Times 25432

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
14:14 on the Club timer, so somewhere in the middle of the difficulty scale, and pleasantly constructed without being too obscure in any regard. Meanwhile, all I asked of England this evening was that they should still be batting by the time the crossword became available, thus giving me some live action to watch while I blogged (as well as meaning they hadn’t capitulated in too embarrassing a fashion). At time of writing Ian Ronald Bell OBE is hanging on in there – mind you, I’ve been watching England cricket teams for so many years that I well remember a time before they acquired this unfamiliar habit of being consistently successful, so this series – outplayed by unheralded opposition, praying for rain, counting down the overs to safety – feels a little nostalgic. Only 50 overs left to survive now…as John Cleese said “I can take the despair; it’s the hope I can’t stand.”

E.T.A. Matt Prior has just hit a ball into his stumps without dislodging the bails. I’m not one of these superstitious people who is going to say this is an omen that New Zealand are clearly doomed to be disappointed. I’m just going to think it.

Across
1 MORES – MORE (Thomas) + Saint. Lift and separate, though there is more than one St Thomas, of course, including More, from the Catholic perspective at least. edit: as per commentary below, I don’t think it matters much ultimately, but it is perhaps more elegant to read it as MORE(St Thomas) + Supported, in which case, we can identify the clue’s religion.
4 BROWBEAT – Resistance in BOW + BEAT. For once it’s literally the Cockney home turf rather than another place with a dropped H.
8 DOWN ON ONE’S LUCK – (CONSOLEDUNKNOWN)*.
10 AGREEMENT – AGREE(=match), FAN in MET.
11 AISLE =”I’LL”.
12 VICTIM – rev. hidden in deeM IT CIVilised.
14 POSTURAL – POST(=after) + URAL; the singular river, not the plural mountains.
17 LINCHPIN – Left + INCH(=island) + PIN, as in how you’d identify yourself to your cashpoint.
18 WILLOW – ILL in WOW! Today’s cricket clue. England’s batting is certainly looking rather sick right now.
20 STOAT – Old in STAT.
22 INDO CHINA – DO in IN, CHINA (C. plate=mate, in Cockney rhyming slang).
24 BROAD IN THE BEAM – amusing double def.
25 BELABOUR – this meaning of BELABOUR came up only a few weeks ago, and appeared to surprise some solvers, though not this time round, presumably. Meanwhile, in an era where conviction politics appears to have disappeared on the left, one might mischievously query how much to “be Labour” equals to “fail to support right”.
26 SATYR – SATurday a YeaR.
 
Down
1 MEDIAEVALIST – EVA in MEDIA LIST. Precise wordplay and checkers make it clear which variant of the spelling is required.
2 ROWER – R + OWNER without the Note. Another oarsman to follow yesterday’s, specifically the one at the front of the boat.
3 STONEFISH – (SINSOFTHE)*; I hadn’t thought of the stonefish as a predator, more of its reputation as something that’s very nasty if accidentally stepped on. However, presumably it has to eat as well, and goes hunting for its supper in some way.
4 BOOTED – BOO(=barrack) + TED (Heath). This TED came up quite recently as well, though a quick Google reveals it was a Sunday puzzle, so may not have sprung to everyone’s mind as quickly. Beetle-crushers are what I have always called brothel-creepers – worn by teddy boys, appropriately.
5 OVERTOOK – OVER(=gone)TO,OK(=right).
6 BALSA – Small in BALA, large lake in Wales and a favourite of crossword setters.
7 ANCESTRAL – (RANCASTLE)*.
9 YELLOWHAMMER – YELL “OW!” + HAMMER. The sort of bunting which tweets, rather than the sort you hang on buildings while the Queen drives past.
13 CONCOURSE – Clubs ON COURSE.
15 TWITCHERS – double def. In ornithological circles, as far as I can see, it seems that “birders” are serious naturalists, while “twitchers” are crazy completists. Don’t ask me, I can just about recognise the half-dozen suburban species who visit our bird table every day.
16 FILIPINO =”FILLIP” + (ON Island)rev.
19 EDITOR – lEnD aId To OuR.
21 TIARA – TINA minus the N (knight in chess notation), + R.A. Clueing this with Burlington House – the location of the Royal Academy – is a bit less obvious than “artist” or similar, but still quite familiar to long-serving solvers.
23 INERT – INSERT without the Spades.

