Sunday Times Cryptic 4897, by David McLean — That rainy day feeling again

Author   guy_du_sablePosted on Categories Weekend Cryptic
Not only am I (are we) virtually confined to quarters—at best allowed out for a little while each day to STRETCH ONE’S LEGS—but my ancient printer has decided to die on me, so I haven’t been able to print out any puzzles for a few days. I’ll buy a new printer, soon, and have it delivered (which will take longer than usual), but in the meantime I’m going to have to try an app or two. Besides catching up with the Times, I have to work two new ones—as a test solver—by Joshua and Henri, the former creators of the Nation puzzle, whose new Patreon website, “Out of Left Field,” premiered on April 1. It will be good to be able to curl up with a puzzle again, even if it has to be on my phone.

I remember this excellent offering as posing no big problems, a steady, enjoyable solve. I counted at least three little pigs (at least two of them related to mendacity), in 11, 2 and 4. Since 4 also has HOG in the answer, you could maybe count that as four porcine appearances. But then there’s also (suivez mon regard)…

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

ACROSS
 1 Sick of being rained on? (5,3,7)
UNDER THE WEATHER — With a literal interpretation of the figure of speech
 9 Fiery bird Ovid originally dismissed (7)
FLAMING — ”flamingo” minus the O starting “Ovid”
10 Totally incompetent celebrity (7)
NOTABLE — NOT ABLE
11 Porky dog needs to be picked up (4)
TALE — Shortened form of the Cockney Rhyming Slang “porky pie” for “lie”; “dog” in the sense of “tail”
12 Over time, no real man dances for show (10)
ORNAMENTAL — Tell that to Mick Jagger! (no real man)* taking T(ime)
13 One spotted adulterer in conversation (7)
CHEETAH — ”Cheater”
15 Character in record store close to Bonn (7)
EPSILON — EP, “record” + SILO, “store” + [-Bon]N
17 Draw a model-type that’s a bundle of nerves (7)
ATTRACT — A + T (one of the historic Ford car models) + TRACT, “bundle of nerves”; “that’s” is merely connective tissue.
19 Treat flying saucer with bit of scepticism (7)
DISCUSS — I certainly would… DISCUS, “flying saucer” + S[-cepticism]
20 Most ostentatious criminal steals ship (10)
SPLASHIEST — (steals ship)* On reflection, this may be my COD, a smashing anagram.
22 Country fellow swaps daughter for piano! (4)
CHAD — The country name in question becomes a word for “fellow”—“chap”—if you trade the D(aughter) for P(iano). This threw me at first, because when you trade A for B, A is what you have and B is what you get in return, but it’s not the “fellow” who is doing the swapping.
25 Unforgettable air of war Rome aroused (7)
EARWORM — (war Rome)*
26 Good-natured female taken in by a story (7)
AFFABLE — A (F) FABLE
27 Longer chess test arranged as exercise (7,4,4)
STRETCH ONES LEGS — (Longer chess test)*

DOWN
 1 Ill-equipped force brigade encircles (5)
UNFIT — UN(F)IT
 2 Seriously, pork pies and Tango can be most toxic (9)
DEADLIEST — DEAD, “Seriously” + LIES (“pork pies” again!) + T(ango, NATO alphabet) I had a MER at the definition for DEAD here, but I think “Seriously” like DEAD can be used as an intensifier; “dead easy” is an example in Collins.
 3 Check about bar closing earlier than usual (4)
REIN — RE, “about” + IN[-n]
 4 Painter painting in pig and horse (7)
HOGARTH — HOG, “pig” + ART, “painting” + H(orse)
 5 Hopeful embargo will be lifted in fall (7)
WANNABE — WAN(BAN<=“lifted”)E
 6 Lock tackled by expert southern players (9)
ACTRESSES — AC(TRESS)E + S(outhern)
 7 Some pious types get into this addiction (5)
HABIT — DD
 8 Bearded tits led singer astray (9)
REEDLINGS — (led singer)* Heretofore unknown bird, easy anagram
13 Egalitarian conservative girl? Not so much! (9)
CLASSLESS — C + LASS + LESS
14 Fun follows after Queen punches brown bear (9)
TRANSPORT — I’d like to see that! T(R)AN + SPORT, “fun”
16 A huge ball thrown for comic (9)
LAUGHABLE — (A huge ball)*
18 Hit Republican leader hard around lunchtime? (7)
TRIUMPH — That’s I, or 1, PM surrounded by the name of a politician that I will not spell out here (I was really hoping it was Teddy Roosevelt), and ending in H(ard).
19 Belittle one’s lawyer during row (7)
DISDAIN — D(I’S)(DA)IN Slight cognitive dissonance here, as DISDAIN means to feel (or the feeling) that something or someone is beneath one, to have contempt for it or them, whereas to “belittle” generally means to express such a feeling, to present something in a derogatory light.
21 One likely to bait lake and two rivers (5)
LURER — L + URE + R In reference to Times Cryptic 27632, Jackkt remarked, “I consider ‘lurer’ a bit of a dodgy agent noun anyway; it’s in Collins but the Oxfords and Chambers have no truck with it,” and here I am a concurrer.
23 Get into gear and drive East with sons (5)
DRESS — DR, “drive” + E(ast) + SS, two “sons”
24 American takes out nobles, not Tory leader (4)
OFFS — [-t]OFFS I wasn’t aware that the term was a specifically US usage.

