Times 100000001 (Yes, really) – MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: Just under an hour and a half, due partly to fatigue and partly to some excellent clues.

The website gives the number as 100000001, I have no idea why. But I guess we have to go with it.

A really good crossword. But it Christmas Day for goodness sake. Why are you doing crosswords today for? Go and eat some mince pies or something.

Anyway, let’s get this blog done so I can go to bed. I’m sure I can hear the sound of hooves on the roof…

cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this

Across
1 APP(RAISE)S
9 TO + R(P)EDO
10 C + HIM + ERA
11 PENNEd
12 DRAMATISE = (SMART IDEA)*
13 MANAGUA = MAN + A + AUGust rev – August = month for holidays. ‘For holidays’ is a little superfluous, but required for the surface. It’s the capital of Nicaragua.
15 DEFOE – Not 100% of the wordplay. I read this as – adversary (FOE) first (preceded by) person to change text (EDitor) around (rev)
17 RU(CH)E
18 HE + lADY – Not sure I get ‘downed by’ as a removal indicator
19 RITZY = RITe + YZ rev
20 PRESS + I.E.
23 C + ARTESIAN = A follower of Rene Descartes. Artesian is a type of well.
25 RYDER = “RIDER” – Samuel Ryder was the original presenter of the famous golf trophy.
27 COINAGE – dd – my last one in.
28 up AND OVER
29 THRENODES = (SHORTENED)*
Down
1 AR(CAD)E
2 PRIM + A + FAC(I)E
3 ADELAIDE = DIAL rev in A + DEE – One for the Aussies out there. Although it’s a test match they’ll want to forget!
4 SWArM + I
5 S(TATE + MEN)T
6 T(REP)AN
7 dd – deliberately omitted
8 ROSEMARY = OR rev + SEMinARY
14 GRAN(TIN + AI)D – I’d not heard this term, but it went straight in from the wordplay.
16 anagram – deliberately omitted – not much shuffling is required.
17 RIP + ARIAN
18 HYPER + ION = One of Saturn’s moons.
21 ST + ROVE
22 EN + GELS – Friedrich was the socialist.
24 RACER = RE + CAR all rev
26 deliberately omitted

17 comments on “Times 100000001 (Yes, really) – MERRY CHRISTMAS!!”

  1. This took me just under 90 minutes too with one cheat on my last one in, RIPARIAN. I know the word but don’t think it would ever have come to mind without using a solver.

    I suppose the idea at 18ac is that the L in HE,LADY is downed in the sense of being eaten or swallowed so it disappears from view.

  2. Well done Dave – devotion beyond the call of duty. But how good to have a puzzle on Christmas Day so that we junkies can get our daily fix.

    I’ve no idea how many people will do this puzzle but I thought it warranted a wider audience. Definitely one to tackle before dinner rather than after with a smattering of really good clues.

    Compliments of the season to everybody

  3. My compliments to the blog.

    I came at 24 as R(ACE)R

    Last one in ROSEMARY

    Merry Xmas one and all.

    1. I’m pretty sure the breakdown in the blog is the one that was intended. I’m not sure that R(ACE)R really quite works. ‘For a spin’ would serve no purpose, and definition would seem rather entwined with the wordplay.
  4. I can enjoy the mince pies now. 26:09 for me. Agree with aloo2 about 24 – my last one in was COINAGE.
  5. How lovely to have a puzzle on Xmas morning. I don’t like to break routine. Joining this club was one of the best things I’ve done this year. Thanks to everybody who contributes and especially to the amazing bloggers. Happy Christmas one and all. A nice steady solve today which came in at 40 minutes,including a cuppa and a mince pie!
  6. I needed quite a bit of help to finish this in 52 min. Didn’t think much of the clue for 18ac, I must say – but it was nice to get the brain working a bit before facing up to the turkey!
  7. I slogged through this while watching a football game Christmas Eve, then managed to finish this morning; great swatches of time, all in all, but worth it. Never heard of ‘pressie’, I’m glad to say. Nor ‘he lady’, which (minus L) was my desperate ex post facto explanation for ‘heady’; surprised to find I was correct. I might have got ‘forecourt’ sooner if I hadn’t read the tiny type as ‘Force four’. All in all, a nice Christmas present; thank you, setter.
  8. About an hour, on Christmas Eve in US, getting stuck on coinage/racer and torpedo/rosemary. But one wrong, I put in “heavy” instead of “heady”. Spent too much of my youth in Scotland. I guess, where the strongest beer is “a pint o’ heavy” and never returned to check the wordplay.
  9. I found the left half went in easily, the right took longer.

    I parsed 24dn as “One car” (def), RE (about) CAR (another) “for a spin” being the reversal indicator.

    According to the setter this was supposed to be iPad compatible but I couldn’t figure out how.

    Maybet that is the reason for the odd numbering.

    1. Sorry my comment on 24 was in relation to aloo2’s comment, and in agreement with Dave’s blog.

      Happy New Year. Chris

  10. What with one thing & another i didn’t get to look at this til late last night, and I found it quite hard – c35 minutes, much of which spent in the SE corner. Coinage took time to find and so did cartesian since i developed a fixation over confuciius which got in the way rather.
    A fine Xmas present from the setter; thanks! – and a merry Xmas to all bloggers and readers.
  11. I was grateful for this puzzle, having been stuck on my own in Prague for Christmas thanks to the closure of the airports. It was a hard one too, for which I was also grateful. I too had never heard of GRANT IN AID and I spent a long time trying to justify RACER as ACE in RR, but it all added to the fun. Thanks for the blog and the clarifications.
  12. Nice blog. Thank you, Dave.

    At the time you were posting it, I was actually making the mince pies – with puff pastry, you’ve got to try them!

    Merry Christmas and a very happy new year to all who blog, comment or just follow along.

    Sotira (occasionally known as Sarah)

  13. Somewhere over three hours, but got there without aids, apart from checking THRENODES (thought it had to be THRENODIES) and help from the senior daughter on ROSEMARY. Very pleased to have finished after having come to a halt after four in the first hour (after Christmas dinner).
    But why are we being served up this one again on the website on Tuesday the 28th?

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