Times 24762 … it turned to gold

mctext2nd February 2011 at 11:07 AM10 September 2025Daily Cryptic

Solving time: 34 minutes.

Getting slower as the week goes on 13m, 27m, 34m….
Noticed a slightly naughty tone to the puzzle today and I have my suspicions about that. Though I hope to be excused for adding to it a little. Absolutely nothing wrong with the odd schoolboy titter in my book. Didn’t post yesterday because the blog arrived just as “Are You Being Served?” started on 7Two. So you can see how far my sense of humour extends.
Note: no art or lit needed and a couple of scientish answers.

Across
1	LADY GODIVA. Anagram of ‘A, V (very) giddy olá’. The def ends with the word ‘altogether’.
6	MARC. Reversal of ‘cram’ (stuff).
9	T(EA-C)AKE. The filling is ‘each’ (a head, per head) truncated.
10	UNI, FORM. Never liked that abbreviation. Though I could equally well do without ‘varsity’. ‘College’ for ‘university’ is among Ryle’s (1949, pp16ff) seminal instances of a category-mistake.
12	MUTT, ON CHOP. ‘On’ for leg (side) in cricket; then half of ‘chop-chop’ (quickly).
13	One deliberately not included for the commuters?
15	LI(c)KING.
16	ALLEY-OOP. A, reversal of ‘yell’; O (ring), OP (performance?). Maybe there’s an abbrev. I’m missing here, but the OP looks a bit loose to me; perhaps to get the surface-effect for the &lit? The ring in question could be the circus or the basketball hoop. Probably the former. There’s another, more scatological, reading of ‘backing ring performance’, consonant with 18ac, but I shall not venture there.
18	BLUE MOON. ‘Show one’s behind’ … Good Heavens, I blush!
20	ISOBAR. ‘Causes obstruction’ = IS BAR.
23	BUD. An American friend (china, plate, mate).
24	BAG OF BONES. As in ‘thin as a …’. Anagram of ‘Bob’s gone’ and A, F (for female). Rakes, bottoms, naked ladies on horseback. Hm … I wonder?
26	UNROYAL. Anagram of ‘You learn’ minus the E.
27	1,R(ID+1)UM. ‘Off the wall’ = rum. So: ‘Badge one’ (ID+1) inserted into one (1) thus.
28	DOOM. Last letters of ‘trieD tO dO harM’. A bad lot in the sense of a bad fate. The Anglo-Saxon wyrd catches that nicely. Cf ‘to dree one’s weird’.
29	SO,NG,STRESS.

Down
1	LUTE. Sounds like ‘loot’; though there will be those who insist on the yod. You can syuit yourself. If the word does, indeed, derive from the Arabic (al-‛ūd) then the setter’s most likely right.
2	DO A BUNK. Neat double def with the first more cryptic.
3	GUANTANAMO BAY. Anagram of ‘a young B. man at a’. Much political restraint shown here.
4	DUE,NNA. Reversal of ‘Ann’.
5	V,AUX,HALL. ‘Aux’ being French for ‘to the’. No bones about the French this Wednesday. English for ‘Holden’.
7	’AVOC,A,DO. Smithfield EC1A 9LH: the market where haitches are dropped one supposes.
8	COM(1,C OPER)A. The manager is a coper.
11	IMPRESSION,IST. Where IST comes from ‘one’s feet’ minus the ‘fee’ (payment).
14	I[’]LL BE BOUND. We have the hollow B~~reez~~E blocking ILL (not properly) BOUND (secured).
17	BOO,GAL,O,O. ‘I don’t like that’ = BOO. ‘A modern [sic] dance to rock-and-roll music performed with swivelling and shuffling movements of the body, originally popular in the 1960s’.
19	UND,ERGO. Drop the F from ‘fund’ (kitty); then it follows!
21	BEEHIVE. Cryptic def. Stylish, I thought, to find the combs in common.
22	OFF(er)ING. Two words frequently confused by sports commentators. Anyone else wince when they hear ‘in the offering’? Offing their heads might help.
25	Darn … forgot to leave out a down clue. So, lucky last!

REFERENCE
Ryle, Gilbert (1949). The Concept of Mind. London: Hutchinson.

