Times Cryptic 29363 – rubies, carbuncles, and sapphires

Author   william_j_sPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic

Time: 52:05

I suspect I made more work of this than I had to; I came to a premature halt after the first 6 or 8 scattered answers. Blogging it seemed relatively straightforward, but I spent most of my solving time scratching my head. A pan-Atlantic offering to please (or frustrate) us all.

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, deletions and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Instrument is breaking silence soon (8)
SHARPISH – HARP (instrument) + IS contained by (in) SH (silence).
5 Section of foot marching together (6)
INSTEP – cryptic hint, with IN STEP (as two words) meaning marching together.
9 What could switch off meters locally in NY cab rank? (9)
AUTOTIMER – cryptic definition. A (parking) meter might time the duration of stay for a car/cab, which is (locally in NY) an ‘auto’. I have the feeling I’m missing something more cleverer – perhaps our friends in the US can better explain. Edit: it’s M (meters, with the US spelling (locally in NY)), in AUTO (cab) + TIER (rank). Thanks starstruck, and not for the first time today!
11 Get married, keeping bride’s heart right tense (5)
WIRED – WED (get married), containing (keeping) the central letter of brIde (bride’s heart) + R (right).
12 Senior officer notes force returning (7)
MARSHAL – LAHS (notes) + RAM (force), all reversed (returning).
13 What surrounds newish issue in drama by author? (7)
PLAYPEN – PLAY (drama) + PEN (author).
14 Assault wave, one working during action (13)
STRIKEBREAKER – STRIKE (assault) + BREAKER (wave).
16 See disruption to travel as resulting from accident (13)
SERENDIPITOUS – anagram of (to travel) SEE DISRUPTION.
20 Going on a bit, unfortunately losing height (7)
LONGISH – anagram of (unfortunately) LOSING + H (height).
21 Girl accepting a number as receiver (7)
ANTENNA – ANNA (girl) containing (accepting) TEN (a number).
23 Initially in mostly dark northern home (5)
IGLOO – first letter of (initially) In, then most of the word GLOOm (dark). Home of a (very globally) northern person. I was positively trying to think of a northern English home for a long time; INT’OM etc.
24 Feature of Stonehenge print involving stone covered in star signs regularly missed (9)
TRILITHON – LITHO (lithograph, print involving stone) contained by (covered in) alternate letters from (regularly missed) sTaR sIgNs. Two uprights and a cross-member, which I was able (eventually) to piece together.
25 Arranged great time in quarry (6)
TARGET – anagram of (arranged) GREAT + T (time).
26 Like a moving boat captained by character (5,3)
UNDER WAY – UNDER (captained by) + WAY (manner, method, routine, or character). I was kicking myself for not having read whichever novel was being referred to, until blogging time.
Down
1 Slick soldiers led by sergeant major (6)
SMARMY – ARMY (soldiers) preceded (led) by SM (sergeant major).
2 Flower festival’s not starting (5)
ASTER – eASTER (festival) minus the first (not starting)
3 Long to fill a jug (7)
PITCHER – ITCH (long) contained by (to fill) PER (a). This took me far too long because I couldn’t work out which bit was wordplay, or if it was a cryptic definition. That pesky ‘a’! If you spent as long as I did wondering about it, you’ll take pity on me for nominating COD.
4 What features Jack and Tony and Keith? (4,4,2,3)
SOME LIKE IT HOT – reverse cryptic. Hidden in (some) liKE IT Hot. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis are actors featured in this film. I bunged it in from checkers.
6 “Strange way” — an older equivalent of Strangeways? (7)
NEWGATE – NEW (strange) + GATE (road, street, way). A prison, like Strangeways, but much older.
7 US drivers pay for these weapons to support revolution (9)
TURNPIKES – PIKES (weapons) under (to support) TURN (revolution). A word still in use (I assume) in America for ‘toll road’.
8 Nit-picking editor’s got in store (8)
PEDANTRY – ED (editor) contained by (got in) PANTRY (store).
10 US politician admits to including one further release (13)
REPUBLICATION – REPUBLICAN (US politician), containing (to admit) TO containing (including) I (one).
14 Fifty netted by not so common killer (9)
STRANGLER – L (fifty) contained (netted) by STRANGER (not so common).
15 Fortune teller interrupted by Saint David? (8)
PSALMIST – PALMIST (fortune teller) containing (interrupted by) S (saint).
17 Very disagreeable row about sovereign’s gift (7)
NOISOME – NOISE (row) containing (about) OM (Order of Merit, sovereign’s gift).
18 Essential points exposed on railway (7)
OUTLINE – OUT (exposed) + LINE (railway).
19 Generally tough circling island (6)
MAINLY – MANLY (tough) containing (circling) I (island).
22 Person not turning up without son under any conditions (5)
NOHOW – NO-sHOW (person not turning up) minus (without) ‘s’ (son). So not a reversal, and not a containment. Sneaky.

54 comments on “Times Cryptic 29363 – rubies, carbuncles, and sapphires”

    1. Strangely, exactly the opposite for me: I thought 4 was too clever by half, but enjoyed 10.
      Ah well, each to their own.

