Times – 25106 – Bewitched, bothered and (just a bit) jaded…

Author   jackktPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Goodness me, this one gave me some problems and took me over an hour for the third consecutive day this week. Right at the outset I fell literally into a bear-trap (probably of my own making rather than one intended by the setter) and never really recovered because it put me on the wrong course for several other clues. Even when I sorted out the mess my confidence was shot to pieces. But for all that, once again this week we have a very fine puzzle. For anyone noticing that I am posting somewhat later than in recent weeks, no, I have not been struggling on this since midnight; I went to bed at a sensible hour and then got up very early.

Across
1 PARADIDDLE – A RAP (a popular music – rev) + DIDDLE (do). It’s a sequence of strokes in drumming.
7 BEAR – Double definition. ‘Hack’ = ‘bear’ as in to tolerate, manage or cope with something. Putting ‘jade’ (an alternative double definition) here as my first answer in the grid gave me endless problems q.v. 7dn. A veritable bear-trap!
9 BROKEN IN – ROoK (bird half-heartedly) inside BENIN.
10 COWARD – RAW (not cooked – rev) inside COD.
11 SHOWER – Double definition. The one meaning ‘worthless group’ reminds me with joy of the wonderful Terry-Thomas as the Major in ‘Private’s Progress’ (1956): “You’re an absolute SHAAAR!”.
13 IDEALIST – Anagram of ‘sailed’ inside ‘it’.
14 FRONT OF HOUSE – In a theatre this is everything on the audience side of the curtain as opposed to ‘backstage’.
17 CRACKBRAINED – CRACK (go) + BRAIN (head) + ED (man on newspaper). ‘Out to lunch’ is slang for ‘unbalanced’ or ‘stupid’.
20 INVEIGLE – Anagram of ‘living’ and EasE.
21 ARGOSY – lARGO (heading off slowly – in music) + SlowlY.
22 MANTUA – MA (graduate – Master of Arts) + NT (books – New Testament) + U + A. It’s a 17th century gown named from the city in Lombardy.
23 NOTIONAL – ‘National’ (citizen) with one of its As (American capital) replaced by 0 (love – tennis).
25 Double definition deliberately omitted.
26 ENTICEMENT – twENTIes (two couples in mid twenties) + CEMENT (bonding).
Down
2 AYRSHIRE – IRe (endless anger) inside anagram of ‘her say’. Last blog I had Angus cattle as the first Down answer; today it’s a different breed.
3 AUK – A+UK. Stumped me for ages! Finland, Norway, Sweden? What other countries are there in NW Europe?
4 INNER – dINNER
5 DONNISH – NNI (pub – rev) inside DOSH (money). Wasted ages trying to think if ‘mash’ might be slang for money.
6 EXCHEQUER – Sounds like ‘ex-checker’.
7 BEWILDERING – WILDER (rather extravagant) inside BEING (creature). So having convinced myself that 7ac was ‘jade’ I had J?W?????ING here and came up with ‘jawdropping’ for ‘stunning’ which seemed perfectly reasonable, give or take a hyphen, until I tried to untangle the wordplay. Many a moment was lost here.
8 I’m deliberately omitting this Down clue.
12 WINDCHEATER – WIND (turn) + C (cold) + HEATER (radiator?).
15 ORANGEADE – Anagram of ‘an edge or a’.
16 MESSIAEN – MESS (jam) + I hAvE + N (new). Olivier of that name, 1908-1992, was a French composer, organist and ornithologist. I’m glad the setter didn’t require us to know his third claim to fame.
18 KEEPNET – TEN PEEK rev.
19 INMATE – IN (ruling,  ‘in power’) + MATE (China plate – CRS).
21 ARTIC – ARTICulate (say clearly stopped half way).
24 OHM – H (Henry – unit of inductance) inside OM (high honour – Order of Merit).

41 comments on “Times – 25106 – Bewitched, bothered and (just a bit) jaded…”

  1. On to this one right away though probably helped by the fact that I only had half an hour available between download and leaving the house. (Work also contracts with the time available?)

    Also thought this a pretty good puzzle though scratched my head a bit over FRONT OF HOUSE until it dawned that “H” was the cryptic bit and “not just” was a kind of filler to get the surface working. Not a complaint: it’s a good clue.

    LOI was BEAR (7ac) — having the checkers helped — but the “hack” = “cope” etc., took a while to see.

