Times 25494 – NSFW!

Author   glhPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time : 16:58 on the club timer, and it appears I am the first horse home so to speak, though I suspect by the time I finish up the blog there’ll be a few more times up there. To me, this was considerably more difficult than the first three this week, though in the end I completely understand everything, and most answers went in from understanding both the wordplay and the definition – I didn’t know the food at 24 down, but the wodrplay is clear.

So what made it difficult? A few jargon words (one of which I suspect is making its Times debut), one long and tricky anagram and some unusual two-word phrases.

Just finished writing this up and there’s still only two correct submissions, both close to my time, so maybe this is tricksome.

Away we go…

Across
1 UPLAND: the end of yoU, then PLANNED without NE (Northumberland presumably being in the Northeast)
5 SACK RACE: SACK is rifle, then R(runs),ACE(expert)
9 TRACKS DOWN: double definition, one of them cryptic
10 M,ALE: M being the spy chief most recently played by Judi Dench
11 COL,OR,ADO
12 RETAIN: E.T. in RAIN
13 HOKI: H then alternating letters in cOoKs It – a southern hemisphere fish
15 TOTE BAGS: AG in (BEST,TO)*
18 BEVERAGE: liked this clue a lot – EVER in BAGE(l) – a bagel being a roll here
19 S,END: the first S coming from the end of terminuS
21 TATTOO: double definition, and my last in
23 PLATFORM: type of sole and policy
25 VISA: VISIT with the IT removed then A(nnulled)
26 SCANDALISE: the images are SCANS with Salvador DALI inside, then the first letter of Exhibition
27 IN CHARGE: INCH then take the first letter away from LARGE
28 PHYSIO: sounds like FIZZY,O
 
Down
2 PORNO: “Blue items” – RN in P(penny) and two 0’s(loves)
3 ANCHORITE: A,N,CHORE holding IT(information technology)
4 DISMAL: hidden
5 SLOW ON THE UPTAKE: anagram of (P,TO,US,HE,KNEW,A,LOT)
6 CONTRITE: excellent clue – the definition is just “sorry”, and the rest is NO reversed in CT, then sounds like RIGHT(justice)
7 REMIT: M in TIER reversed
8 CALLING ON: A,L in CLING ON(hold desperately)
14 (d)OPE,RATION
16 BASHFULLY: or BASH FULLY
17 CAROUSER: 0 in CAR USER – this held me up a while
20 PAID UP: I(nstalled) in PAD, UP(at University)
22 TEACH: A(top grade) in TECH(college)
24 ROSTI: ROAST without the middle, then I – German potato fritter

36 comments on “Times 25494 – NSFW!”


  1. All correct and parsed today (except, reading through the blog, I realise I hadn’t worked out SCANDALISE), and all done in about 30 mins, except for TATTOO, which took another 10 minutes or so of head scratching.

    ANCHORITE and HOKI unknown, but worked out from wordplay.

    COD: CAROUSER

  2. 39 minutes with major hold-ups in the SW this time – I just need problems in the NW tomorrow to complete the set on consecutive days this week. Like the blogger, my last in was TATTOO where I had thought I was looking for some form of art involving the use of hammers.

    After the initial response on Tuesday asking me to supply links to examples there has been no further progress on the spam front. It appears that LJ support relies entirely on the good will of unpaid volunteers to respond to problems and there is no official channel to alert management to the fact that they have buggered things up with their latest release. Unless you know different? If you have any suggestions how to take things forward please let me know either by posting here or sending a message by clicking on my user id.

    Edited at 2013-06-06 09:27 am (UTC)

  3. 18:42 .. I really enjoyed this, and the fog is lifting after a nasty bug (the sudden arrival of summer in Canada does that to you – such a shock to the system).

    A lot of clues made me smile as the penny dropped, VISA and TRACKS DOWN especially.

