Times 23608 23 May 2007

Author   nmacsweeneyPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
I found this one quite easy.

Solving time: 15 mins (very fast for me for the Times)

* = anagram
ACROSS
4 CUPID’S BOW As well as the bow of mythology, it describes curly lips.
9 EX ONE RATE
11 PLAICE (pecial)*
14 A L LITERATI ON e.g. round the rugged rock, the ragged rascal ran (same initial sound repeated)
17 JE NE SAIS QUOI From French Champagne is in France Literally “I do not know what”
21 TO (ASTi)S Sot reversed.
26 RIGHT “Write”

DOWN
1 THE SP(I)AN
2 GLOBALLY “Glow” bally = dashed
3 SPEECH THERAPIST (he practises p the)* &lit. I got it straightaway from the definition
5 PRESENT-DAY I’ve seen this idea before, often mentioning Christmas.
6 DANGEROUS CORNER A play by Priestly – rate = speed re driving.
7 B(ATM)AN
8 WI(D)NES
15 NUR SLING Run reversed – did not realise the word could be spelt with no e so it isn’t
16 MISS PE(L)T Nice overall image.
19 TANNER bit = coin = the pre-decimal sixpence which lived on a little while after D-day in 1971 (equivalent to 2.5p)
22 A FAR(m)

12 comments on “Times 23608 23 May 2007”

  1. I also found most of it quite easy, but after 10 mins or so I was stuck on 21ac and 15dn. Half an hour later I was still stuck on them and in the end gave up and had a look here! Thanks for explaining them. I thought NURSLING was a district of Southampton, didn’t know it was a real word too.
    1. Funnily enough 15 and 21 were also what held me up – that and mis-spelling ALLITERATION so that I was left with G-O-A-I- for GLOBALLY.
      Considering I was working all along on the basis of SOT reversed around something and also considered RUN (but not reversed, to start with) + SLING I don’t count that as one of my better days!
  2. 21A and 6D were the last two I put in – I don’t really like ‘no end of wine’ for ‘ast’, I have to say. Just because the end isn’t there doesn’t mean the rest of it is!
    ‘Speech therapist’ was nice, although for the &lit. I’d have gone for something other than ‘injured’ – maybe ‘afflicted’?
    1. I’m not keen on “no end of” either, but I think it’s one of those cases where as solvers we “know what the setter means”. I agree that strictly speaking it is illogical, and of course the principal of “knowing what the setter means” shouldn’t be allowed to go too far!
      1. … nor should the principle of knowing what the setter means be ignored, either!
  3. The first two I solved were 17A and 20A and I thought for a moment we were in for the first Times puzzle in which all the solutions were in French!

    Finishing early for once gave me time to think about the reasons for several answers I knew to be correct but couldn’t quite see the wordplay. 21A TOASTS and 2D GLOBALLY fell into this category. In 2D I was convinced that “all” was part of the wordplay rather than part of the definition. During this extra thinking time I spotted a mistake in 12A where I had hastily decided upon GENERATE instead of LEVERAGE.

    Buzzword

  4. A very pleasant, easy puzzle, which I made heavy weather of (7:25), particulary GLOBALLY and TOASTS. No comments yet from the fast brigade, but I would have thought times under 5 minutes (or even 4 minutes) should be on the cards.
    1. Medium brigade here, with 7:04. I hadn’t heard of the play ‘Dangerous Corner’, which was my last answer – knowing that might have made a substantial difference.
      1. If you’re like me, there will be three stages to your solving career: 1) fast but ignorant, which is where you are now; 2) fast and knowledgeable, which you will achieve in the next few years, and which is when you’ll win the Championship, assuming it’s still going; and 3) knowledgeable but slow, which is the state I’ve now reached, where I’ve no realistic chance of winning the Championship, but might just amble past anyone who makes a mistake. (I’d not only heard of Dangerous Corner, but have actually seen it; however, I still had to have some crossing letters before I realised that that was the answer required. Sigh!)

        Of course there’s a potential fourth stage, where dementia has set in and you’re both ignorant and slow. On bad days it feels as if that stage is approaching all too fast. (Deep sigh!)

    2. A personal best at 11’45” – I think that makes me part of the ‘medium’ brigade also.
      1. >A personal best at 11’45” – I think that makes me part of the ‘medium’ brigade also.

        I think it does indeed. Congratulations.


  5. I like taking time to do these crosswords – gives one time to appreciate the setter’s art.

    Ten clues condsidered to be too “easy” for inclusion in the blog:

    1a What some ancient citizens wore to talk (5)
    TO GAS

    10a Recorded a short number that’s oddly TrEnDy (5)
    NO TED

    12a For instance, a party making comeback can achieve power (8)
    LEVERAGE. This is E.G. A REVEL backwards.

    20a Porter brings in a trolley with various dishes to order (1,2,5)
    A LA CARTE. The porter or ALE contains A CART.

    23a Form of religion popular with students on reflection (5)
    SUNNI. IN and NUS backwards.

    24a Unpleasant drive (9)
    OFFENSIVE. A double definition (DD).

    25a (Army rout) e (d)* in struggle to depose English monarch (4,5)
    MARY TUDOR. The deposed English means to lose the E from the anagrist so the definition is simply monarch.

    4d Jug holds litre, enough for the family (4)
    C L AN. Jug and can are synonyms in the Jail sense. The enough is just for the surface.

    13d (Dire photos)* developed in cleric’s office (10)
    PRIESTHOOD

    18d It may be found among herBAL SAMples (6)
    BALSAM

Comments are closed.