Times 24740

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 28:23, but with one mistake.

Most of this went in very easily in about 15 minutes, but the last 3 (11/23/24) took the remaining time.

I thought 11 was quite devious, so that gets my COD, but otherwise there were a lot of answers that were automatic write-ins, even for me, so quite a weak puzzle overall. Not that I’m complaining – it’s quite nice to get an easy one on a blogging day!

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

Across
1 MON + S – A WWI battle
4 AMBIVALENT = (MAN)* about BIVALvE + T – ‘having a very short’ = with one of the Vs removed.
9 DECAHEDRON = (HERO DANCED)*
10 FLUE = “FLEW”
11 UNSEAT = U.N. SEAT – The U.N. Is based in New York, so that’s where the member states get their seats. This was my last in.
12 IN + STIN(C)T
14 SHOnE
15 REGENERATE = RE + (TEENAGER)*
17 SEE-THROUGH – dd. To ‘see someone through’ is to offer them support in their time of need.
20 TO + RY – RY is more usually railway or line. I’m not convinced station works as well.
21 HER + CU(L)ES – This was my mistake. I had hastily thrown in HERACLES, thinking ACES might be signals somehow.
23 APULIA = AIL + UP + A all rev – Apulia is the region of Italy more commonly known as ‘The Heel of Italy’.
24 BEND – dd I assume. I’ve not heard of a Sinister Bend. A heraldic term perhaps? Yes, it’s a stripe on a shield from top right to bottom left indicating illegitemacy. Thanks to richnorth below.
25 PRIES + THO + LatE
26 TIE THE KNOT – dd = A Windsor knot is used for tying neckties.
27 D’ARTagnan – One of Dumas’ Three musketeers. He was a musketeer, certainly, but he wasn’t one of the three. Thanks to mctext for pointing that out.
Down
2 dd – deliberately omitted
3 dd – deliberately omitted
4 A + B + sETTER
5 BURNING QUESTION – Thomas Cranmer was burnt at the stake in 1556.
6 VENISON = (IN OVENS)*
7 hidden word
8 TREATy
13 CATER + PILLAR – A monarch is a type of butterfly.
16 RE(TOUCHÉ)D
18 REaL + APSE
19 HEADSET = ADS in (THE + opEra)*
21 H + A BIT
22 RANGE = RAN + E.G. rev

50 comments on “Times 24740”

  1. Not at all easy for me, limping home in 82 minutes with one wrong (‘bank’ for BEND – which I had considered and should have stuck with). Heraldry, sadly, is down there with plants and drinks in things I know next to nothing about.

    LIke Dave, my last in were 11/23/24, and, like Dave too, I thought first of Heracles. Liked the mythical hero, but my COD to UNSEAT. Very crafty.

    Anyone, why QUESTION in the Cranmer clue? What has this to do with ‘fate’?

      1. Here ’tis from the Wik entry: “Under interrogation, Cranmer admitted to every fact that was placed before him, but he denied any treachery, disobedience, or heresy”. Then, off to the flames.
  2. “Bend sinister” is the heraldic term, Dave. It’s a sign of bastardy, apparently, and is a diagonal stripe from top right to bottom left on a shield. That’s from the dictionary, not my memory, although it’s also the name of an album by England’s finest group, The Fall.

    I though this was very enjoyable, with some cracking clues. UNSEAT was very tricky and was my last in as well after 50 minutes. The future monarch was also good, although I seem to remember it’s cropped up before. But like ulaca, I’m mystified by the absence of any pointer towards QUESTION in 5dn.

  3. You were obviously well and truly tuned in to the setter’s wavelength today, Dave. I found it a bit of a stretch, particularly the home one, with UNSEAT, BEND & APULIA taking ages to see. Besides those, there were some cracking clues here, which I enjoyed immensely; among them AMBIVALENT, HEADSET, RETOUCHED, HABIT and my COD CATERPILLAR.
  4. I have a feeling this puzzle was compiled in tribute to the William-Kate nuptials. The TIE THE KNOT clue references Windsor, 13d mentions a future monarch, and 8d reads ‘Brief pact a delightful surprise’.

    Had my doubts about REGENERATE meaning ‘born again’, but it turns out to be an adjective as well as a verb.

  5. 29 minutes on the screensaver clock: (http://www.9031.com/downloads/screensavers.html). Highly recommended if you’re not worried about the seconds.
    Don’t have the puzzle with me here. But remember being stuck in the SW. Thought HERCULES was good. Oh, and … D’Artagnan wasn’t one of the eponymous Three Musketeers: he was pretty handy with that weapon but.
    1. You’re right, of course. I fell for the classic misconception there. Although d’Artagnan is the central character of the novel, the Three musketeers of the title were his friends – Athos, Porthos & Aramis.
  6. An amusing puzzle, although I failed on 11ac – I thought the UN was headquartered in Geneva. Live and learn.

