Times 24421 – 30 December 2009

22 comments on “Times 24421 – 30 December 2009”

1. SA in 4a is the Salvation Army.
2. ‘Major Barbara’ is a play by G.B. Shaw, the lead character is Major Barbara Undershaft of the Salvation Army.

   There was quite a bit of general knowledge needed for this one, but it is very easy if you have the knowledge. Those who have heard of Antares, Procrustes, the saraband, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice will breeze through. The Shaw reference is probably the most obscure. The only thing I hadn’t heard of was the shoveller, but the cryptic gives it away.

3. This was a mixture of easy and hard. The clue to Offenbach was reminiscent of the sign on the music shop door “Back at 2pm, Offenbach sooner”. Procrustes was also an easy one since I often use procrustean methods to fit incorrect answers into crosswords.

   Antares, Bifid, Demit and Shoveller were got from the wordplay. Thanks to Anon for explaining Major Barbara.

   1. At last, somebody has found a use for procrustean methods.
   2. Victor Borge asks the audience for some composers. Someone shouts out “Bach”. “Which one, Johann Sebastian or Offen?”
4. Did this during the first session of the last day of the Australia-Pakistan Test. Took about 45 minutes; so it would have been a fair bit less were it not for the quick fall of wickets. Also tried reading a bit of McCall Smith (aka “Haggis-lite”) at the same time. So I might have gone for a record if I’d really tried.
   A simpler but much better puzzle than the rubbish on offer over the last two days. Jimbo’s suspicion of the editor’s assumption about hangovers may have been correct!
   There were a few dead-giveaways like OFFENBACH (cue to joke about De-pussy?), BAREFACED, SORCERER and PROCRUSTES. And, for me at least, a more difficult combination at the DEMIT/MARGARINE intersection. For the former, I was looking for “issue” as the def. And for the latter, I was looking for the usual-suspects for “river”. So over all, very enjoyable, especially accompanied by Hauritz’s five-wicket total. Great to see the ancient art of off-spin is by no means dead.
   Note for RP speakers: 20ac is phonetically correct in some parts of Australia: |ˈmēmō|. Honest.
5. There’s a typo at 25A, should be GAR I reversed.

   I don’t understand BARBARA and the anonymous tip about the Sally A doesn’t help me. I associate them with the Booths.

   Another relatively straightforward puzzle other than that. 25 minutes to solve. I liked FILTRATE, an excellent clue.

   1. Is my comment invisible?
      1. No. It’s a timing issue. I started typing my comment before yours appeared, was interrupted by she who must who needed my help. During that interruption you posted your very helpful comment. I quickly posted what I had so far, went to assist my good lady and have only just returned.

         Now that we all understand the clue should it say “the SA” rather than just “SA”?

         1. Sorry, Jim, I was deceived by the number of comments in between.
         2. Indeed; although I suspect I still wouldn’t have made the Shaw connection, at least I would have given up on the idea that they call female officers ‘Barbaras’ in South Africa.
            As always, I’m fascinated by the jacksprattiness of our knowledge: ‘Procrustes’ was my 2d in, after ‘Offenbach’, while it took me forever to get ‘ratty’–the meaning was new to me.
            I’ve only been reading this blog for a few months, but it’s been truly helpful. Thanks and best wishes for next year to all the solvers.
         3. From the wordplay POV, “the SA” would of course be better, but it would make nonsense of the other SA in the surface reading. For the sake of a bit of deception, I don’t mind this minor bit of telegram/headline style.
6. I made steady progress but didn’t time myself. I made life more difficult for myself by ignoring the “dry” in 9ac and getting “fiery”, which made 1d sofibands, a kind of Bulgarian polka I think, but far too obscure for the daily. I correctly identified SA as Salvation Army but didn’t know it was a reference to Shaw’s Major Barbara. Oh, and 25ac should be MARGARINE with an “I”; I think you may have been doing too many old Listener crosswords, where “one” seems to be “a”. COD to FILTRATE.
   1. Thanks, MARGARINE corrected now in blog.
7. 12.40 today. A few of the answers were given by the wordplay although I belatedly recognised the SA as being Major Barbara’s army.
   That NE corner came very quickly but most problems came from FILTRATE which alone took a few minutes. Last in was STABLE , only because I had carelessly put PAY instead of LAY OFF.
   Liked Aries as ‘a sparkling set’
8. Biddlecombesque in the top half, Barrysque in bottom half. Post-solve look-ups for BIFID and DEMIT.
   I am ashamed to say that my final post-solve research, until the penny dropped, was for a South Afican officer called BARBARA, this despite my last but one theatre trip being to the Olivier to see the National’s revival of the Shaw play.
   PS to MCText. For Hauritz read Swann.
   1. > PS to MCText. For Hauritz read Swann
      Odd that a Pom can be short on their Shaw and pro on their Proust!
9. No time to offer as I printed the puzzle late at night, then woke unexpectedly early and decided to have a go at it. When I got stuck I fell asleep. Resumed later, still in bed and promptly fell asleep again. Finished it finally on waking at my usual time.

   You will have gathered that I did not find this at all easy but whether this was due to the puzzle itself or my own scrappy attempts at it I don’t know.

   I was completely baffled by the SA reference in 4ac and didn’t understand it until the blog came up. I’m a fan of GBS’s plays so I’m rather miffed not to have spotted the reference.

10. 18:21 .. Nice change of tone with the scattering of general knowlege. I’d forgotten all about the detestable Procrustes, one of the earlier serial killers. Wouldn’t today’s tabloids just love “the Stretcher”? In which vein, I’m assuming Lector at 28 is a coincidence.

    COD I’m with Jimbo and others. 17d FILTRATE is a gem.

11. About 45 minutes here, slow but steady. No problem with BARBARA, but my mythology knowledge is spotty, so I needed all the checking letters to get PROCRUSTES. Wasn’t familiar with Mount Athos either, but there are only so many musketeers, no? I liked SOLDIERING, but having to stretch ‘old’ into ‘oldie’ to make it fit the wordplay seems a bit, dare I say, procrustean. Regards to everyone.
12. Went to sleep last night with this one completed except for 12 of all things, saw it as soon as I woke up. The general knowledge was compensated for with some decent wordplay, as I didn’t know BARBARA, PROCRUSTES, SHOVELLER or BIFID but could get them all from wordplay.
13. 11:09 – minor delay from RUDDY (rudd = a fish) as a red herring at 9, and trying to put the BID at the beginning of 4. No problem with Major B – the fact that I have “BARBARA” jotted next to the end of the clue suggests that I thought of her before seeing the wordplay. Other GK stuff seemed pretty standard Times content.

Comments are closed.