24679 – Championship Preliminary Round 1, Puzzle 3

Author   petebiddlecombePosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: probably between 9 and 11 minutes on the day.

I’m pretty sure I solved this in one go, as a diversion from being stuck on one corner of No. 2. As far as I remember, the most troublesome clue/answer in this puzzle was 18A. This puzzle includes quite a few very old tricks – finding these quickly and correctly is one of the skills required by serious championship contenders.

Across
1 DOWN = a sort of clue,RIGHT=spot on – a nicely cheeky surface reading here.
6 SH(R=resistance)E,W=wife – this should be an easy one as the components are all familiar, especially novel = She. The surface relates to this publishing company, but the chance of many of their titles being referenced in the Times xwd seems fairly slim.
9 MOTET = “music” – final letter swap in MOTEL = “traveller’s lodge”.
10 REALISTIC = sensible – (Is article)*
11 TAKE FRENCH = “Do language course”, LEAVE = holiday – the def for French leave shows that it’s another phrase in the same group as French letter / capote Anglaise
13 SPORADIC – (PC’s radio)*, with “switched” as the anagram indicator
14 (c)ORACLE
16 A(B.S.E.)IL
18 ROOD LOFT = church gallery (most British ones were removed during the Reformation). ROOD = rev. of door (“entrance turned”), L=left, OFT = regularly. I heard at least one competitor say that they’d entered ROOD PORT, but that seems to leave “regularly” unused in the cryptic reading.
21 Today’s deliberate omission
23 R.E. = troops (Royal Engineers),PRESENT = here – I didn’t have time on the day to remember the old nickname “sappers” = RE – combined with gunners = RA (Artillery), this was one of the first crossword clichés I learned to recognise
25 G=good, EMMA=book – “good book” for the Bible (or in the Times Crossword, any book of the bible) was a good bit of misdirection.
26 MO=short time,NET=clear=earn – the clear wordplay here should save all but the most slapdash from MANET=painter
27 SIDELINES = secondary interests – LINE=row, in SIDES=parties. Is “between” a fair containment indicator here? I think I’d say not.
 
Down
1 DEMI = half, T=time – unless you were confident about the meaning of DEMIT, this was one to leave for checking letter assistance.
2 WITH KNOBS ON = “how doors and drawers are made” – double def
3 RATAFIA = biscuit – (RAT = informer) replaces the M in MAFIA
4 G(ARDEN = forest,I)A – something else I learned early on was that PA, VA and GA had far more than their fair share of appearances for “state”
5 TRANCE = spell – this seems debatable, but I think I can see enough resemblance between trance and the right kind of spell. Wordplay: TRACE = “follow with one’s finger” around N=name
6 SPIELER = “one offering” – a def best seen from spiel + “-er” – (replies)*
7 ROT = bunk(um) = ROT(a)
8 WICKEDEST = most wonderful – (deck I)* in WEST = bridge player
12 ANCHORWOMEN – cryptic def – the answer is tricky but understandable from terms like “anchor leg” if you don’t know it
13 SNARED = caught, RUM = odd – the “kitchen” as an orchestra’s percussion section is another familiar reference
15 COMMUTED – double def, trickily written – “trained to work” = went to work by train, and “made less as judge” referring to commutation of sentences, especially death sentences
17 INS(P)ECT – one of those old favourite single-letter insertions
19 DONE = finished, GAL = colleen – the right kind of gal for a clue about Donegal
20 W = women’s (clothes sizes), HEELS = stilettos – WHEELS = a colloquial car
22 (pla)Y,EATS = worries
24 PAN = blast – reverse of nap = game. “The game’s up” makes a nice bit of surface reading for the last of ninety clues in a competition.

32 comments on “24679 – Championship Preliminary Round 1, Puzzle 3”

  1. 46 minutes. I thought ANCHORWOMEN and COMMUTED very clever. TAKE FRENCH LEAVE: we always ascribe these dodgy activities to foreigners, don’t we? Think of Dutch courage, Spanish practices and Russian roulette. Interested to see from Peter’s blog that the French reciprocate with derogatory terms about the English.
  2. DEMIT, RATAFIA and ROOD LOFT from wordplay in a distinctly underwhelming puzzle.
    Thought the clue for MOTET a touch lazy.
  3. As said before, can’t remember my exact time on the day – about 15 minutes at a guess – but another enjoyable and fair puzzle IMHO. I had no problem with ANCHORWOMEN – expect I watch too much sport on TV!