36 comments on “Times 25432”

    1. I did wonder about the choice of “supported”, which seemed more appropriate for a down version of this clue.
    2. An easier clue for RCs than Protestants, who know the man as Sir Thomas More rather than St Thomas.
    3. Not so easy for me. I had most of it within the half hour but time ran away from me and I needed almost another 30 to nail the remainder. Last ones in: 16, 4dn, 25 and 5.

      Didn’t know the required spelling of LINCHPIN. Didn’t care for ‘old PM’ for TED any more than I liked the man himself.

  2. Slowed up by quite a few and finally skewered good and proper by BOOTED, where I went for that famous 18th century PM Lea and that well known zoological term for beetle crushers boolea (singular -um). Over an hour for this torment…

    Fine puzzle – I particularly liked MEDIAEVALIST and BELABOUR.

    Edited at 2013-03-26 02:08 am (UTC)

  3. Had no idea at the end about the OVERTOOK / POSTURAL pair. A morning of slight word blindness: assuming OVERTALK (and then you can think for yourself what I made of _L_T_R_L !)

    Will the anti-DBE brigade be on to 4dn I wonder?

    2. I’ve nothing against them in general terms, but when I haven’t heard of the ‘E’ in question (winkle-pickers and brothel-creepers, yes), all rationality goes out of the window!

      Seriously, I would like to hear what others think of the clue.

  4. Look on the bright side; the state of the nation with regard to politicians with convictions is pretty healthy.
    1. Well … the English MPs have been doing a bit better. I mean, of course, Matt Prior and Monty Panesar.

  5. Got BELABOUR thanks to its recent outing in crosswordland, but, having incorrectly put in ‘pastural’, there was no way I was going to get 5dn. Would have struggled to get that meaning for OVERTOOK anyway, but getting the right crossers may have helped…

    Didn’t see the ‘owner’ bit of 2dn, and thought the cryptic was MORE + S(up ported) as Jack.

  6. 16m. I found this pretty gentle and very enjoyable. Must have been on the right wavelength. The STONEFISH was the only unknown, but only in the sense that I didn’t know it was a predator.
    I noticed the DBE in 2dn but I thought the question mark ought to satisfy even the staunchest Ximenean. It’s the kind of DBE that doesn’t bother me anyway, because once you’ve got the right meaning of “stroke” it leads to “rower” as easily as “Old MacDonald” leads to “farmer”.
  7. Didn’t know BALA but fortunately I didn’t know any other woods fitting B_LSA. Held up for 5 minutes at the end by BOOTED – TED seems a bit weak for “old PM” (the last time this came up it was in context). I only knew a beetle-crusher as a policeman, which also confused the issue.
    1. I’m surprised you don’t know the lake: I think it’s a bit of a crossword stalwart. It’s familiar to me and I’m sure I haven’t come across it in real life.
      1. I can’t see a reference to it on here or Fifteensquared that’s less than a year old, so I think I must have missed its heyday. It’s gone on my wordlist now, anyway.
    2. BALA lake is beautiful – one of the UK’s should visit spots on the way to say north Wales.
  8. Gentle and enjoyable indeed apart from my mental block on 4d – D’OH. Turned my potential 9 minutes into 14.
  9. While overtook turned my 25 minutes into 38. Just could not see a word, reduced to making up electronic particles ending in -tron till it dawned. Good to see the unelided spelling for 1 dn.
  10. Another enjoyable one. I thought there was room to get 1dn wrong by going for EVE rather than EVA.. but I picked the right one. Also got 18ac right having first dismissed Lillee, Dilley + Willey!
  11. A gentle 20 minutes with no unknowns

    Stroke for ROWER is so obvious that it hardly registered with me as DBE. Got BOO-TED straight from definition. Do not appreciate the unwarranted remark about Teddy Boys (several of us were of that fraternity in our youth)

    I thought 24A might have elicited yet another cricket reference (I believe the English team managed to waste away their time to a draw – memories of Trevor the bore Bailey come to mind). 25A is a good clue.

