Times Cryptic 26894

62 comments on “Times Cryptic 26894”

1. Thanks for this. Now I know it’s not AWKWARD SQUID 🙁
   Definitely had a few problem squares. Mostly very doable puzzle, but some quite subtle wordplay sprinkled in!

   By the way, I believe it’s roughly = C, chopping = HEWING

   All best,

   +j

   Edited at 2017-11-28 03:14 am (UTC)

   1. It wasn’t AWKWARD SOUND either. Shame.
   2. Thanks for your input on 13dn and I have now amended my comment in the blog.
2. I was about as far off the wavelength as it’s possible to be on this one. I got AWKWARD SQUAD, but hadn’t a clue how it worked, and did not know/remember (same thing?) the required meanings of MITRE and REV. So I was left with a lot of head scratching, and was particularly grateful for John’s excellent blog this morning.

   I think the setter rather missed a trick with his (her?) ALIGHT clue, as ‘like a house on fire’ doesn’t really work, being neither literally nor figuratively quite apropos, as far as I can see.

   Edited at 2017-11-28 03:35 am (UTC)

   1. I think a house on fire is definitely alight, since it’s burning. The question mark relates to “don’t get on”, since alighting is the opposite of that! In other words, “get off” is a specific sub-case of “don’t get on”.

      Edited at 2017-11-28 04:28 am (UTC)

      1. To clarify, what I was referring to was the use of ‘house’. If it is being used to give an example of something that goes up in flames (which I take to be the case – the question mark pointing to the fact of the example), it seems a bit arbitrary, and thus weak. If, on the other hand, there is any reference intended to the idiom ‘like a house on fire’, then ‘alight’ is not really a synonym.

         It’s a small point, but I raised it because I felt the setter had, well, fudged it a bit, and thought it worth an airing – especially, if, as often happens, I had missed something.

         1. I thought it was clever use of something arbitrary to make an utterly convincing surface reading that also served to mislead. Don’t get on like a torch on fire, say, would have been odd.
            1. The question mark refers to the “like a house on fire” bit (as it must do being next to it). It’s advisable, as anything could be ALIGHT, not just a house.

               The setter

3. For a large number of the clues, I got (what I thought was) the answer first, usually from checkers, then worked out the wordplay. Or didn’t, as with CHEWING GUM, where I think plusjeremy has the parsing right; I was like Jack. Slowed down a treat in the NE, where GLEN, ENTITY, CROTCHET, and finally ALIGHT took ages. I didn’t care for ALIGHT, Bruce’s defense notwithstanding, but there are lots of wonderfully misleading surfaces, perhaps pre-eminently 8d. A definite feeling of accomplishment when I finished.

   Edited at 2017-11-28 06:31 am (UTC)

4. To alight is not to get on, but it does not mean to not get on.
   Didn’t know what was going on with TWO-STEP, but had a feeling it had to do with a song.
   Another total unknown was AWKWARD SQUAD. Where do I sign up?
   1. At the risk of coming across like I’m the setter’s mum or something, I was happy with the use of a sort of “negative definition”, especially given the QM. It had a touch of the Baldricks about it, c.f. DOG – not a cat.

      On edit I see that Tim has made this same point below. Sorry all.

      Edited at 2017-11-28 12:55 pm (UTC)

      1. Yes, agree, and I like that bit of the clue!
      2. I don’t have time to do the research to figure out that reference (but it is somewhat clearer after reading the post my Tim that you mention). Yes, I see the QM begging me for mercy, but “not a cat” could be a wombat. Or a hawk. Or a handsaw.

         Edited at 2017-11-28 08:49 pm (UTC)

         1. If you enjoy this short excerpt, then you will likely enjoy the whole of the Blackadder the Third episode Ink and Incapability, which would also explain the Baldrick reference. If you do not, then I really wouldn’t bother!
5. I thought this was going to be really easy since I got both the long down clues without reading more than “those attending royal” and “not entirely clear” along with the length, and I filled them in as I read the rest of the clue. But it took a bit of time to work out the unknown AWKWARD SQUAD (I managed to avoid squids and sounds). I wasn’t quite sure why two steps was nearly to heaven, but I guessed there must be a song, unknown to me, called “three steps to heaven” or something similar, which appears to be the case. CHEWING GUM took a moment before I was sure it was right, since I’d again largely put it in since it fitted despite having nothing to do with the clue. Then I saw C and HEWING and GUM although it is still a bit of a dodgy definition.

   You’ve managed to get an extra “E” into 20a’s anagrist.