    I think aphis99 may be right about the William and Kate theme – well spotted. If so I just hope 24ac isn’t meant to form part of it.

    Dickens uses the bend-sinister in Bleak House as a hint of the plot to come; in describing the house of Chesny Wold – “…over the great chimney-piece, it throws a broad bend-sinister of light that strikes down crookedly into the hearth and seems to rend it.”

    Chris

  7. A little over 17m, which I was pleased with because it didn’t feel that easy.
    Like others BEND and APULIA were my last in and took a few minutes on their own. BEND was a guess based on the fact that “sinister” can mean left, but I’d either forgotten or never knew that this came from heraldry.
    Also puzzled by the absence of a reference to QUESTION in 5dn. Even with mctext’s explanation I’m unsure.
    A very minor point Dave but I noticed the same thing as you in 20ac but thought the question mark was there to address it. Towards the station = towards the railway.
  8. I finished all but four answers in 20 minutes at 01:30 hours before abandoning it for the night. On resumption this morning I took just as long to find the remaining answers. The ones outstanding were HABIT and BEND, UNSEAT, RETOUCHED and APULIA. The heel of Italy thing has come up before but it took me ages to get the reference and I still had to look up the answer to check it.
    1. Any aficionados of the classic board game Diplomacy should be familiar with Apulia being the heel of Italy. That’s where I know it from.
      By the way, Jack, that’s five answers.
  9. Going quite well until ground to a halt by UNSEAT and BEND, so came here for rescue (I could not get a grip on either clue, so could not narrow the range of possibilities to a ‘best guess’). Thank you, Dave. A recent holiday in Puglia alerted me to APULIA.
  10. I hope I didn’t dislike this one only because UNSEAT had me flummoxed for ages and APULIA was a guess on wordplay only. I thought there were a good few weak clues, especially dd’s at 3, 17 an 24, and the musketeer at 27. What’s “covers up” doing in 12 (INSTINCT)?
    I also hazarded HERACLES, but decided against it – though by this time I thought today’s setter might have some devious wordplay in mind that I didn’t see. Not a lot of fun for me.
    1. Thanks, I forgot to mention “covers up” in 12A which looks like pure padding. The clue without the phrase “Feeling cold during spell of work” is fine as it stands.
      1. I read it as:
        during = in
        spell of work = stint
        So “during spell of work” covers up “c”
        Otherwise where is “in” clued?
        1. I think I have to concede that: I was making “during” do a double duty, which it probably shouldn’t. Cheers
  11. I get niggled by what I see as unnecessary inaccuracy and there are a number of examples in this puzzle that have clearly also troubled others.

    At 20A whilst every railway has a station not every station is on a railway. At 27A the D’Artagnan mistake is poor. The word “QUESTION” isn’t clued in 5D – the clue should read something like “Cranmer’s fate – to debate an urgent topic”

    The rest is a strange mixture of the very easy (2D say – at least for UK solvers) and the rather clever (UNSEAT say)

    2. I must say, Jimbo, that I agree with Ulaca in finding nothing wrong with D’ARTagnan. He was a prominent musketeer in the famous Dumas story. The clue makes no specific reference to the “three musketeers”. I also gently suggest you’re being a tad picky in objecting to the clueing of “station” in 20ac, which caused no great difficulty. I do agree, however, that QUESTION wasn’t properly clued in 5dn, a defect that could easily have been remedied along the lines you suggest. All in all, a curate’s egg of a puzzle. Among the clues that were too easy or otherwise unsatisfactory, there were also some excellent ones. I particularly liked UNSEAT, RETOUCHED, APULIA and CATERPILLAR.
  12. Stuck for ages at the end on unseat so pleased to finish finally in 33 miinutes … and then found I’d erred with bank for bend. I think the envelope-pushing for question and station is just about OK: the first meaning matter and the second based on the suggestion of common practice, i.e. if you’re going to the railway you’re probably going to the station. After all the question-mark’s there. COD unseat by a mile.
  13. 16:03 here, but stuck on UNSEAT at the end for a couple of minutes. Great clue. Also slowed down by my ignorance of Italian geography on 23A, but I’d heard of it at least, and got it from wordplay in the end.
  14. 27 minutes. UNSEAT took a while: just couldn’t see what the clue was telling me to do, but when the penny dropped I thought it very clever. At first I was puzzled by 5 down, but have now convinced myself that Cranmer’s fate was “a question of burning”. The Shorter Oxford gives it is a question of to mean “what is required or involved is, etc.” Chambers gives “(vaguely) a relevant matter.”
    1. Personally I’m still not happy with it. I struggle to see “a question of burning” and “burning question” as interchangeable.
      I did wonder if Cranmer might be the origin of the phrase “burning question”, in which case the clue works as a kind of erudite/arcane (take your pick) double definition, with the relevant “fate” being the question rather than the burning. However I don’t happen to have a copy of the OED to hand.
  15. As many others the last three were 11/23/24, with 11 being from this blog although I had APULIA without recognising the region and BEND was in as a guess. COD to 13d for me.
  16. 51 minutes with 2 assists (11 & 12), so good for us despite a late night winning the Ashes (joy of joys!!) However we agree a weak puzzle and not as much fun as yesterday’s, though easier, leaving us a bit 4ac. Thanks to DP for helping us 17 17.
  17. 24:11. There was enough to admire here (e.g. future monarch, bivalve, touche) to make this enjoyable despite the shortcomings addressed above and the rather uneven nature of the puzzle as a whole (clus ranging from too easy to downright tricky).