  2. I didn’t find this too hard except for having to engineer TRILITHON, and not being convinced it was really a word. I worked in the semiconductor industry and LITHO is very familiar word and I know it is derived from “lithos” for stone, even though stones have not been. used for printing for ages. When I first saw the clue I thought it would be SARACENS. But it iis the wrong number of letters, and when I checked the dictionary afterwards I discovered the big stones are actually SARSENS. So two stones namess for the price of one. I assumed the meters in the AUTOTIMER clue were the taximerers in for fare calculation, but the clue still likes there is something kore going on, but maybe not.

  3. Sadly I opened the blog and saw a couple of answers before remembering that I had put the puzzle aside only half-completed as I had been too tired to continue. This error gave me AUTOTIMER where I had only AUTO????R in place, and WIRED where I had WEIRD with a big question mark against the definition.

    On resumption I came within one answer of completing the grid quite quickly but then I realised I was never going to solve 24ac TRILITHON so I used aids to finish it off. Turned out that this is its first appearance here, so I don’t feel too bad about that, especially as the WP was very tricky.

  4. For AUTOTIMER I took it as “m” for meters (US for metre) in an AUTO TIER, which would be a cab rank.

    2. I think you have to take AUTO and TIER separately, because a TIER isn’t that kind of rank. And ‘NY’ indicates that AUTO is a (mainly) American usage.

  5. I got there, but only after looking up what those things in Stonehenge were called which got me enough letters to figure out the rest and I really didn’t understand SOME LIKE IT HOT and AUTOTIMER but managed to get them in anyway. I think starstruck_au has the correct derivation for AUTOTIMER and seeing how it works I think it’s a clever clue. Too clever for me, apparently!

    41:31, which is a pretty good time for me.

  6. On the easy side for a Friday, I thought. Perhaps I’m just getting used to some of the real toughies we’ve had lately.
    The Americanisms were all flagged as such, so for once no objections from me. I agree with Starstruck about 9ac. “Meters locally,” indeed…
    Put me in the “quite liked 4dn” camp.
    And such a good film it is. “I’m not a woman at all, I’m a man!” “Well, nobody’s perfect.”

  7. 35.50 with a hold up in the SE corner. LOI trilithon which was a NHO. Not so tortuous as many Friday puzzles. COD some like it hot.

    Only doing the puzzle today as an attack of the Pharoah’s curse has made me miss a trip to Abu Simbel. Solving this has given me a small measure of compensation.

    1. Any chance of rebooking? Abu Simbel is the most stunning place, not just for the astonishing achievement of moving the whole thing out of reach of the water, but also for the moment you turn the corner and the whole thing bursts into view.

      1. Unfortunately not so I’ll have to rely on my wife’s commentary and photos. She’s very good at both so that’ll be some consolation.

        Did manage to get to the GEM earlier and that was absolutely stunning. Official opening on 1st November so fingers crossed there’ll be some coverage if only on YouTube.

        Said hello to Tut in his tomb and saw his mask, chair and gold encrusted sarcophagus at the National Museum so still worth making the trip.

  8. 16:05. Like Jerry I thought this easy for a Friday and like Jackkt I initially had WEIRD with a question mark for 11A until TURNPIKE came along. I failed to parse SOME LIKE IT HOT – clever now it’s explained. LOI the unknown TRILITHON wondering where the print came in, not knowing lithography used stone. Thanks William and setter.

  9. 30 mins here, I think I was just on the wavelength. SOME LIKE IT HOT was pure joy, but I also liked NOHOW. Only TRILITHON had me scratching my head but I took the ‘litho’ part on trust once I had the outside letters. Thanks blogger and setter!

  10. 23’18”, pleased to finish.

    Eventually got SOME LIKE IT HOT, still thinking ‘Keith?’.

    AUTOTIMER took a while, and the long anagram required me to get a pen and paper. TRILITHON painstakingly constructed.
    Incidentally my spellchecker flags up both words.

    Thanks william and setter.

  11. DNF, defeated by the unknown TRILITHON.

    – Was convinced 1a would include ‘anon’ somewhere for a long time, and only once the S checker forced me to rethink did I get SHARPISH
    – Didn’t see how AUTOTIMER worked
    – Biffed SOME LIKE IT HOT from the enumeration once I had enough checkers, and would never have worked out that it’s a reverse cryptic

    Thanks William and setter.

    COD Nohow

  12. 45 minutes with LOI TRILITHON needing all crossers and several minutes reverse engineering. I still can’t make up my mind if AUTOTIMER is a word I used to use or fresh coinage. I was a long time twigging SOME LIKE IT HOT, what with Marilyn not being named and Keith Richards not being an actor. I liked PSALMIST, but COD to STRIKEBREAKER. Enjoyable, apart from the stone arrangement. Thank you William and setter.

  13. 8:36, not too taxing for a Friday. Parsed AUTOTIMER as per Starstruck above, thought that was a good one.

  14. 59 mins with TRILITHON (had the TRIN and figured LITHO is a print) LOI.

    SW held me up a bit. Still, I managed to finish.

    I too liked the film. As Jerry says, one of the best last lines ever.

