Times 25033 – cats and snakes and naked ladies (oh my!)

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time : 20 minutes, 48 seconds on my handy-dandy smartassphone timer, but a full 10 minutes of that was spent on the top left corner which decided to evade my probing forever. Funny thing was I thought of the answer for 2 almost straight away and then rejected it as “that’ll never fit the wordplay”. Could have shaved six or seven minutes off easily by trusting “there’s only one or two republics of eight letters that end in an I” logic and bunging it in.

So I’m going to file this under “tricky but fair”, and I really enjoyed a number of clues, and certainly enjoyed a lot of the answers.

I’ve just finished typing up the analysis, and I’ve realised there’s no really obvious clues here – simple hidden answers, direct anagrams. It’s very tough to decide what to leave out (see “about this blog” for why there are omitted answers).

Away we go!

Across
1 IDEOGRAM: I DOG(follow) with E inside, then RAM. This took me forever as the definition is masterfully concealed as “Airport sign”, such as an icon that means something to one who would not speak the language.
9 ACID(drug), TEST(match): so the idea of an acid test is that you drop nitric acid on something that is meant to be gold – if it tarnishes and bubbles, not gold. If it doesn’t, gold (or something as inactive as gold). That degree in Inorganic Chemistry is not going lacking!
10 SIGNAL: I’ve never used it this way, but SIGNAL is listed in Chambers as “remarkable, notable” as an adjective. Any examples? That was a totally signal left cross, m’lud?
11 LADY GODIVA: anagram of GLADLY AVOID missing one L
12 HUG,0: Took a while to put together HUG as “closely follow”, but I guess “hugging the corner” while driving would count
13 ROLLICKING: another double definition when I haven’t seen the second one used (rebuking or scolding)
16 HIDEOUS: S for T in HIDEOUT. Loved this clue!
17 OFF(run down), SIDE(wing)
20 DOTTED LINE: Where DOT and TED may sign
22 deliberately omitted m’lady
23 ACT THE GOAT: Anagram of TO GET AT CHA(p)
25 ISAIAH: 1 then HAS reversed about A1(capital)
26 ANACONDA: A CON in AND,A
27 LYNX-EYED: sounds like LINK SIDE
 
Down
2 DJIBOUTI: D(end of lanD), JIB(sail),OUT(away),I(Island)
3 OMNIPOTENT: anagram of (MEN,POINT,TO)
4 RALLY(pick up), ROUND(circular)
5 MANDALA: MAN then LAD reversed, A
6 BIOG: I in BOG, short form of BIOGRAPHY
7 GEMINI: MINI(something to wear) in E.G. reversed
8 STRANGLE: L in STRANGE
14 INFLECTION: L in INFECTION
15 KISS ME KATE: K then (I,SETS,MAKE)*
16 HIDEAWAY: IDEA(plan) in H, WAY(means)
18 deliberately omitted (enumeration may give it away)
19 PIVOTAL: 1,VOT(e) in PAL(china)
21 TITIAN: an anagram of INTIMATE without the non-consecutive(separated) letters in ME
24 (b)ERNE

44 comments on “Times 25033 – cats and snakes and naked ladies (oh my!)”

  1. 78 minutes for this super puzzle. Last in the republic after I’d faffed about at 1ac with ‘aerogram’. Many great clues, but my COD goes to HUGO, after I’d discounted Zeno, Cato and Maro (of Publius Vergilius fame).

    Thanks to the setter for the fun and to George for unravelling HIDEOUS, where I was getting nowhere trying to derive ‘us’ from ‘at the front’.

  3. And a couple of things I didn’t understand:
    • Why specifically “airport sign” (1ac)? Ideograms are all over the place like the proverbial. Especially if you’re in China.
    • Why is “run down” OFF (17ac)? [Usual lack of vocab on my part, I guess?]

    Apart from those, though, a top-flight puzzle; and a clear COD to 16ac (HIDEOUS).

    Am I the only visitor here to own a copy of Sheik Yerbouti?

    2. McT, your message wasn’t up when I looked before I complained about this. And a DBE created by the very first word of the very first clue is somewhat “in yer face” as the saying goes and seems to add insult to injury!
    3. to answer your questions in order, MC:
      – the airport is there (a) to add a layer of misdirection, and (b) to tee off those who habitually and endlessly wrongly complain about dbes.
      – you can feel a bit off or a bit run down, as I do each December
      – yes, very probably.. 🙂
  4. All but six clues in the NW were solved in 30 minutes and four of those remaining within another 10, however as the hour approached following nearly 20 minutes with no further progress I cheated to get 2dn and then 12ac fell into place – prior to that I had been unable to see past the unlikely possibility of DOGO.