    1. I watched the last 20-or-so overs live. It was fascinating, touch-and-go all the way. Especially when Prior hit the ball almost to the boundary but didn’t run in order to keep the strike. Panesar was brilliant, taking the crucial run when he did and risking a run out! The only pity is that Broad actually scored some runs, so missing the record for the number of balls faced without scoring. And I write as a die-hard Australia supporter.
      1. I was spellbound listening to TMS for the final few hours (which I’m blaming for my sluggish 31:45 on this puzzle).

        I’ve always loved listening to late-night cricket from far-off places, and a test match where one side is hanging on for dear life on the final day is a uniquely gripping battle of nerves. I must admit I was quietly rooting for New Zealand, but England just about won back my faith. And who wouldn’t be won back by Monty’s ‘Dive for Glory’?

  12. An amusing Test for sure, as was this crossword.

    DBE for ‘stroke’ passed me by entirely, though it is indeed an aberration, with EVA in her MEDIA LIST probably just about making my CoA. TED for Heath must surely die soon.

    27 minutes.

    Many thanks,
    Chris G.

  13. Took me 40 minutes today, 10 longer than yesterday. The main hold-ups were 5, 15 and 26.
    I have to confess that I didn’t know Sir Thomas More was a saint and wondered if there was a misprint in 1, but the easy clue got me off to a flying start.
    I enjoyed the clues, particularly 1 dn.

  14. Slow going for me today without ever getting totally stuck. FOI Aisle and LOI Concourse. Wondered for a time whether Postural ended -urel but no. Didn’t understand the wordplay for either Rower or Overtook so thanks Tim for clearing those two up. Broad In The Beam made me chuckle.
  15. Bala lake, properly known as Llyn Tegid in Welsh is the largest and deepest lake in Wales – David Lloyd George (an earlier PM than Ted) went to school in Bala
  16. An enjoyable puzzle. About 45-50 mins for me. I’d never heard of “beetle-crushers”, but the BOO bit of the solution was pretty obvious, leaving few options for the rest. I didn’t mind the TED = “old PM” conceit, though I agree that it’s getting close to its “use by” date. BROAD IN THE BEAM was worth a chuckle or two or three. My COD.
  17. About 25 minutes, the last several to untangle BOOTED. All elements of that one seem UK-centric. Possibly ‘barrack’ as ‘heckle’ appears in some of our dictionaries, but no one uses it that way, as far as I’ve ever heard. Once translated, an enjoyable clue. I also liked the bunting, although it was not very devious; hard to camouflage the YELLOW…, portion of the bird. Regards to all.
  18. I once lost my 4 year-old son in Bala. I followed my husband into a bookshop, lost sight of the boy for a second and there he was – gone. I waited in the carpark by the lake and half hour later son turns up having found a policeman. That incident has wiped all other memories of my visit to the lake. But the name is a memorable one in crosswordland. I needed the cryptics to get the desired spelling of MEDIAEVALIST and the correct spelling of LINCHPIN (I wanted a Y in it!). If this had been the concise I would have got them wrong. 29 minutes. Ann
    1. Having gone through a similar experience in the Princess Diana Memorial Playground (aka the “Pirate Ship Park”) I sympathise. I’ve no idea how long I lost my daughter for: it may not have been more than ten minutes, but it felt like hours, and I’ve never really liked the place since.
      1. We’re in good company.I think the Prime Minister recently left his small daughter behind in a pub. Slippery customers, children.
  19. 24 minutes, steady solving, good puzzle 5 / 10 hardness scale, nothing more to say today.
  20. Did this in peeks during pub trivia last night, fun puzzle – didn’t know BALA and put in the wrong spelling of MEDIAEVAL first. YELLOWHAMMER from wordplay, relived to find there isn’t a YELLOWJAMMER or similar.
  21. A disappointing 15:45, as I never properly found the setter’s wavelength despite solving several clues quite quickly. I thought of a few St Thomases (Aquinas, à Becket, à Kempis, …) but stupidly forgot all about More, making 1ac my LOI after taking simply ages to get MEDIAEVALIST.

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