Times 24733: please hammer, don’t hurt ’em, there’s a good boy

37 comments on “Times 24733: please hammer, don’t hurt ’em, there’s a good boy”

1. Agreed, a nice puzzle with some unexpected features. 32 minutes all up in a week that’s been dithering around the Medium Gauge level. Which way shall we go tomorrow for the last of the year?
   Initially, I wasn’t so happy as you, George, with “grappling” as a signal for containment. Don’t we need the ugly “with with”?, I wondered. But now I find that “to grapple” [sans “with”] can mean to seize or hold (using a grapnel).
   Definite COD to 21: a fond memory for those of us over 50!
2. Missed out on Pinto bean not knowing it and not seeing pint – should’ve thought a while longer instead of hazarding Punno bean. 27 minutes with the error. Liked 3 for the reverse swing.
3. 45 minutes steady solve. Didn’t understand 2dn before arriving here as I thought I was looking for a reference to a composer (writer on staff).

   People ask for “the latest info” on subject. I can’t find a definition that says “info” on its own implies that it is the latest available.

4. Found this to be a real stuggle, but got there in 30 min without any assistance, with 2 dn being on a wing and a prayer. Not helped by bunging in CHRISTMAS for 16 ac. One of these which originally annoys, but blossoms on closer inspecton. Thank you slightly sneaky setter.
5. I thought all Times “writers” were necessarily dead.
6. S and N are partners playing bridge
   1. That was a tongue-in-cheek reference to an earlier crossword discussion
7. No time for this one, having forgotten to start the clock, but felt like a bit over 20m. I agree – this was a fun solve. I initially hazarded “EGGCUPPED” for 1ac, assuming HD could, after all, be reassembled, which might have made it even more fun. I liked the relatively frequent use of the first and last letters device (9, 15ac, 16), all well disguised, and the lovely “lift and separate” in PACK DRILL. Managed to remain blind to the expert in CORACLE, entered without understanding while looking for the more usual “ace” or “pro”.
   I considered myself fortunate to get PACT quickly – going through the alphabet for ?a?t would have taken a while.
   CoD to CANDLEMAS.
8. Another diverting but quite easy puzzle – 20 minutes to solve top to bottom left to right with no hold ups.

   Slightly irritated by “latest” to clue INFO – I agree with Jack they are not synonymous. Also “crawled” for SWAM (definition by example). Liked the rest of it but unfortunately have no such memories of FELIXSTOWE never having been there and associating it with container ships rather than bedrooms.

   1. Indeed, Jim. I also raised an eyebrow at “resort” but even Collins dictionary confirms that it is, and on Wikipedia there is a photo of its golden sands and pier!

      The other clue I didn’t like was 27ac where “advertising” provides no fodder for the hidden answer and seems a bit over indulgent for mere padding. But once again I’m not sure such nit-picking is actually justified and I’m concerned I am only moaning about being caught out by a legitimate tactic on the part of the setter.

      1. As Jerry has now said, “resort” is a bit of a stretch but that is the hallmark of this setter who we have experienced before and who always seems to produce some “loose” stuff. I think you have a point as far as 27A is concerned. Once again a meaning has been distorted to provide a surface reading.

         I suspect that if the puzzle was harder the irritation factor would rise considerably – and I acknowledge that is the pragmatic argument so often deployed by Peter and with which at heart I do not agree.

      2. I think 27ac is ok, with advertising in the sense of ‘showing’.
         1. Well, I’ve looked up “show” in Chambers Crossword Dictionary and it doesn’t give “advertise” as a synonym. I also looked up “advertise” and it doesn’t give “show”. Hype; plug; puff; sell and so on but not “show”
            1. I don’t have a dictionary to hand, but this is surely the sense that’s implied in the clue, from the Online Oxford: make (a quality or fact) known: Meryl coughed briefly to advertise her presence.
            2. I agree/sympathise with your and Jack’s other quibbles – even where they can’t really be sustained (resort or no, Felixtowe is a container port, damn it, and the sea’s bloody freezing, I’ve bathed there!). But I think you’re both being absurdly over-picky about “advertise”= “show”. Both the Compact and the Concise Oxford English Dictionaries give “to make (something) known” as a secondary meaning of “advertise” after its more common commercial sense, offering “she coughed to advertise her presence” as an example of this usage. You could clearly substitute “show” as a synonym for “advertise in that sentence.
9. I’m as out of touch as Ricky Ponting this week. I spent exactly 60 minutes on this, the last 20 trying to find my way to FELIXSTOWE. Kicked myself afterwards for not seeing the anagram indicator; I’d convinced myself that wife irregularly was IE. Should have known the setter wouldn’t use the same trick twice.

   A good puzzle though, with my COD to CANDLEMAS. And yet another appearance for my favourite Greek character, CHI. Setters wanting to try something different might note that it’s also the Pinyin Chinese for seven.

   1. Pinyin for 7 is “qi”. “chi” could be ‘eat’, among other things. If they were more widely known, some of pinyin 1 to 10 could be useful (leaving out the tones):
      yi, er, san, si, wu, liu, qi, ba, jiu, shi

      cheers

      1. Ah, thanks Joe. I’m still in the beginner’s class in Mandarin. So if you ever see “seven Chinese” in a clue, you can write in IRAQI straight away.
10. Easy one this, though I’m not complaining.. I found four clues where I had to sit and think for a while afterwards to unravel the wordplay completely. Didn’t really get 2dn til coming here.
    Felixstowe is surely a resort only in the same sense that Rye is a port 🙂
11. Woo! Finished it correctly without aids, although didn’t completely understand INCUR or COYPU before reading the blog, so thanks for that. Got a bit held up by misreading the clue for 10a, and thinking the answer would be ZION—, and also by convincing myself that ORA in 15d was a version of HOUR. Getting RELY and FELIXTOWE sorted those two clues out.