    COD to ENTICEMENT for the hint of swinging in the clue.

  2. Well over the hour for me too, with two wrong: ‘garswindle’ at 1ac, which buggered up 3dn, as I was doing this online. I had ‘mantle’ at 22 for a time, wondering whether the LSE had been downsized, and was slow onto BEAR, being waylaid by a ‘boor’.

    Not sure I’ve ever come across CRACKBRAINED, while KEEPNET is up there with ‘longshore’ for the title of most unimaginative marine compound word. Joint CODS to ENTICEMENT and the fizzy anagram.

  3. Appreciate your travails, jackkt! I also toyed with BOOR for 7ac. Appreciate the Terry-Thomas reference in 11ac. His name came to mind immediately I got the answer. Didn’t particularly like CRACKBRAIN for “Go with head” but you pays yer money…As mentioned in The Times Forum, I spent ages wondering, as you did, if MASH was some new word for money. LOI was, I’m afraid to say, the one you omitted: ACROSS. A d’oh moment for me. CODs were 1ac and 21d as I like clues where you have to work at it to find where the pauses should be.
    1. Thanks, Martin, and yes, BOOR was my very first thought at 7ac in the nano-second before JADE sprang to mind. Shame I didn’t stick with it as at least then I’d have been on the correct path to solving 7dn.
  4. Was convinced 7ac was nias (an unsophisticated person). This made 7dn unsolvable for me alas.
  5. Good middle of the road Times cryptic. 20 minutes to solve. Very glad the cryptic was clear for 16D because couldn’t remember the spelling of a name I had heard before.

    It would appear to be time to resurrect the thought that by and large it is not good technique to fill in 4 letter word answers without first obtaining some checking letters.

    In this case 8D is an easy clue and gives an “A”. That rules out “jade” but not “nias”. 10A is easy and gives a “W” in 7D. That in turn prompts thoughts of “wild” and hence “BEWILDERING”. Now we have B?A? at 7A and only one answer is possible.

  6. Unfortunately went with the popular music form Rat and a taradiddle. Found the whole thing quite tough – about 45 minutes – but entertaining. COD 3 simply because I couldn’t see why for some time: a neat reminder that where I live isn’t the centre of everything.
    1. I wasn’t making an aesthetic point about J.K. Rowling vs Gigli yesterday. After all Al Capone appears quite regularly.
      My point is just that if I did a straw poll among my acquaintance I’m pretty confident that fewer than 10% would have heard of Gigli, but I doubt that I’d find a single person who doesn’t know what a muggle is. Generally there’s a natural ageist (or rather youngist) slant in the Times crossword. I don’t mind this at all (in fact I welcome it because it means I learn stuff) but it is nice when occasionally the balance is redressed a bit.
      1. Isn’t the question at issue rather how much a thing is worth knowing, than how many people know it? Quite a lot of what the Times takes as acceptable GK for its clues is not exactly known far and wide. But it’s knowledge worth preserving.

        Edited at 2012-03-09 11:44 am (UTC)

        1. It’s a bit of both I think. It’s worth preserving the memory of Gigli but equally the way new words enter public consciousness and hence the language from popular culture is jolly interesting.
        2. Yes, but if if goes along the ‘how many know it’ route, it is easier to classify, no? Who could be the judge of ‘how much a thing is worth’? I’m all for using both, then maybe we all get to learn something!
          1. I absolutely agree we use both. As to who’s the judge of worth, I think as a matter of fact the Times crossword does play a very minor role indeed in that vexed question. Both in the new words and expressions it as it were gives the thumbs-up to, and in the store of general knowledge it draws on, it plays some kind of arbiter’s role. The former judgement tends to be quantitative, the latter both quantitative and qualitative and so in a way to do with worth. It’s not just a crossword…
        3. Rather fittingly I was done in by an opera term on the concise, so a double failure for me today. Sigh.
          1. As one who put smuggler from checkers alone, and had to look up disbelievingly to see if there was a word “muggle” I feel I ought to contribute to this thread. I actually used google first up so it was pretty clear from the outset, but I wonder if muggle makes any of the reference books we are supposed to use – Chambers et al.

            My slant here is that the question of relevance is perhaps not the key point, but there should be consideration as to whether there is too much of a taste/choice/split element. The general in general knowledge to me implies that it covers a wide cross section of the public, not necessarily a great number, nor a high quality thereof. So if only the learned knew of a fact or person, but it was the learned of many places and who were not easily linked with one connection alone, then this defines GK.

