Times 25,193

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
After a couple of real testers on my Tuesday blogging shift, the complete opposite today, knocked off in 7:25 online.

Across
1 BABYLONIAN – BABY + LONdon + IAN.
6 SCOW – Small COW(=neat).
10 LOWER – double def.
11 GOLDCREST – [OLD inside G,C] + REST.
12 TROOP THE COLOUR – (OUTHERPROTOCOL)*. Very topical, as this bit of royal pageantry happened most recently on Saturday.
14 WHISTLE – STreet in WHILE. Is whistling always a cheerful sound? Difficult to whistle mournfully, I guess.
15 TELSTAR – (RATTLES)*. Satellite which gave the Tornados an international smash, pop-pickers.
17 MADNESS – (DAM)rev. + NESS. I imagine when asked to name a loch, Ness would be high on everyone’s list.
19 ACHATES – coACH AT EStoril. Achates was the bosom companion of Aeneas on his travels.
20 SHERLOCK HOLMES – Succeeded + LOCK in [HER “HOMES”]
23 EASTERNER – [ASTER in E,N,E] + River. A bit of a woolly clue all round, with the (signalled) definition by example – why Tojo and not one of the thousands of other possibilities? Who knows – and the use of “directions” to signal some unspecified combination of N,S,E,W.
24 REEVE – casE in (EVER)rev.
25 SOLE – double def: sole = “fish” and “only”.
26 YOU DON’T SAY – “The solver is speechless” uses the conceit that clues are seen from the point of view of the person who writes them, so the setter is always “I” and the solver “you”.
 
Down
1 BOLD =”BOWLED”. Sadly for the literality of the surface, “on radio” simply indicates it’s a “sounds like” clue, as WG didn’t live long enough to get on Test Match Special or its predecessors. Picking Grace from the many cricketers available made me think of Grace Archer, which I suspect was intentional on the setter’s part.
2 BOWERBIRD – BOWER(violinist) + BIRD(=”bird lime” in Cockney rhyming slang=time). Not Dame Nellie Melba, or similar, but this singer.
3 LORD OF THE FLIES – L(50) Other Ranks + (TOSHEFFIELD)*.
4 NIGHTIE – NIGH(close) TIE(match).
5 AILMENT – A1 (superior) + MEN in LieutenanT.
7 CREDO – RED in C.O.
8 WATERCRESS – (CREWSRATES)*.
9 SCHOOLCHILDREN – cryptic def.; the youngsters wear uniform and are put into classes, of course.
13 TWO MASTERS – double def. and a cracking spot by the setter. A two-master is simply a vessel with two masts, of course; for the other reference, we turn to Matthew 6:24:

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
16 TITLELESS – TITLE + LES + Spun.
18 SECONDO – ON(performing) in [SEC DO]. A musical term which I didn’t know, but was easily deduced; it’s the left-hand part of a piano duet, apparently.
19 ADHERED – HERE in A D,D.
21 EASEL – EASE(facility) + usefuL. The Freud in question is, of course, Lucian rather than Sigmund (or Clement).
22 SEXY – EX in [Steam Yacht].

39 comments on “Times 25,193”

  1. Agreed that this wasn’t difficult — though nowhere near Tim’s amazing time. The 4x14s were very easy to spot which helped a great deal. But the top was much easier than the bottom half. (Give me birds over plants any day!)

    In the bottom half: the main hold ups were SECONDO and TITLELESS; and I was looking for a proper name at 22dn.

    COD to the audacity of 1dn.

    Business:
    Finally got a response from The Times re my sub — after missing 5 days of puzzles. Updated my card details (that seems to have been the problem). But still no access to the site. Hope it’s all fixed by tomorrow when I have to blog.

