Times 25231 – ignore that placeholder!

35 comments on “Times 25231 – ignore that placeholder!”

1. 12’28” with the obligatory typo: includes time checking that I don’t have any typos.
   This one was very nearly a straight run through, with minor hold-ups at MICROWAVE, GORSE (it’s a plant, after all) and CHEESE. Sadly, in the last, my first instinct was Plasticine Man, but obviously the answer wasn’t Grommit, Wendoline or Wensleydale. Maven I had heard of in the context of the expert opponent in a computerised word game, and GORSE I got from the crossing letters before remembering the Welsh bit – possibly the only clue in the puzzle needing some relatively arcane knowledge and some neat cryptic trickery.
   I wondered if defining ANTIMATTER as “rarer stuff” was accurate, but rapidly discovered on investigation that it’s either balanced in equal quantity with matter or it really is scarce, and nobody knows which – yet. Scotty always seems to have some.
2. 21:01, the last 3 or 4 clues (19d, 23d, 29ac) taking excruciatingly long to twig to. DK Gorsedd, but my lack of botanical knowledge stood me in good stead here, since I could think of nothing but GORSE. Put in ‘pinto’ for the horse, even though I knew it wasn’t specifically a draught-horse; somehow (no doubt thanks to an earlier cryptic) remembered PUNCH, if ‘remembered’ is the right word; I imagine a number of us Murcans wouldn’t have recognized this as a dd. Slowed down at 19d partly because I thought (think) HOTLINE is two words. And I wasted a lot of time at 29ac trying to remember what I knew about Robert the Bruce. Some rather infelicitous surfaces: A stiffly formal plant? Our united vigour is dismal? Time concerning in swimmer? 17d; ‘maven’ is about as American as ‘shtum’ is British–they’re both Yiddish.

   Edited at 2012-08-06 10:24 pm (UTC)

3. Happy to break the 10:00 but not so much with the puzzle.
   There are bad clues because they’re obvious (CASH IN) and bad clues because they’re obscure (GORSE).
   1. … and there are bad clues because they are obscure and foreign (estancia – Spanish; maven – Yiddish) and because they are obscure, foreign and use an extinct language (cassava – Taino). I don’t see a problem of using a British language in a British newspaper.
4. 28 minutes, finishing with HOTLINE – a well-disguised anagram and my COD. Held up a little at 29, as I am not overly familiar with W&G. I learned what a PUNCH was almost 30 years ago when I won the Radio Mercury phone-in quiz with a record number of correct answers (20 something). ‘What’s a Suffolk Punch?’ was the one that stopped me in my tracks and the only question I can now recall.

   Despite singing in a Welsh choir and humming along at various leak-eating ceremonies, I had never heard of gorsedd, ‘though at least I know to pronounce it with a ‘th’ at the end.

   Am I the only person who can’t quite parse the omitted, hidden down?

   1. I assumed it was vEGGies; and I assumed that that was because some, but not all, vegetarians permit themselves to eat eggs. But mainly I assumed that EGG was better than ERG.
      1. Ah, an @lit, perhaps?
   2. If you were of a certain generation you might have said that a Suffolk Punch was a brand of lawn-mower.

      Derek

      1. Was that an ATCO brand? My dad never let any of us near his beloved mower.

         I, of course, said it was a drink – Occam’s Razor and all that.

5. Another 20 minute easy one but again with a relatively high obscurity count and one shocker – the very misleading padding “from” in 27D. I thought about TO-E, London being diretly east of Bath until checkers made TUB(e) the only real possibility. It was my last in.

   Got GORSE from the “plant” and reasoning that DD was a likely Welsh ending – then vaguely remembered the Druids and all.

   I thought 29A was good, well constructed and contemporary arts rather than the 2,000 year old stuff. But then beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

   1. Yes, I also thought of TOE using the same logic.”London train not going all the way to Bath” might have made more sense in terms of wordplay.

      Edited at 2012-08-02 08:04 am (UTC)

6. 30 minutes exactly with several either unknown or forgotten that went in from wordplay and/or checkers: CASSAVA,MELANESIA, ESTANCIA, MAVEN, ANTIMATTER, GORSE. CHEESE from wordplay without understanding the reference.

   Not sure that the use of “from” in 27 is strictly fair or accurate.

   Edited at 2012-08-02 05:58 am (UTC)

7. Another easy one, the third or fourth in a row. As soon as I saw “Wallace’s favourite” I thought, “Gromit?” and it turned out I was in the right area.. I thought 25dn was a good clue.. but one person’s clever is another’s obscure

   Edited at 2012-08-02 07:55 am (UTC)

8. Quick top half then much slower for 24 minutes overall. Didn’t know manioc, gorsedd, maven or anything about the Gromit Wallace. Also wasn’t helped by popping in popshot which held up the simple irrigation for some time. I find ‘from’ in 27 a reasonable piece of misdirection, ‘out of this word’. Odd to see the sporty superb owl so soon after its last appearance.
9. Oh- THAT Wallace – I was thinking of Mel Gibson in The Wrong Trousers . . .
10. Just over a quarter of an hour. Never heard of maven, but did know gorsedd, because I used to work for a Welsh boss who was very proud of his heritage and called one committee by this name.

    Years ago, some wag recited the clues from a Times crossword as though it were a poem; I thought today’s down clues could be read as such, given the appropriate expression.

    EGG. Am I right in thinking that the sign made with thumb and forefinger to indicate OK (by scuba divers, say) is called an egg?

