Sunday Times Cryptic 4965 by Robert Price — a slow, steady accretion

Author   Guy du SablePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
…in geologic time! Well, not quite. But I started on Saturday evening, here, and didn’t finish until Sunday afternoon. I really don’t know why it took me longer than usual… The CD at 1 across came right away. Maybe I started drinking too early that afternoon or spent too much time in the sun—if you’re ever in the nabe, you must check out Brooklyn Bridge Park… I had (West Virginia’s Smooth Ambler) bourbon in my flask. But I suspect this one may also keep others guessing a while. Bob’s got a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Now you see it, now you don’t…

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

ACROSS
 1 The point of growing long-term deposits? (10)
STALAGMITE — CD Stalactites are the points from which said desposits drop. There are limestone caves in West Virginia, of which I was reminded when I saw Lascaux.
 6 Post stuff to the auditors (4)
JAMB — “jam”
 9 Miss work to make music and dance (5)
GALOP — GAL, “miss” + OP, “work” A lively ballroom dance in duple time, popular in the late 18th century, and the music accompanying it. Related to “gallop,” bien sûr, and this French word also means the same thing.
10 Boy band with endless patter (9)
STRIPLING — STRIP, “boy” + LING[-o]
12 Instrument chosen with right pitch, occasionally by ear? (8,5)
ELECTRIC ORGAN — ELECT, “chosen” + R(ight) + pItCh + ORGAN, “ear?” I recently managed to digitize (and in the nick of time) seven hours of improvised electric (electronic, really) organ music I had confided to cassettes some 38 years ago (February and March of 1983) and that was performed on the marvelous instrument (two manuals and pedals) in the Baptist church my parents (and I, until I was 14) attended, which I, aware of a door often left unlocked, used to sneak into late at night to try to create some of this trance music I’d been reading about. I lost the original tapes when the Philadelphia squat I was living in was busted, but, during my brief retreat to West Virginia, I got permission from the church’s young new preacher to go in after hours and recreate my Secret Midnight Fugues. I’d nearly forgotten about the tapes—whose rediscovery was in large part due to the Covid lockdown—and was glad that they would still play (although I had to put most of them into new shells). I also recorded several cassettes of my songs in that very productive printemps, sung for the most part with the accompaniment of my long-lost (stolen soon after I took it to Philly) gold-top Les Paul. (Not sure why I’m tellng y’all all this…)
14 Cases of underwear with lace inside (8)
PATIENTS — PA(TIE)NTS
15 Bones of a philosopher mostly rest in peace (6)
HUMERI — HUME, “a philosopher” (the famous English empiricist who inspired Deleuze) + RI[-p]
17 It’s mischievous and egotistic to go topless (6)
ELFISH — Sez who? [-s]ELFISH
19 Very fast solving (8)
CRACKING — DD
21 Life changing event for pets is a worrying time (4,2,7)
RITE OF PASSAGE — (for pets is a)* + AGE, “time”
24 Nobel and his mixed run as a scientist (5,4)
NIELS BOHR — (Nobel + his)* + R(un)
25 Inuit leader fought with a climber (5)
IVIED — I[-nuit] + VIED, “fought”
26 Guy wanting time for leisure (4)
EASE — Tell me about it! [t]EASE… “Guy” being here a verb, not a noun… or my nom de plume
27 Team with one fan forced into a big effort (2,4,4)
NO MEAN FEAT — (team + one fan)*

