Times 25,606 – I vant to be alone

20 minutes on a blogging day – so not a difficult puzzle. Indeed some of it is rather easy. The Garbo clue is novel.

Across
1 RADICAL – RADI(C)AL; poorish definition, not all supporters of political reform are from the left;
5 FIANCEE – EU country=France then change “r=run” to “i=one” and add “e=English”; match=marriage; what Garbo never had;
9 GENDARMERIE – (men I regard + (aw)e)*; les flics;
10 MAC – M(A)C; is a mackintosh a coat?
11 METTLE – sounds like “metal”;
12 PROTRACT – PRO-TRACT; PRO=Public Relations Officer;
14 DENTAL,SURGEON – (tongue snarled)*; nice if rather obvious anagram;
17 TEMPERAMENTAL – TEMP-ERA-MENTAL; Garbo no doubt;
21 RUNS,OVER – RUNS-OVER = 6 deliveries by bowler;
23 CONGEE – CON-GEE(gee); rice;
25 IVY – (l)IVY; Benson?;
26 DRESS,CIRCLE – GARB=dress – O=circle; Greta 1905-1990 who wanted to be left alone;
27 GARMENT – G(ARM)ENT;
28 REGULAR – R(EG)UL(e)-A-R(epublicans);
 
Down
1 REGIME – (t)IGER reversed-ME;
2 DONATED – D(O-N)ATED;
3 CHALLENGE – CHA(ELL reversed)NGE; getting an interview with Greta;
4 LIME – (c)LIME;
5 FORTRESSES – FOR-TRESSES;
6 AGENT – AGE-NT; I liked “books”;
7 COMRADE – COM(RA(i)D)E; nice clue;
8 EXCITING – EX-CITING; what Garbo wasn’t;
13 MANAGEMENT – M(ess)-AN(A-GEM)ENT; ANENT=about in Aberdeen – a bit Mephistoish?;
15 RATIONING – RAT(I-ON)ING; memories of coupon books, spam and powdered egg;
16 STARLING – STAR(L)ING;
18 MONEYER – MON(st)E(YE)R; one in mint condition;
19 LOGICAL – LO(GI)CAL;
20 METEOR – METE-OR; what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs;
22 OLDIE – O-L-DIE; depressing clue;
24 USER – mean trick=ruse then move “r” to the end;

31 comments on “Times 25,606 – I vant to be alone”

  1. Almost as if the Editor had forgotten to use this as the Monday one. LYI COMRADE which I still do not completely see, as no apparent definition. Do comrades fall? Thanks for the blog jimbo. BTW ‘chane’ = ‘change’ in your blog for 5A

    Edited at 2013-10-15 07:48 am (UTC)

  2. Very easy and straightforward … to the point of being a bit disappointing. Though the GARB-0 clue was indeed a stunner.

    I also queried “leftist” at 1ac, excused perhaps by the question mark?
    The clue for COMRADE is either a clever semi-&lit or a touch of the double duty.

  3. Just under 20 minutes, with LOI COMRADE trying to work out whether RAD meant attack, before twigging to the device to remove one. There being no other definition, I guess this is the first of many WW1 allusions to come and an &lit.
    Liked the Garbo clue a lot. MONEYER from the cryptic, though I almost had the even more unknown MONTYER. I also tried variations on MINTER, with something else as the definition.
    Thanks to Jim for indicating where the O came from in PROTRACT: the PR, I feel, vary rarely carries the Officer bit these days when even abbrs are abbrd.

  4. Yep, I too had COMRADE as my LOI, taking a few moments before realising it was ‘raid’ not ‘rad’ that meant attack.

    Much quicker than yesterday, about 35mins or so, but didn’t manage to parse MANAGEMENT (dnk ANENT), REGIME or DRESS CIRCLE (vg).

    I too wondered where the O came from in PROTRACT, so thanks also for that enlightenment.

  5. 11 mins so very much on the setter’s wavelength.

    I’ve seen a similar Garbo clue before, probably in an old Guardian or Indie puzzle if none of you remember it. CONGEE went in from the wordplay and with my fingers crossed because I didn’t know that meaning of the word. COMRADE was my LOI once I’d deciphered the wordplay.

  6. Around 30 minutes with a few parsing queries unresolved. Didn’t spot ‘tiger’ or ‘monster’. Never heard of ANENT or MONEYER and some doubts over CONGEE. I agree the GARBO clue was outstanding.
  7. Not a lot to add to what’s been said. At 18dn I spent some time playing with (s)INNER and MINTER and needed the checkers before the penny dropped ( as it were).

    Talking of Mephisto (13dn) I only attempt it occcasionally but finished this week’s in two sessions, and found it quite manageable. Recommended.

