TIMES 24675 – A STING IN THE TAIL

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
 Time taken to solve: I’d like to claim 20 minutes which would be excellent for me but in truth I have to add another 20 or thereabouts for solving 25ac and satisfying myself that it was right. Apart from that I’d have said it is an easy puzzle with some very obvious answers and virtually no requirement for any specialist knowledge.

Across
1 FORESAW – FORE sounds like ‘four’ then SAW for ‘cut’. ‘Crew’ = ‘eight’ is quite common in puzzles with reference to rowing but I can’t remember meeting ‘four’ in this context previously.
5 BOLSTER – Two meanings, support and a type of pillow.
9 DOG-COLLAR – G for ‘good’ and CO for ‘company’ inside DOLLAR. I’m not sure if this term for a clerical collar is used beyond these shores.
10 VIOLA – VIOLA is one of the main characters in Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ also there’s the string instrument played with a bow.
11 LATTE – LATTEr – The second of two (couple) is the latter. Without its ‘R’ it becomes a frothy coffee.
12 INCURIOUS – INCUR, IOU S
14 Deliberately omitted as I’ve had enough of politicians for one week.
17 UNCONVENTIONAL – Anagram of ‘non-U act in novel’
21 CABRIOLET – Anagram of ‘I locate’ around B(ritish) R(ail)
23 TUTOR – T(ime) inside ROUT reversed
24 MORSE – References to Samuel Morse who invented the communications code and to the real-ale loving detective and cruciverbalist created by Colin Dexter.
25 PRESCHOOL – My last one in. It took me as long to think about this as the rest of the puzzle put together. I was led astray by ‘see’ into thinking of cathedral cities and I suspect that but for this I would have spotted the obvious much sooner.
26 NETTLED – NETT for ‘final’ as in a payment after tax etc then LED.
27 TURNKEY – N’ for ‘new’ inside TURKEY. It’s an old term for a gaoler.
 
Down
1 FIDDLE – As in ‘fiddle or doctor the books’ and ‘fit as a fiddle’.
2 Deliberately omitted.
3 SPOKESMAN – Anagram of ‘P’ for ‘power and ‘makes son’.
4 WILLIAM TELL – WILL,I AM, TELL
5 BAR – Double definition.
6 LOVER – L(eft),OVER – Our cricket reference of the day. A maiden over is one in which no runs are scored.
7 TWOSOME – Double definition. Two golf players, also a courting couple may be referred to as ‘an item’.
8 REASSES – RE,ASSES,clasS
13 CONSTITUENT – CONS for ‘Tories’ then ‘T’ for ‘time’ followed by anagram of ‘unite’ and finally a further ‘T’ for ‘time’.
15 SPORTS CAR – SPORT,SCAR
16 DUTCHMAN – DUTCH is thought to be Cockyney rhyming slang ‘wife’ taken from ‘Duchess of Fife’. It’s possibly best known from the music hall song ‘My Old Dutch’ made famous by Albert Chevalier. According to Brewer’s the reference in the song is actually to a Dutch clock that has a face that reminded singer of his wife’s! I’ve seen the original song sheet and this is baseless, however there is a reference in ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ that might suggest a clock related derivation provided one knows that Dutch Clocks are actually German: ‘I seek a wife! A woman, that is like a German clock, Still a-repairing; ever out of frame; And never going aright, being a watch, But being watch’d that it may still go right!’
18 CABARET – Hidden answer.
19 ARTWORK – AR(TWO,R)K – ARK for ‘rescue vessel’ or similar is becoming a bit of a chestnut.
20 ORALLY – Double definition.
22 IDEAL – I,DEAL
25 PAD – Double definition.

57 comments on “TIMES 24675 – A STING IN THE TAIL”

  1. Don’t really know what to say about this one. Quite a few in the blindingly obvious category, verging on the Castanea family of clues (10ac, 24ac, 6dn & 22dn in particular) and several of severer strain (25ac, as Jack says, 11ac and 14ac which looked for all the world like an anagram).
    Thought I’d cracked the 10 minutes on this one until I realised I hadn’t solved 1 and 11ac. Another 2 minutes for those.
    The DBE Brigade will no doubt be out in force re 23ac.
  2. Welcome Janie.
    Monday and Friday puzzle switch this week?
    Proof here that an easy puzzle doesn’t have to lack invention or humour. Enjoyed LATTE (if Jack nearly met his WATERLOO with PRESCHOOL, LATTE was nearly mine, needing a couple of minutes post-solve to figure out), FIDDLE, PRESCHOOL, ORALLY, and my COD TWOSOME.
  3. Steady and enjoyable solve but puzzled over PRESCHOOL for quite a while before the penny dropped. Hadn’t heard of TWOSOME as a specific golfing term, but easy enough to guess. 42 minutes.
    1. COED and Collins don’t mention golf but Chambers does. A ‘possibly’ or question-mark might have been in order. In Scotland it could be more likely to refer to country dancing.
  4. After a week performing like Wayne Rooney, I was pleased to be presented with an open goal and not do a Kenny Miller, finishing with LATTE just before the half time whistle blew, on 44 minutes. COD to the clunky but misleading PRESCHOOL.
  5. So Friday is the new Monday? 16 minutes felt sluggish. Greatly assisted by easy long clues. COD to the rather sneaky 11 ac.
  6. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve become a little addicted to both the puzzle and this fantastic blog! Just wanted to say that this was my first ever to finish correctly without using dictionary, google etc (can’t say exact time, but probably just under an hour…), so I guess it must have been one of the ‘easier’ ones.