   1. Ta
6. DNF with two left in my hour. Shame, as I’d successfully navigated AWKWARD SQUAD, parsed TWO-STEPS and even remembered the honey badger eventually. But when I’d stared for five minutes before getting 18d as my FOI I knew this one was going to be trouble, and I was right…

   Anyway. Skipping over my battle with the rest of it, I failed on 8d ENTITY—I’d even considered “entry” but hadn’t spotted the substitution wordplay—and 19d, where I’d never have considered REV for “gun” and was leaning towards “p” as the tip from police, which didn’t help. If I’d thought of REVOKE I might have got there, I suppose!

   Still, all fair and square, I think, and if I’d had more than a minute or two left for those I would have stood a chance. Thanks to setter for the early-morning workout and to Jack for the parsings.

7. 34:08 … I loved this puzzle, which is obviously why I spent so long on it!

   Last in by a long distance was REVOKE, partly because I had typed 23a as Namoi, but it was still tricky after putting that right. Otherwise it was the northeast corner — ENTITY / MOIST / CROTCHET / ALIGHT that took almost half my solving time

   Loads of great clues and some really fun vocab. items. I feel plusjeremy’s AWKWARD SQUID ought to be a thing

   1. We should send Captain Ahab to deal with it!
      1. Or our David…

         “HERE, in the ocean depths, previously unseen behaviour of the Awkward Squid was captured for the first time by the Blue Planet II team…”

         1. 🙂
         2. Nah, I think they CGI’d it. The thing about the Awkward Squid is it’s NEVER caught on camera.
8. 45 mins with yoghurt, granola, banana. Sorry no Hip Hip Hooray for more pastry based comestibles today.
   All done in 35 – except for Cognac, Revoke and Entity, where with all the checkers in I still took 10 mins to alphabet trawl my way to success.
   I did like the IT=R in Entity and the Cog. But I didn’t like the Rev (presumably short for a revolver?). I’m more used to: Rod, gat, piece, heater; even roscoe.
   Mostly I liked: MOIst, &Lit in 20ac, Clergyman, Chewing Gum and Addendum (COD).
   Thanks tricky setter and Jack.

   PS – after 2 more mins reflection – I guess it is the verb to ‘gun’ as in ‘rev’ the engine. I now like it. And I see Jack had already said so. Sorry.

   Edited at 2017-11-28 08:35 am (UTC)

9. 14:14. I enjoyed this one, and obviously didn’t find it unduly difficult.
   Quite a smattering of random names today: Glen, Iom, Naomi.
   I don’t remember seeing REV for gun before, but what else could it be? [edit: just saw myrtilus’s comment, and hence jackkt’s, which I had also missed. Doh!]
   I didn’t know ‘Three Steps to Heaven’ but it wasn’t too much of a stretch to speculate that it might exist.

   Edited at 2017-11-28 09:08 am (UTC)

   1. Whilst I can understand that you might not know Eddie Cochran’s version I’m feeling a bit sorry for Showaddywaddy right now.

      I assume your reference to Iom is er, whimsical?

      1. I thought it was quite funny.
10. 18.56 today. Lots of nice touches, like “nobody in large corporation” for COG and the substitution in ENTITY. I also liked the clue for ALIGHT: in my book, a decent surface and two credible, if indirect, references.
    For what it’s worth, the three steps to heaven (I remember the Eddie Cochran version) are:

    Step one, you find a girl to love
    Step two, she falls in love with you
    Step three, you kiss and hold her tightly

    These days, you’d better be dam’ sure of step two, or you’ll find yourself at the wrong end of an historic assault claim in 30 years time. Fair warning.

    1. Or even a historical assault claim 😉

       1. You’re right of course, though one or two of tbe current wave of revelations might well turn out to be historic. And a few more hysterical, or possibly histrionic. We live in interesting times!

11. Obviously up my street today, and very pleasant/idyllic. I raised an eyebrow at 7dn, but it was pretty obvious that the setter/editor felt the resulting surface was too good to waste, even if the required definition is a bit like Baldrick’s additon to Dr Johnson’s manuscript – “Dog: not a cat”. (Ultimate test: could anyone have ended up being unable to solve that clue because “alighting” isn’t strictly speaking the same as “not getting on”? I suspect not, and I know there are plenty in the solving community who would actively welcome more fun in clues, even at the expense of 100% linguistic accuracy – though if you can’t be a pedant in the realm of the Times crossword, where can you be? I’m not taking sides, anyway.)
    1. We had a similar discussion recently over ‘didn’t shut’ for OPENED, and Baldrick was mentioned. The interesting thing about Baldrick’s definition is that I’m sure that if you asked people to name something that isn’t a dog you would in fact get an overwelming preponderance of cats. Our minds are full of categorisations we are hardly aware of (see also colours).
       I for one am perfectly happy with definitions that define the opposite of X as ‘not X’: as you say they tend to be gettable, strict linguistic accuracy be damned.

