Times 24727 – A Greek and a Trojan

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 28:53, a rare sub 30 minute time for me. A time that actually seems to stack up pretty well on the leader board.

It’s Peter’s turn again, but apparently he’s having more problems since no blog has been forthcoming from him. I’ll do it again on his behalf since he didn’t appear to mind last time.

I went through this grid pretty steadily without any real hold ups. It was an enjoyable solve with some good clues. I liked the little &lit at 2, and the dd at 10. A bit of fairly basic mythological knowledge required here – a Greek Titan (Prometheus), an Egyptian God (Ra), and a Trojan hero (Hector), although really hector here is defined as a verb, but the derivation is from the Trojan.

cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this

Across
1 dd – deliberately omitted
4 CROSS BOW – dd, the second one cryptic. The district of Bow is at the heart of London’s East End. To be a proper cockney you should be born within earshot of the Bow Bells, so the saying goes. While this is true, the Bow Bells are not actually in Bow at all. See SD’s comment below.
9 DREAM UP = (RED)* + PUMA rev
11 YARDAGE = E.G. A DR. AY all rev.
12 ALLOT = “A LOT”
13 A + F(FLU)ENCE
14 PRO + ME + TH(E)US – I was held up a little here as I got my Greek mythology confused. I was convinced it was Hephaestus that was punished for stealing fire from the Gods, but it was Prometheus of course.
16 CAR + ‘D
19 ThAt LaKe
20 F(RISK)INESSe
22 PAVAROTTI = RAP rev about (A + V) + OTT + Italian
23 bEIGER
25 S(M + OK)ING
26 ECONOMY = CO in (MONEY)*
27 A(EST + HE)TE
28 HECTOR = C in (THE)* + OR – To hector is to bully or torment, after the great Trojan warrior.
Down
1 RED CARPET – cd
2 S + WELL – &lit
3 NO MATTER – dd – if something is pure energy, then it has no physical substance or matter.
5 dd – deliberately omitted
6 SHROUD = HR in DUOS rev
7 BRAINWAVE = (A WIN)* in BRAVE
8 WHE(R)El
10 PLAY HARD TO GET – dd
15 OB(LId)VIOUS
17 DESTROYER = (STORY)* in DEER
18 TIRESOME = (SORE)* in TIME
21 W(RA)ITH – More mythology, but Egyptian this time – Ra was the Egyptian Sun God.
22 rev hidden word
24 G + HOST – 21 (WRAITH) is the definition.

27 comments on “Times 24727 – A Greek and a Trojan”

  1. I came to a grinding halt after putting about 10 answers in. The rest came in a trickle. Post solve the whole thing looked quite easy so I think I just made hard work of it.
    Louise
  2. 17 minutes today, held up on TIRESOME, though I can’t see why. Another Jungian coincidence today, perhaps slightly unfortunate, with CROSSBOW echoing the headlines.
    Not a difficult solve, but plenty of pretty enough clues to make it interesting – I particularly liked AFFLUENCE and the cheeky EIGER. 14a I thought rather telegraphed its answer with “I stole fire”, but I still thought the cryptic was decent. CoD to DESTROYER – rather a neat surface, I thought. Seasons greetings to all.
  3. Enjoyable crossword with nothing too obscure – just as I like it! Great blog but there’s a slight inaccuracy in your comment to 4A. The reference to Bow bells is now widely held to refer to being within earshot of St Mary-le-Bow church in the City of London and not to the Borough.

    SD

    1. Yes, that is so. I was born in the correct area but in 1942 the bells had been destroyed by Mr Hitler so using a strictly definition I’m not a cockney! Also worth noting that St Mary Le Bow bells can be heard south of the river so a cockney need not come from the East End.
  4. Thanks Dave – I thought I’d posted a report successfully this morning but forgot to look back at the blog to check. My preamble said:

    Solving time: 9:45 online

    This puzzle probably won’t get people wildly excited but seems a good example of a medium difficulty
    Times crossword.

    Nothing significantly different in the clue analyses.

  5. Another sub 30 minutes for me (it’s been a good week so far – or a particularly easy one). COD to 21dn (WRAITH).

    Having solved the crossword, and with the snow piling up outside, I wondered how long it would actually take me simply to complete the online version. (I’m staggered by how quickly the experts can read, solve and complete a crossword; I’ve always thought it would take me just as long simply to fill the answers in.) What I didn’t realise was that my online time would start from the moment I had downloaded the crossword in the early hours! In consequence, I am recorded with an ignominious 8 hours plus (most of which was spent comfortably asleep in my bed).

