Times 25,139 James Bond Meets Michael Jackson

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time 15 minutes

Nothing too difficult or obscure here. Standard Times cryptic that shouldn’t cause too many problems.

Across
1 SCAMPERED – DES (French for some) reversed contains CAMPER; to Les Halles no doubt;
6 FOCUS – F(OC)US(s); the point at which rays converge;
9 TEA,ROOM – TEAR-O-OM; rush=TEAR; round=O; order (of merit)=OM; a tea room is a bit posher than a cafe?;
10 VENISON – (ele)VEN-IS-ON; that’s the cricket out of the way for today;
11 PHASE – PH(r)ASE; a physically distinct form of matter;
12 TURBULENT – (blunt + true)*; Henry II description of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury;
13 MATABELE – MAT(ABEL)E; Bantu language, a dialect of Zulu;
14 LIDO – L-I-DO;
17 OGRE – E(R)GO reversed;
18 CINEASTE – (I can’t see)*; flicks=old slang for cinema; nice clue;
21 REFLATION – RE(F)LATION; the mother of unorthodox monetary policies;
22 TIROS – (I sort)*;
24 KNAVISH – (jer)K-(his van)*;
25 GRUYERE – G(R)UY-ERE; R from (ta)R(t); tasty Swiss cheese;
26 RATTY – reference Toad from Wind In The Willows;
27 RATEPAYER – RATE-P(l)AYER; pounds=libra=L; spend=removal indicator; rates were the local property tax before Council Tax;
 
Down
1 SIT,UP – “sit” up gives “tis”; what one does on election night;
2 AS,A,MATTER,OF,FACT – (a star team)*-OFF-ACT; tried for ages to include “beaten” in anagrist;
3 PROVERBS – two meanings;
4 REMOTELY – R(TOME reversed)ELY; cause of domestic unrest;
5 DIVERS – two meanings;
6 FUNGUS – FUN-GUS(h);
7 COSMETIC,SURGERY – (mug is correct yes)*; not sure Jocelyn Wildenstein would agree;
8 SUNSTROKE – SUN-STROKE; pet=STROKE;
13 MOONRAKER – MOO-N-RAKE-R; a sail, a James Bomd film and people from Wiltshire are known as moonrakers;
15 MIDNIGHT – M(I’D-N)IGHT; the witching hour;
16 HEAT,PUMP – peat hump to Spooner;
19 PARITY – PAR(I)TY;
20 WITHER – WITH-ER; ER=The Queen;
23 SHEAR – S-HEAR; on edit: SHEAR is a term used in physics to denote a strain or stress that distorts format (or if one wants to be pedantic volume); aplologies for missing this off the original blog;

51 comments on “Times 25,139 James Bond Meets Michael Jackson”

  1. 20 minutes several of them not really starting, as NE resisted strongly. After that, a steady if unspectacular solve, with both long ones looking like complete anagrams (two sets in 7) but wilfully refusing to be.
    SHEAR is engineering, isn’t it, Jim?
    Not impressed for once by the Spooner at 16: they only really work if the mutilated version means something, and “peat hump” struggles.
    Lots to like: TURBULENT for the Becket ref, MOONRAKER just for being a beautiful word, last in WITHER for being rather witty, and a nice anagram for CINEASTE. CoD to the nip and tuck, slightly strained, perhaps, but amusing.
  2. Oh, and round here we still have a RATEPAYERs’ Association, unaware they’re apparently out of date.

    Edited at 2012-04-17 08:27 am (UTC)

    1. Rates were replaced by Mrs Thatcher’s Community Charge (better known as the Poll Tax). This led to rioting in the streets and in 1992 the Local Government Finance Act reintroduced Rates under the name Council Tax. We have Residents’ Associations around here, thereby avoiding the need to keep changing names as the tax regime changes
  3. PEAT HUMP might be included in the “worst ever” collection. Otherwise, an easy solve, as a matter of fact.
  4. 45 minutes so not so easy for me. I can’t think of a context for SHEAR meaning ‘strain’ at 23dn but I expect I’m just being a bit thick. 1dn isn’t an anagram as indicated, Jim.

