Times 24378 – In which I Begin to See the Light

Author   kororarekaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 32mins

A curious solving experience, with many clues apparently intractable at first glance eventually proving to be just extremely well and divertingly constructed when a few checking letters finally became available. I was surprised by my time, which is on the fast side for me, particularly in light of some recent dismal performances. It felt more difficult than that, but maybe blogger’s adrenalin kicked in and saved my bacon au gratin. A thoroughly enjoyable experience all round.

Across
1 PAL[I + SAD]E, a fence usually associated with fortifications. On first reading I thought the definition would be “one blue” and couldn’t think of a word meaning melancholic.
5 SCAR + AB for a scarab beetle. First thought was beetle = scarab, but then I thought that was too obvious and went down the beetle = brow path inside AB for a rocky outcrop. There’s a lesson in that, but I can’t think what.
9 OUT [B for bachelor] RAVE = OUTBRAVE or be bolder than. Blooming = out in the sense of daffodils, another masterly piece of misdirection.
10 GRATIN + shopS = GRATIS. I’m not sure if the definition is “for free” or just “free” with for = equals; either way it works. Gratin is defined as a “cheesy crust” in at least the American Heritage Dictionary, au’d in the French.
12 PENNY’D + READ + For + University + Lecture = PENNY DREADFUL, a nineteenth century equivalent of pulp fiction. Thanks to linxit for pointing out there is an f in dreadful.
15 A simple inclusion. Ask for more details.
16 DELI inside (BERLIN – R for resistance)* = INDELIBLE or permanent. Here’s a tip: always check your felt tip pen is of the water soluble (delible?) variety before writing on the glass of an overhead projector whose write-on plastic roll has been inexplicably removed.
17 U.N. + CONCERN = UNCONCERN or lack of interest.
19 “wield” = WEALD or wooded country. This word was on the tip of my tongue, since I had only recently learnt the Dumfrieshire village of Mouswald was actually MOSS + WEALD or wood on the moss, and nothing to do with mice at all. It’s pronounced MOOSLD by the inhabitants, so I don’t know where that leaves the homophone.
20 LUG[INFRANTIC*]E = LUNATIC FRINGE, one of those terms which can be applied to anybody who doesn’t think like you.
22 TRIFLE, a double definition with link word “making”
23 MA[SCHISM – S for son]O = MACHISMO
25 “in jest” = INGEST, the definition involving courses à la carte.
26 (POTS)< + PAGE = STOPPAGE or strike. The instruction “with” is a useful one for setters because it doesn’t prescribe which order the parts come in.

Down
1 (SHOP + SHOP)* containing R.U. for Rugby Union = PHOSPHORUS, a substance used in the preparation of matches, which may be the intended interpretation of “it lights”. Alternatively, I direct the readers attention to the following extract from The Boy’s Book of Conjuring:

To one part of phosphorus add six parts of olive oil and dissolve in a moderate heat. Then rub the preparation on the face (taking care to avoid the eyes). All lights in the room should then be put out and the face will present a terrible and supernatural appearance, appearing to be covered with blue flame. There is no risk of danger in this trick.

I’ll leave the explanation of “The Fire Bowl” (the trick which brings many an evening’s drawing-room entertainment to a close) for another time,

2 LOT, being a double definition. The French department is this one.
3 Save + PRAYER = SPRAYER. The collect is a brief prayer before the epistle, apparently.
4 VER<->DI + (MOTET IN)* = DIVERTIMENTO, another musical work in addition to the motet. An ingenious clue.
6 CAR[E for European]FUL = CAREFUL. You have to like “everyone in estate” = carful.
7 RATTLE + BRA + IN = RATTLE-BRAIN. The only contentious issue here would be the hyphen, wouldn’t it?
8 A double definition. Ask for further details.
11 On edit: L[AND]ING + CRAFT = LANDING-CRAFT. Thanks to jerrywh (see comment below) for the correct explanation. My original double definition explanation was rubbish, supported though it was by several learned articles. There’s a lesson there, as well. In the fishing sense, landing craft are beached in environs where there are no harbours. True, but irrelevant. When solving I took landing craft to be the skill involved in getting the fish into the boat.
13 NAME + CALLING = NAME-CALLING. I’m still chortling.
14 “medal” + SOME = MEDDLESOME
18 PL for place in (SUN + ON)< = NONPLUS or puzzle as verb.
19 (ROW)< + SHIP = WORSHIP
21 T.U. for Trade Union inside (I.E. for id est)< = ETUI, that well known “small, often decorative case for needles, toilet articles or the like”. I was going to say “Who takes needles into toilets?”, but stopped mid sentence.
24 SPAIN for a water related spring.

