Times Cryptic 26614/7 – January 5/9, 2017. Not exactly upping the anty

Author   ZabadakPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
A rather straightforward solve marred for me by an over-exuberant attempt to score a whizzy time, forgoing proper checking and allowing 2 typos. The grid is rather infested with Formicidae, or bits of them, ten or more on the bottom line alone, a few with other letters intruding. One entry at 21, though obvious enough as a word, I cannot recall encountering before but apart from that, I feel confident in saying that the obscurity index for this one is as low as I’ve ever seen. Stop press. Since (as revealed above) this is next Monday’s puzzle, I have hidden my workings so that you can avoid seeing them if desired.

[Spoiler (click to open)]

Clue, definition, SOLUTION

Across

1 Key found in French painter’s attractive bar?  (6)
MAGNET  G is the key, here, pick any one from 7. The French painter MANET.
4 Attack a woman’s daughter, one keeping an eye on Nanny?  (8)
GOATHERD  One assumes there is at least one female of the genus capra  in the keeping of the lonely one high on a hill (rhymes with “gloat heard”, especially a gleaming one). Attack GO AT, woman’s HER, daughter D. In sequence. Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo.
10 Careless bloke from Belfast, say, nursing broken leg  (9)
NEGLIGENT  A bloke from Belfast is an N.I. GENT, apparently “nursing” a broken leg, spelled EGL.
11 Shade that’s variable in a Yorkshire river  (5)
AZURE  Unless I am very much mistaken, the river URE is one of those that trundles through (North) Yorkshire. It needs the supplied A and the variable Z to produce our fetching shade of blue
12 In high spirits, as 23 may be  (4,2,5)
FULL OF BEANS  Spoiler alert. 23 is POD, which indeed may be loaded with beans.
14 Coming from the east, hail woman  (3)
EVA   “From the east” in an across clue indicates a reversed solution. AVE (as in Maria) is our greeting
15 Extremely shirty about person advocating nose job, say  (7)
SURGERY The extremes of shirty are S and Y, and a person advocating is an URGER which effectively replaces the original contents. A rather specific example of a general concept.
17 Girl has Times put on chest  (6)
THORAX As in the middle bit of an ant, say. The girl is THORA, times (as in the regrettably common “times it by 2”) provides the X. If I wanted to be picky, I might point out that the capital T on Times is a bit naughty.
19 Relative with a connection to international organisation? (6)
AUNTIE  Who has A UN TIE. Few, if any, other international organisations are recognised by crosswordland.
21 Furious tirade arrested by female in charge  (7)
FRANTIC  Tirade provides RANT, “arrested” by F(emale) I(n) C(harge)
23 Group of dolphins initially seen by naval NCO? (3)
POD Dolphins obligingly do double duty as part of the definition (Not just whales, then) and supplying their initial D to attach to the P(etty) O(fficer’s) stern.
24 Frivolous description of HD, perhaps?  (5-6)
EMPTY HEADED. I rather liked this one, as one of those where the answer is in itself a cryptic clue. HD is the second part of our solution without its contents.
26  Good Times crossword, not the first to define “okra”  (5)
GUMBO  The crossword in question is the JUMBO: remove its first and replace it with G(ood). Has to be gumbo, ‘cause Ladies’ Fingers doesn’t fit.
27 How Ben unexpectedly accepts beer as stiffener?  (9)
WHALEBONE  An anagram (“unexpectedly”) of HOW BEN contains ALE for beer.
29 A number of lines about 30’s lodgers? (8)
TENANTRY  TEN is your number (pick one from an infinite range) and lines are RY for railway. Spoiler alert: 30 is insect, of which one example is ANT. Insert appropriately
30 Six-footer belonging to breakaway group (6)
INSECT  Turned up 3 days ago with a similarly not-difficult clue, though the traditional “six footer” is a giveaway for old hands. In case you need help  it’s IN SECT.