    Edited at 2012-04-17 08:08 am (UTC)

    1. Thanks Jack. Blog amended.

      In physics a SHEAR is a stress or strain that distorts

      1. Thanks, Jim. I now imagine that’s the origin of ‘shear off’ when a piece of metal like a cog on a wheel gets broken off and if this is so I’d never realised it before.
        1. Perhaps the commonest example of everyday use is a “shear pin” – a safety device that shears and thus stops a machine if say a weight tolerance is exceeded. Shear off may well come from that.
  5. 45 minutes for me, too. I had to look up ‘shear’= ‘strain’ in Oxford Online – ‘a strain in the structure of a substance produced by pressure, when its layers are laterally shifted in relation to each other’ – and it cites ‘wind shear’ as an instance. Quite a bit of that at Hong Kong International Airport as a result of the surrounding mountains.

    Thanks to Jimbo for explaining OGRE. Last in the dreadful Spoonerism.

  6. Everything fell into place in 15 minutes, my fastest time for a year. Thought this was going to be harder than it was, as it took me a while to realise that the van in 1 across was just a vehicle, not a word meaning vanguard. (Double bluff!) Must have been fiddling about with LEAD + DES + O + C for several minutes before the penny dropped.

    The other one that held me up was TIROS, which I’ve always spelt TYROS and, as such, have met many times in past crosswords with words such as TYROLEAN (you can work out likely clues for yourself; and I’ve just noticed that it can be spelt TIROLEAN.) I’m sure I first came across the word TYRO in a song (Flanders & Swann? Paddy Roberts?) but can’t bring it to mind.

    A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle that has put a spring in my step and energised me for a day in the garden, though I’m going to be racking my brain to remember what the song was.

    1. I can’t think of a Tiro reference in song, John. You mentioned F&S the other day and now Paddy Roberts. I wonder if you know Ronald Frankau in similar vein?
      1. I never saw Ronald Frankau and cannot remember much about him other than he had a reputation for songs that were “a bit near the knuckle”, as we used to say, though perhaps I’m confusing some of his material with that of Douglas Byng, whose Doris the Goddess of Wind was pretty much representative of the genre!

        I think both were viewed with alarm by the BBC, and I’m sure I remember a recording of Frankau’s that was abruptly cut short by a plummy voice saying “I think that’s quite enough of that, thank you”. Unfortunately, I can find neither that nor Doris on You Tube.

        2. Ah yes, Frankau. (But let’s not forget Crick). I grew up with a 78 of Let’s Go Wild and The Preparatory School, the Public School and the ‘Varsity. Neither of these was particularly near the knuckle – the nearest Let’s Go Wild came was:

          Let’s have 365 wives. OK,
          Or 364, I’d say;
          Yes I must have a rest on Christmas Day.
          Brrrrr – let’s go wild!

          – but both would no doubt be regarded as politically incorrect nowadays.

          1. Nevertheless a wonderful insight on a world that no longer exists yet it’s really quite recent. I first came across the name Monte Crick when he was playing Dan Archer on the Light Programme. I’m not so keen on Byng but Kenneth and George, The Western Brothers, are another favourite – Play the Game!

            Edited at 2012-04-18 08:17 am (UTC)

  7. 17m. I didn’t understand “strain” = SHEAR either, so that was my last in.
    “Tiro” is a word I had never come across about a year ago, but now it seems quite commonplace. I’ve still never come across it in the real world.
    1. It’s used a fair bit by sports journalists, especially, upbrow hacks (Independent) or wannabe upbrow hacks (Mail). Here’s an example from, um, 1995 (scroll to end).
  8. Is it only me or can anyone else not hear mention of this particular cheese without thinking of the old joke, which first appeared in Punch, circa 1870, I believe, but which I first read in The Corny Joke Book, circa 1970?

    Diner to waiter: ‘What’s this cheese?’

    Waiter: ‘Gruyere, sir.’

    Diner: ‘Well, bring me something that grew somewhere else.’

