Times 27,695: Drowning By Numbers

63 comments on “Times 27,695: Drowning By Numbers”

1. Yes, I loved this too – even without seeing the numbers theme. Thanks for that revelation, V.

   I also dithered over IBEX until I worked out the word order reversal. As V says, many good clues.

2. An hour and 12 minutes for me. (!) The first 75% of the thing went in relatively breezily, in around 25 minutes, but I knew the bottom 25% was going to take some doing. Indeed it did! Thanks,
   Verlaine, for helping with SATURNINE, the only answer I wasn’t able to parse.

   I had to hope for the best with answers like ADZUKI or HITS FOR SIX, which seemed right without ever having heard of them. On the other side, I was able to get answers like ASQUAT, SATURNINE, and THREESOME purely from the definition, and then spent minutes wondering how the wordplay could possibly support the answer…

3. I never even noticed the numbers. I also live “close” to Tahoe (well, it’s a 3-4 hour drive but compared to London that’s nothing). I had no idea what was going on with the IBEX (apart from the “butter” bit). Wonderful crossword. Held up at the end by JADE since I was pretty sure it was a triple definition. But it wasn’t.
   1. I think it was a triple definition, though I guess you could read it either way.
4. Thirty five minutes with the last five trying to remember which one of IBEX and ILEX was ivy and which one was a goat. Sadly I guessed wrong, which rather spoiled this nice puzzle for me. Bah!
5. Time taken and problems faced were pretty much in line with what Jeremy has already said – even down to leaving SATURNINE unparsed.

   Had both NINE and FIVE in mind for 9 across and was very pleased eventually to spot the clever wordplay to distinguish between the two possible answers that fit the definition.

   I still don’t quite see how HITS FOR SIX works. I get the definition and that SIX is a reference to ‘over’ but ‘batsman bowls over’?

   I think 17dn is fairy tale rather than nursery rhyme.

   Edited at 2020-06-19 05:50 am (UTC)

   1. Bowling someone over or hitting them for six is to knock them down metaphorically, to shock or outrage etc.
6. 80 minutes. Good job I got up early. LOIs ASQUAT and then the unknown ADZUKI, both left to the end. I didn’t parse THREESOME or MIGHTY. I did parse HITS FOR SIX though. A batsman shows little respect to the bowler if he hits him for six, and in life if you bowl someone over you “hit them for six”. And I saw IBEX quickly. COD to A TO Z. Thank you V and setter for this early morning torture.
7. 35 mins pre-brekker.
   I liked it, mostly Ibex.
   Expecting a pangram helped with Asquat.
   Five was LOI.
   Thanks setter and V.
   1. That was how I got it too. Not a word I’ve ever heard of actually but I suppose it works like ‘astride’ and ‘atop’.
8. 15:21. What a marvellous puzzle. The clue for IBEX has a distinctly Dean Mayerish feel to it: these guesses are almost inevitably wrong so my apologies to the actual setter.
   There are a few tricky words in here but the difficulty is all from cunning wordplay and disguised definitions. 6ac is a great example of the approach: a slightly obscure answer clued with ambiguous wordplay, but the setter is kind enough to put the ambiguous bit on a crossing letter so you’ve got a sporting chance.
   My last in was 22ac: I panicked a bit thinking this was going to be something obscure I hadn’t heard of. I started an alphabet trawl but then somehow something at the back of my mind coughed and said ‘you had a dog named after this stone when you were a kid you muppet.’
   I was a little bit puzzled by 10ac too. What’s a batsman supposed to do when presented with a gently lobbed full toss? Leave it? Is it not cricket to try and win a game of cricket?
   Thanks brilliant setter and v.

   Edited at 2020-06-19 07:04 am (UTC)

9. Wow. A TO Z (as 28ac tells us) and zero to ten, the first time I’ve seen that! Very hard, as befits such clever grid construction, so very satisfying to complete, despite ruining my NITCH.

   COD: UNEARTH, not only was it the one that unlocked the last quadrant for me, but it was clever to imply it had C (clubs) or Y (close on Thursday) in it but didn’t.

   Yesterday’s answer: as deduced, I think the most famous living person born on Madeira is Cristiano Ronaldo.

   Today’s question, a little puzzle I constructed: if my favourite car is an Alfa Romeo and my favourite sport is golf, what is my favourite award and in what year did I win it?

