Sunday Times Cryptic No 4873, 20 X 2019, by Dean Mayer — Make mine a double

Author   Guy du SablePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
As my FOI was IN ONE’S RIGHT MIND, and my third, after AIDA, was the other 15-letter answer, DELIRIUM TREMENS, I was off to a flying start. Now, I really like long answers, but especially long anagrams, which neither of these two were. However, this puzzle offered the special treat of two even longer answers, both of them anagrammatical. I had to look twice to figure out what was going on with these two clues, each split into two parts. That’s just because in some puzzles elsewhere when answers are split into more than one place on the grid, the answer may be only one word but each part is also a word on its own (often unclued as such); and if the answer consists of more than one word, those words may not be the same as those that appear in each part as it’s broken up in the grid. Nothing nearly so complicated is involved here! My COD goes to COGNITIVE DISSONANCE… which I experienced a bit over the mechanics of a couple other clues, 1 down and 21.

The last thing I noticed about this puzzle, which occurred to me when I no longer had it in front of me, is that it is a pangram.

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

ACROSS
 1 Slave girl’s excellent hairstyle (4)
AIDA — Verdi’s heroine. A1, “excellent,” and the “hairstyle” is DA, for “duck’s arse” or (US) “duck’s ass.”
 3 & 10 Sky watcher intercepts gale force winds [two-word answer] (10)
REFRACTING — (intercepts gale force)*
10 See 3 (9)
TELESCOPE — See above
11 Port—at first just a wine (5)
RIOJA — RIO, “Port” + J[-ust]+ A
12 Retailer serving niche market? (6,4)
CORNER SHOP — CD. Cute, and easy, once you stop looking for something complicated. My LOI!
13 Edge of stockbroker belt (4)
KERB — Hidden
15 Fruit for jam (6)
SQUASH — DD
16 Mark Arctic rocks with single cross (8)
CICATRIX — (Arctic)* + I + X
18 Fair Democrat a US city rejected (3,2,3)
NOT SO BAD — Outspent by the super PACs? D(emocrat) + A + BOSTON  <=“rejected”
19 Wife becoming craftsperson (6)
WRIGHT — W(ife) + RIGHT, “becoming,” in the sense of “appropriate”; often meaning attractively so
22 Article by 1,000 US opponents (4)
THEM — THE, “article” + M for “1,000”
23 Rock thrown over tram line (10)
TETRAMETER — TE(TRAM)ETER. A short one, just three beats.
25 Weapon armistice announced (5)
PIECE — So now we just fight with our hands?  Homophone, “peace”
26 & 27 Cannot give decisions suffering this? [two-word answer] (9)
COGNITIVE — (Cannot give decisions)* This is brilliant, a rare example of a perfect &lit.
27 See 27 (10)
DISSONANCE — See above
28 Run around to find better writing? (4)
EDIT — TIDE<=“around” I saw the definition immediately but was hesitant to put this down. Hmm. What senses, respectively, of “tide” and “run” can we say are synonymous? A tide can be (Collins) “a stream, current, etc. or trend, tendency, etc. the tide of public opinion”—is that it? “A run of bad luck,” “the run of events,” “the tide of events”…

