Times 25,456

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
14:20 suggests mid-range difficulty; decent, if not madly exciting puzzle, though there were at least a couple of occasions where I raised a metaphorical eyebrow.

Across
1 KELVIN – Large in KEVIN.
4 SKEWBALD – SKEW(=asymmetrical), BALD(as a coot).
9 DETROIT – Old in DETRITUS without the U.S.
11 NONAGON – NAG in NOON.
12 ANIMA – (A MINA)rev. “Flyer that talks” was a rather good way of decribing the bird; I knew the Latin word but not the Jungian psychological term.
13 REARRANGE – REAR(=the back), RANGE(=cover a wide area).
14 PHENOMENON – (MENHOPE)* + NON, i.e. the word for “no” in the French city of Nancy.
16 LIMB – CLIMB without the Conservative. Does a climb have to be strenuous? I’ve gone up some hills in quite a leisurely fashion in my time.
19 ROPY – OPus in RailwaY.
20 MISCELLANY – MANY around [1’S CELL].
22 TROUSSEAU – (TOUSASURE)*. A quick Google suggests that 50% of couples cohabit before marriage these days, which in turn indicates that the traditional trousseau probably no longer forms part of every young girl’s dreams.
23 SHEER – SHE(that most chestnutty of novels which occurs in crosswords a great deal, but which I am starting to suspect I may never read) + (RE=on)rev.
25 EPITAPH – cryptic def. Late as in “late lamented” rather than “behind schedule”.
26 THEATRE – double def. The Criterion is a famous name even if you don’t take in too many West End shows.
27 NAME TAPE – (barely) cryptic def., once one uncapitalises Jersey; at which point it becomes one of those clues which is, in fact, so mildly cryptic that you start to doubt yourself. This was discussed somewhere round here recently, as I think someone was seeking clarification on misleading capitals: basically, “Jersey” can be the article of clothing, but “jersey” couldn’t be the island.
28 HYBRID =”HIGH” BRIDE.
 
Down
1 KIDNAPPER – King + (D.I.)rev. + NAPPER(=head, as per Any Old Iron, “you look dapper from your napper to your feet”). It took me a while to figure out the parsing and that King’s Head needed lifting and separating.
2 LATHI – patroL AT HIndupur. A nice &lit.; the lathi is a long stick used by the police in India; if you’ve listened to as much cricket commentary from that part of the world as I have, you’ll have heard their somewhat unsympathetic crowd-control techniques discussed at length over the years…
3 ISOLATOR – 1 SO “LATER”.
5 KANGAROO COURT – cryptic def.
6 WINTRY – WIN(=gain) TRY(=a few points). The slightly wafty definition of try caused me to pause, but I’m sure it’s fine.
7 ARGENTINA – GENT in MARINA.
8 DANCE – Caught in DANE; “country dweller” was another raised eyebrow. I didn’t raise it too high, though.
10 THREE-LINE WHIP – (WEHELPINTHEIR)*.
15 EUPHONIUM “YOU PHONY” + UM .
17 BOYFRIEND – (OFDERBYIN)*.
18 BLISTERY – LISTER in BY. Mister Sir Joseph Lister appeared here not long ago, I think.
21 ASLANT – AS N.T. around L.A.
22 THEGN – cashinG in THEN. I’d only seen the THANE version before, but with the checkers and wordplay here, it didn’t take a huge leap to conclude there must be an alternate spelling, in this case the Old English one.
24 ESTER – WESTERN. Esters are chemical compounds consisting of a carbonyl adjacent to an ether linkage, as any fule kno. (Well, they do if they look at the wikipedia page, anyway).

37 comments on “Times 25,456”

  1. 17:51 .. thanks, Tim.

    Yes, NAME TAPE had me bamboozled by its lack of bamboozle, too.

    Some clever things, though. And I really liked the BOYFRIEND anagram and surface. Couldn’t make anything of the checkers until I wrote the thing out horizontally (one of the perils of online solving).

  2. Couldn’t get into the SE at all; though the rest was pretty easy. Main problem was the well-known (?) theatre at 26ac; and I’d even forgotten about SHE! But who can forget Ursula Andress —— the original “She who must be obeyed” —— crumbling to bits in the desert, even if they’ve never read the book?

    KIDNAPPER was fairly obvious, even without the dialect. Is a “napper” so called because you put your head down when napping?

    “Prodigy” = PHENOMENON? Well, I suppose both can be a remarkable person. But that’s about it I guess.