52 comments on “Times 24762 … it turned to gold”

ulaca says:

2 February 2011 at 3:21 AM

I think OP stands for opus – performance in the sense of (piece of ) work.
1. mctext says:
  
  2 February 2011 at 3:27 AM
  
  Moi aussi. But I still don’t like it. McText Op 2 (The “Symphony for Mrs Slocum”) has still not been performed!
  1. ulaca says:
    
    2 February 2011 at 3:41 AM
    
    Alley-oops! I called you ‘Jonathan’. Always getting my two fellow early-birds mixed up.
    1. vinyl1 says:
      
      2 February 2011 at 9:01 AM
      
      Yeah, it’s not my turn until the Monday puzzle that I will be blogging on Sunday night here in the US.
      1. ulaca says:
        
        2 February 2011 at 9:21 AM
        
        I’ll try and remember to call you McText just to even things up.
        
        mctext says:
        
        2 February 2011 at 9:57 AM
        
        Call me anything you like, so long as it’s not late for dinner.
ulaca says:

2 February 2011 at 3:27 AM

What a splendid puzzle for Lunar New Year’s Eve! A vivid patchwork of the literary and the street, seasoned with food, wine, music and science. I might have crept under the hour mark but for putting in AVOCADO and then crossing it out, ‘cos I couldn’t see ‘ow the ‘avoc fitted. 1 dn was a guess and the wordplay for 19 worked out only after completion. Thanks to Jonathan for deciphering 27, but I still don’t see how the omitted 13 works. (I’m assuming the answer is ARC.) 64 minutes.

Among so many tremendous clues, joint CODS to offerings from either side of the North-South divide, AVOCADO and ALLEY-OOP, the latter qualifying as a double &lit to me, since I got it from the famous Yorkshire shout (of my imagination, it seems) by analogy with ‘eh oop’ before seeing the basketball meaning in Chambers.

Kung Hei Fat Choi to one and all, especially those out East!
1. mctext says:
  
  2 February 2011 at 3:47 AM
  
  Trip the light inclusive.
  1. ulaca says:
    
    2 February 2011 at 4:03 AM
    
    Tripped up by the old hidden clue again …
vinyl1 says:

2 February 2011 at 3:37 AM

I had all but 25 down after 45 minutes, so thought about it for ten minutes and gave up. I came back an hour later, and of course it was obvious.

The Boogaloo is danced to soul/funk, not to rock. It was a good clue, and a surprise to find in a Times puzzle.

I have a feeling some solvers will find this rather difficult, I solved more by instinct than analysis. At least Lady Godiva and Vauxhall were obvious, those were my starting entries, leading me to expect an easy puzzle – but not so.
1. mctext says:
  
  2 February 2011 at 3:41 AM
  
  ‘Boogaloo’ def courtesy of the (US) Mac Oxford. I take no responsibility.
glh says:

2 February 2011 at 3:53 AM

After yesterday relieved to find mine was a correct grid, since I didn’t properly understand LOOT, AVOCADO, and IRIDIUM which went in from the definition.
kororareka says:

2 February 2011 at 5:37 AM

45 minutes of constantly surprising & cheeky fun & games. Well done that setter. Too many good clues for a COD… oh well, since you insist… BUD
kevingregg says:

2 February 2011 at 7:20 AM

This one took me back a few years; back to when I usually couldn’t finish a puzzle, and took and hour and a half when I did. I did manage to finish, at least, and without aids, although all told it was certainly over an hour. At least 5 answers went in without my understanding why they were right, and I never did get the -ionist bit until reading the blog.
Zabadak says:

2 February 2011 at 8:55 AM

Just on the half hour, solved with the cricket burbling away in the background. A stiff challenge, more on the unravelling of the cryptics than on the vocabulary: “feet when denied payment” just to get the “t” for one.
With the V present, I couldn’t think of a station other than Victoria, and lost much time trying to work the cryptic to fit.
I was curious on later checking (I was wondering whether ALLEY OOP might have a Z) that (my) Chambers doesn’t offer the circus call, but a manoeuvre in basketball – we live and learn.
Cod out of an excellent and taxing bunch to AVOCADO for the brilliant Smithfield chaos.
janie_l_b says:

2 February 2011 at 9:25 AM

Loved this puzzle, and finished despite getting muddled up in the SW corner, and putting several others in on def alone (LUTE, AVOCADO…). I was convinced that 19d started with (P)URSE, and had something to do with the bears in the sky, so formed the hugely unlikely URSERAL, which meant that DOLT (= to do harm, no?!!!) fitted perfectly: trie(D)+ (LOT)*. This of course gave BUS at 23a, but by this time I’d given up all hope of explanation!

Oh, and I also put CON(= I’m anti)GALOO in for the dance. Isn’t that what the conga’s short for???

Brilliant puzzle, loads of CoDs!
astonvilla1 says:

2 February 2011 at 9:57 AM

Great Xword. 38 minutes.

I started off very quickly and was hoping to hit a good time. But I was deceived by getting off to a flier and stuck in Victoria,(Vauxhall) and Apricot (Avocado) without any thought – then quickly ground to a halt.

