Time taken to solve: 45 minutes. I thought I was heading for about 30 but the SE corner, 15dn in particular, put up some resistance at the end.
Mostly a fairly straightforward puzzle with only a couple of possible obscurities (one word and one French poet) and two very loose definitions, one of which is a bit dodgy anyway. The wordplay is straightforward stuff too and it helped me to the answers whenever I thought I might be getting stuck. There were some good surfaces and a few forced ones. I particularly liked 1dn and 6dn.
Across | |
---|---|
1 | Let’s start by leaving one out. Please ask if baffled. |
5 | TRIP,O/D |
9 | NOCTURNE – Sounds like “knock turn” |
10 | IN,SOLE – Oxford’ as a type of shoe turned up only a few days ago. |
12 | HE,ROD – Just as well the wordplay is easy because the definition is somewhat vague. |
13 | RAINSTORM – ‘Brainstorm’ with the B of ‘brolly’ removed. |
14 | ARABIAN CAMEL – (animal a bear + c)* One hump or two? This has one. |
18 | IMPERATIVELY – I’M then (privately + |
21 | CRACK,DOWN |
23 | MOUSE – Hidden. I didn’t know ‘mouse’ = ‘black eye’ until it turned up in a puzzle several months ago. |
24 | V,ILL,ON – Francois Villon (1431-1463) a French poet whose name was somehow at the back of my mind but I knew nothing about him. I just looked him up and found that he wrote a line of verse which (in translation by Rossetti) is very famous and I never knew who wrote it: Where are the snows of yesteryear? |
25 | MA,KIN,G DO – The third element of this one is (dog)*. |
26 | R |
27 | GEN,DA(R)ME |
Down | |
1 | HO,N,C,HO – Apparently this word for ‘leader’ comes from Japanese. I’d always assumed it was from Spanish American. Who was ‘the Honcho in the poncho’? |
2 | RECORD – Two meanings |
3 | B |
4 | CONTRI(B |
6 | gRoUp NoTeS – ‘Runt of the litter’ doesn’t only refer to pigs but it’s fine for our purposes. |
7 | PRO F, OR(M)A |
8 | DREAMILY – Y(LIMA)E,RD reversed |
11 | DI(SAD,VAN,TAG)E |
15 | C(ALUMNI)ED |
16 | AIR COVER – (ver |
17 | A,PP,ALL,ED |
19 | B(URGE) |
20 | RED,ONE |
22 | Let’s end by leaving one out too. Please ask if baffled. |
Re: CRACKDOWN… initially had CLAMPDOWN but couldn’t justify that and P???N for the famous knight didn’t look promising. At first reading thought the definition of AIR COVER was “planes” not “planes giving protection.”
It was a coincidence to see TRIPOD in the grid. I’m off to Scotland tonight for a couple of days’ Munro bagging and last night packed my tripod to get some group photos on the summits.
The half-pound burger I ate in USA last week would have fed two – it was definitely not a snack!
It’s a shame that group photos on summits always seem to include the trig point (so that you can prove you made it, I suppose) – otherwise you could put the camera on top of it and not have to lug the tripod …
Research project for someone: explain why the link between crosswords and endurance sports (hill walking, long-distance running, orienteering) is nearly as strong as the link between crosswords and music.
http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/item/160-166Z/
Group photos round the summit trig point are the best, capturing the “we made it” moment! I should think that everyone who climbs Ben Nevis for the first time takes a photo of themselves beside the concrete column.
I wondered about calumnied, expecting it (quite wrongly) to have an S in it, but to get alumni into a clue instead of OB for former pupils is impressive enough to allow the verbalised noun whether or not sanctioned by the dictionaries.
No real standouts today, but I liked DREAMILY for its tidy surface and construction.
This is an old debate, which I think is repeated among the setters and xwd editor from time to time. I suspect there are a few setters who’d like to be named, but others have pointed out that the Times xwd is much more actively edited than most other broadsheet xwds. So anonymity is good as they mind changes to their clues much less – it’s not “their puzzle” in quite the same way.
Another advantage is that the solver starts without any preconception about the puzzle’s difficulty or quality – with the names, it’s very easy to say “Oh not him again, I can never do his”, or “His are far too easy, so I’ll not bother and solve something else today”. (Apologies to Joyce Cansfield, who I believe is still the only representative of 50% of the human race on the Times team.) Some of us think we can spot setters, and sometimes we’re right, but it’s very easy to get it wrong and aim praise or criticism at the wrong target.
Finally, it means a much calmer discussion here. On the blogs about the puzzles with pseudonyms, there’s at least some degree of habitual loathing or adoration based more on the setter than the actual puzzle. Check out Anax’s new blog for more about this area.
Tom B.
Tom B.
Like Jack liked HONCHO and was mildly irritated by some of the loose definitions and not entirely convinced by “disposed of” as an anagrind at 25A. Hadn’t heard of the poet and had to solve from wordplay – one of the few in a puzzle in which the good definitions were a bit of a give away.
I’m another who didn’t see the hidden mouse – I’m not sure if many of these were ‘gimme’ definitions or if it’s just luck in terms of one’s solving sequence and the checking letters one has to work with.
I’m going to look for a way to use CALUMNIED today – too good a word to let slip away.
I, too, never say the hidden ‘mouse’.
No single clue stood out, but they all had convincing surfaces and, in some cases, interesting wordplay.
back in the UK after wine tasting
!
I have only just discovered this page. I like it.
I could try and defend myself by saying that it didn’t take me all that long to see it but the reality is that to get the word CAMEL from the letters MLAEC and a clue that includes the word “hump”, anything beyond instantaneous is, as I say, embarrassing.
So I will just fall back on the excuse of a five-star hangover.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballade_des_dames_du_temps_jadis
Funny that there was a difficulty with ‘camel’ after getting ‘Arabian’. I had the reverse problem: got ‘camel’ quickly but couldn’t immediately see the rest. Kept thinking of Bactrian camels or whatever they’re called.
Camels: similar here – initially thought “must be Bactrian/Dromedary”, but neither matched ?????A? which I think I had for the first word, so I looked at the remaining fodder after extracting the CAMEL+A. As I’ve only ever seen Dromedaries abroad, mostly in “Arabian” countries, it made sense as an answer. Bactrians (2 humps) turn out to be from the central Asian steppes.