Times 25084 – A file of owls?

Author   kororarekaPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving Time: 31 minutes

I’m afraid the pressure to get this one finished and blogged in the shortest amount of time possible did not make for a happy or fast solve; the feeling of exasperation made inferior by so many clues going in at first reading, leading me to expect that all the rest should follow suit. But I was trumped, to continue the bridging framework.

Some amongst us will be pleased by one of the two Nina’s, in this the centenary year of the Institute of Radio Engineers, one of the founding organisations which merged to form the IEEE. Others will appreciate, LSS(Last Song Syndrome) CD LAND, a clear reference to recent events. Adiós, Whitney.

Across
1 WATER PISTOL = (RAWEST PILOT)*
7 Deliberately omitted. The pedestrian would no doubt be half dapper walking backwards.
9 S for second + LAM for strike or hit around MALLS = SMALL SLAM, a bridge term, I’m guessing.
10 WORSE = S for spades (a dark suit) inside WORE. My LOI, after much cogitation as to why it might be.
11 MINTING = MINING about T.
12 SPRITS as in bow around I = SPIRITS
13 REACH = R for ‘rithmetic say + EACH
15 LAP RECORD = L for new driver + (RACED + PRO)*, my nomination for COD
17 HI + MALAYAN = HIMALAYAN, another nice clue
19 SAY-SO = SAY + SO
20 NOSTRUM = NO STRUM. Isn’t that a problem with the guitarist? Or rather, not a problem with the guitarist?
22 HAIRPIN, double definition
24 MAINE = E placed after MAIN, and literally as well
25 SKINFLINT = KIN inside S for small and FLINT for R.L.S’s pirate and parrot. See MISER
27 NUN, double definition. I bet Josh had a hard time in school. Read more…
28 YORK for dismiss (from cricket!) + MISTER around N for new = YORK MINSTER. A yorker is an inswinging ball of fuller length, pitched at the toes which is most effective when preceded by a string of shorter pitched deliveries swinging away.
Down
1 WAS = SAW reversed
2 Deliberately omitted. I’d say it was familiar territory, without hesitation.
3 RALEIGH, cryptic definition
4 ILL + EG + ALLY = ILLEGALLY
5 TIMES, double definition
6 LOW-LIFE = (FELLOW I)*, and not OWL FILE or LIE-WOLF
7 PAR + SIMONY = PARSIMONY, economic as in frugal, rather than fiscal, although see Greece.
8 DRESSED DOWN, double definition
11 MERMAN around CHANT = MERCHANTMAN. Oops, missed this one out, first time round. Thanks, Anon.
14 ADMISSION = MISS I in A DON
16 PANTHEISM = IS inside P ANTHEM. I liked “widespread belief”
18 (GALLERY)* = LARGELY
19 STIFFEN = TIFF inside South, East and NORTH
21 MISER = whoM I SERve. See SKINFLINT
23 PAINT = P for page on top of AIN’T
26 TAR, double definition, the second as in “there’s the devil to pay and no pitch hot”. For pitch, see yorker.

26 comments on “Times 25084 – A file of owls?”

  1. Just broke the half-hour barrier, with the cunningly cued-by-big SMALL SLAM last in. 7dn raised a smile, given what those who aspire to consider themselves faithful think about the practice of trading in pardons and the like.

    Thought NOSTRUM was pretty weak and am still puzzling over ‘rum, say’ as ‘spirits‘ (pl.).

    Edited at 2012-02-13 03:33 am (UTC)

  2. 20 minutes, with 12 my LOI. I made the mistake of taking ‘on board’ to indicate the two S’s, and spent 6 minutes trying to think of a word for ‘spar’ to fit inside. I don’t have a problem with plural ‘spirits’ — ‘Capt. Corcoran ordered an extra ration of spirits/rum distributed to the sailors’, say. Thanks, koro, for the explanation of 28ac; I just went for it with two or three checkers and ‘cathedral’, and hoped for the best. COD to PARSIMONY.
  3. And much relief after the trials of Friday’s puzzle. Had no idea whatsoever how WORSE (10ac) worked. So thanks to koro for that explanation. Is LAP RECORD (15ac) in any of the standard reference works? No problem with “rum, say” = SPIRITS. Just so long as I never have to drink it/them again.

    Note to Koro: your post is dated 13th March and is sending the TfT calendar haywire!

    1. Don’t know how that happened. Anyway, it seems to be fixed now, although who knows with what implications to the fabric of time.
        1. Hmmm. I kind of suspected that the only way to fix it properly would be to delete the whole post and start again, which you can understand I was loath to do. Where’s Dr Who when you need him?
  4. 25 minutes but struggled a bit on my last two in, TIMES and SPIRIT. ‘Times’ for X should have been obvious of course but unfortunately I considered ‘TEN’ first and wasted ages trying to make that part of the answer.

