Solving time: 49:58
I probably could have done this quicker had I done it during the day, rather than the middle of the night. As it was I had to abandon the actual writing of the blog in favour of sleep. So I got up a little earlier to write the blog before work.
Several quite neat clues here, but nothing overly taxing. 7d might have stumped me for a little longer, had I not seen the exact same technique just a handful of blogs ago. One or two words I didn’t know, but nothing I couldn’t deduce. That said, I still don’t fully understand 19a. I think 25a was my COD for its natural surface.
cd = cryptic def., dd = double def., rev = reversal, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as (–)*, and removals like this
Across | |
---|---|
1 | HADRIAN’S WALL = (DARWIN HAS)* + ALL |
8 | OP + AL(IN)E |
9 |
|
11 | HOSANNA = H (hot) + N/N (news) in OS (old style) + AA (boozers) |
12 | H(O)ARDER |
13 | NO + TED – No for a Japanese drama, and Ted for a delinquent youth are both fairly chestnutty. And yes, Jimbo, we know that not all Teddy Boys were delinquents. |
14 | DI(ABLER + I)E – Not a word I knew, but similar enough to diabolic to take a guess at |
16 | DESERT RAT = (RESTARTED)* – Neat anagram |
19 | NEHRU – I got this one from the definition ‘popular Indian’ and the checkers, but I still don’t understand the ‘original chicken counter’ reference. I’m not particularly familiar with early twentieth century Indian politics, so there may be some incident when Nehru famously ‘counted his chickens’ as it were. Or I may be missing something more fundamental. There’s a reversed HEN in there but I don’t think that’s relevant. Ah, but it is – see mctext’s comment immediately following |
21 | IMP + ENDS |
23 | SCOURER = SCR (Senior Common Room) about (OU + RE) – I had to look up SCR post-solve, but the rest was clear enough. |
24 | GEHENNA = G |
25 | REALISE = (ISRAEL |
26 | ECHO + CHAMBERS |
Down | |
1 | HEAD + SET |
2 | DE |
3 | ICELANDER = (CINDEREL |
4 | NEAT + H |
5 | W + ASSAIL – I knew this was an old-fashioned verb for drinking and making merry, so it was a small leap to the actual drink being consumed. |
6 | LA + UNDER – ‘to address the filth in lucre’ is the definition, as in money-laundering |
7 | NOTHING DOING – This NIX/ON idea cropped up only a few Fridays ago, in 25196 (22nd June), which I also blogged, so I remembered it from there. |
10 | THREE-QUARTER = RE (soldiers) in THE + QUARTER (area of town) – It took me a while to work out the definition ‘Back’. A three-quarter is one of the backs in a rugby team. |
15 | ANTISERUM = (U + MAN TRIES)* – I’m not convinced about ‘bloody stuff’ as a definition. An antiserum is a serum containing antibodies. I’m no biologist, but does that make it necessarily ‘bloody’? |
17 | SA + P/P + HIC |
18 | RAN INTO = IN (at work) after RAN (managed) then TO |
19 | NEONATE – hidden |
20 | HARRI(E)S – A reference to the notorious Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris |
11ac: OS for “old style” was new to me and seems to have to do with the Julian Calendar.
14ac: also a new term. But the wordplay gets it. Spent a while trying to work out whether DIABOLISE was a word and whether it could be made to work.
26ac: COD for humour.
24a guessed GEHANNA, ANNA and ANNE both women so 50/50 chance
14a ABLER means more competent for me, not more powerful; so unable to synthesise the unknown DIABLERIE (which while unknown is easily recognisable and potentially guessable given an accurate clue, which we weren’t).
19a NEHRU a guess from the definition, UR- unknown prefix.
I’m just ratty as a DNF, a gap at 14a and a mistake at 24a.
Rob
Two biblicals and two WW2 references today – that should cheer a few people up!
