Times 25146: KO’d in the Ring

Author   mctextPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: DNF.

Had most of this done quickishly. But completely defeated by 8dn. I have no idea what’s going on there and await the responses of our regular contributors. On edit: now resolved thanks to Jack. It was bound to happen one of these blogging days I guess.

Across
 1 GOT OFF. Also split as GO (shot), TOFF (gent).
 4 DISCOUNT. Anagram: donuts,1,¢.
10 DERMATOID. Anagram: D{ip},trio made. The indicator is ‘waves’ and the literal is ‘skinny’. Very deceptive.
11 {s}OLDIE{r}. Strictly DBE.
12 WITHOUT RESERVE. Two literals; one in jest.
14 Omitted.
16 RAM-RAIDER. A and ARM (rev) inside RIDER. Did anyone else fancy RUM-RUNNER?
18 LAUNDRESS. Sounds like LAWN (linen).
20 HA(DE)S. Keeps (HAS); D&E (low grades). On edit: the lower (demographic) classes.
21 ACROSS THE BOARD. A CROSS (a mongrel); anagram of: had to be, inc R{unning}.
25 OWENS. OW (cry of pain); last letters of ‘racE iN OlympicS’.
26 GRENADIAN. Our GRAN is taking in 1 DANE (backwards).
27 DETONATE. Reverse: E,TA,NOTED.
28 AC,CESS. I quote: “(in Scotland, Ireland, and India) a tax or levy. ORIGIN late 15th cent. (denoting the obligation placed on the Irish to supply the Lord Deputy’s household and garrison with provisions at prices “assessed” by the government): shortened from the obsolete noun assess [assessment].”
Down
 1 GO DOWNHILL. The Grand Old Duke of York, usw.
 2 T(A,R)OT. ‘Drop’=TOT (of, e.g., scotch).
 3 FLAT OUT. Is this shocker still on UK TV?
 5 INDRE. Included in ‘fIND RElaxing’.
 6 CHOLERA. C&R from ‘care’ + A, around HOLE.
 7 UNDI(VIDE)D.
 8 No idea whatsoever. On edit: THE,O. Thanks to Jack.
 9 NOCTURNE. Reverse CON; TURNE{r}.
13 PRES(I,DEN)(T)S. T from ‘The’.
15 BOUNCIEST. Anagram: cub note is.
17 MI(SCH)(IE)F. Abbreviate MIF{f}.
19 DROPS IN. DR, OP, SIN.
20 HE(BRA)IC. The dread underwear conceit strikes again.
22 SIG,HT. Reverse GIs.
23 A,FIR,E. novEmber.
24 MOO,D. ‘Low’ = MOO.

48 comments on “Times 25146: KO’d in the Ring”

    1. It was my fourth from last in despite both checkers having been in place much earlier so I’d quite like to have picked at the clue, but I really don’t think I could fault it. And I’m not absolutely sure it, or something very similar, hasn’t come up before.

      BTW there’s typo at 7dn where ‘short film’ = VIDE(o).

      Edited at 2012-04-25 01:20 am (UTC)

      1. The (VIDE) was actually intentional assuming folks could see it was a short VIDEO. How explicit are we supposed to be I wonder?
        1. Sorry. How explicit is a matter for individual bloggers of course and long may this continue.
        1. Surely ‘presents’ is fine as a link word in the ‘offer’ or ‘introduce’ sense. Top clue, IMO.
        2. I take it to mean “shows” or “demonstrates” telling us exactly what the letters of THEO do when viewed in a certain way.

          Edited at 2012-04-25 06:02 am (UTC)

          1. I think that must be the right reading, Jack. Like Mctext, I was completely floored by 8dn, and as a result DNF. But, ruefully, I have to admit that the clue seems to me perfectly fair and indeed very clever.
  2. 18:45 .. several minutes at the end to solve some devilish little blighters.