    Edited at 2013-10-15 10:10 am (UTC)

  8. 12:59, which puts me well up an oddly underpopulated Club leaderboard. I was amused by the discovery of horse DNA in the Chinese food, and thought GARBO was very good, COMRADE much less so (though I guess I would say that, as it was my last in by some distance, and wasn’t fully parsed until I came here). A similar vague feeling that I was missing something in other clues, as I wasn’t convinced that radicals are socialists, or that ruses are mean, or tigers are cruel; but if they passed muster with setter and editor, it may just be a failure to click today on my part.
  9. 36 minutes. I wqas struggling to see ‘tiger’ as a cruel person until I considered some of the ‘tiger mothers’ I’ve run across in these parts. ‘Moneyer’ – weird one that.
  10. Yes, an easyish puzzle, though I found the top half bar COMRADE much easier than the bottom. Thanks to Jimbo for explaining how RAD=”attack” at 7D – I’d failed to spot that “one may fall” was doing double duty as the literal (or part of the literal if we take this clue as an &lit) and wordplay. DRESS CIRCLE was indeed a lovely clue, worthy of the glacial Swedish film star, but the literal so obvious once a few checkers were in place that there was no need to work out the clever wordplay. Once again, thanks to Jimbo for explaining it.
  11. 17m. COMRADE my last in, like others. I read it as a semi-&lit. “Anent” is indeed a touch Mephistoish.
  12. 13:01 .. loved GARBO. Last in METEOR then COMRADE.

    I solved yesterday’s late, after a transatlantic flight, and joined the not so elite club of Old Irreperables. I wish I could blame it on the flight but I fear I often spell it that way.

  13. Yes, I liked that one. Very Grauniadly, if you ask me, but nice to see a good one of the genre in the Thunderer. And the puzzle did need a good ‘un, I rather think.

    Many thanks
    CG

  14. 12:55 with congee last in after comrade.

    Ref the former I toyed with conger on the basis that a German might be a type or breed of horse. I certainly didn’t know congee and I’d better brush up on that sort of thing as I’m off to Hong Kong next month. The furthest East I’ve been before, not counting Clacton, is the right hand bit of Turkey.

    Moneyer unknown but clear enough and I needed that to confirm Ivy. I’m not great with historians (I can’t even remember the name of my History teacher at school).

    The Garbo clue reminded me of a football-themed puzzle by Donk in the Indie a while back where Mido (a real footballer) led to the answer centre circle.

  15. What a delightful clue for DRESS CIRCLE, never seen device before. In contrast, COMRADE is poor, in my opinion.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  16. This the upper part of a theatre and didn’t she (allegedly) once say “Why don’t you come up and see me”…..or is this a step too far?
  17. A nice post-prandial solve. Agree with all Garbo was a lovely clue – had me chasing down rabbit holes of being left alone (one-woman shows?) before the penny dropped. Couldn’t parse MANAGEMENT – after getting M(AN)A, wasted time wondering how “GEMENT” could turn into an outstanding person! Nice one. Thank You, dorsetjimbo.

    I thought RUNS OVER a very weak clue. Spent five minutes staring at the solution thinking surely it can’t be that simple. Funny that the same setter could devise the delightful DRESS CIRCLE, the tricky COMRADE and the “Mephistoish” MANAGEMENT and this lame duck.

  18. Two missing today – Challenge and Comrade.
    Had never heard of Moneyer but the wordplay was clear. Liked GG’s dress circle.
  19. About 20 minutes, and I echo the approval of the Garbo clue. Thanks to the setter for that one. LOI for me was CONGEE, over the alternative ‘conger’, since I didn’t recognize the half a horse. Regards.
  20. COMRADE:-
    suppose it depends on your word association with FALL,
    an American will possibly think first of Autumn or Niagara, a disabled person as a tumble, a horse person as being dismounted.
    I saw advance and attack = battle, and comrades fall in battle, so then back-parsed it.

    CONGEE – rice porridge – sounds disgusting.

  21. Just 22 m and first time I’ve been close to equalling our esteemed blogger. I found this straightforward but couldn’t explain MONEYED so thanks for that.Jimbo. I really liked the Garbo clue – my COD.
  22. I seem to be stuck in a rut at the moment, this being the fifth successive puzzle I’ve taken between 13 and 14 minutes over (13:32 today).

    I don’t recall coming across MONEYER before, but although I’m pretty sure I’ve met CONGEE somewhere – in real life I think, though I can’t remember where, so maybe I just dreamt it – I wasn’t at all confident about it.

    And, like others, I made heavy weather of 7dn, which I take to be a full (rather than a partial) &lit.

  23. Another late solving session, but, thankfully, a bit of a romp for me today.
    Down to earth tomorrow I expect.
    George Clements
  24. The answers were easier than some of the parsings, not all of which I got (I was holding out hope that a ‘rad’ was slang for some sort of attack – medical or physical). Didn’t get the Garbo parsing either. Just under the half hour, not helped by an RTA on the M11 which had all of us beeped to theatre, and me still wavering over ‘comrade’/’compare’! Five minutes later, no wiser; plumped for comrade. Lost the patient but saved the crossword, so mustn’t grumble.
  25. Although pretty much confined to the northern climes, and not much in current usage in my experince, it does seem to crop up now and then here, as a handy device for indicating a fairly common set of letters, so one would do well to remember it.

    Edited at 2013-10-16 06:30 am (UTC)

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