Solving time : 8 minutes 41 seconds, which still put me at second on the leaderboard as I type, so this was on the easier side of things. There’s quite a few gentle double definitions, particularly in the top half and not that many uncommon words, so a second run through with a look at checking letters polished things off.
There were still a few sighs of relief when I saw it come back as correct, particularly the line of 20 and 22 where the wordplay seemed to leave no other possibility, but you never know. Three cryptic definitions seems a bit high for the Times.
Away we go!
Across | |
---|---|
1 | let’s begin with the across omission |
7 | ETA: hidden reveresed in socrATEs |
9 | STEAM IRON: cryptic def |
10 | MOUNT: double definition |
11 | SOPRANO: OP |
12 | LANDING: double def |
13 | FICHE: IF (Kipling poem) revesrsed, then CHE |
15 | ADMISSION: or A.D. MISSION |
17 | RENASCENT: (EARNS)*, CENT |
19 | GENUS: GENIUS without the I(ego) |
20 | GONERIL: one of Lear’s daughters – the GONER is someone about to lose their life, then half of evIL |
22 | ASSUMES: U(university), M |
24 | TAROT: one of those reverse wordplay clues, as it’s A,R in TOT |
25 | GOOSANDER: 0,0 (eggs) in (GARDEN’S)* |
27 | ELM: MILE reversed without the 1 |
28 | MASTERPIECE: (SPARE,TIME)*, CE |
Down | |
1 | COS |
2 | EYE UP: sounds like “high up” in cockney |
3 | RAMP(incline),AGE |
4 | HARROGATE: HARROW(school) without W, then GATE |
5 | our down omission |
6 | REMANDS: MAN in REDS |
7 | ERUDITION: EDITION around RU |
8 | ANT,AGONISES |
11 | SUFFRAGETTE: cryptic definition |
14 | CONUNDRUM: NUN(sister) in COD(jest, trick), then RUM(odd) |
16 | METHADONE: (MET,HEAD,ON)* |
18 | STRATUM: the definition is LEVEL, so it’s STRATUS(cloud) shortened over M |
19 | GAS LAMP: I got this from the definition, and had to work out the wordplay for the blog… it’s AS,L |
21 | LAGOS: GAL reversed, then OS – in Portugal |
23 | MADGE: EG, DAM all reversed – this also took a little finding, Margaret is derived from the Greek for PEARL |
26 | RYE: hidden in farmeR YEarly |
I had no problems solving 23 but must say the cryptic side of it seems particularly obscure to me. I’m not entirely sure I ever knew MADGE is short for Margaret, never mind its bloomin’ Greek meaning!
So, as you might expect of such an erudite fellow, Barry Humphries was spot on when he shortened Marjorie Kiri, née McWhirter, to Madge Allsop.
Liked the X-factor clue a lot more than the show itself.
Edited at 2013-03-28 02:05 am (UTC)
A bit of pondering about GAS LAMP as to where the literal lay. Started by wrongly assuming “source of luminance” and wondering how ASL or SLA could be a bright object. (An astronomical abbreviation perhaps?) Nice deceptive cluing then. “Dons” in 22ac was also good and I think that’s my COD.
Edited at 2013-03-28 07:48 am (UTC)
All ok today, couldn’t parse GAS LAMP, didn’t know the pearl ref for MADGE (also of course short for Ms Ciccone, the ageing popster), and thought the def for GONERIL was a bit weak. But now I see it’s an &lit (is that the right term?), so that’s ok then.
George, thanks for explaining Gas Lamp and Madge. I didn’t fully understand those two.
GAS LAMP has a pretty neat clue, but I don’t think it’s quite an &lit – bright object being the definition and the rest the wordplay. Perhaps if it started “What Dickensian…” it would have been, and more elegant withal, enough to make it my CoD.
SUFFRAGETTE gets it, though, even if it has the air of a clue just waiting to happen.
By way of a change, I’ve been trying to solve by working through the clues in order, then going round repeatedly until the puzzle is complete. Doesn’t improve my time, though: still 25 minutes!
Let’s clear the air, I don’t like weak cryptic definitions and for both 1A and 9A to fit that bill 8D’s me. And speaking of 8D, does “not placate” really mean “antagonise”?
Had no idea what MADGE was all about but the cryptic was obvious. Now that I do understand it I feel this is knowledge I could have done without. This puzzle is not a 28A
15 minutes.
Many thanks,
Chris G.
I thought the cryptic definitions in 1a and 11dn were OK (in fact I rather liked 11dn), but I agree with dorsetjimbo that 9 is weak. The rest were fine.
I was going to make STEAM IRON my COD but I don’t want to ANTAGONISE Jimbo (or is it ANTAGONIZE? – my eternal quandary over this having been recently exacerbated by watching an old Inspector Morse episode in which the identity of a blackmailer is deduced by his ‘illiterate’ spelling of ‘sympathize’ with a penultimate ‘s’).
Portugal’s Lagos was once a great port, and in my misspent youth was a point of departure for Morocco, but I gather its role even as a ferry terminal is all but done.
My troubles began at school where most of my teachers subscribed to -ise while my favourite English teacher was a stickler for -ize. My resulting preference for -ize was compounded when, as a cub reporter on the Mummerset Gazette, I was told on my first day that The Times’ style guide recommended -ize and that therefore nothing else would do.
As a Brit now living in north America, it’s terribly confusing.
As a journalist (now retd) for 34 years on The Times, I can confirm that you are quite right about the old style book’s insistence on -IZE where etymologically required. I still have a battered copy of the 1970 edition on my bookshelves and it has two pages of near-incomprehensible explanation of when to use the one ending and when the other. I am told that the latest edition has moved with the times (so to speak) and gone for the universalisation of -ISE. Sensible in my view, but no doubt Morse is turning in his grave and crying “dumbing down!”
You must pass on a little more from that treasure trove of correctness whenever the opportunity arises.
A random selection from my shelves of books published in England seems to show a preference for -ize before about 1950, then -ise till about 2000, when -ize begins to make a comeback.
I find the problem with -ize (which I always used to prefer) is that some know-it-all invariably accuses you of “American usage”, which displays the ignorance I always associate with folk who are forever spotting imagined solecisms as a way of showing their superiority.
I recall, for example, the useless juggling act of Steel, Novak and Good appearing in several different shows.
I quite like the ironing clue as well.
As far as a discussion on solving methods goes, I fast-read all the clues, write in any instantly twigged, then work from the checking letters (especially unusual consonants) in no special fashion until it’s finished.
Unless I’m going for a clean sweep (in which case I start with the first across clue and then keep selecting the clue with the most promising checked letters in its answer as the one to tackle next), I usually go through the first few across clues before switching to the downs, and then switch back to the remaining acrosses – after which it’s wherever the mood takes me.
Really – take one letter, move to end – can we really call that an anagram?!