Times 15000 (originally, 9 Sep 1978)

Solving time: Just under an hour and ten minutes, but it would have been much longer without the use of reference material.

Having completed 25000 in a reasonable time, I thought I’d have a go at this one. I expected it to be a nightmare, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I anticipated. Clearly the cluing wasn’t nearly as rigid then as it is today, but then I knew that was going to be the case. There’s also a much heavier reliance on Shakespeare and other works of literature than there is today.

1a and 1d both went in straightaway, which is always going to be useful in this grid, although I had to use Wikipedia to verify 1d. It looks like all the long perimeter answers are self-referential in some way. Then I went through the RHS without too much difficulty, but slowed down considerably on the other side. 24 was my last in, and I still don’t understand it. I was quite surprised to find I had got it right.

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

Across
1	FIFTEEN THOUSAND – An obvious reference to number of the crossword. The cryptic refers to it being 10 x MD (1,500 in Roman numerals)
9	REDE + SIGNS – ‘Rede’ was a new word to me, meaning to consel or advise
10	C + APR 1
11	YODEL = DO in LEY all rev, although the answer went straight in from the definition. I don’t think I even read the wordplay until I came to write the blog!
12	LENGTHILY = (THING)* in LELY, Sir Peter Lely was a 17th century Dutch portrait painter.
13	INTO + NED – I didn’t know what a bushranger was, but it sounded Australian so Ned Kelly seemed the likely target
15	ARSENIC = (NICER AS)* – A reference to the Joseph Kesselring play, Arsenic and Old Lace, and the even more famous Frank Capra movie adaptation with Cary Grant.
17	HANGERS – dd – A hanger being a type of cutlass, apparently.
19	CHATEAU – the Château d’If was the prison used in Alexandre Dumas novel
20	YARD OF ALE – I got this from ‘long drink’, but it did help me get an answer for 24. It’s ALERT without the RT, although the ‘YARD OF’ but doesn’t appear to have any wordplay, unless I’m missing something.
22	EMBER – I’m not sure about this one. Clearly, ‘the end of this month’ = ~~sept~~EMBER, the rest might be a reference to ‘Ember days’ which are days set apart for fasting and prayer in each of the four seasons of the year.
24	ALERT – I’ve no idea about this one at all. I got it from the reference in 20. Were we on alert in England in 1978? And if so, for what? And what’s it got to do with the French? Help required here, I think. Z8b8d8k provides an explanation below.
25	CORROSION = (CORN OR SO + I)*
26	SOLO PERFORMANCE – I would say cd, but it seems pretty straight to me. I assume this is a reference to the Times crossword being generally a solo pursuit.
Down
1	FORTY-EIGHT YEARS – The first Times crossword was published in 1930, a fact I had to refer to Wikipedia to establish.
2	FADED – The first of two Shakespearean references. This one is to a well-known speech by Prospero in The Tempest, which he gives during his blessing of Ferdinand & Miranda: Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve; And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.
3	EAST LYNNE – cd – A reference to the title of a Victorian novel by Ellen Wood
4	NIGGLED = (I LEND + G/G)* – G being a slang term for a thousand dollars
5	HOSANNA = WHOSE without the WE + ANNA
6	UNCUT – dd – If ‘cut’ is ignored, then UNCUT must be the opposite
7	APPLIANCE = I + (CAN)* in APPLE (William Tell’s target)
8	The second Shakespearean quote. The closing speech of Twelfth Night, this time. Well, it’s more of a song, really, with the repeated line: For the rain it raineth every day. sung by Feste, a clown.
14	TENOR BELL – I suppose this goes down as a cd, a tenor bell being the bell with the loudest peal.
16	SPARE ROOM = MOORE + RAPS all rev. Thomas Moore is the Irish poet.
18	SCARCER = (C + RACERS)*
19	CHEER + I + O – ‘cheer’ can be defined as ‘provisions for a feast’.
21	ON TOP – cd
23	BAIRN – The cartoonist was Bruce Bairnsfather

6 comments on “Times 15000 (originally, 9 Sep 1978)”

Who lives in France is qui vit which sounds like cave in Latin which is an alert. Except it doesn’t really sound like that and has far too much indirection to be how it works surely

Oops. I got logged out

It’s much easier than that, and it’s in Chambers:
n a state of alertness, in the phrase on the qui vive.
[From the French sentry’s challenge, literally (long) live who?, ie whom do you support?, from qui who, and vive, 3rd pers sing pr subjunctive of vivre to live.

I enjoyed this one, as it took me back to the the era when I would regularly solve in around 10 minutes. Took me longer today, and I was surprised at how (relatively) imprecise some of the cluing was, and how much literary and general knowledge it assumed.
September’s Ember Days follow Holy Cross day on the 14th, hence the clue’s “surprise” to find them a the end of the month.
I got one wrong, putting the tempting BRIAN in at 23d, assuming some obscure GK which I didn’t have, or, to put it another way, not thinking hard enough. Otherwise, just over 15 minutes, leaving me wondering how I did them quicker then!

Solved on the train home last night. The easiest of the three by a distance, with the very helpful Nina around the outside proving useful. 12:45, although there was a bit of guesswork involved. HANGERS, ALERT, FADED and TENOR BELL all went in on a wing and a prayer.

Around 40 minutes with one error (at 26 I wrote SELF PERFORMANCE for some unknown reason) and quite a few unexplained (the cartoonist,CHATEAU, FADED, ALERT, HANGERS and 1ac, with 1dn just presumed to be correct). But I was pleased to know EAST LYNNE, the Twelfth Night reference, Ember days and REDE at 9ac because it had turned up earlier at 4dn in 25,000!

9:10 for me – however, I had done it before, albeit 33 years ago. I seem to remember that East Lynne used to come up pretty regularly in those days, and probably Bruce Bairnsfather as well. 24ac (ALERT) must have taken me nearly half a minute, but I eventually remembered “on the qui vive”. All familiar stuff for an old hand like me.

The most enjoyable of the three, with No. 5000 second and, sadly, No. 25000 some way behind!

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