Times 24871 – Game Set and Match

Author   yfyapPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
What an absolutely sizzler of a puzzle for me to blog. It has everything and then some. Sex, religion, fire and brimstone presented in some very innovative and brilliant devices. Bravo! Whoever set this sizzler … you certainly made my day

ACROSS
1 MINCE PIE The Christmas treat seems too easy until I tried to interprete EYE. Then I remembered that whatever defeats a foreign solver is likely to be either an obscure English village or a Cockney rhyming slang and I was right. MP is indeed rhyming slang for eye.
9 ORATORIO OR A + ins of O (over) in TRIO (small group)
10 EVEN dd
11 TENNIS RACKET *(INSTANCE + answer for 7Down) What a marvellous definition which can be made even better as Service provider which will further mislead solver into thinking of Internet companies. My COD especially after those wonderful singles finals in Roland Garros last weekend
13 LINNET Rev of TEN-NIL (10-0) Another very creative clue
14 HANDPICK Cha of HAND (pass) PICK (tool)
15 INFERNO INFER (gather) NO (number)
16 WHITMAN W (Western) HITMAN (killer) Walter Whitman (1819 – 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist.
20 TENON SAW Rev of the ins of ONE in WASN’T
22 SALUTE *(US LATE)
23 MISSIONARIES MISS (fail to notice) I (one) ON ARIES (Zodiac sign)
25 IDES IDLES (has nothing to do) minus middle letter (disheartened) After Julius Caesar, this must be the most famous Roman day … in ancient Rome, the 15th day of March, May, July, October, and the 13th of the other months.
26 CANOODLE Ins of OO (up to your imagination as to what the pair is, can be a pair of glasses or what you see on Page Three of the Sun) in CANDLE (romantic light, wicked, too 🙂 One of my favourite English words as it describes me, a Chartered Accountant and a simpleton doing something quite pleasurable … blogging, of course, what were you thinking?
27 RELIGION Ins of LI (Middle letters of belief) in REGION (part of, say, a country) There may well be other alternative parsing of this clue

DOWN
2 INVASION Ins of S & O (SO entering separately) in IN VAIN (unsuccessfully)
3 CANTANKEROUS Ins of TANKER (freighter) in CAN – O (circle) US
4 PLANKTON PLANK (board) TON (rev of NOT) Why are the pieces of plank standing in a circle? They’re having a board meeting (Boom! Boom!)
5 EOLITHS *(the soil) What a lovely surface and I dare say it is a quasi &lit
6  PATRON dd A financial backer or patron is also called an angel
7 rha deliberately omitted … I wonder whether it is still pertinent to leave out an answer or two? The original rationale was that the paper runs an answer service … is this still true?
8 GOATSKIN Go At (tackle) S (small) Kin (family) and of course goatskins cover young goats known also as kids
12 CAPITALISING Another very clever clue … by writing us in the upper case (capitalising) you get US, the United States, a superpower
15 INTIMACY *(I IN MY ACT)
17 HOSPITAL Double cryptic definition (1) Guy’s Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in south east London, England. (2) Hospitals do not treat people who are well; only people who are not well. Excellent clue!
18 ANTIHERO Ins of TIH (rev of HIT, murder) in A NERO (a tyrant)
19 SWEATER Another very clever clue where warm clothing is a def; so is middle of summer and so is the whole clue. As ulaca pointed out, ins of WE ATE (disposed of) in SummeR … so this makes the clue an &lit. Great stuff
21 SHODDY Ins of ODD (rum) in SHY (cast)
24 SINK SIN (wrong) K (last letter of stocK) as in The greedy trustee imprudently sank/invested all available funds in what turned out to be a scam.

Key to abbreviations
dd = double definition
dud = duplicate definition
tichy = tongue-in-cheek type
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram

39 comments on “Times 24871 – Game Set and Match”

  1. Splendid blog, Uncle Yap. One tweak at 19: ‘warm garment’ is the definition, while the rest of the clue is the wordplay WE ATE inside SR (middle of summer).
  2. I thought I might be on for a rare sub-30 as I whizzed through the lower half, but the trickery in the top half slowed me down and in the end I was pleased to finish without errors in 42 minutes. EOLITHS unknown and TENON SAW unfamiliar, but my main worry was with LINNET, shoved in on definition alone. Now I see the cryptic explained, I’m glad I wasted no more time trying to unravel it. Nice lively puzzle.

    Uncle Yap, ‘pair’ can also be interpreted as our cricketing clue de jour. It refers to a batsman who gets out for nought twice in the same match (00).

