Times 24,839 Of Trews and Ghillies

37 comments on “Times 24,839 Of Trews and Ghillies”

1. 40 minutes with probably 10 of them spent on 8dn at various times throught the solve and at its end. Finally plumped for SARK from the wordplay but I didn’t know the definition.

   I couldn’t parse 18dn satisfactorily but decided on your second option, Jimbo, which I’m really not happy with. I don’t see the other one as an improvement I’m afraid.

   1. Thanks – corrected

      I think you’ll find very few will know the meaning of SARK used here – and that may include some Jocks

      1. This Jock got it right away.
   2. Yes, t’=to is a bit in the Mephisto range as well but given SARK I thought it might be what the setter intended.
2. Ducked under 20 minutes, after ridiculous hold-up with only spectre to go, and gazing at sheathe, sweetie and sceptre…not the Royal Wedding. I knew sark, probably by virtue of being a certain age. A word a younger person used to know, for some reason. All pretty straightforward.
3. Made a pig’s ear of this, finishing in 79 minutes, last in (CAMPUS – yes that bad) & SARK. The best excuse I can find for my slowness was writing ‘bank’ instead of ‘lane’ at 14. Really that bad.
4. I mananged to finish this one, and in 30 minutes; a welcome relief, I must say. Then again, SARK was a complete unknown and TEATIME a befuddlement. It has to be the TEAT option, for an &lit, rather than the T’ option, which would make the definition “Opportunity”, surely? COD to SWEETCORN

   And speaking of memory lane, Jim, you forgot to mention the Kinks with a song which actually was a big hit in Victoria, because they thought it was all about them. Mind you, in that youtube version it could be about almost anything.

   1. Yep, it’s the TEAT and the &lit for sure.
5. 40 minutes, after i too was held up by VICTORIA. I overlooked the obvious and was determined to find an anagram of er got in a. 18 has to be an &lit, I’d say.
6. Did most of this quickly, but was stumped by several at the end: SARK, SPECTRE, VICTORIA, ROT, the last three because I carelessly put in ‘virginia’ for 23a.

   Thanks for clear blog, a coupel went in without FU (UPROAR, RATHER, eg). I went with the TEAT option for 18dn, but was far from convinced!

7. …but justifiable answer. I had ‘ret’ instead of ‘rot’, i.e. re[s]t. The dictionary definition is: ‘to moisten or soak (flax, for example) in order to soften and separate the fibers by partial rotting’, so it’s pretty much on the right lines. What do you think?

   I also wasted a lot of time trying ‘Virginia’, and never saw the cryptic for ‘spectre’ at all.

   1. Not keen on “ret”. It comes up a lot in bar crosswords and as you say means to soak rather than to weaken, which is a bit distant for a definition. Also “half-hearted” relates to the “oo” in root i.e only one “o” rather than two.
   2. ’bout the same except I had VIRGINIA which I’d slapped in without really
      thinking. ‘Ret’ is also a good Scrabble filler-word. Took a while but finally saw it.
      Liked you choice of music (Sibelius) the other day. One of my favourites.
8. 25 minutes here, with a goodly chunk of that staring at the SE trying to fit the remaining answers around VIRGINIA for 23ac.
   Didn’t understand TEATIME. I’m still not sure I do!
   1. Well, the &lit is a bit of a stretch – it would be more natural to say that teatime is “usually” around mid-afternoon rather than “primarily”.
9. 47 minutes, the last 15 or more spent staring at the bottom right before I could see UNSETTLE and then ROT. Not sure why. May have dozed off.
10. Interesting: one browser (Camino) excludes me, another (Chrome) lets me in!
    18’ today with a bit of a serious think about SARK. Had VIRGINIA as the state for a while but. Otherwise not a lot of trouble.
11. 14:18 .. not much to report. Main problem caused by throwing in ‘Call the shots’ for 4d.

    Didn’t know or understand SARK, but I try not to let ignorance or incomprehension stand in my way.

12. I always thought that a SARK was a kind of shift or a long shirt. I remember looking it up when I was a child because I was fascinated by the Cutty Sark and curious about the derivation of the name. (Robert Burns, I think) Nice when arcane stuff becomes useful! A pleasant 40 minutes but the last 7 minutes were spent on SPECTRE alone.
    Password rejected yet again.
13. I always thought that a SARK was a kind of shift or a long shirt. I remember looking it up when I was a child because I was fascinated by the Cutty Sark and curious about the derivation of the name. (Robert Burns, I think) Nice when arcane stuff becomes useful! A pleasant 40 minutes but the last 7 minutes were spent on SPECTRE alone.
    Password rejected yet again. And again. And again. And again. Have now reset same password.
    1. I’ve discovered that if you log in to LJ before you come to the blog you get a lot fewer problems
       1. And even fewer if you never log out!
14. All complete without aids today with a lucky guess at sark.

    Wasn’t Friday’s royal wedding-themed puzzle brilliant, with the unchecked letters in the second and penultimate rows spelling out William And Kate.

    1. Yes, it was! Thanks for pointing out the hidden names! Excellent! Bet SARK isn’t on their honeymoon itinerary!
    2. You will find a range of views, if you go to the blog for that day!
15. Glad others had issues with the S.E. Corner. It was there I entered the doldrums after being on course for a completion time of well under 40mins. Thereafter I was about to hit the submit button online when I realised that I had missed out 8d. Pause for about 20mins while I worked through the various aid-provided options.
    DorsetJimbo, unsure how i=current (20ac) Please help!
    1. “i” is the symbol used in electrical notation for current along with v=voltage and r=resistance hence Ohm’s Law i=v/r
    2. Circuit diagrams use this. Any modern electrical appliance has an ‘i’ symbol on the on button.
16. I found this about medium hard. I had a little trouble with the SE corner.. 23ac (is it really that simple?!) and 26ac, having had to correct “unsaddle.”
    18dn is a fine clue, clearly cod. Nothing to do with T’, it is teat = opportunity to feed + IE containing M, and is an &lit to boot.

17. In 18dn, I wonder if ‘Opportunity to feed’ could be read as ‘Possible Time to feed’
    leading to T+EAT?
    (The two stages may be necessary as TIME itself appears in the solution).
18. 18dn: “Opportunity to feed” = “(possible)Time to feed” = T+EAT ?
19. I have tried twice to send a comment without success-third time lucky! Thanks for all the blogs and comments-they’ve really helped me improve. Why is a nina so called?
    1. I’ve had no luck getting on today either. 19 minutes with a splitting hangover, but I really liked TEA-TIME.

       Nina is so called from Al Hirschfeld, an American artist (mostly known for celebrity sketches in the New York Times), who would hide the name of his daughter, Nina, in his sketches.

       Is there something about Ninas in “about this blog”? They’re not that common in the Times, newer commenters might get a kick out of one from a few years ago that featured the names of the blogging team (and incidentally where I asked the same question).

       1. Thanks for the info.
20. What is the point of the word ‘up’ in 1ac? I can’t see what it’s doing there; is it ugly verbiage (what’s the difference between heading and heading up?)?

    dj would love today’s Indy crossword by Phi. Full of mathematicians.

    1. Agree with you on both counts
21. Burns’ Tam O’Shanter contains references to a sark, a cut-off shirt or blouse, and the figurehead of the Cutty Sark shows part of one.

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