Times 24,002 A Brief Encounter

28 comments on “Times 24,002 A Brief Encounter”

1. i liked 25 across as my COD…closely followe by 18 across…a lovely crossword with some pleasant allusions
2. 
   40 minutes today with one answer missing (1ac) until I got to the office and looked it up. I knew I would not guess the Petrarch reference and the answer wouldn’t come to me via the wordplay because I was not certain of the checking letter at 2dn where I had pencilled in RENOVATED but couldn’t see the wordplay (I have since worked it out). I also didn’t understand “renovated” = “healthy”, and I’m still not sure I’m happy with it, so that introduced an element of doubt about the checking letter.

   I am definitely not happy with 7 as there is no way Kew is a garden, singular, that’s why the attraction is called Kew Gardens. The clue would have read just as well in the plural.

   But on the whole I enjoyed this puzzle. Few of the answers leapt out at me and I had to rely a lot on the wordplay, but progress was steady for the most part.

   COD: 20

   1. Having consulted the books at home I find Collins gives “renovate” as “to restore one’s spirits or health” so my remaining doubts were ill-founded.
3. I thought this was very good indeed, although I failed to finish for want of 16D. I also choose 20D as COD, as the ‘PUTS up with’ trick is ingenious.

   Tom B.

4. I thought of WARHORSE in relation to Wellington but a “familiar piece of music”? About as familiar as was “gaudeamus igitur” some time ago!
   Mike, Skiathos
5. Finished without aids in about 30m which I was happy with as I felt this was moderately challenging. (ie any tougher would probably have been too tough for me). Didn’t get the wordplay for renovated until I came here: recovered seemed likelier until the checking letters ruled it out. BC.
6. About half an hour, as commented above, had problems with warhorse, never having heard of it as a hackneyed piece of music rather than just an old hack.
7. Having failed to get 16D, I looked it up in Chambers which gives it as any familiar piece of music.

   Tom B.

   1. So it does – thanks Tom. I looked it up in Collins when doing the blog but that says nothing about music so I assumed it was a reference to the book/musical
8. I am no musician, but understand that a “warhorse” to an orchestra is not so much a hackneyed piece, but one which all the players know and can play well. Something which they can roll out at short notice and perform with credit.
9. Has to be 20. Brilliant construction.
10. 15:30. Everything said above, really, except that I loved the cheese counter. Delightful puzzle.
    If I were looking for a quibble (thank heavens I’m not that sort of wretch) I’d say that the ‘puts up’ device, neat though it is, really needs ‘with’ to work as a synonym for ‘tolerates’. ‘Accomodates men…’ might be more precise.
    1. I think that the “with” is there in the full reading of the clue – i.e. tolerates men = puts up (with i.e. next to) OR.

       Accommodating men sounds a bit racy for a Tuesday.

       1. Yes, I thought the use of [with] was the cleverest thing about it.

          Tom B.

          1. OK. See what you’re saying. That went totally over my head.

             penfold – you’re right. Better save that sort of stuff for a Friday, where it belongs.

11. 20:10, agree with the quibble on Kew and I’m not sure that 2d works perfectly – if “a few weeks of debt” = Nov in red, then the “ate” is in the wrong place. Alternatively putting worried straight after weeks (novate) leaves “of debt” to cover “in red” which doesn’t work.

    Overall a nice puzzle though, with tolerates for STUP being very clever and like Jimbo I loved the &Lit at 23 which would have been my COD if we were still doing that.

    Q=2, E=7, D=5.5

    Right, I’m off to Lakeland Plastics now to see if I can buy a film cheeseboard.

12. Occasionally I have a real doofus morning and today was one of those. No clue whatsoever on WARHORSE…
13. Agreement on the warhorse sentiment. From a footy perspective, ‘warhorse’ tends to be wheeled out affectionately in commentary to describe an established substantial player in his twilight years; a kind of one-up from ‘journeyman’ – the hackeneyed piece in analogy.
14. For Dorser Jimbo – Marengo turned up in yesteereday’s Bank Holiday Jumbo!

    Carole H.
    Fermo,
    Italy.

15. Sorry – DORSET Jimbo
    1. I had no idea. If I get to the Jumbos at all its after I’ve finished Mephisto and Azed (both good value this weekend if you haven’t tried them). For the future if they’re prize puzzles you shouldn’t post comment or answers until after the submission deadline has passed.
16. 12:59 – for some reason most of the hard ones for me were at the top so had to work upwards.
17. Put in recovered for renovated at first which slowed a little bit but otherwise pretty fast. Didn’t work out wordplay for 6d til afterwards – quite good.
    12.40 today
    JohnPMarshall
18. About 35 minutes or so, late last night. I certainly didn’t know the name of Wellington’s horse, or Petrarch’s muse, but was able to guess them correctly from the wordplay. I agree ‘stupor’ is a great clue, as is ‘adaptor’, but I lean toward the former. My last entries were 1a and 2d, being unconvinced until the end that ‘renovated’ really means ‘healthy again’, but I succumbed to it at the end, seeing no alternatives. Regards all.
19. Apologies – I forgot the Bank Holiday Jumbo was a prize crossword.

    Carole H

20. Good puzzle. About 40 mins. I’m with the majority view that 23 ac, a delightful &Lit, and 20 dn, with its ingenious use of STUP[with]OR for “tolerates men”, are the stand-out contenders for COD. I agree with jackkt that “garden” should be “gardens” in 7 dn, and I share penfold’s unease with the cryptic reading of 2 dn. If NOV in RED = “weeks of debt”, and ATE = worried, then “worried after weeks of debt” can only yield RENOVDATE, a nonsense word. But perhaps others can come up with a different and more satisfactory reading.

    Michael H

    1. I think ‘of debt’ is supposed to mean ‘in red’, which I find unappealing.
21. A really good ‘un. I did not know whether to put WARHORSE or SAWHORSE in at 16d because neither made any sense from the clue to me. I was blissfully ignorant of Copenhagen = (Wellington’s) warhorse and did not know the term applied to an orchestra either. I am glad to have been educated here about that – thanks Jimbo.

    There are 4 “easies” omitted:

    12a Make personal betrayal, the sale far too cheap? (4,7,4)
    GIVE ONESELF AWAY

    21a How sitting should be conducted, anyway (15)
    NOTWITHSTANDING. Ho ho.

    9d Cover chest and back fully (3,4,5,2)
    PUT ONES SHIRT ON

    19d Money-raising Joplin festival? (3,4)
    RAG WEEK. In other words – Scott not Janis.

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