Times 25,396

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
14:32 on the club timer; I banged in 1 across and 6 across straight away, which always settles the blogger’s nerves, and after that it all went smoothly and enjoyably, apart from a brief hold up at the end while I successfully parsed the green flyer (but failed to parse another which was obviously right but which defied my best efforts).

Across
1 SADDLE SORE – cryptic def.
6 OPAL – twO PALms.
10 PARTAKE – Trader in PARAKEet. It took me some time to work out that there was no reversal involved, and “E” was not a quarter this time; rather the clue indicates the removal of 2 of the 8 letters (making a “one quarter rebate”) of the colourful bird.
11 CARROTY – (TO)rev. in CARRY.
12 RICHELIEU – [1 CHE, LIE] in R.U. I suspect I’m not the only solver whose knowledge of Cardinal Richelieu comes more from his appearances alongside the Three Musketeers than serious history.
13 STOKE – Small TOKE (as in “have a toke on this number, man”).
14 CLOVE – Constant LOVE.
15 GREATNESS – (SENT)rev. in GREASe. Grease is the word.
17 ROYAL MINT – double def. I had to check my history to decide where the division between the two halves falls, and as it seems to have been Henry (VIII) who made the Royal Mint the sole producer of currency, it must be “suitable relish for King Edward’s” = something you might have on the potatoes which accompany your roast lamb, and “money-making venture”.
20 EATEN – rEpAsTbEaNs.
21 PAPAL – PA, PAL. Presumably an accident of topicality.
23 MURDERESS – cryptic def.
25 CROONER – CROw + ONE,Runs.
26 OUTCOME – dUTCh in dOOMEd.
27 SIGH – HG IS(rev.).
28 SELF DECEIT – (FEDLIESETC)* &lit.
 
Down
1 SUPPER – SUPPER, i.e. “meal with any repeated letters struck out”.
2 DIRECTORY – DIRE,Conservative,TORY.
3 LEAVE WELL ALONE – double def, one cryptic.
4 SEEMING – SEE, MING (the Merciless, arch-enemy of Flash Gordon).
5 RECLUSE – (CURSELIFE)*.
7 PHOTO – HOT(=stolen=”suitable for fencing”) in PO. Failed to see the wood for the trees, until enlightened by Jerry, as below.
8 LAYPERSON – Palaeontologist in LAYERS, ON.
9 GRASP THE NETTLE – (GReekPENTATHLETES).
14 CARAPACES – CAR(=motor) + [PACE in AS].
16 ENTRECOTE – COT in ENTRÉE.
18 IMMERSE – SWIMMER loses SW and adds SE, which involves changing course by ninety degrees. Clever.
19 TURN OFF – URN in TOFF.
22 PRONG – PROviNG minus a Roman six.
24 SMELT – double def.

28 comments on “Times 25,396”

  2. Nice straightforward one today, after the apparent controversies of yesterday’s.
    I enjoyed the Emperor Ming’s appearance and the very neat anagram at 9dn
  3. No problem here, but failed to parse PHOTO (yep, definitely d’oh!) and PARTAKE, so thanks for that.

    Thought I’d better post early today, as by the time I’d finished yesterday’s there were so many comments that I didn’t have time to read them all before adding my words! I’m sure this straightforward one won’t attract half the comments

  4. Back in the saddle then … and not so sore!

    Tim: your parsing for 26ac pertains to 25ac. The parsing for the former is: {D}utc{h} inside {d}oome{d} = OUTCOME. And a great clue I thought.

    Is there a topical relevance in 21ac supported by 4dn?

    My last in were the 24/26 pair. Not happy about “sniffed” = SMELT. “She said she smelt gas. I sniffed around but couldn’t smell it”. One a verb of attempt (sniff); the other a verb denoting the success of that attempt (smell). Yes … I know this is petty!

  5. 30/30 today – my first all-correct-without-aids for a week. FOI Grasp The Nettle and LOI Outcome. The wordplay for Partake took some unravelling. Liked the clues for Recluse and Outcome in particular.

    Tim – 25ac Crooner is Cro(w) + One + R isn’t it?

  6. 34 minutes but couldn’t work out how the second part of 1dn worked. So obvious once pointed out!

    ENTRECOTE came up recently and wasn’t familiar to some.