   1. Well, my favourite car was a Sierra, and my favourite sport competitive ballroom dancing, where as the victor in both foxtrot and tango, I took an “alpha” in November (that was in Quebec), but bravo for the idea! Have a whiskey on me!
   2. “A Passage to India” didn’t win in 1984…..
      1. A certain 2009 film perhaps? I’m feeling like a Charlie for looking up Zulu to see if that won big, though.
10. 24:48. Wow that was clever! Seeing the number theme helped with a few but I still failed to parse FIVE and THREESOME. I liked the word reversal for IBEX and several others, but I think DAPHNE was my favourite.
    1. “DAPHNE – don’t be ridiculous” (Squeeze)
11. Well, yes, devilishly clever. Didn’t spot the number theme, too busy trying to disentangle the wordplay, which was an education in itself. ASQUAT, THREESOME and SATURNINE I typed in hoping the cryptic stuff would become clearer, only to delete them when it didn’t. Eventually sorted.

    Have we had Russian “yes” before? Our assumed polyglottery continues to expand.

    While I was solving, several of the clue surfaces seemed to push the boundaries of intelligible English, but reviewing them I find it hard to give an example, apart from the one about skin, hip, feet. Just an impression, then?

    Edited at 2020-06-19 08:37 am (UTC)

12. Loved this, managed to do it without spotting either the pangram or the numbers.

    HITS FOR SIX does work as noted, but less so nowadays, many more sixes being hit in all formats of cricket.

    Didn’t parse THREESOME.

    30’06” thanks verlaine and setter.

13. Excellent puzzle butI don’t accept that to HIT FOR SIX is to show disrespect.
    Thanks, Verlaine for explaining 11ac, 18ac and 17d particularly.
    My COD to FOUR-FIFTHS and to GREYEST.
    1. I don’t think Gary Sobers intended any disrespect when he did it to every ball from Malcolm Nash in that famous over when cricket was a world removed from today !
14. Is five just a random cardinal number, or is there a particular reason for it to be five? I’m puzzled.
    1. Not random. It’s four (IV) inside F (fine) + E (English) – four being one less than the answer FIVE as explained in V’s excellent blog. ‘Impressed’ (seized) is the enclosure indicator.

       Edited at 2020-06-19 10:18 am (UTC)

       1. Thank you for your prompt response – I wondered if I was missing something, as I not infrequently do; but it seems not. I would have preferred “A cardinal” to indicate it was a random cardinal; on the other hand there are only really 3 candidates – four, five, and nine – ie cardinals with four letters. So, not all that random.
          Richard
          1. Thanks, rich. I seem to have a slightly different take on ‘random’ as my view is that one has to base the answer on the whole clue, not just one bit of it.
       2. It is random in the sense that the definition (cardinal) indicates FIVE when it could indicate any other number. This is pretty common of course.
       3. Yes the definition is not “random” of course. What it is, is ambiguous without the wordplay, but then that is at least partly the point of the wordplay 🙂
15. Excellent crossword. Pangram. The numbers theme. Clever clues. Everything parsed so a good finish to the week.
    V I think you mean 4d unless you live 200 miles from the internet?
16. I made up the name of a plant adzuki and then was pleased to find it existed. Z is quite commonly used as an ‘unknown’ in crosswords but I’m not sure how helpful it is. I would suggest that the standard unknowns are x and y with n indicating any number. If we were learning to use algebra we will probably have used all used the other letters so but z would have had no special status. You might as well say perm any letter from 26
    1. I would say that the standard “unknowns” are x, y and z, myself ..
       1. Wouldn’t want to argue because it’s what we have come across. I find that in crosswords y is commoner than x even. When I was teaching the examples in texts were nearly always x and then y but if we didn’t use those it was just as likely to be a, b or c. Any others were just used for variety.
          1. I would say that you can expect to see x, y and z as crossword “unknowns” but I would be astounded and horrified to see, e.g. w or anything else clued with that.
             1. I agree – but only because y and z have established themselves in the crossword community. I don’t think that mathematically w would be any less valid than z
17. I found this tough whilst at the same time always feeling that I’d get there eventually rather than feeling completely stumped at any point. I did have to take a break before coming back to finish with ASQUAT and IBEX. For the former I forget the rule of always trying a Q before a U. For the latter I’d thought of IBEX for butter but didn’t have a clue what was going on with the mountain. As I went to bung it in the penny finally dropped. My COD to this for being so deceptively simple.
18. Splendid puzzle. Well blogged V – not an easy one to write, especially IBEX which is particularly cunning.