    Since it caused me so much grief along the way I’m going to quibble about 1ac where the inclusion of “airport” creates a DBE. None of the usual sources mentions anything about airports so they are just one of many possible examples of where ideograms may be used.

    I thought I remembered “signal” with this meaning in a Flanders and Swann lyric about Doctor Beeching but on further thought I remembered it’s a song by Kit and the Widow which describes the privatisation of the railways as “a signal failure”.

    1. It doesn’t have to be a sign IN an airport. The sign FOR an airport is almost invariably an ideogram (which, by the way, Chinese characters are generally not, by now).
      1. I knew I shouldn’t have amended my original construction ‘where or for which ideograms may be used’ but I thought it was being unnecessarily pedantic which I should have realised one can never be around here!
  5. 27m, also held up for ages at the end by DJIBOUTI and HUGO.
    I thought this was a super puzzle. There were a few I didn’t understand fully, including the “airport” bit of 1ac. Now that I understand it I think it’s rather neat. Likewise HIDEOUS, which I wanted to be HATEFUL for ages.
    I’ve heard the second meaning of ROLLICKING and always assumed it was a euphemism. It might be, according to Collins.
  6. Now you’ve pointed me to it, I’m calling this a triple def. Very lively (adj), amusing (adj) & lecture (noun, telling off). Though perhaps the first two are so close as to be one?

    Edited at 2011-12-15 08:49 am (UTC)


  7. Enjoyed this puzzle, and completed it apace bar the two in the top left, and 6dn (omitted from blog!). I eventually worked out the cryptic for 1ac, which then gave 2dn.

    6dn required a solver, so technically another DNF (bar one) again for me today.

    Ooh, and like ulaca I spent several moments trying to work out ‘us’ from ‘at the front’.

    Can someone help with the ’employment’ bit of 21ac please? Is it in the sense of ‘what’s your line?’?

    3. This is LINE as in the show “What’s My Line?” where the panel had to guess various people’s jobs, lines of work. (I have another meaning for “my line of work”!)

      Edited at 2011-12-15 09:27 am (UTC)

  8. Decent puzzle, 23 and a half minutes of uniformly chewy fare. For a lot of clues I really needed the cryptic: DJIBOUTI for the spelling, ISAIAH because I thought it might be IBADAN (Book 1 returned, something something capital)
    Like others, struggled over the IDEOGRAM and the Airport bit. I wonder if it would have had complaints if it had just said “sign”?
    A typical Aries, I’ve never bothered with memorising the signs of the Zodiac, so the cryptic was a bit helpful there too.
    On the other hand, OFFSIDE, to one happily used to Bale and Lennon carving up the position flanks needn’t have been cryptic at all.
    ROLLICKING has to be Ealing Studios cleaning up army slang, surely?
    CoD to LADY GODIVA for a likeable attempt at something original.
  9. I enjoyed this, 25mins which felt quite fast in the end for a knotty puzzle.
    cod to 1ac for demonstrating that dbes should not be objected to as a species, but only when they result in a problematic clue
  10. DNF. Definitely an off day. Inter alia, too many words ending in ‘a’ or ‘i’! Never got on to setter’s wavelength. Mea culpa. Many thanks, george. At least I had the sense to come here to find elucidation and insight.
  11. Found this tough. 45 minutes. I still don’t understand what the airport’s doing (would someone remind me what a dbe is please?); employment for line seems dodgy as used (unless anticipating can simply mean preceding, a stretch); off for run down also (in that sense off means not “on” but not necessarily run down, though I suppose the q.mark almost covers it)…generally I thought a sharp piece of work slightly marred by a blurred pinpoint at times. Good to see Lady G. there: she captured my imagination when I was about 10 and has been lurking out of sight on her horse ever since, the original and most graceful protester. I wonder if they ever thought of that at Greenham Common?
  13. I got there in the end but the time wasn’t pretty – up around two hours. Like most people I laboured in the NW – the republic and the design were unfamiliar to the point of being unknown. But my last two in were the easy peasy ones that George has left out in the opposite corner. So not a great performance but an excellent puzzle. You can add me to the list of those fooled by HIDEOUS, but I’m still tempted to make the naked lady at 11 my COD.
  14. I came here today to find what should be the answer to 6Down. I had ?I?G. Can someone please put me out of my misery?
  15. Pointy hat for my 13:38 with the incorrect HIDEOUT (originally I thought it must mean “replace RE or suchlike with S at the start of the word” but even after discovering it was H at the start, wrote in my answer without pursuing the logic which meant something else had to change before it made sense).

