Times 25204 – There’s a divinity that shapes our ends

29 comments on “Times 25204 – There’s a divinity that shapes our ends”

1. …in the SW for a few minutes at the end. ‘Uriah, ‘serenader’, and ‘Swithin’ gave more trouble than they should have.

   I expect a long debate as to whether ‘Sean’ is ever pronounced like ‘shorn’, and if so, by whom speaking which dialect. Rhotic speakers almost certainly pronounce them differently.

2. 25 minutes with a careless ‘hysterias’. Had ‘speak from the hip’ for quite a while, which didn’t help in that corner.

   For me, as for most speakers of Standard British English, I suspect, Sean and shorn are absolute homophones, once we’ve learned not to pronounce the written word ‘Seen’.

3. I was in PB territory with this one – 17 minutes – with many going in on definition alone. SCAVENGERY was the only unknown – quite appropriate because ‘unknown’ in the clue was needed to get me to the final letter.

   Yes, ulaca, as a boring old RP-speaker SHORN and Sean are as one to me.

   Having as of today been deprived of access to the newspaper I decided to take out a sub and, guess what, I went through the whole process only to be chucked out of the payment system at the final hurdle. Why was I not surprised at that? If anyone doesn’t know about this change, there is a thread about it started by Peter B in the Club’s General forum.

   1. Two have said “absolute homophones”. Here in the US, the man’s name is pronounced as SHAWN (as in PAWN or SAWN, nothing like SHORN, where the ‘R’ is prominent). Do you glide over the ‘R’ when saying SHORN?

      – Vince (who lost his login creds)

      1. Yes, the ‘R’ is completely silent.

         On the subscription, I managed to arrange it by phone and now have access. The question now arises whether I have any need to renew my Crossword Club sub when it expires as it appears I can get all the new puzzles from the online newspaper and the only things I would be missing out on are 1) the archive which I rarely use, and 2) the forums which I can do without as the discussions about clues are more interesting here and the rest of the time they are talking about leader boards etc which I have no interest in. I don’t do the Club Monthly as it has been too hard when I have attempted it. If there’s something I might not have thought of please let me know.

         Edited at 2012-07-02 08:30 am (UTC)

      2. In the UK I suspect that, like me, most people pronounce PAWN and SAWN differently: PAWN as in THORN, SAWN as in WORN. I think quite a few people would rhyme SHORN with WORN rather than THORN. I would describe my own accent as “Romford” – think the snooker player Steve Davis. I rhyme it with THORN, which is probably more common. (In more ways than one?)
         R. Saunders
   2. Thank you for the info, jackkt. As somebody comments on the forum, an email from News Int. would have been nice (instead of the rather blunt mechanism of a redirect to a pay wall).

      Personally, I shan’t be bothering. I shall miss Matthew Parris’ columns but not much else.

4. Wide awake by 7:00 for the puzzle after completing the two weekend puzzles earlier; no Tour de France for me. But I did catch the Tiger Woods/Stevie Wonder golf match this arvo (live at night from the US).

   A classic Monday I thought with — as per Vinyl — a wee bit of trouble in the SW and pondering an -EST word for 12ac.

   Liked the semantic and physical parallels between the two big ones down. Presumably 1dn is what would happen to the gal in 8dn if her limbs were more adhesive than usual.

5. Nice easy-ish one to start the week (just as well after Saturday’s dismal dnf).

   No problem with the homophones, just the spelling (shawn??? for a short while).

   Only unkknowns today were the River USK and URIAH the Hittite, and I didn’t spend time parsing HYSTERICS. Yes, I too thought 12ac was going to finish with -EST.

6. 15 minutes, the only real hold up being SERENADER where I was trying to make sense of the (non-existent) cryptic elements: sweetheart gives you E or WEE or something.
   My father in law was very fond of the story of a Jewish migrant from the stedtls who, on arrival in England, was asked his name. Suspicious of officialdom, he replied “schon vergessen” (I forgot already) and was duly recorded as Sean Ferguson. Other than that, Sean/shorn has been haircut wordplay in my family for years. I’m pretty sure I pronounce both “shawn”.
   Nominate OFFSPRING as the most decent clue of the day, PIANO for least impressive.
7. There’s a typo at 7D Koro – should be INAMORATO

   Easy 15 minutes – golf rained off yet again – but fun to do so no complaints but thought 8D a bit weak

   1. Thanks for keen eyes, Jim. Now corrected.
8. Managed to sneak in just under 10 minutes today. Clearly on the wavelength. URIAH the Hittite the only unknown.
   SHORN and “Sean” certainly sound the same when I say them.
9. Until I checked, I thought that Shaun the Sheep (http://www.shaunthesheep.com) was spelt Sean, so I solved this by following a false lead.
10. 17:15 … I turned the NW corner into an enigma wrapped in a whatever by throwing in a careless OFFENDING at 14, which made NONSTOP ungettable, which made SHORN that much harder …
11. Sub 30 for once at 27.44; a relief after a dismal towel throwing in and hence DNF on Saturday. This was more my standard and some enjoyable moments such as the surface for 15d and 19ac.
12. 10:40 A nice mix of the obvious and the ‘what?’
13. Having lived in Rep. of Ireland for 14 years (if not recently) I know a few Seans, none of whom ever sounded like shorn, more like shawn (as Vince Anon says, rhymes with pawn) or even ‘shaan’ to rhyme with the German ‘bahn’. But it’s an acceptable homonym for the clue I think, if not for the Irish Times crossword (which I can recommend).
    Anyway, nice easy, enjoyable Monday puzzle, the long side clues went in then it flew along in 15 minutes, didn’t know scavengery was a word but in it went anyway.
14. Nothing much to say here, 10 minutes, everything worked out, no quibbles. Fun and sound puzzle, would be a good one to get people interested in cryptics.
15. Shame that the setter (who has clearly heard of Indonesia in 9a) thinks sago is a cereal – it is a starch derived from the pith of the sago palm!
    Regards, Nikki.
    1. Round here it’s a pudding, as in “how do you start a pudding race?”
    2. Any complaints on this need to be addressed to the dictionary compilers rather than to the setter since both Collins and Chambers define SAGO as a cereal.
       1. O come on, the joke wasn’t that bad!
          1. I know the way it looks, but I was replying to anon/Nikki above and your message wasn’t up when I started on it. I enjoyed your joke!
             1. I took it the way you intended, and my offended air was shammed to make the most of the happy proximity. This little corner of the universe is one of my absolute favorite places, and long may it stay that way!
16. I enjoyed this one knowing the story about the saintly archbishop of Winchester who was buried outside the cathdral at his request ( various reasons given as to why). When his remains were later moved inside, the heavens responded with forty days of rain as a protest and didn’t stop until he was relocated. The tale is still known in some parts as a weather forecasting device- ” St Swithin’s Day, if thou doth rain, for forty days it shall remain”.
    Look out for what happens on July 15th. jfr
    1. Might be fun to try some follow up lines to the Swithin doggerel:
       And if the day be dry and hot,
       It’s forty days of sunshine – not!

       If snowy is the day, and drear
       You’re in the southern hemisphere

       I’ll rhyme you so eight years together, dinners and suppers and sleeping hours excepted.

17. A desperate Scorn for the first clue, knowing it was wrong (cut=snub but no Irishman there). Otherwise all in order. Scavengery an odd word (now), not unattractive in itself, but I wish a setter would stick to words that two people in a hundred thousand might actually use.
18. 11:57 for me – so tired that my brain seemed to be barely functioning. Nice puzzle, though.

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