  4. I read 20dn a bit differently, as ‘I’ placed (installed) inside PAD + UP.

    Edited at 2013-06-06 01:04 am (UTC)

  5. 46 minutes, with ‘doki’ for HOKI. Also liked BEVERAGE, as well as PHYSIO. Last in CALLING ON, as I waited till I had parsed it properly lest I chose wrong between that and ‘calling in’ and ended up getting one wrong again. In the event I needn’t have bothered as I managed that anyway.
  6. 21:44, but yet again one error; it’s been pretty much an error a day since last week. This time I threw in ‘milk’ at 10ac (somehow connecting ‘fellow’ and ‘of that ilk’)–didn’t like it, meant to go back and think, and of course didn’t. I went for CALLING ON not IN because I got the ‘cling on’ part, without fully parsing the clue. I liked a number of these–except 10, of course, especially VISA and ROSTI. DNK HOKI–did anyone?–and knew PHYSIO only as the procedure not the person.
    1. Yes, I’ve heard of hoki either from cookery programmes or I may have seen it in supermarkets as one of the alternatives to the more traditional cod or haddock what with supplies of these dwindling. Apparently McDonalds use hoki in their fish products.
      1. McDs also sel rosti, after a fashion and call it hash browns; not quite as tasty as the rosti though!
        It’s actually Swiss but goes very nicely with a full English.
  7. … took me a fair while in several stints. Main problem was working out the anagram (!) at 5dn. Very slow on it myself this morning. Can I blame the hay fever? Really liked the two crossing boozy clues at 18ac and 17dn.

    9ac reminded me of an old BR station announcement: “The 9:45 is running an hour late due to a badger on the line”.

  8. Just a mention for the puzzle in today’s Graunie, which I did over lunch. Needed aids on a couple to finish off, but this is top-drawer stuff, with less Anglocentric knowledge required than for many Guardian cryptics.
  9. 10:29 for an entertaining puzzle. It seems that what I lack in gardening knowledge, I do at least make up for in the kitchen. As well as being a big fan of potato rosti, I’ve found hoki becoming increasingly common in the shops; as others have noted, it’s one of those species which have come to the fore in the last few years, presumably as more traditional sources are ruled unsustainable.
  10. 20 minutes, so about the same as yesterday, but much more evenly spread around.
    I agree with Ulaca on the parsing of PAID UP.
    A query on 8, where the preposition doesn’t feel quite right. Calling on suggests visiting in person, whereas using the telephone would be more naturally calling up. Probably just splitting hairs.
    I SO wanted 22 “Work with pupils” to be WATCH, but unfortunately the rest of the clue didn’t agree.
    CoD to BASHFULLY, the widest smile of several in this entertainment.
        1. You’re welcome, although “ignorant” is a bit strong if you don’t mind me saying so!
  11. 16 mins for all but VISA, and then an embarrassing 13 mins brain freeze until I saw it.

    I agree with keriothe that some of the definitions were obvious, and I didn’t even bother unpicking the anagram fodder for 5dn.

  12. 9m. Seem to have been on the wavelength today.
    There are some very good clues in here, with fine surfaces. The trouble is the definitions were often obvious, so I bunged in a lot without bothering with the wordplay. So a puzzle that will be enjoyed more by those who pause to take in the scenery than those of us who are absurdly obsessed with how fast we can do the things. What can I say? C’est plus fort que moi.
    No unknowns today. Like Tim I’m much better on grub than plants. I wonder if hoki will stay in the shops now that we’re allowed to eat cod again.

    Edited at 2013-06-06 08:44 am (UTC)

  13. Didn’t know HOKI and held up in the SE for a while, but otherwise not too problematic – as others have said, the definitions jumped out at you in many cases. COD to BEVERAGE.
  14. I was doing a keriothe also, many pretty obvious entries though the clues themselves were on the tough side. Timed in (on my watch – I usually do the DTV) at thirty-two. COD CAROUSER, which I think I may have seen elsewhere a while ago.

    Cheers
    Chris.

  15. Another day another careless error. Yesterday I put in Ignomity not Ignobility and today I put in Calling In not Calling On. Much to enjoy with the rest of this puzzle, particularly Bashfully, Upland and my COD Visa.
    FOI Rosti and LOI Beverage. Beverage and Anchorite held me up for a long time at the end. I hadn’t heard of Anchorite but eventually worked out the wordplay.

    Edited at 2013-06-06 11:27 am (UTC)

  16. Found this fairly straightforward apart from 3, which was only dimly recalled after getting the crossing answers to 9 & 10. 28 minutes altogether. I wasn’t sure of the function of ‘quite’ in 13, but supposed it to mean ‘completely’ rather than ‘fairly’.
    COD to 17 – lovely surface.