       Edited at 2017-11-28 09:34 am (UTC)

       1. Who was better? Schrodinger or Pavlov? There’s only one way to find out…..

          20 minutes with more time than was really necessary sorting out the Cornish corner, 18 and 19 being the last two in.

          1. I’m with you Tim on this. Crosswordland would be a bit more dull without a bit of whimsy.
12. In order to continue my poor run I biffed ESTATE in place of ENTITY. Now I see the parsing I tip my hat to the setter – clever one! I did get AWKWARD SQUAD but having been faced with _W_W_R_ as the first word my initial thought was that I must have something wrong. Awkward is itself quite an awkward word.
13. One of those felicitous days where every fragment of parsing seemed immediately to suggest the solution. For example AWKWARD SQUAD came from just thinking that WK must be involved somehow. The expression itself is familiar, usually being applied these days to whichever group of dissident MPs is currently causing problems for the Prime Minister.
    1. Can you still call them ‘dissident’ when they’re running the country?
       1. You mean someone is in charge?
          1. Fair point.
14. Oh well, did not get REVOKE or NAOMI, and 43′ too. Spent a while on parsing 15d, and did not succeeed, was convinced that STAG was the game. Thanks jack and setter.

15. About 35mins, ending in the SW with REVOKE, assuming ‘rev’ for revolver. Almost mombled ‘letone’= cancel gun. Glad I didn’t). Question marks on ALIGHT (what’s ‘house’ doing in there?), and PLAN (could it really be ‘plane’? ans: no!), and several in from checkers without fully parsing (HHHOORAY, LADIES-IN-W, CHEWING GUM). Thanks to Jack (John?) for sorting it all out.

16. 7 minutes or so and no errors today. Quite lucky actually as just above where I’m typing I can see the parsing PLAN{k}, whereas I was thinking of the incorrect PLAN{e}, so my brain may still not be fully functional. Anyway a very amusing puzzle throughout, my hat off to the setter.
17. 37 mins and managed to wheedle my way through the maze of excellent trip-me-uppers and some RUBBISHY cluing until I hit -E-O-E which combined with an unknown gun left me with a choice of REMOVE or REVOKE. With the OK there it had to be rev for gun – thanks for the comments above which enlightened me. COD HIP HIP HOORAY (easy but enjoyable).
18. 19:06 with definite assistance from the ‘See a U, try a Q’ technique. Unfortunately, put in SQUAD rather than the much more interesting SQUID. Man = the Isle is now hard-wired in my brain and I would never have connected REV with GUN without coming here. Thanks setter and Jack.

    Edited at 2017-11-28 11:37 am (UTC)

19. Struggled with this one, after a rather sleepless night. After 45 minutes was left with four in the SE corner unfinished, thought of QUAD but not as a playground, was looking for an obscure American kids game for 15d, generally off the scent. Came back to it after an interruption (EDF meter man) and crawled over the line. In retrospect it’s fair and not too difficult, just me being dim.
    There again, if it took V over 7 minutes, perhaps not so easy…
20. I must have been on the wavelength for this one which I enjoyed muchly. FOI RATEL after trying the L at both ends and seeing if either would give away 1d or 3d. In the event the LIW did have to wait a bit. I wondered about REV as a gun, but there wasn’t much doubt and now that John’s given us the explanation all is clear. HHH went in at HiP without further parsing. 6d went in from definition, the S and the final T. Entity and MOIST took a little longer to parse, and BUST A GUT encouraged a few more brain cells into the fray. I didn’t bother to fully parse AWKWARD SQUAD once I’d spotted AWKWARD, as it was a very familiar expression. Liked COGNAC too. All in all a fun puzzle. Thanks setter and John. 24:32.
21. 13 minutes but I managed to treble my error-count for the week with DELETE for REVOKE and NEEKI, of course, for NAOMI.

    Delete was cobbled together from LET for permit + the correct (whahey) {polic}E tacked onto D.E., obviously some gun or other, like a Droitwich Exterminator.

    1. Same as you on DELETE (DE clearly is short for Derringer) and NEEKI (Nicky?).
       Enjoyed the rest of the crossword.
       I won’t mention GOLD EDGED.
22. Liked this one, which I found easier than yesterdays but still highly enjoyable.
    17ac made me laugh, I see they are somewhat in evidence today 🙂
    A fine userpic, Jack!
23. Epic fail for me today, like England on a decent batting wicket with 240 odd on the scoreboard and 6 wickets in hand, I folded like a cheap suit. My grievous errors were “neeki” at 23ac which had to be some fancy word meaning omission and that “e” instead of an “o” meant that 19dn had to be “delete” I couldn’t quite see how “de” equated to gun, now I know why, it doesn’t. Strange power the mind has to convince one that something so obviously gibberish as neeki must be the solution. Thanks for the parsing of 6dn and 10ac which I couldn’t quite see. COD 20ac, also liked 25ac and 15dn.
24. 47:25 – good for a Tuesday although I think I could have been quicker if I wasn’t full of cold.

