Times 25009 – the fastest cake in the world!

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time : 13:51 – with about 5 minutes of that spent stuck in the Yankee corner. There’s some rather interesting devices used here, a few that don’t pop up that often. If you know the literals I expect this is a very quick solve indeed, but if you rely on wordplay you might be like me, scratching your head a little longer than usual.

A few of these could take a little explaining, so settle in and hopefully I’ve got them all parsed correctly.

Away we go…

Across
1 PRICELESS: OK, those familiar with Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park may have put this in straight away, but it was one of my last few. The heroine is Fanny Price
6 FETCH: double definition, though I only knew the first one (sell for) – the second definition is the double of a living person
9 YEAR END: as R would be the end of YEAR
10 ANGIERS: I in ANGER(hiss), then S. Edit: It appears ALGIERS is the consensus answer. Eh… ALGIERS is a better-known city, but ANGIERS (at least online) is an alternative spelling of ANGERS. In any case I’m not fond of the clue, as it’s cluing a proper noun using another proper noun, so neither are dictionary-verifiable. End rant.
11 LAGER: G in REAL(proper) reversed, &lit
13 PROCONSUL: the two minds are PRO and CON, then US reversed and L. Took a while, but this is a rather nice clue
14 POLITESSE: take POLICE then remove the C(ar) and replace with TESS
16 P(ig),ROD(stick)
18 BLED: L in a hospital BED
19 QUAD,R,A,TIC: Chambers justifies QUADRATIC as short for QUADRATIC EQUATION
22 DISINVEST: DI’S IN a VEST
24 pur across omission – ask if mired
25 CHAPLET: HAPLE(ss) in CT
26 PROVER,B
28 SNEER: sounds like ‘S NEAR – reminds me that the fastest cake in the world… ‘SCONE
29 ROCHESTER: (HER ESCORT)* I’ve read about as much Bronte as Austen, apparently this is a plot point of Jane Eyre
 
Down
1 PAYSLIP: or PAYS LIP
2 I’D,A
3 EXEC,RATE
4 END UP: if the head is down, the END must be UP
5 SOAP OPERA: SO, A POP, ERA
6 FAG(cigarette),GOT(obtained): I can’t write FAGGOT without thinking of “Bloodbath at the House of Death” which is more up my alley than Austen or Bronte
7 TREASURY TAG: (SUGARY TREAT)* – and a new one for me, it’s used to hold together bundles of papers
8 HASSLED: HAS SLED
12 GALLEY SLAVE: (LEGALLY SAVE)*
15 SEQUESTER: SEQUE(l) then (REST)*
17 PRIMROSE: RIM in PROSE
18 BODICES: take the A’s out of BOADICEA’S
20 CHAMBER: H in CAMBER – CAMBER was new to me, it’s a bank of a road or trail
21 let’s leave this one out of the downs
23 TOPIC: C below TOP(sunhat),I. Edit: see comments below, better parsing as TOPI,C
27 EFT: F in E.T.

49 comments on “Times 25009 – the fastest cake in the world!”

  1. This was a bit of a struggle for me, finally finishing after 48:14. I finished in the top right corner, only getting 6ac and 10ac once I had the checking letters, although I did know the other meaning of fetch.

    I think 10ac is supposed to be ALGIERS with a reference to Alger Hiss.

  2. 72 minutes. A good work out and enjoyable puzzle, with the Geordie corner also the last to fall. Agreed it must be ALGIERS, ‘though Angers in France does pop up from time to time. COD to BODICES.
  3. Like George, I confidently put ANGIERS. We must both have been recalling that:

    Angiers was a Ducal principality in the Comite region of Anjou

    Sort of mistake anyone could make.

  4. So totally stuffed this morning. (You get that.) Had the devil of a problem parsing POLITESSE (14ac); but knew it had to be right. (With POLITIQUE a close second.) Once that was done, many others fell into place.

    My hat is off to George for his time and blog. And to the setter for a great puzzle. [[I don’t often say as much.]]

  5. 34 minutes with at least the last 5 spent agonising over ANGIERS or ALGIERS having written in one and changed it to the other more than once. I went to bed still undecided but with L in the grid at that point so I’ll count it as a correct solve. As soon as I looked at it this morning I saw the HISS reference.

    Judging by this week’s offerings so far we must be in for a stinker tomorrow. Just my luck!

