Times 25228 – Going downhill fast

33 comments on “Times 25228 – Going downhill fast”

1. Great puzzle, mostly, with the anagram at 13dn a real stand out. Spent far too long on LAZE and RUSK. For the first, EASE was on the cards. Maybe.

   Au revoir, Mr K.

2. 20 minutes for all bar two (7 and 23), with many going in from the literals, but these two skewered me proper, unable to look past ‘taser’ reversed for the latter and, not knowing the former, unable to get it from the excellent wordplay.

   Fare thee well, Koro. You have large boots to fill.

   Edited at 2012-07-30 04:32 am (UTC)

3. 57 minutes and another quite difficult Monday puzzle but a hugely enjoyable solve and well worth persevering with. Didn’t know ZERO-SUM. OGIVE and ERGOT met before but forgotten. Several outstanding clues with 5dn (my first one in) at the top of the list.

   Sad to see you go, koro. I hope you will continue to contribute to the discussions if time permits.

   1. Thanks, Jack. I should still be able to find the time to do the crossword and comment regularly, though possibly not on a daily basis. At other times, I may be lurking.
4. 22 plus minutes on the club clock, with some time lost by either ham-fisted typing or putting LAYS in for 14 and scratching the theolog part of my brain red raw for what turned out to be Miss Everdene.
   RUSK and OGIVE were brilliant (so long as you know your Gothic churches, I suppose: HEATHENDOM may be struggling and/or apoplectic!), and I gave ACID TEST my CoD only just ahead of these two.
   Thanks to Koro for years of enlightenment, and for today’s heads up on both LUGE and SPEED-DATING, both of which I mistook for (very) dodgy CD’s. On a luge, you thrust yourself downhill fast on your back, so stomach out. SPEED DATING was sadly wasted on me, like a perfect outswinger to a flailing tail-ender, because I saw the answer too soon and shrugged.
5. 
   Sigh of relief to finish with OGIVE (from cryptic, but assumed it had something to do with ogee arches, which I have heard of), only to find that I had sped in with ‘… racing’ at 13dn, having looked no further than ‘in which quickly…’. Shame on me!

   ZERO SUM came up here not so long ago. Or so I thought, when I looked I found it was July last year, which is quite long ago!

   Lots went in without FU (GOSSIP, INSTRUMENT, RUSK etc), so many thanks for those explanations, Koro, and for all the other times you have explained and encouraged.

6. The easiest Monday offering in quite a while, I thought. My first-ever 25-minuter, which almost entitles me to accompany Jimbo on a stroll in the park. Partly the old wavelength thing – it was my sort of wordplay throughout and I happened to know the unusual words, such as OGIVE and ERGOT. ZERO-SUM (19 dn) barely qualified as a cryptic def, IMO, and could have gone unchanged into the Concise. Still, how could this have been anything other than an enjoyable puzzle for me?
7. 16m. Fairly standard stuff I thought. I slowed myself down by carelessly writing in BACS at 1ac, and the unknown ERGOT and unfamiliar OGIVE slowed me down in the NE.
   The Usk is in my Crossword Rivers Database, but its location is not, so I didn’t understand RUSK. And like z8b8d8k 16ac went straight over my head. So thanks to Koro for explaining those, and for this blog, and for all the others.

   Edited at 2012-07-30 01:56 pm (UTC)

8. Just under 35 minutes. The subtlety of 13 had passed me by I’m afraid; it really is a very clever clue.

   Many thanks for all the blogs, koro; I hope we shall still have the pleasure of your contributions as time allows. I’ll wish you well with something positive from BING.