38 comments on “Sunday Times Cryptic 4897, by David McLean — That rainy day feeling again”

  1. This seems to have left no impression on me; no notes on my copy other than ‘DNK’ at 8d. Not even a ! at LURER, which it fully deserves.
    1. We all have a lot on our minds.

      Good to see you here, first as usual, Kevin. I hadn’t started to worry about you yet…

      1. Thanks, Guy, and likewise. Pretty much the same old same old here. We’re not locked down–the government doesn’t have the authority–but most businesses that have been ‘requested’ to shut down have, including, alas, my gym, where I would normally be about now. Annoying, since it had no social-distance or ventilation problem.
        I’ve always associated ‘off’ with the Black Panthers, who were fond of exhorting one to ‘off the pigs’. I’m sure its more general use started there, and I’m not surprised that it’s still (mainly?) North American.

        Edited at 2020-04-12 04:45 am (UTC)

  2. I’ve lost my copy of this, but I think it took a normalish time. I can confirm that OFFS is sufficiently North American for me either not to know it or have forgotten it, but the cryptic allowed no other answer. I remember my COD went to HABIT. Having recently been regaled about Bitcoin by a member of the Shoreditch community, I would have loved HIPSTERS to have been the answer to 8d rather than REEDLINGS. With the Church closed, now is the hour for my DIY Easter Communion. I must confess these uncharitable thoughts about blockchain before saying the prayer of humble access. A pleasant puzzle. Thank you Guy and David.
  3. I think 19ac is DISCUS + (S)
    Nice to see OFFS (which is not nice at all) at least clued as a US usage ..
    1. Yes, of course, isn’t that what I had…?
      Oh, I see! Thanks.
    2. …even though Collins has that definition listed as British English too.
      1. Collins, pfft .. I see Collins also has the cricket usage listed under American English. I will rest on Chambers, which has it as US slang
            1. But are cricket terms “nicer” than baseball terms?
              That is the real question.
              1. Not really – but in a British puzzle context, we naturally use the local ball and stick game. I’m a bit bemused when I see some US cryptics (as I think I have) using some of the cricket trickery but not that often using the baseball possibilities.

                And just as a bit of chat, I see the fairly common distaste for crosswords from the other side of the pond as a parallel for the same with ball and stick games — “flannelled fools”, “rounders in pyjamas”, etc etc. I enjoyed watching some baseball in its brief spell of UK TV coverage (c. 2 games a week plus the play-offs and world series, in the small hours about 15 years ago), and enjoy solving some US-style crosswords. In both cases, you just have to see past the initial strangeness.

                Edited at 2020-04-12 09:18 am (UTC)

  4. ….and a rare sub 10 minute solve for a Sunday. My only blind alley – a short one- was in thinking that “flying” was an anagram indicator, and so I juggled with “saucer”. Then I solved LAUGHABLE and my folly was revealed.

    I’m using some of my house arrest spare time to review my CD collection, and weed out a few that I’m playing for the last time before they go to a charity shop. I’m dealing with the crate that is “E-G” and 25A drove me to dig out “Mars the Bringer of War” by Emerson, Lake and Powell (not Palmer). I really must invest in a “proper” recording of “The Planets” !

    FOI ORNAMENTAL
    LOI CHAD
    COD TALE
    TIME 8:51

  5. 10:29. I’m not sure I’ve ever done a prize crossword faster. I did check post-solve that meaning of TRACT at 17A just to be sure. The only other note on my copy is a crossed out PHOENIX? beside 9A.
  6. 22:26 I thought this one was fairly gentle. I did try to shoehorn phoenix into 9ac for longer than was realistic. Considering its long use in Christmas crackers (why shouldn’t you play cards in the jungle) it took me a while to get the homophone at 13ac. The only other difficulty was 18dn which I biffed but couldn’t parse for love nor money – for some reason I just don’t seem to have a connection in my mind between Trump and the republican party. I suppose because he is so er unorthodox I don’t really think of him fitting into party politics even though he is a republican president.
    1. Which reminds me…
      Q. Why are there no aspirin tablets in the jungle?
      A. Because the parrots eat ’em all.