Down

1 Glaring when fine mast is damaged (8)
MANIFEST  Could this be an anagram? Yup. FINE MAST. For the definition, go via “obvious”
2 Russian writer attempts novel at last (5)
GOGOL  Well. It’s not going to be Dostoyevsky is it? But I rather like the repeated GO for attempts. Get the L from the “at last” bit of novel.
3 Old priest absorbed by the Litany  (3)
ELI Who turned up only yesterday as a contribution to the solution MELIssa, here is himself a contribution to thE LItany
5 Survive longer than Ishmael, maybe, having left for cape  (7)
OUTLAST Abraham’s other son, the one he only exiled rather than attempted to kill, was therefore an OUTCAST. You are required to replace the C(ape) with an L(eft)
6 Move to Lancaster for treatment (11)
TRANSLOCATE  A toss up as to whether the anagram indicator is “move “ or “for treatment”, the latter winning the call. The rest of the clue supplies the letter mix.
7 Animated old soldier possibly shelters over in Berlin  (9)
EXUBERANT  An old soldier, possibly, is an EX ANT. UBER is nothing to do with taxis here, just German for over.
8 Radio employee’s girl and boy  (6)
DEEJAY  Just two random names joined in holy matrimony.
9 Stony strand accommodating flag  (6)
PEBBLY  Strand as in three PLY wool, flag as in EBB. Insert.
13 Extremely happy, like a jumped-up cow? (4,3,4)
OVER THE MOON  A phrase which Tottenham fans and players will probably be using even as I write. Combined with a reference to Hey Diddle Diddle.
16 He delivers cycles north of Douglas’s place  (9)
ROUNDSMAN Douglas is on the (Isle of) MAN, cycles ROUNDS. Happy memories of horse and cart laden with milk churns.
18 Searching investigation involving detectives attending a match  (4,4)
ACID TEST  Our friends from the Criminal Investigation Department are taking a day off attending A TEST.
20 Authorise northbound soldiers to restrain prisoner (7)
EMPOWER   REME, the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers reversed (this is a down clue so that’s what northbound signifies) and take in a P(risoner) O(f) W(ar)
21 Clever procedure that’s associated with migrating birds?  (6)
FLYWAY  Clever is FLY, procedure WAY, which gave me the answer even though I don’t recall seeing it before.
22 Peg, drunkard, crossing gorge  (6)
SPIGOT A drunkard gives you SOT, and gorge is the heavy eating variety, so PIG. Insert.
25 Swarm over the pond lost height crossing river (5)
DROVE  Unless you’re over the other side of the Pond yourself, when the cryptic bit would be dived, it’s DOVE. Insert R(iver)
28 Individual bringing up rear for a very long time! (3)
EON Start with an individual ONE, bring its last to the top. Voila.

67 comments on “Times Cryptic 26614/7 – January 5/9, 2017. Not exactly upping the anty”

  1. Fastest solve since well before Christmas. Wonder if solving ability is correlated with healthy living habits? Must ask Verlaine.

    Nice upbeat puzzle. EXUBERANT, FULL OF BEANS, OVER THE MOON even.

    Liked GOATHERD. Thanks setter and Z.

  2. … smörgåsbord, a quick tasty snack (NOT mock-turtle soup but.) Mostly write-ins with a little more caffeine required for the SE corner. Just a sip or two though.
  3. I got there in 34 mins for this somewhat vanilla offering as Jimbo would say.

    In order to liven things up I did it twice! And using a second print out and a stop-watch I had a second time of 2:47!(WR?)I reckon 2:30 is possible.
    I had no time to read the clues just bang in the letters. Thus IMO chaps like Magoo and Jase must really know the answers in advance!

    Back to reality – FOI 3dn ELI LOI 25dn DROVE

    COD 22dn SPIGOT WOD OVER THE MOON

  4. Easy solve, overall, but the parsing of DROVE—the obvious answer, from the definition—gave me pause. It seemed unnecessarily convoluted, only because I didn’t realize that a North American is more likely to use the relevant form of past tense of “dive.”
  5. 19 minutes is in PB territory for me although I don’t actually recall what my PB is. I loved solving this really lively and quite inventive puzzle. It’s not the sort I’d want every day but great fun occasionally and just the thing to chase away some of the post-festive season blues.

    FLYWAY was unknown to me too, but it had to be, and TRANSLOCATE is not a word I’d use when the more familiar RELOCATE would appear to mean exactly the same.

    Unlike our blogger I have no problem at all with the capital T in 17ac as by custom it’s fine for misdirection purposes; the no-no is leaving out a capital when the meaning actually requires one.