    1. 14ac: I just whistled the Death March in my best impersonation of a theremin. Very mournful I felt. Now trying Eleanor Rigby at a slow pace.
  2. 19 minutes, helped by having come across SECONDO in a puzzle done recently and having read (parts of) the Aeneid many moons ago, so I didn’t need the hidden. LOI BOLD on a wing and a prayer.
  3. 12:10, a personal best, which I can’t, alas, attribute to any increase in skill, as so many of the clues were so easy (SCOW, WHISTLE, ACHATES, SOLE, …). I got BOLD with the checkers and definition; here’s a clue with the only piece of information I have about cricket, and I blow it.
  4. 20 minutes. I thought I was heading for <15 today but I was held up a little at the end in the NW corner by the old citizen and the Australian bird.

    TELSTAR is pretty topical too as we are only a couple of weeks away from the 50th anniversary of its launch.

    Also vaguely topical, Carlo Goldoni’s play usually translated as ‘Servant of TWO MASTERS’ was revived last year as ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ and is currently running in the West End and on Broadway.

    Edited at 2012-06-19 04:36 am (UTC)

  5. …but that’s quick for me but not a PB (24:31) Congratulations -again- to Kevin! I liked the deceptions contained in Grace, Freud and violinist but COD was 13d. I did laugh at that. One day a setter will surprise us by using the name of another loch (Fyne?). Regarding the Aussie singer, I associate the Bowerbird more with the way it builds its nest with found -often shiny- objects than with singing, although it can be a very good mimic.
    1. As I understand it, the bower is a separate construction from the nest. Cocktail lounge vs bedroom perhaps?
      1. Quite right! My mistake; they build a bower to attract a mate. I couldn’t be bothered with all that effort!
        1. Quite right too! You’d only get a visit from David Attenborough for your troubles. And then you’d probably get edited out…
  6. Bit of a doddle compared with testerday – 9m 45s. Enjoyable romp though.
  8. Yes, a quickie today…

    Didn’t know Tojo, and hadn’t spotted the hidden word at 19ac, but it had to be that. The only other ? was legend=title. Ooh, and wasn’t sure about the ‘But one is not’ in 25ac. Bit wordy.

    A very different puzzle from yesterday’s toughie!

  9. I reckon yesterday’s and today’s crosswords must have accidentally been switched at the editing stage! Rattled through this in under ten minutes, about as fast as I ever get, whereas yesterday’s took me 40 mins..
  10. Agree, a very easy 15 minute canter. I also thought of Grace Archer who burned to death in a barn and was used as spoiler by the BBC to detract from the launch of ITV back in the 1950s. Strange how one remembers these oddities.
  11. A very rare sub 15 minutes for me here. So it must have been easy. Oddly enough, we were talking about TELSTAR in the pub last night. The instrumental, not the satellite. Discussion on what instrument played the theme. Serendipity.
      1. Yes. The chap I was talking to had one in his cellar. His father had given it to him as a birthday present when he was a kid. An early form of sythesiser. According to him it also featured on Del Shannon’s “Runaway”. It might be worth something as a curiosity but it’s “in bits”. I take it that it’s some sort of Telstar anniversary.
      2. I hadn’t come across the word before, but I must have heard a clavioline back in 1953 when I was at boarding school and we were allowed to finish prep early so that we could all gather round the wireless to listen to Journey into Space.
        1. Brings it all back. “Journey into Space”. I can still hear the announcer: “We present – Andrew Faulds as Jet Morgan in “The Red Planet”” I think the sound effects (remember “Air lock opening”?) were some of the early efforts of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. There was a Lenny/Lemmy who was the comedian of the crew. Charles Chilton had something to do with it. I’m wittering. But this show was such a major part of my teenage years. So glad you took me down this branch of memory lane! (I’m still a fan of SF and I think JiS is where it all started) Ann
  13. 15 minutes. Thought EASEL had a very clever clue, and BOWERBIRD raised a smile.

    It was Grace Darling rather than Grace Archer who initially sprang to my mind, but I do recall the tragic attempt to rescue Midnight from the blazing barn.