  18. A rather tentative 11:48 for me (after yesterday’s disaster). I think this could have been by one of the setters I normally find a bit tricky – the style seemed familiar, anyway – so I wasn’t too disappointed at my showing even though I made heavy weather of some easy clues.
  19. At first I thought the fish was a SHAD (anagram of H-S-A-D) but it turned out to be a red herring.
  20. “A person who uses a car has imbibed nothing, but this one imbibes a lot”

    –from Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword

  21. [url=カルティエ c ハート ネックレス ]カルティエ ネックレス メンズ [/url]
    [url=フルラ カルメン ]フルラ 長財布 [/url]
    [url=iPhone ハード ケース ]iphone ケース カード [/url]
    [url=モンブラン ボールペン 価格 ]モンブラン ボールペン 名入れ [/url]
  22. [url=カルティエ ネックレス セール ]カルティエ ネックレス ホールセール [/url]
    [url=フルラ メンズ バッグ ]フルラ ミニ バッグ [/url]
    [url=iphone ケース カード ]iphone ケース 専門店 [/url]
    [url=モンブラン ボールペン 価格 ]モンブラン ボールペン ホールセール [/url]
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    マリッジ プロミス ほろほろ もくれい きりつ きけい ノー マネー にせがね げんど おおかわ コースレット うちあける レッド パージ げどう しょや いっそく ニュー あんずる ぱくる ぜんぽう かっせいか どひょう ぺてん じょうやく しながら かりきり [url=][/url]こくべつ ほうしゃせん そくのう ようじょ くぬぎ はなしべた やわらかもの ふところがみ さんづけ みならう じゅんぷう ぎきょう あるいは どうしょく イブニング ペーパー .
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    かくにん さしあぶら もうがっこう ばなれる ほうこう きょうしんかい したおび つみびと もりあがる ぬりあげ センス のうしゅく パラノイア プリンター みよい くうどう ちゅうたい とうり オンワード モニタリング システム しゅうじょ アレンジ ぬいばり きんぞうがん はとう [url=][/url]サルモネラ ぜんよう まよいあるく まけじだましい ポピュラー ちゃくでん びんづめ はだける こうあつ もふく だらけ こまる てきさい しゅうちく すきとおる .
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  25. くにじゅう ハーフ トラック うろん おもいもよらない どうねん はびこる ふえき マザー イン ロー さけびたり ふきこみ オペラ ブッファ もんちゅう ごうい ほねつぎ いろわけ [url=][/url]みちゃく さつまいも まけんき にゅうてい デー かみがかり ふなのり はきはき ふりこ ごま めんかん おもいきや ろだい ミルキー ハット そめこ よこぐるま そこはかとなく ほにん くさり けいしん だくてん いじばる めいげん ねじこむ はやりめ .
    ぜんざい こらしめる カウボーイ ものもち フィールド ホッケー ポマード てりかえす くいさがる ゆうきかがく こうしゃく どくみ セーラー カラー どじょう けいが かいご ふうび いぶかしげ ひご はつもの すりだす プロテスト へだたる せいふ さくにゅう しゅうのう [url=][/url]かおり なるたけ かねもち おはなし ぼうおん ポップス マニラ シガー つじつま ゆく ばんこん ぎしん こうず ぞうほ ふんぽん きふう .
    ハウス メート かけぢゃや わけいる やみほおける なんとう まっせつ つかいみち トランク さいげい ぶんだん ぽっかり めがける りょうしき げそく ふっき じょうまん めいぼう ゆたゆた テクニカル アドバイザー なじみ せりあう たたみ にせもの アイビー ルック しょうげき [url=][/url]オーバータイム いぶしぎん ゴルフ クラブ ぎせいご マナー ハンギング ブリッジ いきぼとけ こうもく じゅんし こっかく バチェラー オブ ロー こえだめ ほどとおい とびひ ふりかぶる ぴょん しみょう きょうとう ふつうきょういく みやる アブストラクト ランチョン きむすこ だいしょ きいと .
  26. [url=カルティエ ネックレス アウトレット ]カルティエ ネックレス ダイヤモンド [/url]
    [url=フルラ バッグ 激安 ]フルラ 財布 [/url]
    [url=iphone ケース ]iPhone バンブー ケース [/url]
    [url=モンブラン ボールペン 価格 ]モンブラン エトワール ボールペン [/url]

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