    2ac also reminded me of the Mama with a gleaming gloat, but SPIGOT at 22dn always brings another favourite rhyme to mind, from Tom Lehrer’s “Bright College Days”:

    Turn on the spigot,
    Pour the beer and swig it,
    And gaudeamus igit-ur.

    Memories of Dudley Moore auditioning for the part of Tarzan are not far behind.

    Edited at 2017-01-05 05:59 am (UTC)

    1. I accept that putting a capital where it should not be is considered acceptable by setters, and that not putting one where is should be is considered unacceptable. But in fact both are exactly as wrong as each other, surely .. they are both lies.
      Classier clues hide the capital letter, eg at the beginning of a sentence.
      1. For what it’s worth I have never understood this rule. You either ignore the punctuation or you don’t. If you don’t, and capitalisation changes the meaning in one direction then the lack of capitalisation necessarily changes the meaning in the other. It’s very strange.
  6. I have solved a completely different puzzle numbered 26614 which I reached through the link in todays paper – anyone else had this?

    Simon

    1. You’re not wrong: 3a ADAMS APPLE? Never seen that before, and one wonders what the treeware version is.

      1. Yes, it’s this puzzle – the one on the button in Club – that’s out of sync. I have reported the error.

        On edit. I see what’s happened now. This puzzle is the one due to appear next Monday on the newspaper site. Let’s wait and see what the Editors have to say before deciding whether to blog the other puzzle now.

        Edited at 2017-01-05 07:42 am (UTC)

        1. Can the link for that one be posted here? I tried to go to the paper to find it, but the password saved in my browser doesn’t work… besides, that would be yesterday’s paper now.
    2. Yes, me too. Completely bemused by the blog till I realised it was quite different. Any explanation?
      1. It’s not the first time one of my blogs has bemused, though perhaps not to that extent.
        1. Z, if you’re happy to blog the other one then I suggest you go ahead as it’s published in the newspaper and can’t be withdrawn now. Might I suggest you hide the content of the blog under “Read more…” and perhaps apply that retrospectively to this one too to give people a fair chance of not seeing answers they don’t want to? Also adjust the heading of this one to 26617 9th January. Andy may want to take this one down completely but I suspect it’s a bit late for that now and it’s not our mistake as it’s the Times that messed up.
          1. OK, I’ll get it up in a bit. Um… Can the “Read more” thing be done in the visual editor? I rather fear that if I bludgeon my way into the HTML editor I’ll end up with the whole thing in 36 point green.

            Edited at 2017-01-05 08:14 am (UTC)

            1. Yes, just highlight the bit you want to hide and click on the little hamburger symbol (as you hover over it displays “Insert cut”). It then puts scissor lines above and below the section.

              Edited at 2017-01-05 08:25 am (UTC)

  7. I’ve solved the other version, beginning 1a AJAR, so a blog is not out of the question. I thought the Club version was a bit Mondayish, even though, of course, there’s no such category.
    1. Two of the answers have already been given here, and many of us haven’t even seen that other puzzle yet.
      1. Sorry (-ish). In the instant, I couldn’t think of a way of distinguishing one puzzle from the other. The first disclosure was the first clue I could solve, the second the result of doing the whole thing.
        We’re in unprecedented territory here, and may have to invent a new etiquette for what can and can’t be said. “No spoilers” is a good start unless and until we blog the thing. After all, non-Club solvers haven’t seen the Club version, so I suppose I’ve “spoiled” the whole thing for them. Bit of a harsh judgement, I think!

        Edited at 2017-01-05 08:02 am (UTC)

        1. No conundrum: just identify the other puzzle with a clue, not an answer!

          As for non-Club solvers, I am always forgetting that some people who come to the blog work the puzzle in the newspaper, or thru the newspaper site even, but I wasn’t accusing you of being a spoiler as far as they are concerned, because you had no way of knowing about the snafu when you blogged!

          Edited at 2017-01-05 06:28 pm (UTC)

  8. 9:41 .. as jackkt says, nice to get one of these now and then. And it wasn’t without difficulty. I spent a minute in potential DNF territory staring at _E_B_Y and trying to think of another word for ‘broke’.

    COD SPIGOT for being the word spigot.

