Times 29025 – what breed of dog did you say?

66 comments on “Times 29025 – what breed of dog did you say?”

1. 33 minutes. Tin hats may be required when the anti-ancient references brigade arrive. Sir John Reith died in 1971 but he relinquished his role as Director General of the BBC as referenced in 23dn, in 1938!

   I was amazed to find the unlikely-looking MISERICORD, my LOI constructed from wordplay, was correct. Apart from a couple of Mephistos it has only appeared once in a Times puzzle, blogged by Jerry in 2013.

   I think the clue to PUPIL doesn’t quite work.

   Otherwise very enjoyable.

   1. See well below, jack

2. 18:22. Enjoyable, and a bit tricky, with MISERICORD, RECORDING ANGEL, ANGINA PECTORIS, and ROLL BAR unknown to me, but gettable. That _N_E_ could have stumped me for much longer on another day though. I found some of the synonyms a bit uncommon, e.g. the lotus ‘consumers’, and sponsor being ‘angel’ rather than ‘backer’, ‘investor’ etc.

   On a different ISIHAC note to Jack, ‘angina’ always makes me think of a round of hospital chat-up lines, specifically “You have acute angina”!

   I’m in the pro-new-references brigade rather than anti-old-references – and no problem with Reith, who as well as establishing the BBC, lives on in the annual lectures.

   Thanks both.

3. Around 70 minutes. Nice puzzle with more phrases. FOI AWAKE
   LOI MISERICORD For PUPIL I tried to find “eye apple” but couldn’t find it. Eye by itself gives pupil as synonym. “Eye apple” used in an internet search changes it to “apple of one’s eye”
   Thanks Piquet

   1. Wiktionary has (hyphenated):
      Noun
      1) eye-apple (plural eye-apples)
      (anatomy) The eyeball or pupil
      2) Synonym of apple of one’s eye

4. Enjoyable and chewy puzzle but the MISERICORD/REPRESENT nexus did for me so a DNF, again. I knew misericord and thought I’d come across it here, but I certainly wasn’t doing this in 2013 (per Jack) so maybe not. Represent is gettable but I didn’t see the definition, which is nicely hidden I think. Thanks Piquet and setter

5. 18.40. I think I was on the setter’s wavelength or the coffee was more effective than usual this morning, because that’s near a PB for me. ANGINA PECTORIS to distinguish it from the other anginas that are available, I guess, such as Vincent’s angina, though usually it just gets called angina these days.

6. Well well, thank you piquet, that’s what a MISERICORD is. Who knew? After a few checkers I bunged it in rather desperately and…presto! 31.30 about, I say about because after I finished I went elsewhere on the internet and returned to find the whole crossword blank and my time eradicated. It happens frequently and is very annoying. I thought this was a mid-range puzzle with some toughies, LOI LOTUSES being one of them. Are we supposed to know all 96 French departements by name as well as having a smattering of Hindi to do these now? Anyway I was pleased to get it done after yesterday’s triple DNF.

   From Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right:
   I’m a-thinking and a-wond’ring, all the way down the road
   I once loved a woman, I child I’m TOLD
   I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
   But don’t think twice, it’s all right

   1. I -think- the department is Lot et Garonne actually

      1. Correct. Lot-et-Garonne actually. The Lot is a river! I was going to mention it….

         1. 46 is Lot, 47 is Lot-et-Garonne. I lived in 47 for 12 years, so I know that. shame on you, RdeP.

            1. You are right of course, my apologies. I’m having a really bad day, today. See below.

            2. Aha ok sorry

               1. Thanks you lot for clearing that up, I’m assuming you can all recite the remaining 94? American states is one thing, French administrative divisions is taking us to a whole new level of obscurity. I’m not sure where the line is but I suspect this crosses it…

                  1. I’ve just asked a good friend of mine, Gilles, if he could list all the departments in France. Not a chance he said. We don’t get out much us 84 ‘ers.