    Still think that the surface to COMMUTED is wonderful, so COD!

    Oli

  4. These prelim puzzles aren’t difficult (consider the ones used in the finals) but they are usually fair. My last in was 27A where the answer had to be SIDELINES but the use of “between” had me looking for two synonyms for “parties”. I’d say distinctly unfair, Peter. The rest of it seems very well crafted and I solved top to bottom, left to right in 20 minutes.
  5. 18 minutes including 2 minutes check/rethink on 18 ac. I really do wish I’d gone for the first preliminary session – all 3 puzzles seem easier than the second session.
    1. I think the general consensus on the day was that the first qualifier was tougher than the second, though probably due to the few stumblig blocks apparently deliberately designed to catch the speedsters.

      I haven’t seen the second qualifier puzzles – saving them for next week onwards, so I’ll let you know what I think!

      Oli

    2. My impression was that the first puzzle in Prelim 2 was very difficult, but the other 2 were reasonable. But not solved under ideal conditions – done after getting home and posting my report on the day’s events.
  6. Another one of those very common (for me) experiences where I get through most of the puzzle pretty easily and then get stuck on one or two clues. Today it was 17 minutes for all but REPRESENT and COMMUTING, five minutes for the first of these and another 8 minutes for the second. I thought COMMUTING was a nice clue, and failing to get it while standing on the 8.04 to Waterloo was particularly elegant.
    I was pleased not to get stuck on 13dn, where discussion of the term “kitchen” here fortunately came to mind at the right time. A concrete example of the way this blog is improving my performance, for which I thank all concerned.
  7. Having a bad run – swift start but at the end seriously mired on Anchorwomen and Coracle. Got there finally in 36 minutes but with a guessed Rut for Rot. Thought of going to Cheltenham just for the preliminaries as had a good qualifying time but as well I didn’t. Can’t see anything wrong with Sidelines (pace dorsetjimbo). Neat puzzle.
    1. The problem with SIDELINES: when does “between” mean “inside a single thing”?
      1. Ah – using ‘between’ as ‘within’. Unless you denote ‘side’ as one party and ‘S’ as another? Either way I guess pushing the envelope a fraction too much. A stretch I prefer, however, to words such as ‘righter’ of recent times, if not ‘spieler’ today. I know – if it’s there flatly in the dictionary it’s no stretch. But it’s we among others who either confirm the dictionary in the least acceptable of its ways, or lead it on to better things. It’s not all it horse and we cart.
        1. I believe and hope that crossword puzzles and other word games are the last place lexicographers look for guidance. If you think a dictionary is wrong, write to them! Both Oxford and Chambers will listen to well-reasoned suggestions.
  8. A steady solve on the commute but I got stuck on ORACLE and ANCHORWOMAN and needed to use aids on the latter to break the deadlock. I think a cryptic definition of an obscure sporting term leaving no other way in was a bit rotten. I would associate the word (and ‘anchormen’) with TV/radio reporting and if the clue had referred to that I might have stood a chance at it.
    1. For “anchor leg” = the last leg of a relay, you only need to watch the last day of any major athletics championship and listen to the commentary. If you’re a British athletics fan, the obvious example is this one where David Coleman uses it just as Kris Akabusi starts his 45 seconds of glory (and once before that). I wonder what happened to the American coach who decided they didn’t need Michael Johnson?
      1. Awesome footage, thanks Peter. About 7:30 for this, with 30 seconds or so sorting out RUT vs ROT and some despair at 17dn where I was fooled by ‘cricket’ (ironically, since ‘Aussie skipper’ also had me in one of the puzzles in the final).
  9. Last in 18ac, where I had to use checkers as I knew that ‘wood loft’ couldn’t be right. Should have done better as the wordplay is clear and I know ‘rood’ from medieval reading. Also needed aids for REPRESENT, which I think a very good clue. Unlike Keriothe, I took ages on the ‘kitchen’ clue (13dn) but stuck at it until I got it, and hope the reward will be that kitchen = percussion is engrafted on my brain. Wrote ‘assail’ instead of ABSEIL without much confidence.

    For the third day in a row, raced away and then got bogged down. Another very fine puzzle.