            With regard to Harry Potter, it is very much a taste or choice to read this, and so may be unfair to those who havent. One reason I think the “dead” rule is a good one is that over a certain time things become historical fact and those that survive can be deemed to be GK. Time will tell whether Harry Potter does that. Clearly the Beatles (although not dead per se) have done something like that, whereas perhaps Oasis have not.

            One other parallel I suggested before was that along these lines, perhaps anything overly christian may be deemed unfair since it is not reasonable to suggest that a muslim, atheist or anyone else of a non christian leaning should be familiar with the minutiae of the religion. That said, I wholly appreciate that much of the tradition has been around long enough to creep into the common psyche, but the principle I believe is still valid.

            …enough now, places to go, people to see!

            1. I think it would be a shame to stick to this principle, because if we’re waiting to see if words survive we can’t use interesting new ones.
              And of course a similar principle applies at the other end: as memory fades general knowledge becomes specialist. There is such a thing as too old, as well as too new.
              More generally I welcome words I don’t know for whatever reason. Getting them from wordplay is all part of the fun.
            2. Just to confirm as posted yesterday that MUGGLE is in my newest Oxford dictionary.
  7. ARGHH! 23 but my drum roll was a TARADIDDLE, for no good wordplay reason and (apparently) no good definition reason either. In my defence, rap is not in the least popular with me. BEAR gave me no end of trouble: there are words for ill-mannered people – brat and boar, for example, and the alternative meaning of hack refused to intrude on my thinking. I was once describe as “a big friendly bear of a man” in the Evening Standard: it never occurred to me they were being critical of my manners.
    Oh well. Add me to those who, tuning in to the obscurity of some of the cluing, wondered where the University of LE was, tried several CRACK-somethings and (I’m sure this is a group that will grow) didn’t think FRONT OF HOUSE really worked. Front of house, I suppose is the place that decides where the audience are going to sit, but…
    I also decided INMATE was a sort of semi &lit – a ruling for a prisoner being in, mate!, probably in an Aussie court.
    Miffed enough not to award a CoD, though BROKEN IN was nice for less than usual country.
      1. And after yesterday, I guess we can be relieved that BRAINED was not clued as “underwear consumed by newspaper chief” or somesuch (edit needed).
    2. Agree with you on BEAR. I’ve never thought of a BEAR in a social situation as being ill-mannered – just big and maybe rather clumsy. I thought maybe BOOR had a homophone meaning “hack” and spent ages with dictionaries trying to prove it. Ended up with BEAR but without any conviction.
  8. 25 minutes, but after a couple of minutes agonising over whether to put in the slightly more likely-looking word (MANTUA) or follow the more standard wordplay (BANTUA) I plumped for the latter. Usually this is a good principle, but not today. Naturally I think this clue slightly unfair but I seem to be the only one to have fallen into this particualar 7ac-trap.
    Tricky but high-quality puzzle this. Fortunately I vaguely remembered PARADIDDLE from a brief spell trying to learn the drums as a youngster. I stopped after a few months, much to the relief of my parents.
    1. But there isn’t a city called Bantua that I’m aware of, and MA seems fine for ‘graduate’, especially since post-graduate (and not all MAs are) would be a bit of a giveaway. 😀
      1. I don’t disagree with any of that: as I say MANTUA looked much the more probable word and this is why I hesitated. Generally though I have found that favouring my sense of what looks like a proper word leads to mistakes.
        1. This is where a familiarity with the oeuvre of Georgette Heyer comes in handy. The mantua-maker (I think it’s a corruption of manteau) is always dunning milady whosit for not having got around to paying her dressmakers’ bills. Greatly preferred this to yesterday’s and cantered in at about 34 minutes.
          1. Snap! For some reason your post wasn’t up when I replied or I wouldn’t have replicated your comment. Aint it good to know that there’s a few Heyer enthusiasts here? I friend of mine is going through a very stressful time and is rereading the entire oeuvre in chronological order to cheer herself up. Yesterday she was on “Pistols for Two” – one I would have missed but she’s a completist!
  9. Not much to say, really. A lamentable finish to the week after a promising start. Even some I thought could be right weren’t (‘paracircle’, ‘cannish’ – all made perfect sense at the time!)

    I’ll try harder next week. I promise.