    Last one in: PRIME MINISTERS (don’t know why that was so hard, even with all the crossing letters!), and my COD to PRESCHOOL for ‘first class’ bit.

    Am so glad to have found this site, has already saved what must amount to days of wasted hours puzzling…

    Cheers, Janie

    1. Oops… sorry, I’ve just given away one of omitted clues. Do you need to delete above post? J (nervous first time poster…)
      2. Hello Janie and well done. No need to be nervous, your post couldn’t have been righter.
  7. Agree with the blogger that this was mainly simple. welcome to our new poster!
    preschool was my COD though. Pleased to get latte and Tutor though. for humour i liked Bolster!

    easier than most friday crosswords of late!

  8. A definite sting in the tail as far as I was concerned. Whipped through most of this in about 20 minutes, but ground to a halt with 1ac / 1d / 2d / 11ac, and 7d / 25ac blank.

    I’d guessed at FORESAW for 1ac, but for the life of me couldn’t see where the first bit came from, which didn’t give me much confidence with my attempts at the rest in that corner.

    Resorted to a solver in the end to help, much to my shame for a fairly easy puzzle. I’m not convinced that I would ever have got 25ac, though, which I still only half understand.

    COD to the hidden word.

  9. Gave up after 30 min and resorted to aids. What stumped me was putting in BRACE at 11 ac. It fits the wordplay beautifully (a couple; second as in short time; and a shortened version of BRACER for the drink) – but alas, didn’t help with the crossing clues!

    Still don’t really get 25ac, even though I can now see why it’s “first class”.

    1. Also, I thought CABARET was an anagram of “a bar, etc” with the ? at the end being the anagram indicator. Would that have been permissible, by Times standards?
    2. I thought of this whilst solving but couldn’t account for ‘second’ in the clue so it didn’t go in.
  10. One of my strolls in the park – very easy puzzle.

    I’ve been playing golf for over 30 years and I’ve never played a TWOSOME- two ball, three ball and foursome yes. I have heard a mixed four ball (that’s playing with the ladies) referred to as a mixed gruesome, but enough of that.

    I’m not convinced that “Waterloo” is DBE because “to meet one’s Waterloo” has entered the language and means to be routed and in other places the setter gives us “say” in 16D for example.

    1. Thanks for providing me with an excuse!
      Thinking about it, TWOSOME doesn’t make any sense in golf terms, does it? I’m no expert but I believe a foursome is a game played with four players and two balls (with players on each team taking alternate shots), so by deduction a twosome would be a game played with two players and one ball, which doesn’t sound like much fun!
      An academic point because no doubt it’s in a dictionary somewhere.
      1. Yes, it’s in Chambers for one which gives a Scots alternative of “twasome” and defines it as a game between two players. I wonder what would happen if the next time I went to the clubhouse I asked if anybody fancied a twosome?
  11. I whizzed through all but one in 13m, but gave up after about half an hour without getting TWOSOME. Looking at it now I’ve absolutely no idea why but I just couldn’t see it. Strange.
  12. Completed this one between Southgate and Russell Square on the Piccadilly Line with no delays (for either tube or solver) which Transport for London reliably tells me is 27 minutes. I don’t remember finishing one that quickly before so I’m calling that my record.

    Although I had it in correctly and can see the ‘first class seat’ and ‘prior’ bit, please could someone give me a full parse of PRESCHOOL? Just not quite sure I see how the whole clue is hanging together…

    1. Why do you think I dodged the issue? I wasn’t brave enough to attempt it and was just thankful eventually to get the right answer and satisfy myself it covered most of the wording of the clue. I think I have most of it but I still can’t explain the function of “see”.
  13. 14 minutes. Held up by TWOSOME as well. The clue to PRESCHOOL is just a cryptic definition, isn’t it? Place of occupation before getting to a first class(room) seat?

