Times 29313 – entertaining, budget level.

Author   piquetPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

This is a puzzle I think newcomers to the 15 x 15 cryptic could enjoy tackling. I romped through it in less than 15 minutes, with a MER only at the spelling in 16d, before updating my almost non-existent knowledge of movies.

Definitions underlined in bold, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, anagrinds in italics, DD = double definition, [deleted letters in square brackets].

Across
1 Baby duck seen in river in the south west (4)
FOAL – the River FAL in Cornwall has O = duck inserted.
3 A myth about US car budget (10)
AFFORDABLE – A FABLE has FORD inserted.
9 Moving script’s reported traffic jam? (7)
AUTOCUE – sounds like “auto queue”, ha ha.
11 Relax — I hear that bloke’s leaving for East End (4,3)
EASE OFF – sounds like “‘e’s off” being cockney for he’s off.
12 Bad credit affected bank product (5,4)
DEBIT CARD – (BAD CREDIT)*.
13 Sore points finally ceded by withdrawn ascetic (5)
ULCER –  RECLUSE = ascetic, reverse it and remove the ES compass points.
14 Disraeli once ordered comms blackout (5,7)
RADIO SILENCE – (DISRAELI ONCE)*.
18 Co-star of M Ryan donating time for celebration (12)
THANKSGIVING – I don’t know much about movies, but I did recall Tom Hanks starred in some movies together with Meg Ryan; so T HANKS, then GIVING = donating. Wiki tells me they were Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve got mail, and Joe versus the volcano, none of which I’ve seen.
21 Half of disc features live instrument (5)
REBEC – REC[ord] with BE = live inserted. A medieval bowed instrument I’d heard of but couldn’t describe.
22 Contrite salesman runs away from newcomer (9)
REPENTANT – REP (salesman), ENTRANT loses R.
24 Belong to Resistance penetrating French wartime traitor (7)
PERTAIN – R goes into Marshal Philippe Pétain. A neat surface.
25 A devoted individual, island girl worked during afternoon (7)
PILGRIM – (I GIRL)* inside PM = afternoon.
26 Prince liked her wearing distressed recalled clothes (10)
CINDERELLA – IN (wearing) clothed by (RECALLED)*.
27 Stomach English pub sandwiches (4)
BEAR – E inside BAR = pub.
Down
1 The German visits tarts somewhere in the Low Countries (8)
FLANDERS – FLANS (that kind of tarts) with DER inserted. Der being “the” in German.
2 Soldier group enlisting international fighter of toxic culture? (8)
ANTIBODY – ANT (soldier) BODY (group, e.g. body of men), insert I for international.
4 For new year, regularly visited love goddess (5)
FREYA – alternate hidden as above. The Norse one, often spelt Freyja.
5 Perhaps shift where boa might be put? (9)
OVERDRESS – a boa being a fur thing here, not a snake.
6 Unify Scotland, sadly lacking social cohesion (13)
DYSFUNCTIONAL – (UNIFY SCOTLAND)*. Another neat surface.
7 Begin to talk about piece that might feature cameo on the radio (6)
BROACH – sounds like BROOCH.
8 Struggle upended iron stronghold (6)
EFFORT – Fe = iron,  reversed = EF, add FORT = stronghold.
10 Get on with it and switch to Cheltenham coverage? (3,2,3,5)
CUT TO THE CHASE – double definition, one cryptic.
15 Lack of awareness noticeable in Signor Ancelotti (9)
IGNORANCE – hidden word. If you didn’t know, he’s a football team manager.
16 Twisted wire current prisoner at liberty smuggles (8)
FILAGREE – FREE = at liberty, insert I LAG (current, prisoner). This caused me a MER as I was convinced it’s spelt FILIGREE, and my checker said A, but Collins says it’s a rare alternative spelling.
17 Bouncing around, Tigger starts to move every item in the kitchen (3,5)
EGG TIMER – (TIGGER E M)*, the E M from every move. We had a standard poodle called Tigger, who totally lived up to his name.
19 Extremely long line in reading, say, boring subject (6)
TROPIC – R (one of the three R’s) inside TOPIC = subject.
20 Gong rung initially over new fairy king (6)
OBERON – OBE (gong, medal), R[ung], O[ver], N[ew].
23 Young boxer, possibly one beginning to learn? (5)
PUPIL – PUP (young boxer possibly), I (one) L[earn].

