Times 29339 – labour we delight in?

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

23:14

I seemed to click with this one. Just as well, as blogging was more convoluted than usual. All but 4 in the south complete in about 18 minutes, then a long stare. Of course, a modern culture reference as a cryptic definition was my last to fall.

It looks like the the tides may have turned on Jeremy and me, as he now seems to be stuck with the fortnightly SNITCH-blaster, and I look forward to Friday a little differently as a result!

Definitions underlined.

Across
1 Mike quits Cambridge, running home for a lark? (8)
BIRDCAGE – anagram of (running), CAmBRIDGE from which ‘m’ is deleted (quits).
5 Forger’s work that is collected by king (6)
COPIER – OP (opus, work) and I.E. (that is) all contained (collected) by CR (Charles Rex, king).
10 Angelic boy too much out of bed on reflection (5)
PUTTO – OTT (over the top, too much) and UP (out of bed), all reversed (on reflection). Not a word in my ken, but mercifully clued. Like a cupid?
11 Roguish club made to look Victorian, perhaps opening for expats (9)
REPROBATE – REPRO (reproduction, made to look Victorian perhaps) BAT (club), then the first of (opening for) Expats.
12 Max often removed hateful clothes, and there they are! (5,2,3,5)
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL – PEAK (max) + OFT (often), all of which SHED (removed) + EVIL (hateful) contains (clothes).
14 Notice bad habit which professional might help you with (6)
ADVICE – AD (notice) + VICE (bad habit).
15 You shouldn’t have run home after mother, little monkey (7)
TAMARIN – TA (you shouldn’t have), than R (run) + IN (home) after MA (mother).
18 Surface damage on minute gold musical ornament (7)
MORDENT – DENT (surface damage) on M (minute) + OR (gold). One of the testers for me, as this is yet more vocabulary I am unfamiliar with. A fancy sort of grace note preceding the principal note, in case you too didn’t know.
20 Easy catch but making it is relative (6)
SISTER – SitTER (easy catch) with ‘it’ replaced with IS (making ‘it into ‘is’).
22 Bad acne blights rude tattoo’s location (9,6)
EDINBURGH CASTLE – anagram of (bad) ACNE BLIGHTS RUDE. The military band, not the body art.
24 Convenient telecoms facility spread far underground, south to west (5,4)
SPEED DIAL – LAID DEEP (spread far underground) + S (south), all reversed (to west).
25 As a result of this coming through kitchen ceiling (5)
HENCE – hidden in kitcHEN CEiling. This took me longer than it should have on account of some errant whiskers.
27 Frustrated guy with kids stuck with that woman (6)
DASHED – DAD (guy with kids) containing (pierced by, stuck by) SHE (that woman).
28 Bear allowed little running water (8)
BROOKLET – BROOK (put up with, bear) + LET (allowed).
Down
1 Skirt father made lasts for countless parties (6)
BYPASS – BY PA (father-made), then the last letters of countlesS and partieS.
2 Perish climbing rocky peak (3)
ROT – reversal of (climbing) TOR (rocky peak).
3 Notice sage right at the top? (9)
CLOCKWISE – CLOCK (notice) + WISE (sage). The hands move towards the right at the top, if they are moving thus.
4 Irish mistake swallows for larger African species (7)
GIRAFFE – IR (Irish) which GAFFE (mistake) contains (swallows).
6 Duck pen in history (2,3)
OF OLD – O (zero, duck) + FOLD (pen).
7 Thoughtless, stripping Artex inside during run-up to Christmas (11)
INADVERTENT – middle letters from (stripping) aRTEx, contained by (inside) IN (during) and ADVENT (run-up to Christmas).
8 White lies disguised with grin (8)
RIESLING – anagram of (disguised) LIES with GRIN.
9 Result you note after baking (6)
UPSHOT – U (you) + P.S. (note after) + HOT (baking).
13 Crooked seller denies disposing of one English antiquity in person (11)
ELDERLINESS – anagram of (crooked) SeLLER DENIES, after removing (disposing of) one of the letters ‘e’ (English).
16 Whiskers surely hurt except the end bits (9)
MUSTACHIO – MUST (surely) then ACHe (hurt) minus the last (end) + I and O (one and nought, bits). Smelling blood, I hubristically entered ‘moustache’ and moved on.
17 Son diving in bubbled away gently underwater (8)
IMMERSED – ‘s’ (son) moves downwards (diving) in SIMMERED (bubbled away gently).
19 Box that might arrive at any time? (6)
TARDIS – cryptic definition, referring to Doctor Who and his time travels.
20 Learner spread chaos left and right (7)
SCHOLAR – anagram of (spread) CHAOS + L + R (left and right).
21 Due extended dry patch (6)
DESERT – double definition.
23 Move, say, knight up (5)
BUDGE – E.G. (say) and DUB (knight), all reversed (up).
26 Score for your team immediately after kick-off (3)
NIL – this went straight in, but now I’m not sure I understand it! I think it’s just a cryptic definition. As in, the score is zero at kick-off. But why ‘your’? I suppose the score would be described as ‘nil-nil’ otherwise?

