Times 24183 – souped-up ptarmigan

56 comments on “Times 24183 – souped-up ptarmigan”

1. If I can do this in 13 min, I suspect there will be a host of personal bests for others. The easiest this year?
2. Started off fast with 1ac 1dn and the NW corner, then slowed down quite a lot, mainly because there were not many which sprang to mind from the definition alone and mostly I had to work through the wordplay. Definitely not the easiest of the year for me. 27 mins.

   22dn I think we may have had discussion before about a single book of the bible being defined by “good book” but I can’t remember the conclusion.

   1. 22 dn: much discussion, or at least moaning from me. “(The) Good Book” is well-established slang for the Bible, but I have never found justification in a dictionary or real life for “good book” meaning a single book such as today’s Micah. So for me this is the sort of “cryptic xwd convention” nonsense that the Times puzzle generally avoids like the plague. Counter-examples gladly received.
      1. Agree wholeheartedly
3. 9:33 for me, so also didn’t think it was very easy – the anags at 5 or 7 took quite a while despite knowing they must be anagrams, and other long answers (10, 14, 20) were not first look write-ins either. I can’t remember a string quartet name being used before. 4A was a good find by the setter – I don’t think I’ve seen this first/last course connection used before.
4. No exact timing here as I had two reasonable sessions and several short interrupted goes, but I doubt it took much under the hour. In particular I found it very hard to get started until I achieved a solid foothold in the SE and worked back from there. The NE went in next but I really struggled on the LH side. There were some very good clues, I thought, but others I didn’t like. MICAH has already been mentioned and it adjoins another definition by example at 27 which always annoys me.

   This was the hardest of the week for me if I remember all the others correctly so I had high hopes of a straightforward one for me to blog tomorrow, but then I came here and found others found it very easy so maybe Friday’s will be a beast.

5. I didn’t find this particularly easy – about average level for me. 30 minutes to solve. I don’t recall a quartet either Peter and wonder what the criteria for inclusion might evolve into. I know AMADEUS but are we going to get sundry weird pop groups I wonder.

   I liked 11A and 14A, both excellent I thought.

   Even when I started work in the 1960s Good Friday was not a universal day off work in the UK. I also don’t like “good book”=MICAH. I think of The (Holy) GRAIL as a plate but as Peter hasn’t queried it and his knowledge of matters religious is far better than mine I’m guessing it is/can also be a cup?

   1. Under ‘Holy Grail’, COED has “cup or platter”, Collins goes for “bowl”. I’m sure the usual mental image is a chalice, and a Google image search for “holy grail” seems to confirm this – historically this is perhaps because anyone attending a communion service would hear some version of “likewise after supper, he took the cup”. (A bowl is also mentioned in some gospel coverage of the last supper.)

      To me the grail legend is the kind of stuff that deserves the Monty Python treatment – there are so many unanswered questions if you think about it logically. But then logic and religion don’t really mix.

      1. Thanks Peter – never know when the background may come in handy. I finally managed to get to Chambers which talks about a platter sometimes supposed to be a cup and that’s probably where I got my plate thoughts from.

      2. I’ve always imagined it as a chalice, but have no evidence to support this POV over any other opinion.

         Until quite recently the word “grail” was disallowed on Countdown because whichever version of the OED they use as their bible listed it only under “Holy Grail” with a capital “G”. In subsequent editions “grail” is defined as “something that is eagerly sought after” and has received Suzie’s blessing.

   2. “I know AMADEUS but are we going to get sundry weird pop groups I wonder.”

      I would hope not, Jimbo. I imagine the justification for including the Amadeus Quartet might be that they were world famous for some 40 years, they were disbanded over 20 years ago and that all bar one of them are dead.

      1. One of those little moments when you know you’re getting old. I’m staggered they disbanded over 20 years ago but I’ve just checked with Wiki and you’re absolutely right Jack. Oh dear!!
      2. A bit like The Beatles, then!
         1. I don’t think so, Kurihan.
            1. Well, a bit.

               The Beatles were a quartet who were world famous for some 10 years, disbanded 40 years ago (if you can believe that!) and all but 2 are dead.

               Only the numbers are different.

6. I made the same early mistake as George and typed in BEEFED UP. It threw me off the easy anagram at 5dn until I had enough checking letters for it to become obvious.

