Times 25267 – does 11 from a 26 still leave you 1 down?

Solving time : 14:02 on the club timer, a steady but solid solve. On a first pass through the across answers I only managed three so I thought that it was going to be a tough one. Fared considerably better on the down answers and then managed to fill in the blanks – top right and bottom left first, then the opposite quadrants.

With two X’s and a J appearing quickly, I was on pangram watch, but I think there’s a few letters missing. There’s also some tricky wordplay, but for a change I think I’ve got everything, a massive relief on blog day.

Away we go…

Across
1 ANTIPASTO: A, NT(New Testament, books), 1, PAS and then the other set of books – OT reversed
6 JACOB: AC in JOB – I think this popped up in a Mephisto lately, that Jacob sold his birthright. At least in the mind of this ignoramus he did – it was ESAU – see comments and note from setter below</i>
9 LEG SLIP: GEL reversed and the SLIP. Now if I was a massive pedant, I would say that a cricketer is a batsman, a bowler, a wicket-keeper, an all-rounder (or in my case a no-rounder), but I don’t think boys with bats, pads and boxes dream of playing leg slip
10 our across omission
11 WITHDRAWAL: anagram of (R,A,WIDTH) followed by WAL(l)
12 FOOL: double definition
14 HANOI: H then reversed alternating letters in In Or NeAr
15 GALWAY BAY: ALWAY(s) in G.B. (Great Britain), AY(indeed)
16 DEGREE DAY: D,E (poorer classes) then GREEDY with A(top grade) inside. Not a term I was familiar with, but wordplay clear
18 (c)OFFER
20 BABY: A in B,B(Bees, say), Y
21 BOX SPANNER: or BOX’S PANNER
25 U(certificate), NEAR, TH
26 TROLLOP: sounds like TROLLOPE. As someone whose last name also sounds like another noun, I wonder if he was picked on in school while playing TIG?
27 DETOX: O,TED(chap) reversted, then X(by, think multiplication)
28 REPLY-PAID: REP, then P(soft) in (LADY,I)*
 
Down
1 AG(silver – shiny metal),LOW(blue)
2 TIG,H,TEN: haven’t thought about TIG as a game since the 70s
3 PILE-DRIVER: or PILED RIVER
4 SEPIA: 1 in APES reversed
5 OLD BAILEY: anagram of BOY ALLIED
6 JADE: I didn’t know the HACK definition (a worn-out nag)
7 CAR BOMB: the lead in pencils is made out of CARBON, take the end off it and add MB(doctor)
8 BIT PLAYER: 1 and PT(part) reversed in B,LAYER(film)
13 LABORATORY: A in LAB OR TORY(political dilemma)
14 HIDE,BOUND
15 GODMOTHER: GO(try), then (METHOD)*, R
17 GABFEST: spoonerism of FAB GUEST
19 FENELLA: EN(space) in FELLA
22 our downly omission
23 RAP(knock),ID(passport)
24 CRUX: CRU is the vineyard, and X is the opposite of tick

41 comments on “Times 25267 – does 11 from a 26 still leave you 1 down?”

  1. Held up by all sorts of surface constructions. E.g., CARBO{n} for “lead” (7dn) where one has to find the intervening “graphite” to make it work. And: “after too much” (16ac) = GREEDY. Still don’t understand why WITHDRAWAL is “coming off horse perhaps” (11ac) unless it’s somehow gerundive and to do with scratching.

    NB George: at 15ac you may need “indeed” rather than “always” in the final brackets?

    Why did I like this? No cryptic defs!

  2. I struggled with this without ever being stuck and completed the grid in 64 minutes. Unfortunately, despite not being satisfied with the wordplay at 1d, I didn’t think to look for an alternative answer so I came here with ALLOW instead of AGLOW.

    Mostly very inventive and satisfying clues. I enjoyed it despite making heavy weather.

    Edited at 2012-09-13 12:50 am (UTC)

  3. DNF – sigh, 45 minutes with only 6 clues done. By the looks of it, there was too much cleverness here for me to finish even if I’d persevered.