    1. Nicholas Nickleby fans will be put in mind of Ninetta Crummles, the ‘Infant Phenomenon’, the pride and joy of her parents and perenially eight years old.
  3. … not sure why you say TRY is “wafty” at 6dn. A few points in the rugby codes (4 in League, 5 in Union)?
    1. I suppose it’s because I would have expected it to be that specific. Possibly it’s a result of solving late at night, and feeling a general unease which I can’t now put into words.
  4. Well, at least Sotira recognised the anagram. Having convinced myself that the literal was ‘play’ (as in The Boyfriend, which is actually spelt as three words, anyway), I was left scratching my napper as to how ‘of Derby’ could mean friend.

    A number of unknowns here, but, like others, it was the name-tape that caused the most perplexity, even though I used to have them in my jerseys (and Dymo tape in my books). 47 minutes.

  5. 31 minutes with the last 8 spent on 3dn and 12ac where I was for a long time convinced that the answer was a bird and “inner personality” was the Freudian ID.

    Most of my points have already been made but I will endorse comments made by others on the feebleness of 27ac where I also lost time trying to make more of it, and whilst still solving I had thought we were perhaps in the realms of ear-tags for cattle!

    Since we have two “skew” references I suppose we must count ourselves lucky that the setter did not see fit to link them in some way.

    Like ulaca, I also considered a possible theatrical connection at 17dn but discounted it principally because Sandy Wilson’s delightful pastiche is a musical rather than a play and Ken Russell’s film of it is a travesty.

    1. I spotted that on Wikipedia, but isn’t a musical a type of play (if it has a staged instantiation)?
      1. I had to look that last word up!

        You may be strictly correct about “play” but in everyday usage there is a surely a distinct difference between describing a “show” as a play or a musical if for no other reason than to make it clear to the paying public the nature of the entertainment that’s on offer.

        Edited at 2013-04-23 05:33 am (UTC)

  6. All correct in about 50 mins or so, but with a couple of unknown bits of vocab (NAPPER, THEGN). I too made the same mistake as ulaca, and completely missed the anagram at 17dn, thinking the whole referred to the play/musical. ANIMA one of my last in, as I, like Jack, thought there had to be ID somewhere in the answer.
    LOI: ISOLATOR, where I nearly chucked in isotacom (!) in desperation.

    Edited at 2013-04-23 08:02 am (UTC)

  7. Reasonably straightforward puzzle that I managed to make slightly heavy weather of, including everyone’s nemesis 27A – and for the same reasons. Also struggled to see 12A for some reason. Got 26A from “war zone” and then remembered the theatre. Liked 17D. No idea why napper means head. 25 minutes to solve.
      1. I think the question raised by McT is what is the derivation of napper=head. I’m going to guess that it comes from naperer, being the head of linen in posh old households.
      2. ‘a presser of cloths, linens’ does sound possible. Some of the dictionaries describe it as late 18th century thieves’ slang but it certainly made its way into the argot of the nobs a while later. Some Googling led me to this this from PG Wodehouse:

        The passing of the china ornament, which had come within an ace of copping me on the napper, drew from my lips a sharp ‘Oi!’ and as if in answer to the cry Boko now appeared at the window.
        …
        ‘Good Lord, bertie! Is that you?’
        I assured him that such was the case, and he apologized for having bunged china ornaments at me.

        [seems that Wodehouse was an -ize man]

  8. 13 minutes, and another who missed the anagram at 17, thinking it was something mysterious about Derby (and Joan?) that I hadn’t come across. Likewise, NAME TAPE, which, with checkers in place, went in without bothering to read beyond the first three words of the clue, I assumed had an arcane cryptic irrelevant to solving.
    Didn’t Nancy as a signal for a French word come up a couple of days ago? It was certainly my first thought here.
    Educated today by wondering why Kelvin is a “base” unit. Apparently it just is.
    Anyone registering a CoD today?
  9. 18.56 after being held up in SE. The answers fairly flew in (for me) up till there. Used to live near the river Kelvin in Glasgow and even so wondered about a kelith for a bit. Surely the setter might have tried a little harder for something less one-two-clunk in 27. Blistery last in; skewbald word of the day; but no CoD.
  10. Took me a long time to get started on this puzzle, with only one solution going in on first read through. But then it all fell into place quite quickly. I’d never heard of “napper” in the sense used here, so hesitated for a while to enter KIDNAPPER, though there wasn’t much else it could be. I thought BOYFRIEND an excellent anagram and PHENOMENON a nice mix of anagram and French wordplay. I also liked ANIMA and HYBRID. I agree with everthing that’s been said above about 27 ac (NAME-TAPE).
  11. Favourite certainly BOYFRIEND, though much perplexed at NAME TAPE – that smacked of Rufus in The Guardian to my cynical, crusty personhood, and it sure does allow one to see why all but the very best, and in particular unequivocal CDs are to be avoided.

    As others observe, and OTOH, I saw some very good clues here. Back to form (such as it is for me) today with 15 minutes.