    Like Ulaca I think ‘rum’ as ‘spirits’ seems wrong. On checking OED I found this under SPIRIT: originally pl. Strong alcoholic liquor for drinking, obtained from various substances by distillation; sing. any particular kind of this. So it appears that on specifying ‘rum’ one might expect to revert to the singular. It’s a moot point, though, and Chambers seems to license plural for singular if not exactly directly.

    Guessed NUN and didn’t remember ‘pay’ meaning to seal decks of ships with tar, although I now recall it has come up here before.

    LAP RECORD is not specified in the usual sources but its meaning is obvious so I don’t see why that should preclude its appearance.

    Edited at 2012-02-13 05:25 am (UTC)

  6. 8 and a half minutes on paper with an analogue watch, so both as fast as in gets for me and possibly unreliable. Since I was on for a quick one, I didn’t stop to worry too much over SPIRITS (pl) for rum (sing) but Chambers does give it (“(in pl) spirituous liquor”) and Mct’s example is, I think, unarguable.
    RALEIGH was barely a cryptic clue, more of a pub quiz question.
    “Transactions for the faithful” was a naughty, Ambrose Bierce style definition, but NOSTRUM made me chuckle more and is my CoD.

    Edited at 2012-02-13 10:12 am (UTC)

  7. 31.17 here with all but SW done in less than 20! After 10 minutes staring blankly REACH floated up and the rest fell in about 90 seconds. Enjoyable with my COD to 11D for misdirecting me into synonyms for mythical. Thought 3 down was a weak straight general knowledge question with no way in if you didn’t know already.
  8. I had no problems with this. I’d never heard of a SMALL SLAM and was unfamiliar with the specific usage of “pay” in 26a. But both were guessable from the cryptic and the checkers. I thought this was a fairly unremarkable puzzle greatly redeemed by the definition of SIMONY as “transactions of the faithful”. As remarked by Zabadak, worthy of the Devil’s Dictionary. 19 minutes, which is quickish for me. Btw, have I missed the blog for Sunday Times cryptic of Feb 5th? I can’t parse 12a (GOALKEEPER) and have given up trying!
    1. The ST isn’t up yet. On 12a you need to know that Given is a surname, then it makes sense. Unfortunately I didn’t.
      1. Now it makes sense. Assume Mr Given is a footballer. Not one of my areas of knowlege. I had been thinking of “guardian” as the whole definition. Thanks for this.
        1. He may even be a goalkeeper for all I know or care! If he were dead I might have stood a chance of hearing of him. I wouldn’t welcome the policy in ST puzzles extending to the main Times puzzles.

          Edited at 2012-02-13 02:03 pm (UTC)

          1. Agree. The undead are usually merely celebrities of transient fame. Much better to stick to people whose fame has outlived them.
          2. Newcastle Unt and via man city now Aston villa goalkeeper and Irish international for many years – Shay Given.
  9. 14 minutes, helped by a lower than average number of unknowns in only SMALL SLAM and Joshua’s dad. Mind you I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what simony was. I’m reminded of Baldrick’s “like goldy and bronzy only it’s made out of iron”.
    Like z8b8d8k and grestyman I wasn’t keen on 3dn.
  10. Enjoyable and reasonably straightforward puzzle for me, until held up in NE corner. In tandem with Jack, my last two in were TIMES and SPIRITS. Not too worried about whether rum can be described as both ” spirit” and “spirits”. I think common usage allows the setter some leeway here. I thought there were several very smooth and deceptive surface readings – e.g. the clues for PARSIMONY, DRESSED DOWN and LAP RECORD. The latter may not be in any of the “standard reference works”, but it is a very common term in motor racing (and no doubt other forms of racing that entail going round in circles).
  11. Sub 20 minutes for me – not entirely sure how long as I kept being interrupted, should have left it to do at lunchtime. I did know simony which helped.
  12. 11:08 with doubts about parsimony and worse and the parsing of York Minster only worked out post-solve.

    Isn’t it time we had something other than “writer’s block” for pad?

    A good beginner’s puzzle I’d say, with plenty of easy clues to provide a solid start and a couple of teasers.

  13. 9 minutes, waltzed through this, though I didn’t know the other definition for NUN. While easy, LOW-LIFE is a very neat clue.
  14. No quibbles with any of these, except a vague irk with nostrum, probably down to my limited knowledge of how ‘strum’ can be used. 20 minutes. Liked the dark suit; and the odd misdirection (source of aggression, on board etc). An agreeable, un-headknuckling challenge.

  15. No real problems here (once I’d changed ‘regally’ to LARGELY!), despite not knowing the cricketing YORK, Joshua’s Dad, or to TAR ships.

    LOI: RALEIGH. Think I was just looking too hard for a cryptic.

  16. Pretty easy puzzle today, breezed through in 15 minutes while watching the Grammy show. Last in were ADMISSION/NUN, but that’s only due to solving in clockwise fashion. Not much else to say. Regards to all.
  17. 5:49 for me, taking rather longer than usual to check my solution after last Monday’s cock-up. All pretty plain sailing – though I thought 7dn was a bit cheeky.

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