    I can’t do these puzzles that are mean with pure anagram clues – is 5 down the only one?

      1. Not really. It’s one of those “yeah, I can see what you’re getting at but…” ones.
      2. Crooks? This was my first opportunity to consult my newly acquired Chambers 12th Edition which has a ‘Wordgame Companion’ section including a list of anagram indicators, and indeed ‘crook’ is amongst them. I take the ‘S’ as part of the verb ‘to crook’ here (as in ‘crooks one’s little finger’), rather than a plural, and in that circumstance it seems okay to me.
  4. 34 minutes with quite a few to work out after completion, at which point I was still without the full monty for five (8 and 25 ac, and 7, 8 and 13 dn), so thanks to George for those. Just as well it wasn’t my blogging day, else I’d have been in intensive thinking mode, which is always dangerous for me at 9 in the morning!

    On balance, I rather preferred yesterday’s, but vive la difference.

    Brian Johnson always relished it when the captain brought a leg slip in, as he could then say, ‘There’s [Botham], waiting for a tickle.’

  5. I have SIT UP for the omitted 22 down but don’t get the “Means to deal with corporation maybe”

    Also I invented a SET SPANNER for 21 across which did not help matters.

    Mike O

    1. This is an exercise, I’m told, that improves the quality of your stomach (=corporation in xword speak). I was about to try it once and just about managed to call AA (Athletes Anonymous) in time to avert disaster.

      Edited at 2012-09-13 08:01 am (UTC)

  6. Rare occasion that I do the xwd in the mornings these days. Done with a cup of mcdonalds coffee (which I dont recommend) at the front of one of their new green outlets (seats quite comfy). Altogether completely new experience!

    The puzzle seemed to make out that it had some intricate wordplay in parts without ending up too difficult. I guess that was the sort of self-delusion that makes you think you have solved a corker of a clue when in reality it was probably signposted. ANTIPASTO, WITHDRAWAL, DEGREE DAY are all those sorts of clues.

    Held up for a while by bunging in FLOELLA (I always assume that any unknown two letter word is a printing space!!) and thereupon struggling for the tool. When SPANNER came, FENELLA was obvious, although I would struggle to name anyone, including the example given above. Perhaps there should be an unwritten rule as with the dead people one that girl//boy/man etc should at least appear in the top ??50 names over the last decade (amend number to suit).

    All in all a decent middle of the road grid. No complaints, but then again nothing amazing either.

  7. I was thinking more along the lines of “crook” = “ill”/”sick”. Only in Strine maybe? And an adjective, to boot (firmly?). What do Robert and William say these days?
    1. Following Joe’s comment below I think I was wrong about the verb. I’ve added another thought there.
  8. Hard going here, typified by my last in being the easiest, 10. 50 minutes. Not sure what ‘with’ is doing in 5 if crooks is a verb; and as a noun it seems okkard. Tig brings back postwar memories. I rather like the surprising 13.
    1. Good point. On reflection, maybe it’s not a verb then, and ‘with crooks’ = ‘with turns’ or similar.
  9. 34 minutes, which felt well over par for this one, without offering any suggestion as to where all the time went. I suppose a lot of stretched connections – lead to carbo(n) for example – were partly responsible. It was also one of those that makes you want to know what the reasoning is, retrofitting the wordplay to the solution. ANTIPASTO, BIT PLAYER and WITHDRAWAL took a good while in that respect, and, like McT, I didn’t get how the last was the equivalent of dismounting (ans, it wasn’t).
    Definition stretch of this ilk means that if you think Alumin(i)um is a shiny metal, then ALLOW might somehow mean “like radiator” – only just avoided. FOOL was so easy it was my last in – thinking wrong sort of sweet and “boil” rudely intruding.
    CoD to TROLLOP: careful with the nudge nude stuff guy’s and gals, we’re in danger of becoming as rude as a Tim Moorey Sunday. A Spooner fan, GABFEST was tempting, but I’d venture that only one of the four words involved would ever have been on the great looter’s tips.
    1. Meaning ‘something or someone that radiates’ or is radiant, rather than part of the central heating system, I suspect. Susie P.

