Sunday, March 3, 2013 — ST 4523

Puzzle at a Glance

Puzzle Number in The Sunday Times ST 4523
Date of Publication in The Sunday Times Sunday, February 3, 2013
Setter Jeff Pearce
Link to Full Review Times for the Times [ST 4523]
Times for the Times Review Written By Dave Perry
Date of Publication in the Toronto Star Saturday, February 23, 2013
Date of Publication in the Vancouver Sun Saturday, March 2, 2013
Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Times for the Times
Notes This puzzle appears on the Sunday Puzzles pages in the Saturday, March 2, 2013 edition of The Ottawa Citizen.

Introduction

I found today's puzzle to be quite challenging. Strangely, the last two clues to be solved were a pair of seemingly innocuous clues in the southeast corner 19d and 22a.

Notes on Today's Puzzle

This commentary should be read in conjunction with the full review at Times for the Times, to which a link is provided in the table above.

Across

1a   I’m not out for a good time (4-2-4)

I would think that Dave Perry's comment ("although I wasn't aware that the phrase had any particular connection with having a good time") is either sarcasm or he's missed the point of the clue. The clue plays on the phrase "out for a good time" in the sense of being ready for or looking forward to a good time. The setter clearly intends for us to misinterpret the clue as meaning "I'm not looking for a good time".  The key to finding the solution is to apply a very literal meaning to the first three words of the clue.

6a   Book, for instance, found outside court (4)

Acts^[10] refers to the Acts of the Apostles, the fifth book of the New Testament, describing the development of the early Church from Christ's ascension into heaven to Paul's sojourn at Rome.

9a   Aircraft carries lots of gum and one substance used by modellers (10)

10a   Recall arrest at American festival (4)

Lag^[5] is British slang which can be used either as a noun denoting a person who has been frequently convicted and sent to prison ⇒ both old lags were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment or (as in this clue) as a verb meaning to arrest or send to prison ⇒ they were nearly lagged by the constables. The latter usage is considered by Oxford Dictionaries Online to be archaic.

12a   Solution to mystery points towards decapitated old character (6)

Dave Perry says he does not "like the definition 'solution of mystery'". I admit that this also raised questions in my mind. After some considerable thought, I concluded that the idea must be that if 'mystery' were a clue in a crossword puzzle, then its solution could well be 'enigma'.

Sigma^[5] is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet (Σ, σ).

13a   In Rome I love to tour a brook in the city (8)

Amo is the first person singular of the Latin verb amare (to love). Without doubt, this is among the first verbs learned by any student studying Latin. In cryptic crosswords, the word "tour" is often used as a containment indicator based on a cryptic interpretation of its meaning "to go around".

Amarillo^[5] is an industrial and commercial city in northwestern Texas, in the Panhandle; population 187,236 (est. 2008).

15a   Appliance cannot tip or spin (11)

18a   Argue about foremost of Sunday’s puzzles (5,6)

In the surface reading, the apostrophe indicates possession (the puzzles that appear on Sunday) but in the cryptic reading, it is to be interpreted as a contraction for "is" making the expanded wordplay "about foremost of Sunday is puzzles" meaning the first letter of Sunday is contained in a synonym for "puzzles".

21a   He wears a flashy suit, ripped at a party at end of summer (8)

A toreador^[5] is a bullfighter, especially one on horseback.

22a   See small member of clergy before worship (6)

24a   Keen on eastern philosophy following appearance of second husband (4)

I spent a lot of time here trying to make a "second husband" appear rather than disappear. The idea of the wordplay is that if the letters in the name of the eastern philosophy were to march past an observation point, the solution to the clue would be formed by those remaining after S and H had passed by the observer (appeared).

25a   Sole trader? (10)

26a   Good copy makes you stare (4)

27a   This kind of night flier had headset working (6-4)

The death's-head moth^[10] is a European hawk moth, Acherontia atropos, having markings resembling a human skull on its upper thorax.

Down

1d   Police officer pockets penny for meal (6)

In Britain, a superintendent (super, for short)^[10] is a senior police officer higher in rank than an inspector but lower than a chief superintendent.

In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] is a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound (and is abbreviated p). In the system formerly used, a penny was equal to one twelfth of a shilling or 240th of a pound (and was abbreviated d, for denarius).

2d   A fish I caught — it may have gone after fly (6)

The fly agaric^[10] is a saprotrophic agaricaceous woodland fungus, Amanita muscaria, having a scarlet cap with white warts and white gills — or, in layman's terms, a toadstool. It is poisonous but rarely fatal. The name comes from its use as a poison on flypaper. Agaric would "have gone after fly" in the name of this toadstool.

3d   Mascara stain ruined protective cloth (12)

An antimacassar^[10] is a cloth covering the back and arms of chairs, etc, to prevent soiling or as decoration.

4d   Pawn  some ham and wine (4)

In Britain, hock^[5] is a dry white wine from the German Rhineland.

5d   Abandoned tram in Merton when touring bohemian district (10)

Merton^[7] is a borough in southwest London, England.

Montmartre^[5] is a district in northern Paris, on a hill above the Seine, much frequented by artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when it was a separate village.

7d   Old comedian entertains a sky pilot (8)

Charlie Chaplin^[7] (1889 – 1977) was a British comic actor and filmmaker who rose to fame in the silent era.

Sky pilot^[3] is a slang term for a member of the clergy, especially a military chaplain.

8d   Big tankers are ageing so badly (8)

11d   Crazy French writer almost acquires final part of The Bill (12)

Marcel Proust^[7] (1871 – 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time; earlier translated as Remembrance of Things Past). It was published in seven parts between 1913 and 1927.

14d   Old England paceman with new phone — it’s the modern way to sledge! (10)

In cricket, a paceman^[5] is a fast bowler. England refers to the England cricket team^[7], the overall term for the cricket teams which represent England and Wales in international competitions.

John Snow^[7] played cricket for Sussex and England in the 1960s and 1970s. Snow was England's most formidable fast bowler in his day.

In North America, one would be more apt to say sled than sledge — and not very apt to use it as a verb.

16d   Painful rash on the bottom after chap sits in grass (8)

In the UK, grass^[5] is used informally as a noun to denote a police informer and as a verb meaning to inform the police of someone’s criminal activities or plans ⇒ (i) [no object] someone had grassed on the thieves); (ii) [with object] she threatened to grass me up. This expression may derive from rhyming slang (grasshopper ⇒ 'copper').

17d   Dogs, say, cross over threshold … (8)

19d   … and one’s beginning to bark at bird (6)

Sometimes ellipses have no special significance — and, then, there are days like today where they play a crucial role. The ellipses indicate that the pronoun "one" refers to "dogs" in the previous clue.

20d   Visit the German when upset and become angry (3,3)

Der^[7] is one of the several forms of the German definite article.

23d   Moggy traps left wing of hapless bird (4)

Moggy is a variant spelling of moggie^[5], British slang for a cat, typically one that is does not have a pedigree or is otherwise unremarkable ⇒ I have three other cats (two moggies and one Bengal/Tonkinese cross).

A chat^[5], may be any of several songbirds having a harsh call.

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7]   - Wikipedia
^[8]   - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)

Signing off for this week — Falcon