    Edited at 2012-08-02 08:46 am (UTC)

    1. Sent in for a competition, with a suitable title, they might well win. I offer Verbarium.
    2. I’d always believed, perhaps erroneously, that this was called the high sign. My source is Len Deighton’s early novels (written early 1960s) where it came across as a cool Americanism.

       Rob

11. First time I’ve been able to tackle the crossword in the morning for ages (the builders have almost finished and aren’t about today). Gentle sub-20 minute excercise, with obscurities relatively easy to work out from wordplay.
12. 13m. Another straightforward one. We seem to be having a very easy run at the moment.
    I didn’t understand the ommitted EGG, so thanks to kevingregg for explaining that one.
    Deriving obscure words from clear wordplay is very satisfying. It’s less fun the other way round: as far as I was concerned the clue for 25dn might as well have been “plant”.
    1. Hear, hear!
13. Something I learned by accident that might help us non-UK bloggers – if you post the article, and then change the time to the next day after it’s posted, it doesn’t go in the “scheduled” queue.

    Once a post is in the “scheduled” clue, I don’t see an easy way to edit it if you log out and come back in later. So thanks to whoever deleted my original placeholder.

14. 30/31 today, stumped by Breather. Was on the wrong track in thinking that clue broke down as Recovery = T + Re in swimmer, and couldn’t think of a fish that fitted.

    Gorse, Estancia and Balsa from wordplay.

    Solved most of this early today at the garage where my car’s in for a faulty ABS sensor to be replaced. The independent garage charged a much more sensible price than the eye watering sum the local dealership wanted.

15. 
    Easy one for me too, today, with relatively few unknowns. MAVEN and GORSEDD were not too troublesome, but the one I took a (lucky) punt on was MELANESIA. Could just as well have been ‘malenesia’ as far as I was concerned…hate those types of clues!
16. No recorded time due to an interruption but relatively straightforward despite being unfamiliar with Melanesia (can you get a melawave oven?) Gorsedd, estancia, maven and manioc.

    I enjoyed the Gromit clue.

    For Sotira’s peace of mind I just wanted to confirm that everything is organised for the annual Penfold family grand tour starting on Sunday.

    Erasable pen – CHECK
    Crossword book – CHECK
    Battle of Britain beach towel – CHECK
    Jeeves & Wooster omnibus – CHECK
    Union Jack mankini – CHECK
    Gentleman’s relish – CHECK
    Selection of panama hats, boaters and knotted handkerchiefs – CHECK
    Performance sandals – CHECK
    Stick-on sideburns – CHECK

    This year we’ve pre-booked the stilton and Dundee cake on t’internet and will be picking them up from the foreign currency desk at the airport.

    Edited at 2012-08-02 12:04 pm (UTC)

    1. That’s certainly a relief. I had set aside a little time in case I was needed to pop round chez Penfold and sit on a suitcase.

       It’s such a shame that these days a chap can’t include his trusty hand gun among his necessaries, but I imagine a swift whack with the Wodehouse will sort out any uppity locals. Come to think of it, the sight of the mankini, the sideburns and your gentleman’s relish will likely suffice. That sort know an English gentleman when they see one.

       Good luck, old chap. You’ll find a large glass of the good brandy set aside at The Travellers Club on your return.

17. …only I had never heard of ‘Gorsedd’. Even ‘estancia’ was vaguely familiar.

18. A good week so far or a bad one, depending on ones definition of over easy. Stumped today only by references to MAVEN. Was this an on-line clue solution?

    Enigma

19. Through in 15 minutes, despite not knowing of the Gorsedd, and not getting the W&G reference at 29a. LOI was TUB, needing the checking letters to understand it. COD to HOTLINE, although I, as was mentioned above, tend to think it’s two words. Oh, I don’t know what a PRIMULA is, either, and perhaps I’m not alone, but the wordplay was so clear that I almost forgot to mention it. Regards.
    1. I knew this one only because Primula is the name of a female Baggins.
       1. Round at my T**co’s it’s a sort of cream cheese, often in tubes. Wallace wouldn’t think much to it.
          1. I had a girlfriend once called Primula, a fact of which I’m inordinately proud.
20. Untimed but over 30 with a little frustration at my slowness to spot obvious answers like CASH IN. But enjoyable for me with gettable and guessable unknowns in clues and answers. I liked the clever simplicity of BREATHER, my COD. Off to the proms now for JSB’s B Minor mass which I have never seen performed before. Exciting!
21. Didn’t remember MAVEN but knew GORSEDD. I’ve got a few friends in it. Apparently it’s divided, like Gaul, into 3 parts. In ascending order of Welsh artiness: the blue, the green and the white – named after the colour of the “druidic” robes. (There actually an exam for the blue and the green but the white is honorary) Wellington boots are usually an obligatory part of the costume. The full panoply can be seen annually at the Welsh National Eisteddfod. It’s a bit late to comment but I’ve been out all day. 24 minutes. Ann
22. 5:58 and another clean sweep – I expect tomorrow’s will be an absolute stinker!

    Slight hold-ups on EGG (before I spotted the &lit variant), GORSE (fortunately the G was just enough to jog my memory) and CHEESE (Edgar coming to mind before Gromit’s chum), but reasonably plain sailing otherwise. So: no problems, no complaints (apart from the need for a quick spray of glyceryl trinitrate after all the excitement).

    Edited at 2012-08-02 09:55 pm (UTC)

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