24625 – doom and gloom dispelled by craftsmanship

Author   petebiddlecombePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 10:37

A definite increase in difficulty since yesterday – rather than writing in the first two acrosses on first look and most of the intersecting downs, I had to wait until 10 across to get some help from downs as I continued with the acrosses, and probably got around 40% of answers on my first tour of the full set of clues. Last in was the 4-letter double def at 1D.

I admired this puzzle more and more as I wrote the explanations below, for what seem original versions of wordplay structures that must have been used before.

Across
1 C=constant,HOCTAW – O=old, in reverse of WATCH=view. Treating the grid as a conventional map with north at the top, “westward” is backwards for across answers. The Choctaw were the first American Indian “Civilised Tribe” to follow the Trail of Tears (on which their view would have been mainly westard, as it happens) to “Indian Territory” (present-day Oklahoma) in 1831.
5 NE(GAT=heater)ED – “gat” is an abbreviation of Gatling gun, and “heater” is “US informal, dated” for “gun” in COED
9 INTERPRET = read – we move away from North American misery and weaponry but it doesn’t get a lot more cheerful. Wordplay here: Pinter = playwright (who described the mood of his own plays as “the weasel under the cocktail cabinet”), with the P moved to the back, then RE = about, T = time
10 EP‘S = records,(h)OM(e) – with years of practice reading clues over-literally and disassembling two-word nouns, “heart of home town” was easily broken down into (OM, town) and this combined with EP’S made this an easy starter
11 INEGALITARIAN = (airline, a giant)* – “not usually” is an unusual anagram indicator, but after a brief false start with EGALI… this was easy enough.
13 MO(RIB=rag=make fun of)UND – back to a bit of doom and gloom. A well-crafted clue using a simple wordplay structure which I don’t recall coming across before
15 GIG=performance,GLE(e) – we’re changing mood again …
17 LA(PD.=paid,O)G – prison dwellers or recent prison dwellers lag and con are old crossword friends
19 GOUR(MAN=fellow)D – another container wordplay that seems obvious but still new
22 MA(LAD,MINI)STER – a bit more complicated but the same again – maladminister was a nostalgic doddle for me – I spent one summer vacation of my university years working for the Local Government Ombudsman (sadly now somewhere in Millbank Tower rather than two adjoining houses in Queen Anne’s Gate). When skim-reading copies of case reports passing through the collating machine, “maladministration” became familiar as part of their version of “guilty as charged”.
25 TeAm No GoOd – very easy with the help of the initial T
26 PROVEN=tested,DER=reverse of red=”cherry perhaps” – an old trick here, “provender” being a synonym for “food”, rather than one of the umpteen possible types of food you might have wasted time thinking of
27 CARAMEL – RAM=sheep (the wordplay element to start from), in reverse of (LEA=field,C.=circa=around), with “around” misleadingly suggesting different “sandwich” wordplay
28 SHAPELY = (help, say)* – another good bit of misdirection, with “say” being neither a “def by example indicator” nor a sounds-like indicator – and “organisation for help” might need breaking down too
 
Down
1 CHIP = both (gambling) counter, and loft (vb.) from Jimbo’s morning round of golf sporting uses like “he chipped a superb shot over the keeper”
2 O=round,UT.(LIE),R – here’s the rock formation. Another clue that could make you work too hard – you don’t need to know any Utah rivers here
3 TIRE = flag,E=eastern, for an island that was an answer not too long ago
4 WARP=deviation,AIN’T = is not – if you read this clue just after solving CHOCTAW, a bit of mental association might help you
5 NITWIT – IT=(sex) appeal, after (T from “contesT”, in a reversal of WIN = triumph (verb or noun))
6 GRE= rev. of erg, NADI(E=energy)R – if you count nadir as astronomy, that’s three bits of science in one clue to keep Jimbo happy
7 TESTING=difficult – TIN=element, in gets* – another simple structure that looks new
8 DIM=faint,INUENDO = “innuendo” – an easy one for the musical mafia once you see that DECRESCENDO is too long to fit
12 EMBLEMATIC = (met b(y) malice)*, “unknown” being X or Y or Z by crossword convention, and usually Y by dint of linguistic statistics
14 B(ROAD)LOOM – another new-looking sandwich – prime=BLOOM is not obvious, but “a state or period of blooming” and “a state or time of greatest vigour or success in a person’s life” seem plenty close enough
16 DO=cheat,MINOES=(in some)* – a bit of time wasted here on (some game)*
18 PI(L(out)S)NE,R – “Lager louts” was a good find but solving instincts soon highlighted the “out” in “louts”, and few words have LS in the middle, which combined with N from TANGO means you probably see the answer before seeing PINE=long. Like Budweis, Pilsen is a Czech town that gave its name to a beer.
20 AB=sailor,RID=free,GE= rev. of e.g. – charade rather than sandwich, but the same story about the clue-writing
21 D.I. = (detective) inspector,SP(i)EL = “heartless patter”
23 today’s omitted answer
24 P(R)AY – (meet = pay) is the tricky bit here, probably seen after PRAY=appeal and R=resistance

