Times 24772 – Topsy-Turvy

Author   kororarekaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving Time: 28 minutes

Another easy one with the odd bit of obscure vocabulary, some sport and a South Australian antelope. It seemed like more than the usual amount of inversion was going on, together with some reverse engineering, which made me suspect 20ac sorry, 22ac was the theme clue. On with the show!

Across
1 FIGHTER containing RE for about = FREIGHTER
6 F for key + LOSS = FLOSS
9 TON for one hundred, reversed, + RUM for odd around S for singular = NOSTRUM
10 CARRION = CARRY ON if preY replaces its I. Some reverse engineering going on there?
11 SCRUB, double definition
12 STAR TURNS = START + URNS
14 Deliberately omitted, and with this we bid adieu to our non-cricketing readership.
15 LIQUID LUNCH, a cryptic definition
17 IMAGINATION = I for one + NATION for state containing MAGI for sorcerers
19 GEL = LEG for on, reversed. Cricket again.
20 GO for start + BET for gamble + WEE for small + N for Northern = GO-BETWEEN
22 A + M for male + I for one inside G & S, all reversed = SIGMA, with a bit of cheek covered by a hyphen.
24 GO for shot + A + L for line placed after OWN for private ‘s for is OWN GOAL
26 DIG for the remark containing A + RAM for the sign = DIAGRAM
27 N for name + A LAY for a song, reversed = NYALA, (Tragelaphus angasii). I wondered how an antelope could be named after a seminal figure in South Australian history George Fife Angas, Esquire, as reported by Wiki, and could find no link apart from his Kangaroo Island connections. It turns out the Angas in question was actually his eldest son George French Angas, who also featured prominently in Australian history.
28 CASHEW NUT = CASH for ready + TUN WE for cask we, reversed. Let’s go through this one more time: the fruit of a plant is its seed, the fleshy bit is mere pseudocarp, and there’s no difference between fruit and vegetables except the fact that one is a mass noun and the other isn’t, unless of course they’re root vegetables or inflorescences, where you must subtract three from your answer and invert in the former case or simply take logarithms in the latter.

Down
1 F for fine + I’S for one’s containing IN for in = FINIS
2 ELSTREE = EL + STREEt. Borehamwood, nee Elstree, is the home of Elstree Studios (and there were/are several) according to Wiki, who goes on to say they were named Elstree to save printer’s ink. Can a source which confuses the French with a fife really be trusted?
3 GoAlIe containing RIBALD for blue = GARIBALDI, disambiguously a biscuit, blouse and brigand.
4 (I’M SET)* + SQUARE for “old fashioned” = TIMES SQUARE, by way of apology for the cricket.
5 Deliberately omitted, although I’ll not half get a rocket.
6 R for king inside FIST for duke = FIRST
7 OMICRON = cOMIC + RON for man. There’s one you don’t see every day.
8 (SHE CLEANS)* = SENESCHAL, which has been a word in English since October 14, 1393, for those who may have doubted.
13 A FICtION + S for succeeded containing ADO for trouble = AFICIONADOS. Stopping as in surrounding in this instance. It can also be used in the plugging sense.
14 BRING for fetch + DOWN for feathers = BRING DOWN, with a reverse engineered “from”
16 LANDS for “comes down” + CAPE for head = LANDSCAPE, the “on” in the positional sense, since it’s a down clue.
18 ALBANIA = ALBAN for saint + Ignatius + Arch. St Alban was the first British Christian martyr, beheaded at the behest of Severus (by name and nature, apparently)
19 GAGARIN = R for runs included in G for “acceleration due to gravity” AGAIN, first human into outer space, not counting all previous alien abductions.
21 THORA = ART reversed around HO for “small house”
23 ADMIT = Miner inside ADIT, the mine opening found only in crosswords.
25 LAC = bLACkflies. Think shellac.

45 comments on “Times 24772 – Topsy-Turvy”

  1. A confidence-restoring 30 minutes after the tribulations of last week. So I agree with koro that it was an easy one, but not with his use of “another”. My only real hold-up was caused by the parallel obscurities in the top right corner, where I made it hard for myself by thinking that the vulture was looking for a carcass. Or even a carcase.
    2. … a confidence restoring puzzle after the tricky ones last week: the unknown vocab was easily gettable, and the more complicated wordplay could be worked out from the definition.

      CoD to TIMES SQUARE, which today jumped out at me: we’re off to NYC next week for the half term break to do the whole tourist thing!

