Times 24,373 Child’s Play?

36 comments on “Times 24,373 Child’s Play?”

1. MORAY = old county as they’re now called “council areas”.
   1. Thank you. Comes under the same heading as personnel becoming human resources.
2. Third toughie on the trot if we discount Sunday. But again, doable from cryptics. New to me just ROAN for binding. Unfunny but brilliant puzzle. COD MASSEUSE.
3. Two horses (22 & 21) and a mention of Melbourne (19) … is this a coincidence for the first Tuesday in November? Pity SHOCKING didn’t fit into 1ac. Then I might have backed it!

   1. On second thoughts: SHOCKING would have fitted 1ac, if 2dn became HYSTERIA — leaving USENET (?) at 10ac.
4. Another classic sort of puzzle and like jimbo rh half easier. Pianism new to me, and malingering attached to pretend illness rather than simple shirking. But an enjoyable 25 mins. Herb suggested robert (and Alpert!) till I remembered Arnold B.
5. This morning, at 7:20, I was happily sitting at the computer, having downloaded the crosswords when my wife reminded me that, in 20 minutes we were supposed to be transporting our neighbours to the port to catch the Flying Cat to begin their long journey back to Zimbabwe for the winter (ours unfortunately, not theirs).

   When we returned, mission accomplished, we got out of the car and heard a neighbour’s generator throbbing away. Oh b*****, there’s a power cut. Got indoors in time to hear the computer’s UPS whinging. Fortunately it had enough power to allow me to shut the system down in an orderly fashion. Unfortunately, we couldn’t use it to boil the kettle to brew our breakfast coffee. So, out comes the gas burner and I was just about to ignite it when power is restored. So, eventually we were able to sit down with our crosswords over cups of coffee.

   Like Jimbo, I found it a game of two halves – easy on the right and then a struggle on the left.

   So, when Jimbo’s blog appeared I thought I would contribute and, half way through typing this, what happens? The b******g power cuts out again! So, cut and paste what I’ve typed so far and shut the computer down in another orderly fashion. Go shopping.

   Get back home and all is apparently well with the power. Back to the blog and here we are.

   Mike O, Skiathos.

   ps.

   25 Ac. Where does the ER of RAFTER come from?
   5 Dn. How is one meant to read the clue to get GLOTTAL?

   1. RAFTER is just a double def.
      GLOTTAL: “tea say” is the sound /t/. If you swallow it (as in “glo[swallow]al” or “bo[swallow]le”), you get a glottal stop.

      1. Thanks anon.
         RAFTER – doh!
         GLO’AL – Now I understand the definition in Chambers.
         Mike
6. 40:38 ..I suspect, as Jimbo implies, that barred puzzle enthusiasts were at some advantage here. For me it was in the “cripes” category

   ROAN went in on the grounds that it was the only horse that would fit. Last in was EBULLIENCE, once I finally got ‘exuberance’ out of my head.

   I really liked GLOTTAL – very topical as the glottal stop is now becoming ever more beloved of politicians and broadcasters (I blame Lily Allen). And not for the first time I was fooled by ‘rubber’ for MASSEUSE.

   Tough, but bravura stuff.

7. As a non-doer of these, could I ask (if any of this community have the time and inclination to answer) how they differ from the gridded ones and why this particular puzzle was easier for those who do them? Perhaps I should have a go – but they always look just a bit too complex for someone whose time for puzzles is a bit limited.
   1. Bar crosswords use many obscure words that are mainly clued in a highly rigorous manner that requires solvers to exactly follow the logic to arrive at an answer that can then be verified by using particularly Chambers. Solvers develop a specialised vocabulary of not just whole words but also abbreviations. The techniques developed over time assist with some daily puzzle clues where the application of analysis and synthesis are required. It is my belief that all solvers of the daily puzzle could benefit from doing bar crosswords.

      We blog the Sunday Times Mephisto and aim the blog at learners (since experienced solvers almost by definition require little help). I suggest you print off a Mephisto 2565 and read the blog and the crossword together. This will give you a feel for the situation. Then feel free to ask any further questions.

      1. Thank you very much – I will try Mephisto on Sunday against the blog, as you suggest.
8. ugh, two in a row. Hadn’t heard of either BENNET and tempted by PEANUT decided to guess at RENNET.
9. Same tale here as some others. The RH went in quite quickly with a query against ROAN but the LH slowed me down a lot, not helped by having originally plumped for WHIPPING at 1ac.

   I wasn’t 100% sure what a MARIMBA is but I know its name from the old Dean Martin song: When marimba rhythms start to play, dance with me, make me sway”

   1. Whipping? Spanking? It’s all a matter of personal taste (I’m reliably informed)
10. 17 mins, successfully guessing ROAN. 17A PLUMAGE seems to be another example of the (new?) clue type discussed here previously and labelled ‘partial &lit.’ by Mark Thakkar, in which the whole clue forms the definition but only a part of the clue constitutes the wordplay. COD 8D DETAINEE.

    Tom B.