37 comments on “24625 – doom and gloom dispelled by craftsmanship”

  1. Hear, hear! A complete contrast with Monday’s offering which was difficult-because-a-bit-daft; while this was interestingly difficult at each turn. I was happy to spend a whole 57 minutes on this one. Lots of very skilful misdirection with seemingly “standard” items turning out to do something other-than-expected. To mention a few: “say” (in 28) and “badly” (in 22). But best of all, “gets” in 7.
    One slight quibble: “Tested” = “proven” in 26. “To test” is a verb of process while “to prove” is a verb of achievement (to borrow Gibert Ryle’s distinction). If all things tested were proven, science would be in a very sorry state indeed!
    1. proven/tested: I see your point, but I think there are meanings to support the sense used in the clue – ODE has what amounts to “to test (a gun)”, as well as “probare = to test” for Latin scholars
    2. ODE gives both ‘test the accuracy of a mathematical calculation’ and ‘subject a gun to a test’. One of the meanings of probare was of course to test.
    3. I had always understood that the expression “The exception proves the rule” makes sense only if “proves” is taken to mean “tests”. cf also “to put to the proof” = to test.
      1. Looks like I’m now going to have to live with strange statements like: “It has been proven whether cold fusion works” and “The existence of 20th-century mammoths has been proven”!
      2. …although the OED indicates that the past participle “proven” is used only in the more usual meaning of “shown to be true”; in the “tested” sense it has to be “proved”.
        1. I can’t see from the online OED how you reach that conclusion. It’s simply not explicit about “proven” and “proved” in the various verb meanings. Under “To establish as true; to make certain […]”, it says “In this sense the past participle proven […] is often used”. Under other meanings like “To make trial of; to try, test” it says nothing about the past participle.

          The Oxford Dictionary of English says that the past participle of the verb can be either, but the adjective is always “proven”.

  2. 49 minutes. Took a while to get into this and found it quite a test, though an enjoyable one. Time we consigned EPs to the recycling bin, isn’t it? Just been clearing out the attic and found a few from the late 50s; but they’ve had their day, along with Teds (and possibly heaters).
  3. Excellent, elegant puzzle that gave me 25 minutes of real pleasure. Thank you setter.

    I loved “gat” and could hear Edward G growling away. Also from memory lane EP (known as good snogging records because they lasted longer than ordinary singles). Appreciated the “cherry perhaps” at 26A and yes, Peter, did notice the science at 6D – good to see.

    The only possible glitch is CHIP=loft. A lofted green-side shot that goes further through the air than along the ground is a “pitch” made using a lofted club called a pitching wedge. A CHIP is the opposite, travelling further along the ground than in the air. However I have a thought that CHIP is used in other sports to mean a high kick?

    1. I’m no expert on sport but CHIP seems fine to me if you think of football. The online Oxford Dictionaries gives the example “he chipped a superb shot over the keeper”.
  4. Very much a Womble time today – almost my whole Under/Overground journey plus some thinking while walking to complete the NW. No dispute about the fine cluing, though I too flirted with EGAL- before realising it didn’t reach the end.
    CoD as an example of both perfect fairness and irresistible misdirection to PRAY – every now and then a short clue should be nominated.
  5. Just over half an hour here. Mostly pretty straightforward but I was held up for a long time at the end by CHOCTAW/WARPAINT (very neat) and MORIBUND/BROADLOOM.
    I really enjoyed this for the elegant and just slightly unusual constructions and the sprinkling of misdirection.
    Today’s new piece of knowledge is that a gourd is a fruit and that the meaning I knew (cup) derives from it. Well well.
  6. Enjoyable crossword, c25mins so a little harder than average. The sense of prove = test (as in “proving ground” or “proof mark”) is often overlooked. I liked Pilsner but would normally spell it Pilsener myself though I know both are used.
  8. Found this hard but it had very nice clues. Pilsner was marvelous. Held up in the NW. Last in 1dn which I thought was poor synonym for loft. Did EPs play at 33rpm or 45?
  9. A steady solve in which I never felt quite stuck for ideas until the very end when after 50 minutes solving time I was still unable to unravel all the elements in 1ac so I looked it up. I have heard of CHOCTAW but the word didn’t come to mind as for a long time I was fixated on the Indian tribe being the Crow.

