Times 24276: there’s a vulgarrank growing in my garden!

Author   vinyl1Posted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 18 minutes

Music: Prokofiev, Symphony #5, Martinon/PCO

A very moderate puzzle, but my time was not as good as it should have

been, owing to a few unwarranted assumptions. I looked at 1 across and immediately thought “oh, no, another

obscure plant I’ve never heard of”! Not so, as it turns out, but that alone added at least two minutes to my time.

Across
1 VINEGARISH, VINE GARISH. I wanted this to be a plant beginning in ‘vulgar’ or something of the sort.
6 CAMP, C + A M.P. I do not like this, because ‘party’ is not a very good definition for ‘camp’, and suspect I may have missed something here.
12 NORTHERN LIGHTS, anagram of THRONG around RNLI. Not from the UK? Never heard of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution? Tough, this is an English puzzle and I’m sitting in New York solving it.
14 ETERNAL. Another problematic one. Perhaps there is ‘LANE’ backwards, but to me RET refers to soaking flat – but that would be kind of hard to work into the surface.
19 STAMINA, backwards ANIMATES without the ‘E’. Another one put in without bothering with the cryptic.
20 BEHIND THE TIMES. You are old-fashioned, presumably, because the Times of London is no longer a broadsheet, unlike the New York Times.
23 EPISCOPAL, EPI(S)C + OPAL. The literal is ‘prelate’s’, and not ‘prelate’, which may delay some solvers.
26 IN THE EVENT, IN(THE E)VENT. Clever wordplay, but not actually needed to get the answer. I didn’t bother with it while solving.
 
Down
2 NEW FOREST, NEW(FORES)T. I had actually heard of this, but that was not strictly necessary with so simple a cryptic.
3 GET IT IN THE NECK, a simple cryptic definition. I had not heard of torticollis, but a little Latin goes a long way here.
5 SATANIC, anagram of ‘AS IT CAN’. Well-hidden, but still evidently an anagram, particularly if you have the final ‘C’ from 15 across.
8 PEDESTRIAN, anagram of TRAIN SPEED. This one shouts out ‘I’m an anagram!’ because of the non-smooth surface.
9 AS FIT AS A FIDDLE anagram of ‘A LA DISTAFF SIDE’. I put this in right away without worrying about the cryptic, thought it was a rather strange double definition. Note to self: strange verbiage is almost always an anagram.
13 HEARTBREAK, HEART + BREAK. It’s hard to believe this was last in, but I seem to do better on the more complex clues.
16 KNIFE EDGE, nickel (NI) and iron (FE) inside KEDGE. Immediately obvious to me, one of the first I got.
19 STEALTH, anagram of THE SALT. I have not seen ‘sprinkle’ used as an anagram indicator, but it makes it rather evident..
21 HOIST, HO(I)ST. Another simple one that gave trouble. I wanted to put J I inside something, but that wasn’t it at all..
22 CYST, hidden in FAN(CY ST)ITCHES. Not very well hidden, either,

45 comments on “Times 24276: there’s a vulgarrank growing in my garden!”

  1. 26 mins inc. two breakfasts! vinyl1: I think you’ll find RET is to be had from “steep” — which is also to soak.
    Liked the adjectival stuff hidden in 23 — not to mention the several anagrams that always make for a quicker solve.
  2. 14 min, so an easy start to the week. Was not too happy with 6ac CAMP either, but it just about makes it in the sense that you can ask someone which camp (party) they are in when discussing politics. Slick enough puzzle, but nothing really stands out.
  3. I was fooled by the apostrophe-s in 23ac. Still don’t see the wordplay in 1d, and am mystified by the popping and clogs resolving into DD in 24ac. Obviously not my day…
  4. 19:15 .. I found this quite testing, almost none of the solutions coming straight to mind. I had to guess a lot from checking letters, then backfill the justification.

    Good test. No complaints.