DOWN
 1 A charge, say, or several (7)
ATTACKS — ”A tax,” homophone (“say”); definition “several [charges].” This is at least a semi-&lit, since one word of the wordplay hss to be mentally resupplied for the definition.
 2 Shakes out of the bottle (8,7)
DELIRIUM TREMENS — CD
 4 Number one fan (6)
EGOIST — CD
 5 Rioter oddly cold inhaling hot, hot air (8)
RHETORIC — (Rioter)* + C(old) with H(ot) taken in
 6 Across river, better fish (4)
CARP — CA(R)P
 7 Having no sinister thoughts? (2,4,5,4)
IN ONES RIGHT MIND — CD
 8 Shifting equipment, things will get hit (7)
GEARBOX — GEAR, “things” + BOX, “hit”
 9 Slander, as somebody describing one (9)
ASPERSION — AS + PERS(I)ON
14 Retreating army to help farmhand (9)
DAIRYMAID — That’s “army,” MYRIAD<=”retreating” + AID, “help”
17 Type of orange drink, oddly nice, that cuts through (8)
VALENCIA — V(ALE, “drink” + N[-i]C[-e])IA
18 Writer’s block (7)
NOTEPAD — CD
20 In plague, wrong to hold hands (7)
TORMENT — TOR(MEN)T This is an unusual clue, with one word preceding the definition and pointing only to the wordplay. “In a synonym for this word, find this wordplay,” rather the inverse of the usual instructions. Done for the sake of a clever, if horrifying, surface.
21 Like Hamlet cigar, ultimately burnt up (6)
TRAGIC — (cigar + [-burn]T)* To my mind, the comma missing after “Like Hamlet” made for a surreal phrase. “What in blazes is a “Hamlet cigar”?” Thanks to Phil Jordan, in the comments below, for clearing this up. Hamlet cigars are a thing!
24 In France, the humorous monarch’s old love (4)
ZERO — In a corny imitation of a Gallic accent, ZE for “the” + R(ex) + O(ld)

23 comments on “Sunday Times Cryptic No 4873, 20 X 2019, by Dean Mayer — Make mine a double”

  1. This must be a pb for a Dean puzzle. I biffed the two two-word clues, and got the two long downs early on, which helped open the puzzle up. Also biffed VALENCIA, parsing post-submission (Guy, you’ve left out the I). COGNITIVE DISSONANCE most impressive; I also liked TRAMLINE.
  3. at 16ac CICATRIX which I had NHO and gave up to watch the Rugby. Engerland!! I think I can reveal that we are in the World Cup Final after giving the All Blacks a proper tonking!

    I note that the Baseball World Series is in play at 2-2,
    but why is it defined as ‘World Series’? America Only!?
    The ‘Trump Series’ has a ring even though he has to wear a bullet proof vest to watch it!

    I thought this was tough also NHO 17dn VALENCIA but guessed correctly.

    FOI 1ac AIDA

    COD 2dn DELERIUM TREMENS and NOT 24dn ZERO- very Benny Hill!

    WOD 16ac ASTERIX!

  4. Too hard for me. Too many unknowns. Gave up trying with 3/4 completed and used aids to fill the remaining squares.
  5. ….as I would otherwise have been stumped by the awful clue for ZERO !

    I had to write out and eliminate from the anagrist for both double clues, and DNK COGNITIVE DISSONANCE. MER at “tide=run”. VALENCIA was parsed post-solve.

    “Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet” was a popular advertising slogan before the nanny state kicked in. Their adverts were unfailingly amusing – worth seeking out if you’ve never seen them. The Baldy Man in the photo booth is brilliant ! I used to enjoy a Hamlet in the cab on the way back from a particularly long job, but once I couldn’t legally smoke in there any more I simply stopped – they’re not addictive like cigarettes.

    FOI RIOJA (would be good with a Hamlet)
    LOI VALENCIA (stick your head between your knees and whistle up your Barcelona !)
    COD DELIRIUM TREMENS (a mild attack is no great shakes)
    TIME 26:28 (twice the norm but worth the effort)

    1. Thanks, Phil! I should’ve wondered more about that, as it seemed an unlikely slip-up. The blog has been amended.

      Edited at 2019-10-27 04:35 pm (UTC)

    2. Phil, I and my partner Paul Weiland wrote a few of the Hamlet ads back in the day

      Our Football Pools’ with Brian Glover, ‘Heaven’s Gates’ with John Junkin and the Star Wars ‘Robots’ were shot by Ross Kramer, Michael Seresin and Bob Brooks respectively.

      ‘The Baldy Man’ was brilliant but its provenance caused a bit of a stir at the time.