    I was doubtful about prime = bloom too but the dictionary.com thesaurus has them as synonyms.

  10. I didn’t find this as elegant as some but no complaints either. 37 minutes with rather a lot of it in NW. I’m no golfer but it does occur to me that the sport may go well with solving what with the variety of long words (a 7-syllable here) and the little, well, chips. But come to think of it everything’s like that, only not so visibly maybe. A useless observation and thus in the spirit of the two activities.
  11. I agree – a very nice interesting and well-constructed puzzle. I think 27ac may have a particular meaning for the New Zealand solvers.
  12. Definitely a toughie – I resorted to aids after 55 minutes with ten clues unsolved, getting four in this way (CHOCTAW – where I was on the right track – MORIBUND – ditto, and should have got it – WARPAINT and DOMINOES) and using the additional crossing letters to polish the thing off. Held up at 28ac by my customary failure to spot an anagrind. Last in CHIP (for which I had been toying with ‘coop’ and ‘cote’ even before getting the initial ‘C’) – a further instance of my inability to get a cricketing reference despite my lifelong love of the game. At least, this time I spotted the reference. (ODE refers to football and golf specifically, I note now that I am home, but a chip is certainly lofted, whether over the infield or the goalie, e.g. Cantona’s great goal against Sunderland.)

    COD to TIREE for its nostalgic associations with shipping forecasts – always special when Dogger was paired with German Bight. Although it is one of what the natives like to call the Western Isles, and although it is the most westerly of the Inner Hebrides, it is at least east of some of the Outer Hebrides.

  13. I found this mostly straightforward, but after completing 3/4 of the grid in 25 minutes, I had nothing in the NW corner, which I stared at for ages. Eventually I realised that my ignorance of Utah rivers was not a handicap and got 2 dn, followed by CHOCTAW, then the rest. I also had a hold-up with NITWIT, having carelessly entered E at the intersection with INEGALITARIAN.
    What should have taken me around 35 minutes stretched to 55.
  14. Yes, a superb puzzle. The clues were brilliantly written and each required a solver’s experience to interpret: beautiful. It took me about 55 most enjoyable minutes to solve.

    Too many cracking clues to nominate a COD. Thank you setter.

  15. 13.20 Excellent puzzle.CHIP was my last one too , after getting the vital W from 4 which gave me 1a.
    Felt like on another day this could have taken double the time so quite pleased. Lots of good clues – 9 and 12 for instance , but many more
  16. 17:45. Definitely my sort of puzzle where just about every clue needed a little thought and analysis but with nothing wilfully obscure or arcane.

    Nitwit reminded me of this bit of Fawlty Towers:
    Nitwit

    Add my thanks to the setter. Given the high count of interesting constructions I can forgive the odd clunky surface.

    I’m looking forward to seeing Chip Choctaw and the Gourmands at the Leeds Festival this weekend. George, other than Emo Philips is there anyone else on the Alternative Stage I should try and catch?
    Alternative Stage

  17. I share the verdict of most others – an elegant, clever and enjoyable puzzle. My last in were BROADLOOM and GOURMAND, the former unsurprisingly, the latter more difficult to explain. It was one of those clues where the wordplay was pretty obvious once you’d cracked it, but somehow refused to leap out at you (or at any rate me). The old wavelength thing, I guess, but I actually found this puzzle no more difficult than yesterday’s easy one – though a lot more fun. Somewhere between 30 and 35 mins for me.
  18. Excellent puzzle. Thoroughly enjoyed it but I needed help with CHIP, CHOCTAW and DOMINOES. Thank you, Setter.
  19. Having read the comments above I’ll add my vote to the chorus. Wonderful puzzle, great clue-writing, and thank you to the setter. No time to post due to interruption, but probably 35-40 minutes, ending with EMBLEMATIC/MORIBUND. My COD to WARPAINT, which made me laugh out loud. Regards to all, especially the setter.
  20. after a visit to aloxe Corton to taste several grand crus red and white curiously the puzzle haad its hard parts. But i managaed to solve it all within the huor although Choctaw was a guess from the wordplay.
    a brilliant puzzle so thanks to the setter like others have said!
    now in champagne…bubbles!

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