 

63 comments on “Times 29313 – entertaining, budget level.”

  1. 39:47, but with one pink square. I guess I don’t know how to spell DYSFUNCTIONAL, I had DIS at the start, like most negatives. Grr. After looking it up, I see the prefix “dys-” is of Greek origin, while “dis-” is of Latin origin. “Dys-” typically means “bad” or “abnormal,” whereas “dis-” often means “not” or “opposite of”. Since DYSFUNCTIONAL implies a negative or impaired function rather than a complete lack of function, the Greek prefix “dys-” is used.

    A similar prefix makes up the joke “why is dyslexia so hard to spell?”. And all the other dys words seem technical and are Greek anyway. And I’m sure many other DIS words also mean abnormal, how about DISJOINTED?

    Liked CUT TO THE CHASE, although being a Times Reader I was thinking about the Cheltenham literature festival, so had GET TO THE POINT for a time.

    Only unknown today was REBEC, where I thought “half of disc” was SC, and was focused on another synonym for “live”.

    Forgot that Tom Hanks (one of my favourite actors) starred with Meg Ryan, I was thinking of B Crystal from THAT scene.

    Also queried spelling of FILIGREE, and didn’t know FREYA as a goddess, but have heard it as a girls name.

    COD DEBUT CARD, such a smooth anagram was hard to spot.

    I don’t understand OVERDRESS, why “shift”?

    1. I think the idea is that a shift is a type of dress often worn over a top / jumper, like a pinafore dress. Though a shift can also be an underdress, which is somewhat confusing.

  2. A very enjoyable solve completed in 29 minutes.

    I didn’t have any doubts about FILAGREE because I think the A-checker was already in place. Not that ‘filigree’ would have occurred to me as ‘filament’ is also a twisted wire and that’s only spelt with an A. The wordplay was unambiguous anyway.

    If I had any query it was over the spelling of DYSFUNCTIONAL which I would spell with an I. It’s a valid alternative and the letter is unchecked in the grid so this was a potential beartrap for speed merchants not paying full attention to the wordplay.

    1. hallo Jack..I’d just like to add to the debate about Minorca or Menorca from yesterday’s crossword. Minorca also works because Minca refers to hunter gathering peoples! I didn’t know this it was only Google that helped.

  3. Thank you for explaining the M Ryan, was stumped by that. Another agonising DNF just over the 17′ mark for me as I had DISFUNCTIONAL for DYSFUNCTIONAL [note: didn’t see first two comments, but appears it will be a theme], and I suspect a few others may have done too.

    Very enjoyable otherwise. BROACH/BROOCH was good – it’s always nice when you’re racking your brains thinking ‘is there really a word for that?’ before one comes to mind. For ‘Prince liked her…’, it took me a while to get Camilla Parker-Bowles out of my head.

    Thanks setter and Piquet!

  4. When I got the dreaded ‘Unlucky!’ notification I too tried hammering a second i into FILAGREE, but the real problem (yep, me too) was the i in DYSFUNCTIONAL which should have been a y. So a DNF in about 23. As Jack says, a bear trap for those not paying full attention to the wordplay. I had assumed the word would start with UN, and when the initial D appeared I went for DIS without another thought. All up a fun puzzle, thanks piquet.

    From Desolation Row:
    CINDARELLA, she seems so easy
    It takes one to know one, she smiles
    And she puts her hands in her back pockets
    Bette Davis style

    1. All good apart from Autocue which makes so much sense when you see it! Good fun, thanks all, Cx

  5. 20:57
    Filagree not filigree is a stretch. I think the setter got him/herself into a bit of a pickle there finding something that would work with repentant.
    Thanks, p.