  5. 28 mins, which seemed overly long in the end, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Some tricky definitions and lack of trust in instinct slowed me down. My first thought at 1ac was also vulgar, so you are vindicated; it is a common ingredient in many botanical names. The RNLI was also a leap of faith for me. Are kedge and ret in frequent use in anyone’s lexicon apart from the likes of us? I liked the two “witty” clues at 10 and 11, to WIT and WIThstand.
  6. 40 minutes as once again I had problems getting started. I thought of CAMP right away but didn’t put it in because, like others, I had doubts about the definition. Eventually I found a foothold in the SE corner and worked across and upwards from there. I hate working backwards like that.
  7. Finished by 9am cut-off but I’m not saying what time I got up. Still not recovered from some vicious wordplay and an egregious typo in the S.Times which caused me to miss the first half-dozen overs at The Oval yesterday, so definitely not in the mood today.
    I liked BEHIND THE TIMES but not much else.
    Good job vinyl1 finished in 18 mins because I don’t see how a cryptic can be done while dancing around the room to one of music’s most thrilling finales. (Prok 5).
    1. I also struggled with Sunday’s. I take it the typo you’re referring to is the split for 8d being given as 4,2,3,4 instead of 4,2,4,3. But isn’t there also a mistake in 14a? Surely ‘by curved path’ should read ‘by a curved path’, or am I missing something?
      1. For some reason your reply only arrived at 10:05 Tuesday?
        Yes, 8dn was the culprit and I also have scribbled next to PARABOLA “So where’s the A?”
  8. Monday treat – 10m and would have been under 10 and a pb but for the 18d of 18d and 17a. Downs first today, and the long ones rolled over without a fight, agree anagrams also offered themselves up rather readily for slaughter. I am not sure vinegar smells unpleasant – there are worse that vinegar can be used to counter. I had torticollis as a child, not pleasant.
  9. 6:45.  Last in were 12ac (NORTHERN LIGHTS) and 17ac (RETCHES).  Only two unknowns: that the NEW FOREST was in Hampshire (2dn), and torticollis (3dn).  KEDGE (16dn) was unfamiliar, though (with reference to kororareka’s comment) RET (14ac) wasn’t.

    The definition in 6ac (“party” for CAMP) seems fine to me on the lines that Ross suggests.  But there’s a definition by example in 11ac (“gale” for WIND); to ANIMATE is not to revitalize (19ac); “from the start” botches the &lit. in 1dn (VOTE); and “commonplace” for PEDESTRIAN (8dn) strikes me as odd, though it’s sanctioned by Collins and Chambers.

    Clues of the Day: 20ac (BEHIND THE TIMES), 21dn (HOIST).

  10. 5:46 for this puzzle and suspect there may be quicker times. Struggled for rather too long with 12A and a daft attempt to anagram “bad as it” at 5D. Pleased to get 2D straight off as my earliest known forebears were from there.
  11. A rare venture into sub-20 minute territory for me today. Three of the four long clues went in immediately with only Northern Lights holding out until the end on account of its tricky wordplay and vague definition. Camp also went in at first glance. It is a straight synonym for party as far as I am concerned. Lots of other answers put in without bothering to understand the wordplay.

    I’m also impressed by Vinyl being able to solve crosswords while listening to Prokofiev. Well, it’s more a feeling of nostalgia really. I used to listen to Radio 3 all day in my study but these days I work in silence as my brain can only handle one activity at a time.

    1. And re Prokofiev: can anyone point me to an on-line rendition of his “Classical Symphony” Great fun!
    2. Hi, Lennyco

      Re Prokofiev – well, vinyl1 did miss out some of the across clues in his explanation. He may have been a little distracted.

      1. I’m sure that Vinyl would be capable of solving this puzzle while listening to Alban Berg’s Lulu and standing upside down in a tub of lard. The reason for the missing answers is explained at the top of the page in “About this blog…”
  12. Good wordplay, but I think the definition should have been,’as it may turn out.’
    Barbara
    1. I think it works fine as is on the substitution test, e.g. “in the event England held out for an unlikely but well-deserved draw”
      1. Would you explain “vent” please. If In the E is taken from the words in the clue, then vent……..?
        Thanks
        Adrian
  13. Feel as though i should have met this anag(train speed)before whereas Withstand, Stamina and Behind the Times seem all too familiar. A rare sub 10min for me probably helped by the upbeat sounds of Squarepusher; i bet none of you have heard of him.
    1. Can’t speak for anyone else, but regular listening to the Gideon Coe show on BBC 6Music keeps his oeuvre very much in my mind 🙂

      Swerving back to the crossword, my effort was untimed but felt fast. As per other comments, one of those Monday-ish puzzles where most of the solutions just fell into place at first look, with wordplay coming later.