    I also can’t equate HIT FOR SIX to “show disrespect to the bowler”. I treated all bowlers with respect but expected to score from any half volley or similar. Other than that, great work setter – thank you

    1. Indeed. I participated in a father and son cricket match a couple of years ago and one of the dads was a remarkable cricketer. When bowling to or facing one of the boys he would deliver a nice slow ball bouncing a couple of yards in front of them, or knock the ball gently to a fielder. Against the dads he would give it full throttle, in most cases bowling the unfortunate fellow out first ball or hitting six after six. But if anything it would have been disrespectful not to!
19. I seemed to be on autopilot with this puzzle. I knew it was a hard one but somehow most of the answers revealed themselves in reasonable time. Except for the Cardinal number where I biffed NINE in place of FIVE.

    COD: IBEX. Very clever.

20. I didn’t realise this was a numbers game (thanks V) but as my first ones in were Adzuki (honestly), Alfa Romeo, Asquat and AtoZ I was on the lookout for a different Nina. Alas only Aroma came afterwards so I was left with just the pangram pointer to assist. Is the AtoZ still published in the Google Maps era? Presumably so. It was an essential guide to London back in my day.
21. Wonderful! Hat not only doffed, but punched clean through.

    FOI HEIGHTEN
    LOI JADE – trying to find noun for ‘drain’ rather than verb
    COD IBEX

22. Lovely stuff – one of those where loads of clues seem utterly impenetrable at first glance, but reveal themselves in a satisfying manner. Makes me particularly glad I worked out why it was FIVE and not NINE; also, I knew those adzuki beans at the back of the cupboard would be useful for something one day.

    And yes, strictly speaking, if you top-edge a Mitchell Starc bouncer from in front of your face, it might well be a desperate act of self-preservation rather than disrespect. But let us not quibble about such things today.

    (P.S. V, I am setting the 7pm BST wikiquiz today, and there is at least one question in it which is especially relevant to your interests. There are no modernist Japanese film directors.)

    1. I will be there! Did you see the question the other day which concluded “and in a crossword, might be clued as ‘peripatetic peripatetic'”?
       1. I did. More of this kind of thing!
    2. Really fun quiz and of course I liked the Don clue even if it was probably a bit easy for non-we to guess!

       I didn’t score very highly, partially due to thinking I could get away with multi-tasking while doing it. Note to self, never underestimate a TopicalTim quiz in future…

       1. When you’re taking on the Top Boys – your Levys, your Bruyeres, your Sinhas – you’ve got to keep your eye on the ball and give it 110%.
23. A fine puzzle, although I didn’t notice the numbers (or the pangram) until pointed out here. 12m 20s, finishing on IBEX where, like Verlaine, I had a Mount Xebi in mind. In the end I put it in expecting it to be wrong… I didn’t love that clue, if I’m honest.

    Much to love elsewhere, though – a good finish to the week.

24. A fine crossword this, much enjoyed it though sadly failed (as usual) to spot either pangram or nina.
    Dithered for a while over IBEX vs ILEX but decided correctly in the end.
    I am no cricketer but I’m pretty sure I’ve heard Blowers or Johnners talking about batsmen respecting, or not respecting, the bowling in terms of the scoring rate
    1. That seems plausible! The number of hours in my life I’ve spent listening to cricket commentary is definitely one of the lower numbers in this puzzle’s Nina.
25. ….as TRAFFIC put it on their excellent album “Shoot-out at the Fantasy Factory”, and it was certainly the case in the early stages here ! Fourteen clues in before pen met paper, and it didn’t help ! TAHOE was next, and still I didn’t pick up a crossing clue. However, I got ZEROING, biffed IBEX (thanks V), then KNIFE and ADZUKI. My pangram alarm had sounded (though I didn’t spot the brilliant numeric element to the puzzle), and from there (5 minutes in already !) I steadily plied my way through the rest of this exceptional offering.

    My LOI required a short alpha-trawl, and I only parsed THREESOME afterwards.

    FOI A TO Z
    LOI BONESETTER
    COD FOOTWORK (though THREESOME was excellent)
    TIME 17:54

26. Well that certainly restored Friday’s reputation for rigour . 47.29 but had to pause and return to have a second bash. Struggled with a fair few of the clues and I was no stranger to biffing.