11. An excellent and entertaining puzzle, as others have said. For some inexplicable reason – on the right wavelength, I guess – I found this fairly straightforward, and completed within 30 mins. The one or two obscure bits were eminently getable, or guessable, from the wordplay. I think this is the first time I’ve ever finished faster than Sotira, of whom I usually expect to be at least 10 mins adrift. Hurrah! I too particularly liked GLOTTAL and MASSEUSE. I suspect that, for the old hands, “rubber” as the def for the latter is an old trick of mis-direction, but it was new to me.
    1. Well done. Anything under 30 minutes I would have thought was good going for this. Now you can train your sights on Tom B!
12. Does spanking mean Lively? ive heard of brand spanking new…havent got a dictionary to hand to check…although if i had time i would check via the internet. Tricky LHS to puzzle!
    Great Blog Jimbo many thanks!
    1. Collins has it. SOED too but with special reference to horses.
    2. Have come across sailboats “spanking along” more than once in print, although I could not point you to a specific reference.
13. Left brain, right brain problem for me too. Didn’t know BENNET was a herb or an arnold, so bombed out there. ROAN was a guess after gum ARABic failed to get over the second hurdle. I liked NON-FICTION & MASSEUSE but COD to SENATORS.

    As for doing barred grids, I was given a book of Listener puzzles last Christmas and have only now started working through them. The only thing benefitting is my opthalmologist, as the small print is doing my eyesight no favours. I did learn what an uncus was today, but have already forgotten.

14. I took 40 minutes, getting held up near the end. I was slow to get EBULLIENCE, and like sotira I couldn’t get EXUBERANCE out of my head, thus wondering if I had 24 wrong. I’ve not heard of the herb BENNET, and was not sure whether the answer could be BENNIT, being a homophone, and SPANKING was also a late entry. SPENSERIAN came quickly because Sir Patrick Spens was the first association that came to mind.
    I liked the deceptive use of ‘Melbourne’ in 10 and also the deceptive wordplay of 16dn, masking the kind of ‘rubber’ we were after.
    One niggle is the nounal anagrind, ‘translation’ in 20. I was going to add 13’s use of ‘school’ for GRAMMAR, which is a type of school. However, I note that Chambers gives ‘school’ as an informal meaning of ‘grammar, so if we allow the latitude offered by Chambers there’s no problem even for Ximenean purists.
    1. I see no problem in using “school” to clue “Grammar”, which is (was?) a type of school. Using “grammar” to clue “school” would be another matter.
       1. I can imagine a parent saying, “My son goes to the local grammar”, which is presumably why Chambers includes ‘school’ as one of the meanings of ‘grammar’. I think the clue’s perfectly OK on those grounds. However, I don’t think the fact that some schools are grammar schools is, by itself, sufficient justification. Some school are public schools, but I think the following clue to PUBLICATION would be regarded as questionable by many:
          School that’s not one to be bothered about a magazine perhaps.

          Whereas, “Type of school that’s not one to be bothered about a magazine perhaps” would be more acceptable.

15. I did this very, very slowly but with no absolute hold-ups. On several occasions I had to resort to the technique of guessing a checking letter to get an answer. For instance, I guessed that 26 ended in S and that was enough to give me pianism. I guessed that 1 ended in ing and that was enough to give me intangible. I finished with roan, which I guessed had to be a type of bookbinding.

    I liked the endless spangles to get equine but, as so often with very clever clues, I had a vague feeling of déjà vu.

16. 24 minutes, delayed by tentatively entering WHIPPING, which was the sort of answer I would have pencilled in if I wasn’t doing the puzzle on a screen. I then forgot it wasn’t 100% and tied my own hands on spotting 2 down and 3 down as a result.

    Frank Zappa’s percussionist at one time gloried in the stage name Ed Marimba, which I think is a great pseudonym.

17. About 45 minutes here, same story with the RH side going in more easily, then plodding through the left. First in TAHITI, last GLOTTAL. Pretty tough, due in part to not knowing anything about Arnold Bennet, ROAN as bookbinding, or Sir Patrick Spens, and not keeping GLOTTAL stops in my everyday vocabulary. COD’s are MASSEUSE and DETAINEE for me also, with a nod to the setter for the French Marshal not being Ney this time. Regards to everyone.
18. This was too tough for me to do unaided, so although I finally finished in 40 min, it counts as a fail. Lots of tentative entering of possible answers or bits of answers (ala Lennyco) succeeded in suggesting a number of crossing answers. Fortunately all these guesses panned out, even one where I was heading in the wrong direction, but the crossing letters were correct!
    On re-inspecting, I conclude I must have had a wavelength problem with the setter because the is nothing either outlandish or outstanding. The second definition of ROAN was new, but the answer helpfully crossed. Similarly Sir Patric SPENS was unknown, but the rest of the clue sufficient.
    COD: DETAINEE. Like yesterday, not hugely difficult, but snappily clu(e)ed(?!).
19. Is 24d IRON, I plus RON??
    1. yes
20. A fun puzzle. No problems except at 1ac where I had SWINGING – a rather more severe form of discipline, but the answer works for me – which queered 2dn.

21. I always feel slightly miffed by clues such as “small reptile” = croc, “small animal” = hippo or rhino, etc. Same goes for “short”.
    1. You’re not alone. ‘Short’ would be preferable perhaps, but an abbreviated form is not a ‘small’ anything.
22. 18:30 in my post-holiday catch-up. Toyed with VICTORIA as the city for quite a while, and had to get ROAN from one of the two defs only – didn’t recall the binding stuff.

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