Very slow to get going, was staring at an empty grid for close to three minutes, before FOI way down at CHILEAN. 21:20 eventually, so first one in the SCC: I’ll put the kettle on.
I thought I’d weigh in on this business of whether AI will ever be able to solve Times Cryptic crosswords (Jack Malvern article, Sep 21). I predict that am AI will win the Time championship next year, and possibly this year. The solution set is constrained, and the source material is extensive, especially if it is trained on the thousands of entries in the Tftt. If you add in the ability to scour the dictionary for likely looking clues then it becomes even easier. Setters struggle to come up with truly unique clues, such as 7d today.
Definitions underlined in bold , synonyms in (parentheses) (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, other wordplay in [square brackets] and deletions in {curly} brackets.
| Across | |
| 1 | Accordingly, newspaper company starts to provide you material online (4,4) |
| SOFT COPY – SO (Accordingly) + FT (Newspaper) + CO{mpany} + P{rovide} + Y{ou} | |
| 5 | Solid mass next to tree (4) |
| FIRM – FIR (Tree) + M{ass} | |
| 8 | Mediterranean island found to have no end of taramasalata (5) |
| CRETE – CRE{A}TE (found)
This is “found” as in the verb (a common crossword misdirection), with the A removed. Malta looked tempting if you take some random letters out of {tara}ma{sa}l{a}ta. |
|
| 9 | Power, say, linked with a small American group of stars (7) |
| PEGASUS – P{ower} + EG (say) + A + S{small} + US (American)
I at first thought Power is an example of peg. |
|
| 11 | Nasty people won’t ultimately think highly of show (11) |
| DEMONSTRATE – DEMONS (Nasty people) + {won}T + RATE (think highly)
When Demons are used for people, they are usually positive : a demon on the keys, a demon fast bowler. |
|
| 13 | Shrublands have suffered, primarily after hot weather (6) |
| HEATHS – HEAT (hot weather) + H{ave} + S{uffered} | |
| 14 | Be unable to stand, or look at, that man (6) |
| LOATHE – LO (look) + AT + HE (that man)
“Lo” for “look”. As in “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” — Matthew 28:20. Although if you replace “lo” with “look”, Jesus sounds a bit like Tony Blair. |
|
| 16 | Great work produced by teacher and bishop, maybe (11) |
| MASTERPIECE – MASTER (teacher) + PIECE (Bishop)
Bishop as in chess piece. |
|
| 18 | A lichen unusually coming from part of South America (7) |
| CHILEAN – (A LICHEN)* [unusually] | |
| 19 | Adele single arising out of anguish, followed by love (5) |
| HELLO – HELL (anguish) + O (love)
And since I’m the one who moans about old-fashioned clues, I was completely stumped by this, as I don’t know any Adele songs, but it is certainly guessable. They say it is a piano ballad with soul influences (including guitar) and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. I just listened to it, and I rather like it, and am now feeling a bit nostalgic and regretful. |
|
| 20 | In retrospect, some artists always endure (4) |
| LAST – Reverse hidden in artists always | |
| 21 | Multilayered news article entertains European editor (8) |
| STOREYED – STORY (news article) contains E + ED{itor}
Sorry, my American friends, we spell it STOREY here. The Etymology is not known, but one theory is that as an architectural term, historia may originally have denoted a tier of painted windows or of sculptures on the front of a building. Hence two stories would have been on top of each other: hence storeys. I find this unconvincing, but that’s what the OED is going with. |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Nauseous and sweaty at first? Ugh! (4) |
| SICK – S{weaty} + ICK (Ugh)
ICK used to be nursery-speak, but now it is used in the phrase “to get the ick” when a date suddenly goes bad. |
|
| 2 | They may unintentionally reveal sinful despair somehow (8,5) |
| FREUDIAN SLIPS – (SINFUL DESPAIR)*
Cracking anagram. When singing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy in a choir many years ago, the basses came in a bar too early with a very loud “Freude” (Joy). The conductor said it was a Freudian Slip. |
|
| 3 | Ace scheme involved eating extremely restorative, mild food (5,6) |
| CREAM CHEESE – (ACE SCHEME) * [involved] contains [eating] R{estorativ}E | |
| 4 | Very hot spot in the middle of jungles (6) |
| PIPING – PIP (spot) + IN + {jun}G{les} | |
| 6 | Slo-mo clip in parts, neatly edited (7,6) |
| INSTANT REPLAY – (IN PARTS NEATLY)* | |
| 7 | Was a marshal or colonel suspected of murder, according to reports? (8) |
| MUSTERED –
I think the definition works because a Marshal musters troops, (that’s what marshal literally means). So “was a marshal” gives “mustered”. And the cryptic element relates to Colonel Mustard in Cleudo (Clue for Americans) who was suspected of murder (along with the 5 others). And the “according to reports” cues the homophone. |
|
| 10 | Do come by to collect that girl (3-8) |
| GET-TOGETHER – GET (come ) + TO + GET (collect) + HER
I’ll get/come to your house at 1700. |
|
| 12 | Charlie and Michael distributed methamphetamine, perhaps (8) |
| CHEMICAL – C + (MICHAEL)* | |
| 15 | Instrument fixed with nail inside (6) |
| SPINET – SET (fixed) contains PIN (nail)
A smaller type of keyboard instrument, often a compact piano or a small harpsichord |
|
| 17 | Ex-president supporting Democrat (4) |
| FORD – FOR (supporting) + D{emocrat}
And of course, FORD was a republican, so would be unlikely to support a Democrat. But in those days, politics was not so polarised. |
|
What a boring collection of comments. This is not a precis about Adele. This in no way a useful set of comments I have to say. This should not be about solvers bragging about the time it took to finish the crossword.