DOWN
 1 Sweet waffle, flipped over (4)
SAGO — GAS<=“waffle, flipped” + O(ver) The reference is to the pudding, of which I have never partaken, made from this starch.
 2 Food has one raising a little complaint (7)
AILMENT — “Aliment” with the I moving up just one place
 3 Under arrest, suspect’s initial concerns (13)
APPREHENSIONS — APPREHENSION, “arrest” + S[-uspect]
 4 Wrongly report the condition of a major road (8)
MISSTATE — M1’S STATE
 5 Bones grouped together thanks to a strain injury (5)
TARSI — TA, “thanks” + R(epetitive) S(tress) I(njury)… I was distracted by the anagram with an extraneous N in “strain.”
 7 Thrilled visiting site of a fire (7)
ATINGLE — AT, “visiting” + INGLE, “site of a fire”
 8 Ask to go before part of a test starts (10)
BEGINNINGS — BEG, “Ask” and then “part of a test” (in cricket terms), INNINGS (“an innings,” it says here. Go figure.)
11 Speaking out for a Greek character in action at sea (13)
PRONUNCIATION — PRO, “for” + NU, “a Greek character” + (in action)*
13 Advent roast in a church with fruit stuffing (10)
APPEARANCE — PAN is “roast” (as in roundly criticize) and that’s inside A CE (Church of England), with PEAR being the “fruit stuffing.”
16 Speciality marmalade (8)
PRESERVE — DD
18 Health is fine, see, after wife left (7)
FITNESS — F(ine) + [-w]ITNESS
20 Object to one second to last on the list (7)
ITEMISE — ITEM, “Object” + I, “one” + S(econd) + [-th]E
22 Central spot to put up sexy picture (5)
PHOTO — P(HOT)O, PO being the middle of “spot”
23 Correct course when heading north (4)
EDIT — TIDE<=“course…heading north” To me, now a copy editor, this has always been the sense of “edit”: to correct! But that’s really the job of what Brits would call a subeditor. In French, éditer is equivalent to “publish”—inédit does not mean “uncorrected” but “never published—or even seen—before”! The top-echelon editors simply decree what stories will run. It’s we subalterns who (do our best to) make those stories readable. Donc, ma devis : “No [wo]man is a hero to their copy editor.”

31 comments on “Sunday Times Cryptic 4965 by Robert Price — a slow, steady accretion”

  1. This was tough, although I can’t remember specific problems. Started with STALACTITE, but changed it fairly soon. DNK RSI, but no problem. PRONUNCIATION (POI?) took me longer than it should because I’d determined that ‘in action at sea’ was -ICATION. COD to RITE OF PASSAGE, which I only parsed post-submission.
  2. Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!
    Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ.
  3. A slow but steady solve hampered throughout by 1ac resisting my efforts until the very last moment. 57 minutes.
  4. 17A: Assuming that “sez who?” relates to the definition, both ODE and Collins include “mischievous” in their definition of “elfish”.

    23D: Although British English includes “subedit” for a the task used in the clue’s definition, that task is included in the meaning of plain “edit”.

    1. “Sez who?” is a joke. The surface meaning knocks going topless. I say, Go for it.
      Whenever I put a little comment in italics before the explanation of the clue, it’s just my little jest about the surface meaning. It’s one of my little idiosyncrasies.

      I was laboring under no confusion about “edit,” Pete, just remarking about the difference senses it can have. Maybe it’s a wavelength thing, your missing my drift so often…

        1. “Spectrum thing” means what?

          I’ve been adding those italic pre-explanation bits at least once or twice in every blog for a couple years now. The first time I did, there were several. No one had ever misconstrued any before, as near as I could tell.

          1. Airy, arty, hippy beret wearer vs precise, mathematical trombone player perhaps… best pick your own spectrum, I guess. certainly you can’t expect every Brit to pick up on your particular wavelength.
            Each to their own ..

            Edited at 2021-08-01 02:40 pm (UTC)

            1. “Airy”?
              I wear many hats. Used to play the trumpet!

              Edited at 2021-08-01 02:45 pm (UTC)

            2. Don’t know about you Jerrywh but I come here for discussion about the cryptics. I like to hear what other people thought about them but also for the blogger’s take. I only do this because the comments thread in The Times is now defunct.
              It would seem that the chief crossword editor himself realises this too since his comments also regularly appear on these threads.
              Since these are entirely voluntary and pro bono contributions by other enthusiasts, it would be pretty churlish to criticise their style wouldn’t it? Let alone their choice of headgear. If you don’t like it, don’t read it.
              1. I don’t see that I criticised anything. As a blogger here myself for ten years or so, I would be reluctant to do so.

                As I said: each to their own.