  10. 18m. I found this straightforward, and enjoyable.
    I failed to see the well-hidden “after too much” for “greedy”, so thanks for help with that one George.
  11. Best part of an hour in total. It took me 10 minutes to get my first clue, the hidden DON’T at 24d, which turned out to be wrong. After that I struggled all the way round, not helped by never having heard of Fenella as a name (it doesn’t make the top 1000) or tig as a game. Can’t complain though, just beaten on the day by a better setter. So hats off or left on if you prefer. COD to CRUX.
  12. Just scraped in under the hour. I found it a struggle, but in the end I was pleased to finish inside an hour without aids.
    Lots of good clues here I thought, and particularly some very inventive definitions. 11, 21, 22 & 26 were all excellent in this regard.
    I didn’t know the song Galway Bay, but I remembered that the NYPD choir were singing it in The Pogues’ Fairytale of New York.
    Thanks to George for explaining 1a. I coudn’t work out why OT was set. Should have been obvious, really.
  13. About 35 minutes, ending with FOOL. But, alas, I went with FINELLA, with the inch being the small space. I’ve never met a Finella, or a FENELLA either. Upon some checking, I find both listed as girls’ names on some baby-naming site I was led to by Onelook, with the former labeled as Irish and the latter as Celtic. I’m another who was utterly misled by the horse in 11A, thinking it had to do with being a scratch at a racetrack. I would have said the Spoonerism was my COD, until George’s blog title made me 22 and take closer notice. Regards.
  14. It was in fact Esau who did the birthright-selling, not his younger twin Jacob. Apparently they didn’t let on to their old dad – Isaac. Later, with the help of his mum Rebecca, Jacob tricked his dad (on his deathbed) into giving him his blessing as first-born. It’s a peculiar story and in some ways sounds like something out of the Grimm Bros. But, folklore aside, it’s detailed and circumstantial enough to come across as surprisingly plausible.

    For something completely different, here is Alan Bennett’s take on the story in Beyond the Fringe.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOsYN—eGk

    P.S. Nearly forgot – 23 minutes.

    Edited at 2012-09-13 06:17 pm (UTC)

    1. “It was in fact Esau who did the birthright-selling”

      Indeed so, and that is what the clue says (it wouldn’t make sense with the “one” in the active sense)

      The setter (who seriously regrets the lack of cryptic defs today :-))

      1. Apologies – the bible is far from my strong point. I got Jacob from the wordplay and in re-reading the clue for the blog, I remembered the birthright and googled “jacob sold his birthright” which comes up with a bunch of hits. I checked back and it was Esau in the Mephisto as well.

        It would have been funny if there were a bunch of cryptic definitions, as I think mctext, Jimbo and I are the ones who have the lowest tolerance of unoriginal cryptic defs, so back-to-back would have been worth the read.

        Wonder why it took 18 hours to have ESAU pointed out.

    2. Thank you, Olivia, for the link to Alan Bennett. We used to go round declaiming “My Brother Esau is a hairy man… etc”. Lovely to hear it again. Ann
  15. About 40 minutes tonight after spending the day at Hoylake watching round one of the Women’s British Open. An excellent day with lots of sunshine. I found plenty to think about in this puzzle but never got seriously stuck. FOI Sepia and LOI Offer.
  16. A slowish 35 minutes but very enjoyable. I can’t remember playing TIG – where I come from we played TAG which I assume is the same game. I spent some time trying to think of a word TAG*T*N. I shuddered to see GALWAY BAY. IMO a load of sentimental drivel. When I played pub piano it was frequently requested towards the drunken end of the evening, along with “Danny Boy” and “My Way”.
  17. A sluggish 15:07 for me. For some reason I made ridiculously heavy weather of the NW corner: I thought of all the individual elements of the wordplay of 1ac, but then simply failed to put them together; and I then thought of LEG SLIP but failed to spot “set back” = LEG even though I must have seen it many times before. (Sigh!)

    However, I thought this was a most enjoyable puzzle with some splendidly inventive clues.

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