                     1. I learnt them all for trying to win a quiz once, in alphabetical so numerical order, except for Corse and Outremer. Now I could probably do about half.
                        84? You were born in 1984? Looking good for that.

                        1. I was born in 1953! The 84 I was referring to was the Vaucluse, but I’m sure you realised that: – ) If it’s not in Provence, we don’t know it! Apologies for late reply. François.

   2. I don’t understand how TOLD = “had effect”. And I don’t understand the purpose of the Dylan reference either. Lindsay, are you saying the meaning of the line (“a child, I’m told”) is the ungrammatical “a child, I’m had effect”?

      I’d always assumed the narrator of this song was either a Polanski-style statutory rapist, or else an uninterested, absent father. Either way there is always something uncomfortable about empathising with such an immoral sort, made unavoidable by virtue of the song being so good. But now I learn the child “had effect”. Or something. I’m lost.

      1. Hi rich-uk, it’s funny, this was only six days ago but I had to go back into history and remind myself what was being discussed. By way of background, the Dylan quote has no relevance beyond the fact that the word ‘told’ is in it and in the grid. This started earlier this year when Guy in New York produced a Dylan line when the answer was ‘Durango’ and thus a challenge was born: to find a word that’s in a Dylan song in every puzzle. In much the same way our esteemed colleague Myrtilus has, for a long time, found a poem containing a word in that day’s puzzle. I am intrigued by the rather sinister attributes you bestow on the narrator of Don’t Think Twice, I had always thought it was another love-gone-wrong song but will now go and listen to it again. As to the told/had effect wordplay in the original clue, I assumed it was a reflection of a usage like ‘his intervention was telling’ or ‘their lack of experience told in the end.’ Rest assured that whatever Bob was talking about had nothing to do with it!

7. After the QC, also an easy main puzzle today, which took me 23:03. After 20 minutes I had all but 1 dn and 10ac, I finally thought of I CORD for I lead and that gave me 1dn, then 10ac was an ooohhhh moment and I thought that was a really good clue. Though perhaps I should remember how often mice relate to computers in xword puzzles!
   Thanks setter and blogger

8. 31 minutes. I knew the word MISERICORD and have wondered before what it meant. Not what I imagined. COD to ANGINA PECTORIS for the satisfying anagram. A pleasant puzzle. Thank you Pip and setter.

9. 20:02
   Put in PUPIL with a shrug, ditto with SHRUG (DNK). Shouldn’t 7d have something like ‘that’s proverbially …’? ‘easy’ is an adjective, APPLECART isn’t. It may interest you to know that Maine has, or had, a township of Misery Gore; or it may not. Anyway, I liked MISERICORD (LOI).

10. 15.50
    NHO SCROLL BAR, not sure that a PENDANT is a necklace.
    I have a copy of Mike Harding’s ‘Little Book of MISERICORDs’, which helped me get my LOI.
    COD ALOOF

11. For some reason I found this really hard and DNF with MISERICORD & SCROLL BAR not entered. Just couldn’t think of the latter with – – R – L -, and, although I know the word miséricorde I didn’t know that meaning.

    A number of clues bunged in without really knowing why, PUPIL, LOTUSES & OVERSPILL.

    Thanks pip and setter. I’ll try harder tomorrow!

12. 13:22. I was another who knew that a MISERICORD was a piece of church furniture, but I thought that, like reredos, it was a sort of screen. DNK that meaning of SHRUG so the answer went in with a …shrug. Held up in the end by my last rtwo – LOTUSES and REITH. Thanks Pip and setter.

13. 29:42

    Hard to finish I thought, with MISERICORD requiring all checkers. LOTUSES was a bit specialised too – no idea about the various French departments, nor about the Lotus Eaters being idle. RECORDING ANGEL was a bit poor – I get the notion of a guardian angel recording good and bad acts, but a bit fanciful in terms of the music industry.

    Thanks for the blog P

    1. I think the music industry thing is intended to be fanciful indicated by ‘perhaps’, Mike, so I wouldn’t have taken it as a separate definition, just cryptic support.