   (Colin Blackburn, who’s forgotten his LiveJournal name)

7. Now that I look at it, there is no answer that a well rounded secondary education, or a familiarity with life in general would not have addressed. Almost no specialist knowledge required. OK, the chemist in me spotted elastomer immediately which could be an unfair advantage.
   1. Glad to see posters dissenting from the view that this was very easy. My own impression was of an easy puzzle that I had unaccountably struggled with, limping home in 35-40mins. Glad to discover it wasn’t just me. bc
   2. This is all true, but only part of the story in assessing the difficulty of the puzzle. For old hands, the easy puzzles are the ones with several or many complete clues or ‘wordplay structures’ that you’ve seen a few times before. This puzzle had some familiar-feeling structures at 1, 16, 23, 6, 8, 24, but all the wordplays for long answers felt new to me.

      There’s also the simple matter of luck – if you get most of the top few acrosses and crossing downs on first look, you can finish in short time when others don’t.

      Edited at 2009-03-26 12:51 pm (UTC)

8. 13:10 for me, which is more or less average. Took a while to get going, but then sped up at the end. I thought of BEEFED UP for 4A, but fortunately wasn’t convinced enough to put it in.
9. I thought this was a bit tough, about 40 minutes.

   I filled in the NW immediately, ‘ptarmigan’, ‘Amadeus’, and ‘praise’, followed by ‘huntress’, but then was stuck for quite a bit. The long ones down the middle were particularly slow in coming.

   Tank ‘ard, eh? I wonder when the last native speaker of Cockney died – surely it must be coming up on a century or so. But they will never die in the crossword!

   There were many good clues; my COD is ‘gravestone’, simple but tricky.

   1. Some of the Conckney traits used in cryptic clues are outdated. But as a distinctive form of speech, it’s alive and kicking. Here’s a recent example, with a dropped H in the first few seconds.
      1. I agree with Peter. The clue doesn’t mention Cockney, only “commonly”. I live in East London – there aren’t many Cockneys left, but you’ll hear plenty of dropped aitches, as in Peter’s excellent example. (or not hear them, perhaps I should say).
10. Hello to all on this journal. Have been reading daily since the beginning of the year and have finally been minded to join in. I would agree this was not the easiest of the year but was among the top few. Did all but the geordie part fairly smoothly[sorry – just learned the lingo so thought i ought to use it] but struggled with the two anagrams for a bit, and 6&8 down just being unsure of the completeness.

    Apologies if I have missed a FAQ somewhere, but what are the Q,E,&D ratings that people put in? Also, for today – why is Peter=safe

    1. Things must be quiet around here if it’s left to me to answer. The QED rating is, I believe, Anax’s invention. Q=Quibbles, E=entertainment value, D=difficulty. The last two are scored out of 10, but the first is a direct count, as far as I know, although if there were more than 10 (=several) quibbles, heads would roll. Peter is slang for safe, of dubious etymology, possibly from peter=portmanteau circa 17th century, or backformation from peterman=explosives expert (peter for saltpetre). Anyway, an unofficial welcome aboard.
       1. I’d love to take the credit but I can’t.

          Some time ago contributor Paulww put forward an informal rating system within a blog entry. It was too good to be consigned to the past as a one-off; my input was merely to spot QED as a sort of mnemonic.

          A very warm welcome fathippy2 – I hope you’ll be a regular contributor, and please feel free to ask questions. No question is “too stupid” and you’ll find plenty of people willing to help.

    2. Another welcome – there is an FAQ under “About this blog” at the top of the page, but I don’t think it covers the QED scoring – local traditions like this can come out of nowhere and it’s hard to know how long they will last – it’ll certainly be a while before I add an explanation about the current “One Across rock” game.
       1. “One Across Rock” can be explained in one word – ineffable.
          1. You’ve effed it perfectly.

             I’m devastated that Peter doesn’t think it will last. I was planning a book.