9. Many thanks kororareka.
   Spent the last five minutes of this stuck on 10…till I managed to change ogave to ogive. 28 in all.
   It’s a (very) minor determination of mine never to become acquainted with the Oz Wizard story. To have it linked in a clue with the Rowling phenomenon of artistic mediocrity, just after seeing the latter woof-woofing round the Opening Ceremony, is an extra twist of the knife. Got it from the z of zero-sum. At this rate the Times Crossword may well become the last, and fading, plant left in the desert. How long till it breathes the air of the exhibits of Hirst and Emin? – grumpily and unreasonably, joekobi
10. A tired and hung-over 20 minutes or so today. I thought RUSK might catch a few people out, but it was an easy one for me as it used to flow past the end of my back garden! I also thought the clues for INSTRUMENT and SPEED-DATING were the best of a pretty good bunch.

    I’d just like to add my thanks and best wishes too, and to introduce our new every-other-Monday blogger ulaca, who’ll be taking over from 13th August.

11. A zippy 7:18 for a puzzle which was clearly right up my street, though RUSK went in on a wing and a prayer (I knew there was a place in Wales called Risca, and wondered if it had perhaps updated its name in the same way as Bombay or Peking – thus I had that oh-so-familiar D’oh moment on coming here!)

    Enjoy your blog retirement, Koro.

    1. Actually, Usk and Risca share the same root, “isca”. It means “camp” or something. Risca is part of Newport where the Usk flows into the Bristol channel. It is near the Roman Legionary town of Caerleon (Latin name “Isca Silurum”) I guess the river takes it’s name from the Roman town. There’s also a charming little town called Usk. We used to go mob-handed to Usk every Xmas because the large number of well-patronised pubs made it an ideal venue for charity carol-singing. Happy days! Ann
       1. Do you know of T.S.Eliot’s ‘Landscape’ (one of a series of five, the others ‘New Hampshire’, ‘Virginia’, ‘Rannoch, by Glencoe’, and…’Cape Ann’). – joekobi

          USK
          Do not suddenly break the branch, or
          Hope to find
          The white hart behind the white well.
          Glance aside, not for lance, do not spell
          Old enchantments. Let them sleep.
          ‘Gently dip, but not too deep’,
          Lift your eyes
          Where the roads dip and where the roads rise
          Seek only there
          Where the grey light neets the green air
          The hermit’s chapel, the pilgrim’s prayer.

          1. How lovely. Thanks for this. I did the Four Quartets for A level but hadn’t come across these.
             1. Glad you like it. Just checking I’m back and logged in, proving I’m human.
       2. I thought it meant water, like the Gaelic uisce?
          1. Just googled it. You are right about the water. They say it’s brythonic celtic – which is the other kind of celtic to the one I’m used to. So it’s the same root as “Whisky” (Water of life”?) – there’s a thought! (Welsh for “water” is something like “dwr”)
12. I too would like to join in thanking my Monday co-blogger for his years of service at this establishment. We were both a little nervous when we took over from foggyweb in April of 2009, but now we are both old hands and long-time incumbents.

    As for the puzzle, I didn’t exactly shine as I stumbled through it. It didn’t help that I had ‘adorable’, i.e. ‘a(Dora)ble’ instead of ‘enviable’ for a long time. Straightening that out, I was left with symmetrical blanks at 19 and 23. ‘Bing’ eventually fell, but ‘rusk’ was little more than a guess because I had never heard of the bread and had no idea where Brecon is located.

13. You’ll still be posting the occasional comment I hope.
    20 minutes for me with a pause to sort out 18d where I’d flung in “subside” without stopping to parse. This was a relief after utterly flunking yesterday’s cryptic.
    5d drew a smile – it reminded me of David Cameron’s zingy response to Mitt Romney’s remarks on the London Olympics
14. I haven’t done much in the way of posting for a good old while but felt I must pop in and thank Koro for his sterling efforts and amusingness over the last century or so.

    Like Penfold, I didn’t get 13 either, so you see you have your uses after all. 13:51 for a pretty enjoyable puzzle.

15. So long Koro and thanks for the countless amusing blogs. If Ulaca’s are half as funny as yours then yours will have been twice as funny as his.

    Thanks for explaining 13 which I though was just a weak CD so apologies to the setter for missing the subtlety.