40 comments on “Times 24378 – In which I Begin to See the Light”

  1. Hi kororareka. About 25-30 minutes for me as well. First in was PHOSPHORUS, last STOPPAGE. A prety straightforward solve, although the RH side went in easier than the LH. I liked LUNATIC FRINGE as COD, and INGEST was well defined also. The ‘gong’=’meddle’ raises a bit of a quibble, but not much. Regards to all.
    1. Hi Kevin. “To get a gong” would be widely understood in the UK to mean “to be awarded a medal or honour of some sort”. Perhaps this usage hasn’t made the transatlantic crossing. I’m presuming that’s the part that’s quibblesome, rather than the medal/meddle homophone, or is it?
      1. Thanks koro. Never heard the ‘gong’=’getting an award’ thing before. You’re correct.
  2. 30 minutes. It seemed more difficult on first sight than it turned out to be. It was what I call a steady solve where the answers to most clues came after a moment’s thought and there were few that I had to give up on and come back to later. First in was SCARAB and the last two were GRATIS and RATTLE-BRAIN. I’m not sure I knew the latter and I spent a moment or two considering RUFFLE-BRAIN until the checking T fell into place. A welcome relief after the trials of Saturday when for the first time ever I gave up the struggle through sheer boredom.
    1. I agree with you about Saturday’s. I just thought I wasn’t on the setter’s wavelength, and it took me nearly an hour split over three sessions (but I got there in the end, and I can’t say there was anything actually unfair in it).
  3. 12:40 here, not a bad time for me for a puzzle that started quite slowly. Quite a lot of clues looked quite intractable at first look, than became obvious once I had a letter or two in place. First in was SCARAB, last two PALISADE and PHOSPHORUS.

    Slight quibble with your explanation for PENNY DREADFUL. I think the “primarily” refers to the first letters of For University Lecture to get FUL.

    1. Oops, you’re right. There has to be an F in there somewhere, doesn’t there. I’ll fix that up.
  4. Easyish one this, but still enjoyable.

    A quibble with the explanation for 11dn, which I think should be L(AND)ING where and = also, and ling = fish, followed by CRAFT = trade, the def. being “military vessel.”

    1. It doesn’t pay to get too cocky, does it. I looked at that for some time thinking there must be more to it and in the end couldn’t see it. Thanks for your superior and correct explanation. I’ll fix that, too.
  5. I also meant to say: sadly, “Weald” is better defined nowadays as “a formerly wooded area,” at least here in Kent.
  6. This is what my old maths teacher used to call a follow your nose puzzle. One answer leads to another until you find you have finished. Nothing to frighten the horses. Good to see the setters’ favourite seafood and sewing case putting in an appearance. Not so good to see the setters’ favourite supporter again.

    Now I can go back to trying to finish Saturday’s puzzle.

  7. Enjoyable puzzle, 28 mins. COD SPA – also liked INDELIBLE a lot. Would prefer not to see refs to Sat’s puzzle here, not least as I haven’t started it yet.
  8. I think I had three acrosses and two downs on the first sweep. So like everyone else, it seems, I was a bit surprised to finish in a tad under twenty minutes.

    I thought some of the consructions a bit contrived, but then perversely I’m going to award 1D PHOSPHORUS my COD. Perhaps not least because it was my penultimate entry, and finally giving me OUTBRAVE at 9A.

    I have to mildly disagree with NMS on the – very restrained – chat around the prize puzzle. I’m sure we all understand the “don’t usurp the competition” rule, but sometimes you just gotta say something (harmless) when it’s as heavy going as this week’s was!

  9. I also found it a fairly straightforward puzzle and the main difficulty was one I created for myself by writing the first P of PHOSPHORUS so badly that it looked like a B in some poor light, so 1 across took a while to solve until I discovered my error. 30 minutes in all.
    12 was slow to emerge and I stupidly missed the ‘tar’ = AB connection, so although I thought of SCARAB quickly it was a while before I had the confidence to enter it.
    I’m not sure which clue deserves COD, but 12 is a pretty good contender.
    1. since ru = japanese game is not in either the OED or in Chambers, whereas RU = rugby Union is, that would seem a doubtful proposition.
    2. Following on from jerrywh’s comment, the only Google responses I get from “ru game” seem to be of the form R U Game? with virus warnings attached. If you can shed more light on the possibly noble and ancient game of ru, we’d all be appreciative.
        1. In the best (worst?) Carry On tradition of outrageous foreign accents. Actually, kororareka is pronounced Corolla Wrecker, but that is another story, involving the search for Paradise in the south island of New Zealand (very much a case of Paradise Lost).
  11. A struggle at 32 minutes, not helped by carelessly writing INELIBLEE at 16. I briefly considered AIX for 2 but 9 isn’t a particularly large number (unless it’s a par 3) and it helped that my Dad used to own a house in Lot et Garonne (and now leaves in the weald of Kent).

