Times 23,646 – sorry for the delay

Author   dhoggPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Apologies for the (very) late blog, but I can’t post from my workplace, and I normally send my blog to Peter and he kindly posts on my behalf. I forgot he was on holiday, and sent it to him as usual – then forgot to check out the site to see if it had been posted. I am going senile, and I’m only 43…

Here it is, as it would have ben posted on Friday…

After failing to solve yesterday’s Times puzzle, I approached this one with a bit of caution, but actually it turned out to be not too bad. 9ac held me up because I was looking for something with RING in it, and it took me a while to get 18ac, but other than that, no problems.

Solving time – approx 8 minutes

ACROSS

1 JUST-SOS-TORIES – by Rudyard Kipling, which give fanciful accounts of a range of natural phenomena

8 A-CRE(w) -the English name for the port of Akko or Akka in Israel

9 REAR-MA(MEN)T – wasted a minute or two looking for something do do with (wrestling) RING, not thinking of Graeco-Roman or freestyle wrestling, which of course, takes place on a mat

10 RANSOME-D – Arthur Ransome wrote “Swallows and Amazons” and other adventure stories

13 ADAM’s APPLE – cryptic definition, can’t quite see the reference to “since the fall”

17 F-IN-N – a pretty good &lit. but should there be a question mark at the end?

18 FALSE TEETH – cryptic definition, brought a smile to my face

22 T(AH)ITIAN

24 GO TO GROUND – as a hunted fox might do, I suppose, to thwart a pack of dogs

27 BRAVE NEW WORLD – a novel by Aldous Huxley, the title comes from a quotation by Miranda in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”

“O brave new world
that has such people in’t”

DOWN

1 JACK AND JILL – cryptic definition with a clever surface, although easy to solve

2 SPECS – double definition, short for “spectacles” and “specifications”

3 SCRUM(py)-HALF

5 OOMP(a)H

6 IMMINENCE -(mine mine)* around C(ruiser)

14 MINNESOTA – (Maine’s not)* – the anagrind here appears to be “going” or “going West”?

15 EYESHADOW – A DO in (see why)*

23 TI(B)ER – Rome’s river

25 ORB(it)

4 comments on “Times 23,646 – sorry for the delay”

  1. This seems so sloppy, a clue that can equally well have two answers until you get a checking letter. What is there to tell you that ‘upsetting’ applies to ‘foreign characters’ and not ‘British publication’? The only excuse I can find is that ‘NUS’ is hardly a word, which might rule that out.
    1. To me the natural reading of 7D leads to ‘British publication’, and I wouldn’t regard this clue as the least bit sloppy!

      (Not a total disgrace (6:39), but slower than I should have been for an easy crossword with some old friends among the clues.)

  2. One of the easier puzzles while I was away – 4:17 for this. I’m with Tony on 7D – “upsetting X” works far better than “X upsetting”.
  3. I wonder what the Greek plural for Nu is? To use nus in Engleek seems OK? Anyway – Oh Brave New World that has such Crosswords in’t. Did the second half with Mrs NPBull and we enjoyed the Kids Lit component very much. Led go by doze!

    Nine “easies” for the bunnies:

    11a Does cutting-edge work with limited time, to be frank (6)
    HONES T

    16a Nobody cut short when PM starts (4)
    NO ON(e)

    20a Warning about Black Prince (6)
    AL B ERT

    26a Son with daughter included in organised group (4)
    BO D Y

    4d Remain valid, as a funny kind of act (5-2)
    STAND UP

    7d British publication upsetting foreign characters (3)
    SUN. NUS (plural of nu) upside-down. No problem with this at all. If it were not for the SUN’s x-word with cryptic and “coffee-time” clues leading to the same answer, in my student time night-shift work at the Cider Factory, I may never have embarked on a lifetime of enjoyment of cryptic puzzles. The Times’ stablemate should not be sniffed at in x-word land.

    12d Lacking workers, as one may be after a bad deal? (5-6)
    SHORT HANDED

    19d Allowed to chop up European plant for salad (7)
    LET TUC E

    21d What’s wrong with English cake? (5)
    TORTE. Nothing at all!

Comments are closed.