Times 25291 – placeholder no longer

Greetings blogophiles. An opportunity came up tonight I couldn’t refuse and so the regular crossword writeup is going to be a few hours late (I anticipate around noon UK time). So have at it in comments. and I’ll be back soon to try to make sense of things.

And we’re back – I tried solving this late last night but my state wouldn’t allow it – came back in the morning to polish things off in relatively quick time. Still not sure about 2 down, hopefully something will come while I write this up.

Some inventive clues here and maybe a debut for 12 down?

Away we go

Across
1 PROMETHEUS: PRO(for) then THE U.S.(America) after ME
7 ROOM: Remove the top letter from GROOM
9 LANDLINE: LAND(to get), LINE(job) – haven’t had one of those since 2004, don’t miss it at all
10 TEMPER: TEE(support),R surrounding MP
11 STAGER: last letters in thE caretakeR after STAG
13 THINNESS: INN inside THE S.S.
14 HOME STRAIGHT: anagram of (HORSE,THAT,IM) and the last letter of ridinG
17 TENNIS PLAYER: (d)ISPLAY in TENNER
20 BALMORAL: LAB(party) reversed then MORAL
21 FIESTA: FIE! then ST(pious sort),A
22 our across omission
23 COOKWARE: (A,WOK)* in CORE(essential)
25 MESS: double def
26 ENTERPRISE: ENTER(board) and then a RISE of 1 P (wonder if the setter works for the State of North Carolina too?)
 
Down
2 REACTION: I think this is CREATION(world) with the C moved down a few places?
3 MAD: D under the center of xMAs
4 TRIER: TRIGGER without the G’s(goods)
5 ELECTRA: LECT(ures) inside ERA
6 SETTING,UP
7 REMONSTRATE: RE, then N inside MOST(maximium),RATE(speed)
8 ODESSA: hidden reversed in pASSED Out
12 GUESTIMATES: I’M ATE surrounded by GUESTS – it’s in Chambers, not sure why
15 our down omission (though I put in BRIDGETON first)
16 GESTURES: sounds like JEST, then RE in US
18 ILL,1,CIT(y)
19 SAVAGE: AG(silver) in SAVE(husband)
21 FLOUR: sounds like FLOWER
24 WAR(d)

41 comments on “Times 25291 – placeholder no longer”

  1. 16:11 .. all great fun, especially in the surfaces department. Short clues, too. Hurrah!

    I liked the big rodent, and RACKETEER has an old-style Times pun feel to it. Why don’t tennis players have nicknames, like Roger ‘The Racketeer’ Federer? Or do they?

    1. Does “Superbrat” count? (John McEnroe). Several have been labelled “The Magician” over the years. Rod Laver was “The Rocket”.

      Edited at 2012-10-11 09:03 am (UTC)

  2. 20 minutes and a much smoother ride than yesterday’s. “Home straight” was very nicely done. I did briefly wonder if the setter meant to have “baking” rather than “making” in 21d, but then realized that would make the clue too obvious.
  3. 23m. I really enjoyed most of this, but the experience was a bit spoiled for me by 16dn, which was my last in and took ages. I don’t often complain about DBE but this one added about five minutes to my time, so obviously it was disgraceful.
    Otherwise lots of very fine clues and some excellent surfaces.
  4. All correct today – finished over lunchtime after solving seven at breakfast. FOI Landline, LOI Enterprise. 21 Flour reminded me of the Great British Bake Off. Will the winner of next week’s final be Brendan or James or John I wonder…?

    We had Prometheus and Electra today and Andromache not long ago. If I was competing in the Finals next week I’d be reading the mythology lists in Bradford’s!

  5. Jumps for joy twice in one week! That’s a rarity but this one took me only 21 minutes.

    Not sure I have met WANT AD before but the anagrist sealed the deal. Took ages parsing BALMORAL thinking BALL was the party in question. Fortunately I knew the play “Prometheus Bound” so 1ac went straight in.

  6. 13:55 – looking at Sotira’s Olivia’s and Keriothe’s times that looks pretty quick so I’m pleased with that. LOI was 19 which I had to go through the alphabet to get.

    My lowbrow musical knowledge helped with 22: Sheryl Crow’s 1994 top 5 smash “All I Wanna Do” contains the line “the bartender looks up from his want ads”.

  7. Nothing too difficult here – 25 minutes with a hang up parsing 2D. I also agree with your version George

    Never seen WANT,AD before – only ever “wanted”. Pity about the DBE at 18D. We do seem to be getting a basin load of mythology at the moment!

  8. P.S. Don’t know if it’s just me but there seems to be a bunch of extraneous stuff cluttering up this site today making it slow to load.
  9. I’ve managed each of the last three puzzles in under half an hour, with most of the answers going in from the definitions or because they just seemed correct, and the parsing following later. Perhaps there two kinds of crossword solvers: the analytical types and the “leap in the dark” types: I think I must tend to the latter.

    WANT AD This is a familiar term to me, so I’m guessing it used to appear in the local newspaper. I don’t think I remember it from this song, which recalls the days of ridiculous trousers and big hair.

    1. I suggest you keep well clear of Mephisto,John – very much a puzzle for the analytical types
    2. I must be schizophrenic then, John, because I do both, often in the same puzzle. We’ve had three days now with quite short clues – Tuesday’s being quite extreme in this sense – and I think that makes a difference because there’s less room to hide the definition giving more opportunity to spot it right away and leap in with an inspired thought.

      Edited at 2012-10-11 02:25 pm (UTC)

      1. I’m sure you’re right, Jack: people seldom fit neatly into mutually exclusive categories, no matter what Tuco might think!

        Benchley’s Law of Distinction, however, might support Tuco’s view:

        There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don’t.

    3. A sugar high from Motown. Thanks John! Site access back to normal, probably a hiccup my end.
  10. 41.15 here with 2d and 16d accounting for about 10 of those. Enjoyable and as said some nice surfaces. Couldn’t parse 20a so thanks for blog.
  11. 20 minutes, with a slight doubt as to job=line (I can only think of “What line are you in?” which I suppose just about does it). Familiar enough with the Want Ad, I would guess from local rags, as John from Lancs, whose musical taste today surprises me. Had to cut the cacophony short. Is cookware really a word? Liked the racketeer.
      1. I am, not to speak of the forties, and recall the show now you mention it. But it’s a grim thought that it takes a programme to place one in a time. I suppose “line [of work}” cuts it for the clue.
  12. Another good puzzle, completed in 45 minutes, LoI GESTURES, nothing here we didn’t know, for a change. Could someone please remind me what DBE means?
    1. Definition By Example. Frowned on by some here. I used to be very anti but I try to ignore them now as long as the setter acknowledges what he’s done by including a question mark or some other indication.
      1. Well exactly Jack, and it would also garble the surface of the clue – as I failed to mention in an earlier comment in this thread (which Anonymous evidently hadn’t read).
  13. 8:30 here for a most enjoyable puzzle. I’m relieved that this wasn’t a complete disaster, as I’m sleeping badly post-op and feeling completely washed out – but, with the Championship looming, I felt I really had to get going again.
  14. 17 min 53 secs with one wrong.

    In my haste to achieve a fast time I entered “Jestures” instead of Gestures.

    The phrase “more haste and less speed” has never made great sense to me. Perhaps I should have written, “While speeding, in an attempt to achieve a fast time, I entered “Jestures” instead of Gestures. I should have used more haste and less speed.”

    It’s a bit clumsy though. Sounds like a police report!

    (If my musing in this way is considered inappropriate for this blog please can one of the regulars/moderators let me know. Still finding my way with the blog’s etiquette.)

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