Sunday Times 4920 by Robert Price

Author   keriothePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
12:33. A characteristically witty puzzle from Bob this week. I think my favourite clues were the outrageous 2dn and the brilliant 21dn, but there’s lots of fun stuff in here.

Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (TIHS)*, anagram indicators are in italics.

Across
1 Car accident in which Dan’s changed course
BANGERS AND MASH – BANGER (car), SMASH (accident) containing (DAN)*.
10 Shared territory is finished with China backtracking
OVERLAP – OVER, reversal of PAL.
11 Show to write? Something kids can’t get out of
PLAYPEN – PLAY (show), PEN (write).
12 Priest inspired by amateur’s work catalogue
DIRECTORY – DI(RECTOR)Y.
13 Stay like newly laid asphalt?
TARRY – two definitions, one slightly whimsical.
14 Partly processed food set in batter
CUDGEL – CUD (the partly-processed food cows chew), GEL (set).
15 Wind up using underworld crack
DISSOLVE – DIS, SOLVE. DIS is one name for the Roman god of the underworld, and also the underworld itself.
18 Busy outlet that reordered fuel cans
EVENTFUL – (FUEL)* containing VENT.
20 Device a string ensemble musician uses
EMBLEM – contained in ‘ensemble musician’. This clue appears to break what is normally a pretty hard-and-fast rule of crosswords, which is that in containment clues, the phrase containing the answer must not have extraneous words, i.e. words that do not contain any part of the answer. Here the word ‘string’ is like that. You could argue that it’s part of the noun phrase ‘string ensemble’, but it’s still unusual. Edit: see comment from the editor below. The problem here wasn’t with the clue, but with the blogger who was too dense to see a really rather nifty device. The containment indicator here is ‘a string (of characters) [ensemble musician] uses’.
23 Child learner seen around a comprehensive
TOTAL – TOT(A), L.
25 Firm hand adopted by man, mostly imprisonment
COMMITTAL – CO, M(MITT)ALe.
26 Loot going on new pub carpet
UPBRAID – (PUB)*, RAID.
27 Girl keeping a diary, returning from Luanda?
ANGOLAN – reversal of NA(LOG)NA. Luanda is the capital of Angola. I didn’t know that but with wordplay and a few checkers it didn’t cause me a problem.
28 Harry Potter’s to scrap quidditch?
SPECTATOR SPORT – (POTTERS TO SCRAP)*. Quidditch being the game they play in the Harry Potter books and films.
Down
2 Stated a word as a German might say it?
AVERRED – “a vord”. Cheeky!
3 Winger or prop overlooked by clubs
GOLDCREST – GOLD (or), C, REST.
4 Average round: high point is making eagle?
RAPTOR – reversal (round) of PAR, TOR.
5 When a Greek character enters clutching axes, it’s breathtaking
ASPHYXIA – AS(PH(YX)I), A. Slightly tricksy wordplay here: it’s [AS A] (which) PHI enters, itself containing (clutching) YX (axes).
6 Outline drawing of British dictator
DRAFT – sounds like ‘draught’, which is how a Brit would spell the word meaning drawing. I found this clue a bit confusing because I’m not sure the US/UK draft/draught distinction is a hard an fast one these days, but it was broadly clear what was intended.
7 In disgust, touching garments
APPAREL – APPA(RE)L.
8 Fruit medley, one shown being mixed
HONEYDEW MELONS – (MEDLEY ONE SHOWN)*.
9 What travelling orchestras go on?
CONDUCTED TOURS – CD.
16 What a judge will do in addition
SUMMING UP – DD.
17 Wine being revolutionary cutting grape juice
MUSCADET – MUS(CADE)T. A reference to Jack Cade.
19 European list restricting a comestible
EATABLE – E(A), TABLE.
21 More wee left? Puppies must be taken outside!
LITTLER – LITT(L)ER.
22 Do damage to India with Middlesex’s opening duo
IMPAIR – I, Middlesex, PAIR.
24 Was a jumper extremely loose fitting?
LEAPT – LoosE, APT.

22 comments on “Sunday Times 4920 by Robert Price”

  1. This took me a while; I can’t remember any specific problem clues, just general slowth. DNK BANGER=car, so I wondered if BANGER SMASH was a term for accident. I liked or=GOLD for a change instead of gold=OR; and I liked ‘cans’ as an inclusion indicator. On draft/draught: If the distinction were US/UK (as I’d thought), wouldn’t the clue read ‘American dictator’? I assumed that the setter had DRAFT in mind as the British spelling. K, you’ve got a typo at ASPHYXIA.
    1. Collins has draught as the British spelling and DRAFT as the US spelling of the ‘pulling’ (drawing) meaning (as in draught horse). In British English according to Collins DRAFT is only for sketch/outline (or, confusingly, ‘drawing’ in a different sense). The way I read it was that a Brit would see the word ‘draught’ here and pronounce it DRAFT. An American would presumably be completely thrown by this alien spelling and not know what to say.
      My suspicion is that DRAFT is quite commonly used by Brits for both senses these days.
      Thanks I will fix the typo: my brain just doesn’t want to think of axes as YX!.

