The Times Cryptic Crossword Number: 24085

Author   foggywebPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 39 minutes

Mostly straightforward, although I got held up for quite a while in the NE corner.
After write-up, I don’t think I get 18.

Across

5 B,OTTOM – MOTTO,B reversed
9 PUN,IT,I’VE
12 TOSCA – initial letters
14 A,CHILL,E(SHE)EL
18 FIELD(MEET)ING – oops I don’t think I get this. It is FIELD(TEST)ING. 18ac is TEST (international match) with (Henry) FIELDING round it. Thanks, kurihan.
23 [c]ENTER
25 LUKE,WAR,M
26 S(E)RMON – SRMON of NORMS
27 C(HITCH)AT

Down

1 UP,PITY
2 SA,NEST – SA=AS reversed.
3 ENTRANCE D
4 DIVER,TIME,NTO – DIVER=anagram of VERDI, NTO=anagram of NOT.
6 O,I,LED
7 TA(VERNE)R
8 MISS,PELL. No, it’s probably MISS,PELT. Thanks, kurihan. (I think PELL can also be a hide, but it doesn’t really work here)
11 PULLS,TH(R)OUGH – R=par, ultimately
15 SINCE,REST
16 O,FT,TIMES
20 PROM,PT

22 comments on “The Times Cryptic Crossword Number: 24085”

  1. About 35 mins, but I think it should have been much less. I spent a lot of time looking for complications which just weren’t there.

    I think 8dn is MISSPELT (PELT being the hide).

    18ac is TEST (international match) with (Henry) FIELDING round it.

    (Fielding was a lawyer and on the first page of “Tom Jones” uses “eleemosynary”, which is a word much loved down the years by judges in cases involving charitable trusts. I am just waiting for it to turn up in a crossword!)

    1. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it in Azed or Mephisto sometime in the last three years or so, but never in the Times.
  2. I also took far too long over this one. I had all but the SE corner completed within 30 minutes but then spent as long again trying to solve that corner. Despite having THROUGH in place from 11D I took ages to get started there, but gradually they fell into place. I’m really kicking myself for not spotting ENTER and PROMPT immediately, let alone making the song and dance of them that I did today.
  4. Very straightforward 25 minutes. I think “pelt” works better than “pell” at 8D. For non-golfers at 11D a “pull” is like a slice, hook and push a drive that heads more for the rough than the fairway.
  5. 10:24 for me, but I got held up in the SE corner for a while so should have been well under 10 mins. Last one in was 25A, which I ended up staring at for a minute looking for any word that would fit.

    17D for COD – funny that, I always go for clues with alcohol in them!

  6. Similar solving experience here to those above. The setter seemed to change gear half way through (or maybe I engaged low gear). I finished the top half in 9 minutes, then took another 30 minutes or so to get the rest. Like jackkt it was the SE corner that really slowed me up, but I can’t say the clues were hard, just unexpectedly trickier than the very easy clues in the top half.
    I enjoyed the clues in this puzzle, even when they were easy.
  7. 10:15 – Good start, but got bogged down in both SE and finally NE corners. Taking ages to understand 10 and 20 in particular felt embarassing.

    8 is definhitely MISSPELT – the adjectival phrase “having character forms” demands the past tense/adjectival form.

    1. Sir, I guess 10 ac is “Cloves” but I could not explain it. Can you help? Thanks – Sudheer (from Bangalore, India)
  8. 11 minutes, while watching Australia polish off New Zealand, nothing too tricky but a little sporty. Of all things, the rather direct anagram MENTOR was the last to go in.
  9. 26:25, like others got slowed down in the home counties towards the end.

    Like dyste I think I enjoyed pretty much every clue, so thanks to the setter. I took ages to spot that 21 was a container – very well disguised and I was looking for the name of a snake.

    Q-0, E-8.5, D-6.5 COD 15

  10. Despite getting through in a just above average 45 minutes, this never felt that easy, which is confirmed by some of the daft errors I made looking through the above. I made the same mistake in 18ac, and also managed to rush in DICTUM for 5ac, leaving me with a big question mark next to IDLED in 6d. That’ll teach me, I suppose, to go for speed instead of taking the time to question answers where the wordplay plainly didn’t fit.
  11. All except 5A in 20 mins. Gave up then.Lovely start with 1A which is my favourite clue today.Encouraging to see that even the best struggle sometimes. Gives me hope when I struggle a lot!
  12. White rabbits. Have to get that out of the way.
    15:45 .. Perfectly pitched puzzle. All kinds of good things here, but I’d single out BEGINNER, PROMPT, ACHILLES HEEL and ENTRANCED. And most of all, MISSPELT, one of my favourite words and beautifully defined as “having character faults”. That’s brilliant.

    Q-0, E-9, D-7 .. COD 8d MISSPELT

  13. I agree with Peter B that “pelt” (rather than “pell”) is mandatory at 8dn if the (excellent) cryptic definition of “having character faults” is to work. Lots of enjoyable and amusing clues – e.g. UPPITY at 1dn and OFTTIMES at 16dn. Like some others, I got off to a fast start and then slowed down. Probably 35 mins approx in the end.

    Michael H

  14. Regards all, sorry to have been missing last week, but work and US holiday kept me away from the computer. After last week’s toughies, today’s seems a relative walk in the park, though. About 25 minutes, like others finishing in the SE, my last entry being PROMPT. See you tomorrow. COD: TRICKSTER.
  15. After the agonies of last week’s forced marching, this was a most enjoyable stroll in the park. About 20 min while ever so slightly tipsy.
  16. She’s my black-eyed girl but Puccini rather than Texas.

    There is a boat-load of “easies”:

    1a Arrangement for Tuesday, about noon? It’s not firmly fixed (8)
    UNSTEADY. Anagram of (Tuesday n).

    10a Lots of garlic and spices (6)
    CLOVES. In my early days of culinary endeavour I was not sure what 2 cloves of garlic meant so I put in 2 bulbs. Tasty sauce that one.

    13a Journey that gets you back home about fall (5,4)
    ROUND TRIP

    21a Cheat thrown out of Patrick’s territory (9)
    TRICKSTER. Hidden in last 2 words.

    24a No term off for this teacher (6)
    MENTOR. Anagram of (no term).

    17d Drink ensnaring another new and inexperienced person (8)
    BE GIN N ER

    19d Couple engaged in silly chat (6)
    AT TACH

    22d Capital having moved to another city in same country (5)
    KYO TO. TOKYO with TO moved.

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