    Oli

    1. That’s how I interpret it. Although it took me several minutes post-solve for the penny to drop.
      1. I forgot to mention it before but this did bother me a bit when I solved it. I don’t understand what the word “see” is doing in the clue.
  14. 29:48 – First one under the half-hour for a long time. Several went in without understanding full wordplay including PRESCHOOL, my last one in.
  15. I still don’t get PRESCHOOL. I can see the first class seat bit but what does “here see” do? I can’t read “Here see prior to occupation of first class seat” as a sentence. Is the online version missing “children” or similar between see and prior?
  16. I solved the paper version in 6:44 with PRESCHOOL and ORALLY last in. Tee newspaper version of the clue for preschool is the same and reads very strangely. Even if “children” was added after “see” it would read better if it was “See children here….”
  17. I agree that ‘see’ is misleading. I suppose preschool is a sort of preview of the 5-year-olds’ class. The clue is a proper stumper altogether. It was my last one in, and I finished in just under 30 minutes.
    1. Here’s a highly implausible explanation for see . It’s see followed by ‘prior to’ as in ‘saw’ to give see-saw . I know it’s awful but it’s the best I can come up with.
  18. …for first time posters.

    I’m a long-time lurker but rattled this off in forty minutes (a triumph by my low standards) so felt compelled to contribute. Rather easier than a usual Friday though it has to be said.

    James

  19. Under 15 mins for the first time in a very long while. Goood for the ego even if it was a much easier than usual puzzle.
  20. Pardon my ignorance, but what is DBE? Waterloo was a nemesis, but as for ‘rout’, the Duke himself famously called it a near thing.
    (Was that DBE?)

    cheers

  21. I found this an easy twenty-minute solve, though oddly I scanned a fair number of clues before I entered my first answer (3, I think).

    I think “Here see” at the beginning of 25ac is simply a bit of surface decoration, equivalent to “What you see in this answer…”. I didn’t see the answer until I had all the checked letters.

  22. 15 pleasant enough minutes, though a long time starting. Special mentions to LATTE, DUTCHMAN and BOLSTER for cute misdirections. PRESCHOOL would have made it on the list but for the suspicion that it belongs in the missing words round – something between “see” and “prior”.
    1. I think it’s see-saw . Preposterous I know but it’s the best that I can come up with.
  23. About 15 minutes to solve, ending with LATTE. I took PRESCHOOL to be a cryptic definition, and I don’t see any function for ‘see’ other than surface padding. Welcome to the newcomers, and my COD to the hiddden CABARET. Regards.
  24. Yes, another EP puzzle, especially for a Friday, completed in 23 minutes. I have only once broken 20 minutes and have been doing this puzzle for years. In my defence, I always try to understand the clue, before insertion in the grid.

    COD to ARTWORK for unlocking the SE and enabling me to finish with (unsurprisingly) PRESCHOOL!!

  26. 21 minutes here, after a break of a few days (beautiful Lake District weather). Enjoyable puzzle but don’t think much of Righter as a word or Twosome as a golfing term. Setters should rely on more than the bare dictionary and irreducibly minimal usage. (I remember Knights Templars as an all-time example.) Liked Preschool though.
  27. I would have taken 40 minutes (or rather I did take 40 minutes) but for the last entry in, which was TWOSOME. I couldn’t think of anything else to fit, but put the puzzle down and did other things in the hopes of inspiration, and finally looked it up in Chambers — my problem was not knowing “item” as a name for a couple.

    I don’t understand jackkt’s problem with “four” for a crew — there are racing shells for four rowers, so a crew could be four as well as eight, I suppose.

    And I share everyone’s problem with PRESCHOOL — perhaps something was inadvertantly omitted from the definition. It would be a good clue otherwise. My COD is FIDDLE for the amusing connotations it involves.

    On the whole a very easy puzzle — is Friday now the first day of the week?

    1. Not sure what you mean by ‘problem’. I wasn’t disputing it, so not that type of problem certainly. If you meant I should have known it because of types of racing shell then that’s another matter because I know the bare minimum about most sports and I only know of rowing eights through crossword puzzles. I was just saying I haven’t met rowing fours previously.
      1. If you know the bare minimum about most sports, I probably know less (and it has never disturbed me, even if it does present a difficulty for solving crosswords). But I did attend a university on a river, one of whose few competitive sports was rowing, and although I didn’t partake in this I did see it from time to time, so I suspected there could be smaller sizes than eight and checked the Wikipedia to make sure.
  28. Didn’t time myself, but it was less than a pint, so can’t have been that difficult. Last in BOLSTER, didn’t know one of the definitions.
  29. 11:40 for me. I thought I was heading for a far better time, but spent minutes agonising over PRESCHOOL and still don’t understand it. I don’t buy the “see-saw” explanation.
    1. I don’t buy it either , but none of the ‘big guns’ came up with anything so I scraped the barrel.
  30. I came to the blog having completed all but 2 down. I was on the verge of having to ask for the missing answer but the penny has just dropped!
  32. 5:52 on return from hols, with 1A and 1D the last ones to go in. Good to see a few more delurkers.

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