  3. 30 minutes, although I spent a lot of time afterwards justifying LINNET. (A bird known to me from Yeats’s rather overcited poem–it is fun, though, to hear him recite it on that old Caedmon recording.) 19d: I got this right off, but, having a history of missing clues with ‘for’ substitutions, I was determined not to be misled this time; so I thought about MM (‘middle of summer’ substituting for WE (of sweater), yielding that wonderfully comfy garment, a smmater. I also wasted time on 3d trying to figure out how ‘obstreperous’ would fit. A lot of fun, this.
    Two queries: 1) 15d: Wouldn’t ‘In my act, I’ have been more natural? 2) 18d: An antihero need not be not admirable, while a villain, for instance, is: is this clue not a [shudder] DBE?
    CODs to 1d, 12d (took me a while to suss this one), 21d.
    Great blog, Uncle Yap, but one little correction: the great US poet is Walt, not Walter, Whitman.
    1. Dear KevinGregg,

      From Wikipedia
      Walter “Walt” Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist.

      Walter Elias “Walt” Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon,[2] and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century.

      1. Yes, of course, they weren’t christened Walt; my point was that no one ever refers to Whitman as Walter Whitman; one would wonder who was being referred to. David Lawrence wrote ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’, for that matter.
  4. 27 is a terrible clue. Only works if the slight whiff of &lit-ish-ness excuses the use of letters from the def in the wordplay.
    EVEN = “(in) no-win situation”? No it doesn’t.
    I could go on to mention HIT (murder) and a number of others that, should I say, are not to my taste.
    Conclusion: not a pleasant morning.

    Edited at 2011-06-09 05:22 am (UTC)

    1. 27’s my COD; vary neat and entirely acceptable I’d say. Your gripes seem not to make allowance for the tendency of any vibrant crossword to push the envelope just a little, if I may say so.
        1. This one isn’t pushing the envelope, it’s shoving the whole stationery cabinet in a direction that befits another publication. So … to the left?

          The clue for 11ac is yet another instance; where the anagind has to be “that can be changed, for”. Come on editor … this is The Times!

    2. I’d agree that 27 could benefit from a “?” or other hint that the definition’s used twice in &lit style, and “part” is not a particularly generous definition for REGION.

      But I don’t understand at all your objections for HIT (a killing, a murder – surely ok?) and EVEN (as in “we’re even, i.e. no-one’s won financially”)

  5. Another day around 30 minutes for all but four or five clues and half as long again to polish them off.

    Apart from PATRON (last in) the trouble was in the NW where INVASION, EVEN and LINNET held me up. I had thought of LINNET much earlier but couldn’t justify it at the time so it stayed out.

    My only unknown word was EOLITHS but with all the checkers in place there was only one way that the remaining anagrist could fit.

    I agree with mctext about EVEN and RELIGION but they didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the puzzle as a whole.

  6. Less than 30 minutes so it must have been pretty straightforward. LINNET appeared in this form (probably elsewhere) very recently.

    Despite (for me) a fairly rapid solve, I share mctext’s reaction and his reservations about EVEN and RELIGION; SWEATER also seemed to me contorted rather than elegant.

  7. Woo! First one completed correctly for ages … albeit with masses of queries all over the place! Hadn’t heard of EOLITHS, nor TENON SAW, and WHITMAN was unfamiliar. Also, couldn’t unpick SWEATER, RELIGION, CAPITALISING…I could go on.

    In fact, it seems that it was really only by sheer luck that I managed a correct solve!

    HOSPITAL was my LOI, kept thinking it started with HES— or HIS—.

    COD: LINNET, nice and simple.

  8. I wouldn’t call this a sizzler – rather a pleasant low flame. 26 minutes, a few frittered away ridiculously on the 15 down anagram, being convinced it ended in -ity. One of these days I’ll get back to sub-20.
  9. 23 minutes today, so more of a challenge, and with more than usual entered on instinct alone. I haven’t made up my mind whether this is brilliant or just devious. 27 I did indeed parse differently: “centre in part” being RE giving rise to something believed in, but that made it a rather unsatisfactory clue with a missing apostrophe, and I prefer Uncle Yap’s version. ANTIHERO was last in partly because I was unsure of quite a bit of that corner.
    On EVEN: if that’s how the scores finish, isn’t that “no win”? Seems OK to me.
    On a technical note, I think I’ve only ever pearly queen MINCE PIEs in the plural, but I suppose it works.
    Several candidates for CoD, including the US when I saw it, but for me it has to be GOATSKIN for both a decent cryptic and a delicious definition.
    1. … OK if we could stick that into a sentence or phrase. “Liverpool and Everton finished even” = “They finished in no-win situation”??
      Perhaps I should be more charitable.
      1. Sure – nobody wins. Except, of course, once more it lets United in with an easy run to the premiership. Another no-win situation.
  10. 13:26 here, so I must have been on good form this morning. Thanks for explaining CAPITALISING – that was the only one where I couldn’t see how it worked. A good enjoyable puzzle for me.
  12. I thought this a good fun puzzle – even though I managed to parse linnet as l (50) in net!
  13. I believe the OO in CANOODLE actually refers to getting no runs (ducks) in both innings of a cricket match, commonly known as a pair.
  14. An enjoyable puzzle but I failed to work out all the cryptics and bunged in several answers from definition alone, inc. TENNIS RACKET and CAPITALISATION. No unknowns though I can’t remember seeing Walt WHITMAN here before. (The choristers among us will be familiar with the various Vaughan Williams settings of his works. We’ve just done the “Dona Nobis Pacem” which was new to me, but the “Sea Symphony” and “Towards the Unknown Region” are old friends) Made landfall in 27 minutes.
    1. I’ve sung all three in my time (some years ago now): Dona Nobis Pacem and Towards the Unknown Region with the LPO under Boult (those might have been just recordings), and the Sea Symphony with the LSO under Previn. The Sea Symphony is one of my all-time favourite sings, and I’m very fond of Dona Nobis Pacem as well, particularly Dirge for Two Veterans. At the risk of sounding a bit morbid, there’s Holst’s Ode to Death (sung even longer ago, while still at college), also setting Whitman.
      1. I’m amazed at how many people in my choir haven’t heard of Whitman. I know it’s the Welsh wilderness here but still… “Leaves of Grass” was the first poetry book I ever bought with my own pocket money – as opposed to nicking them from school! I still have it. It’s also the first of many American paperbacks on my bookshelves. I agree with you about the “Sea Symphony”. Such a marvellous sing. All those undulating waves. Btw, our local paper once previewed our concert as consisting of Vaughan Williams’ “Symphony in C”. How we laughed!
  15. 16:16 – I felt very close to the setter’s wavelength throughout.