  2. 16 minutes, a personal best. I was helped immensely by the number of words I could get just from the checking letters. ELSTREE was the last in, but I had the feeling that there was a studio of that name, and, given the clue, if there wasn’t there should have been. SENESCHAL came once I had the first & last letters; I remembered that Sir Kay was Arthur’s seneschal. A refreshing change after last week’s workout.
  3. 40 minutes, so my best daily Times puzzle for a while. I was slowed down by SENESCHAL, GARIBALDI, AFICIONADOS and FINIS.

    Elstree studios are once again thriving making films and TV programmes after going into the doldrums for a while, and indeed there are plans to expand the facilities with loads of new money going into them, so ‘were’ in the clue might better have been ‘are’.

    I also wondered about a theme re 10 and 20 across because the film The Go-Between was made at Elstree as were some of the later Carry-Ons.

    1. Your theme seems more plausible than mine. I actually meant to write 22ac with its G&S theme, Topsy-Turvy being the Mike Leigh film about the quintessential odd couple.
      1. Hoped we might combine the two if Topsy-Turvy was made at Elstree. One of its locations is listed as Hertfordshire (which might fit) but the production appears to have been based at an inner London studio.
  4. 11m 30s so must have been pretty straightforward! Tried to make 3D a blouse out of goalie and sad which proved tricky – galoisade anyone? – but enjoyed this one. Did the Sunday Times last weekend (6th Feb) and it seemed to me to be greatly improved (thanks PB if it is your influence). Regards to all.
  5. 17 minutes on the clock, but then on checking through quickly I saw that my hurried answer for 27ac, NIARA, wasn’t really going to wash. Corrected immediately so probably around 20 minutes in total.
    The NYALA was unfamiliar but I’d be very surprised if I haven’t come across it before. Likewise SENESCHAL was unknown today, but a bell is ringing somewhere.
    A nice gentle start to the week.
  6. My first one-cup crossword for over a week, 11mins or so, and very welcome it was. After so many toughies you start to think it must be you.

    I wasn’t sure if the answer to 10ac contained an i or a y, so had to leave that letter until I got 7dn. I still think the clue unconvincing.

    Nice blog, Koro!

  7. 13 and a bit minutes. I think SENESCHAL is one of those words which you know from somewhere but would find hard to define.
    The clues for the Greek characters today perhaps illustrate a primary cryptic quirk, “all-round” and “rounded” playing the wordplay and definition roles respectively. Either could (just about) be switched for the other.
    DIAGRAM went in without the wordplay, though it’s not that hard. We Aries sometime just don’t spot the obvious.
    CoD to CARRION, partly for being almost a novel in its own right.
  8. Nearly made the 10m: but the 11|00 had just ticked over on the clock as DIAGRAM went in. So Light Gauge (about .009 on the top E) for me. Full marx — possible title for George’s musical? — but: on the easy side without being too dreary; 5dn notwithstanding. Vinyl: I’ll see your Empire State and raise you a Fifth Avenue (a venue?) for wrong first-blushers at 4dn.
  9. 28 minutes – A friend found this ‘Easy-peasy’ but I didn’t find it all that straightforward.
    Yay to me for spotting ‘ready’ = currency immediately.
    Boo to me for immediately writing in MONE(k)Y nut. That didn’t help!
  10. 11:13 for this one on the online interactive grid. Only the second time I’ve used it for the cryptic, and I still can’t get the hang of looking up at the clues rather than down, even though I’ve been doing RTC on the Times2 puzzle for about 5 years. COD to 15ac, just cos it’s my favourite meal!
  11. 24 minutes. P.G. Wodehouse would have been disappointed that 5 down was not the hidden EMU, and that the Sun God Ra did not get a mention, even though he appeared seven times in one form or another in this puzzle. Another antelope for the Times Crossword Safari Park, I see.
  12. Less than 30 minutes with SENESCHAL going in instantly! Even had time to wonder whether ‘Carry On’ (CARRION) films had been made at ELSTREE (apparently not). Thank you setter and editor for providing a pleasant and achievable start to the week. Very enjoyable blog, kororareka: GARIBALDI as brigand rather than national hero made me smile.
    1. Yes, that’s correct. I was mixing them up with Hammer who moved to Elstree after years elsewhere (Bray studios). I recently watched documentaries on both, hence my confusion.
      1. I was about to beat a humble retreat and apologise for missing the critical last part of your first entry (the font is small and I hadn’t got my computer glasses with me, he says lamely). I feel a bit sad that Wiki, rather than you, was accurate.
  13. Another easy Monday solve in 20 minutes, though I’m a little wary of writing that, since last week’s easy solve was a prelude to a string of puzzles none of which I managed to complete without some use of aids.

    Re 14 down, the pattern, wordplay from answer (rather than for answer) seems to becoming rather common in Times puzzles.