    1. Two experienced solvers each getting one wrong, two others taking around 50 minutes each, I would say this one was pretty challenging.
      1. You’re quite right of course and it was wrong of me to make a generalisation out of my own experience. It’s just that I have felt comfortable solving all the Times puzzles so far this week whereas I so often get bogged down along the way and wonder if I shall ever finish.

        My view of the recent level of difficulty might have been affected by my attempt at the Guardian on Monday on which I had to give up after 2 hours with barely a third of the grid completed. After that, tackling the Times has felt like putting on a favourite pair of old slippers following a day at the coalface.

        I was just lucky with the Algiers/Angiers thing as it wasn’t until hours after completing the puzzle that I realised why it had to be one and not the other.

  6. Slow to get going and in consequence surprised to complete what turned out to be a pleasing challenge in under 30 minutes, opting for ALGIERS. Having ‘lost’ countless papers because they had become caught up in the back of paper clips on other documents, I knew of TREASURY TAGs (my preferred alternative).

    Thanks for the blog, George. COD to the elegant PROCONSUL.

  7. A tad under 15 mins with the splendid irony of 19 ac being the last one in after sequester gave the q: I teach maths.
  8. 16 minutes for this, but another with ANGIERS. I didn’t like “anger” for “Hiss”, but I couldn’t justify “alger” at all.
    Several other unknowns today: FETCH, CHAPLET, IDA, EFT.
    Thanks for explaining LAGER, George: I didn’t get it. Not that keen on it now that I do.
  9. Nice time, George – I took 29 minutes but did get ALGIERS and the reason why after the last ten minutes musing in that quadrant.
    I thought this was a cracker – both chewy and amusing, with CoD contenders all over the place. And did I count three romantic heroines plus the Queen of the Iceni spelt the way we always thought it should be? I think I did.
    As an &lit, the more I considered LAGER, the better I liked it. I’m not sure PAYSLIP quite works: right, obviously, but the S looks a bit iffy.
    On a whim, I’ll give CoD to QUADRATIC from all the choices
  10. Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was an American lawyer, government official, author, and lecturer. He was involved in the establishment …
  12. I would say about 20 mins for me but I lost track of the time as I was removing 7ds from old paperwork at the same time and as is usually the way didn’t link the action to solving the clue! Very enjoyable solve.
  13. 27:37, pretty much just took a guess on Algiers. Also had trouble with proconsul and chaplet.
  14. Just to note that this was about the point in comments where I added my rant about ALGIERS. And AngryVocab is right, it looks like a better clue with TOPI being the tophat.
  15. 7:29, with a couple of interruptions.  Last in ANGIERS, which is surely acceptable as an alternative to ALGIERS (10ac) – not how I’d have clued it, sure, but it wouldn’t be the first time I’d found myself hissing at a Times clue.  Glad to see from George’s blog that I’m not the only solver who’s lamentably ignorant of people like PRICE (1ac PRICELESS) and ROCHESTER (29ac), though the latter was faintly familiar.
    1. I’d love agree with you but how does “hiss” mean “anger”?
      It seems to me ALGIERS has to be the right answer, even if the clue is a bit ageist.
      1. It doesn’t; a hiss is merely an expression of anger.  But given how lax the Times can be these days – witness the horror of “definition” by example – such sloppiness can’t be ruled out.  As it happens, three examples can be found in one of the easiest Times puzzles I’ve seen (24264, 29th June 2009), which I was taking some students through only a couple of days ago.  So, as I said: not how I’d have clued it, sure, but it wouldn’t be the first time I’d found myself hissing at a Times clue.
        1. Gotcha. To be fair I think sloppiness on this level would be pretty unusual, but “pass” for “express” does seem pretty loose.
    2. The feeling in my water is that ANGIERS would probably not be accepted as a valid alternative if the clue came up in a Championship puzzle.
  16. A struggling 55.24! And another ANGIERS. Hats off to setter and blogger and those with times under 30. I was just glad to finish – well nearly!
  17. I’d heard of Alger Hiss so managed to get ALGIERS. It was 6a that held me up. FETCH in the sense of a double was an unknown. I’d spent some time trying to fit “ski” into 8d. Until I hit the NE corner I thought I was in for a fairly quick (for me) solve but in the event it took 45 minutes. My COD is 1a which, though easy to get, had a lovely surface – Fanny Price is one of the most irritatingly prim heroines in literature and the book would have been a lot funnier without her!
  18. 6 across I believe is Algiers – Alger Hiss was an American accused of being a spy – round one small (is) – what do you think?
  20. Amazed by all the Angiers, how could that be right..
    Not difficult today, 14mins or so
    If people were complaining about treasury tags I could have understood it better, though I am unfortunately all too familiar with them, and the turgid documentation they imply
    What we complain about is as inventive as the clues themselves!
    1. No complaints from me. I got beaten fair and square by the setter (and my own carelessness).