    I don’t think the Baldrick comments regarding 7d are quite right, as “get off” is more of an antonym to “get on” than dog is to cat, so “don’t get on” seems equatable to “get off” to me.

    COD 14a which made much more sense once I’d corrected HURRAY!

    Interesting how some of us are more familiar with certain expressions, as TWO STEPS and REVOKE were write-ins for me, while LOI TOTEM went in on a wing and a prayer.

    6d was biffed and unparsed so thanks as always for the blog Jack.

    1. To alight (get off) is an antonym to “get on” only if you’re already on the train (or whatever). “Not to get on” can also mean to stay at the launching pad, waving bye-bye to your friends on the rocketship.
25. 35 minutes, but not easy to get started – I only had a biffed 14ac after the first 5 min. Like Pootle, the checkers at 17ac didn’t look right until I saw the child was a WARD.
    I had doubts about 4dn which feels to be missing something, but am OK with 8dn.: though the clue might not stand up to close analysis, the surface is very good.
    LOI was 15ac., after realising that the game referred to wasn’t the Times favourite, RU.
26. Around 17 minutes, so more difficult for me, though I was pretty tired when I started it (more so when I finished). AWKWARD came long before SQUAD which was my last half of an answer in. Biffed SEMITRANSPARENT, so thanks for working that one out!
27. AWKWARD SQUAD Is WWII British Army Glasshouse speak, no wonder our Americanfriends had not heard of it!
    I am an honorary member, as per Lord Ulaca, Nick the Novice, Mohn2 and Jackkt are concerned.
    I loved the ‘Awkward Squid’ – often encountered courtesy of Shanghainese Restaurateurs
    (please note the spelling of the last word – the second most mis-spelt word in the English language, apparently.)

    And today I DNF (on the road in Shanghai but no excuses) just could not see 15dn (which no else has mentioned) BUST A GUT!
    I am au fait with this American vulgarity, but it never sprang to mind! Busta (Alexander Bustamante) yes! Buster Edwards GTR?

    FOI 4ac GLASSWARE

    COD 25ac the Ikean CLERGYMAN

    WOD ADDENDUM (ex-Stanley Gibbons!)

    Breakfast report: No breakfast due to 10.30am blood test (all well you’ll all be glad to hear). So it was brunch an hour later – croissant (blackberry jam fron Hero of Switzerland) JBM Coffee and a tangerine!

    Edited at 2017-11-28 04:25 pm (UTC)

    1. Reminds me of a funny gag by the prankster/comedian Simon Brodkin in his Lee Nelson persona: “I got the blood test results back and it’s good news ….. I’m not the dad!”
28. 25 mins. No major problems.
    Great blog, thanks, and thank you setter.

    Edited at 2017-11-28 04:37 pm (UTC)

29. I really liked this puzzle, which I thought quite clever all the way through. COGNAC was delightful. Of course I hadn’t heard of the AWKWARD SQUAD, so that took a while, but my real hold up was up in the NE where my LOI was actually MOIST. Thanks setter and Jack, and regards.
30. I must stop coming here so late in the evening. I do the puzzle first thing but never seem to get around to reading the blog before everyone else has commented. Anyway, I found this a bit of a challenge and was pleased to finish. At one point I contemplated abandoning the thing with the NE corner incomplete. But a cup of tea refreshed the parts and I finally checked out at 50 minutes. Ann
31. 33 mins with one error. Gold edged instead of gilt edged.
32. Thirty minutes for this one. I gave up trying to disassemble the biffed HIP HIP HOORAY into its component parts, but have to admit it was nicely constructed.

    AWKWARD SQUAD should have made me pause for a while, since it’s not a phrase I remember having encountered before, but perhaps it was lurking in my subconscious somewhere. I do prefer Horryd’s “awkward squid”, though. Speaking of which, I believe I am probably one of the very few people to have eaten squid à l’orange. It is a dish well worth avoiding.

33. 19:30 and all correct, but not all fully parsed. 14a, 8d and 19d all requiring more thought than I gave them, so thanks for the explanations Jack. Rather a good puzzle which raised plenty of smiles.
34. SCMP. Took me a couple of goes as usual, but under an hour in total. DNK: RATEL & INTOED, but years with the Listener crossword inures me to such difficulties. Not a great fan of “don’t get on” = “get off”. I mean it’s fine but it’s a defect. “Don’t get on” with GLEN or NAOMI. However two &lits in one crossword is pretty good. Thanks to setter, blogger and commenters.

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