    3. Always good to say hello to new contributors so welcome. Never feel shy about asking questions – somebody will know the answer and be only too pleased to help you. How long have you been addicted?
       1. sorry for the delay in replying – was out yesterday afternoon. I guess I have only really been addicted this year. As a kid I used to look at the crossword occasionally, and maybe on holidays, but never had the time to do it regularly. Started the saturday jumbos about two years ago, and religiously finished each one and sent it in – never successful. Now I have more time on my hands I am doing the daily ones – have even joined the online club and printed out a load of older ones to add to the current ones. One thing I cant quite understand is whether the setters do a block (eg a few weeks) of puzzles before handing the baton over, or whether it is a daily shuffle, since looking at the archived ones there can be a batch of ones I dont get, and then another that all seem a lot easier. It is as if there is a mindframe shift.
          1. I’m certain they don’t appear in blocks. It’s a different setter every day. Be careful about how far back you go Anything before say 1970 could put you into wild west country before there was a general adoption of the Ximenes Rules.
11. 16:13 .. same sort of “should have been quicker” feeling as others.

    Some nice moments – the surface for DREAMLAND is fine, and ‘jabber’ made me smile. GRAVESTONE is nearly brilliant. Some ropey moments, too.

12. I found this about average. It took me 30 minutes, but I have to confess to entering PROVENCE for 18, the last clue I entered from the letters in place, without bothering to study the wordplay carefully – an unforced error. I put approving ticks against 4,11, 19 and 27. I thought 20 was lame.
13. Not easy, but not too difficult. About 40 minutes all up, distracted by programme on Attila the Hun on radio and not helped by penning GLASS at 24 (arguing from windlass = turning thing with bars attached, that the lass must refer to the bars and not the windy bit). Was quite pleased with this answer for some time, although it made the Dickens character BESSER, which pleased me less. Also thought 28 was a Greek diphthong for far too long, even after I got the answer.

    Liked 14 & 11, but COD goes to SOUPED UP.

14. 9 minutes.

    At first I thought this was going to be in personal-best territory, but I got a bit stuck on the SE corner for no good reason, and had to guess at AMADEUS and WELLER from the wordplay.

    I loved ‘jabber’ for TRIDENT, and found ‘setter’ a nice piece of misdirection in the clue for POINTS.

    Quibbles: aside from those already mentioned (27ac, 22dn), I didn’t like the false generalization in 8dn. (A lord is a peer, but not vice versa.)

15. 23:55 which puts it towards the easier end of my spectrum.

    I enjoyed this steady solve which ended in the NE corner. ELASTOMER being the last to go in with the wordplay being the clincher.

    SOUPED UP took a while as I thought ‘first course’ was C (although this is probably a more common barred grid convention).

    Favourite clues were 14a, 6d and 7d

16. 22:27 so definitely “average” rather than easy.

    Lesson learned today – If you confidently write in an answer and then put a mark against the clue because something doesn’t quite sit right, then you’ve probably got it wrong. Today it was beefed up and I intended to argue that beef wasn’t a good indicator of a first course (soup may well have flitted across the old synapses at the time without registering). Out damned spot eventually helped to sort out the bother.

    I liked the jabber definition so that’s my COD.

17. 45 minutes here, though it really didn’t feel that difficult along the way, although I did get stuck for a while on the RHS – it took me an age to get 5d, which held me up for a while. Lots of vg clues, I thought, with some nicely hidden definitions, 11, 28 and 5 my favourites. 11 got my groan of the day. Onto the championship qualify this evening (though I doubt somehow I’ll be troubling Cheltenham this year!)
    1. I might even have meant – Championship Qualifier…
18. I’m joining Pete in the “long answers = long struggles” club. After a brisk start I eventually limped home after nearly 20 minutes.

    “Good book” / MICAH didn’t worry me. I suppose that technically it’s the bible itself that’s referred to as the good book, not a component thereof, but it didn’t hold me up. I take the stance that as long as the def/wordplay are enough to make only one answer possible, there’s no need to go into semantics afterwards.

    Only one quibble – the past participle “kept” at 13 doesn’t seem right. On the other hand, I thought 3D SCEPTRED was very nicely done.