  9. 11:13 is about as fast as I can go, but unlike others didn’t enjoy it as much as yesterday: too many cross-references by 100% (and too easy – got both without even having read the clue referred to), too many random collections of letters claimed to be names – thora eva dee jay, too many foreign words in languages I don’t speak. Fortunately I knew the famous song California Uber Alles by the Dead Kennedys, otherwise I would have been in a huff.
    Did enjoy the goatherd, translocate, magnet, surgery, manifest and whalebone – pretty well all of them, in fact, except the ones I didn’t enjoy.
    1. Tu rigoles, n’est-ce pas?

      I’m also disappointed by z8’s peevish reference to ‘the regrettably common “times it by 2”’…

      I found this reasonably easy going this morning, having somehow missed out on Thursday’s excitement. Not as keen as others on 24ac, but only because my thinking doesn’t seem to be lateral enough to spot this kind of clue!

      re 11ac, I remember the River Ure as being the poor old odd one out in the area – its valley’s not named after the river but after a village instead – one Brownie point for working out which valley it is. 🙂

      2. When I were a lad, it was 3 multiplied by 4, but just 3 times 4.  The “by” would be redundant in the latter phrase. Pretty well chiselled into my system, so whenever I hear the excellent Rachel explaining her workings with the use of “times it by 4” it just sounds wrong. If this be peevish, and upon me proved….

        1. I’m with you Z. “times by” just sounds totally wrong, whereas “multiplied by” sounds correct.
  10. Very happy to have finished in 42 minutes—fast for me! I must confess to have bunged in TRANSLOCATE with a shrug while not having realised I was looking at the wrong definition. No problems apart from that. Enjoyed “attractive bar” very much.

    I look forward to squeezing in today’s additional puzzle if there’s time!

  11. Whizzed through this non stop and set a new personal best, somewhere near 2 Verlaines or 3 Magoos I expect, of 11 minutes dead. Then was slightly (but not very) disappointed to find it was supposed to be Monday fare, which is often easier as noted above. Ah well, can now solve the real 26614 as well although had promised to go shopping when the crossword was done.
    Liked the clues though, 7d my CoD.

    Edited at 2017-01-05 09:25 am (UTC)

  12. As for others – real nursery slopes stuff but quite entertaining

    When the Times first went on line they had regular cock-ups. I recall on one blogging day I had to jump in my car at 6.30am and drive to the station to buy a paper to obtain the puzzle I was supposed to blog. No problems like that for quite some time so I guess we can forgive today’s debacle

  13. 30mins, with a few extra at the end for GUMBO. Is the definition to define “okra” or just “okra”?
    Never knew they were an integral part of gumbo. Funnily enough had a scrummy okra curry at our local Keralan restaurant last night…

    Edited at 2017-01-05 10:04 am (UTC)

    1. Chambers offers gumbo as plain okra as well as soups and stews containing okra. I find I can’t resist following okra with Winfrey. I know I should’t.
  14. I wonder if the front page of today’s Times might be Monday’s news!? Has Sir Ivan Rogers really quit already?
  15. Thanks, Zed, for doing double duty and giving me next Monday off. If you would like me to reciprocate with a Thursday, just let me know.

    And thanks to Spurs for keeping the Premier League title race interesting and even – perhaps – United in the hunt.

    Although your best player didn’t score, that sumptuous right foot set up both the goals.