  7. 30 minutes. A thoroughly enjoyable puzzle with some lovely clues. ‘Toke’ was unfamiliar, but I couldn’t see any possible alternative to STOKE for 13, though I suppose some must have been tempted to enter SMOKE. The one element I didn’t fully understand was HOT in PHOTO. Thanks for the explanation above.
  8. 11 – no call it 12 while I filled in the forgotten gaps at the top right – minutes today, so quickish but not at the expense of wit and enjoyment.
    Some really clever stuff her – mint on the royal spuds, SELF DECEIT’s slightly clunky but neatly self-referential anagram, and the 90 degrees turn in SWIMMER (though I SO wanted that to be N becoming Z).
    PHOTO was last in, because I wanted to be sure I’d got it right and the parsing was really tricky.
    I remember Cardinal Richelieu primarily from John and Mary in I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again:
    “Darling,I have something important to tell you – Cardinal Richelieu died in 1642”
    “All right, so mother was wrong”. One of those very silly things that just sticks.
    1. Gosh that brought back memories as well. My first laughter out loud comedy show. TheTime Trousers episodes and the simple one liners that seemed so funny in ones youth! ‘I’ll just sit on this settee and tell you the story sofa!’ Thanks for the memories and I’m sure even more will come back during the day.

      Edited at 2013-02-12 01:37 pm (UTC)

        1. Je vous remercie infiniment!! I didn’t know such a place existed – that’s 48 hours of pleasurable nostalgia! Goodbye, weekend!
  9. 14:30 … with 4 minutes or so at the end to get DIRECTORY and PARTAKE.

    A cardinal, a recluse and a papal murderess … has the setter had a peek at the next Dan Brown novel?

    1. …a plot a layperson smelt (let’s hope it’s transitive); with super carapaces another fetching line, maybe a pre-teen rock group.

      Edited at 2013-02-12 05:02 pm (UTC)

      1. … it’s all there. Maybe the setter is Dan Brown! Well, no need to read the book now. But I will. I could say I won’t, but I will, so I might as well just admit it.
        1. Felt like that about the D.V.Code. But managed not to open any after that, so will give the new one a miss d.v. But what do we call it?
  10. 16m. I really enjoyed this. I particularly liked “suitable for fencing” and “pull on weed”, but there were quite a few very nice clues.
    There are loads of green parakeets around us. They turn up in flocks in the spring to strip our apple tree and then move on. They’re on the game list, so you’re allowed to shoot them, although you might get in trouble if you did so in SW15.
  11. The next Dan Brown novel will be the same in plot, structure and story as those preceeding it, I would imagine. There’s not much point in watching more than one Bourne movie, in that respect, either. But this was a rather good solve, I thought. 27 minutes, liked ROYAL MINT and OUTCOME a lot.

    Chris.

  12. 25.42 today and so on the straightforward side for me but lots of neat clues too. OUTCOME and IMMERSE we’re my two picks. I had a slow start but for some reason I knew I would finish this and I would speed up as I went along. Thanks to setter and blogger today.
  13. A very enjoyable puzzle – shame it was all over so quickly – just 8 minutes for me. Lots of lovely clues -too many to pick a clue of the day.
  14. Shame it was all over so slowly for me, 37 minutes, glad to get there as always. Last in by miles partake, just couldn’t see it.
  15. About 15 minutes, but nicely entertaining. LOI was SEEMING. I also liked IMMERSE for the 90 degree turn. Regards.
  16. Too late for meaningful comment but want to say how much fun this was. Lots of chuckles. No real problems. Nice to see our old friend Ming. (I once saw the features “Flash Gordon” and “Flesh Gordon” back to back at an SF convention. The names were memorably parodied in the parody but propriety forbids me from quoting them here. You’ll have to Google them yourselves) 20 minutes. Ann
  17. This was clearly a wonderfully inventive puzzle full of fine clues which I’d have enjoyed far more on another day, but I was feeling even more tired than usual for a Tuesday and struggled to a miserable 14:23.

    I dithered over 4dn, having never heard of Ming the Merciless (my grasp of popular culture is generally a bit shaky!) and hadn’t twigged 7dn (PHOTO) either until I came here.

  18. This was fun, although there seemed to be rather more jokey definitions than usual. Nice to see the homage to ‘Flash Gordon’, although trust me, Tony, you didn’t really miss much.

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