I particularly liked Blue Moon and Alley Oop. Very clever.
martinfred says:

2 February 2011 at 10:07 AM

Tough going; timer on my cooker couldn’t cope with my sluggishness. Lots of wordplay not fully understood till coming here (congratulations, and thanks, mctext). I went down a lot of the routes identified by janie_l_b but somehow managed to avoid most of pitfalls, except CONGALOO (same reasoning).

COD: 11dn (or perhaps I’m really awarding it to mctext for sorting out the wordplay, notably ‘one’s feet’).
1. mctext says:
  
  2 February 2011 at 10:25 AM
  
  Fine by me, he said modestly. At least until the setter logs in to claim it!
jackkt says:

2 February 2011 at 10:08 AM

31 minutes but I found an error at 16ac when I went back to check the wordplay. I had put ALLEZ-OOP mainly because I was not aware of the alternative spelling but also because at that stage I had in mind that this was going to be another pangram. As things turned out I think we are missing J,Q,W and now Z.
john_from_lancs says:

2 February 2011 at 10:40 AM

37 minutes. Enjoyed this very much, even though it turned out to be more difficult than it at first appeared. I notice that Nigel Molesworth, as might be expected, uses yet another spelling of ALLEY-OOP.

“According to ancient tradition no fr. master can keep order. Whenever a french master apere in the doorway it is a signal for hale of ink pots rubbers chalk and stink bombs poo gosh. The fr master then loose his temper and sa: mon diue canaille allez-hoop or my god they’re at it agane.”

I’m sure this is the same chap who taught me French.
gnomethang says:

2 February 2011 at 11:08 AM

After yesterday’d dire performance (DNF) I seemed to be completely on the setter’s wavelength and was chuckling all the way through.
Re: ALLEY-OOP – I think the &Lit is meant as a basketball shot – a big up and under throw allowing the recipient to catch and score.

In any case thanks to the setter – BLUE MOON, BOOGALOO and BUD
1. mctext says:
  
  2 February 2011 at 11:44 AM
  
  Possibly. But does one shout this in basketball as the acrobats do, I’m told, in the circus? I have attended neither — and have no wish to — so I’m open to all possibilities.
  1. gnomethang says:
    
    2 February 2011 at 12:08 PM
    
    Looking around T’Internet _ like the acrobat better (even though Chambers doesn’t give it)
vallaw says:

2 February 2011 at 11:09 AM

24:27 so quite thought-provoking. This was one where I spent more time working out the why than finding the answer. Stared at 13ac for ages before spotting the hidden word,never sorted out the missing fee, nor why iridium. In my part of the world, “lute” doesn’t sound like “loot” so that went in with trepidation. An interesting puzzle.
Anonymous says:

2 February 2011 at 11:37 AM

15 mins. I really enjoyed the imaginative wordplay in this one. Hard to choose a COD from a long list of candidates: perhaps 22D OFFING, if only because it reminded me of the Jeeves novel.

Tom B.
JerryW says:

2 February 2011 at 12:29 PM

MC, if you like Are You Being Served, you must look at this documentary about the series. You have until Saturday pm UK time to watch it on BBC iplayer. It’s rather good, I think.

(Yet) another fine effort by the setter. Last in the Xmas/Iridium intersection, didn’t really follow the latter til coming here. 25mins in all so harder than average.
1. mctext says:
  
  2 February 2011 at 11:14 PM
  
  Sadly, iPlayer doesn’t reach this far. UK consumption only! Sad because it would have helped with inspiration for Op 3, The “Mr Lucas Waltzes”, after Brahms.
Penfold says:

2 February 2011 at 12:51 PM

24:41 online, a couple of minutes of which were spent trying to justify lute. I gave up trying in the end, fully expecting it to marked wrong. A similar story with iridium.

I saw you on P1 of the leaderboard Gnomey. Good going!

Blue moon worth the price of admission on its own, mutton chop a cracker too. Lots of other top notch clues so thanks to the setter.
1. gnomethang says:
  
  2 February 2011 at 8:31 PM
  
  Thanks Penfold!. Sub 20 minutes is pretty rare for me – I usually expect to be between 80 – 95% solved at that time with the remainder adding another 10 – 30 minutes depending on the percieived difficulty having checked over here – I am usually a good barometer of difficulty but today I bucked the trend somewhat.
  Looking at this one I think I was more in Biddle mode where words were leaping out from checking letters. Having said that it was nice to get almost all of the wordplay at the time.
sotira says:

2 February 2011 at 12:57 PM

19:50 .. great fun. I found myself ticking a number of clues, mostly for sheer wit and invention.

Two minutes at the end to figure out DOOM.

I loved LUTE, BLUE MOON and BUD, but the ‘the chaos of Smithfield’ is so brilliant that my COD has to be AVOCADO.