    Last pair in were ingest/etui and I hadn’t heard of Penny dreadful or rattle-brain.

  12. Please explain what a RATTLE BRAIN is. I have been on this planet 50 years and more, but in all that time I have never heard this phrase/word ONCE. I echo all sentiments on Saturday’s: although I finished it after much effort, it was anything but satisfying…..
    1. Rattle brain: “A shallow, voluble, volatile person – who can’t be bothered to consult a dictionary” – Chambers 10th ed., except for the last bit 😉
    2. I must admit to never having heard the expression either, but I usually put that down to not getting out much and when I do, finding I’m in Australia (where epithets are usually more earthy) and not the UK. It sounded plausible to me at the time of solving and online dictionaries confirmed the existence of rattlebrain at least, in use from 1700 or so, or maybe in 1700 or so.
      1. I’ve never heard of it and it’s not in my editions of Collins or COD. SOED has it defined as “a foolish noisy person” but it’s in Chambers with reference to being shallow.
  13. 57:30 after an extremely slow start. I think after 25 mins I had 4 written in, and was wondering whether I was even going to get halfway. But, the pennies slowly began to drop, and I was eventually pleased to finish inside the hour without aids or mistakes.

    Some new words for me – ORMER, RATTLE-BRAIN, LOT & COLLECT (as a prayer). I remembered DIVERTIMENTO & ETUI from previous crosswords.

  14. 19:24 .. Last in STOPPAGE.

    More trouble for me with French geography. How come French departments (of which there are a hundred, for pity’s sake) get in so often but not, say, Dutch provinces? Is it simply because a number of them have useful little names? I suspect a fiendish Gallic plot (P,LOT = quiet department – see, even I’m at it).

  15. Did this while watching TV last night, so didn’t really catch a time – I did about half quickly, put it aside for some head-scratching and then filled in the last few, some very well-constructed clues.

    RATTLE BRAIN new word. Haven’t seen ETUI for a while, so INRO can’t be far behind.

  16. Late arrival today as website was unavailable this morning. Did an easy Rufus in the Guardian instead.
    Similar experience to many. Initially thought I was going to struggle but finished under the hour sans aids which is fast for me. LOT, ORMER and LUGE guessed, clearly still many chestnuts to add to my lexicon.

    I was sick as a parrot over the weekend as I had no time for either Saturday’s or Sunday’s. After reading today’s comments I am now over the moon. Must stop watching Match of the Day (another thing I missed).

  17. 8.10 today. Steady progress. One answer lead to another. Last in was 1 down. ORMER was remembered from one of the puzzles at this year’s championship. RATTLE BRAIN unfamiliar and needed the ‘a’ before I clicked on the appropriate ‘supporter’. Checking letters seemed to be more helpful than normal today
  18. 10:25, with one mistake: the just-about-plausible SARDINE CRAFT for LANDING CRAFT (11dn).  ORMER (15ac) and RATTLE-BRAIN (7dn) were unfamiliar.

    Two definitions by example (“collect” for PRAYER in 3dn, “estate” for CAR in 6dn); two grammatical mismatches (“manoeuvres” in 20ac, “switches” in 4dn); and a dubious definition (“virility” for MACHISMO in 23ac); otherwise a solid puzzle.

    Clues of the Day: 25ac (INGEST), 11dn (LANDING-CRAFT), 24dn (SPA).

  20. An easy and straightforward puzzle – 25 minutes at a stroll. Thanks to Mark for mentioning particularly the definitions by example. I’m getting to actively hate estate=car and I’m not over the moon about “it lights” as a definition of phosphorous.

    Other than that some reasonable stuff without ever being outstanding.

    I’m amazed at the fuss about Saturday’s puzzle which I thought pedestrian.

  21. 19 min, with a couple going in without fully understanding the whole clue until after completion. COD to LUNATIC FRINGE. Remember RATTLE BRAIN from my (distant … sigh) youth, so possibly of Scots origin like many of southern NZ’s dialectical oddities.
  22. Just to echo nmsindy’s plea above: please could we not mention current Saturday Prize puzzles in blogs. Apart from anything else, quite often people haven’t got round to doing them or finishing them. And the other week we had an entire posting from someone dedicated to the previous day’s puzzle. I accept that references to previous puzzles are part and parcel of this blog but full-blooded reports and even passing references to the Saturday puzzle, do spoil things for some of us slightly.
  23. 6:00 – the quickest solve in my post-holiday catch-up. Also found the Saturday (24377) puzzle very hard (and can’t see much objection to general comments that don’t mention anything in any clues).

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