  16. Under 6 minutes for this one but it seems it was all just a dream! Back to the grind I guess…
  17. Time for this approached the QC today Monday 9th. Must remember to go through all the clues once rather than trying to do corners, would have saved time. Thanks jack and setter.
  18. Posting on 9 January, apparently the first to do so. Finished in 15 minutes with TENANTRY requiring a double-take. Stiil, if there’s a gentry and a peasantry, then why not? I think they’re called Generation Rent today. ISHMAEL and WHALEBONE made me look for a NINA, my new favourite word since the BOWIE special last week. Couldn’t see any more. I’m not getting notifications from LJ, apparently because btinternet are throwing back everything sent by them. Anyone else having that problem?
  19. I missed this last week, because I didn’t get to the puzzle until late. I expect it’s going to be fairly sparsely commented on today!
    It took me 8 minutes: easy but not among the very easiest. Unknown (FLYWAY) and not-exactly-everyday (SPIGOT, ROUNDSMAN, GUMBO) words slowed me down a bit in the bottom half. My first thought for 26ac was BHINDI, so I wondered if it might be spelled without the H. Apparently it can’t, although BINDHI can.
  21. Thanks for doing double duty Z. The Club site had been corrected before I got up NY time so it took me a little while to sort out what everyone was talking about post-submit. At 9.01 this was certainly one of my faster times. Same as Z on FLYWAY and ever since I was a small kid I’ve thought it was “beams” rather than BEANS so I had to slot in 23a to be sure first.
  22. 12.30 – best for a good while. The annoying thing is, nothing held me up, and I’m still twice as slow as some. No fifth gear.
  23. Having been warned of the error last week, aided by my usual tardy arrival into the new day, I waited for today’s treeware before tackling this puzzle. An enjoyable romp of 23 minutes saw me through the tape with my sternum. My FOI was ELI immediately followed by MANET attracting his extra G. The rest went in steadily and I finished at a run with TRANSLOCATE, EXUBERANT and finally THORAX. I mused over the unknown Russian writer, GOESL, until NEGLIGENT gave me a slap on the forehead. The late insect in charge gave me a smile and I now see what Z was on about with his reference to Formicidae. A fun start to the week. Thanks setter and Z for the double duty.
  25. Although I printed this out last week I solved the “other” puzzle on the day and did this one today in 8:18 so I’d have to call it very straightforward.

    FLYWAY was the only real unknown but I’m not sure I knew that GUMBO = OKRA/BHINDI/Ladies’ Fs.

  26. I thought I might be in PB territory today, but couldn’t keep up the pace and ended on 7m 52s. I wasn’t helped by going for EMPTY-HEADED or (not sure how this happened) writing in NEGLIGNET and not spotting it for ages.
  27. This to me was a genuine Monday puzzle with the top half going in at Verlaine speed (almost!) . Slowed down later but still whizzed in (for me) at 12.47. Missed all the excitement of last Thursday by just not looking at z8’s first estimable blog.
  28. I solve on treeware so I never had the wrong puzzle last week. This took me 13 mins and I know I should have been much faster, but I spent an age trying to think of an alternative to FLYWAY, and I was held up badly by the EXUBERANT/THORAX crossers.
  29. 31 minutes, sounds like a lot but if I hadn’t spent two or three minutes to come upon DEEJAY (while trying to stay awake) it would have been my best time ever. Incidentally concerning “times”, for me “3 x 2” is shorthand for “3 times 2”, so what’s the problem with “times”=X?

    I also started out with EMPTY-HANDED, but I knew 6dn was an anagram and I had already used up both A’s for crossers, so I had to revise it.

    1. No problem at all with 2 times 3 or 2 x 3, it’s when someone uses “times 2 by 3” when they mean “multiply 2 by 3” that strikes a discordant note. To us hidebound old boys, anyway:-)
    2. Times=X is not a problem for me either. It’s the redundant and jarring “by” in the phrase “times by”, or worse “times it by” that irritates. It neglects the glaring truth that “times” is not a verb, it’s a (plural) noun, so 3 times 2 means what it says: it’s 2, three times. Multiply is a verb, so rather needs the “by”. 2 multiplied 3 is nonsense.
  30. 32m – galloped through the rh side and then ground to a halt. Eventually the translocated goatherd fell and I was off again until another juddering halt with two left – exuberant thorax. Would never have known it was an animated chest. The things I learn from this daily struggle! Thanks for the blog. Grestyman
  31. I am one of those who solved this last week, so I don’t remember how long it took, but it wasn’t very long. I recall my only problem being the appearance of the unlikely girl named Thora. That seems a very unlikely name, and I’m pretty sure I never knew a Thora. Regards to all, and thanks for the double duty blog.
    1. not a commonly occurring name, for sure, but most Brits of a certain age will be familiar with the late Dame Thora Hird, actress, while aficionados of The Likely Lads / Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads will recall Bob’s wife Thelma (played by Brigit Forsyth).
      Some compensation perhaps for most Brits not being familiar with “dove” per 25d.
        1. Thanks for the Thora lesson. I hadn’t heard of either one. Perhaps I’m too sheltered.
  32. A rather slow clean sweep in 8:50. Things were going pretty well until I hit the unknown (or forgotten) FLYWAY with just the F and (first) Y in place, though I’m not sure it would have made much difference if I’d had the A as well. Not wanting to make a mistake so early in the year, I felt I had to check through the alphabet pretty carefully.

    Plain sailing apart from that.

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