16. 8:48 .. some fun stuff in here. Nice way to start the week.

    I can’t believe it’s been three years, koro. It feels like so much more. No seriously… Thanks for all the entertainment. As you announce your retirement from competitive international blogging, I join the calls for you to follow in the footsteps of the greats and move into the commentary box – it’s less work, the pay’s the same and you never have to explain yourself. You’ve earned the right. Thanks, feller.

17. Nice puzzle but no great sweat

    Sorry to see you go Koro, will miss the humour, insights and view from your window

    Good luck Ulaca

18. Thanks to all who offered their heartfelt appreciation of my blogging oeuvre, and also to Penfold.

    I must say that sotira;s suggestion is tempting. Having just acquired my first Mac in a very long time, I see that it has a built in Speech option which reads the web pages for you, down to the @’s and the …’s. The diction is clear but the delivery a tad robotic, with scarcely any anecdotes of past personal glory and no back story whatsoever. I’m sure I could do just as well, given time.

19. Thanks and best wishes Koro, from a fellow Perth-ite. 23 minutes today, pretty quick by my standards. Tried to take the Aussie theme too far with BACK OF BOURKE, but soon saw that it made no sense.
    I went to a beer festival in Usk once, whilst on a cricket tour. All I remember is an astonishing range of local brews, and the two tallest policemen (bobbies?) I’ve ever seen.
20. Well done Koro, and thanks for lots of entertainment over the years

    I had a little trouble finishing off Ergot and Bing, though I think the former turned up quite recently; I recall a discussion about rye vs barley and wheat.

21. Stared at this online for 10′ with virtually nothing to show for it, decided it was going to be one of those puzzles and switched to pen and paper; surprisingly, I finished the whole thing in 21:30. Took me a while to twig to 24ac and 5d, but with R-S- there wasn’t much choice, and I remembered the Vale of Usk from one of Jane Austen’s juvenilia (never heard of Brecon, thought it was French).
    Thanks for all the blogs, Koro; go-kuroosama, as we say in Japan. I trust we’ll still be hearing from you.
22. As for the puzzle, about 25 minutes, ending by guessing at RUSK. No other real problems, other than never having heard of OGIVE, and I appreciated SPEED DATING.

    As for Koro, the true Wizard of Oz, I’m glad to see you getting the testimonial praise you deserve for your long and arduous service. It reminds me that in the movie, that Wizard gave one of the 3 characters (the Lion, I think) his own testimonial, but yours is truly more deserved. I’d be pleased to buy you a beer, but, well, I’m in NY. So I owe you one. Good luck to ulaca in succeeding, but not replacing you, since that would be so hard to do. Regards to everyone else as well.

23. Maybe. It didn’t sound like Welsh so I thought it was probably Latin. If it means “water” then the place might have been named after the river, rather than the other way round. I’m from the area. All the road signs to Usk town have recently sprouted the Welsh version of the town name. (Brynbuga!- the locals aren’t pleased) I would have thought that if Isca is Welsh in origin they would have retained it in the name. But maybe if it’s Gaelic…
24. I enjoyed this puzzle, especially 12 across. 39 minutes, I thought, but then another 5 realising that the baffling EASE should be LAZE. Doesn’t 15 across more naturally give FACED POKER?
    R. Saunders
    1. The crucial word in “Was opposed to one being inquisitive..” is the “to”, which doesn’t belong to the “was opposed” but is in fact a positional indicator, used in the sense “next to” or “alongside” (as in nose to the grindstone) and like “with”, “by” or “at” is not order specific. That means “was opposed” is being used verbally rather than adjectivally as it is in “was opposed to”. Collins has oppose as a transitive verb “to place opposite or facing”, but you could also be opposed or faced by something with similar meaning.
25. 9:29 for me, making rather heavy weather of a fine puzzle.

    Edited at 2012-07-31 11:45 pm (UTC)

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