    Q-1 E-7 D-7 COD 3D

19. Not so easyish here, probably about 45 minutes in 2 sittings. Things I didn’t know when I began this puzzle: PUD as short for pudding, PETER=safe, AMADEUS as a quartet, DS=detective. The Dickens character was a guess also. So I found it pretty tough, especially the top. On the other hand, GRAVESTONE is very clever, OUT DAMNED SPOT made me smile, and I think POSEUR is COD for the very smooth surface. Regards.
20. 19A – yes, DS is the detective – Detective Sergeant (e.g. Sgt Lewis), the gofer for the Detective Inspector *(Morse).
    1D – I don’t think Ptarmigan is quite a ski resort – Ptarmigan Bowl is apparently one of four skiing areas at Scotland’s Aviemore resort, and there are a few “Ptarmigan Chalets” or similar in various resorts. All of which would be too obscure for a clue reference.
    1. There is no need for a ski area, the bird is described thus:

       “The Ptarmigan is seasonally camouflaged; its feathers moult from white in winter to brown in spring or summer. Breeding males have greyish upper parts with white wings and underparts. In winter, plumage becomes completely white except for the black tail.

21. I thought turning white in winter is what Ptarmigans did, nothing to do with snow or skiing:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptarmigan

    Overall I liked this crossword very much. I thought it was full of witty, clever and inventive clues and references, and it managed to be so without being too easy or too difficult. And I thought one of the witty and inventive bits was to use “good book” to be a description of a single bible book and not the whole shooting match, since looking at the phrase it would appear to fit better that way rather than the way it is commonly used. I don’t think it was sloppy or dubious at all.

22. About average in difficulty for me, 31 mins. Last answer ELASTOMER where I was pleased to work out a new word for me from the wordplay. A little surprised to see Nod in the clue for 7 down and the answer for 19 across but, to be fair, the meanings are different. The jokey tone of 20 ac was a bit unusual and staying on that theme if the Bible is the good book and Micah is a book of the Bible, is it not a good book too? Fave: POSEUR.
23. I’m with those who thought this a good and hardish puzzle – lots of clever, funny and ingenious wordplay. I wasted much time, as it appears did a few others, by initially having BEEFED UP at 4ac. This made a nonsense of what ought to have been the relatively easy anagram at 5dn which then could only begin with the word EAT.

    Salaams to Peter B, but I’m relaxed about “good book” = MICAH. It’s certainly been used before in this way. The Bible is “the good book”, and the clue’s omission of the definite article was a fair indication that one of the books contained in the Bible might be required. As a xwd convention it doesn’t seem to me any sillier than, say, “banker” = RIVER.

24. As per my usual, I printed off today’s xword and the one from this day seven years ago, to take to bed; as per extremely unusual, I finished the pair of them well inside twenty minutes. Never read Dickens, but WELLER became obvious from unches/wordplay; everything else happens to fall within my sphere of knowledge. It’s rare in the extreme that my time for a cryptic grid is faster than (or, indeed, remotely anywhere near) Peter’s.
    1. Well done. Given your speed on Times 2 Race the Clock, I’m expecting to hear this more often as time goes by.
    2. I often find crosswords much easier to solve in bed.

       I am wondering if it would be allowed at Cheltenham 🙂

25. 5 min 39 seconds
    just too easy for me
    1. Right then: pistols at dawn (well, coffee time or lunch time), Cheltenham, 11th October.
26. duncansh: I don’t think ‘first course’ for c is a barred grid convention. It’s simply wrong, as someone I was reading once (Don Manley? Ximenes?) pointed out.

    6dn: ‘as setter does’ leading to ‘points’; but what a setter does is point, not points. Or perhaps I’m simply wrong.

27. DFM or X? Both, I should think!

    6D: Didn’t bother Mr Pragmatic here. If we’re talking about the setter in the third person, having the verb in third person form (“as setter does”) seems OK.

28. I think either could be arguable. What a setter does is to point; therefore, a setter points.
29. At 6d Setters and Pointers are both breeds of gun dog but does a setter point?

    There are 8 “easies”:

    1a Approve of power lift (6)
    P RAISE

    12a Centre disappeared at first in fog (5)
    MI D ST

    22a Very tiny bit of food processor? (9)
    MICROCHIP. Not at our local chippy.

    27a She turns out to be Diana (8)
    HUNTRESS. Anagram of (she turns)

    3d Like our isle, cold in autumn month and colourful (8)
    S C EPT RED

    6d Drinks: get round in, as setter does (6)
    P O INTS. Does it though?

    8d Safe as Time Lord’s around (5)
    PE T ER. There is some discussion above as to the derivation of PETER = Safe. I always thought it came from St Peter who was described as a “rock” being reliable and, well, safe?

    15d Out of habit, did badly in battle (9)
    A DDI CTION. ACTION = battle and DDI = did badly.

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