Thank you, setter.
Anonymous says:

2 February 2011 at 1:56 PM

19 minutes. What a brilliant puzzle! Loads of great stuff, all mentioned. My favourites were the short ones: the cunningly hidden ARC and the superb BUD.
Thanks to the setter, and to mctext for figuring out “feet when denied payment”, because I couldn’t.
1. keriothe says:
  
  2 February 2011 at 1:58 PM
  
  Oops – that was me
keriothe says:

2 February 2011 at 2:11 PM

No two-minute monkeys on the club leaderboard today I see. I wonder if they’ve instituted some sort of Magoo-based credibility test.
1. oliviarhinebeck says:
  
  2 February 2011 at 2:37 PM
  
  Amen brother!
2. JerryW says:
  
  2 February 2011 at 4:10 PM
  
  Didn’t the free registration for The Times website run out yesterday?
dorsetjimbo says:

2 February 2011 at 2:25 PM

As others have said a lively and very inventive puzzle that was both a challenge and an entertainment. Many thanks setter and well done mctext – not an easy one to blog. I bet it took you rather longer than your solving time!
1. mctext says:
  
  2 February 2011 at 2:56 PM
  
  Jim, yeh it did. But mostly because I’m still trying to get the hang of the LJ template. One angle bracket deleted and you’re pants!
  1. vinyl1 says:
    
    3 February 2011 at 12:36 AM
    
    We really should find a quick way to locate problems. I am always putting something in the wrong place, and can never find the error when my blog comes out as gibberish.
falooker says:

2 February 2011 at 3:49 PM

I put too many answers in without fully understanding the cryptic. Thanks to mctext for a brilliantly enlightening blog. I can’t remember a puzzle where I had so many scribbled question marks! One wrong. I had ALLEZ OOP, obviously put in from definition alone. Took 40 minutes. Last in IRIDIUM, as the only word that fitted the crossing letters.
joekobi says:

2 February 2011 at 4:55 PM

Well this one threw me off the wall. Still haven’t got 25 though all else right after an unmentionable time. No – had allez-oop. The word-collection particularly taking today – difficult not to thread a few starting with L. Godiva as a bag of bones. But my destiny today is to ponder -M-S.
joekobi says:

2 February 2011 at 6:00 PM

… and suddenly there it is. Lord what a fool this mortal be.
kevin_from_ny says:

2 February 2011 at 8:13 PM

Sorry to be late. Not easy for me since I didn’t know of DO A BUNK, I’LL BE BOUND or ‘rake’ as a BAG OF BONES, so wordplay only for those. IRIDIUM was from definition alone, I couldn’t parse it, although I did get the ‘no fee’ feet. I also still don’t know why the ‘a do’ from AVOCADO is ‘a cook’. Regards to all, especially to the setter for BOOGALOO, BUD, DOOM and DUENNA.
1. keriothe says:
  
  2 February 2011 at 8:26 PM
  
  “To do” can mean “to cook”. Usually used to say that something is “done”.
  1. siriumsnoyl says:
    
    3 February 2011 at 7:32 AM
    
    First post from a novice solver whose new year resolution was to persevere with the Crossword daily and who is sincerely indebted to this blog . Didn’t finish today but did get close and had ADO as A Domestic Orderly (cook).Thanks to all here for inspiration.
    1. dorsetjimbo says:
      
      3 February 2011 at 9:26 AM
      
      Welcome and hope to see a lot more of you. Never be afraid to ask questions – we’re here to help
vallaw says:

2 February 2011 at 8:30 PM

I do hope so. It rankles somewhat to be bumped out of the top 30 by a pair of ovengloves!
hydrochoos says:

2 February 2011 at 10:27 PM

For me, not an easy puzzle at all, with much guesswork, one dictionary lookup (DO A BUNK, after first trying DO A DUCK) and one mistake (BOOGYLOO, since I thought YL was the “young lady”) and many clues for which I did not understand the wordplay.

Still, I didn’t want to miss the chance to post on the blog today in order to thank sotira, colonialboy and dorsetjimbo for their get well wishes on Monday and in order to confirm that I followed sotira’s orders (are you a doctor, by any chance?) and am now out of the hospital! I would have blogged earlier today, but there was a struggle with my wi-fi at home which decided to eject me from the internet in the middle of reading the blog.
1. sotira says:
  
  3 February 2011 at 1:18 PM
  
  Very glad to hear you’re back home, hydrochoos. I’m definitely not a doctor – just a bossy woman (what? there’s a difference?). Well done.
tony_sever says:

2 February 2011 at 11:06 PM

10:23 here. Some very nice clues, a number of which I had to go back and work out after clicking on my stopwatch. I’m not normally all that keen on &lits, but ALLEY-OOP was very neat so that’s my COD, with BOOGALOO runner-up.
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