      Edited at 2019-10-27 04:13 pm (UTC)

  6. 53 minutes. I suffered from COGNITIVE DISSONANCE for quite a while on this. I’ve never heard of CICATRIX. I had to check that. I really liked COD the DTs (from too much Rioja?), and also ZERO, which was my LOI. AIDA was good too but sometime around 1958, about when my Avatar was photographed, at the age of 12 1/2 I changed barber to one who would do a Boston rather than a DA. Hip or what? This is a choice I’ve stuck with through life. Another very good Dean puzzle. Thank you to him and to you, Guy
  7. An excellent crossword. COGNITIVE DISSONANCE is just a beautiful clue. Loved the Hamlet cigar (and the adverts). I got stuck on ZERO but now I see the answer I really should have got this . Thanks Dean and Guy
  8. My spelling let me down with this one, as, like Horryd (at least here) I posted DELERIUM TREMENS and thought no more of it. I could say that’s the issue I have with CDs – nothing to help with the required letters, but perhaps I should just learn how to spell. Ah well. Sound of match striking, air on a g string kicks in.
    I think my last in was ZERO. Wiz zat, I’ll wash you all a good moaning.
  9. The good news is that I am getting better at Dean puzzles and I got quite a lot of this including CICATRIX ( cicatrice is scar in French); the bad news is that I failed to see the hidden KERB and the fish;and I was too low for ZERO.
    I remember the Hamlet cigar adverts;I think there was one with a golfer stuck in a bunker.Very good.
    David
    1. The work of Rob Morris and Alfredo Marcantonio, shot by Paul Weiland who made a couple of series of Mr. Bean after Mel Smith.
  10. Well this was a complete disaster. I struggled throughout, and just couldn’t make head or tail of the clues for TETRAMETER or DAIRYMAID. I’ve no idea why, but after staring at them for I don’t now how long I gave up and cheated. It was all to no avail anyway because I don’t know how to spell DELIRIUM TREMENS. Nothing wrong with the puzzle, but a solving experience to forget.

    Edited at 2019-10-27 12:43 pm (UTC)

  11. This one made me use a couple of extra neurons, but I got there after 48:50 with ZERO LOI. Liked DELIRIUM TREMENS and COGNITIVE DISSONANCE, but am not overly keen on these split grid clues. Managed to construct CICATRIX but had to check it existed. TERAMETER and VALENCIA took a while! Loved the Hamlet cigar adverts. Thanks Dean and Guy.
  12. I found this very tough and needed well over an hour to complete. The usual excellent cluing from this setter. Cognitive dissonance was magnificent but there was high quality stuff all over the grid. The outrageousness of ze in zero raised a smile and inevitably brought to mind ze cod French accents of Allo Allo.
  13. Count me as another DELERIUM TREMENS. This was particularly annoying as I knew I didn’t know how to spell it, so from the time that one went in I knew I had a 50/50 chance of having got the puzzle wrong no matter how well I’d done with the rest.

    Also, as a programmer, I must say it’s lucky I escaped from the infinite loop of 27: See 27. (The Grauniad for all their sins manage to mark up the clues for consecutive multi-light answers a lot more elegantly than the Times did in this puzzle…)

    1. While solving, I took the “27: see 27” to be another bit of crosswordy fun referring to COGNITIVE DISSONANCE.
  15. Thanks , GdS. This went fast, until the final cleaning up – staring at the Egoist and Tetrameter crossers, and playing guess-the-location with the Cicatrix fodder. Nice puzzle, Anax
  16. Thanks Dean and guy
    Actual solve time was around the 3/4 hour but it was spread across a couple of days of short stints at it.
    Clever mix of devices and has been mentioned a couple of cracking clues to be had. CICATRIX for scar has been a common occurrence in my puzzle history, so was surprised that so many had not heard of it before. Enjoyed untangling the long anagrams although had to wait until midway and after through the journey to get to them.
    Didn’t notice the pangram and finished in the SE corner with TETRAMETER, DAIRYMAID (cleverly clued) and that ZERO (that took a while to understand and a chuckle when I did).

Comments are closed.