45 comments on “Times 29339 – labour we delight in?”

  1. DNF
    I bunged in MUSTACHES, wondering why the US spelling, and forgot about it. (William, I think it’s ACHE minus the E.) This made BROOKLET impossible, of course. Not that it mattered, as I had no idea about TARDIS

  2. This started well for me but |I came to grief in the SE corner where I was completely thrown by MUSTACHIO, having gone for MUSTACHES even though I was unable to parse it fully. That made BROOKLET impossible, and it was only after I used aids to find words that fitted that I realised my mistake over the whiskers.

    I didn’t think much of the clue at 26dn although NIL was obviously going to be the answer. Why ‘your’ team?

    I felt the clue at 2dn was ambiguous and I was only saved from TOR by checkers.

  3. I thought this was a great puzzle but unfortunately my eyes were not up to the new smaller font size so struggled with the print version. I can’t imagine why they would make that particular change, but I suspect the developers who are making the changes are all quite young and have far better vision, so think it’s ok.
    Not your typical Friday offering and I seemed to be on the right wavelength and also had no problems with the anagrams. Like our blogger, I made no sense of NIL but assumed the same reasoning. Like others I bunged in mustaches, which I couldn’t parse but MUSTACHIO didn’t occur to me. HENCE BROOKLET took some time to see. NHO PUTTO but the wordplay was clear. Bunged in MORDENT without knowing its meaning. Don’t get the ‘due’ meaning for DESERT, maybe just desert. TARDIS was clever and gets my COD.
    Thanks William and setter.

  4. Just over the hour mark, with one error. Could not see the OTT in the NHO PUTTO, went with the only word I could make fit, PATIO.

    Aid needed for bear = brook, at that point I had decided that the end of MUSTACHES might be wrong. Also needed help with skirt=BYPASS.

    Loads not parsed, though, including SPEAK OF THE DEVIL, SPEED DIAL, REPROBATE. Even missed the first meaning of due=DESERT.

    I had heard of a MORDENT, they mercifully don’t appear much in choral works, as trying to get my fellow basses to synchronise a “twiddly bit” would be beyond us.

    But, first time I’ve ever got close to a completion on a Friday. And looking forward to our new site next week, then there’ll be no need to type these comments into Notepad first. Thanks to all those behind the scenes making the bits (=IO) work.

    COD BYPASS

  5. I’ve just lost my comment to Error 5oo despite having copied it first. 53 testing minutes. LOI the unknown MORDENT. COD to EDINBURGH CASTLE. Thank you William and setter.

  6. 32:26
    Finally back on the board. I made hard work of some of the easier clues and I was badly held up by TARDIS in the end. I always struggle with cryptic definition clues as there is little to get your teeth into. Otherwise I liked MUSTACHIO and I was pleased to come up with the unknown MORDENT.

    A good challenge so thanks to both.

  7. I’m randomly getting the 500 error. Sometimes can’t post a comment, sometimes can’t get into Times for The Times at all, and sometimes all okay. What’s the workaround? When is this going to be fixed?

