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Sunday Times 4520 (13 Jan 2013) by Jeff Pearce

  • Jan. 20th, 2013 at 2:39 PM

daveperry
Solving time: About an hour and a quarter

I found this one quite hard-going. There were several unknowns to me - Horatio Alger, Maillot, Jonathan Sacks, Allen Ginsberg and Omnium-Gatherum. This last one in particular slowed me down a lot as it stopped me from getting lots of helpful initial letters.

Despite the obvious gaps in my education, there were several good clues here, but the one that sticks out is the rather devious 19d. But anyway, I'd better get this posted as it's already a bit late, for which I apologise.

cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (--)*, and removals like this

Across
1WHIPPER (one with cat) + SNAPPER (fish)
10MAIL + LOT
11ALGER + Ink Adventure - I've never heard of either Ragged Dick or it's author Horatio Alger, Jr. so I had to wait for some checkers for this one. I considered all sorts of potential authors - Mr Roman, Mr Alban, Mr Somal, Mr Liber and many others. There must be a score of possibilities!
12INEBRIATE = (BERTIE + IAN)*
13RABBIt - Jonathan Sacks is the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.
14MA(S)TER
15GINS + BERG - Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and a leading figure of the Beat Generation.
18ABSTRACT - dd
20GROT + TO
23HEROD = HERD about chOky
25ARROWROOT = Regret + ROW (argument) + ROO (bouncer) all in AT (atomic)
26RHUBARB - dd - it's a word traditionally muttered by background actors to simulate hubbub
27ACADEME = (MADE)* in ACE
28MASSAGE PARLOUR = (OUR MP + A LASS + GEAR)*
Down
2HEIRESS - cd
3POLAR BEAR = (PARABLE + OR)*
4EXTRAS - dd
5S(HALE)OIL
6AUG + ER - I wasn't aware that the Queen traditionally spends August at Balmoral, but now I do.
7PARA + BLEd
8ROARING + FORTIES - Forties is a shipping forecast area in the North Sea, while the Roaring Forties is a high-speed wind found in the Southern Ocean between latitudes of 40° and 50°
9OMNIUM-GATHERUM = (MIGHT OUR MENU + A)* + Mackerel - I didn't know the phrase so I struggled with this one.
16SCREW BALL - dd
17SCRABBLE - dd
19STRAUSS - SURREALISTS = (RILE + STRAUSS)* - Rather a sneaky one!
21THOREAU = (E + AUTHOR)*
22ERRATA - I think this is just a cd, although if so, it seems a lilttle weak to me
24DRAM + A

Comments

( 8 comments — Leave a comment )
jerrywh
Jan. 20th, 2013 02:52 pm (UTC)
Omnium gatherum was new to me too: I think it's quite an old-fashioned phrase.
Re 22dn, the clue is not so much a cd as an instruction to find a word that means "mistakes" but is in latin.. I think it works OK, myself.
I tend to see Jeff Pearce as one of the easier ST setters, but this one was definitely harder than his usual
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oliviarhinebeck
Jan. 20th, 2013 03:17 pm (UTC)
omnium gatherum
Trollope helps here. In the Palliser novels the great potentate is the Duke of Omnium whose seat is Gatherum Castle. Sometimes Trollope's name choices are unbearably coy (Dr. Fillgrave and Mr. Pessimist Anticant) and not remotely in the same class as Dickens, but the duke just about passes and the other names in the series are pretty good. The 1970's tv adaptation with Susan Hampshire as Lady Glencora was absolutely terrific.
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vinyl1
Jan. 20th, 2013 04:13 pm (UTC)
I had all the needed knowledge...
....except for the rabbi, who had to go in from the cryptic alone. Quite an American-oriented puzzle, with Horatio Alger, Allen Ginsberg, and Thoreau. But we're still waiting for the American meaning of 'rhubarb'.

I might have gotten stuck on Roaring Forties, but it is a brand of blue cheese from Australia.
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jackkt
Jan. 20th, 2013 05:39 pm (UTC)
Rather to my surprise I find that I solved all but five clues in 20 minutes but then ground to a halt and needed another half-an-hour to complete the grid with occasional resort to aids, 19dn being the last in.

I also find that I had 5d incorrect, having started with SNAKE OIL and then changing it to SLAKE OIL which unfortunately doesn't exist. Speaking of which, I can't find any support in the usual sources for AT = atomic at 25ac.

Didn't know the rabbi nor the ragged writer nor the Latin phrase.

Edited at 2013-01-20 05:39 pm (UTC)
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mohn2
Jan. 20th, 2013 06:41 pm (UTC)
Another fan of snake oil here, though unfortunately I didn't change it. Hadn't heard of Alger, but the checking letters didn't admit many alternatives. My father has used OMNIUM-GATHERUM on occasion, but I don't think I've met it elsewhere. Comparative anagrams like 19D rarely appear in normal cryptics, but they are quite popular in clue-writing competitions.
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keriothe
Jan. 20th, 2013 07:35 pm (UTC)
Just over half an hour for this: harder than the average Jeff Pearce number, as Jerry says.
I was very surprised by 19dn: I don't remember ever seeing a compound anagram in a daily puzzle before: they were completely new to me when I started doing Mephisto and Azed (where they're common), which was fairly recently. I had assumed they were considered off-limits.
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mctext
Jan. 20th, 2013 11:53 pm (UTC)
Agreed on 19dn. I had assumed that "possibly" meant we had to drop the RILE from SURREALISTS prior to finding the anagram. Could have done without that altogether.

BTW to Dave: at 8dn, you need FOR, TIES. "(Calling=ROARING) FOR knots (TIES)".
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kevingregg
Jan. 21st, 2013 03:16 am (UTC)
14:54
but I typed 'polar beer'. DNK Sacks, but the wordplay (not to mention checkers) led me in the right direction. Took me forever to parse STRAUSS, even though I knew it had to involve an anagram. 'At.no.' is fairly common for 'atomic number', isn't it? Olivia, you forgot Sir Omicron Pye.
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