The Times Christmas Day Crossword 2512 (perhaps a significant number? ;-)

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving Time: 18 mins. So, here we are on Christmas Day 2013, which is Isaac Newton’s 371st birthday, Humphrey Bogart’s 114th, and Alastair Cook’s 29th. I found this a very entertaining crossword with some excellent individual clues, overall of roughly average difficulty. (And as Jack points out below, it’s a pangram too)

Forgive me if my blog is a little terse in places, my 4 year old grandson is here and he is beyond excited.. Lovely to see, if a little distracting. Happy Christmas!

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(–), homophones indicated in “”

ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online

Across

1 chestnut – BOX + NUT
6 splice – (fla)P in cut = SLICE
9 prop – one trained = PRO, + Pack, the def. being an &lit rugby reference to a prop forward
10 crustacean – reddish = RUST + serve = ACE in CAN. A clever, neat clue
11 dive bomber – submarine worker = DIVER containing dessert = BOMBE
13 just – (ad)JUST
14 hotelier – T(im)E in HOLIER
16 inward – accepted = IN (part of the in crowd?) + WAR + abroaD
18 Mexico – EX IC in MO. IC being in charge, MO being medical officer
20 frequent – I assume this is distress = FRET, containing QUeEN, but not certain how queen = pack member, seems a bit of a slur on the royal family? :-). On reflection I think it must be a pack of playing cards we are looking for..
22 scan – 100 = C in hospital = SAN
24 studio flat – boss = STUD + I + *(A LOFT) for what I think of as a bedsit
26 second-rate – CON + DRAT in SEE. My granny would have said a couple were seeing each other, or “walking out”
28 rhea – hidden in oveRHEAd
29 theses – *(SHEET) + muSic.”an unproved statement, esp one put forward as a premise in an argument” (Collins)
30 remotely – MOTEL in surREY. Another neat clue

Down

2 herbivore – IV – fourtth in HER + BORE
3 supreme – PapeR + EM (ems & ens pop up all the time, look ’em up if you aren’t familiar with them) in SUE, my wife
4 nacho – drink = CAN, rev., + HOuse
5 tau – only now can I parse this it is TAUpe, taupe being a posh word for beige
6 saturnine – SATURN + IN + E
7 lockjaw – LOCK + JAW, a lock being a second row rugby forward
8 class – CoLd + ASS. Note seasonal foody reference
12 bird flu – young female = BIRD + “flue”
15 ironsides – (golf) club = IRON + SIDE’S
17 ring a bell – *(BEGAN) in small stream = RILL. A fantastic clue
19 igneous – GI rev., + (lin)E in NOUS
21 up for it – because IT SET becomes UP SET if you put up for it..
23 Czech – “check”
25 ileum – MUEsLI rev. another neat clue
27 Ayr – the Ays have it, + Racecourse

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

22 comments on “The Times Christmas Day Crossword 2512 (perhaps a significant number? ;-)”

  1. 36 minutes for this mostly straightforward but enjoyable puzzle solved from the bottom upwards as I lost some time getting started on the grid. Another delay came later when my first thought at 6dn was ‘satellite’ giving rise to difficulties at 11ac.

    It’s a pangram, by the way, and, Jerry, you have a typo at 16ac.

    Merry Christmas to all!

    Edited at 2013-12-25 05:13 am (UTC)