      Edited at 2020-04-12 01:05 pm (UTC)

      1. Because aspirin is derived from the bark of the willow tree, which is a species not generally found in a jungle environment.
        1. I expect you are right. But the target audience of the cracker joke is 99% unlikely to know that and, even if they did, would laugh anyway.
        2. Yeah, but one could still bring aspirin tablets to the jungle.
    2. To be fair these days there is little connection between the Republican Party and the Republican Party in so far as you think of either as the Party of Lincoln.

      Edited at 2020-04-12 03:26 pm (UTC)

      1. Um. “…little connection between the Republican Party and the Republican Party”. Too clever for me.. not sure what you are getting at here.
        1. I just mean that the modern Republican Party bears very little resemblance to the original.
              1. I really don’t think you can compare the two. Of course the Labour Party has changed over the years but today’s Republican Party is, in American political terms, pretty much the opposite of what its founders intended.
  7. For some reason I was particularly slow to see my LOI, FLAMINGO. Not sure why, as I’m sure I’ve seen it before. WANNABEE took ages to see as well. The unknown REEDLINGS was another late entry. Overall an enjoyable puzzle which kept me busy for 34:20. Thanks Harry and Guy.
  8. Far too often when I look in my small pile of attempted crosswords, the one I want is not there. It has happened again today-like BW I see. Not wanting to blame myself, I attribute this to the Sunday crossword moving to the News section of the paper and then moving within that section.
    Anyway on to the puzzle. 1a was FOI. TRIUMPH was LOI; an audition for the Private Eye puzzle I thought. Time was 39 minutes which for me is very quick.
    Lots to enjoy, especially EARWORM ( my current one is Baked Potato by Matt Lucas).
    SPLASHIEST held me up and the TRACT at 17 unknown but guessed. COD to TRANSPORT. David
  9. Getting a tickle! Short silly mid-off! Out for a duck!
    Straight through gully! One ball short! Bowling a maiden over! Over Cow Corner! F’off – the Pavilion is that way!
    Sir Geoffrey Boycott 87 not out! Brian Lara 501 not out!

    FOI 23dn DRESS

    LOI 24dn OFFS! I love sport but I cannot bear baseball or basketball – I love American Football apart from the daft name (what’s it got to do with feet? – American Handball?)

    COD 27ac STRETCH ONE’S LEGS which I must do more often

    WOD WANNABE

    A leisurely 53 minutes – there was no train to catch!

  10. 4:56. Either this was very easy or I was very much on the wavelength. Probably a bit of both. I didn’t know the birds but the anagram wasn’t too hard to unravel.
    1. Phew! Cracking time. We’ll see you on the podium for the Grand Final yet.
  11. I’ve eventually caught up with the Sunday crosswords. I struggled to see tract as bundle of nerves – so thanks. I was surprised to see Trump – I thought no one living could be used except for the Queen. Have I missed something?
    1. The Sunday Times doesn’t follow the rule of the daily, in which only the deceased will appear in clues. So Trump’s allowed here not because he is somewhere in a twilight zone near brain death.
  12. I would love to join in the blog occasionally, but have not been able to find out how to become one of the group. Also, by the time I get the ST crossword in the Weekend Australian the blog for the relevant crossword appears to be all done and dusted. We Aussies mut be way behind the Times.
    1. Yeah, you’re about a month behind down there, but we’d still like to hear from you (though I may be practically the only person who sees your replies to my entries so late). All you have to do to “join” is set up an identity on LiveJournal and use it to post, instead of posting anonymously.
  13. Another from Oz here, often doing the TFTT at least a month late. There may be many antipodean treeware solvers reading the blog as late as this. Tried to remember the name of the Austrian winner of the Eurovision Song Contest for 8d, but luckily it wasn’t necessary. No particular holdups in this. 22mins. Liked Guy’s comment re Trump, though Trump’s comment re disinfectant was funnier.
  14. Thanks David and guy
    Interesting to see the references to the first round of lockdowns as we in Melbourne have been subjected to a second round due to incompetencies of handling returning travellers and allowing BLM marches that lowered everyones sense of isolation duty.
    The puzzle did seem at the easier end of this setter’s difficulty spectrum, taking just over the half hour (relatively quick for me) in an initial sitting and a later mop up one.
    Was surprised at the double up of the ‘porkies’ and it seems that I used a lot of the anagram clues to get a foothold, particularly at the bottom of the grid. Typically the four short clues provided the greatest challenge, especially the homophonic TALE and REIN which took an age to see the parsing of.
    Finished in the NE corner with the clever HABIT(where inexplicably in hindsight, originally had in HOBBY), the cleverly defined ORNAMENTAL and WANNABE (which held out for ages to be seen).

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