I didn’t fully get HOSANNA as I didn’t break down the O(ld) S(tyle) boozers, expecting dated term for a hostelry, perhaps. To call AA boozers is perhaps ungracious, as they are at least trying to stop.
Given that we now have a national memorial to Bomber Command, perhaps we can also be more gracious to Arthur Harris than “notorious”, though I suppose it still depends on whether you were a resident of Dresden at the time.
DIABLERIE worked out from cryptic: there are probably lots more variations on this theme out there.
CoD to the politically dangerous REALISE, for its wonderfully smooth and misleading surface. NEHRU was good too – I keep trying to get UR accepted by online word games, but they’ll have none of it. Does anyone know if this German prefix is linked to our favourite ancient city?
Yes, mct, DIABOLISE does exist (also with Z) and that was the nearest I could get without resort to aids. I remember meeting GEHENNA previously but had no idea what it meant so I wasn’t going to get that either.
At 11ac, I thought the whole idea of AA was that its members are reformed and therefore NOT boozers.
The Oxfords recognise Jim’s point, which I support, about the yobbo definition of teddy boys, but unfortunately Collins does not, so it’s valid for Times crossword purposes and we are stuck with it turning up from time to time.
Edited at 2012-08-03 07:52 am (UTC)
COD to REALISE for raising a smile from the Israeli-Palestine conflict, not to mention a smashing surface. 45 minutes.
Yes, we are stuck with the incorrect “delinquent” and “ted” but not mentioning it is to fulfill Bagehot’s prophesy in a minor way.
Thank you setter and nice one Dave
Mind you, he’s such a rich source you can often just drop his name and get people nodding wisely who don’t have a clue what you’re on about. I guess the one about good men standing aside and doing nothing might also fit?
Talking of Google, can anyone confirm (I do hope so) the story that’s going around that during the Olympic opening ceremony, one of America’s NBC presenting team said, at the moment Tim Berners-Lee was revealed typing away at a computer: “Don’t know who this Berners-Lee guy is. Maybe one of the team can Google him.” And he wasn’t joking. Please say it’s true.
Several I couldn’t parse even after solving, so thanks for all the explanations. I don’t remember seeing “ur” before, for instance.
25ac is a very good clue, and thankfully controversial only to those who would deny the existence of such a thing as “Israeli ground” or “Palestine”. Such people do exist of course but I don’t think we need worry about them here.
Unfortunately I messed it up for myself by putting in GEHANNA. I could complain that this is ambiguous wordplay for an obscure word, but the instruction to reverse the woman’s name is clear and ANNA doesn’t need reversing. This even occurred to me at the time: I should have thought about it more.
Edited at 2012-08-03 10:08 am (UTC)
GEHENNA. Iāve been rummaging about unsuccessfully trying to find a little book written in the late 60s or early 70s by a scientist whose name I forget. (Iām not being very helpful am I? But bear with me.) He was arguing that scientific advances in Britain, unlike those in many other countries, are rooted in the inspired work of solitary geniuses rather than teams. The theme for his text was the quotation from Kipling:
Down to Gehenna or up to the Throne,
He travels the fastest who travels alone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur-Hamlet
Edited at 2012-08-03 02:48 pm (UTC)
I liked the puzzle, three were a lot of clever clues. I did understand Senior Common Room and the ur-hen. It was only the nix-on and hosanna clues that I had to put in from the literals only.
Edited at 2012-08-03 04:55 pm (UTC)
JBC
So far as poor old Arthur Harris is concerned, I think it is very difficult for those of us who were not there at the time to understand. My father, who was there, said the entire country was behind him at the time, and his efforts on our behalf, and all in bomber command. We were under threat of invasion and death. He thought it was a lasting shame on Britain that his efforts weren’t properly recognised.
Looking back, we may take a different view. But we haven’t been in a world war or fought for our lives as my father had to.
Got Hosanna from checkers and definition and Gehenna from checkers and wordplay.
Thank you setter and well blogged Dave.