    Conclusion: any deficiencies in this puzzle lay entirely with the end-user. Nice work.

  16. 24:59, very enjoyable puzzle. The grid spooked me a bit with those early acrosses and downs having the first letters unchecked.

    COD to BIOG for the definition.

    I always theought the telling off was rollocking to rhyme with that similar word that means the same thing. Good job the i was checked.

    1. Ditto on the ROLLOCKING. It made me double-check INFLECTION.

      18:00 … No problems with the NW but the disparate trio of BIOG, GEMINI and ISAIAH caused me a lot of brow furrowing at the end.

  17. 53:03, but with probably 15 mins taken up by the last four in the NW corner – 1/4/5/10
    I’m with Jack on 1a. I’m not a big fan of unindicated DBEs, and this is a proper shocker. Other than that, a good crossword. My COD goes to 7d for the beautifully disguised definition. Even with all the checkers in place, it still took me a moment or two to spot – and it’s my star sign! Although I’m a June person, rather than a May one.
    I didn’t know the words MANDALA or IDEOGRAM, or the relevant meaning of SIGNAL. Hence my problems in the NW, but I got there eventually.
  18. I was doing very well until I came to the NW corner. Then I ground to a complete halt.I spent ages just staring at 1a and had —O-RAM. I had expected “airport” and “sign” to be separated so failed to see the definition. I had finally to resort to aids. So this is technically a DNF. Once IDEOGRAM was in DJIBOUTI and HUGO were easy to get. Lovely puzzle, though. 49 minutes
  19. 15:19, which felt slow.  Also ended in the NW corner.  Unknowns: ROLLICKING as bollocking (13ac), LINE for a line of work and “thus” employment (20ac DOTTED LINE), ACT THE GOAT (23ac), MANDALA (5dn), and KISS ME KATE (15dn), which was, however, strangely familiar.

    I think the clue for ROLLICKING is just a double definition – “Very lively and amusing” + “lecture”.

    Mctext: I have several Zappa albums – including the matchless Absolutely Free – but not (yet) Sheik Yerbouti.

    1. It’s in Chambers as a word, and presumably in Collins (I do not have Collins), which is the accepted dictionary for the Times. I doubt we’ll see it here, maybe in a Mephisto or Listener, but ord can mean the point of a weapon.
      1. Yes, BIOG. is in Collins but as an abbreviation; it’s in COED (and Chambers as already noted) as an informal word not requiring the full-stop. Note to self and others for future reference that BIO is a valid alternative.
        1. Good advice, but, as I hinted at above, bio is far commoner than biog, with Google showing 220 million v 3.6 million in admittedly a totally unscientific but nonetheless telling comparison of “bio biography” v “biog biography”. More significant, perhaps, is the number of people who were held up at 6dn.
  21. About 25 minutes. Nice puzzle. Didn’t know the ‘lecture’ definition of ROLLICKING, thought BIOG was weird, but enjoyed HIDEOUS and the barely recognizable Lady G. reference.
  22. Thought I would log in late in the day to see a load of praise for this clue, but clearly each to his own! I thought this one of the best clues I had seen in a long time, a contender for COY! The surface was smooth, there were three “lift and separates” (ish) and a number of wordplay constituents in a relatively small number of words (Lands end, sail away, island republic) and I suppose the fact that the answer looks so difficult to clue makes it seem more impressive.

    I suspect that one of the reasons why it falls down, is that those with photographic memories/mental dictionaries will see D…I and stick in the answer fairly quickly.

  23. I liked the DJIBOUTI clue too. A few today where I didn’t understood the wordplay (12ac, 16ac, 7dn) but hey ho… and I left 1ac blank.
  24. 15:27 for me, with a ridiculous amount of time spent on DJIBOUTI and HUGO.

    I hadn’t considered J as a possible second letter for the former, and it was only when I finally worked my way through the alphabet in desperation that light dawned.

    As for HUGO, I was looking for a rather older writer (like Publius Virgilius MARO) and again missed the obvious.

    A most enjoyable puzzle, with several first-rate clues (including 2dn).

  25. For me, a rather straightforward 41 minutes with one or two clues where I was doubtful about how they worked but nothing where I was doubtful about the answer. DJIBOUTI was OK, GEMINI was amusing and the HIDEOUS, HIDEAWAY combination was best (especially the S for T bit, of course). A puzzle I could enjoy despite the unshakeability of the cold which has been plaguing me for 10 days.

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