    I’m pretty sure EOLITHS was in a puzzle at the weekend so I spotted that immediately. LINNET last in when I finally saw how it worked (I didn’t consider anon’s L in net but I rather like it). Only got patron by going through the alphabet to get the first letter.

    I’m firmly in the cricket camp for the explanation of pair.

    All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the quirky nature of the puzzle so thanks to the setter. COD to capitalising.

  16. 14 minutes. Some very fast times on the club leaderboard today.
    I’m in the camp that enjoyed this. I thought HOSPITAL and CAPITALISING were particularly good. I’d agree that it’s a bit Guardianish in places (RELIGION, TENNIS RACKET) but I don’t mind that in small doses. Actually I don’t mind it in large doses from time to time but if that’s what I want I know where to go.
    I have no problem with “in no-win situation” as a tongue-in-cheek definition for EVEN. In fact I rather like it.
  17. 20 minutes, though about 8 of those were staring at HOSPITAL thinking “it kind of fits one part of the clue in a cryptic definitionish way, but what’s the rest of the clue doing there?”, so count me as liking it, but not as much as UY
  18. This is a light hearted puzzle, not to be taken too seriously. It’s fun but in a slightly undisciplined way and none the worse for that. 25 enjoyable minutes after an excellent round of golf. Liked the alchemist trick of turning us into US.
  19. I struggled with this, about an hour, ending with LINNET, and not understanding many of the cryptics, such as MINCE PIE, HOSPITAL, and LINNET. Now that I read Uncle Yap’s parsing (thanks UY) I rather like it altogether, and I’ve learned another UK hospital name and a bit of CRS, which I had suspected was the explanation to 1A. The cricket pair went over my head, as expected; I was in the eyeglasses camp. COD to CAPITALISING or GOATSKIN. Nicely done, setter, and regards to everybody.
  20. For what it’s worth (not much, admittedly), I was in the eye-glasses camp when solving too, in spite of being a Brit. OO for “pair of spectacles” is sufficiently standard fare for the omission of the “spectacles” to be considered reasonable. The cricketing sense is a little obtuse: a reference to “ducks” would have been clearer. So I think either interpretation is perfectly valid. I’d like to know what the setter intended: if I were a betting man (which, from time to time, I am) my money would be on the cricket.
    1. I would say it’s a dead cert the setter intended a cricket “pair”: the word is quite commonly used on its own thus, not for spectacles, which would be far more of a stretch.
      1. Yes, I accept that. However I’m not aware that a pair is ever represented as 00, in which case the cricketing sense is a little bit of a stretch too. OO for a pair of specs is quite common, at least in crossword land. Still, I think you’re right.
  21. 10:39 for me. An excellent puzzle – thoroughly worthy of The Times. I’m absolutely with joekobi on this one (and he’s quite right about a cricket “pair” as well).
    1. Count me in the Tony Sever / joekobi / Penfold camp. For me what defines a good Times puzzle isn’t a set of rules but a certain style and especially wit, which abounded here.

      Around 21 minutes but ‘computer said no’ – I had typed IDEA.

  22. Well, it’s days later and it’s finally defeated me, but the real damage was done by accidentally filling in CANTAKEROOUS for 3dn, which of course destroyed my chances of getting 13ac (no chance of that anyway) and 15ac (which with my mistake Chambers told me could be INURING, which strangely enough would have fit the “fire” part of the clue according to an obsolete meaning of INURE). I didn’t see GOATSKIN although I knew which kind of kid was meant. And I did see HOSPITAL but couldn’t see why it fit. Strangely enough it’s very rare that one actually has to live in London to be able to solve these, but I just didn’t know Guy’s Hospital and despite my suspicions in the right direction wasn’t able to bend the rest of the clue to the right set of mind.

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