  14. Sorry, Gnomethang, but as I said to you earlier it was easy-peasy – 11 minutes which has to be my fastest ever Times solve. A very nice start to the crossword-solving week.
  15. Ripped through this in 8:36, but maybe shouldn’t have been so hasty, as I’d typoed TJORA at 21 down.
  16. 16:23 .. I’ve made it this far in life (don’t ask, I stopped counting at 39) without ever encountering SENESCHAL and that took a bit of working out and guessing at the end (had to weigh it against SENASCHEL).

    I think even Brits below a certain age could be forgiven these days for not being too familiar with Elstree Studios. Long time since it was a major feature on the film-making landscape. Unlike Pinewood Studios… I somehow found myself sucked into the recent series of The Apprentice and fondly remember the moment when they were told they’d be spending the day at Pinewood Studios. And one of the bright young things whispered: “I think it’s a furniture store.”

    1. I haven’t had a chance so much as to look at today’s puzzle yet but I wanted to pop on and wish the lovely Sotira a very happy birthday.
      1. Why, thank you. I’m celebrating by trying to avoid doing any work at all. So far I’ve achieved precisely nothing so it’s going pretty well!
        1. Yes, you achieved something – you’ve done the crossword. This one was mostly guesswork for me. I hired a cleaner and bought a new bicycle, too. It’s Valentine’s day, and you have to show love to someone.

          1. Ah, no, I did the crossword last night (time difference). So I’m still managing a day unblemished by productive activity.
    2. Many happy returns!

      I’m surprised you haven’t come across SENESCHAL before, as the “she cleans” anagram seems to crop up fairly regularly, e.g. “Domestic supervisor – she cleans furiously (9)” in Jumbo 713.

      1. Thank you, Tony.

        I don’t solve the Jumbo or any cryptics other than the daily Times puzzle. If I have met it before, it disappeared into the black hole that is my short term memory.

  17. This was a straightforward puzzle which I finished in 21 minutes,a fast time for me. There was no unfamiliar voacabulary – though I will quarrel with the blogger re ADIT. When I was little we had a disused one up the road. So I’ve known the word for as long as I can remember. For some the unfamiliar is everyday. (On the other hand I have a perpetual struggle with criketing terms – most of which I know only through this crossword)
    1. ADIT is the first ever word I remember learning through crosswords. It turned up in a DT puzzle about 50 years ago. Our household was stuck with A?I? until the solution was published the next day as there were no electronic solvers back then. Once learned, never forgotten.
  18. It took me a few minutes to get my first couple of answers so I was amazed when it suddenly started to come together very quickly.
    Louise
  19. Thankfully solveable after last week’s struggles. About 25 minutes ending with IMAGINATION. Never thought of the MAGI as ‘sorcerers’. Regards to all, and well done koro.
    1. THE Magi three kings of Orient were, but ‘magi’ is the plural of ‘magus’=sorcerer.
  20. 8:48 online. NOSTRUM was a complete unknown and I had LIQUOR instead of LIQUID LUNCH at first which is of course always just as good ,if not better. There is a GAGARIN WAY in the former mining village Lumphinnans near Cowdenbeath in Fife named as a tribute in the 60’s by the local Labour & Communist councillors.
    Nice explanation of 23 Koro.
  21. I didn’t see this the first time round but koro, you are quite wrong of course. The easiest way to encounter it outside crosswordom is to read some of the works of the great Jack Vance. For example, the Planet of Adventure series. Science fiction does not get better than that, and there are adits galore, the Pnume will live nowhere else..

    He is also strong on mages/magi; he is one of those authors whose vocabulary is bigger than yours is 🙂

    1. Ah, Jack Vance! Who could forget “Servants of the Wankh” – a title famous in SF fandom. (More specifically, in British fandom)
    2. Well, I am much chastened, being as I am in the virtual presence of one person who has encountered an adit textually outside of crosswordland and more than that, another who has actually seen one in the wild. I had always imagined them as the mines you saw in westerns; small openings in hillsides for stashing loot or hiding out in, and it turns out I was right! In Australia, we mostly have huge holes in the ground, ranging from the size of a middling village to that of Wales. Only artists can be found starving in adits, or is that something else?
        1. Well, they are big, and unfortunately getting bigger and plum in the middle of prime agricultural land in some cases (see Hunter Valley, NSW). I think the idea is to join them all up. Oh, for a few adits dotted about the place; it seems so much more civilised and gives the coal at least a fighting chance of escape.
        2. The biggest hole, from which apparently was dug Ayer’s Rock (or Uluru as we now say).
  22. …for anyone still online…

    18dn: Is ‘arch’ often shortened to ‘A’, or is it because it is the head of I (gnatius) and A (rch)? Or is it that A = top of arch?

    Cheers, J

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