    When I had almost finished, I too spent time trying to fit in a Q or a V, thinking it may have been a pangram.

    Thanks, Jim, for the encouraging words a couple of days ago. Kind bloggers and easy-ish puzzles such as today’s motivate me enough to keep at it…

12. I’d never heard of PINTO BEAN but it was easy to work out from the cryptic. Spent a while getting started (first in COYPU) but after that progressed smoothly enough. Same reservations as others about “advertising” in 27a. I originally thought “dead” in 2d was equally redundant. But now I think it was a fair piece of misdirection – I spent some time trying to fit a “D” into the answer. 22 minutes
13. I found this a bit harder than others, around 40 minutes. Had trouble with HARD MAN, and the placement of the strange set of consonants in FELIXSTOWE, my last, was a fortunate guess. I hadn’t heard of the place, so I won’t join the debate about whether it qualifies as a resort; it’s mere existence is a pleasant surprise to me. Regards.
14. If one asks for the info on a situation, say, one asks for an up-to-date description of the state of play. If it isn’t in the dictionaries they’re merely lagging: it’s a case where established usage surely puts the setter in the clear. I’ve often been a bit troubled by the touch of dictionary dependency that lays its cold hand on this word people’s forum. It’s the arbiter when in doubt – but is there really any doubt about this one?
15. I knew a crossword solver once, who thought that N and S were partners. I ate his liver with some pinto beans and a fine chianti.

    I can list at least ten situations in which they are opponents. I challenge you to list five in which they are partners.

    1. What, again? Haven’t we been dragged through this already?
    2. 4 weeks later, doing the crossword in Australia, it won’t be read, but…

       Sir, I remove my gauntlets and fluff your cheeks with them:
       I challenge you to name a single instance where N and S are opponents, let alone 10 instances.

       Note we are talking about the letters N and S not the words north and south – the US civil war you once mentioned was between North and South, not N and S, for instance. Lee has never been called S’s leading general.

       Bridge is one of the few (perhaps the only? I don’t know) places you will see N and S and on the scoresheet as partners. Sometimes, but not always, lengthened to North and South.

       Crossword setters are trying to produce a single letter N or S – you suggest a two-step process to go from opponent -> north -> N; such a two-step process is not(?) acceptable in Ximenean crosswords.

       You, sir, are wrong. And the challenge remains: produce a single example where the letters N and S are opponents.

       Rob

       1. OK Rob, that’s all fine as discussed earlier. BUT, did you have a clue for 24d? I had none, so fared worse than the solver above who considered going through all of the -a-t words to find the answer. Even if I’d found it, I’d have no idea that it was correct – or why!
          1. Oh, and any bar magnet can be labelled N and S at the opposing ends.
             1. In which case they are opponent – adjective – but not opponents – plural noun.

                No clue… the Oz will no doubt print it with an apology on Monday, but from the comments above it must be clued as a homonym/homophone/sounds like packed.

                Cheers

                ps As a prospector are you in WA? Goldfields? Pilbara? I’m in Perth.

                1. “opponent – adjective – but not opponents – plural noun”. C’mon, you’re nit-picking!

                   You can also find the Prospector playing fantasy football – Dreamteam and Supercoach, and looking for cheap future Aussie Rules stars (therefore sometimes referred to as a golddigger). I’m in Melbourne.

16. What a contrast with yesterday’s fine puzzle. I agree with the criticisms made about ‘latest’ for INFO, despite some special pleading above. Like dorsetjimbo I don’t particularly like the unqualified ‘crawled’ for SWAM, and ‘executed’ does not necessarily mean ‘beheaded’ so is a poor indication of first-letter deletion. I can live with ‘advertisng’ as a link in 27, though my initial reaction was to see it as totally redundant.

    There were some nice clues elsewhere, however (eg 6,14), so I mustn’t be too critical.

    No idea of time since I did it at odd moments in a busy afternoon, but it seemed about average difficulty.

17. 30 minutes, surprised it wasn’t longer. I’d never heard the term ‘hard man’, nor did I know of Felixstowe, but they seemed inevitable. 4 or 5 clues went in before I had figured out why they should, and now that I’ve read the explanation I realize I never did figure out why ‘hard’. ‘info’ didn’t bother me at the time, but now it does, for the reasons given.
18. I saw this as a possibility straight away but hesitated because I could not see “arch” and “coy” as synonyms. I think of “arch”=sly (pejorative) and “coy”=shy which is confirmed by Chambers.

    Interestingly COED shifts the meanings closer, giving “arch” a non-pejorative meaning of “playful” and “coy” a slightly pejorative meaning of “pretending shyness”.

    Very odd.

    Chris

    1. Collins Thesaurus has ‘arch’ for ‘coy’ but not vice-versa.
       1. Thanks. I have only the Oxford Thesaurus which reflects the Chambers meanings, and does not give any equivalence between the words.

          It’s noticeable that doubtful meanings like this are often substantiated only by Collins. Despite its status as a reference work for this crossword I have to say I regard it with a modicum of suspicion.

          Chris

19. I know I’m thick. Someone explain 6down please?
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