    🙁

  10. These got me- I’d never heard of either. Checked the OED and they are both there, if rather archaic.

  11. Too difficult for me today. Surrendered after getting 21/28 and resorted to Onelook to solve the rest. Most difficulties were in the NW corner where I didn’t know Paradiddle. Can’t imagine that Rap is a popular music form among TFTTers. Really should have got Inner and Broken In but couldn’t come up with any plausible words to fit ?R?K?? ?N and ??N?R.

    Shower for “worthless group,” Keepnet and Mantua all new to me.

    Jackkt – thanks for your blog and for explaining the “enti” part of Enticement. I didn’t understand where the E and I came from and was reading “mid-twenties” as NT.

  12. DNF today, got all but 2 eventually, couldn’t see ‘bear’ was best and had someone called Weissman for my organist. Cod 20 ac inveigle I think… good if tricky puzzle.
  13. I’ve found the puzzles this week tough, and haven’t made serious progress on any of them, but as always I have learnt a lot. Thanks for the blog.

    Edited at 2012-03-09 04:36 pm (UTC)

  14. About 45 minutes today, but came through with all correct. COD to BEWILDERING, and honorable mention to AUK. Not too fond of the FRONT OF HOUSE clue, and didn’t know the organist, that GEAR (my LOI) can mean illegal drugs, or this meaning of SHOWER. WINDCHEATER also took longer than it should have, but that’s because we call it a windbreaker. Regards to all.
    1. If it’s any consolation, this cricket-loving, Bible-believing, middle-aged true Brit of a solver used to call his jacket a windbreaker or a windsheeter. Didn’t know the spelling till only a few years ago.

      While I have the floor, but not especially for you, Kevin, a little mnemonic may help people get a handle on Paul’s five shorter letters to the nascent churches: A, E, I, O, U (where U has to do service for Thussalonians):

      Galatians, Ephesians, Phillipians, Colossians and Thessalonians.

      Edited at 2012-03-10 04:40 am (UTC)

  15. 24:28 for this in a week where I’ve averaged almost 30 minutes. Seriously tough run of puzzles. And yes, thanks to the bloggers for ploughing through them.
  16. Re: MANTUA. You should read Georgette Heyer. She’s great on obscure historical garments. Also, I think I’ve come across “Mantua-maker” as a kind of ladies’ dressmaker in ye olden days. Nice to have a few clues where we ladies have the advantage!
  17. A bit of a slog. I thought I might have a smooth ride when PARADIDDLE went in straight away. But I found the rest of the going very hard. LOI BEAR which was a despairing guess. 40 minutes
  18. Never got this: I’m unaware of the ill-mannered sense, and bear = hack I should have got but didn’t. Eventually I put in BRAT, since it does fit, is an ill-mannered person, and I thought might well be equivalent to hack, somehow.

    But a good crossword.

  19. A depressing 21:53 for me, with around ten minutes spent agonising over 7ac: I’m familiar with the phrase “to hack it” but still found it hard to convince myself that “hack” = BEAR, though I had no problem with BEAR = “an ill-mannered person”.

    Surely anyone who hasn’t come across the word “muggle” must have been living on the Planet Zog for the last 15 years. Even if you haven’t read any of the books (and I read the first one fairly early on just to see what all the fuss was about), it would surely have been hard to miss the Nancy Stouffer court case.

    As I understand it, the names of living people are excluded from the Times crossword in case they might be offended in some way. I believe there was a case many years ago when someone took umbrage because of the way their name was clued, but I can’t quote chapter and verse.

      1. Actually, having written that I realise I don’t know what the Planet Zog is either although I have heard it referred to.

        Edited at 2012-03-09 11:25 pm (UTC)

        1. Here you go, Jack. Planet Zog. 22:06 for me, but now I’ve seen Tony’s time, not so depressing! I agonised over BEAR for a while, trying to justify BRAT, but LOI was INVEIGLE, which I eventually got by trawling through the alphabet a couple of times to find a word that fit, and then seeing the cryptic.
  20. I got PARADIDDLE and AYRSHIRE straight away and then muddled through for a couple of hours until I ground to a halt, unable to get MESSIAEN despite having all the checkers and seeing IAE as I have regularly, so a DNF for me.I had to ponder for a while over MANTUA and BEAR, but did pick the correct answers. Thanks to jackkt for putting me out of my misery with the organist. I even tried to scramble N for new with Stanley in an effort to put an S in an anagram.

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