      Edited at 2020-09-20 05:49 am (UTC)

  2. Super Sunday crossword. A steady solve while drinking wine from upstream of MUSCADET. I have to give CODs to GOLDCREST and RAPTOR but quite liked the car accident.
  3. Took me a while to understand what was going on at 6dn before realising it was a homophone clue. There’s no doubt about the usual British spelling as in ‘draught beer’ and any outlet that took to spelling it ‘draft’ would be best avoided in my view.

    Edited at 2020-09-20 06:18 am (UTC)

    1. There’s a chain of pubs, mostly in London, called The Draft House! I suspect the use of the American spelling is quite deliberate because they seem to feature quite a lot of US craft beers. The recent fashion for such beers has no doubt contributed to the increasing prevalence of this spelling in the UK.

      Edited at 2020-09-20 08:49 am (UTC)

        1. Fair enough! I really like these new-fangled hoppy keg beers so I think I might like these pubs.
  4. …Minestrone. A fine puzzle. I haven’t written a time down but I think it was a bit longer than normal for a Robert. I couldn’t see COD CONDUCTED TOURS for ages, and only then did the CUDGEL hit me. So many good clues, but I’ll make GOLDCREST runner-up. Thank you Robert and K.
  5. Now that I am online, I have just started doing the Sunday crosswords. The ST was difficult to get here and now impossible along with other international press. Very much enjoyed this one which took me just over the hour. Liked 1ac and 28ac but COD has to be LITTLER. More wee indeed! Thank you Keriothe for the explanations and setter too.
  6. Hidden word hiding places: I think I’m on record as stating that I don’t absolutely insist on the “no extra words” rule – or maybe the “no extra word” one, as I certainly wouldn’t allow two. However, in this case, the idea is that “emblem” is a string (of characters) used in “ensemble musician”, so the variation from the norm is in the “a string … uses” hidden word indication. I think I’m also on record saying that I like to see variations from the standard indications which may seem puzzling but are perfectly fair.
    1. Thanks Peter, that’s very clever, which is no doubt why I completely failed to spot it!
  7. ….and then slowed down, not helped by trying to justify “guillemot” at 3D.

    I wondered whether my COD was aimed at BW’s new puppy !

    FOI PLAYPEN
    LOI CUDGEL
    COD LITTLER
    TIME 10:59

  8. I enjoyed this puzzle too. I can’t remember where I started, but I remember GOLDCREST, PLAYPEN and ASPHYXIA bringing up the rear. Liked BANGERS AND MASH and CONDUCTED TOURS. 33:21. Thanks Bob and K.
  9. I di did in a leisurely 24 minutes – I think CONDUCTED TOURS took a long time to dawn.

    Vood vun get away viz 2d in the daily Times? I do hope so. Chust don’t mention ze vor.

  10. We went to Islington last Sunday so I took this with me to look at on the train. Islington was buzzing in a nice way and very pleasant in the sunshine.
    FOI SUMMING UP and got my first four clues quickly prior to a major slowdown; in fact I solved the last three on Monday morning.
    I had SAUSAGE AND MASH at 1a for a long time. Saw SMASH as car accident and didn’t worry unduly about the rest. I did fix that later which allowed the Goldcrest and Raptor to appear.
    Last in were APPAREL, DRAFT (completely unparsed) and DISSOLVE.
    Very enjoyable. I liked AVERRED. David
  11. 32:38. Very entertaining. It took me ages to come up with conducted tours and cudgel. I thought apparel was neat and littler was excellent.
  12. mi muvver used ta’make! Goes the song! And must have thick onion gravy. 1ac my FOI

    LOI 11ac PLAYPEN kids do escape them.

    COD 9dn CONDUCTED TOURS

    WOD 21dn LITTLER!

    Time 28 minutes

    1. I often make onion gravy to go with sausages and my kids never eat it. They’d rather smother them in ketchup.
  13. Nearly an hour, but an absolutely delightful puzzle with many very subtle and ingenious clues. No COD, because they’re all good. My LOI are CUDGEL (after fortunately resisting putting in CODDLE, which I considered for ages), which then gave me GOLDCREST. Also very amused by AVERRED (since I am surrounded by Germans).
  14. DNF as always.
    For 27, I parsed it as ANN containing the reversal of (A LOG), rather than NANA.

    Thanks to Keriothe

    1. Thanks, Anon. Now you mention it I’m sure that’s how I parsed it when solving too, I don’t know why I wrote what I wrote in the blog! I’ll correct it.
  15. Thanks Bob and keriothe
    This one spilled over a couple of days and a number of sittings before it eventually fell. Not quite sure why I I didn’t spot Jack CADE as a part of the word play of the 17d wine, bud didn’t and got myself tied up with the DON’S and struggled to see why MASH couldn’t equal ‘accident’ at 1a.
    Smiled at the German pronunciation at 2d and of course at the ‘more wee left’ at 21d. Had recently come across Luanda in a quiz, so 27a was not as hard as it normally would have been.
    Finished in the SW corner with EVENTFUL and that MUSCADET.

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