Times 25,229

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Stopped the clock at 9:00 dead. Mostly straightforward, with any trickiness coming from wordplay rather than obscure vocabulary. The two full-length down answers at 2 and 7 were obviously very helpful, and I expect I won’t be the only one who got them mostly from word length (while those who perceive a bias towards Arts over Science will see nothing to change that perception, as I’m sure m’colleague in Dorset will point out if I don’t).

That said, I have already seen objections to at least one clue elsewhere, so let us see what we see.

Across
1 POLICEMAN – I think this is what is sometimes described as a “semi &lit.”: for those not familiar with British roads, speed bumps on the road are sometimes known as “sleeping policemen”, while a bobby on the beat would clearly take an interest in people sleeping out in the open.
6 BOWED – double def., pronounced differently, written the same.
9 SPONGES – double def., one metaphorical.
10 TROPICS – Rex in TOPICS.
11 ROBIN =ROBBIN’, while ROBIN might be Hood, perhaps. I think “used” is somewhat superfluous and just for the smoothness of the surface?
12 UNITARIAN – (AUNTINAIR)*. I am no theologian, so can’t comment on how accurate a definition “undogmatically religious” is for Unitarians.
13 FACILITY – Following + [IL in A CITY]. “City” as an adjective, I think, to make this work.
14 OGRE – hOp GaRdEn.
17 REIN =”RAIN”, i.e. “cats and dogs”. A few people on the Crossword Club forum think this is ambiguous, which is always a danger in clues of this type: clearly there shouldn’t be any doubt which part is definition and which is wordplay. I can see their point, in that “sound” could equally apply to the “control” or the “cats and dogs”; but if you want to reverse the homophone so RAIN is the answer, the definition must be “of cats and dogs”, and I don’t think that works. Hmmm. The more I think about it, the more uncertain I am. On balance, all I can say is that by application of Occam’s razor, REIN is the simpler of the two, and certainly the one I felt happier with choosing.
18 BURNT OUT – [URN Targets] in BOUT.
21 TRATTORIA – (TART)rev. + vicTORIA.
22 RIGHT =”WRITE”.
24 SIGNORI – SIGN(evidence) + ORION.
25 ARCADIA – [CircA Daughter] in ARIA. Part of mainland Greece, andthe proverbial rustic idyll.
26 EERIE – European in (EIRE)rev.
27 GOOSE STEP – [O/S (ordinary seaman) in GOES] + (PET)rev.
 
Down
1 POSER – double def.
2 LOOK BACK IN ANGER – LOOK (butcher’s hook, Cockney slang) + [A New in BACKING + (RE)rev.]; influential play of the 50s which marked the rise of the Angry Young Men.
3 COGENTLY – COSTLY with GENeral in for Son.
4 MOSQUITO – M.O.’s + QUITO (capital of Ecuador). Grrr. I am currently on antibiotics for my infected arm after something nasty bit me at the weekend. Until now I hadn’t thought Oxfordshire was populated by dangerous wildlife, but the doctor tells me there’s a lot of it about (as doctors do).
5 NITWIT – strengtheN IT WITh.
6 BAOBAB – Two Able Bodied seamen – more sailors – arranged as (AB)rev. + Old British AB.
7 WAITING FOR GODOT – WAITING(working in restaurant) + [DO in FORGOT]. Influential play of the 50s which marked the rise of the Theatre of the Absurd. I saw the recent West End revival and it was the most depressing fun I’ve ever had.
8 DISINFECT – INFO (most of data) in [DI(female) SECT].
13 FORETASTE – [T.A. in FOREST] + Empty.
15 BULAWAYO – BULL + A WAY + O(round). In stock market terms, you are a ‘bull’ or a ‘bear’ depending on whether you’re expecting the market to rise or fall, and invest accordingly.
16 ENTRACTE – (ATRECENT)*. Literally, the bit between musical acts (though obviously only where there is an extra bit of music in the gap, not just silence).
19 STROVE – Right in STOVE.
20 PRYING – RailwaY in PING.
23 TRAMP – double def.

24 comments on “Times 25,229”

  2. 18 minutes, clearly shouldn’t have been trying this while the wife was still around. I got neither of the 1’s on first look, and got stuck in a 15th century groove for the plays, so solved this the hard way, clockwise from top right. I’d like to claim I’d have been quicker if I’d seen from the outset how easy it was.
    You could read 17 as “Control (sound of) cats and dogs” within normal ignore-the-punctuation parameters, so I suppose the rain-makers have got a point which might stand a chance of being upheld under competition rules. But hey, I put REIN without really thinking.
    I thought RIGHT had a prettily constructed clue – it had me looking for a more material material initially – so it’s my CoD.
    In the light of several arrests at the Olympic venue, I wonder if BURN TOUT was a cluing temptation.
  3. Yes, another easyish one. About 30 mins for me, helped, as in Topicaltim’s case, by the two long down clues falling quickly on the basis of word length and the assumption that the titles of plays were required. Like Tim, I too expect a mild harrumph from the Dorset region about the predominance of literature rather than science related GK.

    On REIN versus RAIN. I entered RAIN at first but then, on reflection, almost immediately changed it to REIN. I think it has to be the latter. Otherwise the def would have to be “cats and dogs” and you would have to read “control sound of” to mean something like “sounding like control”, which would be a tad tortuous even by cryptic standards. REIN is surely the simpler answer. But I guess there is a case for arguing that any clue which even slightly leaves open the possibility of ambiguity is unsatisfactory.

