Times 25,360

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Updated update. Live Journal has been playing silly buggers all morning, so I have (eventually) published this blog in instalments, with a lot of refreshing and re-trying and re-typing. As a result, it’s a little more slimline than normal, but I will happily expand on any solutions if requested. However, as it’s a holiday in most territories, I suspect traffic will be limited to start with, and I think it’s questionable how many of that number will be able to post comments or queries at all, so we shall see…

17:53 on the Club timer. There is some quite tough material here, if you ask me, especially 16 down, which I stared at, even with more than half the letters checked, for quite some time. Anyway, a satisfyingly challenging start to the year; happy 2013 to one and all!

Across
1 CITY CENTRE – HE is the centre of mancHEster.
6 IDEA – Eton in IDA.
10 CABARET – BARE in CAT.
11 LEOPOLD =”LEO POLLED”.
12 STIMULANT (ALUM)rev in STINT.
13 IDIOM – bIrD + I.O.M.
14 ACERS – Right in ACES.
15 ENDORPHIN – ENDOMORPH -MO +IN.
17 BAS RELIEF – A in (BELFRIES)*.
20 HOTEL – the NATO alphabet includes the sequence Golf, HOTEL, India.
21 TACIT – I(“upright character”) in TACT.
23 LIE IN WAIT – LIE IN(“leave your pit later”) + WAIT (“hold your horses”).
25 ORATORY – RA in Old TORY.
26 MAH JONG – AMAH + New in JOG.
27 SOLE =”SOUL”.
28 ORANG UTANS – jasoN in (ARGONAUTS)*.
 
Down
1 COCKS =”COX”.
2 TUBBINESS – (BUT)rev. + BUSINESS disposing of US.
3 CIRCUMSPECTION – (COPSINCRIMECUT)*.
4 NUTCASE – (TUN)* + CASE.
5 RELATED – double def.
7 DHOTI – HOT in D.I.
8 ABDOMINAL – (ABOLDMANI)*.
9 HOLIER THAN THOU – HOLI + (THENAUTHOR)*. I wasn’t familiar with the Hindu Spring festival of HOLI, but didn’t need to be.
14 ALBATROSS – A Large BAT ROSS.
16 HATHA YOGA – HATH(old-fashioned “has”) + (GOYA)rev. + A.
18 INLAYER – IN(“admitted”) + London + AYER.
19 FREEMAN – (MERE)* in FAN.
22 CRAWL – CRAW + Left.
24 TAGUS – TA(“that’s appreciated”) + Good + U.S.

22 comments on “Times 25,360”

  1. On the whole I thought this fairly easy, but I was held up for ages because I’d initially entered TOWN CENTRE for 1a, completely scuppering my chances of getting 1d and 2d.

    I strongly disapprove of 10a, which is cryptically nonsense. “Whip-round” for TAC is pretty dubious in my view, but as a container indicator it’s going too far.

    1. 35 minutes, with the last 10 on the 15/16 crossing. Didn’t know any of the three Indian references and grateful to Topical for the parsing of three acrosses (1, 12, 15). Enjoyable puzzle.
    2. I don’t understand your objection, dyste, BARE (Spartan) with CAT (whip) (a)round it? It’s not even stretching things a tiny bit in my book.
    3. Totally disagree. You are going to have a hard year indeed, if you genuinely see that as a bad clue!
      It’s not too late to make a resolution 😉
      1. I didn’t think I’d have to spell it out, but obviously I do. The clue does not say “whip round” The hyphen mucks up the cryptic syntax. Try submitting that clue to The Listener Crossword or EV and see what response you get. I also know of at least one Times setter who strongly objects to that sort of clue.

        Having objections to certain non-Ximenean clues seems to raise hackles on this site, but I’m not alone in my views and see no reason for a New Year’s Resolution to change.