              2. I really didn’t take Jerry’s comment in the spirit in which you seem to think it was intended. My own reply was meant as jocular.
  5. 39 minutes. Terrific puzzle, but a bit tougher than I usually find Robert’s Or is age catching up on me? Lovely to see one of my favourite physicists again. What a disappointment the SAGO day was for at school when the puds were usually the best part of the dinner. COD to APPEARANCE, RITE OF PASSAGE and HUMERI jointly. Thank you Robert and Guy.
  6. Very enjoyable, with lots of misdirection from the setter.
    11d – just who was in charge at the battle of Salamis? Surely his name wasn’t that long! And 20d with the I-E-I-E checkers gave me vocalophobia whilst looking for an object or objection rather than a list. 29:53
  7. ….Hume as a philosopher, and I have trouble spelling NIELS BOHR, so those shortfalls were among the factors that slowed me down. Far more of a struggle than I bargained for.

    FOI GALOP
    LOI ATINGLE
    COD PHOTO
    TIME 23:18

  8. I’m chuffed to have completed this, since I usually find Robert Price very difficult. Not that I’d say this one was easy, but for once I recognised and remembered some of the tricks and deceptions from previous Times outings, and bingo! Took about 70 minutes but done and dusted. FOI 4d MISSTATE, LOI FITNESS, 18d. No idea why it took so long for that relatively simple penny to drop. Thanks, setter, and to blogger for clarifying the parsing – and for the entertaining narrative.
  9. 9:17. No dramas. I waited until I had the checking M for STALAGMITE, since STALAGTITE works equally well.

    Edited at 2021-08-01 08:22 am (UTC)

      1. This is a fair point, and something I did actually know honest. STALACTITE still works, absent the checking M.
        1. Not going to argue further, but I explained in my gloss why I think the clue points to something building literally up and fits best the formation made from deposits fallen from above. I wonder what the editor would say about this.

          Edited at 2021-08-01 02:15 pm (UTC)

          1. Forgive me but I think this is a misunderstanding of the word ‘deposit’ here. Both the uppies and the downies are formed by the deposit of mineral solids that are in suspension (or possibly dissolved, I’m not sure) in the water, as the water drips from the ceiling. The process is identical and in neither case are the deposits ‘falling’ in any way.
            1. Certainly “deposit” applies to both what is left (above) by the water before it drips and what is left (below) by the water after it drips. Still, although “stalactite” is probably the word more commonly heard, I wasn’t tempted by it for the answer here, seeing—rightly or wrongly—an intended play on “deposit.”
              1. I can see that, but I don’t think it’s enough to render the alternative answer invalid. So the clue is ambiguous, absent the checking letter. But I don’t mind that at all!
    2. As Keriothe crosses the finish line with flying colours at just nine minutes and some change! Congrats!

      Edited at 2021-08-01 04:11 pm (UTC)

  10. I think STALACTITE actually works better. It hangs down and has the point required by the clue. Stalagmites are often blobby stumpy things underneath. Except, of course, it doesn’t fit the crossers. 74 minutes for me. Hard but doable. Very satisfying
    1. But more things grow up than grow down.. “Up go the mites, down come the tites” ..
  11. I agree this seemed harder than previous puzzles from Robert.
    My FOI was EASE then NIELS BOHR and a couple attached. Then I got stuck for a bit and continued online.
    After a couple more sessions, it came down to three -ATINGLE, HUMERI and LOI JAMB.
    Was glad I persevered a it was an enjoyable tussle.
    MY favourite was PRESERVE -which I now see is very nearly an anagram of persevere.
    David
  12. Another who found this a tough proposition. I was stretched to 52:39 by this enjoyable puzzle. PRONUNCIATION and HUMERI were the last to fall. I saw 1a could work with either option and waited for MISSTATE before deciding. Lots of great clues with masses of misdirection. A tour de force from Bob! Thanks Bob and Guy.
  13. 33.59. On the tough side. I didn’t think stalagmite or itemise were ever going to drop.
  14. Thanks Robert and guy
    Spent just under 20 minutes in an initial session without getting anything. Put it away for a few days and was able to get GALOP, then IVIED and EDIT before launching from the SE corner to allow the rest of the solve to take place in a 41 minute second session.
    Hard to put a finger on what caused the initial blank – but it was certainly a wavelength that needed to be attuned to get ahead. Liked the two bones clues and thought that the misdirection with PATIENTS and BEGINNINGS were very good.
    Finished back in that SE corner with PHOTO, ITEMISE (another clever misdirection) and NO MEAN FEAT (a satisfying anagram to finish off with).

Comments are closed.