Times 24644 – Tarzan, the Apeman

Author   yfyapPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Quite a challenging puzzle (but definitely not a stinker by Peter B’s standards) today with the south-east corner taking up more than half the time. But it was also educational as I learned a couple of new terms. As always, an entertaining day-breaker for me.

ACROSS
1 GREAT APE Ins of EAT (breakfast) in GRAPE (chardonnay, perhaps) I could almost hear Johnny Weissmuller (yes, Uncle Yap is of that generation 🙂 thumping his chest and bellowing his famous call in the jungle
5 SPLASH Ins of P (page) in SLASH (cut)
9 MONKEY NUT Cha of MON (Monday) KEY (clue) NUT (psycho)
11 LOTUS Ins of U (classy) in LOTS (a whole bunch)
12 THIRSTY Ins of S (last letter of gallonS) in THIRTY (30 figure)
13 GAZETTE Ins of Z (letter Z, variable in algebra) & ET (film) in GATE (opening) Ooops, typo now corrected
14 GENERATION X’ER Ins of X (vote) in *(in teenager or) Generation X n the people who became adults in the early 1990s, considered apathetic or sceptical about traditionally held beliefs and values, esp relating to work and the family.
16 BELISHA BEACON Ins of ELISHA (prophet) & BE (to live) in BACON (Francis Bacon 1909 – 1992) A Belisha beacon is a yellow globe lamp atop a tall black and white pole, marking pedestrian crossings of roads in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in other countries historically influenced by Britain. It was named for Leslie Hore-Belisha (1895-1957), the Minister of Transport who in 1934 added beacons to pedestrian crossings.
20 CAST OFF CAS (rev of SAC, bag) TOFF (aristo)
21 DROPPER DR (doctor) COPPER (metal) minus C, cleverly indicated by defaced … for a dispenser of eye-drops
23 STICK dd
24 LARCENIST *(clarinets) for a petty thief or nicker
25 ASHORE Sounds like A SURE  and out of the blue ocean
26 APOPLEXY A + ins of PLEB (peasant) minus B in POXY (pathetic)

DOWN
1 rha deliberately omitted
2 ENNUI Ins of U (universal, a certificate designating a film that people of any age are allowed to see) in TENNIS (sport) minus first and last letters;  feeling of weariness or languor; boredom;
3 TREASON ERITREA (country) minus ER (the Queen) & I + SON (issue)
4 PENNY DREADFUL PENNY (girl) + ins of READ (studied) F (female) in DULL (uninteresting) minus L
6 PALAZZO Rev of OZ (Australian) ins of LA (large area) in ZAP (destroy)  Italian palace, often one converted into a museum; a house built in this style.
7 ANTITOXIN Cha of AN TIT (avian creature) OX (bovine) IN
8 HOSTELRY Ins of E (last letter of alE) in *(shortly)
10 TIGHT-HEAD PROP TIGHT (tired and emotional) HEAD (director) PROP (stage item) in rugby, the prop forward on the right of the front row of the scrum in either team.
14 GOLDSMITH What a lovely cd for Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774), Anglo-Irish man of letters, poet and playwright who wrote, inter allia, The Vicar of Wakefield & She Stoops To Conquer.
15 ABSCISSA Cha of A B.SC (bachelor of science, degree) IS SAY minus Y
17 SNOOKER cd
18 CLOSE-UP Ins of LOSE (drop) in CUP (hole on the golfing green)
19 PRETTY dd
22 PRIDE Cha of P (last letter or toe of gaP) RIDE (trip) alluding to the saying, Pride comes before a fall paraphrased from Proverbs 16:18  “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall”
 
Key to abbreviations
dd = double definition
dud = duplicate definition
tichy = tongue-in-cheek type
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram

54 comments on “Times 24644 – Tarzan, the Apeman”

  1. All over the shop on this one. After the first half-hour had to pick at it now and then: probably an hour plus in all. Generation X was new to me. Surprised by ‘tired and emotional’ for’tight’ – don’t see that at all. Overall a puzzle of real flair – tough but not deadly , if you’re a Su Dokuaholic.
    1. “Tired and emotional” and “tight” are both idiomatic expressions meaning Brahms & Liszt.*

      * Drunk.