    I have the same problem with Jamaica … and the wife’s holiday joke.

  9. Oops…

    Finished with some (lucky) punts, worked out from wordplay, TIROS, SHEAR, MATABELE, but had ‘scarpered’ for 1ac. Should’ve spent longer thinking about the wp on that one, too!

    COD: WITHER

  10. …is what golf fans do when the US Masters goes to a playoff!

    1 error today – same as Janie – Scarpered not Scampered at 1A – otherwise no problems. Note to self – make sure you understand all the wordplay. I saw Car = Van and assumed the rest. Liked the lady-in-waiting. Matabele and Turbulent from the wordplay.

    Gouda yesterday, Gruyere today and Parmesan on my pasta tonight…

  11. Some very enjoyable parts but some which proved tricky: e.g. I’ve always spelt TIRO as TYRO (didn’t realise there was an alternative). Still struggling to understand Spooner’s ‘peat hump’: is it fuel = ‘peat’, rounded mass = ‘hump’ which, together, are a Spoonerism of HEAT PUMP? Looks ‘obvious’, now.

    COD to SIT UP.

  12. 15 minutes for me too, with the NE corner putting up the longest fight. I think spelling TIROS with an I only seems to happen in cryptic crosswords!
  14. You old pros make me laugh more than the puzzle itself – this one was fairly simple by Times’ standards, I reckon. But could not help but smile at the blogger’s comment on 2d – for a relative novice like me an age on a clue would be at least 20 – 30 minutes, but old hands like dorsetjimbo took 15 minutes for the whole puzzle but an age on one of 30 some clues. One day, but one day, I will post a comment like that…meanwhile, back to work on my mental calisthenics! Cheers.
    1. Tony Sever is the true Zen Master in this respect, with expressions of quiet despair along the lines of: “It took me an age to get started on this and I wondered if I would ever finish. Total time: 7:14”.

      On days when my confidence is fragile, I avoid his comments altogether (sorry, Tony!).

      Oh, my time today: 20:14 … hopeless.

      1. I personally think 20 minutes on today’s crossword is genius. Anything below is either freakish or very, very lucky.
        1. It’s neither freakish nor genius. This puzzle is standard fare full of the type of clues I’ve solved thousands of times. Its just experience. The real speedsters will knock this off in well under 10 minutes.
          1. I certainly agree that experience plays a major part, but I beg to differ on the genius bit. It does take ingenuity, sometimes incredible mental agility to quickly (within seconds, in some of our more battle hardened solvers) lock on to the one synonym the word play intends amongst the multitude that are possible and then fit the adds, deletes, subs and what other not the canny setter can cook up in 8 mind bending words or so. Though I can mostly figure the word play which comes by experience, I spend the most time picking the right solutions to the word play, which sometimes take genius. That I think, is somewhat of a gift because I think I have the vocabulary for 95% of the words in the puzzle as well as the crossword knowledge to parse the wordplay quickly, but putting the two together with alacrity is what separates me from some or most of the folks here. But, regardless, I am a student of knowledge, and like any true student, I enjoy every minute I spend here in the company of the more knowledgeable, despite the regular lessons in humility I have to imbibe along the way..
            1. For Sulimo, and anyone else who doesn’t know, I should mention that Tony S. is a former national champion, so his idea of ‘slow’ is a little different to that of most solvers.
              1. Thx, sotira. I knew Tony S. ( aka dorsetjimbo?) was a zen master but not aware that he is in that particular pantheon. It is amazing how much one has to be generally aware of in a broad spectrum of topics and also bring it to bear on this pursuit. A tip of the hat to that ability.
                1. As always needs pointing out on these occasions, some people live only for the slow savouring of a puzzle, and regard the solving time as an irrelevance, others look for the fastest time possible, even if it means barely reading every word or working out how the clue is put together. Most of us are probably somewhere in the middle; all things are relative.

                  Time, of course, remains the only objective way to indicate how you got on with a puzzle (providing everyone knows whether you usually take 10 minutes or 2 hours). In the past, the blog tried giving a score for entertainment as well, to acknowledge that an easy puzzle can be unsatisfying, and a tough one really exceptional – and vice versa.

