Times 25172

Author   daveperryPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 69:00

I found this a mammoth struggle, much like my last daily blog two weeks ago. I went through the bottom half fairly steadily, but then found the top half much harder. I still thought I was going to finish comfortably within the hour, but came completely unstuck on the last 2 (1d/11a) which I stared at for a good 20 minutes before finally seeing the light. On another day, I probably would have given up and gone to the blog!

In my defence though, I was very tired, and I had to go for a power nap halfway through.

cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this

Across
1 SMALL-TOWN = ST (street) + OWN (to have) about MALL (sheltered avenue)
6 cHASTE
9 AIRTIME = (AIM + RITE)* – I liked the well-disguised definition ‘a spell on the waves’
10 BAR + KING
11 THU + MP – My LOI – I failed to see the separation required for Boxing / Day
12 PETTY CASH – cd, ‘ready’ being slang for money, and ‘damage’ for cost
14 BOD = Blues Or Disco
15 PREMIERSHIP = (REP)* + MInERS + HIP
17 ABSURDITIES = (I BURST + IDEAS)*
19 BE + D
20 ST ANDREWS = STREW about AND + S
22 RA(TurreT)Y
24 cAN’T cHILL
26 ANAEMIA = AI + MEAN + A all rev
27 DUN(C)E
28 BUTTERNUT = RET (soak) in between TUN & TUB all rev
Down
1 SLA(N)T – A slat is a section of a window blind. I’m sure why it took me so long to see this. Maybe I was just tired.
2 AGROUND = Glenlivet in A ROUND
3 LAID PAPER = REAP + DIAL all rev about P – The PAPER part was easy enough, but I didn’t know the term so LAID took longer to come.
4 OVER-PRECISE = (PERCEIVES OR)*
5 NUB = BitUmeN rev
6 tHORNY
7 S + PIN(A)CH
8 EGG-SHAPED = (HEDGE GAPS)*
13 THIS INSTANT = SINS (evils) + TAN (beat) all in saTan + HIT (to beat). Although I didn’t fully understand this wordplay until post-solve.
14 BRASS BAND – dd – My FOI
16 RESURFACE = F (following) + RUSE (scheme) all rev in RACE (career)
18 SP(ART)AN
19 BIT + U + MEN
21 DR + I’VE
23 YEAST = YEATS with the final pair of letters switched
25 LAB – dd – short for both laboratory and labrador

22 comments on “Times 25172”

  1. 21:03 .. with at least the last 5 minutes on LAID PAPER and THUMP. The latter is fiendishly done. Definite COD for me.

    Some pretty slick stuff all round.

    Edited at 2012-05-25 02:31 am (UTC)

  2. All my struggles in the top left: HORNY and HASTE. (Never a good combination!)

    It’s interesting to note the similarity of the clue for SPARTAN (18dn) to that in the 1982 puzzle Jerry blogged on 16th of this month (5dn). Maybe there haven’t really been so many style changes after all.

  3. 27:49; very close to being 26′ and 2 errors, but, like jackkt, I looked at HURRY & TRUMP and realized they wouldn’t do. I spent a lot of time trying to think of some variant of ‘maritime’ for 9ac. Recent puzzles have had RATTY and BOD, two words not in my dialect, and which I luckily hadn’t forgotten. Somehow, I have no idea how, LAID PAPER was somewhere in the darker recesses of my memory. Definitely COD to THUMP. Thanks to Dave for explaining RESURFACE and BUTTERNUT.
  4. 40 minutes but I later made a couple of corrections on reviewing the wordplay changing HURRY to HORNY at 6dn and TRUMP to THUMP at 11ac.

    Actually ‘trump’ had some good things going for it in ‘common feature of Boxing Day’ (after the brussels sprouts and chestnut stuffing?) and ‘sitter’ = ‘rump’ perhaps. But couldn’t justify ‘T’ = ‘house’ unfortunately.

    Didn’t know LAID PAPER.

    Apart from the three clues mentioned above I found this a fairly straightforward solve that flowed rather nicely and was certainly more enjoyable than the past two days.

    Edited at 2012-05-25 03:32 am (UTC)

  5. Well, I felt like anyone except someone with a top degree today, as I toiled to my median result for this week: a long time spent for two wrong (‘leif paper’ – there’s most of a field there somewhere – and ‘hardy’ for HORNY – a wild and incredibly unlikely, veering on the impossible, guess).

    For anyone who’s been lurking this week and thinking “Is it always this tough?”, the answer is no. After work, I’m working through the weekly puzzles for Jun-Jul 2008 and they are, in general, quite a bit easier.

    I’m not sure whether I’m grateful to Jack for unveiling another meaning of ‘trump’ or not! (trump2 in ODO for anyone interested and still in a blissful state of ignorance). Thanks to Dave for unravelling quite a few of these.