    Unknown: INDRE

    LOI and COD .. THEO (new one to me and it brought a big smile when I saw it). I thought MOOD was very neat (ptp), too.

  4. 28 minutes, so my third consecutive under 30 minutes. I saw GOT OFF and TAROT immediately but was unable to progress by building on those answers so I again resorted to the tactic of jumping to the bottom of the grid and working upwards. Everything progressed smoothly from then on.

    My only unknown today was INDRE, probably not because I have never met it before but because I am incapable of remembering French departments (I’ve already forgotten the one that came up yesterday) and Swiss cantons.

    I think the question mark absolves the DBE at 11ac but I still think of soldiers as being plain bread rather than toast because that’s how things were in our house.

  5. The Ring far too clever for me. All bar that in 30 minutes. Continues my run of outs, but at least only one wrong today. (On recount, I also went for ‘juvenalia’ yesterday.)
      1. Mine too probably. I’ve never sat through a whole Wagner opera live or on record/disc. My knowledge of his output is pretty much limited to the Grand March from Tannhauser (sung at school), the Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin, the Ride of the Valkyrie from ‘Apocalypse Now!’ and, of course, various episodes of Inspector Morse.
    2. A bit late, I know. But now corrected. Thanks. These are not social divisions I know.
  7. About 25 minutes for this, with about 5 at the end mulling 8dn. I very nearly bunged in TREV!
  8. Nothing too difficult here and another 20 minute jog.

    I agree with anon – at 20A D and E are demographic ratings not school grades. I also queried “toast” at 11A but Chambers gives both bread and toast in its definitions. Amazed by the fuss over THEO. All I know about Wagner is that he wrote something called The Ring so read the clue, wrote in THE-O and forgot about it.

    1. Yes, COED and Collins also have toast as an alternative to bread. It has come up in a puzzle at least once before so it wasn’t news to me but it still seemed questionable when weighed against the ingrained experiences of childhood.
      1. Soldiers came up in one of my very early puzzles to blog and caused a little bit of a stir if I recall correctly

        My early childhood was during and immediately after WW11 when I lived with my grandparents. In common with most they didn’t own a toaster so soldiers were by definition plain bread. We then carried on that practice with our own children. No idea what my grandchildren were given.

  9. My wife and I walked out after the first act of the one-and-only Wagner opera we’ve ever attended…i.e. after well over 2 hours! Siegfried was being played by a friend of a friend of ours but he was woefully unheroic for our taste. Around 75mins for this and I thought it was an excellent challenge although I’m querying the plural -garments- in LAUNDRESS.LOI was, of course, THEO. COD for me was HEBRAIC. Wonder if we’re working through the French departments after OISE the other day? I look forward to Mayenne. We have a house there. In 9d I tried for too long to work sfumato or chiaroscuro into the mix.

    Edited at 2012-04-25 08:11 am (UTC)

    1. I wondered about dress=garmentS but dress isn’t just a woman’s singular piece of clothing it’s also a plural form in say “formal dress”
    2. pyrenees-orientale will be an interesting one to work into a grid… or meurthe-et-moselle, perhaps
      1. 🙂 Unfortunately, Jerry, we have such as Orne and Sarthe to negotiate before we get there!
    3. I’ve seen several of his “shorter” works,including a “Flying Dutchman” set in outer space where nobody can hear you scream. (Bryn Terfel was great though. Ditto in “Maestersingers”) The funniest was a performance of “Lohengrin” in which the eponymous hero, supposedly the most handsome man in the western world, was played by a guy who looked like Charlie Drake. I was very young and succumbed to a giggling fit. My friend and I were asked to leave. Many years later, she mentioned the event to the girl singing next to her in the Bach Choir. Reply: “That was my dad.” I hope there’s not another relative reading this!
      1. After my comment on LAENDER on Monday, I have the feeling I’m being wound up! At least Goetterdammerung is halfway there, but only half! There’s an umlaut on the “a” as well, so it should be “Goetterdaemmerung” if martinp1 really can’t run to “Götterdämmerung”.