  6. 17:35* (DISFUNCTIONAL)

    No excuses. I’d entered DIS as soon as I had the D and S and I didn’t check my spelling when I entered the rest, even though there was a very helpful anagram to keep me on the straight and narrow. Hopefully I’ll be more careful come October.

    Otherwise no real issues with REBEC the only unknown, aside from the variant spelling of FILIGREE.

    Thanks to both.

  7. My DYSFUNCTIONAL move today was instead a silly BROOCH for BROACH, which gave me a DNF, although I did also have to check to see if REBEC was right, too so serves me right I suppose! I never did twig the decorative meaning of ‘cameo’ either, so today was a learning day.

  9. 21.10 with LOI autocue. Guessed thanksgiving after trying to find an answer which included some reference to Billy Crystal. Other than that, pretty straightforward but I’m not complaining.

  10. I made heavier weather of this than I felt I should have done. Checked the anagrist for DYSFUNCTIONAL carefully, and was cautious enough to parse FILAGREE properly before committing to it. Only when I was breeze-blocked on my LOI did I realise that I’d stupidly biffed “puppy”. Why the US in 3A? Quicker than my Snitch average, so I’ll take it.

    FOI EASE OFF
    LOI CINDERELLA
    COD RADIO SILENCE
    TIME 8:51

  11. DNF. Another who started 6d with “it must be DIS something” and didn’t go back and check the fodder when the penny dropped. Partly because LOI the US celebration took 4 or 5 mins to spot even with all the checkers and took me over the 20 mins and I was annoyed with myself.

    Shame because that was easy but a decent challenge, witty and an all round good puzzle. COD ANTIBODY. Many thanks piquet and setter.

  12. Avoided the DYSFUNCTIONAL trap as I’d noticed the Y in the anagram fodder. Had the H so THANKSGIVING went in straight away. Liked AUTOCUE, tried for ages to parse ‘article’ knowing ‘artic’ is a lorry. FILAGREE LOI.

    16’43”, thanks pip and setter.

  13. 20:42

    I had momentary doubts over FILAGREE/FILIGREE until REPENTANT confirmed the former. Not heard of REBEC, but curiously, there is a character with exactly that unusual name in a serial I am currently watching, so perhaps it was in mind. A few minutes spent at the end on BROACH/ULCER – words like ascetic scare me a little, thinking that I might need to know a non-English word to solve the clue.

    Thanks P and setter

  14. 25 mins so very quick for me. I checked carefully the anagrist for DYSFUNCTIONAL, luckily, so made sure I put the Y in the right place.

    I loved the film Sleepless in Seattle so no probs with mister Hanks. In fact I really liked all the 4 long clues. Lots of nice juicy anagrams today, Great fun.

    Thanks Pip and setter.

  15. 16 minutes. Worth doing for the ‘fighter of toxic culture?’ by itself. I read the anagram fodder carefully for once so made sure I had included the Y in DYSFUNCTIONAL. Helped with OVERDRESS by my experience with SKIRT yesterday. It had to be, but a MER at the FILAGREE spelling.

    Thanks to piquet and setter

  16. Also had no idea what was going on with THANKSGIVING, though answer was obvious with crossers. Finished this in under 20 mins, quick for me.

  17. Took a while to convince myself that the answer to 16d had to be “FILAGREE” as I don’t recall ever seeing that spelling.

    If only I’d spent more time/care on DYSFUNCTIONAL, instead of banging in “DISFUNCTIONAL” and moving on…

  18. 34 mins: I don’t think I found this as easy as others although all my troubles were in the SW corner falling for the ‘extremely’ and ‘half of disc’ traps in TROPIC and REBEC.

    Only other trouble was PUPPY (a term I have used before to describe a someone new to a role or subject but doesn’t seem to be supported by any dictionary) instead of PUPIL. This was the LOI after CINDERELLA finally came to me.

    Enjoyed the DEBIT CARD anagram. Surprised I have not encountered that before.

