm (UTC)

  9. Why did it disappear? Not even Simon & Garfunkle could revive it. 2dn My FOI.

    LOI 1dn BEAR DOWN

    COD 20dn RHINO

    WOD 13dn EGG CUSTARD

    This was a toughie.

  10. I also found this a tough challenge. The SW was where I finished, although I still wasn’t sure about WORD ORDER and RHINO, so thanks for the parsing of those. Liked the link between 9a and 14a. Relieved not to have any pink squares! 50:34. Thanks Dean and Guy.
  11. 22:42. Superb puzzle: Dean at his best, which is as good as it gets.
    I couldn’t parse RHINO when solving so I had my fingers crossed but given the definition it seemed the only possible option.
  12. 40:42… getting stuck for ages in the NW corner until I eventually got SOLITAIRE and then saw BEARD OWN and finally the clever “a follower”. Lots of COD candidates, but I had biggest giggle from TA for “You shouldn’t have” at 26A. I never did figure out 20D, not thinking of the transliteration of the Greek letter. Very devious! Overall, rather hard, but good stuff. I got all the way to 4D before I solved a clue. Thank-you Dean and Guy.

    Edited at 2021-05-23 12:06 pm (UTC)

  13. 36.56. This one kept me on my toes. Really had to engage with every clue. All parsed except for rhino which went in from checkers and definition. I am playing with ants legs was terrific. I also enjoyed working capital and personal effects.
  14. I parsed 21 as F (loud) + E (noise ultimately) in DEAN (head of chapter in a cathedral) gives DEAFEN as in loud noise may do so.
  15. I tend to agree with QAnon for once, as you did not separate or define DEAN within the full IKEAN instruction.

    Horry D

    Edited at 2021-05-23 05:17 pm (UTC)

    1. I guess my style of notation sometimes goes over your head (even when swelled), David.

      The DEAN here could be the “head” of a college or university or a department of one, for example (and that’s the first definition, not the clerical one); I assumed the bright people here would recognize the general sense of the word. In fact, even those who never made the DEAN’s list.

      F as “loud” is one of the most venerable cryptic clichés. Puh-leese.

      I have always indicated deletions in this manner: [-nois]E. You never queried that before.

      Those elements are inserted in the word that fits the only remaining bit of the wordplay. Pretty damn obvious, IMHO.

      I feel that pointing out the extremely obvious may be seen as insulting someone’s intelligence, so I try to avoid that. But now look what you made me do.

      Edited at 2021-05-23 05:35 pm (UTC)

        1. Anonymous didn’t ask me a question about it. They obviously got it, but seemed to think they had to explain everything to everyone else, including F for “loud.”

          Edited at 2021-05-23 08:29 pm (UTC)

  16. The trouble with doing these things on line is that it’s tricky to note where the problems and delights were. I mean, you can’t just write notes on the screen (yet), at least on a PC.
    Clearly this one took its toll on my solving amour propre, as the recorded time is 32.33,and I note that the average time, even allowing for the many weekenders who fill in the answers so as to post an entry, was over an hour and a half.
    No complaints: I think this was a cracking challenge with the minimum of ST weirdness.
  17. Thnaks Dean and guy
    This was the toughest ST puzzle for a while and had to winkle out each clue very slowly and often had to spend more time on the why. Saw probably the only easy clue with SCAR to get started and then it was hard, but very enjoyable work.
    Only failed to parse BEAR DOWN – haven’t heard of that meaning of BEARD before. Any number of clues could have take COD but must say that WORKING CAPITAL gave me the biggest ‘aha’ moment.
    Finished with GOODWOOD (we have a Group 1 race in Adelaide by that name, which reminded me of the course over there), GASTROPOD (tricky definition and didn’t see the anagram fodder for ages) and DEMODE (which had acutes over both E’s in the dictionary that I looked in).
    1. Oups ! Even the English ones, I see.

      Edited at 2021-06-04 10:44 am (UTC)

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