  8. DNF. Gave up well over the hour. Blocked by MUSTACHES (obviously unparsed) making BROOKLET ungettable. I didn’t get the TARDIS either and had no idea what was going on with 26d.

    All a bit strange really because, rather like Jack, I had quite a lot filled in in 30 mins and then just ground to halt. Had a minor breakthrough when I saw SPEAK OF THE DEVIL but then collapsed again. Oh well…….

    Thanks william and tricky setter.

  9. 50 minutes. Generally slow. I did manage to remember MORDENT from somewhere, but couldn’t parse MUSTACHIO and spent too long on TARDIS (a good cryptic def) as my LOI. Gentle for a Friday (these days) so no complaints.

  10. DNF, gave up on 45m with MORDENT (NHO), TARDIS and BROOKLET missing and same mistake as others regarding the furry face furniture.
    Same experience as others too, straightforward for a Friday then hit a wall.
    Good puzzle, I like TARDIS now william has explained it.
    Tough week and when I tried to boost my score with the QC I typoed. Twice.
    Thanks both.

  12. 26.50. A speedy and engaging solve until it wasn’t in the SW region, where I got obsessed with the nearly-parsed MORCEAU (a musical fragment) ahead of the unrecognised MORDENT, which sounds more like biting. The clever CD for TARDIS was therefore elusive, especially because it was a CD and the wordplay wouldn’t -um- materialise.
    Thanks to William’s excellent blog, I realised I hadn’t parsed BYPASS or SPEAK OF THE DEVIL, which I managed by seeing SHE-DEVIL and hoping that explained “hateful”.

  13. Beaten by TARDIS and BROOKLET – the latter largely because I had MUSTACHES. I enjoyed the rest of this, though.

  14. One mistake in 17:44. On for a Friday PB with only TARDIS to go but with the clock running down I bunged in TURNIP. I think I would have got it if I had stared at it for 5 minutes but decided on the gamble.

    I seemed to be on wavelength with this with pretty much every answer over 6 letters going straight in.

    Only downside was MUSTACHIO which I said in my head straight away was a trap but bunged in MUSTACHES anyway. I couldn’t bring up what the alternative was until BROOKLET came late.

    I was having a conversation (some may call it a lecture) about just DESERTs/just desserts yesterday with a youngster at work, so that jumped straight out.

    PUTTO NHO but very fairly clued

    Liked CLOCKWISE and SISTER

    Thanks blogger and setter

  15. Failed to get Tardis but otherwise all OK. THE FONT IS STILL FAR TOO SMALL! Please can this be fixed asap. it really is spoiling my enjoyment.

  16. About 40′ and happy to complete after close run DNF yesterday. “BROOKLET” came reasonably quickly from the Bear-Allowed synonyms so MUSTACHIO was fine. No idea what’s going on with NIL. NHO PUTTO but the cluing was clear whereas another NHO, MORDENT, needed all the crossers. I was taken to the Tattoo in the 60s when I was about 10, cold and boring is all I can remember (sorry any aficionados out there…).

    Thanks William and setter

  17. Many thanks to william_j_s and setter.
    DNF in SW. DNK 18a Mordent. I rejected the Cheating Machine offer as I thought mordent meant something akin to trenchant, biting, but that was mordAnt. We live and learn!
    DNF also on 24a, 17d and 19d but got those after having come here for mordent, but never parsed Speed Dial.
    I was going to give COD for the spots at 22a Edinburgh Castle, but have to give it to 12a Speak of the devil for the IKEA extravaganza.
    1d Bypass biffed.
    8d Riesling. Fortunately I knew my spell effort of REIsling was dodgy, so only a short delay there.
    16d Mustachio; I also put moustache, but as I knew it didn’t parse I was ready for it and Edinburgh’s castle corrected it. Bits for IO is a bit weird I think.

  18. Made reasonable progress until I was left needing 18a, 19d and 28a. Those 3 accounted for a good 15 minutes with zero progress until I revisited MUSTACHES and realised it should be MUSTACHIO. BROOKLET then appeared. In the meanwhile the TARDIS materialised and allowed me to get MORDENT. From ROT to MORDENT in 41:52. Thanks setter and William.