    Yes, we do remember some odd things: my mental lumber-room is cluttered like a Bowerbird’s bower with all sorts of junk. Some bits of useless information were at one time essential to solving crosswords, but I’m not complaining. Changing styles have generally produced better puzzles from my point of view, as the quotations and obscure authors are not as easily retrieved these days as they might once have been.

    And on the subject of mental clutter, did anyone else think of Chloe when filling in 26?

    1. Crikey – Grace Darling! I didn’t realise quite how old you must be John. Early 1800s lass who helped to rescue sailors from a ship sunk in a storm?
      1. Well, Jimbo, the second Grace I thought of was Grace Bumbry, who is a little more up to date; but as she is thankfully still with us, she is debarred from the crossword.

        It was only after getting nowhere with Grace Kelly (so to speak) and still humming the theme from High Noon, that I realised it must be WG.

        But bringing those Three Graces to mind must make me quite old, I suppose.

  14. A steady solve late morning after 9 holes of golf in the Cheshire sunshine. About twenty minutes with no major holdups other than an initial wrong guess at Goldfinch for 11.

    Got the two unknowns (Achates and Secondo) from wordplay and checkers. FOI Sexy, LOI Bowerbird.

  15. 5 minutes which I think is my PB. After yesterday’s tussle, it was a little odd to just write in solution after solution (like keriothe, I know ACHATES from crosswords) but I did enjoy mself.
    1. Congrats, Sue. But now you’re down to 5 minutes, you’re really going to have to start timing yourself to the nearest second.
  16. 9m. Nice to have an easy one. They’ve been a bit tough of late.
    ACHATES went straight in. A classical education is something I never experienced but a few years of doing crosswords is a good stand-in.
    1. Yes. And I have become something of an authority on Shakespeare, without ever actually reading (or watching) a single play 🙂
  17. Not much to say here, 9 minutes with everything understood for once. Good one for beginners.
  18. 21 minutes, at the wrong time of day, with the wrong kind of virus, and simultaneously watching England cruise to victory without a Rooney in sight.
    Didn’t enter LOWER until I had confirmation: still smarting from yesterday’s, and thinking it can’t be that easy. Likewise SCHOOLCHILDREN.
    Did’t get Legend = TITLE while solving, so entered hopefully.
    Isn’t TOJO mildly offensive WW2 slang? I’m sure there’s someone out there with a mind to report it to the Thought Police.
    CoD to the tidy SCOW.
  19. About 15 minutes, no holdups, LOI was TITLELESS, which seemed a bit weird. SECONDO from the very clear wordplay, everything else OK, and I learned of the painting Freud, with whom I was previously not acquainted. And of course, I simply took the Grace reference on faith, given the definition, and the checking letters. Regards to all.
  20. Yes, very easy (40 minutes, but actually under 30 if you don’t count my LOI, which was BOWER?I?D. I actually had to look it up and was not too unhappy, as I have heard neither of the bird itself nor of the rhyming slang meaning of BIRD). SCOW is indeed tidy, but I also liked NIGHTIE and TWO-MASTERS.
  21. 29 minutes which is quite good for me. FOI Scow and LOI Sexy. COD goes to 1a for its nice surface.Had to look up Tojo though as he was never mentioned in my ‘O’ level history! Didn’t know the Biblical connection in 13d or the Classical connection in 19a but dredged them up from somewhere.
  22. I wondered whether the setter had originally been aiming to work in ‘astern’ rather than the plant, and so went for an Eastern admiral. (I’d also guess the directions are E and NE, btw)

    Edited at 2012-06-20 05:28 am (UTC)

  24. I was too busy to do the whole puzzle on Tuesday but managed to finish it off today, which would be my first completed Times cryptic. Of course, I’m not going to expect every puzzle to be at the difficulty level of this one, but I am relieved to have completed a cryptic at last, and I felt it was long overdue. Thanks for the blogging team here for speeding up my learning.

    Edited at 2012-06-21 05:46 pm (UTC)

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