    Thanks blogger and setter

  19. 16.47. Last in, and only real hold up, was AUTOCUE, though even that might have been quicker were I not toying with GET TO THE RACES for a while until the nether regions made it impossible. BROACH/BROOCH terrified me: neither meaning looks as if it ought to be spelled with two Os.

  20. My thanks to piquet and setter.
    18a Thanksgiving biffed. I didn’t have a clue how it worked and also didn’t have the GK; I hardly ever remember film star’s names and also watch few. But I must have seen (the irrelevant) When Harry Met Sally as I remember the scene in the deli. I think I might have seen (the relevant) Sleepless in Seattle.
    7d Broach. I was really quite unsure which spelling was needed here but plumped correctly.
    15d Ignorance. Carlo Ancelotti added to Cheating Machine. I hate football but it crops up often enough to want to add the famous ones.
    16d Filagree. This odd spelling already in CM, surprisingly.

  21. Doggy daycare morning so a split time totalling about half an hour either side of a 3 mile walk. That’s too far for me even without the massive hill at the end.. LOI was the unknown REBEC. COD has to go to the brilliant THANKSGIVING, although Meg gave me the Parkinson treatment for some time before passing me over to Tom. FILAGREE may be a rare alternative spelling, but not one I’d heard of. Otherwise a good puzzle. Thank you Pip and setter.

      1. Michael Parkinson, the chat show host, had a few bad interviews in his long career. One was with a puppet emu who appeared to attack his manhood very directly. Another was with Helen Mirren when he adopted totally the wrong line of questioning, But the worst was with Meg Ryan who gave monosyllabic answers to all his questions before advising him to wrap it up. I was saying that she hadn’t given me the answer to this question either but Tom Hanks had. Yep, it was a bit convoluted.

  22. About 25 minutes.

    – Didn’t see how ULCER worked
    – Relied on wordplay for the unknown REBEC
    – BROACH went in with a shrug as I didn’t know that meaning of cameo
    – Was glad of the wordplay to ensure the correct spelling of FILAGREE

    Thanks piquet and setter.

    FOI Bear
    LOI Broach
    COD Egg timer

  23. Good puzzle. Rattled through it. Liked THANKSGIVING,PERTAIN and FLANDERS but dysgusted to have earned a pink square.

    Thanks to pip and the setter

  24. 25:15. Some really nice clues. Autocue, Ulcer, Debit Card all very good. Signor Ancelloti easy but amusing.

  25. Joining MichelinPoitiers et al,
    Dysgusted of Middlesbrough.
    Thanks setter and Pip. 17,51 WOE.

  26. Nice puzzle, just under my half-hour allowance for the solve. NHO REBEC, or Petain (I seem to be the only one without that knowledge 😳 ) but easily done from the wordplay. Never seen FILAGREE spelt that way, either.
    Good stuff – thanks setter, and piquet

  27. Very clumsy today, for example I thought debit = bad credit and, struggling to find a word for affected, looked up debit camp to see if it existed. Never even saw the anagram. I had no idea who M. Ryan’s co-star was so the very easy THANKSGIVING eluded me for a while. Nice puzzle though. 47 minutes.

  28. Baffled by my pink square, only to come here and find I didn’t check the anagram. LOI CINDERELLA, clever clue

  29. Very much from QC land but after spotting the blogger’s intro dipped my toe in. True, was a DNF, but more clues inserted than not. Having only started cryptics last year, this is an achievement I never thought possible!

    1. Well done Ed, that’s quite an improvement over a year. You’ll pick up loads by going through the parsing on this blog each day after having a stab yourself. Before you know it you’ll be solving them more often than not.

  30. I was heading for a fairly swift solve with about 28 minutes expended and three to get. It took me nearly half as long again to complete before I worked out REBEC (never heard of), then TROPIC and finally CINDERELLA, which I really should have seen sooner. Initially fell into the DIS trap before realising the Y hadn’t been accounted for in the anagrist. In the end I finished in 39.51, but I feel it should have been so much quicker.

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