Bonus treat – Times 9,572

Author   linxitPosted on Categories Announcement
We have an extra Monday puzzle this week, courtesy of regular commenter john_from_lancs. He found a couple of old copies of The Times in his loft, and has given us the crossword from the first of them (cleared by the Times legal department first, just in case).

This puzzle is from Monday 9th January 1961, so exactly 50 years old yesterday. Over to John (who has also sent me the annotated solution in blog-entry style, which I’ll be posting tomorrow):

Two yellowing newspapers found in my attic recently contained, much to my delight, crosswords
from fifty years ago. If you would like to try one, go to this address and print it; I’m afraid I cannot offer on-line solving.

Below, I’ve recorded a few thoughts about tackling old crosswords, and hope that readers will not
think me presumptuous for doing so. If you prefer to try the puzzle cold, stop reading here.

Some general observations about old crossword puzzles.

(i) Although some clues conform to the modern formula of (definition) + (word play) → answer,
many do not.

(ii) Some clues simply allude to words in a loose way: you might, for example, see DOGMATIC clued
as “mechanical hound?” Puns are frequently used: some clues remind me of awful Christmas-cracker
jokes.

(iii) Anagrams sometimes appear with no definition, though there is usually an indication that the
letters should be rearranged.

(iv) You occasionally meet straight definitions such as are seen in the Times 2 crossword. As you
don’t know whether or not they are cryptic, they must, I suppose, be cryptic! There are none of
these in this puzzle.

(v) Puzzles often contain one or two straight quotations to complete. Sometimes they are easily
deduced from the checking letters, but often they are not. As well as the Bible and Shakespeare,
works by Gray, Scott, Tennyson, Shelley, Longfellow, Mrs Hemans and others frequently appear.
In summary, those solvers who enjoy the modern, tightly-clued, analytical approach to puzzles,
where each clue usually gives two ways into the answer and no word is superfluous, might be
infuriated by what is a much looser style, often based on word association. I confess to enjoying
these old puzzles and hope that some of you will enjoy them too.

4 comments on “Bonus treat – Times 9,572”

  1. This took me back. I started doing the Times xword when I was in college in 1964 and it used to take me days. I still remember the thrill of my first complete solve. I’ve just finished this one in 26 minutes. It’s a relief to know that some brain functions actually seem to improve with age! I still can’t understand 2 down tho’ think I’ve probably got the right answer. I prefer the current crossword format though. It’s disconcerting to have clues that don’t contain the definitions. Thanks to John for posting this.
  2. 14:50 for me. I started solving the Times crossword when I left school in 1962, and I can certainly remember a time when I was absolutely delighted if I broke 15 minutes. Today it took me a while to get into the swing of the thing, and I made rather heavy weather of the NW corner.

    I knew the quotation at 13ac as we had to learn the speech it comes from when I was at school. (Those were the days 😉

    My guess is that 2dn refers to Albany.

    My thanks to John for reviving old memories.

  3. The approach and style overall is exemplified in microscosm by 22dn, which is delightfully allusive! Although I was only one when this puzzle came out, it was fun and frustrating in equal measure (so what’s new?). Thanks to John for providing us with these oldies.

    I’m still not sure I got the crossers at 23/24 correct. If 24 is anything to do with music, I may have that, but that means 23 is, or appears, improbable.

  4. when this came out. I think I didn’t start doing cryptics of any kind for another 4 or five years.

    It has been a challenge, and I’ve still 7 clues to solve. 22, 23 and 24 seem to have given others some difficulties, so I’ll concentrate on 4, 7, 8 and 10.

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