        1. The only hackles raised seem to be yours. I only said I disagreed, (which I still do), not that you are wrong.
          Happy New Year anyway… the sympathetic note I tried but apparently failed to strike still seems relevant.
        2. Judging from others’ comments (though admittedly on a low turnout thanks to LJ’s problems), you appear to be very much alone today. I simply don’t accept your argument about the hyphen, particularly since “whip-round” is immediately followed by a question mark.
  2. 19 minutes so clocked in just after Tim on the club timer. Thanks much for the blog. Am I missing something? I don’t see anything amiss with 10a, cat=whip surrounding bare=spartan. Did a lot of ex post facto parsing on this and would never have twigged “alum” but luckily the answer was obvious. We had “hotel” in that connection from Anax in early December so it was fresh in mind.
  3. Didn’t know HATHA YOGA or HOLI but otherwise this was quite straightforward and I needed only a minute or two over the half hour. I also wasted time on TOWN CENTRE.

    Edited at 2013-01-01 02:18 pm (UTC)

  4. Didn’t time it but for those who start with the downs this could be a flyer – every down cluw but 16 and 18 went in on a first read. The yoga went in from wordplay and I was expecting to learn of the existence of hytha-yoga or the like
  5. I thought this one quite enjoyable and straightforward. The only thing bugging me today is – once again – Livejournal.
    I’m afraid I see this site as not only unreliable, but also untrustworthy. I don’t like the way it keeps operating after the page is loaded and I’m afraid I may not be coming here much in future. i’m sure Russians are good at lots of things but they can’t run a decent public website
  6. 29 minutes, hatha yoga new to me. Holi is a delightful festival or rite of branding family and friends – or anyone within reach – with coloured powders to celebrate Spring. I was also unaware of bush-whackers as guerilla fighters. Or what a double sulphate was come to that. Having begun the year with a sub-thirty I’ll see how long it lasts.
  7. 42 minutes. Not the best morning for crosswords after a lively New Year’s Eve at my local. I wasted loads of time on 19d where the “supporter” in the clue triggered a knee-jerk reaction. Maybe I was also subconsciously influenced my the Indian theme. Anyway, I stuck with BRAHMIN for far too long. I even tried to make the anagram at 17a end with a B. It was only the obvious 23a that forced a rethink. I enjoyed this puzzle and can’t see anything wrong with it. Unlike Live Journal… Happy New Year to you all. Ann
  8. Just managed to get a window in LJ to post at this late hour. (Crossing fingers that it will hold for my blog later.)

    Quite a few clues took a bit of seeing: esp 12ac which made no sense at all at first sight. How many actually recognised ALUM in “double sulphate” I wonder? “Time worked” for STINT was good though. Couldn’t see the HE in “Manchester” … why? (Shaln’t mention Scunthorpe.)

    As for HOLI, didn’t need to think of it once there was a U at the end of a 6-4-4 answer.

  9. 14:42 here, only just got round to solving it at this late hour. If I’d tried this morning I’d have had to add an hour to that! Didn’t understand how 12ac or 15ac worked when solving, and took ages to see how 1ac worked too, so my head still hasn’t completely cleared.
  10. Managed to wake up LiveJournal at last!

    8:40 here for a nice straightforward start to the year. (Heaven only knows what dyste is whingeing about with 10ac (CABARET). As jerrywh says, he could be in for a hard year!)

    1. I find your use of “whingeing” objectionable. If one cannot criticise a clue without inviting personal abuse it’s pretty depressing.
      1. You seem to be a fairly experienced solver. You should have realised by now that the Times crossword does not in general adhere to strict Ximenean purity, and, in the view of many, is none the worse for it. Speaking personally, I find depressing your going on like that (“strongly disapprove”, “cryptically nonsense”), about a clue which Ximenes himself would probably have done no more than raise an eyebrow over. I’ve no objection to people criticising clues in a modest and informed way, but your response went beyond the pale.
      2. Dyste’s analysis of the weakness of the clue is spot-on and couldn’t have been more clearly expressed. What makes it whingeing is beyond me. Whether one minds all that much in this instance is another matter – as it happens I don’t. Sorry, can’t be bothered to log on with all the current problems. malcj
  11. 16:55. Had a spot of trouble getting on here yesterday, but (knock wood) nothing like what some have complained about. For what it’s worth, I marked 10ac as my COD (that and 15ac). And I actually knew of HATHA YOGA, although not HOLI. (I once checked out a book on yoga, naively thinking I might get into it. What I remember is that after every exercise its benefits were listed, and they always went something like 1) spreads psychic energy through the body; 2) increases good karma while lowering bad karma; 3) improves bowel movements.)

Comments are closed.