                  To take the extreme example, I’m sure Mark Goodliffe enjoyed today’s puzzle – for the 4 minutes 17 seconds he spent on it – but in a different way to nearly everyone else; what matters, of course, is that everyone does enjoy it, however they take their pleasure…

                  1. I try to solve as quickly as I can, but I always go back afterwards to check that I’ve really understood all the clues and to savour any particularly tasty ones. Hence double the pleasure :-).

                2. Dorset Jimbo is that plodding yokel Jim Biggin. Tony Server is Tony S and a brilliant solver of these crosswords
                  1. Thx for clarifying. I am still feeling my way around and did not expect my jealous comment to generate as much commentary as it did.
            2. Finding the right synonym takes me ages too and for me is often the lengthiest part of the solving process
              1. +1 to that. Good example today was 13dn for me – I know that the likely solution is synonym (for LOW) + N (for NEW) + synonym (for angle) + R(for RIGHT, indicated either at the end or somewhere in the middle). I don’t remember what crossings I had but could not come up with MOO (that crossword chestnut, guess experience counts here) and RAKE ( slightly tougher) in quick enough time, though eventually I did. I was aware of all the words, synonyms, defs. etc. in this case as in most others but was inexplicably slow on the take – just as an illustration to my comment earlier. But, enjoyed the process, which is what counts.

                Edited at 2012-04-17 07:59 pm (UTC)

          2. I did have my tongue strategically placed well to the left when I wrote that, not least because my time was also around the 20 mark. I’m very much of the opinion that, while some talent is involved, much of crossword solving is a learned skilled allied to a mind trained (probably incidentally to acquiring the skills) in making rapid associations. The latter can sometimes create havoc with one’s social interactions, rather like a benign Tourettes Syndrome. Not all associations are, shall we say, appropriate.
        2. Personally I think 20 minutes is a bit slow. The threshold for genius on this particular puzzle is around the 17-minute mark. Anyone doing it more quickly than that is obviously cheating.
    2. Granted only brief glimpses of Severseverland through the swirling mists in the foothills, I am kept going by thoughts of the day when I’ll be entitled to add that magic colon and two numerals to my time. Somehow, 82:12 and 127:03 doesn’t seem to work.
  15. 40 minutes, so no genius here either. Another enjoyable solve. COD to AS A MATTER OF FACT over the CINEASTE.
  16. Did this in dribs and drabs between rounds of pub quiz last night, but things came together relatively easily MATABELE from wordplay.

    I wonder when qualifying puzzle #2 will come out and if there’s some way that the crossword club could let us know.

    1. Are you serious, George? It has been on the top of every crossword over the last week!!
      It comes out at midnight tonight..
  17. No genius here either. About 30 minutes, ending with the clever WITHER. TURBULENT for COD. Enjoyable, but not much else to say today. Thanks for the blog Jimbo, and regards to all.
  18. glh, I think I’ve seen somewhere that the second qualifier’s tomorrow. A slow solve here, 38 minutes. I too admired cineaste.
  19. Also more acquainted with the Tyrolean spelling of Tyro than today’s solution, and speculate on when we will see 2mrrws in the days ahead. Forty minute solve—clearly need more experience.

    Enigma

  20. 11:39 for me. I thought I was heading for a decent time, but slowed dramatically in the SE corner, making heavy weather of WITHER, HEAT PUMP, RATEPAYER and SHEAR.
  21. Certainly not genius! Mainly, I think, a knack, helped (perhaps) by starting young, and (in my case, at least) by years of practice.
  22. This was my first Times puzzle for over a week as I was on Coll in the Hebrides with the family last week and papers were a rarity. I was slow to start with TIROS first in and then took an age to get on the setter’s wavelength. I was pleased to understand all the wordplay apart from forgetting SAW is a proverb and although I didn’t know CINEASTE, it was obvious from the wordplay and I finished with all correct in around 90 minutes. I found this most enjoyable once I got going.
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