Times 25-2012 Did The Cormorant Flap Its Wings?

Author   dorsetjimboPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time 20 minutes

Happy Christmas to one and all.

I’m not expecting many visitors to the blog today but the Times have provided us addicts with our daily shot and the show must go on.

A middle of the road puzzle that was enjoyable without ever being challenging

Across
1 CATACOMB – C-AT-A-COMB; reference honey comb; where Santa stores the toys;
6 CRAFTY – CR(AFT)Y; Vixen kidding Rudolph into pulling the sleigh in the fog;
9 WARRED – sounds like “ward”; today reminds one of the spontaneous WW1 truce on Christmas Day;
10 UNPEELED – two meanings, the second a reference to “peelers”=eyes; but the church bells will peel today;
11 FEED – two meanings; Christmas pud for cows;
12 ASSAULTING – A-S(SAUL)TING; reference Saul of Tarsus before he saw the light;
14 CLINICAL – two meanings;
16 UNIT – TIN-U reversed; questionable definition;
18 OVUM – O(fficer)-V(ery)-U(ncomfortable)-M(ilitary); Easter came early;
19 SLAPDASH – PALS reversed – DASH(wood); reference Sense and Sensibility; current Government approach;
21 PROCEDURAL – PRO-DEC reversed-URAL;
22 RUBY – Inter=BURY then swap odd numbered letters; port with the cheese after the mince pies;
24 TIRAMISU – (suit)* contains RAM-I; it has to be plum pudding today, surely;
26 RELISH – hidden (quar)REL-IS-H(ateful); cranberry sauce;
27 ODETTE – sounds like “small ode”; lead ballerina in Swan Lake; better known reference is Odette Hallowes GC;
28 SHEEPDOG – SHEEP-DO-G(aelic); Old English is a breed of sheepdog used to watch flocks by night;
 
Down
2 AMAZE – A-MAZE; Shepherd’s reaction whilst watching flocks by night;
3 AERODYNAMIC – (in academy or)*; what Santa’s sleigh is not;
4 ORDNANCE – ORD(i)NANCE; maps Santa used before Google arrived;
5 BRUSSELS,SPROUTS – BRUSSELS SP(R)OUTS; the Marmite of the vegetable kingdom;
6 CYPRUS – sounds like “cypress” the branches of which are carried at funerals;
7 ACE – (p)ACE; great=ACE! (slang); much voiced by the children on Christmas Day;
8 THE,INDIES – THE(I)N-DIES; Happy Christmas Uncle Yap;
13 THUNDERCLAP – (lunch depart)*; all we need on top of the flooding;
15 LIVER,BIRD – LI(VERB-I-R)D; Queen=R(egina); eagle or cormorant that identifies virgins;
17 MALLARME – MALL-ARME(d); French poet 1842-1898; well, we had to have one;
20 ADVISE – (aside + v)*;
23 BASSO – B-AS-SO; Ho! Ho! Ho!;
25 AIT – A-IT;

12 comments on “Times 25-2012 Did The Cormorant Flap Its Wings?”

  1. Season’s greetings from Nairobi, thank you for doing the blog despite the flooding. I thought 19ac was a reference to Sense and Sensibility; Bennet for P and P and Dashwood for S and S.

  2. We have a Nina!

    I made very heavy weather of this one, going well over the hour and needing aids to find the poet who I’ve only vaguely heard of, and now I’ve looked him up I think this must have been in connection with the music of Claude Debussy. Why is “AT A” eating?

    Edited at 2012-12-25 09:45 am (UTC)

    1. Morning Jack and Happy Christmas to another addict.

      I took the whole phrase “at a comb” to very loosly mean “eating honey”. As it’s Christmas I thought I’d cut the setter some slack!

      1. Morning, Jim, and Merry Christmas to you too. I wasn’t expecting a puzzle today so this came as a nice surprise but the gilt was soon taken off the gingerbread by my pathetic solving time.

        I hope we are going to get a new one on Boxing day in addition to the 4 old puzzles we have been threatened with. Unless I’m really stuck for something to do I don’t expect to bother with those.

        Edited at 2012-12-25 10:18 am (UTC)

    2. Should also have mentioned in the blog that if one reads the unchecked letters of the 2nd and 14th rows one can see the nina to which Jack refers
  3. 25 minutes, but if a man can’t be sluggish in this season of sadly inevitable excess, when can he be? Nice seasonal fare for those who like a puzzle even on high days and holidays. Anyway, Merry Christmas to Jim and everyone else who frequents these parts. Ho ho ho!
  4. Dunno how long, but it didn’t seem hard. Only I could have missed a nina like that!

    Happy Christmas Jim, Tim, Jack and all our readers dedicated or daft enough to come here today!

  5. Happy Christmas from California.

    I did this on the plane back from Hong Kong today. Never spotted the nina.

  6. Completed in an indeterminate time amid a haze of fine wines and Christmas pud. Guessed at the poet and ballerina.

    Season’s greetings to one and all.

  7. 14:58 for me, with nearly five minutes spent on SHEEPDOG and MALLARME at the end. (Sigh!) Perhaps tomorrow I’ll try solving early while I’m still sober!
  8. Enjoyed this one, even more so when the nina was pointed out. Terrific!
    One missing – the unknown poet.
    Happy Christmas everybody.
    Daniel

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