      1. Well, naturally I’ve known ‘tight’ and the musical pair for ever but have never knowingly heard ‘t. and e.’ as meaning that. Maybe I’ve just taken it literally when aimed at myself.
    1. I was 24 in ’67. Now you mention ‘Private Eye’, which I glance at occasionally, the phrase carries a faint resonance. The Wikipedia entry reminds me of the glorious Times leader comment (as I seem to remember reading it), after George Brown was found incoherent in a ditch: ‘George Brown drunk is a better man than Harold Wilson sober.’
      1. Quite a few phrases from Private Eye have passed into idiomatic English, and I notice that “tired and emotional” (inf. joc.) appears in the latest Chambers. “Ugandan discussions” have, as yet, not found their way into that dictionary; though, given some of the recent risqué clues, I imagine they could feature in this crossword before too long!
  3. Some splendid and not so splendid wordplay here, the same can be said about the surface readings. After 5 minutes I only had a few answers, so glad to finish in 27 minutes. Believe it’s possible to kid yourself into thinking puzzles are harder than they actually are, resulting in slower times-something I must guard against in future. Liked LARCENIST & ENNUI, but SNOOKER for me was pick of the day. In summary a real hotchpotch of a puzzle in every sense. First rate blog Uncle Yap.
  5. Cracking puzzle: completely offset my rant re “dumbing down” yesterday! This was quite difficult, which I completed in about 50 minutes, I think, but in several sittings.

    Probably too UK-centric to suit everyone, but I very much enjoyed it. CODs to DROPPER and PRETTY.

  6. Well, pretty hard as far as I was concerned – only just finished! Not helped by going initially for COCKTAILS for 7d. Well, cows have tails don’t they??? COD 26ac.
  7. Didn’t get a chance to tackle this until this afternoon and finished at intervals after supper. An hour all in. A good test all the way – thank you setter!

    Took far too long for this golfer to get CUP = green hole. First in TREASON, then PENNY DREADFUL, LARCENIST, CAST OFF… Was pencilling in PRISE as a desperate guess for the last one when PRIDE popped into my head as I began to write the “S”!

    T-HP, BB and GX all entered without full understanding of the wordplay.

  8. I was very pleased to finish this in 9 mins, particularly after reading some of the comments, but had my doubts about a couple of clues. Like others, my SURE and SHORE have distinctly different vowel sounds. I also thought the “our” in 3 down was unnecessary – shorely the clue is tighter and sounder without it?

    Thought perhaps we were heading for a double pangram with the Zs, but it didn’t materialise.

  9. I’ve been having a very hard day (and a very long solve), not seeing even easy entries like DROPPER until I had stared at them for ages. Surprised I finished at all, but in the end I needed help only for TIGHT-HEAD PROP (like Kevin I’m also American, also completely ignorant of rugby), although there were many entries on which I didn’t (and couldn’t for lack of vocabulary) understand the wordplay. That’s one reason I didn’t dare fill in APOPLEXY until on the verge of giving up. Most amusing was what I made of BELISHA BEACON, even though I got it right: I convinced myself this was the name of an obscure artist, and managed to make the wordplay almost fit. But I looked it up in Wikipedia to make sure, and then I did understand the correct unravelling of the clue.
  10. A very fine puzzle in the opinion of this American, in large measure because I solved it completely (rather like the lawyer who decides that the Judge who ruled in his favor is a great jurist).

    I did check “monkey not,” “belisha beacon,” and “tight-head prop” on Google, but, in each case, the answer was my first guess, so I do not feel that I cheated.

    I don’t mind the Britishisms if they can be solved by some means other than knowing them.

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