Times 25,384

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
12:34 on the club timer; I note that the leaderboard shows Magoo in soft-boiled egg territory, and lots of other people already posting very fast times, so I expect this to be reflected in comments here. In short, very straightforward, but perfectly good, fare; the sort of puzzle that might have been written for a beginner’s guide to the Times crossword. If there are any complaints, I expect them to concern the usual perceived liberal arts bias.

Across
1 CRAMPED – CAMPED around River.
5 GABLE – GALE around Black. Lift and separate to reveal the star of Gone with the Wind.
9 FAUST – FAST(“seeking excitement”) around University. In these modern times, I think spirited young ladies are no longer regularly described with a raised eyebrow as “fast”.
10 UNSELFISH – (HESSINFUL)*.
11 STATURE – SURE around TAT.
12 CLUSTER – Large in CUSTER.
13 OVERSHADOW – OVERS + HAD + O(“round”) + Wicket. The obligatory cricket clue: a single over consists of six balls, so to be overs, plural, there must be at least twelve.
15 BEEP – BEE(“buzzer”) + P.
18 TASK – Time + ASK.
20 PATHFINDER – (FARINDEPTH)*.
23 SHAMPOO – SHAM(“fake”) + POO, which is what you say when you pooh-pooh an idea (the dictionary conforms that poo and pooh are interchangeable). Ahem. Moving on…
24 STERILE – (RESTLIE)*.
25 RIGMAROLE – RIG, M.A., ROLE.
26 INDUS – INDUSTRIAL.
27 THEME – Hard in TE, ME.
28 STAND BY – STAND, “BUY”.
 
Down
1 COURAGE – OUR in CAGE.
2 ALTRUISM – hAmLeT + [IS in RUM].
3 PRUDE – Pressure + RUDE.
4 DISH CLOTH – (CHILDSHOT)*.
5 GOLLUM – [O(“ring”),felL] in GLUM &lit. Such has been the impact of the books, and, more recently, the films, that I imagine everyone knows about Smeagol, precious.
6 BRISTLE – BRISTOL, minus the Over, plus an E.
7 ETHER – WETHER minus the Western; one of those which is couched in such a way that it’s arguably unclear what is leaving what. Should it be “leaving out”? It would be clearer with an “out”, certainly, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t work as it stands. Maybe I am being overly critical for blogging purposes.
8 OFFSHOOT – OFF(“not at work”), SHOOT(“film”). My only serious delay was when I didn’t have 9ac, and thought this had to end with OUT.
14 ANALOGOUS – [A LOG] in [A NOUS].
16 PERVERSE – PER(“for each”) VERSE.
17 SIDE WIND – SIDE WIN(“team’s victory”) + Denmark.
19 SPANGLE – Singular Power ANGLE.
21 DRIP DRY – DRIP(“weak person”) DRY(“avoiding alcohol”); the sort of shirts one buys if one hates ironing.
22 OPIATE – OP. I ATE.
23 STRUT – double def.
24 STELA – (LEAST). Possibly the most (relatively) obscure piece of vocabulary today, but as a five letter anagram with three checkers, not the hardest to deduce (though suppose someone might have guessed SLETA).

29 comments on “Times 25,384”

  1. There’s not a lot to say about this. As Tim says it’s nursery slopes stuff. 15 dawdling minutes.
  2. Forgot to stop the clock, probably minutes under 15. FAUST was the hold up, even with checkers. Cod to GOLLUM for the atmosphere
  3. … and I agree, it looks easy in retrospect. One of those where one (= me) wonders: why did I take so long? Quite a few obvious answers: BEEP, RIG,MA,ROLE, INDUS (a chestnut?), STAND-BY (ditto?), DRIP-DRY, OPIATE. And then the giveaway anagrams at 10ac, 20ac, 24ac, 4dn & 24dn.

    So what held me up were the 1ac/1dn pair, requiring CAMPED for “in tents” and ([something]in) CAGE for “behind bars”. I never see those types easily. But the last in was actually STRUT, gawd elp me.

    First two in were the related ALTRUISM and UNSELFISH.

    But I had no-eye-deer that FAST (9ac) could mean “seeking excitement”. No … not even at my age. If there are still any fast women out there (in this sense, as opposed to the more familiar “running away quickly” sense), please let me know soon. Fast?

  4. FAUST was my LOI, as I’d always been under the impression that fast had a slightly stronger connotation than merely seeking excitement.