  10. Again didn’t notice that this was a Cheltenham special, and veered between dislike at some of the liberties taken (like too many wicked colloquialisms) and a kind of grudging admiration for some of the more devious ones (in the kitchen, cricket test, trained to work, go down with disease) I’m not sure how I would have fared with this one had I been in group one – it took me 20 minutes on a rather fraught tube journey – but it seemed about the same level as Session 2 puzzle 1.
    CoD to RATAFIA for outstandingly correct usage of the apostrophe.
  11. 16 minutes in a bleary state this morning, last in ORACLE (I was probably 11 minutes for all but ROOD LOFT, COMMUTED and ORACLE). DEMIT, TAKE FRENCH LEAVE and ROOD LOFT from wordplay.
  12. A 30 minute stroll, but inexplicably held up for a few minutes with the last one in – WHEELS; just couldn’t see it!
  13. I’m on a train up to Edinburgh so have had a fair amount of time to wrestle with today’s puzzle. I did about 1/2 myself, needed the blog for 1/4 and did the rest once I had the blog’s help.

    As a regular commuter (liked this clue) I often struggle to complete the clues where realistically a dictionary is needed to be sure of the answer. In today’s puzzle for me this included – Motet, Demit, and Spieler.

  14. I found this the hardest of the 3 and it probably took me about 30 minutes of the 58½. I had rood port and was unhappy about the “regularly” but justified port to myself on the basis that regularly meant it was used as the word left by regular sailors.

    I also had a real block around oracle and anchorwomen and at the end kept flipping between 18 and these two and DUNLIN in puzzle 2.

  15. Struggled somewhat with this. At the end of my lunchtime ended up with about six I couldn’t crack, and had to resort to a solver to get 23ac and 12d to get me kick-started. COD, even though I couldn’t get it, 23ac!

    PS – Am I the only person getting increasingly fed up with the new ‘Once this advert has finished you can continue to your LiveJournal Experience’ (or words to that effect) pop up?

    1. No. But I did find that the second time I saw an ad, it was possible to just close it down rather than watch until the end. I’m not going to rush into any changes but the increasing amount of ad irritation does seem like a way for LJ to drive people into biting the bullet and taking their blogs elsewhere.
      1. It always lets me close it down. But it’s a bit tricky to hit the X when I’m using my iPod for Web browsing back home. The irony being that the Ad doesn’t even run on that platform, just greys out the screen and hangs until you close it.
        1. Another side effect is that if an “inappropriate” ad is running my websacanner at work blocks the site.
          1. As soon as the ad appears, I just press F5 to reload the site and it seems to disappear – don’t know if that would work for everyone!

            Oli

  16. Well, I nearly managed to finish today… Was stumped by SPIELER (even though I had checking letters, and knew it was an anagram, doh!), the fantastic COMMUTED (my COD, even though I didn’t get it), ANCHORWOMEN (not a chance on anything vaguely sports-related!) and one or two others. Guess I’ll just have to persevere… Thanks to Peter for clear explanations. Janie
  17. About 50 minutes, so just inside the time limit. (What do mean we’re supposed to do all three of these?) Not helped by never having heard of French leave, or demit, ratafia and rood loft. At times like these you have to have faith in your parsing ability. COD to RATAFIA, even though it took a long while for my parsing prowess to return from France.
  18. I didnt have time to do this in one sitting as my day was hectic, it did go in fits and starts. i thought that the anagram author was quite tricky and i solved it though with only the final Y in place.
    i dont think i did this very methodically and therefore had a slow time. maybe up to one hour…shock horror.
    Thanks for the excellent blog…
    COD maybe to Downright or gardenia IMHO
  19. Finished in 34 min, needing aids for ANCHORWOMEN and COMMUTED (lovely clue – all I could think of was FORMATED, which I knew wasn’t even spelt right!). ROOD LOFT was hard but I got there on my own from the wordplay. Sadly though, I had ASSAIL instead of ABSEIL.

    I wouldn’t have got ANCHORWOMEN in a million years. I don’t watch athletics, and not having filled in GEMMA at that stage, I convinced myself it was going to be something ending in WAGON – WAG in the footballing sense, and ON for running.

  20. It pleased me to find anchorwomen. Occupational gender bias is a thought trap for me, so thanks to the setters for keeping me on my toes.

    I fell for assail and rood port, but still pleased at just under the hour to (nearly) solve.

    How ’bout Siddle’s hat-trick?

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