    Nobody relates the King Harold tale as well as Edgar Marriott:
    The Battle of Hastings

  18. Unlike yesterday, I got well into this straight away but then had problems with UNSEAT and APULIA. Finally understood the New York reference – it really was an excellent clue – but needed a geography check for Apulia. 35 minutes with the last 10 of those spent on these 2 clues!
  19. After not being able to even complete half of yesterdays I found this easy. Rattled through most of it quickly and managed to correctly solve a few from the cryptic clue even though I hadn’t heard of the answer – such as Priest Hole and Apulia. Was disappointed that I just couldn’t fathom 11 across and had to come here for the answer!
    Louise
  20. 12:28 .. back to solving after a prolonged break. The odd quibble, but nothing that spoiled the experience for me. A few smiles along the way.

    Like aphis99 I got the ‘royal engagement’ buzz from this. Is six weeks within the turnaround time for Times puzzles? I know there were factories in Guangdong turning out the ‘Kate & Wills’ mugs about a day after the announcement, but the Times does move a little slower.

    COD UNSEAT

  21. Much, much better today. Finished without aids, one put in without full understanding (BEND), one left out (UNSEAT).

    COD to CATERPILLAR, but also liked AMBIVALENT.

    Happy weekend everyone!

  22. I found ‘question’ in 5d eyebrow-raising, but not unfair; nor any of the other queried items today. They’re clues, not algorithms.
  23. 20 minutes. Got most of this done fairly routinely then came to a grinding halt on UNSEAT which I eventually worked out – my COD as well, and APULIA. I was thinking about the Latin term for the heel , but eventually I clicked on the Italian connection. Unfortunately my limited knowledge of Italian regions includes Calabria and Puglia among others but have never come across this one.
    After two weeks on a Caribbean cruise I am looking forward to some Bonaires,Grand Turks and Arubas in the coming months
  24. My usual hour plus a break plus a minute or two, and the last in was the devious UNSEAT, the way there being the realization that there was not going to be a Y to make New York, but the UN is in New York so the word must be UN?E?T. And BEND, my next to last, went in without much understanding, but it did fit “submit”.

    I agree with many of the complaints about inaccuracies above, but it was still quite an enjoyable puzzle. COD to AMBIVALENT perhaps, for “having a very short”.

  25. 29:17 today with 11ac taking at least 17 minutes. I thought I was steaming through until I got stuck on that. Finished just as Australia’s last wicket fell so the time wasn’t entirely wasted.
  26. Oh and I query 4d – obviously “abetter” fits clue but is not the accepted English spelling, which is “abettor”. I was downed recently for this and it still rankles!
    1. Chambers gives abetter then abettor (esp. in law); The Shorter Oxford abettor then abetter (exc. in law). (Who needs a gym subscription when you’ve got The Shorter Oxford?)
      1. I agree it’s an alternative spelling,that’s why it rankles, but last time it was in a Times cryptic, it was “abettor” with no help from the clue – it was a homophone and the penultimate letter was unchecked. I think it was less than a month ago – a little consistency wouldn’t go amiss!
  27. 21:38. I was not confident about BEND. Like others I struggled with UNSEAT and APULIA but got there eventually.
  28. Not much to add except that i tend to agree with Jimbo on this puzzle! Thought that both CaterPillar and UN Seat were excellent clues
    35 minutes.
    so three this week all around the same time…
    wonder what tomorrow has in store for us!
    H
  29. 9:46 for me, a good 2 minutes of which must have been spent on UNSEAT. Some nice clues, and none I’d have any real objection to.

    ABETTER has cropped up so often in the Times Cryptic in recent years (far more often that ABETTOR) that I’ve become quite used to it, though I remember being slightly surprised when I first came across it.

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