    My favourite was probably footwork- does that clue travel for US based readers? Ibex was a close second and I found only a few write ins.

    Asquat was a new one on me, bonesetter was troubling and I took a punt but all makes sense now after reading the blog.

27. I started very quickly, getting 1a HEIGHTEN and its danglers straight away, (and remember thinking that Verlaine was going to be disappointed by an easy Friday puzzle) but things got decidedly trickier, in a decidedly good way, I as moved down and across the grid.

    I spotted neither the pangram nor the numberwang but I don’t think that mattered. As others have pointed out there are some lovely touches of innovation and ingenuity. Add me to the list of failed climbers of Mount Xebi.

    Thanks S&B.

28. Completely missed the number theme. A sin of omission. Many thanks to V for pointing it out, and massive respect to the setter for ingenuity.
    wasted time on 29a with DARING, being the darling girl with her heart out, and the Russian agreeing to ring, before DAPHNE edged her out. 31’21”
29. Quite chuffed that I finished this in reasonably good time. My LOI was NET which I was unsure about. ADZUKI easy from my health food shop days, although it never had a Z in it on my shelves. Still have some in the kitchen somewhere, good for sprouting.
    Meant to check for the pangram but forgot in my rush to finish.
    Many thanks to the setter and V for a very entertaining afternoon.
30. Very enjoyable stuff. Didn’t parse ASQUAT, but as I had an inkling it would be a pangram it seemed more likely there would be a Q in it. That and SATURNINE were successful biffs.

    Thanks to the blogger for the explanations and for pointing out the numbers theme, which I completely missed.

    FOI Knife
    LOI Ibex
    COD Footwork/Hits for six

31. Picked the pangram, but missed the numbers theme. A very good Friday challenge with more than enough to make the solver earn an all green grid at the end. ADZUKI was new and I wonder when I’ll next hear ASQUAT dropped into casual conversation?

    Finished in 55 min with only SATURNINE unparsed. THREESOME was my LOI and favourite.

    1. There’s got to be a cryptic clue about being ASQUAT in a school, but it might be abominable.
32. Strictly a Gordon Bennett on this one at 31.04. I was clueless on the cricket and the dancing (Brenk1 you’re right about that). And I had to work for most of the others. Championship level I reckon.
33. 24ac my downfall, READDRESSING rather than RECHRISTENED, which I should have gotten, thus I could not get TRAFFIC as blindingly obvious as it was.
    That sort of ‘Strictly’! Yuk!

    I got the numbers game and the IBEX (13ac) early on, but never saw the pangram!

    FOI 10ac HIT FOR SIX – this can be disrespectful at certain levels of the game, as noted by Gary Sobers against Glamorgan back in the day.

    COD 3dn GREYEST

    WOD 28ac A TO Z

    Where’s Kevin? 10ac I imagine!?

    A very fine puzzle indeed! Name please!!

34. Really chuffed to finish this one – a wing and a prayer on “Adzuki” and “Ibex” but both proving to be correct. Thank you to my Aunt Daphne for 29ac.
35. 01:03:45. Very clever and very tough. Looking back I see that I parsed everything ok (eventually) apart from deciding that there had to be a mount Xebi somewhere. Failed to spot pangram or Nina.
36. Whew! Finished with all correct but it took the full hour. Enjoyable though occasionally frustrating. FOI was FIVE at 9a. IBEX was my LOI and I didn’t understand it till I read the blog. I assumed a mountain called XEBI. I seemed to spend ages staring at the grid and waiting for inspiration. Ann
37. I’ve seen the grainy video. Quite spectacular!
    1. I saw it live on BBC2 all those years ago. Poor Malcolm Nash was a decent player, but he came up against a legend at the peak of his powers.
38. I was out golfing yesterday, so have just got round to this. Glad I didn’t try it last nght when I was weary! Didn’t spot the numbers theme or the pangram. Didn’t manage to parse ASQUAT or SATURNINE(apart from SA for type of envelope) and missed the LEO, thus biffing the car from crossers. Did spot the Mountain Butter, and had JADE as a triple def, though as Paul says, it works as a double too. Managed to finish with all green squares, but it took 54:12. Great puzzle. Thanks setter and V.

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