  4. A bit boring I thought as well as easy. The two plays are depressing – such lack of imagination – and easy: butcher’s=LOOK – solved; working in restaurant=WAITING – solved; yawn, yawn.

    I put in REIN but can see the potential for confusion. The whole clue is something of a cliche – more yawns. It’s a wonder I stayed awake for 15 minutes to solve it.

    On the subject of nasty things that bite we have been cursed with some mutant called a Blandford Fly that lives on the River Stour and takes painful chunks out of anything that takes its fancy – I blame all that global warming

    1. Pretty sure that’s what got me! Round here it’s called the blackfly, having migrated to the Cherwell from the Stour, and there are periodic spikes in their activity (based on the last few months’ weather, I’m guessing they like it wet…)
      1. If they’re related to the Canadian blackfly then I feel your pain – often literally. We had to move house after I developed an allergic reaction to the blackflies which abounded at our previous, lakeside place.

        Which brings to mind some words of the current Dali Lama: “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.” (I’m not sure he was thinking real estate, but when you’ve been bitten by a blackfly global peace is the last thing on your mind)


  5. All ok today, but was held up at the end by BULAWAYO (only vaguely familiar), before thinking long and hard and finishing with the second letter of 17ac. I put in an E! Woop!
  6. Having unnecessarily got my knickers in a twist thinking that REIN was my downfall, I totally wrong footed myself. PRYING, not TRYING, idiot!
    1. TRYING was my first attempt, too, and I worked a while on how it could mean curious (trying doors and such). Too many words for a ringing sound!
  7. 21 minutes, held up at the last by the 16/18 cross. I can’t see much of a problem at 17: where’s the register for ‘of cats and dogs’? Whereas the other way (to give ‘rein’) fits just fine into the normal cruciverbal landscape. Enjoyment of this puzzle increased by the ’50’s theatre-going aspect. Regarding W. for G. I was the first schoolboy Lucky, back in ’61. Beckett was invited but didn’t attend; however he sent one of his favourite actors Jack Macgowran, who smoked incessantly thoughout the play and was most loquacious after it. Of my part he merely said “That boy has a theatrical face.” (It was different then.)
    Have just read z8’s comment on 17 more carefully. A point; but the presumed brackets are a punctuation stretch too far I’d have thought.

    Edited at 2012-07-31 11:11 am (UTC)

  8. 27 minutes. My only unknown was BAOBAB which according to the LJ and Crossword blog searches has not come up in the Times before, however the Google search found it in the Grauniad, Independent, Telegraph and FT puzzles so I guess it is wider known that I might have thought.
  9. About 20 minutes or so. BAOBAB went in without a second thought; I must have seen a TV programme about them. They are spectacular, aren’t they?
  10. 12 minutes. Straightforward, and indeed a bit dull I found. Lots went in from definition.
    I can see that 17ac is technically ambiguous but with these clues you’ve always got to pay a bit of attention to which way round it goes. Practically speaking REIN is so much better than RAIN that I can’t really see cause for complaint.
  11. My hope is yesterday’s and today’s setters will clue the rest of this week’s puzzles, and the prize crossword on Saturday. Entered ‘rein’ and believe it still to be correct. Overseas solvers might rhubarb crumble over butcher’s. By no means as universal a language as French ref 16 down.

    Enigma

  12. 30/30 today but didn’t find this as plain sailing as others did. Corrected my complete ignorance of both plays by reading about them online at lunch.

    Liked the Right/Strove cross reference – we don’t see that device very often.

    Thanks Tim for explaining Cogently and Signori – I didn’t understand the wordplay for those.

    BTW – for those who’ve not tried it this week’s themed Sunday Times puzzle is good fun.

  13. 12:23; one of those puzzles where the checkers just forced the solutions out of me without engaging my mind: I put in e.g. TRATTORIA, FACILITY, & SIGNORI without knowing why until afterwards. And I never did work out COGENTLY or LOOK BACK (beyond LOOK BACK), so thanks for explaining those, Tim. It just now occurred to me that 11ac parses as ‘Hood’=Robin, & ‘possibly used for muggin’ ‘=i.e. the word robbing(robin, say) is possibly a synonym for ‘mugging’. Now back to the ST, where I’ve managed to fill in all but the NE, and all in only several hours! I’d probably be doing better if I knew anything at all about the Olympics.

    Edited at 2012-07-31 04:57 pm (UTC)

  14. Agreed, far on the easier side, done in 15 minutes, ending with FACILITY, which was the only one that gave me any pause at all. The definition seems to be ‘amenity’, and I really don’t see the connection being that close. But I worked out the wordplay, and so it went in.
    I put REIN in pretty much at once, and though I considered the alternative it just didn’t seem very convincing at all.
    I have heard of BULAWAYO, I don’t know from where, and I can’t tell you where it’s located, but it was in the back of my mind somewhere. Regards.
  15. 9:27 for me – slow again (though 2 seconds faster than yesterday), making heavy weather of a good deal of the wordplay. (Sigh!)

    If you’re faced with 17ac in the Championship, I’d strongly advise you to put in REIN, since there’s no way it could be disallowed.

  17. You may have seen it by now: because it’s the answer to 22 (across; no 22 down).
  18. I thought this one must be quite straight-forward as I completed it over a leisurely breakfast in just under 30 minutes. A flier for me. I filled in the NE very quickly and wasn’t really held up at all. I thought about RAIN versus REIN but decided REIN looked far more likely. I saw LOOK for Butchers and then didn’t worry about the rest of the parsing as it was so obvious. WAITING got me 7dn very quickly as FOI too.

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