  19. What Mr Dunleavy said above, pretty much.
    Failed to spot that bits meant 1 and 0, but once brooklet arrived, mustachio it had to be. What I have is not one of those, it is just a moustache.
    I tend to talk of the devil not speak of same, but hey ho.
    Mordent vaguely remembered from my (failed) attempts years ago to learn to play the flageolet, and thus move up from absolute rock bottom, musically.
    Also failed to parse speed dial. Miracle I finished it really, but years of training on the Club Monthly have made me quite happy to bung in words nho, or parsings not got, if that is what the wordplay says..

  20. DNF, defeated by TARDIS – I spent ages staring at T_R_I_, and the only words I could think of that would fit were turnip and turgid.

    – Couldn’t get BIRDCAGE on my first go despite having worked out that it was an anagram of Cambridge minus the M, but as soon as I sat down for a second attempt I got it. Funny how the brain works!
    – Biffed SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
    – Agree with Jack about the clue for ROT being ambiguous, and I initially put TOR before PUTTO set me straight
    – Didn’t quite see how the definition for CLOCKWISE or the whole clue for DESERT worked, but I understand them now

    Thanks William and setter.

    COD Elderliness

    1. Almost exactly what you said, CL, except my CD would be TARDIS, because I like cryptic clues.

  21. 32:11 but…

    …needed aids to get this over the line – MUSTACHIO (like others, I had MUSTACHES), BROOKLET, MORDENT and TARDIS all requiring some help – might have been fairer to stick ‘Police’ in front of ‘box’.

    Didn’t parse either DESERT or SPEED DIAL in flight – everything else fair enough.

    Thanks William and setter

  22. What a great puzzle! I liked the superbly disguised “home for a lark”, the superb use of “Max often removed hateful clothes” and the incredible anagram for Edinburgh Castle.

  23. 53:09. A good one – nearly gave up with the last couple BYPASS and TARDIS and glad I didn’t. Some easier clues to get crossers was very helpful and made it a fairer challenge! Wasn’t entirely convinced either with NIL, but it couldn’t be anything else. thanks both!

  27. I finished this all correct but made a meal of it. For 16 down I started with MOUSTACHE, and though I was fairly quick to realise this must be a mistake I replaced it with MUSTACHES which meant it took me ages to see BROOKLET. I never fully parsed MUSTACHIO, not seeing IO = bits. Like others it took me a long time to see TARDIS and DESERT, although thankfully there was no doubt they were correct once the penny dropped. I didn’t know the monkey, but the cryptic left little doubt. I’m not sure I ever parsed SISTER or SPEAK OF THE DEVIL although the answers were obvious once you had enough checking letters.

    1. I liked it. William was a bit tentative in the blog, but he got it right. The surface is nicely misleading – suggesting we are going to score a quick goal – and the cryptic sets us the fine task of allocating a nil-nil scoreline between our team and the other one. I wrote it in before getting any crossers. Nice one

      1. Sorry to disagree but the clue is very poor in my opinion. I appreciate that to come up with challenging clues for 3 letter words is not that easy as there is relatively little to work with, but this one doesn’t work for me.

        1. You’re welcome to disagree, or dislike a clue, but why not say what you liked as well?

          The small handful of commenters who seem to only be here to nitpick or whinge leave a sour taste.

          2. Why do you continue to complain about critical comments.? The setters do a great job and if they read our comments, I’m sure they find feedback helpful. If it makes you feel better, then I will go out of my way to compliment them on good clues – so three cheers to SPEAK Of THE DEVIL but still nul points for NIL

  29. All done in 40 except for the SE corner, where I went with MUSTACHES. Annoyingly I considered both MUSTACHIO and BROOKLET … but at different times. Nonetheless this was a fun puzzle with lots of clever surfaces.

  30. Failed due to putting a hopeful and wrong ‘torpid’ instead of TARDIS but not too tricky overall and fun. COD to CLOCKWISE

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