    Edited at 2012-05-25 03:49 am (UTC)

  6. Enjoyed all the puzzles this week, finished them all in reasonable time and learnt some new words, which is always good.
  7. Very slow on this, 12.27, as Mr Sever might say. No, something under the hour, not much; was held up by a few I shouldn’t have been, including This at the end in 13. Altogether a tricky number I found, or I’m getting old. Will be relieved to go round in under 20 again one of these days. On reflection I rather like the surfaces in this one, concealing 17 both 1 ac. and 10.

    Edited at 2012-05-25 09:07 am (UTC)

  8. Going well till the last few in the top left. What could the Boxing Day feature be? GRUMP? Something to do with the Boxing Day ‘UNT? Had to take a break and come back to finish. Thought PETTY CASH very clever.

    I got to BUTTERNUT by thinking BUTT (as in water butt!) and only after writing it in realising that the containers were TUN and TUB. I seem to be doing this sort of thing more frequently just recently.

    By the way, does anyone remember Squidgy BOD?

  9. We seem to have a common experience here. Good puzzle with the NW corner providing the headscratching clues. It all went in quite smoothly apart from THUMP where “house-sitter” kept me guessing for some time. 25 minutes overall and no complaints.

    Dave, you’ve got one of those irritating advertising posts that needs to be deleted

  10. Yes, I’ve had to delete two of them so far today. Unusual to have them popping up so quickly. They don’t normally appear for several weeks or even months.
  11. Done in two sessions (they keep wanting me to work!) in a total of about 25 minutes. Never heard of the paper but the wordplay was obvious and then I checked to see it existed. Took me ages to ‘see’ the wordplay for THUMP – very good d’oh moment.
  12. 38 minutes…we are certainly having a week of it. Glad to see I am not alone in immediately associating Boxing Day with a particular definition of trump. As already mentioned, sprouts will do that. NW corner in particular was fiendish: when it fell, it all happened quickly but it took a lot of staring and thinking first. In my defence, I am sitting in the garden being distracted by Test Match Special and this unfamiliar sensation of heat and brightness, so I shall claim this as a day when I was savouring a tough crossword at a suitably leisurely pace.

    1. Being a lady an’ all, I obviously never considered such an explanation. I did however spend a few moments wondering if ‘house-sitter’ was some sort of dig at Donald Trump, before remembering that Donald Trump is still alive, busily building a gated community on the dunes of the Aberdeenshire coast (bad), and bringing some of the old fire out in Billy Connolly (good).
  13. 18 minutes. No problems and enjoyable. However somehow I put in NIB, even though I solved this clue by solving 19dn first. How on earth did I manage that? The 27ac’s cap for me today.

    Edited at 2012-05-25 11:58 am (UTC)

  14. 23 and a bit minutes, still wondering about LAID PAPER. Whenever I’ve seen it, you can see the marks of the wires it’s made on, but as watermarks. “Ribbed” didn’t really seem the mot juste.
    Didn’t really get PETTY CASH as a clue: was it meant to be a double definition? ANAEMIA went in on definition and crossers.
    Nothing to set the pulses racing, CoD to the Russian doll that was THIS INSTANT.
  15. Glad to finish in two sessions, but then a bit deflated to come here and find two wrong: ‘nib’ (like Kerio) and ‘hurry’ at 6dn.

    Thanks for parsing ST ANDREWS and BUTTERNUT, which I got from definition (I too assumed it was something to do with ‘butt’).

    Best wishes for the weekend!

  16. Another superb puzzle, moderately hard, half an hour of steady solving and smiling, nothing obscure just excellent clueing. Not quite sure about PETTY CASH as a clue; last ones in HASTE / HORNY. Any mention of Glenlivet gets my vote, but brand names in the TC?

    Edited at 2012-05-25 02:16 pm (UTC)

  17. I thought this difficult, especially the NW area. LOI was THUMP. I saw the day, but I didn’t see the ‘house sitter’ til coming here, and it’s a pretty good clue, I think. Did not know of LAID PAPER. Overall about 35 minutes. Thanks to Dave, and regards to all.
  18. Couldn’t get here until now, when it’s tomorrow. But I want to say how much I appreciate the blog. There were a couple I got from checkers alone. Too late to comment but I found this rather difficult and not quite as enjoyable as usual. 40 minutes with one wrong – I had HARDY instead of HORNY.
  19. Sotira is not qute right about Trump. He has just more or less finished the ‘best golf course in the world’. (The cost of a round would doubtless elicit grumbles from Dorset). He has refused to build his houses unless the powers that be desist from a mad plan to erect zillions of enormous wind turbines in Aberdeen bay, which, he feels, would rather spoil the view.
    1. Finally: something I agree with Donald Trump about. But the poor old environment will be stuffed either way…

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