  14. Got retches but cant justify why. Retch and gag meaning to besick but what connectionto swine??
  15. A good, generally straightforward Monday work-out, with some testing clues. About 30 mins for me, so I was not surprised to see Peter B’s lightning-fast sub-6-minutes. I have to say I’m with those who can see no valid objection to CAMP = “party” at 6ac. “Party” has a range of meanings among which is surely a synonym for “side” or “faction” – in other words, “camp”. It also seems to me a bit finicky to complain about “gale”/WIND as a definition by example, though, technically, I guess, Mark T is right. For me the two things are close enough to pass muster as synonyms, at any rate for xword purposes. All in all, enjoyable.
  16. 12:05 for me after a slow start. I was a bit hung over this morning and it took a while for the cobwebs to shift, but once I’d got a couple of the long downs I picked up speed and finished quickly. Last one in was NORTHERN LIGHTS, COD BEHIND THE TIMES.
  17. One of my faster times at 17 minutes. All pretty straightforward, though I did spend too long working on ‘plant as the definition in 1ac. Neatest clue was 21 (HOST). I had slight reservations about the indirect indication of the double abbreviation in 24 (DADDY), but it was an easy clue and justified by the pun on ‘pop’, so no complaints.
  18. 19:48

    A gentle start to the week. After a slow start everything flowed well. Last in was EPISCOPAL because I was looking for ODE (poem) and ST (Saint).

    Some good clues – DADDY and WITHSTAND stood out for me.

  19. Agree a gentle Monday puzzle, 11:03 here with, like others, a few answers thrown in without full understanding of the wordplay, notably eternal and stamina.

    I can forgive the gale/wind d by e as there’s precious little else that gale could clue and I was fine with camp.

  20. 9.55 with the main hold ups being EPISCOPAL where I was also looking for ST (saint) inside , and 1a which would have been difficult enough without having put in NEW DEAL at 4! Wretch!
    I’m in the camp that doesn’t mind party=camp
  21. Cracked the 20min barrier for the first time while eating lunch – fish and chips with salt and a liquid with an unpleasant smell.

    Anonymous Nick

  22. I thought this puzzle was very much better than the comments so far seem to indicate, except indirectly by their failure to grasp some of its intricacies!

    My COD was Northern Lights, a beautiful clue. Was the word chosen by the setter because it contained “the RNLI,” or was it just a happy discovery, I wonder?

  23. Mostly easy for me, but still took 45 minutes in the end due to staring at the NORTHERN LIGHTS/NEW FOREST crossers for a long time after finishing the rest readily. Finally sussed out NEW FOREST from the wordplay, and then entered NORTHERN LIGHTS as a guess from the definition alone. Seeing the explanation here I agree it’s very clever, and I exonerate myself for not seeing it, since I’ve never heard of ‘the RNLI’. Nor New Forest, for that matter. COD: WITHSTAND. Regards.
  24. this is the first times crossword ive ever finished! i bought the book ‘ how to asolve the times crossword’ , in it it says across additive clues the fist is last and last is first, so was a bit confused by 1 across as additives where as shown in wordplay
  25. I didn’t get to this until way late (the next crossword is up). Nothing too taxing, some nice clues, last in, NORTHERN LIGHTS – couldn’t see all of the wordplay.
  26. Must be missing something obvious here. How do you get from ‘wood’ to ‘deal’ in 4 dwn?
    1. Deal is a type of wood – so a raw deal will literally be untreated wood.

      In return, can you explain to me how to justify “vent” in 23 ac? I see “in the E” from within the clue but vent……?

      1. Thanks. Haven’t come across that type of wood.
        Do you mean 26 ac? In which case: Coin = Invent with the English (thE) inside (pocketed). i.e. In(theE)vent

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