        But “Maestersingers”. Aargh! “Mastersingers” in English, but “Meistersinger” in German (the plural is the same as the singular).

        Great story about Charlie Drake in “Lohengrin” though :-).

        1. You’re not being wound up. I made a mistake. I’m well aware of the second umlaut.
      2. Oh, that is so funny, falooker! Role suitability? How about the rotund Pavarotti as the impoverished student, Rodolfo and the well-padded Montserrat Caballe (sorry, can’t do accents) as the consumptive Mimi? While on operatic humour, I once read a slim volume on great disasters in opera. My favourite story concerns the under-rehearsed firing squad in Tosca. After having aimed at and “shot” the wrong person, the squad then follows the only stage direction it has been given: Exit with the principles. So, over the battlements they all went!
  10. All correct today. A steady solve until the last few in the bottom/bottom right corner – Mischief (considered Mosquito for a while), Hebraic and LOI Across The Board. ATB took a long time to get because I carelessly spelled Bounciest as Boucieest!!

    Thought the “skinny” def for Dermatoid was very good. Got Theo from the checkers, definition and having heard of The Ring.

    Couldn’t decipher Oldie so thank you mctext for explaining that one.

  11. Yet another straightforward solve – I think the crossword editor likes you, mc! – but clever and enjoyable.
    No problem with Theo, or with the toast issue – we didn’t have a toaster either, but we did have a fire and a toasting fork. Tastes better that way too.
    1. But not at breakfast time! Modern bread is too thin and has too much water in it for such treatment.

      My grandfather used to take me to buy sweet chestnuts which he would roast on a coal shovel placed strategically above the open fire whilst cooking toast as you describe to be eaten with real butter – wonderful stuff!.

  12. All ok today, with INDRE being the only unknown.

    THEO was my LOI, and COD. I thought it a great clue when I finally got it!

  13. 15 minutes for me – held up by having to work through the alphabet and wait for the penny to clang noisily for 8d, which is a good clue if you are able to get it! As for ‘skinny’ at 10a! One of those puzzles where it took a while to get on the setter’s wavelength and then wait for all those pennies to drop loudly to the floor.
  14. 45 minutes in two sittings, no three, the last to get the THEO, OLDIE crossing and NOCTURNE, none of which I could make any sense. Thanks for putting me out of my misery on the soldiers. I’m afraid I’ve put the thought of them and runny yolk completely out of my head and feel all the better for it. My COD to DISCOUNT amongst a lot of mischief.
  15. 43 minutes today. I was held up for ages by 1d and the DERMATOID/NOCTURNE crossing. I thought I would have to juggle letters for 1d and was puzzling it even after I’d got the right answer. When it hit me I felt a bit foolish.
  17. About 15 minutes for everything but THEO, and then put it down. When I looked later, I didn’t recall that I’d left any blank, but when I saw it THEO came straight from the blue. I like it. Thanks setter. Regards to all.
  18. 36.22 here so about average for me at this late hour. My COD vote is for HEBRAIC but some other well crafted clues. Oddly had no trouble with THEO or OLDIE. My soldiers were always toasted Maybe in case the egg was overboiled!
  19. 14:15 for me. I made heavy weather, finding it difficult to spot whole answers from their parts, e.g. MISCHIEF from ‑‑SCHIE‑. I too toyed briefly with RUM-RUNNER … and TREV, taking a couple of minutes to come up with THEO as my LOI.
  20. Delighted to see 11A today as it’s my dad’s 84th birthday!

    Many happy returns to AB from JB

  21. DNF here, too, being totally stumped by THEO. If I’d got it, no doubt I would have said it was a brillian clue; now I’m of two minds. Like Sotira, I had the rest done in (just) under a half an hour, finally gave up staring at 8d.
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