    2. Wiktionary has:
       Recording angel Noun
       recording angel (plural recording angels)
       (religion) An angel that records the events and actions of each individual human. This includes bad sins and good deeds.

14. Too hard for me. DNK MISERICORD or RECORDING ANGEL, and the resulting gaps gave me problems around them. Gave up on the hour with six clues missing.

15. About 20 minutes.

    No major problems, though I somehow didn’t see how lead=cord to get MISERICORD until I came here, didn’t work out the homophone for REITH, and had to piece together the second word of ANGINA PECTORIS from the remaining anagrist.

    Thanks piquet and setter.

    FOI Medway
    LOI Misericord
    COD Angina pectoris

16. 36m 33s
    Pleasant puzzle. I enjoyed your ALOOF reference, Pip. Must look out for that breed! Poodles can, of course be aloof!Also enjoyed your exchange about LOT!

    1. Indeed. This one (Ted1) was a rescue WH Fox Terrier, and was definitely aloof. Ted3 the current poodle is the opposite of aloof, a giant lap dog.

       1. Ha! Love the idea of Ted3 as a lap dog!

17. No time as I solved on paper and didn’t log my time. By suffice it to say it was a long one.

    I spent an absolute age on the unknown MISERICORD, and generally I found this one a bit of a slog. Looking back, aside from 1D it wasn’t that hard so I think I was just having an off day.

    Another to put down to experience.

    Thanks to both.

18. 16:55
    Enjoyed this a lot. No trouble with MISERICORD but, not being a driver, had never heard of a roll bar.
    SHRUG was also new. PUPIL = eye apple doesn’t really work for me.

    COD PENINSULAR; Spent a while trying to think of a writer who had KR in their name and got stuck on Stackridge – a different beast entirely.

    Thanks to Pip and the setter.

19. 9:01 but with IMPINnE. NHO SCROLL BAR or ANGINA PECTORIS, but they were easy enough to sort out. COD REITH.

20. 57:21
    I couldn’t figure out the wordplay for misericord, nor did I know what one was. After I’d stared in bewilderment at the clue for ages, the word just sort of came to me from somewhere, and I threw it in with a short cardigan. This was pretty tough overall.
    Thanks, p.

21. 15:11

    Tricky in parts. My Dad had a holiday home in Lot-et-Garonne so I knew of the neighbouring Lot. Danny Baker’s BBC email address was [email protected] which helped with that one. Scroll bar also familiar.

    Recording Angel recalled from previous puzzles, Misericord and Angina whatsit constructed from wordplay.

    For me some of the difficulty came from not-terribly-helpfully-specific definitions like a charge for dependant and stand for for represent. The def for apple cart could have done with a “that’s” or similar to give the correct part of speech.

    1. As I said above.

       1. Sorry Kevin, missed that.

22. Yes I too noticed that the clue for applecart wasn’t quite right. Nor was the apple/pupil/teacher one in my opinion. The MISERICORD was vaguely familiar but I never knew what it was until looking it up. Next time I travel on a bus I’ll mention to someone about the things like misericords that are there to help passengers. SHRUG quite unknown as a short cardigan: was vainly looking for words like cardiga etc. Good crossword I thought, but 50 minutes with a couple of aids when I couldn’t finish.

23. Steady rather than spectacular in 20.48, with MASH being the clue that amused most. Serendipitous to have two potatoes in close proximity, and to have APPLE as part of the solution crossing apple as part of the clue. I think the latter does work, even if eye apple isn’t really a thing. I assume the setter couldn’t resist the apple for the teacher, even though the two parts of the clue need to be strictly separated to work.
    I struggled at the last with LOTUSES, not knowing le département and trying to work out which DWP benefit was required.
    Can we surmise that those who don’t know what a s SCROLL BAR is habitually do the crossword on treeware? My keyboard still has a scroll lock key, though it looks as though I never use it.