    1. A score of 600 (ie fully correct) is never ignominious.. I am gradually getting into the online solving more but it is still slightly against my will.. sitting in an armchair with a mug of good coffee and the crossword printed onto nice paper is SO much more civilised..
  6. Managed most of it fairly quickly, but was held up on a few, particularly on 20a and 18d. So much so, that I eventually threw in the ludicrous TIMEROSE at 18d – got the wordplay, but couldn’t see the wood…

    Still don’t get why it’s EIGER, could someone please explain? Thanks, J

    2. See Dave’s blog. ‘Beiger’ = more bland. Less ‘black’ (b) = EIGER (Alpine mountain).
      1. Doh! I did see the blog, but read BEIGER to rhyme with EIGER! Time for another Christmas tipple!
  7. I also had problems with this and was unable to get it to flow so I had answers scattered all around the grid for most of the 55 minutes it took me to solve it. I thought I would need to resort to aids, which I would have done after an hour, but in the end it wasn’t necessary.
  8. after almost losing my will to live yesterday (or, what comes to the same thing, thinking about switching to the telegraph),it was nice to finish, albeit with aids. put a few in few without real understanding – got pavarotti from the (wrong!) definition “italian tenor”. better to be lucky than good i suppose! thanks to all the bloggers and all the best for christmas.
  9. 25 minutes. Applause for RED CARPET and PLAY HARD TO GET. How would Einstein have viewed the clue for 3 down? No matter, he never would have tackled other people’s puzzles.
  10. I think this week’s crosswords must have been a bit easier than usual. I found this another relatively smooth solve. I don’t believe my brain is working any faster so the crossword must be easier. Did it with a cup of tea in 19 minutes – which is a good time for me.
  11. I found this on the simpler side, 15 minutes with no hold-ups. A relief after I made a hash of yesterday’s offering. COD to RED CARPET, which raised a smile. Nothing much more to say, so regards to all.
  12. 13:31 today, a straightforward solve. After infuriating myself (and ruining my average) by missing a clue completely yesterday, I think I may revert to morning solving! Post-midnight may be better for the subconscious, intuitive leaps in the dark, but morning is definitely more careful.
  13. This seemed on the easy side. 16 minutes which I was a touch disappointed with. Mis-wrote Aesthete and at the end found myself looking for a spirit (having solved Ghost) -r-i-e, till thought to check. Quite like 23 for the assumed awful comparative.
  14. Another easy one – 15 minutes to solve. Looks like we may have a whole week of reasonably entertaining but undemanding fare.
    1. I hope so. I’m hoping I don’t get a stinker to blog on Christmas Eve. I have visions of getting stuck with a festive Jumbo that’ll keep me up until Christmas morning!
      1. I’ll cross my fingers for you. I’ve got the Boxing Day Mephisto – anything is possible!!
  15. Yes, another straightforward solve. Around 30 mins for me. Nothing to add to what’s already been said.

    A Happy Christmas to Peter B, Jimbo and the rest of the hard-working team of bloggers, coupled with thanks for the erudite entertainment they’ve provided to us idler folk over the past year.

  16. 22″, helped by a couple of giveaway clues: 1ac, 14ac, 22ac, 26ac, for instance. Given the pattern of the last few days, I’m predicting a nasty one for today.
  17. I guess this was a puzzle of average difficulty (which means it took me over an hour to solve, but not much over an hour — actually I was interrupted after 50 minutes by the oldest daughter arriving home for Christmas and did the rest later, which always helps).
    Although I had all the answers right, there were two things I didn’t understand in the wordplay: why is OTT immoderate in 22ac, and what does HR, or is it RH, have to do with the personnel department in 6dn?
    My last in was CARD, but COD perhaps to AFFLUENCE, which I quite enjoyed.
  18. Another simple offering, clocking in at 29 minutes. Held up in SE corner until I got GHOST, which gave me EIGER. Last in SHROUD and CARD, which was cunning. Liked HECTOR best, 5dn least. Thought ‘Carol embracing Mark’ was rather cheeky in a Thatcheresque kind of way.
  19. I did it on the 5:17am ICE to Frankfurt Airport, and found it not too daunting for that hour, although as I didn’t get the BOW reference, CROSSBOW held me up because my foggy brain just didn’t remember the name of the weapon. EIGER was new, and enjoyed the double definitions: PLAY HARD TO GET and NO MATTER.

    Now I’m back in the states on holiday, will be getting my Times through the NY Post, but on same day and not for 3 euros so hopefully will be able to comment here 🙂

Comments are closed.