    COD to 1D, which I originally thought was some cryptic reference to Dutch courage.

  5. 16 minutes for me, mostly held up in the NE corner which certainly had its fair share of d’oh moments which I should have seen a lot earlier.
  6. Yes, v straightforward one-cup crossword today. I wondered whether some might struggle with wether = (castrated) ram.
    “Fast” scores yet another point for Georgette Heyer. Barbara Wellesley was fast, having painted her toenails..
  8. 24 minutes. It flowed beautifully once I got started at 15ac but having completed the lower half first I need to work upwards which is not ideal for a fast solving time.

    Speaking of “fast”, COD has it as “involving or engaging in exciting or shocking activities” which I think covers “seeking excitement”. Unfortunately I had forgotten, if I ever knew that FAUST was a literary scholar so I needed checkers to bring him to mind. STELA has come up before and I was ready for it this time.

    I took a while after completing the grid to work out what was going on at 7dn so I might have some sympathy that the clue is not as clear as it could be.

  9. As others have said, this was very easy. I finished most of the top half in 6 minutes, but 18 minutes in all with only FAUST and GOLLUM giving me much pause for thought. Good job I had an unfinished Jumbo to move on to.
  10. 16:42 .. I made slightly heavy we(a)ther of this. I was very slow to see ETHER, FAUST and OFFSHOOT.

    Is SHAMPOO a cosmetic? I’d call it a toiletry.

    1. With a wife and two daughters cluttering up the house with gallons of such stuff I eschew such semantics and class it all as “lotions and potions”.
      1. Are you telling me now that you don’t even moisturize? And here I had you down as the David Beckham of crosswords.
        1. I’m not saying I don’t use them*, I just wouldn’t pretend to know what was a cosmetic, what a toiletry and what a personal care sundry.

          I’m not sure how to take the Beckham comparison…

          *Having “not really bothered” as a younger man I’m now reduced to applying anti sag/anti wrinkle treatments.

          1. We probably use the same anti-wrinkle stuff – I think mine’s called “At this price, it’s got to work”.

            The Beckham association definitely started with your mankini (fictitious or otherwise). Be flattered!

  11. 11m. Yep, pretty easy.
    I don’t think I knew that Faust was a literary scholar, and I don’t think SHAMPOO is a cosmetic either, but neither slowed me down much.
    1. Definitely a scholar, and literary? Found in literature perhaps? “Don Quixote, literary knight”
  12. 10:09 so straightforward indeed. I’m another for whom Faust fell last with courage the penultimate.

    Wether only vaguely remembered, likewise stela even though I’m sure it has come up elsewhere very recently. The SW corner worried me briefly as there weren’t many helpful checkers around other than the P and G.

    Edited at 2013-01-29 02:46 pm (UTC)

  14. A slow 36 minutes but it was after work. Last in was ether. Quite liked the literary scholar ploy.
  15. Also my LOI, purely because it had to be from F-U-T, but I thought he was an alchemist, where does it say he was a lit scholar? Otherwise a straightforward 20 minutes.
  16. A bit under 20 minutes, ending with ETHER because I hadn’t heard of ‘wether’ before. My other hold up was wracking my brain for the name of another British general who had been a victim of natives (Gordon didn’t fit) until it dawned on me that the setter was throwing a rope to the Americans (thanks!). No problem with FAUST after I had the checkers; before that, no chance. Regards to all.
  17. Just over 20 minutes, so it must have been a straightforward puzzle, but none the worse for that.

    Knew “wether” from “bellwether”, and had a vague recollection of STELA.

    I often find that if I read the paper before attempting the crossword, I get a helpful hint (purely by coincidence, I assume). For example, today’s obituary of Evan Connell began:

    Why did General Custer lead 265 doomed troops of the US Seventh Cavalry into the valley of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876 to do battle with a vastly superior force of Sioux and Cheyenne warriors?

  18. 8:06 for me, making heavy weather of OFFSHOOT (and therefore FAUST) for no good reason. I agree with those who aren’t convinced by “cosmetic” = SHAMPOO, but otherwise I thought this was a pleasant, straightforward puzzle. COD to 5dn (GOLLUM).
  19. As Tim said, very easy, but pleasant enough. I counted 9 initial letters (P=pressure, etc.), which sounds like a record to me. I just noticed now that I hadn’t figured out the ‘wether’ clue, though.

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