24. 1d Misericord; had forgotten how to spell it but I went to a cathedral school and was made to actually look around said building and its features.
    3d Allergy, biffed. Thanks piquet.
    5d NHO Shrug in that sense, but risked it.
    7d Applecart biffed, ta again.
    POI 17d GA(there)D, to gad is a lovely verb.

25. Had the —ROLL BAR bit but didn’t know SC for ‘that is’ (I do now). This made MISERICORD very tricky and I eventually revealed both. Had vaguely heard of MISERICORD but like piquet I thought it was a musical instrument. LOTUS EATERS/OVERSPILL also revealed. Solved unknown LATHI from wordplay and will commit to memory! Happy to get the rest in around 30 mins or so. Another day of learning so all good. Thanks all.

    On edit: Agree with Mrs p about SHRUG – definitely more like a shawl

26. 21 mins with LOTUSES being the final piece of the jigsaw. Definite MER with PUPIL and I thought the short cardigan must be a SHRUG-.

27. 19.38

    Like the Quickie an excellent example of the setter’s art

    MISERICORD straight in but I got a bit stuck elsewhere, not being certain there was such a thing as a RECORDING ANGEL and playing around with the grist for the second part of ANGINA (nice clue that one) but it was one of those where they all came in a rush at the end after finally clocking what went after LOT

    Thanks Pip/setter

28. I completed this in about 30 minutes, but there were some that I couldn’t fully parse:
    MISERICORD – because NHO ‘near’ meaning miserly.
    PUPIL – ‘eye-apple’ meant nothing to me. I’ve seen the explanation above and confirmed with the concise OED, although is not current and probably out of use for centuries.
    SHRUG – NHO the garment and I “parsed” it as “SH” for short, plus an assumption that maybe something like a cardigan was sometimes referred to as a “rug” – still, no harm done.
    REPRESENT – I can see now how it works, but I didn’t read the clue the right way at the time and parsed it as RE for the soldiers and “PRESENT” for show; I couldn’t see how that really worked, but decided it was probably correct.
    LOTUSES – I need a lot of convincing that ‘benefits’ is in any way a synonym for ‘uses’.

    A lot of clues that I enjoyed though.

29. Just the one short at the 45 min mark : EXIGENT. Spent ages looking at INET containing a word for Side.

    Knew MISERICORD, although as a choir boy we never had such luxury. I have a book on the best carved ones to be found in English cathedrals, Exeter and Wells being good ones. But I never knew near=mean for MISER, that looks very odd.

    NHO SHRUG

    COD LOTUSES

30. I didn’t get MISERICORD, because I’d entered PADDY, thinking it was a water course, so another DNF. Liked PENINSULAR and MASH.
    Not doing very well this week.

31. 20:00 – a satisfying puzzle, in spite of a shared misgiving over PUPIL, which I could not untangle although I now see Chambers explicitly defines an “apple of the eye” as a pupil, so full marks to the setter from me at least. LOT familiar from many visits there over the years.

32. There was a lot I didn’t know, but I solved it anyway. I knew misericord was a word, but had no idea what it means, and didn’t see cord = lead either, but in it went. You would think a non-UK solver wouldn’t be able to get Reith, but somehow I had heard of him. Shrug went in with a shrug, and there you go. Surprisingly, all correct.

    Time: 37 minutes

33. 32:08. well like others MISERICORD caused me to ponder for faaaar to long as my LOI. I hadn’t heard of NEAR to mean miserly, and I expect I will forget it, like I always forget NEAT. Lovely puzzle, with some real head scratchers. Thanks Piquet and setter.

34. Defeated today by misericord, of which I eventually had all the checkers but could not get any of the constituent pieces of wordplay and I’d NHO the answer anyway. Other bits I struggled with today, not sure why, were all in the SW – represent, dependant, aloof, exigent. Very nice puzzle that stumped me today. Thx p and setter

35. Meh.
    There’s sometimes that obscure answers are way outside my general knowledge, and I fail. Too tired to care. MISERICORD, RECORDING ANGEL, SHRUG held back the known SCROLL BAR.
    So it goes. As Vonnegut, K. might have said.