    Thanks William and setter

  16. Not much on first run through, but after a hotel breakfast things fell into place reasonably enough for a Friday. Until TRILITHON that is, so a DNF. I really should have seen “litho” but didn’t know the stone connection.

    Thanks William and setter

  17. 35 mins. LOI MAINLY added 5 of those, otherwise it was the NW held me up most. Slow to get PITCHER and MARSHAL both probably leap to mind more to a US solver. Parsed AUTOTIMER as per starstruck_au. Eventually.
    Not sure if SLIH was FOI but must have been close, Jack and Tony was enough, Keith a bonus groan.
    Good Friday test, thanks both.

  18. 20.30, partly because I was treating it as a Friday puzzle but, as it turns out, it was kinder than that. My last in was AUTOTIMER, partly because I couldn’t work out how to fill the gaps, and then because I insisted on working out why, and ended up with the starstruck conclusion. Also worried about the film: I couldn’t see where Keith fitted in, and only here did I discover he was halfway down. Like our excellent blogger today, I spent time ransacking my literary memory for Captain Way. Jane, perhaps?
    I can’t see NEWGATE without thinking of my mother’s “black as Newgate’s knocker”, now unpardonably racist, of course, but innocent back then.

  19. 37:35; not too unsatisfied with that. PSALMIST, AUTOTIMER and TRILITHON felt especially hard.

  20. Never fully understood AUTOTIMER, so thanks for that. NHO TRILITHON, but clue was generous. Only PSALMIST really made me think – the rest of this seemed suspiciously easy for a Friday.

  21. My thanks to william_j_s for what was very hard work, and to the setter.
    DNF, which is OK. But I felt that many of the clues were hard because they were rather vague. I like it when I get an answer and know straight away it is right.
    5a Instep, good one!
    9a Autotimer. I thought it weak, and also not in Cheating Machine, added. It is a sign of being obscure if it isn’t in CM.
    24a NHO Trilithon; I looked at Stonehenge on Wiki and instantly saw that this obscurity would fit so I whacked it in. I could see LITHO in there and that was enough to see that the printing in the clue had something to do with it.
    1d Smarmy FOI, 2d Aster 2OI.
    4d some li(KE IT H)ot, indubitably clever but no reassuring PDM. It was in CM already so probably came up before.
    8d Pedantry, good one.
    Overall a curate’s egg I thought.

    1. I agree, albeit I think you’re erring on the charitable side.
      A fine clue like 16a is wasted in this offering. And even that has a superfluous ‘as’.
      21a also has a superfluous ‘a’ and a surface which makes no sense either.
      4d is just silly.

  22. A fairly easy Friday, I thought. I was happy to finish in just under 20. I do take issue with 22D though: oughtn’t the def to be ‘under no conditions’/ ‘not under any conditions’ rather than ‘under any conditions’?

    1. You have to bear in mind that with “nohow” grammar has already gone out of the window. So “I won’t do this nohow/under any conditions” does work ..

  23. 88 (yes, sadly!) minutes. No excuses, even for my last in by some margin, the NHO TRILITHON, which was gettable. In the end, managed to parse the rest. I liked SOME LIKE IT HOT, though that was another I took a long time to get.

    In retrospect, not super hard for a Friday, so goodness knows what my time will be like for a toughie.

    Thanks to William and setter

  24. 11:03, with a minute or so puzzling over 24ac, where both ‘print’ and ‘involving stone’ seemed to account for LITHO. How I saw this without drawing the obvious etymological conclusion about lithography, I’m not sure: in my defence I’ve seen it done and there were no stones involved!

  25. 25mins – apart from the unknown TRILITHON, nothing too pesky but I was stumped by NOHOW defined as “under any conditions”. I am probably missing the point or being a bit slow, but surely the definition should be “not under any conditions”?

    On edit: I see the same point was raised and answered above, but I am not entirely convinced.

  26. Meh couldn’t get PSALMIST and put in some garbage but the rest done in 35 minutes. The P did not get enough attention in my alphabet trawl.

    Didn’t understand AUTOTIMER. Figured the mention of New York meant there had to be a short American word in there. I am sure I am missing something which makes it a great clue.

    Got SOME LIKE IT HOT straight away (one of my favourite Monroe films). I could see Keith in there and didn’t give it any further thought.

    COD SERENDIPITOUS

    Thanks blogger and setter

  27. 50 minutes with LOI Trilithon, unsurprisingly.
    Nice puzzle – always happy to complete on a Friday.

  28. Around 10 minutes so on the easy side for a Friday. NHO TRILITHON but worked it out from the wordplay and knew the litho/stone connection (eg monolith). COD AUTOTIMER now starstruck has explained it, had thought it was just a rather weak CD. I had WEIRD with an MER for a bit too, until TURNPIKES turned up.

  29. 25.18

    What Keriothe said about TRILITHON. Also no idea about SOME LIKE IT HOT but definitely my COD now William has explained it.

    Thanks to him and the setter.

  30. An early puzzle of mine, called “KEITH” was published in the Telegraph EV series back in 2018. Solvers had to find four surnames in the completed grid, and complete the title of the “project”.
    I wonder if this setter had a look?

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