    Thanks indeed to all concerned.

    Chris G.

  12. Took ages to sort this one out after putting in the wrong answer to 1 across. Thought it was KILOHM; some muddled, half-remembered, schoolboy chemistry convinced me I was right.

    The man is KIM (as in Philby), L is large and OH is the base (as in NaOH), giving the KILOHM as the unit. I felt very pleased with myself until I reached 3 down. Eventually saw my mistake and spent the rest of the morning muttering to myself about being a woolly-headed old fool, which caused the dog to hide under the table; she has only just emerged.

    The rest of the puzzle was fine, and very enjoyable.

  14. 18m, so around average for me. I didn’t know SKEWBALD, or remember “napper”, although when I came here I was reminded of the last time it came up, when the same song was referenced. “Dane” sprang instantly to mind because that’s where I am today.
  15. I found this a mixture of the straightforward and the tricky. I had no problem with 17 or 27, but I was left at the end of 40 minutes with the crossing 26 and 28 to do. In the end I resorted to Bradford’s for the surgeon, whereupon 26 suddenly became obvious.
  16. 20 mins for me but about 8 or 9 minutes of that was spent staring at 18 down. I was fooled by the setter’s misdirection and I was vainly trying to remember what the initials for a surgeon are, together with a word to describe abraded to go around those initials, with the definition being “skin”. Yes, I know, lift and separate. When I eventually saw what the wordplay was really telling me I could have kicked myself. A huge “d’oh!” moment.

    Andy B.

  17. I had a similar experience to melrosemike, struggling to make a start and then getting some good momentum going. I eventually slowed in the NW corner where anima was LOI.

    16:58 then for an enjoyable puzzle and I’m giving my COD to 8d for the neat lift and separate in round the twist.

    I nearly fluffed 22 down by putting R (land-holder ultimately) in THEN but that would have made cashing redundant (except as a dodgy inserticator).

    At 1d I assumed nap was head and per was one but that would have made the definition the wrong part of speech. Presumably “with taking ways” would be kidnappish or kidnappery.

  18. No real problems here I feel. Lost track of time due jointly to new puppy and Chris Gayle’s blitz in the IPL.
    Needed to check lathi but spotted boyfriend.
    Thanks to blogger and setter
  19. As far as I can find, the original slang meaning was a hat – possibly related to ‘nab’ – a promontory, which may also be the origin of ‘nob’ for head.
  20. A steady solve for me today: FOI Lathi, LOI Blistery. I rather enjoyed this one and had ticks against Boyfriend, Blistery, Sheer, Anima, Kelvin, Detroit and Theatre. Like others above I didn’t know ‘napper’ or ‘Thegn’ but in each case the answers were clear from the definition or wordplay.

    Edited at 2013-04-23 03:06 pm (UTC)

  21. Didn’t get to this last night so poked away at it over coffee at work – TROUSSEAU and THEGN from wordplay and SKEWBALD last in, but everything else came pretty clearly.
  22. 33.20 for a DNF as had all but 24d done in 23m and ten minutes of head scratching got me nowhere so conceded defeat to setter. Had never heard of ESTER so not too ashamed of the failure. The rest seemed on the easy side so no COD today.
  23. About 30 minutes, during which I learned the new vocabulary of napper, THEGN, skew as an adjective(?), try as a few points, the three-line whip, and that the Criterion is a theater in London. I would nominate BLISTERY for COD except that I don’t think being abraded would lead to blisters. I’d think bruises and scrapes from abrasions, yes, but blisters would arise from light burns, some rashes, infections and the like. But of course, I didn’t know all the other vocabulary I already mentioned, so I could be wrong. LOI was ANIMA. Regards to all.
  24. I had a couple of minor interruptions from telephone pests while I was trying to complete this but still managed to finish in 27 minutes. LOI was ANIMA which I spent a few minutes puzzling over. Once the penny dropped I could see it was a lovely clue. An enjoyable solve. Ann
  25. A fun one today. Instinctively contemplated the correct solution for 27A, but not confident to ink it until 22D Thegn had to be guessed as an alternative spelling
  26. So far as I can see nobody has mentioned this: it’s really “Caught, country dweller going round …” What is the word ‘by’ doing here? [Caught by country dweller going round the twist, perhaps?]
  27. 6:53 for me. Unfortunately I missed KELVIN first time through (I failed to take “base unit” at face value and assumed that “base” represented the letter E), otherwise I’d probably have gone for (and achieved) a clean sweep. As it was, I plodded through slowly but steadily, and the only other answers I missed at a first reading were REARRANGE and BLISTERY, neither of which had any checked letters to help me when I reached them. A most enjoyable solve.

    Edited at 2013-04-23 10:29 pm (UTC)

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