      Reading the story of Alger Hiss I’m surprised I’d never heard of him – Hiss, The Movie can’t be too far away. But there it is. You learn something every day.

    2. As follows:
      > ANGIERS looks like the name of a city. I was presumably getting it mixed up with Angers. I could claim it was a subconscious memory of King John but who’d believe that?
      > To hiss is to make an angry sound. A hissy fit is an angry sort of event. Somewhere in the fourth definition in one of the dictionaries “hiss” might mean anger.
      I’ve hazarded many answers on flimsier evidence and been right.
      “Alger” for “hiss” looked completely impossible to me. If you haven’t heard of Alger Hiss then ANGIERS looks a better bet.
  21. About 25 minutes, ending with CHAMBER. I didn’t know of the CHAPLET or this meaning of FETCH, but I did recognize the Alger Hiss reference, which surprised me being, so I thought, very US-centric. A very fine puzzle this, with COD’s all around, and I vote for PROVERB. Thanks to the setter, and George. Regards.
    1. This is a rather US-centric clue. I studied Miller’s The Crucible and the historical context at school, and retained enough knowledge to identify Joe McCarthy from his picture at a recent quiz, which rather impressed the assembled (quite erudite, but very English) crowd. So I know a little about this era but I’d never heard of Alger Hiss, who is certainly not a household name in the UK.
      However this is a clue with two ways into it, the second of which is far from obscure: if you haven’t heard of Alger Hiss, you have to put in a city that fits the checkers. ANGIERS isn’t a city. If (like me) that’s what you put you can’t really complain.
      And now I have heard of Alger Hiss, and I’ve learned something worth learning.
  22. Help! Jane Eyre was not blind, Mr. Rochester was. So I don’t see how the clue works. Neither am I sure that “dumped” is a fair indicator of an anagram.
    1. Good point about Jane and Rochester. I didn’t bother to read the whole clue since I already had R‑C‑E‑T‑R in place when I reached it, and the words “Jane”, “blind(ly)” and “married” (plus a glimpse “her escort”) simply confirmed ROCHESTER as the required answer.

      Is “dumping” fair? I don’t think it would win a prize in a clue-writing competition, and I’m slightly surprised a Times setter couldn’t come up with something better, but anagram indicators seem to be getting ever more loose these days.

      1. As someone who actually remembered which of the bridal pair was visually impaired, I parsed the sentence on teh following lines (on the assumption that the setter knew his or her stuff): “Jane Eyre entered into a marriage that involved blindness with Rochester”, where the adverb “blindly” is taken to qualify “married”. A bit of a stretch, it must be said, and maybe I’m being too kind on the setter.

        But I always like to assume knowledge rather than ignorance ….

          1. A bit of a stretch, as you say, but quite possibly right. Surely it’s inconceivable that both setter and editor wouldn’t know the plot!? Even if – heaven help us – they hadn’t read the book, they’d probably have seen one of umpteen different film/TV adaptations.
  23. I rather liked this one, which took about 36 minutes to solve. Unfortunately while submitting the solution online the T in FAGGOT mysteriously changed to an R (how else do you make just one mistake in a solution?). COD to PROCONSUL. And I am old enough to barely remember Alger Hiss, so ALGIERS was clear.
  24. 42 minutes or three times as long as our esteemed blogger but satisfying nonetheless. A puzzle made all the more enjoyable by its avoidance of those irritating science subject clues.

    Enigma

    1. As Keriothe, 16 minutes but with Angiers, convincing myself of a loose usage having gained ground or at least caught the setter’s eye. Never heard of Alger Hiss. I echo the query above about Jane: she may have been blindly in love but it was he who was blind. Apart from these two rather silly clues, an excellent puzzle.
  25. 9:33 for me – but it would have been faster if I hadn’t been feeling desperately tired at the end of an exhausting day, as I knew about Alger Hiss and had no problem with the literary references (though I wasted a few seconds on 1ac wondering if the wordplay was based on changing “Fanny” into “funny” – before light dawned).
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