36. …and I thought MISERICORD was pitié, compassion (miséricorde)!
    Never heard of Mr. REITH, got from wordplay though.

37. I’ve not made a comment here before, but loving the whole thing. At home with 4 months of long COVID , the Times crosswords have kept me sane. Thanks to all setters,bloggers and commentators, you brighten my days. Today’s time 10 hours!!!!!

    1. Glad to be of service, probably more so than the NHS.

38. 18.55. I just got lucky with all the General Knowledge today, though 1a was biffed.

39. A struggle today but I did all but one in 36 mins (failed on REITH, who I have heard of). FOI was AGGREGATE, a write-in for someone who used to work for a builders’ merchant.

40. Around 35 mins. Started the puzzle, then my attention was called to something else and I forgot to turn off the timer. Misericord was my LOI and I was a bit lucky as I was convinced the standing was record. Never did parse it properly but remembered the right answer from somewhere and was mighty relieved to see it was right.

    Having now digested the solution, I think it’s a cracking clue. Struggled with caddy as well as I thought it was spelt caddie, the former being something to keep tea in.

41. I finished! Always an unexpected joy with the Big Boy Puzzle. And in 23:40, which was pleasing. But I too had no idea what a MISERICORD (LOI) actually was. Many thanks Piquet.

42. I did most of this in around 25 minutes, but got breeze-blocked by REPRESENT and LOI, MISERICORD. I’ve NHO the latter although I did know the Latin piece, Misericordia Tua by Giovanni Gabrieli (looked him up afterwards) from the old Latin masses. Anyway between them, those clues stretched me to almost 40 minutes. I may have been distracted, as before starting the puzzle after a fraught day out in unhelpful traffic, I had to get the electrician who replaced my old fuse wire based consumer unit with an up to date RCBO/Surge protection unit on Monday, to confirm that it was my Immersion heater tripping its breaker (it worked fine on the old fuse) and not a faulty breaker. (Fortunately he lives next door!) I’ve now ordered a new immersion heater and arranged for the plumber to come and fit it next week. Liked SCROLL BAR and MEDWAY, but it took me an age to see how MEDWAY parsed. An enjoyable puzzle until I got to those last 2. I almost gave up on MISERICORD and had no idea what it was after I managed to assemble it! 38:17. Thanks setter and Pip.

43. I think Jack might be wrong, and that we have had Misericord more recently than 2013, because I knew the device from sitting through one painful wedding and a doubly painful composer’s special choral rendition on one, if crouching uncomfortably counts as sitting, and also knew the word, almost certainly learnt it here, and seriously doubt that I could have remembered it for 11 years.
    Otherwise, what a mix of weird words, QC definitions, and very clever cluing. Nice innings, setter

    1. I checked again both here and on the old Live Journal site which confirmed by original findings. However I suspect this is what you remember, from 15 December 2022:

       29ac. Grasping person before finding support in choir stall (8)
       MISERERE – MISER(grasping person), ERE(before)

       In his comment, Merlin wrote: Knew MISERICORD as a support in a choir stall, tried to see how that could work.

       1. I’m betting you’re right about that, jack, not to mention that I should never have questioned the pretty infallible tfTT.com search function in the first place. Misery, either way, though, and thanks for looking it up.

44. SE corner gave trouble, I’ve heard of Lord Reith but was vainly seeking a homophone of RIP not wreath.
    Misericord fell into place once I had all the checkers, I knew of them as spouse and I always seem to visit too many ecclesiastical buildings when in the northern hemisphere. It is so hard to know which will appeal to us, we certainly suffered from eye-glut in Spain and Portugal, so far our favourite is Wells, which we find has a most-loved atmosphere.
    Thanks as usual to setter and blogger, COD impinge.

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