  2. What fun! Saw the number 2512, assumed it was a venerable reprint and solved it in 22 minutes thinking “this doesn’t look like an early Times”. D’oh! Might have added to my time, as I was expecting an antique oblique style which never materialised, even if I thought it was a bit naughty cluing CHESTNUT with just “horse” (It’s the colour, dimwit!).
    An elegant pangram, with a sprinkling of nods to the day, which might explain why “turkey” is used to signify ASS in 8. Liked ILEUM for the definition, and 21 for its device.
    And to all, a Happy Christmas
    1. Chambers gives CHESTNUT as “a chestnut coloured horse” so I think the setter is within the bounds of reasonableness
      1. I agree totally. While I was solving, though, I was in antique mode (sort of) and read the clue as one of those word association things that the old style used to present, as if the clue was supposed to go “horse —” followed by the wordplay. Of course in the light of day, I’m quite happy with chestnut=horse, as I would be with grey or Clydesdale. I might be in trouble, though – it’s my turn to blog the next one, whatever number that turns out to be.
  4. Squeezed this in before the children (sorry, they object to this being in their 20s – young adults) woke up. A pleasant start to the day. I missed the significance of the number.
  6. Turned the clock off before I realised I didn’t have 8dn: a quite strange clue among what I thought were a bunch of such things. Can’t really put my finger on why. All fair and above board now I look at it but, during the solve, I got into all sorts of blind alleys. Probably just me. Usually is.
  7. Great devotion to duty Jerry, blogging on Christmas Day – nice one!

    Friendly and rather interesting puzzle. Didn’t bother to work out 5D and quite pleased now I’ve seen the answer. Liked and enjoyed the rest of it.

    Off now to check the flood defences again as the rain appears to have stopped for the moment

    1. Jimbo – I hope the floods and power cuts leave you alone (and everyone else, for that matter). Failing that, I’m sure your flood defences will be engineered to the highest standards.
      1. Thanks for kind wishes Sotira. Not sure how far and wide news of our local flooding is reported but I live not far from the Dorset Stour which has wrecked parts of Christchurch. We’re OK at the moment but another inch of rain is forecast for Thursday evening!
        1. It’s reported quite far and wide Jim, because here in (sunny) Qatar, where my daughter & family live, I saw it in graphic detail on the BBC world news.. I too hope it sorts itself out without damage. My home village of Linton has had a bit of wind battering but is on a hill so flooding not likely.
  8. 17 and a half minutes for a pleasant puzzle, very happy to find this as an online present from the crossword elves. Something to occupy the brain in between eating the extraordinary amounts of food which also seem to have magically appeared.

    Compliments of the season to one and all.

  9. After a slow start, 20 minutes of pleasure between spaced out courses… all parsed except CLASS for which thanks Jerry. Alistair Cook’s last birthday as England Captain? Early rise tomorrow to find out.
    1. I won’t be rising too early Pip, before enjoying a brisk walk to the “G” for my first ever Boxing Day Test. Just me and 90,000 of my closest friends, apparently.

      Good luck to your boys, they’ll need to dig deep. Winning the toss would be a good start.

      1. Wish I was there making 90,001, being barmy, even if I couldn’t bear to watch… my cousins should be there but they prefer to go sailing at Somers.
        Monty Panesar… 7 for 60… England make it 3 -1 …
  10. 29:53 (sherry-assisted) … A lovely surprise to see a crossword at all late on Christmas Eve, and a very enjoyable one, too. Thank you Jerry, for taking time away from the festivities to write it up, and to those elves at The Times for this and for another year of bafflement and enlightenment.

    Merry Christmas to all.

  11. I thought this would be quick when CRUSTACEAN, IRONSIDES, and TAU went right in, but then got fooled by the too obvious DOVE adjacent to RHEA (should have seen that that was too clumsy for this puzzle), and slowed by the more intricate clues -a good several of which I needed the blog to parse. A very nice Christmas gift (puzzle and blog both).

    Edited at 2013-12-25 03:12 pm (UTC)

  12. 18 mins – probably would have been quicker but I have consumed a large lunch, drunk a large glass of pink wine and solved the Elgar Double Toughie.
  13. Found this harder than others did, coming in just under the hour. I’ll blame the excesses of the day.

    Merry Christmas to everyone.

  14. Great to find puzzles in the iPad digital Times today. (Mrs B got a new iPad for Christmas and I’ve inherited her old one so for once read the iPad version of the newspaper not the online version. Solving on iPad worked very well).
    The puzzle numbering (Concise is no. 1225) made me smile.
    Solved this on and off throughout the day in between hosting parents, in-laws and an aunt & uncle for lunch & supper.
    Happy Christmas!

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